Smart object

In this paper we present the model of smart collaborative objects that can share the responsibilities of backend server by local processing and collaborating with other objects. We propose the technique to adapt the local inferring using the distributed knowledgebase and a framework for development of context aware software for smart environment We also propose a platform for collaborative object to reduce communication overhead and thus save enormous energy.

Robotic middlewares increasingly allow the seamless integration of multiple heterogeneous robots into one distributed system. Unfortunately, very simple devices like tagged everyday objects and smart objects are left orphan in this otherwise pervasive trend. We claim that the inclusion of simple everyday objects as part of distributed robot systems would have many advantages, and propose a design pattern to allow this inclusion. We make this pattern concrete by describing an implementation of it using a specific multi-robot middleware, called PEIS-Ecology Middleware. We also show an illustrative experiment which integrates everyday objects in a smart home equipped with mobile robots as well as more advanced distributed sensor nodes.

As the popularity and complexity of WSN devices and IoT systems are increasing, the testing facilities should keep up. Yet, there is no comprehensive overview of the landscape of the testbed facilities conducted in a systematic manner. In this article, we provide a systematic review of the availability and usage of testbed facilities published in scientific literature between 2011 and 2021, including 359 articles about testbeds and identifying 32 testbed facilities. The results of the review revealed what testbed facilities are available and identified several challenges and limitations in the use of the testbed facilities, including a lack of supportive materials and limited focus on debugging capabilities. The main contribution of this article is the description of how different metrics impact the uasge of testbed facilities, the review also highlights the importance of continued research and development in this field to ensure that testbed facilities continue to meet the changing...

This paper reports on the creation of an interface for 3D virtual environments, computer-aided design applications or computer games. Standard computer interfaces are bound to 2D surfaces, e.g., computer mouses, keyboards, touch pads or touch screens. The Smart Object is intended to provide the user with a 3D interface by using sensors that register movement (inertial measurement unit), touch (touch screen) and voice (microphone). The design and development process as well as the tests and results are presented in this paper. The Smart Object was developed by a team of four third-year engineering students from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities during one semester.

The product of research projects is information. Through the life cycle of a project, information comes from many sources and takes many forms. Traditionally, this body of information is summarized in a formal publication, typically a journal article. While formal publications enjoy the benefits of peer review and technical editing, they are also often compromises in media format and length. As such, we consider a formal publication to represent an abstract to a larger body of work: a pyramid of scientific and technical information (STI). While this abstract may be sufficient for some applications, an in-depth use or analysis is likely to require the supporting layers from the pyramid. We have developed buckets to preserve this pyramid of STI. Buckets provide an archiveand protocol-independent container construct in which all related information objects can be logically grouped together, archived, and manipulated as a single object. Furthermore, buckets are active archival objects and can communicate with each other, people, or arbitrary network services. Buckets are an implementation of the Smart Object, Dumb Archive (SODA) DL model. In SODA, data objects are more important than the archives that hold them. Much of the functionality traditionally associated with archives is pushed down into the objects, such as enforcing terms and conditions, negotiating display, and content maintenance. In this paper, we discuss the motivation, design, and implication of bucket use in DLs with respect to grey literature.

We present the Smart Object, Dumb Archive (SODA) model for digital libraries (DLs). The SODA model transfers functionality traditionally associated with archives to the archived objects themselves. We are exploiting this shift of responsibility to facilitate other DL goals, such as interoperability, object intelligence and mobility, and heterogeneity. Objects in a SODA DL negotiate presentation of content and handle their own terms and conditions. In this paper we present implementations of our smart objects, buckets, and our dumb archive (DA). We discuss the status of buckets and DA and how they are used in a variety of DL projects.

In this paper we present the model of smart collaborative objects that can share the responsibilities of backend server by local processing and collaborating with other objects. We propose the technique to adapt the local inferring using the distributed knowledgebase and a framework for development of context aware software for smart environment We also propose a platform for collaborative object to reduce communication overhead and thus save enormous energy.

