eScience today and tomorrow

This special issue contains extended versions of many of the top papers from the 10th IEEE International eScience Conference (eScience 2014), held in October 2014 in Guarujá, Brazil. The authors of strongly reviewed papers published in that conference were invited to extend their papers, which then went through a second peer review. This special issue contains the first set (seven) of the extended papers selected as the result of this review. Part 2, with three additional extended papers, will follow in a future issue of FGCS.     

Ambient media today and tomorrow

Ambient media are novel, and this new media form alters our daily-living experience in many ways. Ambient media refer to media environments that are embedded throughout the natural space where people are following their daily activities. These digital media environments become part of the living space and altering our daily-living experience in many ways. The goal of this article is to elaborate the status of ambient media today and to forecast how ambient media will develop in the next decade. It clearly identifies megatrends and develops scenarios (e. g., ambient-assisted living) for the future. These scenarios shall shed light on the potentials and give a glimpse on the potential future development of embedding digital objects into the daily living space. This paper is based on a future wheel approach and on an analysis of the results of an expert workshop. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and an evaluation of the impact of each scenario.     

Character sets of today and tomorrow

This paper reviews the character sets used in today's computer systems and discusses character sets for future computer systems. Some newer Latin-based character sets are introduced and compared in terms of their suitability for information interchange and information processing. Finally, the character set most appropriate for use in future computer systems is suggested.     

Remembering today tomorrow: Exploring the human-centred design of digital mementos

This paper describes two-part research exploring the context for and human-centred design of ‘digital mementos’, as an example of technology for reflection on personal experience (in this case, autobiographical memories). Field studies into families' use of physical and digital objects for remembering provided a rich understanding of associated user needs and human values, and suggested properties for ‘digital mementos’ such as being ‘not like work’, discoverable and fun. In a subsequent design study, artefacts were devised to express these features and develop the understanding of needs and values further via discussion with groups of potential ‘users’. ‘Critical artefacts’ (the products of Critical Design) were used to enable participants to envisage broader possibilities for social practices and applications of technology in the context of personal remembering, and thus to engage in the design of novel devices and systems relevant to their lives. Reflection was a common theme in the work, being what the digital mementos were designed to afford and the mechanism by which the design activity progressed. Ideas for digital mementos formed the output of this research and expressed the designer's and researcher's understanding of participants' practices and needs, and the human values that underlie them and, in doing so, suggest devices and systems that go beyond usability to support a broader conception of human activity.     

Designing for work place learning

The use of computers to support learning at work has for long been propagated. Although a large bulk of experience exists in this field, it is still an open question what role computer applications play and can play in the process of learning. It can even be questioned if the learning processes themselves are sufficiently well understood to enable designers and others to provide relevant support. In this article these questions are addressed with reference to experience gained with two projects on computer support for shop floor learning. The projects involved the future users actively in the design process and it is argued that this involvement reached far beyond the mere shaping of the learning artefacts.     

The microprocessor today

Outlines technology and business issues in today's microprocessor industry. From their humble beginnings 25 years ago, microprocessors have proliferated into an astounding range of chips, powering devices ranging from telephones to supercomputers. Today, microprocessors for personal computers get widespread attention-and have enabled Intel to become the world's largest semiconductor maker. In addition, embedded microprocessors are at the heart of a diverse range of devices that have become staples of consumers worldwide. Microprocessors have become specialized in many ways. Those for desktop computers fall into classes based on their instruction set architectures: either x86, the primary surviving complex instruction set computing (CISC) architecture, or one of the five major reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architectures-PA-RISC, Mips, Spare, Alpha, and PowerPC. Such chips typically integrate few functions other than cache memory and bus interfaces with the processor but usually include a floating-point unit and memory management unit. Embedded microprocessors, on the other hand, typically do not have floating-point or memory management units but often integrate various peripheral functions with the processor to reduce system cost.     

The DPM's role in the office of tomorrow

If DP managers use new advanced computing techniques imaginatively and enthusiastically, their role in the ‘office of tomorrow’ will be enhanced rather than eroded. The power to use information effectively is the key role in business and one which the DP manager is in a prime position to fulfil.     

The sorcerer and the apprentice. Human-computer interaction today

Human-computer interaction today has got a touch of magic: Without understanding the causal coherence, using a computer seems to become the art to use the right spell with the mouse as the magic wand — the sorcerer's staff. Goethes's poem admits an allegoric interpretation. We explicate the analogy between using a computer and casting a spell with emphasis on teaching magic skills. The art to create an ergonomic user interface has to take care of various levels of skills for the human operators. The problem of logical discontinuities as opposed to continuous control is the most serious obstacle for human-computer interaction.     

Pioneering work in the field of computer process control

Dreams of using digital computers in industrial control systems surfaced almost as soon as such a computer was invented in the mid to late 1940s. By the early fifties, the concepts of such use were fairly well established. However, actual applications had to wait until relatively small, reliable, and also relatively inexpensive machines were available, along with vendor companies with the will and the initiative to pursue this field vigorously Such a company was the Ramo-Wooldridge Company, which entered this field in the mid-fifties. The company found ready acceptance of its products among the companies in the process industries. By the mid-sixties, there were installations in almost every process industry and many other vendors had entered the field. Such installations became the norm for computer applications to industrial control until the microprocessor and its associated distributed computer control systems superseded them beginning in the mid-seventies. The article chronicles the development of this early field by describing several of the early installations and their successes and difficulties     

NOAA polar orbiting sensor systems Today and tomorrow

Abstract

For almost a quarter of a century, imagery and sounding data have been directly broadcast to users worldwide from polar orbiting satellites operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For more than a decade, almost the same payloads and data transmissions have been utilized. However, in the decade of the 1990s, several sensor improvements are planned or projected. This paper outlines payloads planned for NOAA Series spacecraft through the present century and the resulting changes in direct broadcast services.     

基于工作流程的PPPOE拨号认证故障分析

在运行中,GPON网络出现大量用户PPPOE拨号认证失败投诉,拨号错误代码676,但同台OLT下部分用户能够正常拨号。本文以这个故障为典型案例,在PPPOE的工作流程的基础上,对此类PPPOE拨号认证故障进行原因分析并给出解决方案。     

Evaluation of a participatory ergonomic intervention process in kitchen work

We evaluated a participatory ergonomic intervention process applied in 59 municipal kitchens. In groups of three to five kitchens, the workers participated in eight workshops, and generated and evaluated solutions to optimize musculoskeletal load in their work. An ergonomist initiated and supported the process. By the end, 402 changes were implemented. Evaluative data were collected using research diaries, questionnaires, and focus group interviews. The intervention model proved feasible and the participatory approach was mostly experienced as motivating. The workers’ knowledge and awareness of ergonomics increased, which improved their ability to tackle ergonomic problems by themselves. The changes in ergonomics were perceived to decrease physical load and improve musculoskeletal health. As hindering factors for implementation, lack of time and motivation, and insufficient financial resources were mentioned. In addition, the workers expressed a wish for more support from the management, technical staff, and ergonomists.