Exploring expressive augmented reality: The fing AR puppet system for social pretend play

We present “FingAR Puppet”, an Augmented Reality (AR) system enhancing social pretend play by young children. Un-like goal-oriented AR systems that augment reality with in-formative instructions, FingAR Puppet helps children asso-ciate expressive interpretations with immediate reality. Em-pirical results show that FingAR Puppet promotes reasoning about emotional states, communication and divergent think-ing during social pretend play for children 4-6 years old. We suggest that this study opens an interesting space for future AR systems to support complex cognitive and social devel-opment in early childhood. We also identify broader implica-tions from using theories of cognitive development to guide the design of tangible and augmented interactions

Using Augmented Reality to Elicit Pretend Play for Children with Autism.

Children with autism spectrum condition (ASC) suffer from deficits or developmental delays in symbolic thinking. In particular, they are often found lacking in pretend play during early childhood. Researchers believe that they encounter difficulty in generating and maintaining mental representation of pretense coupled with the immediate reality. We have developed an interactive system that explores the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) technology to visually conceptualize the representation of pretense within an open-ended play environment. Results from an empirical study involving children with ASC aged 4 to 7 demonstrated a significant improvement of pretend play in terms of frequency, duration and relevance using the AR system in comparison to a non computer-assisted situation. We investigated individual differences, skill transfer, system usability and limitations of the proposed AR system. We discuss design guidelines for future AR systems for children with ASC and other pervasive developmental disorders.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=700059

Adding an ontology to a standardized QoS-based MAS middleware

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_12In a Multi-Agent system, middleware is one of the components used to isolate control and communications. The use of standards in the implementation of an intelligent distributed system is always advantageous. This paper presents a middleware that provides support to a multi-agent system. Middleware is based on the standard Data Distribution Services (DDS), proposed by Object Management Group (OGM). Middleware organizes information by tree based ontology and provides a set of quality of service policies that agents can use to increase efficiency. DDS provides a set of quality of service policy. Joining quality of service policy and the ontology allows getting many advantages, among others the possibility of to conceal some details of the communications system to agents, the correct location of the agents in the distributed system, or the monitoring agents in terms of quality of service. For modeling the middleware architecture it has used UML class diagrams. As an example it has presented the implementation of a mobile robot navigation system through agents that model behaviors.The MAS architecture described in this article is a part of the coordinated project SIDIRELI: Distributed Systems with Limited Resources. Control Kernel and Coordination. Education and Science Department, Spanish Government. CICYT: MICINN: DPI2008-06737-C02-01/02.Poza-Lujan, J.; Posadas-Yagüe, J.; Simó Ten, JE. (2009). Adding an ontology to a standardized QoS-based MAS middleware. En Distributed Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Soft Computing, and Ambient Assisted Living. Springer. 83-90. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_12S8390Coulouris, G., Dollimore, J., Kindberg, T.: Distributed systems, concepts and design, 3rd edn. Addison Wesley, Reading (2001)Hapner, M., Sharma, R., Fialli, J., Stout, K.: JMS specification, vol. 1.1. Sun Microsystems Inc., Santa Clara (2002)Lewis, R.: Advanced Messaging Applications with MSMQ and MQ Series. Que Publishing (1999)OMG. Real-Time Corba Specification version 1.1. Document formal /02-08-02 (2002)FIPA. Specfication. Part 2, Agent Communication Language. Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (1997)Vogel, A., Kerherve, B., von Bochmann, G., Gecsei, J.: Distributed Multimedia and QoS: A Survey. IEEE Multimedia 2(2), 10–19 (1995)Smith, B.: Beyond concepts, or: Ontology as reality representation. In: Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2004), pp. 73–84 (2004)Gruber, T.R.: Toward Principles for the Design of Ontologies Used for Knowledge Sharing. International Journal Human-Computer Studies 43(5-6), 907–928 (1995)Pardo-Castellote, G.: OMG Data-Distribution Service: architectural overview. In: Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, Providence, USA, vols. 19-22, pp. 200–206 (2003)Object Management Group (OMG). Unified Modeling Language Specification, v1.4.2, ISO/IEC 19501 (2001)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.I., Simó, J.E.: Distributed agent specification to an Intelligent Control Architecture. In: 6th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems, Salamanca (2007)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.l., Simó, J.E.: QoS-based middleware archi-tecture for distributed control systems. In: International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Salamanca (2008

