Multi-Dimensional-Personalization in mobile contexts

During the dot com era the word "personalisation” was a hot buzzword. With the fall of the dot com companies the topic has lost momentum. As the killer application for UMTS or the mobile internet has yet to be identified, the concept of Multi-Dimensional-Personalisation (MDP) could be a candidate. Using this approach, a recommendation of mobile advertisement or marketing (i.e., recommendations or notifications), online content, as well as offline events, can be offered to the user based on their known interests and current location. Instead of having to request or pull this information, the new service concept would proactively provide the information and services – with the consequence that the right information or service could therefore be offered at the right place, at the right time. The growing availability of "Location-based Services“ for mobile phones is a new target for the use of personalisation. "Location-based Services“ are information, for example, about restaurants, hotels or shopping malls with offers which are in close range / short distance to the user. The lack of acceptance for such services in the past is based on the fact that early implementations required the user to pull the information from the service provider. A more promising approach is to actively push information to the user. This information must be from interest to the user and has to reach the user at the right time and at the right place. This raises new requirements on personalisation which will go far beyond present requirements. It will reach out from personalisation based only on the interest of the user. Besides the interest, the enhanced personalisation has to cover the location and movement patterns, the usage and the past, present and future schedule of the user. This new personalisation paradigm has to protect the user’s privacy so that an approach supporting anonymous recommendations through an extended "Chinese Wall“ will be described

Cyber–Physical–Social Frameworks for Urban Big Data Systems: A Survey

The integration of things’ data on the Web and Web linking for things’ description and discovery is leading the way towards smart Cyber–Physical Systems (CPS). The data generated in CPS represents observations gathered by sensor devices about the ambient environment that can be manipulated by computational processes of the cyber world. Alongside this, the growing use of social networks offers near real-time citizen sensing capabilities as a complementary information source. The resulting Cyber–Physical–Social System (CPSS) can help to understand the real world and provide proactive services to users. The nature of CPSS data brings new requirements and challenges to different stages of data manipulation, including identification of data sources, processing and fusion of different types and scales of data. To gain an understanding of the existing methods and techniques which can be useful for a data-oriented CPSS implementation, this paper presents a survey of the existing research and commercial solutions. We define a conceptual framework for a data-oriented CPSS and detail the various solutions for building human–machine intelligence

SmartQC: An Extensible DLT-Based Framework for Trusted Data Workflows in Smart Manufacturing

Recent developments in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), including Blockchain offer new opportunities in the manufacturing domain, by providing mechanisms to automate trust services (digital identity, trusted interactions, and auditable transactions) and when combined with other advanced digital technologies (e.g. machine learning) can provide a secure backbone for trusted data flows between independent entities. This paper presents an DLT-based architectural pattern and technology solution known as SmartQC that aims to provide an extensible and flexible approach to integrating DLT technology into existing workflows and processes. SmartQC offers an opportunity to make processes more time efficient, reliable, and robust by providing two key features i) data integrity through immutable ledgers and ii) automation of business workflows leveraging smart contracts. The paper will present the system architecture, extensible data model and the application of SmartQC in the context of example smart manufacturing applications.Comment: 33 Pages, 9 Figures, Under Peer Review Proces

The architecture of eReuse.org and the development of DeviceHub

En este proyecto desarrollamos una solución para gestionar dispositivos con el objetivo principal de asegurar la reutilización y la recolección final. El proyecto es parte de eReuse.org, un programa financiado por la Unión Europea con el objetivo de alcanzar la economía circular en la electrónica.In this project, we design a solution to manage devices with the main objective of ensuring reuse and final collection. It is part of eReuse.org, a program funded by the European Union with the mission of reaching the circular economy of electronics

Implementation of a flowgraph-based satellite operations software for Earth Observation missions

This project aims to develop mission-critical software that facilitates the monitoring and automation of the operations plan between the Operation Center and the CubeSats. This software will assist operators in various tasks, including scheduling satellite passes, controlling one or multiple Ground Stations to follow the satellite, preparing execution plans with contingencies for all the different steps in the communication protocol, and automating these processes. To minimize errors introduced by operators, the software will offer an interactive user interface for configuring message sets and information exchange during contact. It will also allow for the setup of conditional blocks that depend on received data, creating a seamless and error-free feedback loop. The objective is to gradually reduce the operator's workload, to the point of making their interaction unnecessary. This will enable automated communication with the satellite at any time of day. As part of the operations, all uploaded and downloaded data will be stored for posterior processing, with automated processing wherever possible. The software will be developed using the Rust programming language, known for its speed, memory safety, and thread safety. Rust compiler detects a significant amount of common errors at compile-time, this will allow the development of a highly reliable and high-performance application. While the project will initially focus on supporting the 3Cat-4 satellite, it will also create the basis to operate any other satellite in the future, such as the RITA Payload

