Distributed multimedia systems

A distributed multimedia system (DMS) is an integrated communication, computing, and information system that enables the processing, management, delivery, and presentation of synchronized multimedia information with quality-of-service guarantees. Multimedia information may include discrete media data, such as text, data, and images, and continuous media data, such as video and audio. Such a system enhances human communications by exploiting both visual and aural senses and provides the ultimate flexibility in work and entertainment, allowing one to collaborate with remote participants, view movies on demand, access on-line digital libraries from the desktop, and so forth. In this paper, we present a technical survey of a DMS. We give an overview of distributed multimedia systems, examine the fundamental concept of digital media, identify the applications, and survey the important enabling technologies.published_or_final_versio

Connectivity for Healthcare and Well-Being Management: Examples from Six European Projects

Technological advances and societal changes in recent years have contributed to a shift in traditional care models and in the relationship between patients and their doctors/carers, with (in general) an increase in the patient-carer physical distance and corresponding changes in the modes of access to relevant care information by all groups. The objective of this paper is to showcase the research efforts of six projects (that the authors are currently, or have recently been, involved in), CAALYX, eCAALYX, COGKNOW, EasyLine+, I2HOME, and SHARE-it, all funded by the European Commission towards a future where citizens can take an active role into managing their own healthcare. Most importantly, sensitive groups of citizens, such as the elderly, chronically ill and those suffering from various physical and cognitive disabilities, will be able to maintain vital and feature-rich connections with their families, friends and healthcare providers, who can then respond to, and prevent, the development of adverse health conditions in those they care for in a timely manner, wherever the carers and the people cared for happen to be

The development and validation of a Televisitation Attitude Scale (TAS).

The 12 item Televisitation Attitude Scale (TAS) was developed in this study using the method of factor analysis. The prototype Televisitation Attitude Scale (TAS) was administered to UNBC students (N=204) in an on-line format. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin’s (KMO) test was .900 and Barlett’s test was χ² (66) = 1198.500, p<.001, confirming the validity of the obtained data. The Chronbach’s alpha test reliability for the final TAS was .91. It was found that the students’ attitudes toward televisitation were one-dimensional (Evaluation dimension) and had a positive tendency (M = 1.29 on -3 +3 scale). Independent sample t-tests (p ≲ .05) found significant differences in attitudes toward televisitation among subpopulations of UNBC students distinguished by gender, presence of children, and place of birth. TAS and its methodology can help researchers and televisitation investors to predict with some degree of accuracy whether a support person would televisit a patient in a hospital or a nursing home.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b175483

Teknologiasta käytäntöihin : käytäntöteoreettinen malli hyvinvointiteknologian hyväksyttävyyden arviointiin