From the Queue to the Quality of Service Policy: A Middleware Implementation

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_61Quality of service policies in communications is one of the current trends in distributed systems based on middleware technology. To implement the QoS policies it is necessary to define some common parameters. The aim of the QoS policies is to optimize the user defined QoS parameters. This article describes how to obtain the common QoS parameters using message queues for the communications and control components of communication. The paper introduces the Queue-based Quality of Service Cycle concept for each middleware component. The QoS parameters are obtained directly from the queue parameters, and Quality of Service Policies controls directly the message queues to obtain the user-defined parameters values.The middleware architecture described in this article is a part of the coordinated project SIDIRELI: Distributed Systems with Limited Resources. Control Kernel and Coordination. Education and Science Department, Spanish Government. CICYT: MICINN: DPI2008-06737-C02-01/02.Poza-Lujan, J.; Posadas-Yagüe, J.; Simó Ten, JE. (2009). From the Queue to the Quality of Service Policy: A Middleware Implementation. En Distributed Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Soft Computing, and Ambient Assisted Living. Springer Verlag (Germany). 432-437. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_61S432437Aurrecoechea, C., Campbell, A.T., Hauw, L.: A Survey of QoS Architectures. Multimedia Systems Journal, Special Issue on QoS Architecture 6(3), 138–151 (1998)OMG. Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems, v1.1. Document formal/2005-12-04 (December 2005)Botts, M., Percivall, G., Reed, C., Davidson, J.: OGC®. Sensor Web Enablement: Overview And High Level Architecture, OpenGIS Consortium Inc (2006)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.I., Simó, J.E.: QoS-based middleware architecture for distributed control systems. In: International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Salamanca (2008)Vogel, A., Kerherve, B., von Bochmann, G., Gecsei, J.: Distributed Multi-media and QoS: A Survey 2(2), 10–19 (1995)Crawley, E., Nair, R., Rajagopalan, B.: RFC 2386: A Framework for QoS-based Routing in the Internet, pp. 1–37, XP002219363 (August 1998)ITU-T Recommendation E.800 (0894). Terms and Definitions Related to Quality of Service and Network Performance Including Dependability (1994)Stuck, B.W., Arthurs, E.: A Computer & Communications Network Performance Analysis Primer. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1984)Jain, R.: The art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New york (1991)Coulouris, G., Dollimore, J., Kindberg, T.: Distributed Systems. Concepts and Design, 3rd edn. Addison Wesley, Madrid (2001)Jung, J.-l.: Quality of Service in Telecommunications Part II: Translation of QoS Pa-rameters into ATM Performance Parameters in B-ISDN. IEEE Comm. Mag., pp. 112–117 (August 1996)Wohlstadter, E., Tai, S., Mikalsen, T., Rouvellou, I., Devanbu, P.: GlueQoS: Middleware to Sweeten Quality-of-Service Policy Interactions. In: ICSE, 26th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2004) (2004

