Understanding the IT-Related Attitudes and Needs of Persons with Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Case Study

In the UK, 20 per cent of people aged 75 years and over are living with sight loss; this percentage is expected to increase as the population ages (RNIB, 2011). Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the UK’s leading cause of severe visual impairment amongst the elderly. It accounts for 16,000 blind/partial sight registrations per year and is the leading cause of blindness among people aged 55 years and older in western countries (Bressler, 2004). Our ultimate goal is to develop an assistive mobile application to support accurate and convenient diet data collection on which basis to then provide customised dietary advice and recommendations in order to help support individuals with AMD to mitigate their ongoing risk and retard the progression of the disease. In this paper, we focus on our knowledge elicitation activities conducted to help us achieve a deep and relevant understanding of our target user group. We report on qualitative findings from focus groups and observational studies with persons with AMD and interviews with domain experts which enable us to fully appreciate the impact that technology may have on our intended users as well as to inform the design and structure of our proposed mobile assistive application

Augmented reality in architecture degree: new approaches in scene illumination and user evaluation

Postprint (published version

Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired

There are around 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, and around 370,000 people are registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. Ongoing advances in information technology (IT) are increasing the scope for IT-based mobile assistive technologies to facilitate the independence, safety, and improved quality of life of the visually impaired. Research is being directed at making mobile phones and other handheld devices accessible via our haptic (touch) and audio sensory channels. We review research and innovation within the field of mobile assistive technology for the visually impaired and, in so doing, highlight the need for successful collaboration between clinical expertise, computer science, and domain users to realize fully the potential benefits of such technologies. We initially reflect on research that has been conducted to make mobile phones more accessible to people with vision loss. We then discuss innovative assistive applications designed for the visually impaired that are either delivered via mainstream devices and can be used while in motion (e.g., mobile phones) or are embedded within an environment that may be in motion (e.g., public transport) or within which the user may be in motion (e.g., smart homes)

An integrated approach to deliver OLAP for multidimensional Semantic Web Databases

Semantic Webs (SW) and web data have become increasingly important sources to support Business Intelligence (BI), but they are difficult to manage due to the exponential increase in their volumes, inconsistency in semantics and complexity in representations. On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is an important tool in analysing large and complex BI data, but it lacks the capability of processing disperse SW data due to the nature of its design. A new concept with a richer vocabulary than the existing ones for OLAP is needed to model distributed multidimensional semantic web databases. A new OLAP framework is developed, with multiple layers including additional vocabulary, extended OLAP operators, and usage of SPARQL to model heterogeneous semantic web data, unify multidimensional structures, and provide new enabling functions for interoperability. The framework is presented with examples to demonstrate its capability to unify existing vocabularies with additional vocabulary elements to handle both informational and topological data in Graph OLAP. The vocabularies used in this work are: the RDF Cube Vocabulary (QB) – proposed by the W3C to allow multi-dimensional, mostly statistical, data to be published in RDF; and the QB4OLAP – a QB extension introducing standard OLAP operators. The framework enables the composition of multiple databases (e.g. energy consumptions and property market values etc.) to generate observations through semantic pipe-like operators. This approach is demonstrated through Use Cases containing highly valuable data collected from a real-life environment. Its usability is proved through the development and usage of semantic pipe-like operators able to deliver OLAP specific functionalities. To the best of my knowledge there is no available data modelling approach handling both informational and topological Semantic Web data, which is designed either to provide OLAP capabilities over Semantic Web databases or to provide a means to connect such databases for further OLAP analysis. The thesis proposes that the presented work provides a wider understanding of: ways to access Semantic Web data; ways to build specialised Semantic Web databases, and, how to enrich them with powerful capabilities for further Business Intelligence

A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis on Social Network Anonymization: Current Approaches and Future Directions

In recent decades, social network anonymization has become a crucial research field due to its pivotal role in preserving users' privacy. However, the high diversity of approaches introduced in relevant studies poses a challenge to gaining a profound understanding of the field. In response to this, the current study presents an exhaustive and well-structured bibliometric analysis of the social network anonymization field. To begin our research, related studies from the period of 2007-2022 were collected from the Scopus Database then pre-processed. Following this, the VOSviewer was used to visualize the network of authors' keywords. Subsequently, extensive statistical and network analyses were performed to identify the most prominent keywords and trending topics. Additionally, the application of co-word analysis through SciMAT and the Alluvial diagram allowed us to explore the themes of social network anonymization and scrutinize their evolution over time. These analyses culminated in an innovative taxonomy of the existing approaches and anticipation of potential trends in this domain. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis in the social network anonymization field, which offers a deeper understanding of the current state and an insightful roadmap for future research in this domain.Comment: 73 pages, 28 figure

Real-time Multi-scale Smart Energy Management and Optimisation (REMO) for buildings and their district

