Towards Flexible and Cognitive Production—Addressing the Production Challenges

Globalization in the field of industry is fostering the need for cognitive production systems. To implement modern concepts that enable tools and systems for such a cognitive production system, several challenges on the shop floor level must first be resolved. This paper discusses the implementation of selected cognitive technologies on a real industrial case-study of a construction machine manufacturer. The partner company works on the concept of mass customization but utilizes manual labour for the high-variety assembly stations or lines. Sensing and guidance devices are used to provide information to the worker and also retrieve and monitor the working, with respecting data privacy policies. Next, a specified process of data contextualization, visual analytics, and causal discovery is used to extract useful information from the retrieved data via sensors. Communications and safety systems are explained further to complete the loop of implementation of cognitive entities on a manual assembly line. This deepened involvement of cognitive technologies are human-centered, rather than automated systems. The explained cognitive technologies enhance human interaction with the processes and ease the production methods. These concepts form a quintessential vision for an effective assembly line. This paper revolutionizes the existing industry 4.0 with an even-intensified human–machine interaction and moving towards cognitivity

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

Toward a General Conceptualization of Multi-Display Environments

[EN] Combining multiple displays in the same environment enables more immersive and rich experiences in which visualization and interaction can be improved. Although much research has been done in the field of multi-display environments (MDEs) and previous studies have provided taxonomies to define them, these have usually consisted of partial descriptions. In this paper, we propose a general taxonomy that combines these partial descriptions and complements them with new evidences extracted from current practice. The main contribution of this paper is the summarization of the key dimensions that conform MDEs and a classification of previous studies to illustrate them.This work is supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and funded by the European Development Regional Fund (EDRF-FEDER) with Project TIN2014-60077-R. It is also supported by fellowship ACIF/2014/214 within the VALi + d program from Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Esport (Generalitat Valenciana) and by fellowship FPU14/00136 within the FPU program from Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and SportGarcía Sanjuan, F.; Jaén Martínez, FJ.; Nácher-Soler, VE. (2016). Toward a General Conceptualization of Multi-Display Environments. Frontiers in ICT. 3:20.1-20.15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fict.2016.00020S20.120.15

The Listening Shift: Evaluating a Communication-Strategies Training Program for Telepractice Nurses Experiencing Hearing Challenges

Workers who wish to remain employed should be supported in doing so, even if they are experiencing age-related disabilities, such as hearing loss. I aimed to better understand the strategies from which workers with hearing loss might benefit, and how they can be supported in adopting these strategies. To collect rich data, I recruited telepractice nurses who rely on listening to make critical decisions about triaging and health care recommendations. My first research question was: What strategies exist for making telephone speech more intelligible for health care providers and patients with hearing challenges? I performed a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute’s protocol. I identified 11 types of strategies, many of which required cooperation from, and disclosure to, providers’ employers, co-workers, and clients. This led me to consider the public narrative workers associated themselves with when they disclosed. Thus, my second research question was: How do Canadian newspapers portray workers with hearing loss? Through a thematic analysis of newspapers articles on this topic, I found they are predominantly portrayed as striving cheerfully both towards functioning normally and towards differentiating themselves and their hearing loss as unique and positive. To further explore how a subset of adults with hearing loss strive to work with a hearing loss, I developed an online communication-strategies training program tailored to nurses with hearing challenges. I then used a multiple case study to answer the following research question: How do nurses with hearing challenges change in terms of their telephone performance and workplace wellbeing in response to participation in an online communication strategies training program? Results suggested that nurses engaged in a problem-solving process before adopting strategies, and that strategy adoption could positively contribute to their performance. Together, the findings from these studies suggest that strategies exist to enhance the performance of workers with hearing loss, but the process of adopting these strategies can be demanding. Organizations should take steps to proactively support their nurses, health-care providers, and potentially other workers with hearing loss in identifying communication strategies and adapting them to their unique context

Ageing and Technology: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

The booming increase of the senior population has become a social phenomenon and a challenge to our societies, and technological advances have undoubtedly contributed to improve the lives of elderly citizens in numerous aspects. In current debates on technology, however, the "human factor" is often largely ignored. The ageing individual is rather seen as a malfunctioning machine whose deficiencies must be diagnosed or as a set of limitations to be overcome by means of technological devices. This volume aims at focusing on the perspective of human beings deriving from the development and use of technology: this change of perspective - taking the human being and not technology first - may help us to become more sensitive to the ambivalences involved in the interaction between humans and technology, as well as to adapt technologies to the people that created the need for its existence, thus contributing to improve the quality of life of senior citizens

Disabilities and Virtual Worlds: An Exploration into the Experience of Learning about Self and Other

Research Problem: Virtual worlds like Second Life are shared 3D graphical places where people interact with each other and the environment through customizable embodied self-representations called avatars. Due to the recent nature of this research environment, the literature encompassing avatar identity, disability and learning in virtual worlds is limited. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore experiences of people with physical disabilities learning about self and other in virtual worlds. Research Questions: 1) How do people with physical disabilities experience learning about self and other in virtual worlds? 2) What do they learn? Literature Review: Virtual worlds’ constructs and historical developments contextualize the research environment. Definitions and typologies of selfhood and virtual identity explore the connection between person and avatar. Medical, social theory and capabilities models of disability are described, and accessibility, issues of virtual embodiment and disability in virtual worlds are explored. Methodology: Conducted in virtual worlds and involving in-depth interviewing of three residents of Second Life who experience physical disabilities, this study follows a qualitative phenomenological approach with descriptive and interpretative analyses within and between participants. Results and Conclusions: Self-avatar and avatar-avatar interactions lead to participants experiencing learning about themselves, their roles, and coping with disability. Participants expressed that Second Life is freedom and that with the right knowledge and tools disabilities can be overcome. Implications include shifts in perceptions of disability in technological contexts and potential uses of virtual worlds for self-exploration. The findings are limited to this study; future research should explore their generalizability

Dagstuhl News January - December 2007

"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic

Erotic Aspects of Everyday Life as a Challenge for Ubiquitous Computing

In this paper we discuss how interactive technology disables or enables erotic aspects of everyday life, and we discuss a number of design concepts in order to relate erotic aspects to the issue of visibility versus invisibility in ambient computing. This discussion has general relevance for the study of residual categories in ubiquitous computing