Emotional Biosensing: Exploring Critical Alternatives

Emotional biosensing is rising in daily life: Data and categories claim to know how people feel and suggest what they should do about it, while CSCW explores new biosensing possibilities. Prevalent approaches to emotional biosensing are too limited, focusing on the individual, optimization, and normative categorization. Conceptual shifts can help explore alternatives: toward materiality, from representation toward performativity, inter-action to intra-action, shifting biopolitics, and shifting affect/desire. We contribute (1) synthesizing wide-ranging conceptual lenses, providing analysis connecting them to emotional biosensing design, (2) analyzing selected design exemplars to apply these lenses to design research, and (3) offering our own recommendations for designers and design researchers. In particular we suggest humility in knowledge claims with emotional biosensing, prioritizing care and affirmation over self- improvement, and exploring alternative desires. We call for critically questioning and generatively re- imagining the role of data in configuring sensing, feeling, ‘the good life,’ and everyday experience

Blahut-Arimoto Algorithm and Code Design for Action-Dependent Source Coding Problems

The source coding problem with action-dependent side information at the decoder has recently been introduced to model data acquisition in resource-constrained systems. In this paper, an efficient algorithm for numerical computation of the rate-distortion-cost function for this problem is proposed, and a convergence proof is provided. Moreover, a two-stage code design based on multiplexing is put forth, whereby the first stage encodes the actions and the second stage is composed of an array of classical Wyner-Ziv codes, one for each action. Specific coding/decoding strategies are designed based on LDGM codes and message passing. Through numerical examples, the proposed code design is shown to achieve performance close to the lower bound dictated by the rate-distortion-cost function.Comment: Extended version of a paper submitted to ISI

Implementing Ethics for a Mobile App Deployment

This paper discusses the ethical dimensions of a research project in which we deployed a personal tracking app on the Apple App Store and collected data from users with whom we had little or no direct contact. We describe the in-app functionality we created for supporting consent and withdrawal, our approach to privacy, our navigation of a formal ethical review, and navigation of the Apple approval process. We highlight two key issues for deployment-based research. Firstly, that it involves addressing multiple, sometimes conflicting ethical principles and guidelines. Secondly, that research ethics are not readily separable from design, but the two are enmeshed. As such, we argue that in-action and situational perspectives on research ethics are relevant to deployment-based research, even where the technology is relatively mundane. We also argue that it is desirable to produce and share relevant design knowledge and embed in-action and situational approaches in design activities

Systemic effector conceptual model in groupware implementation

Network software systems and groupware within organizations differ from other information technologies, requiring individuals to 'design' their own use. Users and groups can choose how to engage with these systems (Hassall, 1998), and use is dependent upon existing technological framing (Orlikowski, 1992). Groupware provides opportunities to study interaction between technological and organizational potentials. The action and structure duality of structuration theory (Giddens, 1984) points to the need for systemic understandings. Moreover, deconstructive schemes (e.g. Dudley and Hassall 1995,1996) demonstrate a plurality of overt and ulterior motivations in use. The Systemic Effector Model has been developed based upon longitudinal research in groupware implementation. This abstracted perspective relates choice of facility and design of action to important motivators at the individual and systemic levels. The genesis and explanatory power of the model is explored through survey and case study data

Towards Design Principles for Data-Driven Decision Making: An Action Design Research Project in the Maritime Industry

Data-driven decision making (DDD) refers to organizational decision-making practices that emphasize the use of data and statistical analysis instead of relying on human judgment only. Various empirical studies provide evidence for the value of DDD, both on individual decision maker level and the organizational level. Yet, the path from data to value is not always an easy one and various organizational and psychological factors mediate and moderate the translation of data-driven insights into better decisions and, subsequently, effective business actions. The current body of academic literature on DDD lacks prescriptive knowledge on how to successfully employ DDD in complex organizational settings. Against this background, this paper reports on an action design research study aimed at designing and implementing IT artifacts for DDD at one of the largest ship engine manufacturers in the world. Our main contribution is a set of design principles highlighting, besides decision quality, the importance of model comprehensibility, domain knowledge, and actionability of results

Action Search: Spotting Actions in Videos and Its Application to Temporal Action Localization