In this paper we describe the ATRACO (Adaptive and TRusted Ambient eCOlogies) approach towards next generation ambient intelligent environments. Several agents, such as a Fuzzy Task Agent with learning capabilities and an Interaction Agent collaborate in a goal-related Activity Sphere and adapt heterogeneous artifacts within the sphere in order to support the user to fulfill tasks. All components work on a dynamic Sphere Ontology, which forms the main knowledge base of the ecology. The presented prototype is able to realize the Goal "Feel comfortable at home after work" and was implemented in an existing intelligent environment.

This paper presents a new method for the localization of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) by means of collaboration with a robot within a Network Robot System (NRS). The method employs the signal strength as input, and has two steps: an initial estimation of the position of the nodes is obtained centrally by one robot and is based on particle filtering. It does not require any prior information about the position of the nodes. In the second stage, the nodes refine their position estimates employing a decentralized information filter. The paper shows how the method is able to recover the 3D position of the nodes, and is very suitable for WSN outdoor applications. The paper includes several implementation aspects and experimental results.

An interesting new application domain for handheld devices may be represented by Ambient Intelligence (AmI), where they can be used as intermediaries between us and our surrounding environment. Thus, the devices, which always accompany us, will behave as electronic butlers who assist us in our daily tasks, by interacting with the smart objects (everyday objects augmented with computational services) in our whereabouts. In order to achieve such goal, this paper proposes an AmI-enabling framework providing two main functions: a) facilitate the development and deployment of smart objects and b) transform mobile devices into universal remote controllers of those smart objects.

Mobile devices are mainly used for communication, entertainment, and as electronic assistants. However, their increasing computational, storage, communicational and multimedia capabilities make them suitable for previously unexpected scenarios such as Ambient Intelligence (AmI). Thus, mobile devices may be used as intermediaries between us and the smart objects (everyday objects augmented with computational services) in our surroundings. This paper describes the design and implementation of a middleware to transform mobile devices into universal remote controllers of smart objects.

Currently, there exist a large number of superb digital libraries, all of which are, unfortunately, vertically integrated and all presenting a monolithic interface to their users. Ideally, a user would want to locate resources from a variety of digital libraries dealing only with one interface. A number of approaches exist to this interoperability issue exist including: defining a universal protocol for all libraries to adhere to; or developing mechanisms to translate between protocols. The approach we illustrate in this paper is to push down the level of universal protocols to one for digital object communication and for communication for simple archives. This approach creates the opportunity for digital library service providers to create digital libraries tailored to the needs of user communities drawing from available archives and individual publishers who adhere to this https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20040086690 2017-11-06T21:16:51+00:00Z standard. We have created a reference implementation based on the hyper text transfer protocol (http) with the protocols being derived from the Dienst protocol. We have created a special class of digital objects called buckets and a number of archives based on a NASA collection and NSF funded projects. Starting from NCSTRL [2] we have developed a set of digital library services called NCSTRL+ and have created digital libraries for researchers, educators and students that can each draw on all the archives and individually created buckets.

This paper proposes a formal approach of verifying ubiquitous computing application scenarios. Ubiquitous computing application scenarios assume that there are a lot of devices and physical things with computation and communication capabilities, which are called smart objects, and these are interacted with each other. Each of these interactions among smart objects is called "federation", and these federations form a ubiquitous computing application scenario. Previously, Yuzuru Tanaka proposed "a proximity-based federation model among smart objects", which is intended for liberating ubiquitous computing from stereotyped application scenarios. However, there are still challenges to establish the verification method of this model. This paper proposes a verification method of this model through model checking. Model checking is one of the most popular formal verification approach and it is often used in various fields of industry. Model checking is conducted using a Kripke structure which is a formal state transition model. We introduce a context catalytic reaction network (CCRN) to handle this federation model as a formal state transition model. We also give an algorithm to transform a CCRN into a Kripke structure and we conduct a case study of ubiquitous computing scenario verification, using this algorithm and the model checking. Finally, we discuss the advantages of our formal approach by showing the difficulties of our target problem experimentally.