The design and implementation of serious games for driving and mobility

The automotive and transportation sectors are showing consistent improvements in trends and standards concerning the safe and convenient travel of the road users. In this growing community of road users, the driver performance is a notable factor as many on-road mishaps emerge out of poor driver performance. In this research work, a case-study and experimental analysis were conducted to improve driver performance through the deployment of serious games. The primary motive of this work is to stimulate the on-road user performance through immediate feedback, driver coaching, and real-time gamification methods. The games exploit the cloud-based architecture to retrieve the driver performance scores based on real-time evaluation of vehicle signals and display the outcomes on game scene by reflecting the game parameters based on real-world user performance (in the context of driving and mobility). The deployment of games in cars is the topic of interest in current state-of-the-art, as there are more factors associated with it, such as safety, usability, and willingness of the users. These aspects were taken into careful consideration while designing the paradigm of gamification model. The user feedback for the real-time games was extracted through pilot tests and field tests in Genova. The gamification and driver coaching aspects were tested on various occasions (plug-in and field tests conducted at 5 European test sites), and the inputs from these field tests enabled to tune the parameters concerning the evaluation and gamification models. The improvement of user behavior was performed through a virtuous cycle with the integration of virtual sensors to the serious gaming framework. As the culmination, the usability tests for the real-time games were conducted with 18 test users to understand the user acceptance criteria and the parameters (ease of use and safety) that would contribute to the deployment of games. Other salient factors such as the impact of games, large-scale deployment, collaborative gaming and exploitation of gaming framework for 3rd party applications were also investigated in this research activity. The analysis of the usability tests states that the user acceptance of the implemented games is good. The report from usability study has addressed the user preferences in games such as duration, strategy and gameplay mechanism; these factors contribute a foundation for future research in implementing the games for mobility

A mobile tour guide app for sustainable tourism

Portugal has had a flourishing tourism sector for the past few years. In fact, Portugal’s tourism boom has made the industry one of the biggest contributors to the national economy and the largest employer. In the year 2019, Portugal had a total of 27 million tourists, surpassing once again the record established in the previous year. However, tourism also brings a series of unintended negative side effects, such as overcrowding. The Santa Maria Maior historic district in Lisbon is being particularly affected by this problem. The work undertaken in this dissertation is part of the Sustainable Tourism Crowding project, that aims to mitigate the overcrowding phenomenon in this district, by fostering a balanced distribution of visitors while promoting the visitation of sustainable points of interest. This dissertation focuses on developing a mobile app prototype targeted at tourists, through which these sustainable walking tour recommendations can be delivered. To validate the functional requirements of the prototype, more specifically the trip creation process, a series of unit tests, integration tests, and manual tests were developed. To evaluate the usability of the prototype, a user-centered approach was adopted during the design stage, in which two usability techniques were conducted with members of ISCTE’s research center ISTAR and partners from the Junta de Freguesia de Santa Maria Maior, that guided and validated the decisions made. The achieved prototype contains mechanisms for measuring tourists’ adherence to the recommended tours using the Dynamic Time Warping algorithm, which raises new research opportunities on tourists’ behaviour.O desenvolvimento próspero do setor turístico em Portugal nos últimos anos fez da indústria um dos maiores contribuintes para a economia nacional e o maior empregador do país. No ano de 2019, Portugal recebeu um total de 27 milhões de turistas, ultrapassando uma vez mais uma vez o recorde estabelecido no ano anterior. No entanto, o turismo traz também uma série de efeitos secundários negativos não intencionais, tais como overcrowding. A freguesia histórica de Santa Maria Maior em Lisboa está a ser particularmente afetada por este problema. O trabalho desenvolvido nesta dissertação faz parte do projeto de pesquisa Sustainable Tourism Crowding, que visa mitigar o fenómeno de overcrowding nesta freguesia, promovendo uma distribuição equilibrada dos visitantes e incentivando a visita de pontos de interesse sustentáveis. Esta dissertação foca-se no desenvolvimento de uma aplicação móvel protótipo destinada a turistas, através do qual recebem recomendações de visitas sustentáveis. Para validar os requisitos funcionais do protótipo, mais especificamente o processo de criação de visitas, foram desenvolvidos testes unitários, testes de integração, e testes manuais. Para avaliar a usabilidade do protótipo, foi adotada uma abordagem centrada no utilizador durante a fase de conceção, em que foram utilizadas duas técnicas de usabilidade em parceria com o ISTAR (centro de investigação do ISCTE) e com a Junta de Freguesia de Santa Maria Maior, cujos resultados guiaram e validaram as decisões tomadas. O protótipo desenvolvido contém mecanismos para medir a aderência dos turistas às recomendações sugeridas através do algoritmo Dynamic Time Warping, proporcionando novas oportunidades de pesquisa nesta área

