Virtual Assistants for End-User Development in the Internet of Things

The spread of Virtual Assistants (software and hardware) on the consumer market deeply changed the way Internet of Things (IoT) is implemented and used today. Such devices, and related applications, are becoming more and more integrated within smart environments and this might pave the way to potential new approaches to End-User Development activities, which can be performed in IoT environments. This paper discusses the evolution of the IoT ecosystem definition that has been studied by the authors in the last years

End-user empowerment in lifelogging activities

With the widespread of Internet of Things\u2019 devices, sensors, and applications, the quantity of collected data grows enormously and the need of extracting, merging, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing it paves the way for new research challenges. This ongoing revolution of how personal devices are used and how they are becoming more and more wearable has important influences on the most well established definitions of end user and end-user development. The paper presents an analysis of the most diffused applications that allow end users to aggregate quantified-self data, originated by several sensors and devices, and to use it in personalized ways. From the outcomes of the analysis, we present a new EUD paradigm and language that extends the ones existing in the current state of the art Internet of Things

Exploring the Reciprocal Influence of Artificial Intelligence and End-User Development

This paper explores the reciprocal influence between Artificial Intelligence (AI) features of modern systems and End-User Development (EUD) activities aimed at adapting systems’ behavior to users’ needs and preferences. To improve the quality of life of people who are called on to use AI-infused systems and customize them, new methods and techniques for EUD should be studied. EUD could be of help in exploiting AI algorithms to collect information about users and to offer them advanced interaction modalities. The paper explores these possibilities through the analysis of two application domains where the effective combination of AI and EUD might play a crucial role in the future

Artificial symbiogenesis and differing reproduction rates

Symbiosis is the phenomenon in which organisms of different species live together in close association. Symbiogenesis is the name given to the process by which symbiotic partners combine and unify. This letter reconsiders previous work using the NKCS model of coevolution to explore symbiogenesis. In particular, the role of different replication rates between the coevolving partners is considered. This is shown to provide a broader scope for the emergence of endosymbioses and subsequent horizontal gene transfers. © 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The elaboration process of an official document aimed at the Pre-School Education

This paper, derived from a wider research (Barricelli, 2012), aims at showing how three subjects report their process of elaborating the Orientações Curriculares - Expectativas de Aprendizagens e Orientações Didáticas - an official document developed by the City Hall of São Paulo focusing on Pre-School Education. These subjects experienced the process from different perspectives: first, the Prescriber, a well-known teacher and childhood researcher, who coordinated the group responsible for elaborating the document; secondly, the Trainer who took part in the group responsible for the coordinators' training to utilize the document and finally, the Teacher who represented the professionals from the Pre-School Education of the city of São Paulo, who actually implemented the document. In order to organize this paper, we report on the development of such process by following the same chronological order of the facts presented by the Prescriber in her interview, which was complemented by the Trainer's and the Teacher's reports. The results show numerous marked prescriptions and conflicts from different instances which influenced, to a higher or lower degree, the elaboration of the final version of the document.Este artigo, recorte de uma pesquisa maior (Barricelli, 2012), objetiva mostrar como três participantes recontam em suas entrevistas o processo de elaboração do documento oficial do Município de São Paulo voltado para a Educação Infantil Orientações Curriculares - Expectativas de Aprendizagens e Orientações Didáticas. Esses participantes vivenciaram o processo de elaboração de lugares distintos: a Prescritora, renomada professora e pesquisadora sobre a infância, coordenou o grupo que elaborou o documento; a Formadora que fez parte do grupo responsável pela formação dos coordenadores da rede para a utilização do documento e, finalmente, a terceira participante, a Professora que representa os profissionais das Escolas de Educação Infantil do Município de São Paulo que efetivamente utilizaram o documento. Para organizar este artigo, relatamos o desenvolvimento desse processo, seguindo a mesma ordem cronológica dos fatos apresentada pela Prescritora em sua entrevista e complementado pelo relato da Formadora e da Professora. Os resultados apontam para um trabalho marcado por prescrições e por conflitos de diferentes instâncias que exerceram, em maior ou menor grau, influência na elaboração final do documento.32114316

AN ARCHITECTURE FOR END-USER DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTING GLOBAL COMMUNITIES

Increasingly organizations require their members to act not only as end users but also as developers of their tools, i.e. to create, shape and adapt the software artifacts they use without becoming computer experts. In this way, they move from being mere consumers to active producers of knowledge and developers of software artifacts. This leads to an evolution of the work environment and the organization and force the designers to adapt the software artifacts to meet the needs of the end users and to manage this co-evolution of users and software. Moreover, the achievements of social media, Web 2.0 and the advanced information technologies lead to an upward diffusion of global communities, geographically distributed, that collaborate asynchronously on the same design projects. The members of global communities belong to different cultures, therefore cultural boundaries need to be transcended. The mantra "making all voices heard" has to be evolved into "making all voices heard and understood" to allow the proper participation of end users to knowledge and software artifacts creation, sharing and evolution. To respond to these challenges, the thesis presents a semiotic model for end-user development and a Web architecture that supports 1) an interaction localized to end user\u2019s culture, domain of activity and digital platform in use, and 2) the collaborative creation and evolution of knowledge and software artifacts. The architecture is Ajax-like, component-based, Web service-based, and underpins re-use and evolution of software

The Elaboration Process Of An Official Document Aimed At The Pre-school Education

Este artigo, recorte de uma pesquisa maior (Barricelli, 2012), objetiva mostrar como três participantes recontam em suas entrevistas o processo de elaboração do documento oficial do Município de São Paulo voltado para a Educação Infantil Orientações Curriculares - Expectativas de Aprendizagens e Orientações Didáticas. Esses participantes vivenciaram o processo de elaboração de lugares distintos: a Prescritora, renomada professora e pesquisadora sobre a infância, coordenou o grupo que elaborou o documento; a Formadora que fez parte do grupo responsável pela formação dos coordenadores da rede para a utilização do documento e, finalmente, a terceira participante, a Professora que representa os profissionais das Escolas de Educação Infantil do Município de São Paulo que efetivamente utilizaram o documento. Para organizar este artigo, relatamos o desenvolvimento desse processo, seguindo a mesma ordem cronológica dos fatos apresentada pela Prescritora em sua entrevista e complementado pelo relato da Formadora e da Professora. Os resultados apontam para um trabalho marcado por prescrições e por conflitos de diferentes instâncias que exerceram, em maior ou menor grau, influência na elaboração final do documento.32114316

Development of antibody detection methods for active product at the cell culture stage

Development of new analytical methods to characterize the manufacturing process became necessary when the site wanted to implement process improvements to increase output from the bioreactor. The bioreactor process is monitored and controlled for dissolved oxygen content, glucose concentration, temperature, etc. and samples of the harvest are analyzed daily using an endpoint assay and a total protein method. Neither of the two methods can detect the total amount of product at the harvest stage; the endpoint assay will only detect active product and the total protein method will not discriminate between the cellular proteins and the active product. We have developed antibody based methods to overcome these challenges