We present the Smart Object, Dumb Archive (SODA) model for digital libraries (DLs), and discuss the role of metadata in SODA. The premise of the SODA model is to "push down" many of the functionalities generally associated with archives into the data objects themselves. Thus the data objects become "smarter", and the archives "dumber". In the SODA model, archives become primarily set managers, and the objects themselves negotiate and handle presentation, enforce terms and conditions, and perform data content management. Buckets are our implementation of smart objects, and da is our reference implementation for dumb archives. We also present our approach to metadata translation for buckets. 1. Subject Category (computer science, physics, etc.) 2. Archival Type (pre-print, technical report, software, etc.) 3. Terms and Conditions (free, membership required, etc.) 4. Source Language (English, German, etc.) 5. Publishing Institution (included by default in Dienst) Clusters are implemented as newly defined fields in the metadata. Unlike Title, Authors, and other fields, clusters are only searchable through a controlled vocabulary presented by the user interface. Clusters and the NCSTRL+ project itself are more fully discussed in [11]. Buckets are the "smart objects" that we have developed for SODA. 2.0 BUCKETS Buckets are object-oriented container constructs in which logically grouped items can be collected, stored, and transported as a single unit. For example, a typical research project at NASA Langley Research Center produces information tuples: raw data, reduced data, manuscripts, notes, software, images, video, etc. Normally, only the report part of this information tuple is officially published and tracked. The report might reference on-line resources, or even include a CD-ROM, but these items are likely to be lost or degrade over time. Some portions such as software, can go into separate archives (i.e., COSMIC or the Langley Software Server) but this leaves the researcher to re-integrate the information tuple by selecting pieces from multiple archives. Most often, the software and other items, such as datasets are simply discarded. After 10 years, the manuscript is almost surely the only surviving artifact of the information tuple.

Building designers and developers are expected to meet an increasing range of constraints on building projects. Normally, the new constraints are part of an established body of knowledge which designers either have to learn or a new "discipline" emerges which has expertise in the new area. While the stock of buildings is improved through these new requirements, both of these paths increase the complexity of the design process with consequent increases in time and cost for the project. LICHEE is an advanced prototype of a system that integrates CAD with life cycle energy assessment. With the addition of some extra information, it automatically estimates the operational energy and embodied energy requirements of detached housing The system was built out of existing components using the Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) as the "glue" to bind the components together. The use of the IFCs provided significant savings in development time over writing interfaces against the major CAD systems. The software architecture chosen allowed the use of existing stand-alone software components that previously required extra expertise and time.

This paper presents an implementation of an interactive catalogue system for car industry using tabletop display. Such an effort is a proof of concept showing that multi-touch techniques can be useful in car industry as users could directly manipulate the catalogue when viewed on the tabletop display. The work is motivated by the fact that manual car catalogues available during car purchasing activity and road show is less interactive and low in usability. The main objective of this work is to investigate whether by having tabletop display will add value to users interaction which leads to influencing their decision making. The prototype system developed supports user collaboration, enabling more than one user to perform moving, resizing, zooming and rotating the car catalogue projected on the tabletop. Findings from a user testing indicate the usefulness of the multi-touch techniques in displaying interactive car catalogue system.

To facilitate the successful adoption of object technology, organizations are setting up Object Technology Centers. These workshops have been developed to provide members of such organizations a forum to discuss their respective efforts to establish OTCs and techniques they use in promoting the effective use of object technology in their organizations.

The Expert Systems (ES) track within the Computer Information Systems (CIS) major at Georgia State University has been developed in response to the growing maturity of ES technology, the number of successful business applications using ES technology, and the market demand for those with ES skills. The ES track allows the student to specialize in this rapidly growing area while at the same time the student is developing a broad knowledge base pertaining to computer information systems in general The purpose of this paper is to discuss the views underlying the balanced approach taken in the ES track within the CIS program. The unique features of this approach are discussed along with how it is implemented in the graduate program and how it has influenced the evolution of the program in terms of research, dissertations, and courses taught.

