Domestic violence and information communication technologies

Physical violence against women is pervasive through out the world and domestic violence has been a longstanding issue in feminist activism and research. Yet, these experiences are often not represented in technological research or design. In the move to consider HCI at the margins, in this paper, we ask: how have ICTs affected the experiences of domestic violence survivors? We interviewed female survivors living in a domestic violence shelter about their experiences with technology. Participants reported that they were harassed with mobile phones, experienced additional harassment (but also support) via social networking sites, and tried to resist using their knowledge of security and privacy.     

An effective offloading middleware for pervasive services on mobile devices

The practical success of pervasive services running in mobile wireless networks and devices relies on their ability to provide effective and efficient offloading support, so as to satisfy the increasing demand for mobile devices to run heavier applications (e.g. those running on desktop PCs). Offloading is an effective mechanism for leveraging the severity of resource constrained mobile devices by migrating some computing load to nearby resource-rich surrogates (e.g. desktop PCs, servers) on home networks or their extension. This paper proposes a light-weight and efficient offloading middleware, which provides runtime offloading services for resource constrained mobile devices. The middleware considers multiple types of resources (i.e. memory, CPU and bandwidth) and carries out application partitioning and partition offloading in an adaptive and efficient manner. The corresponding algorithms are presented. The evaluation outcomes indicate the effectiveness and efficiency of this service offloading solution.     

SmartVisionApp: A framework for computer vision applications on mobile devices

In this paper a novel framework for the development of computer vision applications that exploit sensors available in mobile devices is presented. The framework is organized as a client–server application that combines mobile devices, network technologies and computer vision algorithms with the aim of performing object recognition starting from photos captured by a phone camera. The client module on the mobile device manages the image acquisition and the query formulation tasks, while the recognition module on the server executes the search on an existing database and sends back relevant information to the client. To show the effectiveness of the proposed solution, the implementation of two possible plug-ins for specific problems is described: landmark recognition and fashion shopping. Experiments on four different landmark datasets and one self-collected dataset of fashion accessories show that the system is efficient and robust in the presence of objects with different characteristics.     

Choose your “buddy icon” carefully: The influence of avatar androgyny, anthropomorphism and credibility in online interactions

In both online and offline interactions, the visual representation of people influences how others perceive them. In contrast to the offline body, an online visual representation of a person is consciously chosen and not stable. This paper reports the results of a 2 step examination of the influence of avatars on the person perception process. Specifically, this project examines the reliance on visual characteristics during the online perception process, and the relative influence of androgyny, anthropomorphism and credibility. In the first step, 255 participants fill out a survey where they rated a set of 30 static avatars on their credibility, androgyny, and anthropomorphism. The second step is a between subjects experiment with 230 participants who interact with partners represented by one of eight avatars (high and low androgyny, and anthropomorphism by high and low credibility). Results show that the characteristics of the avatar are used in the person perception process. Causal modeling techniques revealed that perceptions of avatar androgyny influence perceptions of anthropomorphism, which influences attributions of both avatar and partner credibility. Implications of these results for theory, future research, and users and designers of systems using avatars are discussed.     

New chording text entry methods combining physical and virtual buttons on a mobile phone

Traditional mobile phones depend on MultiTap, virtual or physical QWERTY keyboard for text entry, and they had some respective drawbacks include low input performance, occupying too large an area, high error rates, lack of feedbacks, etc. Therefore, some researches utilized the characteristics of the chording keyboard to improve input performance. Yet, as the learning efficiency of the chording keyboard is too low, users are not highly willing to learn. In view of that, this study combines the physical and virtual keys, and develops two chording input methods, MagArea and MemoryTap. After three days of learning, the fourteen experiment participants show effectively reduce error rates on MagArea, and they enhance their input speed on MemoryTap. In addition, excellent learning efficiency is found in the two methods, will be more motivated and willing to employ.     

The impact of use context on mobile services acceptance: The case of mobile ticketing

The most important factor in the decision to adopt mobile systems is user perception of their value. However, behavioral theory suggests that context affects user attitude and therefore influences acceptance. We therefore hypothesized that the benefits of mobile systems should be evaluated against users’ contextual needs and that reduced dependence on time and place required providing service at any time and place needed by the user. Mental costs or costs of learning to use the system, however, may not be evaluated in the same way, because system use and learning about it are acts with different contexts. Our findings advance knowledge of IT adoption and suggest that we should start to identify the contexts of both the benefits of use and in learning to use the system.     

The impact of distractions on the usability and intention to use mobile devices for wireless data services

Mobile technology has quickly become ingrained in society due to the flexibility of anywhere/anytime usage. However, factors associated with and that impact mobility, mobile users, and mobile use of products and services are still poorly understood. For example, even though distractions are ever present during everyday use of mobile devices, the nature and extent to which user perceptions and performance are affected by their presence is unknown. An empirical study was undertaken to investigate the impact of distractions and confirmation of pre-trial expectations on usability and its subsequent effect on consumers’ behavioral intention toward using a mobile device for wireless data services. Distractions were simulated in this study in the form of either user motion or environmental noise (i.e. background auditory and visual stimuli). A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis confirmed the impacts of distractions on efficiency and effectiveness, and in turn the users’ satisfaction and behavioral intention to use a mobile device for wireless data services. Support was also obtained for a mediating effect of post-trial confirmation of expectations between perceived performance and satisfaction. Implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research are outlined.     

