RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM FOR HIDING SUBTITLES

Some videoconferencing/collaboration devices provide subtitles to users on-screen during meetings. However, when subtitles are permanently displayed on a videoconferencing device and a user is not reading/following the subtitles, the subtitles might become annoying to the user. As a result, the user is likely to be visually distracted. This proposal provides techniques to prevent users from being distracted by permanently displayed subtitles during videoconferences when users are not reading/following the subtitles. In particular, a system is presented herein that provides for the ability to either automatically hide videoconferencing subtitles when a system detects that a user is not reading/following the subtitles or, alternatively, provide a recommendation to the user to hide the subtitles when the system detects that the user is not reading/following the subtitles

Development of an advanced web application for managing videoconference

El objetivo del proyecto es realizar un cliente para videoconferencias de alta definición basado en Web. Se ha utilizado SIP como protocolo de señalización (establecimiento, finalización) de videoconferencias, para la gestión la lista de los contactos, la presencia, y la negociación de las capacidades multimedia.Existen numerosas aplicaciones que ofrecen al usuario la posibilidad de realizar videoconferencias en alta definición sobre Internet. Estas aplicaciones centran sus esfuerzos en la transmisión de contenido de alta calidad sobre Internet, pero dejan sin resolver la gestión del establecimiento, finalización de llamadas, aceptación, rechazo de invitaciones, suscripción y recepción de notificaciones del servicio de presencia (aparición de usuarios, cambios de estado, etc). El objetivo del proyecto es realizar un cliente para videoconferencias de alta definición basado en Web. Se ha utilizado SIP como protocolo de señalización (establecimiento, finalización) de videoconferencias, para la gestión la lista de los contactos, la presencia, y la negociación de las capacidades multimedia La aplicación desarrollada permite que, un usuario a partir de una web, sea capaz de ver todos los usuarios conectados al servicio, conocer sus características y poder establecer videoconferencias de alta calidad, utilizando el entorno de videoconferencia negociado (por ejemplo dvts, ultragrid). La aplicación actúa como un gateway HTTP-SIP, traduciendo las peticiones SIP a peticiones HTTP y viceversa. Las peticiones HTTP son enviadas hacia el cliente para que la trate y realice los cambios necesarios en la interfaz web y en su modelo de datos. La interfaz de web del usuario se ha desarrollado con Google Web Toolkit, un toolkit de Google para el desarrollo de aplicaciones AJAX en lenguaje de programación Java. El servidor se comunica con tres módulos. Con el mundo SIP para la señalización de videoconferencia, con el agente de presencia para gestionar la lista y con el cliente AJAX para comunicarse con los usuarios de la aplicación. El proyecto explica las fases de definición de requerimientos, diseño y arquitectura de la aplicación. Expone el estado del arte de las tecnologías y comenta algunos detalles de la implementación, finalizando con una planificación temporal y unos resultados finales del proyecto

Performance and enhancement for HD videoconference environment

In this work proposed here is framed in the project of research V3 (Video, Videoconference, and Visualization) of the Foundation i2CAT, that has for final goal to design and development of a platform of video, videoconference and independent visualization of resolution in high and super though inside new generation IP networks. i2CAT Foundation uses free software for achieving its goals. UltraGrid for the transmission of HD video is used and SAGE is used for distributed visualization among multiple monitors. The equipment used for management (capturing, sending, visualization, etc) of the high definition stream of work environment it has to be optimized so that all the disposable resources can be used, in order to improve the quality and stability of the platform. We are speaking about the treatment of datum flows of more of 1 Gbps with raw formats, so that the optimization of the use of the disposable resources of a system is given back a need. In this project it is evaluated the requirements for the high definition streams without compressing and a study of the current platform is carried out, in order to extract the functional requirements that an optimum system has to have to work in the best conditions. From this extracted information, a series of systems tests are carried out in order to improve the performance, from level of network until level of application. Different distributions of the Linux operating system have been proved in order to evaluate their performance. These are Debian 4 and openSUSE 10.3. The creation of a system from sources of software has also been proved in order to optimize its code in the compilation. It has been carried out with the help of Linux From Scratch project. It has also been tried to use systems Real Time (RT) with the distributions used. It offers more stability in the stream frame rate. Once operating systems has been test, it has proved different compilers in order to evaluate their efficiency. The GCC and the Intel C++ Compilers have proved, this second with more satisfactory results. Finally a Live CD has been carried out in order to include all the possible improvements in a system of easy distribution

