Quality assessment technique for ubiquitous software and middleware

The new paradigm of computing or information systems is ubiquitous computing systems. The technology-oriented issues of ubiquitous computing systems have made researchers pay much attention to the feasibility study of the technologies rather than building quality assurance indices or guidelines. In this context, measuring quality is the key to developing high-quality ubiquitous computing products. For this reason, various quality models have been defined, adopted and enhanced over the years, for example, the need for one recognised standard quality model (ISO/IEC 9126) is the result of a consensus for a software quality model on three levels: characteristics, sub-characteristics, and metrics. However, it is very much unlikely that this scheme will be directly applicable to ubiquitous computing environments which are considerably different to conventional software, trailing a big concern which is being given to reformulate existing methods, and especially to elaborate new assessment techniques for ubiquitous computing environments. This paper selects appropriate quality characteristics for the ubiquitous computing environment, which can be used as the quality target for both ubiquitous computing product evaluation processes ad development processes. Further, each of the quality characteristics has been expanded with evaluation questions and metrics, in some cases with measures. In addition, this quality model has been applied to the industrial setting of the ubiquitous computing environment. These have revealed that while the approach was sound, there are some parts to be more developed in the future

A Comparative Analysis of Electroluminescent and Retrorefelective Materials as Nighttime Pedestrian Conspicuity Aids

Recent literature suggests that retroreflective materials, when configured in a biological motion pattern, make vulnerable road users (such as pedestrians) more conspicuous to drivers at night. However, retroreflective elements in clothing can be effective only when a light source (e.g., automobile headlamps) illuminates the material in such a way as to allow the material to reflect sufficient light back to the eyes of the driver. Thus, retroreflective materials are not useful for pedestrians who are positioned outside the beam pattern of an approaching vehicle\u27s headlamps. Electroluminescent materials, flexible light sources that can be attached to clothing, have the potential to enhance conspicuity in these conditions. This project investigated the conspicuity benefits of adding electroluminescent material to clothing that contains retroreflective elements. Using an open-road course at night, the current work compared the distances at which observers responded to pedestrians wearing one of two different kinds of high-visibility garments, who were at one of three different lateral positions relative to the vehicle\u27s path. The results show that a garment containing both electroluminescent and retroreflective materials yields longer response distances than garments containing only retroreflective material, particularly when the test pedestrian is positioned farther outside of the area illuminated by an automobile\u27s headlamps. These findings suggest electroluminescent materials can be especially useful to enhance the conspicuity of pedestrians who are outside a vehicle\u27s headlamp beam

The future of product design utilising printed electronics

This paper addresses the teaching of emerging technologies to design students, using ‘printed electronics’ as an example as it recently became viable to mass manufacture and is ready for use in designs. Printed electronics is introduced as a disruptive technology, and approaches employed in knowledge transfer to industrial/product designers is reviewed. An overview of the technology is provided; the printing processes; material properties; a comparison with conventional electronics; and product examples are identified. Two case studies illustrate approaches for knowledge transfer to student designers. The assessment criteria and design outcomes from the case study projects are reviewed and future/new approaches proposed. The paper concludes that there is a need to develop a thorough knowledge transfer strategy for printed electronics to designers, informed by case studies and extending beyond simply showing examples of existing technology. This is necessary for future proofing both in technological advances and designing for the future

Gapeau: Enhancing the Sense of Distance to Others with a Head-Mounted Sensor

Human perception lacks the capabilities to accurately assess distance. The recent Covid-19 pandemic outbreak rendered this ability particularly important. Augmenting our sense of distance can help maintain safe separation from others when required. To explore how systems can help users maintain physical distance, we designed, implemented and evaluated Gapeau - a head-mounted system for augmenting the sense of distance. Our system uses proximity sensors and thermal sensing to detect and measure the distance to other people. We conducted a validation protocol, an experiment, in which we compared different feedback modalities, and an in-the-wild study to evaluate Gapeau\u27s performance and suitability for use in social contexts. We found that our system enabled users to more accurately determine whether they were maintaining a safe distance from others. Vibration and auditory feedback were found most effective and usable. Gapeau was perceived as socially acceptable. Our work contributes insights for augmented sensing systems with social relevance

The future of product design utilising printed electronics

This paper addresses the teaching of emerging technologies to design students, using ‘printed electronics’ as an example as it recently became viable to mass manufacture and is ready for use in designs. Printed electronics is introduced as a disruptive technology, and approaches employed in knowledge transfer to industrial/product designers is reviewed. An overview of the technology is provided; the printing processes; material properties; a comparison with conventional electronics; and product examples are identified. Two case studies illustrate approaches for knowledge transfer to student designers. The assessment criteria and design outcomes from the case study projects are reviewed and future/new approaches proposed. The paper concludes that there is a need to develop a thorough knowledge transfer strategy for printed electronics to designers, informed by case studies and extending beyond simply showing examples of existing technology. This is necessary for future proofing both in technological advances and designing for the future

The Internet of Things Will Thrive by 2025

This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center Internet Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-LeeThis current report is an analysis of opinions about the likely expansion of the Internet of Things (sometimes called the Cloud of Things), a catchall phrase for the array of devices, appliances, vehicles, wearable material, and sensor-laden parts of the environment that connect to each other and feed data back and forth. It covers the over 1,600 responses that were offered specifically about our question about where the Internet of Things would stand by the year 2025. The report is the next in a series of eight Pew Research and Elon University analyses to be issued this year in which experts will share their expectations about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, and net neutrality. It includes some of the best and most provocative of the predictions survey respondents made when specifically asked to share their views about the evolution of embedded and wearable computing and the Internet of Things

In silico vs. Over the Clouds: On-the-Fly Mental State Estimation of Aircraft Pilots, Using a Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Based Passive-BCI

There is growing interest for implementing tools to monitor cognitive performance in naturalistic work and everyday life settings. The emerging field of research, known as neuroergonomics, promotes the use of wearable and portable brain monitoring sensors such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate cortical activity in a variety of human tasks out of the laboratory. The objective of this study was to implement an on-line passive fNIRS-based brain computer interface to discriminate two levels of working memory load during highly ecological aircraft piloting tasks. Twenty eight recruited pilots were equally split into two groups (flight simulator vs. real aircraft). In both cases, identical approaches and experimental stimuli were used (serial memorization task, consisting in repeating series of pre-recorded air traffic control instructions, easy vs. hard). The results show pilots in the real flight condition committed more errors and had higher anterior prefrontal cortex activation than pilots in the simulator, when completing cognitively demanding tasks. Nevertheless, evaluation of single trial working memory load classification showed high accuracy (>76%) across both experimental conditions. The contributions here are two-fold. First, we demonstrate the feasibility of passively monitoring cognitive load in a realistic and complex situation (live piloting of an aircraft). In addition, the differences in performance and brain activity between the two experimental conditions underscore the need for ecologically-valid investigations