Visualizing Energy Consumption of Radiators

Heating is a significant expenditure of many households today but the actual power consumption of the heating devices are seldom recognized. To help people understand and reflect upon their domestic energy consumption, we have designed an electrical radiator that emits heat entirely from light bulbs. This appliance responds to temperature changes in the room via sensors. The idea was to combine the product semantics of lamps and radiators and direct focus on the latter neglected product category. We argue that by re-designing domestic appliances adding means to visualize energy consumption in engaging and interesting ways it is possible to make energy utilization less abstract and easier to comprehend

Promoting New Patterns in Household Energy Consumption with Pervasive Learning Games

Engaging computer games can be used to change energy consumption patterns in the home. PowerAgent is a pervasive game for Java-enabled mobile phones that is designed to influence everyday activities and use of electricity in the domestic setting. PowerAgent is connected to the household’s automatic electricity meter reading equipment via the cell network, and this setup makes it possible to use actual consumption data in the game. In this paper, we present a two-level model for cognitive and behavior learning, and we discuss the properties of PowerAgent in relation to the underlying situated learning, social learning, and persuasive technology components that we have included in the game

Evaluation of a Pervasive Game for Domestic Energy Engagement Among Teenagers

In this article, we present Power Agent—a pervasive game designed to encourage teenagers and their families to reduce energy consumption in the home. The ideas behind this mobile phonebased game are twofold; to transform the home environment and its devices into a learning arena for hands-on experience with electricity usage and to promote engagement via a team competition scheme. We report on the game’s evaluation with six teenagers and their families who played the game for ten days in two cities in Sweden. Data collection consisted of home energy measurements before, during, and after a game trial, in addition to interviews with participants at the end of the evaluation. The results suggest that the game concept was highly efficient in motivating and engaging the players and their families to change their daily energy-consumption patterns during the game trial. Although the evaluation does not permit any conclusions as to whether the game had any postgame effects on behavior, we can conclude that the pervasive persuasive game approach appears to be highly promising in regard to energy conservation and similar fields or issues

Power Explorer – a casual game style for encouraging long term behavior change among teenagers

When it comes to motivating teenagers towards energy awareness, new approaches need to be considered. One such is the use of pervasive games connected to the players own energy consumption. Earlier work has confirmed this to be a highly effective approach. The question however remains if post game effects on behavior can be achieved. In this paper we try to answer this by trying out a slightly different design compared to previous work. The hypothesis is that a more casual game play and a richer learning interaction enabled by building the game on a real time sensor system could stimulate more lasting effects. Electric consumption data after the 7 days evaluation on a test group of 15 players shows tentative indications for a persistent post game effect compared to the control group of 20 households. Findings also show a statistically significant positive change in the players’ attitude towards saving energy compared to the same group. Findings, at the same time, also indicate a negative effect on the player’s attitude toward environmental questions in general

Persuasive design of a mobile energy conservation game with direct feedback and social cues

Pervasive gaming has the potential of transforming the home into a persuasive environment in which the user can learn about appliances and their electricity consumption. Power Explorer is a mobile game with a special sensing approach that provides real-time electricity measurements and feedback when the user switches on and off devices in the home. The game was developed based on persuasive principles to provide an engaging means to learn about energy with positive and negative feedback and social feedback from peers on real energy actions in the home. We present the design and rationale of this game and discuss how pervasive games can be viewed from a persuasive and learning point of view

Persuasive Engagement: Exploiting lifestyle as a driving force to promote energy-aware use patterns and behaviours.

Electricity consumption has been rising significantly in the western world the last decades and this has affected the environment negatively. Efficient use and more energy conservative usage patterns could be ways to approach this problem. However, electricity has for a long time actively been hidden away and it is rarely thought of unless it ceases to exist. From the perspective of critical design, we have been working to find methods to visualise electricity and electricity consumption in everyday life to promote environmentally positive behavioural change. In this paper, we are looking at how aspects of lifestyles can be used in design as central driving forces that could lead to changed behaviour. Attempts to promote behavioural changes related to energy consumption might be successfully carried out when people are offered desirable alternatives that are engaging and that do not impose a perceived extra burden in their everyday life. This argument is exemplified through two design concepts, the AWARE Laundry Lamp and the Energy Plant, which are examples on how to increase people’s energy awareness and offer them means for reducing their energy consumption in the home. Both prototypes are inspired by current trends in lifestyle as well as actual observed user behaviour. Keywords: Interaction Design; Sustainable Design; Energy; Lifestyle; Persuasive Design</p

Coffee maker patterns and the design of energy feedback artefacts

Smart electricity meters and home displays are being installed in people’s homes with the assumption that households will make the necessary efforts to reduce their electricity consumption. However, present solutions do not sufficiently account for the social implications of design. There is a potential for greater savings if we can better understand how such designs affect behaviour. In this paper, we describe our design of an energy awareness artefact – the Energy AWARE Clock – and discuss it in relation to behavioural processes in the home. A user study is carried out to study the deployment of the prototype in real domestic contexts for three months. Results indicate that the Energy AWARE Clock played a significant role in drawing households’ attention to their electricity use. It became a natural part of the household and conceptions of electricity became naturalized into informants’ everyday language

