Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey

As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning. Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.Comment: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Journal, 201

The NIProxy: a Flexible Proxy Server Supporting Client Bandwidth Management and Multimedia Service Provision

We present the NIProxy, a flexible network intermediary which aims to improve the Quality of Experience (QoE) of users of networked applications by pushing more intel-ligence into the network. More specifically, the NIProxy is network- as well as application-aware, meaning it has knowledge of both the transportation network and the ap-plication(s) it is serving. This dual awareness is exploited to improve user QoE in two complementary ways. First of all, the NIProxy is capable of dynamically distributing a client’s available downstream bandwidth over the differ-ent network streams generated by a networked application. Secondly, the NIProxy supports multimedia service provi-sion, meaning it can apply services on multimedia streams on behalf of its clients. An important feature of the NIProxy is that its two QoE-improving mechanisms are not isolated entities but instead can interact with each other. A compre-hensive discussion of the NIProxy’s software architecture is provided and the implementation of an example service, which adds video transcoding functionality to the NIProxy, is described. Finally, presented experimental results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. 1

Interactive Fiction in Cinematic Virtual Reality: Epistemology, Creation and Evaluation

This dissertation presents the Interactive Fiction in Cinematic Virtual Reality (IFcVR), an interactive digital narrative (IDN) that brings together the cinematic virtual reality (cVR) and the creation of virtual environments through 360\ub0 video within an interactive fiction (IF) structure. This work is structured in three components: an epistemological approach to this kind of narrative and media hybrid; the creation process of IFcVR, from development to postproduction; and user evaluation of IFcVR. In order to set the foundations for the creation of interactive VR fiction films, I dissect the IFcVR by investigating the aesthetics, narratological and interactive notions that converge and diverge in it, proposing a medium-conscious narratology for this kind of artefact. This analysis led to the production of an IFcVR functional prototype: \u201cZENA\u201d, the first interactive VR film shot in Genoa. ZENA\u2019s creation process is reported proposing some guidelines for interactive and immersive film-makers. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the IFcVR as an entertaining narrative form and a vehicle for diverse types of messages, this study also proposes a methodology to measure User Experience (UX) on IFcVR. The full evaluation protocol gathers both qualitative and quantitative data through ad hoc instruments. The proposed protocol is illustrated through its pilot application on ZENA. Findings show interactors' positive acceptance of IFcVR as an entertaining experience

4D TeleCast: Towards Large Scale Multi-site and Multi-view Dissemination of 3DTI Contents

3D Tele-immersive systems create real-time multi-stream and multi-view 3D collaborative contents from multiple sites to allow interactive shared activities in virtual environments. Applications of 3DTI include online sports, tele-health, remote learning and collaborative arts. In addition to interactive participants in 3DTI environments, we envision a large number of passive non-interactive viewers that (a) watch the interactive activities in 3DTI shared environments, and (b) select views of the activities at run time. To achieve this vision, we present 4D TeleCast, a novel multi-stream 3D content distribution framework for non-interactive viewers providing the functionality of multi-view selection. It addresses the following challenges: (1) supporting a large number of concurrent multi-stream viewers as well as multi-views, (2) preserving the unique nature of 3DTI multi-stream and multi-view dependencies at the viewers, and (3) allowing dynamic viewer behavior such as view changes and large-scale simultaneous viewer arrivals or departures. We divide the problem space into two: (1) multi-stream overlay construction problem that aims to minimize the cost of distribution of multi-stream contents, and maximize the number of concurrent viewers with sufficient viewer dynamism in terms of their resources and availabilities, and (2) effective resource utilization problem that aims to preserve the multi-stream dependencies in a view considering the heterogeneous resource constraints at the viewers. We evaluate 4D TeleCast using extensive simulations with 3DTI activity data and PlanetLab traces.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Interacção máquina-a-máquina em computação ubíqua