On Programmable Interactions: Principles, Concepts and Challenges of Co-Located and Social Interplay

Computing machines and humans interacting has long followed similar principles – A human gives an input command to a machine, which the machine then executes, gives an output, and waits for the next human input. Thus the interactions are user-initiated, requiring constant active participation, and much attention. Despite this, the number of such interactions has kept increasing since computing has now pervaded all areas of human life. Take mobile devices as an example: they are now considered as magic remote controllers that enable interaction with the whole world. Hence, people are now glued to their mobiles, which makes them more detached from their surroundings and other people nearby. Consequently, there is no need nor desire to socialize with other people in close proximity. Presently, the physical world and the cyber world are melting into each other, and new cyber-physical devices are rapidly emerging. This means that an ever-increasing number of computers are awaiting user input.This wide array of computing devices and heterogeneous networking capabilities have great potential for improving the ways human interactions with computing can work. The problem is that the current ways of implementing software are not well-suited for implementing interactions where multiple co-located people and devices participate. The tools mainly support implementing apps where a sole user interacts with the device, and possibly, remotely with another person. Vendor-neutrality also causes many challenges as some manufacturers only focus on improving interoperability within ecosystems.This thesis approaches computing with a novel concept of programmable interactions. The idea is to consider the interactions as first class citizens in software development. Instead of focusing on how a human interacts with a machine, the focus is on how the machines in the same space can share resources and jointly interact with each other, serving the humans – the programmable interactions are based on principles that put humans into a central role in the interactions. For developing such interactions, the thesis presents an Action-Oriented Programming model and its runtime environment. Human and social aspects are considered with a concept of companion devices. These companions carry personal profiles about their owners, and represent them for other devices that are nearby. The devices socialize and interact with each other as well as with their owners proactively, meaning that they are also allowed to initiate interactions.The approaches and concepts that are presented form the basis for developing software where interactions play a key role. These programmable interactions are based on a set of human-centric principles, and the task of enabling them is highly demanding. Therefore, enabling programmable interactions should rather be considered as a continuous process that improves over time. The most crucial challenges have been identified in this thesis together with a view on how the current technology can be used to respond to them

Design of a synthetic data generation and simulation framework for mobility on demand applications

Urbanization increases issues such as traffic congestion, lack of parking spots, and underutilized vehicles. In recent years, mobility-on-demand (MOD) concept has been proposed to effectively mitigate these issues. However, a common issue with MOD research is the lack of precise traffic data for conducting transportation-related studies and improving the proficiency of MOD systems. This is mainly because of data privacy concerns, GPS device limitations or errors, and expensive infrastructures for collecting real-time traffic data. Given the constraints, traffic simulations could be a reasonable solution for simulating the dynamic MOD activities such as distributing vehicles in the cities of interest and mimicking their movement behaviours. Despite the features that existing traffic simulators provide, they are not designed to support MOD use cases explicitly. For instance, background traffic generated by these simulators mostly follows random algorithms and the traffic flow is not based on real traffic patterns of the region. Another issue could be the lack of integration APIs to accept user inputs while the simulation is running to adapt the behaviour of the simulation. In this thesis, a synthetic MOD data generation framework is proposed. This framework takes a map region, real traffic data, and service vehicles trip plan as input. Using the ARIMA machine learning algorithm, we could predict demand and generate background traffic, followed by simulating the service vehicles in the region. The proposed framework generates synthetic traffic based on real traffic patterns and then simulates the service vehicles' movements on the map. While the simulation is running, the framework monitors the vehicles and collects real-time trajectory data. This framework leverages the features of SUMO as a microscopic simulation engine. In addition, established HTTP APIs enable third-party integration and allow users to control vehicles and trips on the map before and during the simulation execution. The offered simulation features include and are not limited to, the importation of a trip plan for numerous vehicles and the update of vehicle destinations. In addition to integration APIs, the proposed framework provides a graphical user interface to facilitate simulation setup and execution. The provided user interface enables users to explore a map, specify a region on the map, and then choose it as a simulation boundary. Throughout the simulation, the software core captures and stores real-time data on vehicle movement in a database that might be utilized for mobility-on-demand research. This simulation framework returns comprehensive service vehicle trajectories, departure time, destination time, travel duration, route length, and service vehicle status. The proposed software is open-source and publicly available, and its capabilities could be improved for future study