Käsillä oleva työ on yhteenveto vuosien 2003–2011 aikana konstruktiivisella tutkimusotteella toteutetuista tutkimushankkeista. Näissä kaikissa hankkeissa on ollut pragmaattisen tutkimusintressin kohteena hyvinvointiteknologian hyväksyttävyys. Työn empiirinen aineisto koostuu seitsemästä artikkelista, joissa raportoidaan teknologian hyväksyttävyyteen vaikuttavia tekijöitä eri konteksteissa. Tuloksina esitän havaintoja ihmisen ja teknologiaympäristön vuorovaikutussuhdetta ja hyväksyttävyyttä käsittelevästä kirjallisuudesta sekä havaintoja hyväksyttävyyteen vaikuttavista tekijöistä, jotka ovat peräisin artikkeleiden johtopäätöksistä. Näihin johtopäätöksiin nojautuen konstruoin käytäntöteoreettisen hyväksyttävyyden arviointimallin. Ensimmäisenä tuloksena tiivistän hyväksyttävyyden arvioinnin näkökulmasta ihmisen ja teknologiaympäristön vuorovaikutussuhdetta ja hyväksyttävyyttä käsittelevästä kirjallisuudesta seuraavat viisi väittämää: 1) funktionaalinen tarve tai helppokäyttöisyys ei yksin riitä teknologian hyväksymiseen, 2) hyvinvointiteknologian erityispiirteet on huomioitava, 3) yhteisön ja identiteetin merkitystä ei voi ohittaa teknologian hyväksyttävyyden arvioinnissa, 4) hyväksyttävyyden kriteerit ovat aikaan ja paikkaan sidottuja, ja ne muuntuvat käyttöympäristön ja käytettävän teknologian mukaisesti, 5) ihmisen toimintaympäristö koostuu monentasoisista toisiinsa vaikuttavista ympäristöistä, joten toiminnan ja käytäntöjen selittäminen edellyttää tämän kokonaisuuden ymmärtämistä. Toisena tuloksena esitän artikkeleiden tuloksiin nojautuen, että hyvinvointiteknologian hyväksyttävyyden arvioinnissa on huomioitava: 1) merkitykset ja yhteisö, 2) toimintaympäristön ja kontekstin moniulotteisuus, 3) teknologiaominaisuudet ja toimijoiden roolit ja 4) käytäntöjen vaikutus hyväksyttävyyteen. Kolmanneksi tutkimuksen päätuloksena esitän käytäntöteoreettisen teknologian hyväksyttävyyden arviointimallin. Mallissa korostuvat kontekstin monikerroksisuus ja se, että hyväksyttävyyttä tarkastellaan suhteessa teknologian mahdollistamiin uusiin käytäntöihin ja olemassa oleviin käytäntöihin. Kehitetyllä mallilla on hyödyntämismahdollisuuksia esimerkiksi markkinoinnin ja tuotekehityksen operatiivisella tasolla sekä jatkotutkimuksessa. Malli tuo käytännön käsitteen hyväksyttävyyden teoreettisen keskusteluun. Koko työn keskeinen viesti voidaan tiivistää väitteeseen: Uusien hyvinvointiteknologioiden ja -palveluiden arvioinnin on keskityttävä teknologian mahdollistamien dynaamisten käytäntöjen ja tapahtumien tunnistamiseen ja niiden hyväksyttävyyden arviointiinmoniulotteisessa viitekehyksessä.This study is a summary of research projects conducted between 2003 and 2011 and carried out through a constructive approach. The pragmatic research interest of the projects has focused on the acceptability of technology. The empirical material consists of seven articles on factors affecting the acceptability of technology in various contexts. The results presented herein are observations on literature dealing with interaction between humans and technology and the acceptability of the human-technology environment, conclusions on the factors affecting acceptability based on the articles, and, on the basis of these conclusions, a model of assessing acceptability from the perspective of practice theory. As the first result, I sum up from the viewpoint of acceptability assessment the following five arguments on literature dealing with interaction between humans and technology and the acceptability of the human-technology environment: 1) a functional need or usability do not suffice as such for the acceptance of technology, 2) the special characteristics of well-being technology must be observed, 3) the significance of community and identity cannot be overlooked in assessing the acceptability of technology, 4) the criteria for acceptability are bound to time and space and they vary according to the operating environment and the technology used, and 5) the human operating environment consists of interrelated, multilevel environments, and therefore analyzing the operations and practices requires an understanding of the whole system. As the second result, based on the articles I argue that in assessing the acceptability of well-being technology one must observe the following: 1) the meanings and the community, 2) the multidimensionality of the operating environment and context, 3) the technological features and the roles of the actors, and 4) the practices enabled by technology. Third, and as the main result of the study, I construct a practice theory-based model of assessing the acceptability of technology. The model emphasizes the multilayered nature of context and the examination of acceptability through practices enabled by technology and in relation to existing practices. The new model can be utilized for example in marketing and product development at the operative level and in further research. At the operative level, the model elucidates the meaning of micro contexts, action, and habits in the acceptability of technology. The model also introduces the concept of practice into the theoretical discourse on acceptability. The essence of the entire study can be summarized as follows: The assessment of new well-being technologies and services needs to focus on recognizing the dynamic practices and events enabled by technology and assessing their acceptability in a multidimensional frame of reference

Analysing the characteristics of VoIP traffic

In this study, the characteristics of VoIP traffic in a deployed Cisco VoIP phone system and a SIP based soft phone system are analysed. Traffic was captured in a soft phone system, through which elementary understanding about a VoIP system was obtained and experimental setup was validated. An advanced experiment was performed in a deployed Cisco VoIP system in the department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan. Three months of traffic trace was collected beginning October 2006, recording address and protocol information for every packet sent and received on the Cisco VoIP network. The trace was analysed to find out the features of Cisco VoIP system and the findings were presented.This work appears to be one of the first real deployment studies of VoIP that does not rely on artificial traffic. The experimental data provided in this study is useful for design and modeling of such systems, from which more useful predictive models can be generated. The analysis method used in this research can be used for developing synthetic workload models. A clear understanding of usage patterns in a real VoIP network is important for network deployment and potential network activities such as integration, optimizations or expansion. The major factors affecting VoIP quality such as delay, jitter and loss were also measured and simulated in this study, which will be helpful in an advanced VoIP quality study. A traffic generator was developed to generate various simulated VoIP traffic. The data used to provide the traffic model parameters was chosen from peak traffic periods in the captured data from University of Saskatchewan deployment. By utilizing the Traffic Trace function in ns2, the simulated VoIP traffic was fed into ns2, and delay, jitter and packet loss were calculated for different scenarios. Two simulation experiments were performed. The first experiment simulated the traffic of multiple calls running on a backbone link. The second experiment simulated a real network environment with different traffic load patterns. It is significant for network expansion and integration