Information disclosure on mobile devices: Re-examining privacy calculus with actual user behavior

The use of mobile applications continues to experience exponential growth. Using mobile apps typically requires the disclosure of location data, which often accompanies requests for various other forms of private information. Existing research on information privacy has implied that consumers are willing to accept privacy risks for relatively negligible benefits, and the offerings of mobile apps based on location-based services (LBS) appear to be no different. However, until now, researchers have struggled to replicate realistic privacy risks within experimental methodologies designed to manipulate independent variables. Moreover, minimal research has successfully captured actual information disclosure over mobile devices based on realistic risk perceptions. The purpose of this study is to propose and test a more realistic experimental methodology designed to replicate real perceptions of privacy risk and capture the effects of actual information disclosure decisions. As with prior research, this study employs a theoretical lens based on privacy calculus. However, we draw more detailed and valid conclusions due to our use of improved methodological rigor. We report the results of a controlled experiment involving consumers (n=1025) in a range of ages, levels of education, and employment experience. Based on our methodology, we find that only a weak, albeit significant, relationship exists between information disclosure intentions and actual disclosure. In addition, this relationship is heavily moderated by the consumer practice of disclosing false data. We conclude by discussing the contributions of our methodology and the possibilities for extending it for additional mobile privacy research.     

Platform independent overall security architecture in multi-processor system-on-chip integrated circuits for use in mobile phones and handheld devices

A platform independent security architecture for use in Multi-Processor System-on-Chip integrated circuits, primarily oriented for mobile phones and handheld devices, is presented. The suggested architecture provides an enhanced security protection scheme for use in smartphones, PDA’s, as well as other similar systems. Sensitive data storage facilities, cryptographic engines, and physical protection mechanisms such as debug port access control are presented and described in detail. The proposed secure architecture has been incorporated as a part of an application processor which in turn is embedded in a number of smartphone and handheld products. System operation is discussed and hardware realization and experimental results of the proposed architecture are described.     

The design and evaluation of a computerized adaptive test on mobile devices

The use of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) has expanded rapidly over recent years mainly due to the advances in communication and information technology. Availability of advanced mobile technologies provides several benefits to e-learning by creating an additional channel of access with mobile devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. This paper describes the design issues that were considered for the development and the implementation of a CAT on mobile devices, the computerized adaptive test on mobile devices (CAT-MD). Throughout the development of the system, formative evaluation was an integral part of the design methodology. The recommendations, suggestions and the results of the formative evaluation were used to improve the system in order to make the assessment procedure more effective and efficient. These results of the formative evaluation are also presented here.     

On keys' meanings and modes: the impact of different key solutions on children's efficiency using a mobile phone

The present study investigates the impact of different key solutions of mobile phones on users' effectiveness and efficiency using the devices. In the first experiment, 36 children (9 - 14 years) and in the second experiment 45 young adults (19 - 33 years) completed four common phone tasks twice consecutively on three simulated phones that had identical menus, but different key solutions. An approach was undertaken to quantify the complexity of keys in three models, incorporating different factors contributing to the keys' complexity (number of key options, number of modes and number of modes with a semantically dissimilar meaning), in order to predict users' performance decrements. As a further main factor, the degree of the users' locus of control (LOC) was measured and interactions with performance outcomes were studied. As dependent measures, the number of inefficient keystrokes, the number of tasks solved and the processing time were determined. Results showed a significant effect of control key solutions on users' efficiency and effectiveness for both children and young adults. Moreover, children's LOC values significantly interacted with performance: children with low LOC values showed the lowest performance and no learnability, especially when using keys with a high complexity. From the three factors contributing to the complexity of keys, keys exerting different functions with semantically inconsistent meanings had the worst effect on performance. It is concluded that in mobile user interface design keys with semantically inconsistent meanings should be generally avoided.     

On keys' meanings and modes: the impact of different key solutions on children's efficiency using a mobile phone

The present study investigates the impact of different key solutions of mobile phones on users' effectiveness and efficiency using the devices. In the first experiment, 36 children (9 – 14 years) and in the second experiment 45 young adults (19 – 33 years) completed four common phone tasks twice consecutively on three simulated phones that had identical menus, but different key solutions. An approach was undertaken to quantify the complexity of keys in three models, incorporating different factors contributing to the keys' complexity (number of key options, number of modes and number of modes with a semantically dissimilar meaning), in order to predict users' performance decrements. As a further main factor, the degree of the users' locus of control (LOC) was measured and interactions with performance outcomes were studied. As dependent measures, the number of inefficient keystrokes, the number of tasks solved and the processing time were determined. Results showed a significant effect of control key solutions on users' efficiency and effectiveness for both children and young adults. Moreover, children's LOC values significantly interacted with performance: children with low LOC values showed the lowest performance and no learnability, especially when using keys with a high complexity. From the three factors contributing to the complexity of keys, keys exerting different functions with semantically inconsistent meanings had the worst effect on performance. It is concluded that in mobile user interface design keys with semantically inconsistent meanings should be generally avoided.     

