A mobile fitness companion

The paper introduces a Mobile Companion prototype, which helps users to plan and keep track of their exercise activities via an interface based mainly on speech input and output. The Mobile Companion runs on a PDA and is based on a stand-alone, speaker-independent solution, making it fairly unique among mobile spoken dialogue systems, where the common solution is to run the ASR on a separate server or to restrict the speech input to some specific set of users. The prototype uses a GPS receiver to collect position, distance and speed data while the user is exercising, and allows the data to be compared to previous exercises. It communicates over the mobile network with a stationary system, placed in the user’s home. This allows plans for exercise activities to be downloaded from the stationary to the mobile system, and exercise result data to be uploaded once an exercise has been completed

How transformational leadership appears in action with adverse events? A study for Finnish nurse manager

AimThe aim of this study was to determine whether elements of transformational leadership are present in nursing managers' actions following adverse events. BackgroundTransformational leadership exerts a positive influence on organisational culture and patient safety. MethodEleven nursing managers were interviewed individually using a semi-structured format. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. ResultsFour themes emerged relating to nursing managers' actions following adverse events: patient-centredness as a principle for common action, courage to reform operational models to prevent future adverse events, nursing staff's encouragement of open and blame-free discussion, and challenge to recognize adverse events. ConclusionNursing managers must understand their responsibilities and the importance of making it clear to staff that patient-centredness should be evident in all health care actions. Nursing managers must also recognize the need to ensure that staff treat patients' interests as the top priority. Implications for Nursing ManagementIf an adverse event occurs, the situation should be discussed with the nursing staff and any unique aspects of the event must be accounted for. Nursing managers must have the skill to motivate and empower staff to find new ways to work, to prevent adverse events and to promote patient safety.Peer reviewe

Tiedon älykäs esittäminen ja tulkinta yritysten tukena

publishedVersio

Community driven artificial intelligence development for robotics

AIBO was a brand of entertainment robots, but Sony discontinued in 2006. It was a very successful robot platform both in research labs and consumer market. An active community of enthusiastic AIBO owners is still around the world with their own repair services for hardware faults and damages what shows how strong is this platform. This PhD research attempts to create a special online community for building a new artificial intelligence (AI) software for Sony ERS-7 robots (Figure 1) as a case study to explore new ways of modern AI development.12th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotic

MIRACLE Handbook : Guidelines for Mixed Reality Applications for Culture and Learning Experiences

Siirretty Doriast

Social Accessibility in Multiplayer Games: Theory and Praxis

In recent years, we have seen growing efforts towards facilitating the accessibility of games to people with disabilities. When it comes to multiplayer games, however, such efforts require not only facilitating the technical accessibility of the game (e.g., accessibility features) but also social inclusion in the game, what we refer to as social accessibility. Accessibility of multiplayer games is, hence, complex and multifaceted. While some advances have been made in terms of technical accessibility, much work is needed to facilitate social accessibility. This study had two goals 1) to propose a definition for social accessibility in multiplayer games, and 2) to present practical examples of how social accessibility can be facilitated in multiplayer games since these aspects were not showcased in the reviewed literature. The study suggests that social accessibility in multiplayer games is a combination of inclusive game design, in-game features, and social guidelines that aim to foster inclusive social structures, and multimodality in communications amongst players, while gaming or socially interacting with aspects of game culture. The study presents various in-game-features that could be used to facilitate social accessibility, such as pausing the game, co-piloting, and individualizable settings.Peer reviewe

The use of walking sounds in supporting awareness

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Boston, MA, July 7-9, 2003.There is need for applications that keep the users aware of various things happening around them. One of such things is the presence of co-workers in office environments. Playing people's walking sounds in the background as cues of their presence came up as one way to provide such information. The walking sounds have very favorable properties; as a part of the normal sound ecology in an office environment they are non-obtrusive. In addition, they have a natural association to the person they present. To study how well people can identify recorded walking sounds of their co-workers we organized a listening experiment. Without any learning the identification rates were 13%, however after short teaching session rates increased to 66%. The results show that walking sounds do contain enough information to convey the identity of the person but careful design of the sounds is necessary. In this paper we also present how walking sounds can be used as a part of a ubiquitous computing system

Challenges with Voice Assistants for the Elderly in Semi-Public Spaces

Voice Assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home have recently made inroads into all walks of life as is evident from their popularity, and the growing number of users. Traditionally, research on elderly people with voice assistants has focused on private spaces - bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms. Due to privacy concerns, ethical issues, legal issues, and noisy environments, their use in public and semi-public spaces are discouraged. However, by carefully mitigating these concerns, voice assistants could still find applications in semi-public spaces for elderly people. This paper summarizes the preliminary insights from 8 interviews that we conducted with elderly people and throws light on the potential areas where voice assistants could be used in semi-public spaces.Peer reviewe