The urban screen as a socialising platform: exploring the role of place within the urban space

In this paper we explore shared encounters mediated by technologies in the urban space. We investigate aspects that influence the interactions between people and people and people and their surroundings when technology is introduced in the urban space. We highlight the importance of space and the role of place in providing temporal and spatial mechanisms facilitating different types of social interactions and shared encounters. An emperical experiment was condeucted with a prototype that was implemented in the form of a digital screen, embeded in the physical surrounding in selected locations with low, medium and high pedestrian flows in the heritage City of Bath, UK. The aim is to create a novel urban experience that triggers shared encounters among friends, observers or strangers. Using the body as an interaface, the screen acted as a non-traditional interface and a facilitator between people and people and people and their surrounding environment. Here we outline early findings from deploying the digital screen as a socialiasing platform in a city context. We describe the user experience and demonstrate how people move, congregate and socialize around the digital surface. We illustrate the impact of the spatial and syntactical properties on the type of shared interactions in and highlight related issues. The initial findings indicated that introducing a digital platform as a public interactive installation in the urban space may provide a stage for emergent social interactions among various people and motivate users to actively and collaboratively play with the media. However, situating the digital platform in various locations, and depending on the context, might generate diverse and unpredicted social behaviours designers might be unaware of. In this respect we believe that the final experience is shaped by interconnection of structural, social, cultural, temporal and perhaps personal elements. We conclude by mentioning briefly our on going work

A socializing interactive installation for the urban environments

In this paper we present the LEDs Urban Carpet: an interactive urban installation using a body-input as a form of a non-traditional user interface. The installation was tested in various locations around the city of Bath, UK. We selected locations with low, medium and high pedestrian flows. The aim is to generate a novel urban experience, which can be introduced in different locations in the city and with different social situations. The installation represents a game with a grid of LEDs that can be embedded as an interactive carpet into the urban context. A pattern of lights is generated dynamically following the pedestrians movement over the carpet. In this case the pedestrians become active participants that influence the generative process and make the pattern of LED-s change. The paper suggests that introducing this kind of display in a social scenario can enrich the casual interaction of people nearby and this might enhance social awareness and engagement. However, we should point out that a number of factors need to be taken into consideration when designing an interactive installation, especially when situated within the urban space. The experience we present here can assist designers in understanding difficulties and issues that need to be taken into account during the design of an interactive urban project of this nature

A sense of place and pervasive computing within the urban landscape

In this paper we report on recent investigations within an ongoing research project, which aims at developing a better understanding of the urban landscape augmented with the digital landscape in the heritage City of Bath. Here we describe early findings from the deployment of a socialiasing digital installation in various locations in the city. The aim is to create a novel urban experience that triggers shared social encounters among friends, observes or strangers. The installation is implemented in the form of a digital urban ground , embeded in the physical surrounding, which acts as a non-traditional interface and a facilitator between people and people and people and their surrounding environment . In this paper we explore the relationship between the urban space and technology driven encounters. We outline initial findings about how people move, congregate and socialize around the digital ground and illustrate the impact of the spatial and syntactical properties on the type of shared interactions in a city context. Finally we discuss initial results and mention briefly our on going work

LEDs urban carpet: a portable interactive installation for urban environments

The aim of this paper project is to generate a new kind of physical scenario where people can interact by means of technology with the urban and social environment. This paper suggests that introducing a new kind technological interactive platform, in this case a LED-s Urban Carpet, in a public space could enhance social awareness and interaction between people nearby. In order to achieve the paper goal, a theoretical framework for understanding and designing interactive computing systems to be embedded in an urban landscape is developed. Also, the experiences in building and field testing the LED-s Urban Carpet prototype in three different urban locations in the heritage city of Bath are reported. Initial findings about how people move, congregate and socialize around the interactive installation are presented, and the levels and types of interaction around the installation as well. In addition, some social factors that can cause embarrassment or that can inspire social interaction around the public display are explored. The design and test of the LED-s Urban Carpet is evaluated in relation with the theoretical background. Finally suggestions are made for improve the prototype and develop further systems. This project was partially funded by MSc. Adaptive Architecture and Computation and Cityware: a research project funded by the EPSRC, UK