In this paper we present the model of smart collaborative objects that can share the responsibilities of backend server by local processing and collaborating with other objects. We propose the technique to adapt the local inferring using the distributed knowledgebase and a framework for development of context aware software for smart environment We also propose a platform for collaborative object to reduce communication overhead and thus save enormous energy.

Abstract. In this paper, we propose Responsive Multimedia System (RMS) for a virtual storytelling. It consists of three key components; Multi-modal Tangible User Interface (MTUI), a Unified Context-aware Application Model for Virtual Environments (vr-UCAM), and Virtual Environment Manager (VEManager). MTUI allows users to interact with virtual environments (VE) through human’s senses by exploiting tangible, haptic and vision-based interfaces. vr-UCAM de-cides reactions of VE according to multi-modal input. VEManager generates dynamic VE by applying the reactions and display it through 3D graphics and 3D sounds, etc. To demonstrate an effectiveness of the proposed system, we implemented a virtual storytelling system which unfolds a legend of Unju Tem-ple. We believe the proposed system plays an important role in implementing various entertainment applications. 1

Threat diagnostic, using AND/OR tree (TDT) and risk analysis, is a mechanism to protect mobile agents against malicious host attacks. The method is based on analyzing the probable causes of mobile agent failure to perform its intended function. It uses the symptoms of different types of malicious host attacks and arranges them in a logical order depending on the expected outcomes. We provide a methodical definition of attacks against mobile agents. This approach allows defining a proposed protection scheme that is used to protect mobile agents. The objectives of this paper are twofold: Firstly,, identify the different types of malicious hosts attacks based on their symptoms. Secondly we introduce our approach based on criticality analysis to identify the most critical type of attack and its associated expected failure cost.

In this paper we present the model of smart collaborative objects that can share the responsibilities of backend server by local processing and collaborating with other objects. We propose the technique to adapt the local inferring using the distributed knowledgebase and a framework for development of context aware software for smart environment We also propose a platform for collaborative object to reduce communication overhead and thus save enormous energy.

With advances in tracking and increased computing power, mobile AR systems are popular in our daily life. Researchers in mobile AR technology have emphasized the technical challenges involved in the limitations imposed from mobility. They did not consider context-aware service with user-related information annotation, even if in ubiquitous computing environment, various contexts of both a user and an environment can be utilized easily as well as effectively. Moreover, it is difficult to have access to pervasive but invisible computing resources. At the same time, the more smart appliances become evolved with more features, the harder their user interfaces tend to become to use. Thus, in this paper, we propose Context-aware Mobile Augmented Reality (CaMAR) system. It lets users interact with their smart objects through personalized control interfaces on their mobile AR devices. Also, it supports enabling contents to be not only personalized but also shared selectively and interactively among user communities.

The Internet of Things makes it possible to adapt the behaviour of business processes in response to real-time context updates. In addition, physical items can run and validate parts of the business processes and optimise their execution, while reducing message transmissions. State-of-the-art event-driven, service-oriented architecture approaches contribute to enabling inter-organisational collaboration and interoperability of heterogeneous hardware, but their applicability is limited to preplanned, well-structured processes. We take a step forward by supporting ad-hoc changes within business processes, considering changes in the state of the Things; likewise, whenever needed, the software controlling the behaviour of sensors may be dynamically reconfigured as a result of changes in the functional specifications of business processes.