Linking law: practical guidelines for delivering law to rural Victoria using e-learning technologies

Provides information, analysis and practical tips for organisations seeking to use digital technologies to enhance general and professional legal education for people living in remote, rural and regional (RRR) Victoria. Introduction These guidelines provide information, analysis and practical tips for organisations seeking to use digital technologies to enhance general and professional legal education for people living in remote, rural and regional (RRR) Victoria. Given the difficulties people living in RRR areas still face in having to take time away from work and home and travel long distances to attend many legal educational events, it makes sense to explore these options. However, it can be particularly difficult for organisations seeking to engage with RRR people to choose between educational technologies and techniques, given the considerable hype and movement in the field at present. Options are plentiful and complex, with multiple practical and organisational considerations attached to each, and the situation changes frequently as technologies improve. The increasing reach of high-speed internet and mobile networks is creating opportunities for different and more engaging educational methods to be used in most regional and rural areas, but fast internet is not the be-all and end-all. There is much that can be achieved with intelligent use of a range of lower-tech options including low-speed internet, phone, DVD and regional site-based educational technologies. These guidelines aim to identify a range of practical, digitally based options that are available for different educational purposes, and provide sets of protocols for implementing these options so that RRR people can gain maximum educational benefit and organisations can access guidance on best practice. In many cases, standard good practice in the use of these technologies is all that is needed to include people living in RRR areas effectively in community and professional education. Many metropolitan participants can also benefit from the availability of low-bandwidth options, recordings, provision for individual online access to videoconferenced events and so on. This document begins with an overview of the landscape for digitally based legal community and professional education in RRR Victoria. The requirements of RRR people for legal information and assistance have been described well in recent publications. There is no doubt that digital technologies can help address some of these needs, but technical and non-technical barriers exist, and section 3, ‘Needs, capabilities and barriers in the legal digital education landscape’, sets out briefly what the relevant capabilities and barriers are for RRR people in Victoria. The major part of this document contains guidelines for choosing and implementing a wide range of digitally based education options. The guidelines highlight a range of factors reflecting important practical and pedagogical concerns, including access, cost, need for specialist IT support, cohort size, and ability to support particular learning designs and types of communication. A planning framework focusing on educational approaches is provided as a starting point in section 4, ‘Planning for learning using digital technologies’

Health-5G: A Mixed Reality-Based System for Remote Medical Assistance in Emergency Situations

Mixed reality is the combination of virtual and augmented reality to interactively and believably merge physical and computer-generated environments. This paper discusses the design of Health5G, a scalable mixed reality-based system that facilitates and supports emergency response by medical emergency teams. Health-5G is supported by a distributed architecture divided into four interrelated applications responsible for advanced computer-human interaction, effective real-time videoconference, medical device integration, and communication infrastructure, respectively. The mixed reality layer is provided by the headset Microsoft Hololens 2™. Health-5G is based on scenarios in which emergency personnel wear mixed reality glasses that can transmit audio, video, and data streams bidirectionally over a 5G network to medical specialists stationed in a hospital at any distance. Thanks to Health-5G, the specialist will be able to access the emergency team’s point of view at any time and provide verbal and visual instructions, including gestures and positioning of graphical markers in 3D space. In this way, emergency personnel can provide the best possible care to the patient without having to wait for them to arrive at the hospital, saving a lot of time in scenarios where every second can make a difference. Health-5G also addresses the integration of medical devices and the collection of the patient’s medical data in a scalable way through optical character recognition. A case study is discussed where Health-5G is used to attend a patient in the street suffering from syncope due to third-degree atrioventricular block. Latency and performance tests over a 5G network are also discussed. To the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive solution in the literature that provides all the capabilities offered by Health-5G in terms of functionality and advanced interaction mechanisms within the context of remote, immersive support in emergency situations

Perceptions of Factors Related to Therapeutic Change in Face-To-Face and Distance Counseling Environments