移动天气雷达系统的卫星通信

为了把移动雷达实时数据传输到北京市气象局,通过对比多种无线通信方式以及卫星通信的优缺点等方法建立了一套卫星通信系统。结果表明：本系统在应急、网络速率、安全等方面都能满足移动雷达系统对数据通信的要求。这套系统的设计将对应急系统的建立具有一定的指导意义。     

车载应急通讯系统构建及组网研究

本文以我们自主研发的移动通信系统为例,针对突发性高密度话务量,以及抢险救灾和突发事件和任务的应急通讯需求,探讨和研究了多功能车载机动式移动通信系统以及有关关键技术。主要包括了系统构建、组成、基于动中通的伺服系统设计、主要应用模式分析以及和常规通信组网方式的分析和比较。     

基于邮箱的移动Agent通信机制的改进算法

在基于邮箱的移动Agent通信机制上提出一种改进算法,通过移动Agent留下特殊的、具有一定智能性的邮箱来转发消息,实现移动Agent高效和可靠的消息传输。进一步提高了通信效率而且减小了由于邮箱所在节点出现故障而造成的损失。     

A Web-based, Offline-able, and Personalized Runtime Environment for executing applications on mobile devices

An increasing number of people use cell phones daily. Users are not only capable of making phone calls, but can also install applications on their mobile phones. When creating mobile applications, developers usually encounter the cross-platform incompatibility problem (for example, iPhone applications cannot be executed on the Android platform). Moreover, because mobile Web browsers have increasingly supported more and more Web-related standards, Web applications are more possible to be executed on different platforms than mobile applications. However, the problem of Web application is that it cannot be executed in offline mode. This study proposes a Web-based platform for executing applications on mobile devices. This platform provides several services for developers such as offline service, content adaptation service, and synchronization service. With the help of the proposed platform, application developers can develop and publish offline Web applications easily with simplified external Web content and synchronization capability.     

The usefulness of mobile multimedia communications: a case study

To design new technologies, such as mobile multimedia communications, in a proper way, early assessment of their usefulness and requirements is needed. However, early assessment still lacks a sound methodology. This article presents an early assessment method that has been developed in a case study on the usefulness of mobile multimedia communications. After the introduction, the method will be briefly explained. The method consists of the following stages: preliminary investigation, analysis, scenario development, workshop evaluation, and simulation. These stages contain the aspects and consequences of the reference model that has been explained in the introduction of this volume: (1) the involvement of stakeholder groups; (2) the multi-facet approach to the development and evaluation of telematics applications; (3) the important role of theoretical notions in the development process; (4) the importance of a multi-disciplinary team. A case study in the area of emergency medicine will be presented, focusing on the usefulness of mobile multimedia communications. Finally, conclusions will be drawn from the case study.     

The impact of incentive mechanisms in multi-channel mobile music distribution

Record labels and telecoms are using the pervasiveness of mobile technologies to create a mobile music market, where customers can have their preferred music at any time and in any place. The idea is to replicate the successful strategy of the Internet-based music market into the mobile scenario. In this paper we first analyze the current mobile music market and we show that this strategy leads to several problems (e.g., excessive download time, cost and protection). As a second contribution, we propose and analyze a multi-channel distribution strategy, where customers can cooperate to music distribution. The approach is based on the cellphone network, the free-of-charge communication technologies provided by cellphones, and on an incentive mechanism that financially compensates users for their cooperation in music distribution. The approach evaluation shows that the employment of an effective incentive mechanism can mitigate the problems of the current mobile music scenario, as it provides benefits to customers, cellphone network providers and music stores.

Differential responses of loyal versus habitual consumers towards mobile site personalization on privacy management

We examine how two different underlying mechanisms of behavioral loyalty to a brand—attitudinal loyalty and habit—impact smartphone users' privacy management when they browse personalized vs. non-personalized mobile websites. The online experimental study conducted with Amazon Mechanical Turk workers (N = 73) finds different responses of attitudinal loyalty and habit towards personalization in significant three-way interactions between personalization, attitudinal loyalty, and habit on privacy disclosure and protection behaviors. When interacting with a personalized website, highly habitual consumers without high level of attitudinal loyalty disclosed the most personal information on a personalized mobile site, and displayed the least intention of protecting their privacy on their smartphones, whereas consumers with high levels of both habit and attitudinal loyalty reported the highest tendency of privacy protection behavior. However, habit and personalization do not have a significant effect on disclosure behaviors when users have high attitudinal loyalty to a brand. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

基于CAN总线的移动机器人通信系统设计

近年来,对移动机器人的研究已成为热点,尤其是对移动机器人数据通信系统的研究。由于CAN总线技术具有网络功能,因此本文利用CAN总线构建了一个移动机器人的数据通信系统,使得机器人内部可以灵活地挂接多个功能模块。本文所设计的移动机器人具有动作模块、语音交互模块、避障与导航模块等。实验表明利用CAN总线技术可以提升移动机器人数据通信的可靠性和可扩展性。