Multimodal user interfaces provide users with different ways of interacting with applications. This has advantages both in providing interaction solutions with additional robustness in environments where a single modality might result in ambiguous input or output (e.g., speech in noisy environments), and for users with some kind of limitation (e.g., hearing difficulties resulting from ageing) by yielding alternative and more natural ways of interacting. The design and development of applications supporting multimodal interaction involves numerous challenges, particularly if the goals include the development of multimodal applications for a wide variety of scenarios, designing complex interaction and, at the same time, proposing and evolving interaction modalities. These require the choice of an architecture, development and evaluation methodologies and the adoption of principles that foster constant improvements at the interaction modalities level without disrupting existing applications. Based on previous and ongoing work, by our team, we present our approach to the design, development and evaluation of multimodal applications covering several devices and application scenarios.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) ist eine etablierte Technologie zum Identifizieren und Lokalisieren von Objekten. Drahtlose Sensornetzwerke gehen einen Schritt weiter, indem sie über Sensoren aktiv ihre Umwelt wahrnehmen und Informationen weitervermitteln können. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Entwicklung eines Sensornetzwerks zum Einsatz im Krankenhaus. Dabei soll auf Basis derselben Infrastruktur (Hardware, Schnittstellen, Software) verschiedene Einsatzszenarien unterstützen werden, so dass der Nutzen der Technologie maximiert und die Investition gerechtfertigt werden können. Am Beispiel zweier Szenarien (Gerätemanagement, Bluttransfusionen) wird die Flexibilität des Ansatzes demonstriert. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt wird auf die Risikoanalyse des Systems gelegt.

This work describes the architecture proposed by the webinos EU project, which aims at developing software components for the future Internet, in the form of Web Runtime Extensions. It discusses the webinos architecture from a developer's point of view, presenting an overview of its main advantages, such as context-awareness capabilities and distributed APIs in an intrinsic secure environment. It also shows how these features can in practice prove beneficial to the development of ubiquitous and secure web applications based on standard technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

This paper presents a robotic system that exploits Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies for implementing an ambient intelligence scenario. We address the problems of robot object discovery, localization, and recognition in a fully distributed way. We propose to embed some memory, some computational power, and some communication capability in the objects, by attaching a WSN mote to each object. We called the union of an object and of a mote, a smart object. The robot does not have any information on the number nor on the kind of objects in the environment. The robot discovers the objects through the radio frequency communication provided by the WSN motes. The robot roughly locates the motes by performing a range-only SLAM algorithm based on the RSSI-range measurements. A more precise localization and recognition step is performed by processing images acquired by the camera installed on the robot and matching the descriptors extracted from these images with those transmitted by the motes. Experiments with eight smart objects in a cluttered office environment with many dummy objects are reported. The robot was able to correctly locate the motes, to navigate toward them and to correctly recognize the smart objects.

Abstract—In this work, we focus on the problem of object location and recognition by an autonomous mobile robot. In our approach, the robot does not have any prior knowledge about the form and multiplicity of the objects. The robot, however, is equipped with an onboard camera and both objects and robot are capable of exchanging data by using a common low-cost, low-rate wireless technology, namely a TmoteSky mote. The small storage memory of the mote is used to store a simple communication protocol and a ...

In this paper we present the model of smart collaborative objects that can share the responsibilities of backend server by local processing and collaborating with other objects. We propose the technique to adapt the local inferring using the distributed knowledgebase and a framework for development of context aware software for smart environment We also propose a platform for collaborative object to reduce communication overhead and thus save enormous energy.

Abstract. We have been interacting with paper(-like) documents for millennia and have developed practices based on such technology. Likewise, we've been interacting with electronic documents for decades, developing a set of practices based on that technology. As the promise of ...

Languages like Snobol, Prolog, and Icon were designed with backtracking facilities from the outset and these facilities are deeply intertwined with the implementation. Retrofitting a backtracking facility in a language that wasn't designed for it has never been achieved. We report on an experiment to retrofit Smalltalk with a backtracking facility. The facility is provided through a small number of primitives written in the language (no modifications to the kernel were made). The ability to do this is a direct result of the power provided by the objectification of contexts.

The 7 th EU framework programme for research (FP7) aims to provide new impetus to Europe's growth and competitiveness, in realising that knowledge is Europe's greatest resource. The programme places greater emphasis than in the past on research that is relevant to the needs of European industry, to help it compete internationally, and develop its role as a world leader in certain sectors. For the first time the framework programme provides support for the best in European investigator-driven research, with the creation of a European Research Council. The FP7 budget is 50% higher compared with its predecessor. The paper focuses on advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) under FP7 and on how the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry and facility management (FM) can benefit through a systematic involvement. The technologies under development, ranging from wireless sensor networks, cooperative smart objects, plug-and-play control architectures, technologies supporting the "Internet of Things", to ICT services supporting energy efficiency can benefit not only this sector, but the economy as a whole. Significant near-market research will be carried out in the two ICT Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI) which are launched in 2008. They address nanoelectronics and embedded computing systems applications. In international cooperation, the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) initiative is focusing its strategy on building Manufacturing Technology Platforms in areas such as standardisation, education, sustainable manufacturing, energy efficiency and key technologies. All these activities aim to link R&D efforts of research groups across sectors, countries and regions.