Videoconferencing is quickly becoming a part of daily life as technologies using the Internet and computer advances are now being employed to deliver synchronous, highly discernible video and audio content on devices used for daily communication. Videoconferencing is also being increasingly used by counseling professionals to provide counseling sessions and other services, and counseling accrediting and licensing bodies have recognized its use in some professional practice situations. This experimental study used a regional sample of counselors, other mental health professionals, and counselors-in-training (N = 126), to examine whether participants, randomly assigned, rated three different measures of counseling process-working alliance, session suitability, and counselor qualities-differently when witnessing two videos of a simulated, basic, sufficiently-working, typical, college mental health counseling session. The videos were produced to be equivalent, except that one was conducted by high-quality, dedicated videoconferencing technology (VC), and the other done in the traditional face-to-face (FTF) manner. A discriminant analysis confirmed a significant difference between the FTF and VC groups. Examination of the canonical discriminant function revealed a large canonical correlation, with an effect size of 21.5 %. Standardized discriminant function and structure coefficients were examined to evaluate the predictors that contributed to the group differences. The main finding was that the quality of counselor attractiveness, and to a lesser extent, the bond in the working alliance, were most influential in contributing to this difference. Results also revealed that the groups did not differ on any of the control variables-age, gender, and attitude toward technology. Results for the group centroids showed that the FTF group was substantially higher than the VC group, indicating that the group differences pertaining to counselor attractiveness and working alliance bond can be attributed to the FTF group. However, a comparison of the mean values for all of the counseling process variables showed that differences between the groups on almost all of the variables were very small. This indicates that, even with the significant finding of differences between the groups, participants found the FTF and VC sessions to be more similar than different. Implications for common factors approaches and counseling practice are discussed

Usability Evaluation of a COPD Remote Monitoring Application

-Telemedicine applications have the potential to enhance patient’s safety at home by remote monitoring of chronic diseases. Telemedicine involves the interaction between multiple user groups through a system, making the usability aspect of such system crucial for the continuous, efficient and satisfactory use of the application. The main objective of this study was to carry out a usability evaluation in the field of a telemedicine application for remote monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients to improve the application’s user interface before system deployment. A field trial was performed with six COPD patients at their homes, continuously using the system’s application on a tablet for seven days. The usability evaluation identified 23 usability problems related to users’ interactions and system’s functionality. These problems were solved with the refinement of the system through an iterative application development process. The outcome of the study was the improved telemedicine application that was adopted by the partners of the FP7 EU project United4Health

Study, design and implementation of WebRTC for a realtime multimedia messaging application

Social networks are no longer a phenomenon; nowadays it is not that they are a reality but have become something indispensable. During its growth and consolidations period internet has suffered a great transformation due to the new kind of most demanded content. Sharing images, videos or even making calls with another user are tasks that an average user would make several times a day. This transition could only happen thanks to new technologies that not only simplify those tasks but, due to handheld devices' irruption, would work successfully under reasonable data and battery consumption rates. Videoconferences over the network and multimedia data streams in general have always gone hand in hand of closed software products like Macromedia Flash, for instance, that required of a plugin installation on the browser by the end user. Under those premises, this project will focus on the investigation of WebRTC as a technology capable of successfully achieving videoconferences between users without the need of any browser plugin. In order to verify the knowledge gathered through the study of the technology, the design, architecture and implementation of an application capable of doing so will be proposed

On the usage of different work analysis methods for collaborative review of large scale 3D CAD models

Human work interaction design is an emerging discipline that aims to encourage empirical studies and conceptualizations of the interaction among humans, their variegated social contexts and the technology they use both with in and across these contexts. In this paper we describe and elaborate around the usage of different work analysis methods in a complex, real world work do main: collaborative review of large-scale 3D engineering models. The analysis is based on (i) input from experts in the oil platform engineering field, (ii) pre vious and related work and (iii) application of different methods considering the recent advances in technology. We conclude that hierarchical task analysis was not effective in obtaining a clear, common vision about the work domain. Sto ryboarding was the most useful technique as it allowed discovering novelty fac tors that differentiate the solution and improve the usability of the product, thereby supporting the human work at offshore engineering design and review sessions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio