213 research outputs found
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
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
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
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
Роль фахових кафедр в організації науково-дослідної діяльності студентів вищих навчальних закладів мистецького спрямування
У статті порушуються питання організації та надання консультативної допомоги щодо виконання кваліфікаційних робіт студентами і магістрантами вищих навчальних закладів мистецького спрямування. Пріоритет надається індивідуальній роботі наукового керівника зі студентом щодо змісту кваліфікаційної роботи, вибору методів і методик, запровадженню організаційно-педагогічних умов спрямованих на підвищення ефективності наукового дослідження
STATIC! The Aesthetics of Energy in Everyday Things
Abstract: Static! is a project investigating interaction and product design as a way of increasing our awareness of how energy is used in everyday life. Revisiting the design of everyday things with focus on issues related to energy use, we have developed a palette of design examples in the form of prototypes, conceptual design proposals and use scenarios, to be used as a basis for communication and discussion with users and designers. With respect to design research and practice, the aim has been to develop a more profound understanding of energy as material in design, including its expressive and aesthetic potential, thus locating issues related to energy use at the centre of the design process
Propagating phonons coupled to an artificial atom
Quantum information can be stored in micromechanical resonators, encoded as
quanta of vibration known as phonons. The vibrational motion is then restricted
to the stationary eigenmodes of the resonator, which thus serves as local
storage for phonons. In contrast, we couple propagating phonons to an
artificial atom in the quantum regime, and reproduce findings from quantum
optics with sound taking over the role of light. Our results highlight the
similarities between phonons and photons, but also point to new opportunities
arising from the unique features of quantum mechanical sound. The low
propagation speed of phonons should enable new dynamic schemes for processing
quantum information, and the short wavelength allows regimes of atomic physics
to be explored which cannot be reached in photonic systems.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
D-SLATS: Distributed Simultaneous Localization and Time Synchronization
Through the last decade, we have witnessed a surge of Internet of Things
(IoT) devices, and with that a greater need to choreograph their actions across
both time and space. Although these two problems, namely time synchronization
and localization, share many aspects in common, they are traditionally treated
separately or combined on centralized approaches that results in an ineffcient
use of resources, or in solutions that are not scalable in terms of the number
of IoT devices. Therefore, we propose D-SLATS, a framework comprised of three
different and independent algorithms to jointly solve time synchronization and
localization problems in a distributed fashion. The First two algorithms are
based mainly on the distributed Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) whereas the third
one uses optimization techniques. No fusion center is required, and the devices
only communicate with their neighbors. The proposed methods are evaluated on
custom Ultra-Wideband communication Testbed and a quadrotor, representing a
network of both static and mobile nodes. Our algorithms achieve up to three
microseconds time synchronization accuracy and 30 cm localization error
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