Currently few efficient context aware systems that dynamically adapt business processes to context information exist. This calls for the study of context data that affect business processes at runtime, and also a research on adaptive systems that will dynamically reconfigure a business process at runtime to soot the current context. Context-aware systems offer entirely new opportunities for application developers and for end users by gathering context data and adapting systems behavior accordingly, especially in combination with mobile devices these mechanisms are of high value and are used to increase usability tremendously. Our goal is to develop efficient architectural frameworks for context aware systems for business processes that will respond to changing context by adapting itself to a new context. We propose a hybrid architecture which combines both middleware technologies and web services.

To accommodate the proliferation of heterogeneous network models and protocols, the use of semantic technologies to enable an abstract treatment of networks is proposed. Network adapters are employed to lift network specific data into a semantic representation. Semantic reasoning integrates the disparate network models and protocols into a common data model by making intelligent inferences from low-level network and device details. Automatic discovery of new devices, monitoring of device state, and invocation of device actions in a generic fashion that is agnostic of network types is enabled. A prototype system called SNoMAC is described that employs the proposed approach operating over UPnP, TR-069, and heterogeneous sensors. These sensors are integrated by means of a sensor middleware named SIXTH that augments the capabilities of SNoMAC to allow for intelligent management and configuration of a wide variety of sensor devices. A major benefit of this approach is that the addition of new models, protocols, or sensor types merely involves the development of a new network adapter based on an ontology. Additionally, the semantic representation of the network and associated data allows for a variety of client interfaces to facilitate human input to the management and monitoring of the system.

The development of engaging user interfaces that support collaboration is a great challenge-in particular if users are children. We consider mobile phones as appropriate devices for multiuser interactions with a system because novel forms of physical mobile interaction techniques with smart objects yield lots of benefits, such as being intuitive and playful to use, but also addressing children's needs for curiosity. In this paper, we introduce our approach to multiuser game-like scenarios within an ambient intelligence context which are controlled via different mobile phones and their supported interaction techniques. By providing children with multiple mobile phones we structure interactions in multiuser settings and prevent undesirable situations, such as dominant users or off-topic actions. Children get access to various physical mobile interaction techniques for interactions with smart objects which are all required to fulfill one common goal. In this way, social interaction arises in a natural manner. In order to motivate and evaluate our approach, we developed two ambient intelligence applications called The World Explorer and The Escape. Results of a user study showed that children liked working in a group and that physical mobile interaction techniques are a promising approach to increase engagement and foster social interactions but also to prevent chaotic situations by balancing the distribution of activities in multiuser settings.

In recent years, the research in the area of Ubiquitous Computing has intensified, with many technological advances occurring, but the current scenario is still far away from an everyday life fulfilled with seamless ubiquitous systems. Within this context, a proposal of an infrastructure is studied and presented. It is based on a set of guiding principles and a generic architecture, having a well focused application goal inside the area. It is directed at supporting the implementation of systems that augments physical objects present in a daily life environment. Initially, the augmentation is made with the main target of presenting additional personalized information, although it can support other services. Developed prototypes allowed testing the integration of mature and recognized technologies, also serving as proof of the infrastructure's viability.

The emerging ubiquitous networked technologies enable to integrate distributed software/hardware components to achieve more value-added services. In order to develop and manage such integrated services effectively, it is essential to monitor the status of ...