Seebeck Nanoantennas for Infrared Detection and Energy Harvesting Applications

In this letter we introduce a new type of infrared sensor, based on thermocouple nanoantennas, which enables the energy detection and gathering in the mid-infrared region. The proposed detector combines the Seebeck effect, as a transduction mechanism, with the functionalities of the optical antennas for optical sensing. By using finite-element numerical simulations we evaluate the performance and optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency of the proposed device, unveiling its potential for optical sensing and energy harvesting applications.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Invited paper at EUCAP 201

Teachers’ Competency on the Use of ICT in Teaching Physics in the Junior High School

This descriptive-correlational research determined the teachers’ competency in the use of ICT in teaching Physics and the students’ performance in Physics-8. Findings of the study revealed that: (1) The ICT competency level of the Grade-8 Physics Teachers is proficient. The teachers are in the basic level both in Pedagogy and Organization and Administration domains; (2) The ICT-based innovative practices performed by the teachers in teaching Physics which were categorized into three themes such as (1) lesson preparation, (2) lesson implementation, and (c) collaboration; (3) There is a moderate positive correlation that exists the between the teachers’ level of competency in the use of ICT and the students’ performance in Physics. The relationship is found to be significant; (4) The teachers perceived that the use of ICT; helped improve students’ understanding of science ideas, increases students’ motivation in learning science ideas, stimulates students’ interest to scientific ideas, facilitates the teaching and learning process, and provides teacher the opportunity to be innovative in delivering the lesson. The teachers also enumerated the top five most pressing challenges encountered that includes the following; poor/no internet connection, lack of seminars and trainings in ICT, lack of technical support, lack of time to plan and prepare lessons using ICT, and unavailability of ICT tools and software: and (5) An Enhancement Program entitled “ICT Competency Enhancement Program for Physics Teachers.” was proposed to address the advancement of the competency level of the teachers in the use of ICT for a more innovative teaching and learning process. Keywords: challenges in using ICT in teaching Physics, correlation students’ performance and teachers’ ICT competency, ICT competency enhancement program, Physics teachers using ICT, teachers’ ICT competenc

Confocal microscopic image sequence compression using vector quantization and 3D pyramids

The 3D pyramid compressor project at the University of Glasgow has developed a compressor for images obtained from CLSM device. The proposed method using a combination of image pyramid coder and vector quantization techniques has good performance at compressing confocal volume image data. An experiment was conducted on several kinds of CLSM data using the presented compressor compared to other well-known volume data compressors, such as MPEG-1. The results showed that the 3D pyramid compressor gave higher subjective and objective image quality of reconstructed images at the same compression ratio and presented more acceptable results when applying image processing filters on reconstructed images

LEDs Urban Carpet, una instalación interactiva para sociabilizar en el espacio público

The purpose of this paper is to explore the type of social interactions that can be generated when a technological platform is introduced in a public environment. Here we present an interactive urban installation, which use a body-input as a form of a non-traditional user interface. Its aim is to enhance novel experiences that can enrich interactions between people nearby, sharing the same space and the same playful atmosphere. The prototype incorporates a grid of lights that dynamically generates patterns according to pedestrian?s position over the carpet. The installation was tested in various locations around the city of Bath, UK

Multiobjective Stochastic Optimization of Dividing-wall Distillation Columns Using a Surrogate Model Based on Neural Networks

Surrogate models have been used for modelling and optimization of conventional chemical processes; among them, neural networks have a great potential to capture complex problems such as those found in chemical processes. However, the development of intensified processes has brought about important challenges in modelling and optimization, due to more complex interrelation between design variables. Among intensified processes, dividing-wall columns represent an interesting alternative for fluid mixtures separation, allowing savings in space requirements, energy and investments costs, in comparison with conventional sequences. In this work, we propose the optimization of dividing-wall columns, with a multiobjective genetic algorithm, through the use of neural networks as surrogate models. The contribution of this work is focused on the evaluation of both objectives and constraints functions with neural networks. The results show a significant reduction in computational time and the number of evaluations of objectives and constraints functions required to reaching the Pareto front