QoS-Based Middleware Architecture for Distributed Control Systems

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85863-8_70This paper presents an implementation of a middleware architecture to control distributed systems. The main objective is providing a QoS level between the communications layer and the control layer. This architecture is based on the use of a hierarchical communications structure called logical namespace tree and a structured set of control processes interconnected, called logical sensors graph . This architecture is named Frame Sensor Adapter Control (FSA-Ctrl). In this architecture communication layer and control layer can manage the QoS policies. The communication layer is based on the Data Distribution Service (DDS), a standard proposed by Object Management Group (OMG). Control layer is derived from the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) model proposed by Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Middleware components use messages queues to manage components QoS requirements. By means of QoS policies, control components can take important decisions about distributed questions, like components mobility or information redundancy detection.The architecture described in this article is a part of the coordinated project KERTROL: Kernel control on embedded system strongly connected. Education and Science Department, Spanish Government. CICYT: DPI2005-09327-C02-01/02.Poza-Lujan, J.; Posadas-Yagüe, J.; Simó Ten, JE. (2009). QoS-Based Middleware Architecture for Distributed Control Systems. En International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence 2008 (DCAI 2008). Springer. 587-595. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85863-8_70S587595Matteucci, M.: Publish/Subscribe Middleware for Robotics: Requirements and State of the Art. Technical Report N 2003.3, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy (2003)OMG. Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems, v1.1. Document formal/2005-12-04 (2005)Botts, M., Percivall, G., Reed, C., Davidson, J. (eds.): OGC. Sensor Web Enablement: Overview and High Level Architecture. OGC White Paper. OGC 06-050r2 (2006)Coulouris, G., Dollimore, J., Kindberg, T.: Distributed systems, concepts and design, 3rd edn. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2001)OMG. Real-Time Corba Specification version 1.1. Document formal /02-08-02 (2002)FIPA. Specfication. Part 2, Agent Communication Language. Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (1997)Hapner, M., Sharma, R., Fialli, J., Stout, K.: JMS specification, vol. 1.1. Sun Microsystems Inc., Santa Clara (2002)Pardo-Castellote, G.: OMG Data-Distribution Service: architectural overview. In: Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, Providence, USA, vol. 19-22, pp. 200–206 (2003)Vogel, A., Kerherve, B., von Bochmann, G., Gecsei, J.: Distributed Multimedia and QoS: A Survey. IEEE Multimedia 2(2), 10–19 (1995)Crawley, E., Nair, R., Rajagopalan, B.: RFC 2386: A Framework for QoS-based Routing in the Internet. IETF Internet Draft, pp. 1–37 (1998)Botts, M., Percivall, G., Reed, C., Davidson, J.: OGC. Sensor Web Enablement: Overview and High Level Architecture. OpenGIS Consortium Inc. (2006)Posadas, J.L., Perez, P., Simo, J.E., Benet, G., Blanes, F.: Communication structure for sensory data in mobile robots. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 15(3-4), 341–350 (2002)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.L., Simó, J.E., Benet, G.: Hierarchical communication system to manage maps in mobile robot navigation. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Automation, Control and Instrumentation, Valencia, Spain (2006)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.L., Simó, J.E.: Distributed agent specification to an Intelligent Control Architecture. In: 6th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems, Salamanca, Spain (in press, 2007

THE ROLES OF COMMUNITIES IN THE EFFECTIVE REINTEGRATION OF VIOLENT EXTREMIST OFFENDERS IN THE LAKE CHAD BASIN COUNTRIES

This research paper examines the roles of communities in the effective reintegration of violent extremist offenders in the Lake Chad Basin countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad. It is important to examine the effectiveness of reintegration in the Lake Chad Basin region, particularly because of its unique context in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration field (DDR). This unique context is unlike traditional DDR environments because of the emerging need to reintegrate individuals during a fragile security environment with an ongoing counterterrorism campaign. This paper utilizes a mixed-methods approach by providing a case study on each of the countries’ community roles within reintegration and then by comparing and measuring the cases against one another and against a success and challenge indicator checklist. The goal of comparing these cases and measuring them against the checklists is to showcase the essential components of reintegration programs and the positive roles and pitfalls of communities that may be useful for future effective programming in this emerging field. The results of the case studies prove that communities have not been fully utilized within reintegration programs in the Lake Chad Basin region which has led to ineffective reintegration processes. However, communities in the region have played a large role within informal methods of reintegration. At the same time, communities have played a significant challenging role towards effective reintegration of Boko Haram violent extremist offenders. Based on the findings from the case studies, this paper also includes recommendations to inform of ways communities can be utilized to increase the effectiveness of reintegrating VEOs

CUSTOM-BUILT WIRELESS PRESSURE SENSING INSOLES FOR DETERMINING CONTACT-TIMES IN 60M MAXIMAL SPRINT RUNNING

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a custom-built wireless pressure sensing insole system for recording ground contact times in sprinting. Despite interest in the foot contact time/running velocity relationship, no study has examined the contact times in a maximal 60 m sprint. Insole data were collected on three athletes during maximal indoor sprint runs. Simultaneous kinematic data for start and maximum velocity phases were recorded with a CODA system to validate insole contact times and determine velocity. Insole derived contact times were accurate to ±4 ms. Preliminary data indicate a usable contact time/velocity relationship. It is anticipated that these data will provide support for the use of wireless technology in sprint performance monitoring, and facilitate novel insights into the contact time/sprint running velocity relationship