Continuous monitoring of cardiovascular parameters is a growing necessity in developed countries. However, continuous monitoring implies the usage of obtrusive methods, inappropriate for extended periods. To be able to unobtrusively assess the body's cardiovascular and respiratory activity is a long-pursued ambition of utmost significance in patient healthcare. Systems able to be embedded in objects of daily use have been developed and improved recently, seeking to achieve this goal. Solutions based in ballistocardiography, contactless electrocardiography, photo and impedance plethysmography, and others, have been emerging, or re-emerging, as reliable unobtrusive sources of data. In this paper the latest advances obtained on inconspicuously assessing a subject's cardiovascular function are described. The key features and concepts are presented, as well as the benefits and limitations of their application for wheelchair users.

In recent years, the evolution of infrastructures and technologies carried out by emerging paradigms, such as Cloud Computing, Future Internet and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), is leading the area of enterprise systems to a progressive, significant transformation process. This evolution is characterized by two aspects: a progressive commoditization of the traditional ES functions, with the 'usual' management and planning of resources, while the challenge is shifted toward the support to enterprise innovation. This process will be accelerated by the advent of FInES (Future Internet Enterprise System) research initiatives, where different scientific disciplines converge, together with empirical practices, engineering techniques and technological solutions. All together they aim at revisiting the development methods and architectures of the Future Enterprise Systems, according to the different articulations that Future Internet Systems (FIS) are assuming, to achieve the Future Internet Enterprise Systems (FInES). In particular, this paper foresees a progressive implementation of a rich, complex, articulated digital world that reflects the real business world, where computational elements, referred to as FInER (Future Internet Enterprise Resources), will directly act and evolve according to what exists in the real world.

Digital natives demand a more active approach to learning. Moreover, the acquisition and assessment of competencies, rather than the mere transmission of information, is becoming more relevant in the Knowledge Society. 3D virtual worlds are a promising environment to meet both of these requirements. In a 3D virtual world, learners are immersed in a rich environment that allows them to have an active experience through their avatars and interaction devices. The learning process in traditional learning management systems has been widely studied, but there is relatively little literature about the use of 3D virtual worlds for learning, although the expectations are high and the possibilities opened immense. This paper focuses on an important part of the teaching and learning process: the assessment. Our aim is to present a set of techniques adapted to this novel 3D medium that allows assessing knowledge, skills, and competencies by using the elements inherent to 3D virtual worlds (avatars, synthetic characters, smart objects) and take advantage of the new dimension introduced.

Abstract: This paper presents a novel context-aware system for deictic gestures interaction with smart environments. The system tracks multiple users; moreover, it recognizes inhabitants' postures and gestures in real-time. This information, enriched with smart objects coordinates, is reconstructed in a 3D model to allow the recognition process. Finally the system executes the programmed tasks to support the users' activity. Two Microsoft Kinect depth cameras have been used to acquire the data and a framework for the ...

Our everyday environments are gradually becoming intelligent, facilitated both by technological development and user activities. Although large-scale intelligent environments are still rare in actual everyday use, they have been studied for quite a long time, and several user studies have been carried out. In this paper, we present a user-centric view of intelligent environments based on published research results and our own experiences from user studies with concepts and prototypes. We analyze user acceptance and users' expectations that affect users' willingness to start using intelligent environments and to continue using them. We discuss user experience of interacting with intelligent environments where physical and virtual elements are intertwined. Finally, we touch on the role of users in shaping their own intelligent environments instead of just using ready-made environments. People are not merely "using" the intelligent environments but they live in them, and they experience the environments via embedded services and new interaction tools as well as the physical and social environment. Intelligent environments should provide emotional as well as instrumental value to the people who live in them, and the environments should be trustworthy and controllable both by regular users and occasional visitors. Understanding user expectations and user experience in intelligent environments,

In this paper we present a service management platform and an architecture which integrates the features of IoT with the management features of modern autonomic network management, and many service features from the world of Services. We present an architecture for INOX, a robust and adaptable Service Platform for the Internet of Things and InterConnected Smart Objects. The platform integrates many of the ideas from Autonomic Network Management and Services and provides the functionality which allows for better use of the sensors, things and the smart objects through enhanced application development, more flexible service deployment, virtualized elements, and better service management. This paper presents the current status of our work on a reference framework for the management and integration of smart objects and virtual networks into such a service platform.