State-of-the-art temporal action detectors inefficiently search the entire video for specific actions. Despite the encouraging progress these methods achieve, it is crucial to design automated approaches that only explore parts of the video which are the most relevant to the actions being searched for. To address this need, we propose the new problem of action spotting in video, which we define as finding a specific action in a video while observing a small portion of that video. Inspired by the observation that humans are extremely efficient and accurate in spotting and finding action instances in video, we propose Action Search, a novel Recurrent Neural Network approach that mimics the way humans spot actions. Moreover, to address the absence of data recording the behavior of human annotators, we put forward the Human Searches dataset, which compiles the search sequences employed by human annotators spotting actions in the AVA and THUMOS14 datasets. We consider temporal action localization as an application of the action spotting problem. Experiments on the THUMOS14 dataset reveal that our model is not only able to explore the video efficiently (observing on average 17.3% of the video) but it also accurately finds human activities with 30.8% mAP.Comment: Accepted to ECCV 201

BIM adoption and implementation for architectural practices

Severe issues about data acquisition and management arise during the design creation and development due to complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a tool for a team based lean design approach towards improved architectural practice across the supply chain. However, moving from a CAD (Computer Aided Design) approach to BIM (Building Information Modelling) represents a fundamental change for individual disciplines and the construction industry as a whole. Although BIM has been implemented by large practices, it is not widely used by SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises). Purpose: This paper aims to present a systematic approach for BIM implementation for Architectural SMEs at the organizational level Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is undertaken through a KTP (Knowledge transfer Partnership) project between the University of Salford and John McCall Architects (JMA) a SME based in Liverpool. The overall aim of the KTP is to develop lean design practice through BIM adoption. The BIM implementation approach uses a socio-technical view which does not only consider the implementation of technology but also considers the socio-cultural environment that provides the context for its implementation. The action research oriented qualitative and quantitative research is used for discovery, comparison, and experimentation as it provides �learning by doing�. Findings: The strategic approach to BIM adoption incorporated people, process and technology equally and led to capacity building through the improvements in process, technological infrastructure and upskilling of JMA staff to attain efficiency gains and competitive advantages. Originality/Value: This paper introduces a systematic approach for BIM adoption based on the action research philosophy and demonstrates a roadmap for BIM adoption at the operational level for SME companie

Shear design of HSC beams with combination of links and horizontal web steel

The existing recommendations in Eurocode 2 and the British Code of Practice for the shear design of beams are derived from research conducted essentially on normal-strength concrete (NSC) with cube strengths up to 50 MPa, and it was found that the shear strengths of high-strength concrete (HSC) members made with limestone aggregate are below the characteristic resistances of identical NSC members. Previous experimental tests have also shown that significant differences exist in the angle of crack of shear failure of NSC and HSC. This paper presents data from five beam tests, which demonstrate that HSC with limestone aggregate has a reduced shear strength compared with NSC made with gravel and thus shows a gap in knowledge in the design approach to shear resistance of HSC beams. Previous investigations have suggested that horizontal web steels can contribute to the overall shear resistance of a reinforced concrete member in conjunction with the other constituents, concrete, tension and shear steel. The paper also presents data from tests on 11 beam tests and shows that the shear resistance of HSC beams is highly dependent on dowel action resulting from horizontal web bars positioned at the centre of the depth of the beam. Past attempts to quantify this dowel action are investigated and an improved design rule is proposed

Shear design of HSC beams with combination of links and horizontal web steel

The existing recommendations in Eurocode 2 and the British Code of Practice for the shear design of beams are derived from research conducted essentially on normal-strength concrete (NSC) with cube strengths up to 50 MPa, and it was found that the shear strengths of high-strength concrete (HSC) members made with limestone aggregate are below the characteristic resistances of identical NSC members. Previous experimental tests have also shown that significant differences exist in the angle of crack of shear failure of NSC and HSC. This paper presents data from five beam tests, which demonstrate that HSC with limestone aggregate has a reduced shear strength compared with NSC made with gravel and thus shows a gap in knowledge in the design approach to shear resistance of HSC beams. Previous investigations have suggested that horizontal web steels can contribute to the overall shear resistance of a reinforced concrete member in conjunction with the other constituents, concrete, tension and shear steel. The paper also presents data from tests on 11 beam tests and shows that the shear resistance of HSC beams is highly dependent on dowel action resulting from horizontal web bars positioned at the centre of the depth of the beam. Past attempts to quantify this dowel action are investigated and an improved design rule is proposed