Multimodality in Pervasive Environment

Future pervasive environments are expected to immerse users in a consistent world of probes, sensors and actuators. Multimodal interfaces combined with social computing interactions and high-performance networking can foster a new generation of pervasive environments. However, much work is still needed to harness the full potential of multimodal interaction. In this paper we discuss some short-term research goals, including advanced techniques for joining and correlating multiple data flows, each with its own approximations and uncertainty models. Also, we discuss some longer term objectives, like providing users with a mental model of their own multimodal "aura", enabling them to collaborate with the network infrastructure toward inter-modal correlation of multimodal inputs, much in the same way as the human brain extracts a single self-conscious experience from multiple sensorial data flows

The Internet of things to support urban incident responses

Although the technological components required to implement Internet of Things (IoT) inspired solutions are already available, in most application scenarios it is not clear how to structure and combine them to reach a certain global behavior of a system. This paper proposes an architecture that helps design IoT-based systems that support the first responses during medium-size or large urban incidents. The main components of this architecture are characterized and the interactions between them are also specified. The usefulness of the proposed architecture is illustrated through its hypothetical use in a real urban emergency. The use of this proposal could be extended to other application areas such as security operatives and monitoring of patients at home.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Physicochemical Stability Enhancement of ?-carotene-rich O/W Nanoemulsions using a New Natural Emulsifier Developed from Pistacia lentiscus Fruit Residue

A natural antioxidant-emulsifier was developed from oil pressed Pistacia lentiscus fruit and tested for oil-in-water nanoemulsions ?-carotene encapsulation. Five extracts were prepared, characterized and screened for their emulsifying capacity. The extract prepared with 75% ethanol (Ex-75%), displayed the highest antioxidant capacity (EC50 = 4.6 +- 0.2�mg/mL), which was significantly correlated with saponin and polyphenol contents (F = 22.30; P-value = 0.018). Under the same high-pressure homogenization conditions, Pistacia Ex-75% and the synthetic emulsifier (Tween-80) produced a comparable physically stable ?-carotene-rich nanoemulsions with d4,3 of 163.4 +- 2.5 and 158.4 +- 4�nm, respectively, and a similar monomodal size distribution following 90�days of storage at 25� C. However, Pistacia Ex-75% markedly improved the chemical stability of encapsulated ?-carotene during the storage period at both 5 and 25� C. These results suggest that Pistacia Ex-75% is effective as an antioxidant-emulsifier and could be used as a dual-purpose functional ingredient in emulsified products. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.This work was carried out in the framework of the contract program project for Laboratory of Environmental Bioprocesses at Center of Biotechnology of Sfax supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research-Tunisia (LR15CBS01) and the JICA-JST Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) Project: "Valorization of Bio-resources based on Scientific Evidence in Semi- and Arid Land for Creation of New Industry" (grant number: JPMJSA1506). Authors are grateful for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS) Tunisia and Japan International Cooperation agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology agency (JST) for the financial support. Authors would like to thank Mr. Sofian Boukataya for supplying the Pistacia lentiscus fruits and helping with their pressing.Scopu

Situated Micro-displays for Activity-Aware Systems

Abstract. Most activity-aware systems designed to support mobile workers in dynamic environments, such as hospitals or industrial plants, typically consider the use of mobile devices and large displays. However, we envision potential benefits of using ubiquitous micro-displays as support of mobile workers activities. Particularly, in this paper we show how the use of situated micro-displays, as a mechanism for embedding information into a physical environment, can contribute to improve the performance and experience of mobile workers in those scenarios. The article also describes the prototype of a micro-display network designed to support people performing spatially distributed activities. It also presents a user study that helps understand how the spatial distribution of situated micro-displays impacts on the mobile workers performance