Energy management systems in buildings and their district today use automation systems and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for smart energy management, but they fail to achieve the desired results due to the lack of holistic and optimised decision-making. A reason for this is the silo-oriented approach to the decision-making failing to consider cross-domain data. Ontologies, as a new way of processing domain knowledge, have been increasingly applied to different domains using formal and explicit knowledge representation to conduct smart decision-making. In this PhD research, Real-time Multiscale Smart Energy Management and Optimisation (REMO) ontology was developed, as a cross-domain knowledge-base, which consequently can be used to support holistic real-time energy management in districts considering both demand and supply side optimisation. The ontology here, is also presented as the core of a proposed framework which facilitates the running of AI solutions and automation systems, aiming to minimise energy use, emissions, and costs, while maintaining comfort for users. The state of the art AI solutions for prediction and optimisation were concluded through authors involvement in European Union research projects. The AI techniques were independently validated through action research and achieved about 30 - 40 % reduction in energy demand of the buildings, and 36% reduction in carbon emissions through optimisation of the generation mix in the district. The research here also concludes a smart way to capture the generic knowledge behind AI models in ontologies through rule axiom features, which also meant this knowledge can be used to replicate these AI models in future sites. Both semantic and syntactic validation were performed on the ontology before demonstrating how the ontology supports the various use cases of the framework for holistic energy management. Further development of the framework is recommended for the future which is needed for it to facilitate real-time energy management and optimisation in buildings and their district

Information and communication technologies and leisure of high school students in Republika Srpska

Предмет овог рада је емпиријско истраживање да ли и на који начин информационо-комуникационе технологије утичу на слободно вријеме средњошколаца у Републици Српској. Прецизније, да ли и на који начин аспекти информационо-комуникационих технологија утичу на млађе генерације да своје слободно вријеме упражњавају на другачији начин од оног који је био предоминантан код старијих генерација. Кроз разговор са испитаницима у фокус групама настојало се одговорити на основна истраживачка питања: Како се у новом животном стилу тумачи постојање слободног времена и схватање младих о њему? Да ли човјек, конкретније млади, контролишу виртуелни свијет или он контролише њих? Да ли млади грађу за конструкцију симболичке реалности узимају из својих „гаџета“? Из ког разлога „дигиталне генерације“, које у постмодерни чине посебну поткултуру, прибјегавају социјалним интеракцијама путем „онлајн“ друштвених мрежа? На који начин нове информационо-комуникационе технологије утичу на слободно вријеме младих? Да ли су и које карактеристике информационо-комуникационих технологија привукле млађе кориснике и увећале свој удио у њиховом слободном времену? Један од циљева овог рада јесте покушај да се открије да ли се кориштење информационо-комуникационих технологија намеће као рационалан избор зато што алтернативе, према схватању младих, нису сврсисходне и не пружају адекватан одговор на оно што ствара преференције младих, а то је, прије свега, друштвено-технолошки развој. Истраживање је било усмјерено ка томе да установи да ли информационо-комуникационе технологије младима пружају оно што они очекују од њих када је ријеч о кориштењу у слободном времену, прије свега, шта за њих значи слободно вријеме и како га проводе – према њиховом мишљењу сврсисходно или 5 мање сврсисходно. Ово је важно зато што пружа увид у то како млади перципирају виртуелне друштвене мреже, интернет уопште – као „мјесто“ за развој и сврсисходно кориштење или простор да се „убије вријеме“...The subject of this paper is an empirical research on whether and how information and communication technologies affect the leisure of high school students in Republika Srpska. More specifically, whether and how aspects of information and communication technologies affect younger generations to exercise their leisure in a different way than that which was prevalent in older generations. Through interviews with respondents in focus groups, the goal was to answer to basic research questions: How does the new lifestyle interpret the existence of leisure time and the perception of young people about it? Does a man, more specifically a youth, control a virtual world or does the wirtual world control them? Do young people take out their „gadget“ for the construction of symbolic reality? For what reason are the „digital generations“, which in postmodernism make a special subculture, resort to social interactions through „online“ social networks? How do new information and communication technologies affect young people's leisure time? Are they and which characteristics of information and communication technologies attracted younger users and increased their share in their leisure? One of the goals of this paper is an attempt to discover whether the use of information and communication technologies is imposed as a rational choice because alternatives, according to the youth, are not appropriate and do not provide an adequate response to that what creates youth preferences, which is, above all, socio-technological development. The research was aimed at determining whether information and communication technologies provide young people with that what they expect from them when it comes to using in leisure, first of all, what leisure means to them and how they spend it – in their opinion, is it worthwhile or less purposeful. This is important because it provides insight into how young people perceive virtual social networks, the Internet at all – as a „place“ for development and purpose-oriented use or a space to „kill the time“. 8 The basic hypothesis of this work is that ICTs significantly influence the leisure of high school students in Republika Srpska who using these technologies do not have their leisure, but „give it“ to them. By examining the main hypothesis, it has been found that young people show duplication of feelings towards digital technologies. Although they often have negative attitudes, especially for social networks, the general tendency is they are massively use the social networks, often for reasons that do not have a higher goal. Using digital technologies, in particular social networks, young people essentially lose time, but they can not resist their „seduction“. Although they believe that social networks can also have positive aspects, in terms of communicating with distant friends or relatives, gathering information that can be used in a more meaningful way, respondents have stated that they use digital information and communication technologies more for entertainment, whatever they understand it, and wasting time..