Legislative Intent: The Use of Positive Political Theory in Statutory Interpretation

I april 2010 gav regeringen i uppdrag till Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB) att i ett projekt öka säkerheten på landsbygden genom nya former för räddning och respons. Inom ramen för ovanstående uppdrag, vilket benämns ”Samhällsviktig samverkan i landsbygd” har CARER – Centrum för respons- och räddningssystem – vid Linköpings universitet fått i uppdrag av MSB att inventera vilka behov och resurser för säkerhet och trygghet som existerar på lands- och glesbygd, samt undersöka vilka andra projekt och initiativ som föregått detta, nationellt och internationellt. CARERs projekt, som görs inom ramen för regeringsuppdraget, benämns Trygghetshöjande åtgärder för landsbygden (TÅLA). TÅLA har genomförts som fyra sammanhängande delstudier där de två första delstudierna använder kvalitativ metodik, främst intervjuer, och syftar till att skapa en förståelse för den upplevda tryggheten på lands- och glesbygden, samt utröna vad den består i och hur den kan stärkas. Delstudie 3 syftar till att kvantitativt uttrycka behov och resurser för säkerhet och trygghet på landsoch glesbygd genom ett urval av indikatorer. Delstudie 4 syftar till att ge en överblick över tidigare forskning och utveckling på området. Några generella slutsatser som kan dras från TÅLA-projektets olika delstudier är att det finns en god medvetenhet hos boende i land- och glesbygd för att det kan ta tid innan hjälp kan fås ifrån de traditionella räddningssystemen (som till exempel polis eller räddningstjänst), ett faktum som också kan bekräftas numerärt. Vissa indikatorer tyder dessutom på att boende på lands- och glesbygden är mer drabbade av olyckor än boende i tätort, vilket ger ett ökat behov av de aktuella resurserna. Detta har lett till att nya typer av lösningar har utvecklats, oftast av de boende, för att bistå vid olyckor, många baserade på självhjälp och frivillighet. Tydligt är också att trygghet omfattar mer än bara blåljusverksamheter och stöd från det allmänna. Här inkluderas också behov som el, vatten och möjligheten att handla mat. En stor del av den upplevda tryggheten hos befolkningen kommer från det sociala nätverk som finns i respektive by. Möjligheter till kommunikation är centralt och det är när individen är ensam utan möjlighet till kontakt med omvärlden som den största otryggheten infinner sig. Det framkom under projektet flera exempel på samverkan och de som medverkar framhåller vikten av att känna varandra innan insatsen, för att bästa möjliga resultat ska uppnås. Såväl de båda kvalitativa studierna som kunskapsöversikten pekar på att en trolig väg till framgång för en ökad säkerhet och trygghet på landsbygden bygger på att de lokala resurserna och strukturerna nyttjas i samverkan med de traditionella räddningsresurserna. Detta innebär att det bör vara möjligt att stärka dels de boendes möjligheter att hjälpa sig själva och att hjälpa varandra, men också att nyttja organisationer som idag inte tillhör blåljusmyndigheterna för att i samverkan med räddningstjänsten, sjukvården och polisen kunna bistå vid olyckor, akuta sjukdomsförlopp och andra relevanta händelser. Viktigt att beakta i detta sammanhang är då att använda de befintliga strukturer som existerar bland såväl boende som olika organisationer, för att på bästa sätt kunna dra nytta av den lokala kunskap, de resurser och det engagemang som existerar

Towards an MLOps Architecture for XAI in Industrial Applications

Machine learning (ML) has become a popular tool in the industrial sector as it helps to improve operations, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. However, deploying and managing ML models in production environments can be complex. This is where Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) comes in. MLOps aims to streamline this deployment and management process. One of the remaining MLOps challenges is the need for explanations. These explanations are essential for understanding how ML models reason, which is key to trust and acceptance. Better identification of errors and improved model accuracy are only two resulting advantages. An often neglected fact is that deployed models are bypassed in practice when accuracy and especially explainability do not meet user expectations. We developed a novel MLOps software architecture to address the challenge of integrating explanations and feedback capabilities into the ML development and deployment processes. In the project EXPLAIN, our architecture is implemented in a series of industrial use cases. The proposed MLOps software architecture has several advantages. It provides an efficient way to manage ML models in production environments. Further, it allows for integrating explanations into the development and deployment processes

Suspicion and treatment of severe sepsis. An overview of the prehospital chain of care

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition where the risk of death has been reported to be even higher than that associated with the major complications of atherosclerosis, i.e. myocardial infarction and stroke. In all three conditions, early treatment could limit organ dysfunction and thereby improve the prognosis