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaAlthough the area of Machine-to-Machine communications and, consequently, the Internet of Things, have undergone a great improvement regarding interoperability, there is still no ’de facto’ solution proposal to achieve large scale, even global, interoperability. As a first step, this work provides a theoretical analysis of proposals relevant to the area, mainly analysing how they achieve some essential requirements for the Internet of Things, such as scalability, heterogeneity and management. Later, focusing in ETSI’s M2M standard, is first given a high-level description of its vision, approach and architecture, and then, finally, from a more practical point of view, is also presented and tested a functional implementation of an ETSI M2M compliant gateway, which provides an empirical evaluation of the standard.Apesar de a área das comunicações Máquina-a-Máquina e, consequentemente, a Internet das Coisas, terem sofrido uma grande melhoria relativamente à interoperabilidade, ainda não existe nenhuma solução considerada "dominante" que permita atingir uma interoperabilidade em larga escala, até mesmo global. Desta forma, numa primeira instância este trabalho visa fornecer uma análise teórica de propostas relevantes para a área, onde se analisa maioritariamente como é que essas propostas atingem alguns requisitos essenciais para a Internet das Coisas, como a escalabilidade, heterogeneidade e gestão. Posteriormente, focando-se no standard ETSI M2M, é dado em primeiro lugar uma descrição de alto nível da sua visão, abordagem e arquitectura, e depois, finalmente, de um ponto de vista prático, é ainda apresentada e testada uma implementação funcional de uma gateway condescendente com o standard, o que fornece uma avaliação mais empírica do mesmo

Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Industries: A Review

This paper reviews the current state of the art in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and applications in the context of the creative industries. A brief background of AI, and specifically Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, is provided including Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs), Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). We categorise creative applications into five groups related to how AI technologies are used: i) content creation, ii) information analysis, iii) content enhancement and post production workflows, iv) information extraction and enhancement, and v) data compression. We critically examine the successes and limitations of this rapidly advancing technology in each of these areas. We further differentiate between the use of AI as a creative tool and its potential as a creator in its own right. We foresee that, in the near future, machine learning-based AI will be adopted widely as a tool or collaborative assistant for creativity. In contrast, we observe that the successes of machine learning in domains with fewer constraints, where AI is the `creator', remain modest. The potential of AI (or its developers) to win awards for its original creations in competition with human creatives is also limited, based on contemporary technologies. We therefore conclude that, in the context of creative industries, maximum benefit from AI will be derived where its focus is human centric -- where it is designed to augment, rather than replace, human creativity

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

A review of affective computing: From unimodal analysis to multimodal fusion

Affective computing is an emerging interdisciplinary research field bringing together researchers and practitioners from various fields, ranging from artificial intelligence, natural language processing, to cognitive and social sciences. With the proliferation of videos posted online (e.g., on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) for product reviews, movie reviews, political views, and more, affective computing research has increasingly evolved from conventional unimodal analysis to more complex forms of multimodal analysis. This is the primary motivation behind our first of its kind, comprehensive literature review of the diverse field of affective computing. Furthermore, existing literature surveys lack a detailed discussion of state of the art in multimodal affect analysis frameworks, which this review aims to address. Multimodality is defined by the presence of more than one modality or channel, e.g., visual, audio, text, gestures, and eye gage. In this paper, we focus mainly on the use of audio, visual and text information for multimodal affect analysis, since around 90% of the relevant literature appears to cover these three modalities. Following an overview of different techniques for unimodal affect analysis, we outline existing methods for fusing information from different modalities. As part of this review, we carry out an extensive study of different categories of state-of-the-art fusion techniques, followed by a critical analysis of potential performance improvements with multimodal analysis compared to unimodal analysis. A comprehensive overview of these two complementary fields aims to form the building blocks for readers, to better understand this challenging and exciting research field

The Value of Scholarly Writing: A Temporal-Material Rhetorical Analysis of Delivery in Google Documents

This project examines the impact that cloud-based writing has on scholars’ material work processes and the temporal value shift that occurs as we write in an ‘always-on’ environment. It analyzes how interactive writing software (IWS) like Google Documents serve to forefront functions of interactivity between writers, and by doing so, reshape and create Western values surrounding the academic writing process that are uniquely post-industrial. Using James Porter’s (2009) components of digital delivery as a lens, this project contextualizes the ways that the work of writing is performed online by looking at the features embedded in a Google Document. This examination confirms that the canon of delivery itself has undergone a shift. In arguing for different values assigned to the performance of scholarly writing, that decenter the autonomous writer free of material needs, this project illustrates the affordances and limitations of scholarly writing that is both developed and delivered in and through interactive writing software. This dissertation then offers readers a theory of temporal-materiality that creates a model through which to exact an in-depth exploration into the impact Web 2.0 tools have had on writers and writing