Überwachungssysteme an rotierenden Maschinenelementen wie Kupplungen und Naben können Lebensdauer, Systemveränderungen und Ausfälle eines Bauteils frühzeitig erkennen und damit den gesamten Prozessablauf sicherer und effizienter gestalten. Wartungsintervalle können dem realen Verschleiß des Bauteils angepasst oder Überlastungen frühzeitig erkannt werden. Den Ansatzpunkt zur Umsetzung liefert die RFID Technik. Bestehend aus Transponder, Lesegerät und entsprechenden Sensoren kann diese Technik nicht nur zur Lokalisierung und Identifizierung, sondern auch zur drahtlosen Überwachung von Bauteilen eingesetzt werden.

In recent years, the evolution of infrastructures and technologies carried out by emerging paradigms, such as Cloud Computing, Future Internet and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), is leading the area of enterprise systems to a progressive, significant transformation process. This evolution is characterized by two aspects: a progressive commoditization of the traditional ES functions, with the 'usual' management and planning of resources, while the challenge is shifted toward the support to enterprise innovation. This process will be accelerated by the advent of FInES (Future Internet Enterprise System) research initiatives, where different scientific disciplines converge, together with empirical practices, engineering techniques and technological solutions. All together they aim at revisiting the development methods and architectures of the Future Enterprise Systems, according to the different articulations that Future Internet Systems (FIS) are assuming, to achieve the Future Internet Enterprise Systems (FInES). In particular, this paper foresees a progressive implementation of a rich, complex, articulated digital world that reflects the real business world, where computational elements, referred to as FInER (Future Internet Enterprise Resources), will directly act and evolve according to what exists in the real world.

In ubiquitous manufacturing (UM) environment, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology enables real-time traceability, visibility and interoperability in improving the performance of shop-floor planning, execution and control. This paper presents an innovative gateway technology. A gateway is physically composed of smart objects that are logically related to each other according to a shop-floor workflow configuration. Although smart objects are equipped with heterogeneous RFID devices, they are converted into standard web services using the concept of agents. The resulted agent-based smart objects (ASOs) are then centrally managed through a specially purposed smart objects Universal Description, Discovery and Integration registry (SO-UDDI) where facilities such as register, publish, find, bind and invoke are provided for ASOs. Through these facilities, smart objects can be deployed at a gateway in a ''Plug and Play'' fashion. Real-time data are collected by smart objects from the shop floor and processed by the corresponding gateway for further application in enterprise information systems (EISs). The proposed framework is demonstrated through a smart forklift gateway around which smart objects are deployed.

Facial expressions play an important role in human communication. P. Ekman claims that some facial expressions are universal. But the interpretation of facial expressions is cultural and context dependent. In this paper we describe a nonverbal dictionary with facial expressions and context dependent semantic labelling and interpretation. This dictionary can be used to train students with different cultural background to interpret and label facial expressions. An e-learning environment has been implemented containing educational material about non-verbal communication. In this paper we present the design and implementation of the nonverbal dictionary and how this system has been used to train students using e-learning technology. INTRODUCTION Non-verbal communication plays an important role in our daily life. Examples of nonverbal communication are facial expressions, body posture, and prosody in speech. Facial expressions can be used to regulate human communication to express emotio...

Several do-it-yourself projects and toolkits aim to empower people in bringing intelligence into their personal environments. This is particularly challenging because there is still a large gap between people who can imagine how technology could simplify their life and engineers who can actually make things behave smart. To unite both camps, we present a platform that enables ordinary people to become the inventor of their own smart objects, assisted by a community of field experts. Our software, called D-TALE, fosters the creativity of people by giving them a forum where they can express and prototype their innovative ideas. Moreover, D-TALE gives rise to a crowd-sourcing platform where non-technical users can request developers to provide an implementation for their project. Our approach is outlined in a preliminary case study.