The LAB@FUTURE Project - Moving Towards the Future of E-Learning

This paper presents Lab@Future, an advanced e-learning platform that uses novel Information and Communication Technologies to support and expand laboratory teaching practices. For this purpose, Lab@Future uses real and computer-generated objects that are interfaced using mechatronic systems, augmented reality, mobile technologies and 3D multi user environments. The main aim is to develop and demonstrate technological support for practical experiments in the following focused subjects namely: Fluid Dynamics - Science subject in Germany, Geometry - Mathematics subject in Austria, History and Environmental Awareness – Arts and Humanities subjects in Greece and Slovenia. In order to pedagogically enhance the design and functional aspects of this e-learning technology, we are investigating the dialogical operationalisation of learning theories so as to leverage our understanding of teaching and learning practices in the targeted context of deployment

Towards Multi-Modal Interactions in Virtual Environments: A Case Study

We present research on visualization and interaction in a realistic model of an existing theatre. This existing ‘Muziek¬centrum’ offers its visitors information about performances by means of a yearly brochure. In addition, it is possible to get information at an information desk in the theatre (during office hours), to get information by phone (by talking to a human or by using IVR). The database of the theater holds the information that is available at the beginning of the ‘theatre season’. Our aim is to make this information more accessible by using multi-modal accessible multi-media web pages. A more general aim is to do research in the area of web-based services, in particu¬lar interactions in virtual environments

Ambient Gestures

We present Ambient Gestures, a novel gesture-based system designed to support ubiquitous ‘in the environment’ interactions with everyday computing technology. Hand gestures and audio feedback allow users to control computer applications without reliance on a graphical user interface, and without having to switch from the context of a non-computer task to the context of the computer. The Ambient Gestures system is composed of a vision recognition software application, a set of gestures to be processed by a scripting application and a navigation and selection application that is controlled by the gestures. This system allows us to explore gestures as the primary means of interaction within a multimodal, multimedia environment. In this paper we describe the Ambient Gestures system, define the gestures and the interactions that can be achieved in this environment and present a formative study of the system. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and future applications of Ambient Gestures in ubiquitous computing

A network resource availability model for IEEE802.11a/b-based WLAN carrying different service types

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://jwcn.eurasipjournals.com/content/2011/1/103. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Operators of integrated wireless systems need to have knowledge of the resource availability in their different access networks to perform efficient admission control and maintain good quality of experience to users. Network availability depends on the access technology and the service types. Resource availability in a WLAN is complex to gather when UDP and TCP services co-exist. Previous study on IEEE802.11a/b derived the achievable throughput under the assumption of inelastic and uniformly distributed traffic. Further study investigated TCP connections and derived a model to calculate the effective transmission rate of packets under the assumption of saturated traffic flows. The assumptions are too stringent; therefore, we developed a model for evaluating WLAN resource availability that tries to narrow the gap to more realistic scenarios. It provides an indication of WLAN resource availability for admitting UDP/TCP requests. This article presents the assumptions, the mathematical formulations, and the effectiveness of our model

Bletchley Park text: using mobile and semantic web technologies to support the post-visit use of online museum resources

A number of technologies have been developed to support the museum visitor, with the aim of making their visit more educationally rewarding and/or entertaining. Examples include PDA-based personalized tour guides and virtual reality representations of cultural objects or scenes. Rather than supporting the actual visit, we decided to employ technology to support the post-visitor, that is, encourage follow-up activities among recent visitors to a museum. This allowed us to use the technology in a way that would not detract from the existing curated experience and allow the museum to provide access to additional heritage resources that cannot be presented during the physical visit. Within our application, called Bletchley Park Text, visitors express their interests by sending text (SMS) messages containing suggested keywords using their own mobile phone. The semantic description of the archive of resources is then used to retrieve and organize a collection of content into a personalized web site for use when they get home. Organization of the collection occurs both bottom-up from the semantic description of each item in the collection, and also top-down according to a formal representation of the overall museum story. In designing the interface we aimed to support exploration across the content archive rather than just the search and retrieval of specific resources. The service was developed for the Bletchley Park museum and has since been launched for use by all visitors

Browsing through 3D representations of unstructured picture collections: an empirical study

The paper presents a 3D interactive representation of fairly large picture collections which facilitates browsing through unstructured sets of icons or pictures. Implementation of this representation implies choosing between two visualization strategies: users may either manipulate the view (OV) or be immersed in it (IV). The paper first presents this representation, then describes an empirical study (17 participants) aimed at assessing the utility and usability of each view. Subjective judgements in questionnaires and debriefings were varied: 7 participants preferred the IV view, 4 the OV one, and 6 could not choose between the two. Visual acuity and visual exploration strategies seem to have exerted a greater influence on participants' preferences than task performance or feeling of immersion.Comment: 4 page

Meetings and Meeting Modeling in Smart Environments

In this paper we survey our research on smart meeting rooms and its relevance for augmented reality meeting support and virtual reality generation of meetings in real time or off-line. The research reported here forms part of the European 5th and 6th framework programme projects multi-modal meeting manager (M4) and augmented multi-party interaction (AMI). Both projects aim at building a smart meeting environment that is able to collect multimodal captures of the activities and discussions in a meeting room, with the aim to use this information as input to tools that allow real-time support, browsing, retrieval and summarization of meetings. Our aim is to research (semantic) representations of what takes place during meetings in order to allow generation, e.g. in virtual reality, of meeting activities (discussions, presentations, voting, etc.). Being able to do so also allows us to look at tools that provide support during a meeting and at tools that allow those not able to be physically present during a meeting to take part in a virtual way. This may lead to situations where the differences between real meeting participants, human-controlled virtual participants and (semi-) autonomous virtual participants disappear