Public Displays of Play: Studying Online Games in Physical Settings

As research on virtual worlds gains increasing attention in educational, commercial, and military domains, a consideration of how player populations are ‘reassembled’ through social scientific data is a timely matter for communication scholars. This paper describes a large‐scale study of virtual worlds in which participants were recruited at public gaming events, as opposed to through online means, and explores the dynamic relationships between players and contexts of play that this approach makes visible. Challenging conventional approaches to quantitatively driven virtual worlds research, which categorizes players based on their involvement in an online game at a particular point in time, this account demonstrates how players' networked gaming activities are contingent on who they are playing with, where, and when.     

计算机辅助英语教学中多媒体的作用

如今,计算机辅助英语教学由基于光盘﹑独立系统和基于局域网的传统课程向基于网络的新型课程转变,它能更好地将网络的交流性﹑合作性和互动性与语言学习相结合。同时,多媒体在计算机辅助英语教学中的应用能更好地帮助学生理解语言。前人研究中对语言学习中多媒体的使用持肯定态度。讨论多媒体技术的新作用及教学环境中的一些表现。为了能有效推行多媒体语言教学,把新技术和传统教学相结合,需要开拓更灵活的语言环境。     

Metamodeling of Smart Environments: from design to implementation

A smart environment is a physical environment enriched with sensing, actuation, communication and computation capabilities aiming at acquiring and exploiting knowledge about the environment so as to adapt itself to its inhabitants’ preferences and requirements. In this domain, there is the need of tools supporting the design and analysis of applications. In this paper, the Smart Environment Metamodel (SEM) framework is proposed. The framework allows to model applications by exploiting concepts specific to the smart environment domain. SEM approaches the modeling from two different points of view, namely the functional and data perspectives. The application of the framework is supported by a set of general guidelines to drive the analysis, the design and the implementation of smart environments. The effectiveness of the framework is shown by applying it to the modeling of a real smart office scenario that has been developed, deployed and analyzed.     

Significance of the dimensional view for visualizing relevant aspects of a production system in a co-operative planning process

Pictorial visualization is expected to facilitate communication between industrial professionals when planning working environments and production systems. This hypothesis was investigated by studying how 24 participants including managers, supervisors, machine operators, and occupational health and safety officials, judged three types of computer animated visualization varying in dimensional view (scale and scope of a production line):shop floor view/survey of shop floor; production unit view/semi-survey of production unit; and workplace view/close-up of workplace, in relation to a set of planning issues. The participants participated in a controlled 2-day planning workshop, redesigning a fictitious manufacturing process by means of computer graphics, and then responded to a questionnaire. It can be concluded that shop floor view as well as production unit view are significant for survey planning issues, while all 3-dimensional views are significant for close-up planning issues. Analogously, all dimensional views are significant for technocentric planning issues, whereas only the workplace view is valuable for anthropocentric planning issues.     

Adapting demons to knowledge management environments

Decision support systems depend on a variety of knowledge management techniques. These range from data base management, programming, and spreadsheet analysis to rule set management and automated inference. One valuable knowledge management technique that has yet to find its way into the repertoire of decision support system developers is general-purpose demon management. This article identifies and explores the major issues pertaining to the integration of demon representation and processing into a knowledge management environment. These serve as a basis for design and implementation of more flexible and powerful environments for decision support.     

Identification of metaphors for virtual environment training systems

The objective of this effort was to develop potential metaphors for assisting wayfinding and navigation in current virtual environment (VE) training systems. Although VE purports a number of advantages over traditional, full-scale simulator training devices (deployability, footprint, cost, maintainability, scalability, networking), little design guidance exists beyond individual instantiations with specific platforms. A review of metaphors commonly incorporated into human—computer interactive systems indicated that existing metaphors have largely been used as orientation aids, mainly in the form of guided navigational assistance, with some position guidance. Advanced metaphor design concepts were identified that would not only provide trainees with a useful orienting framework but also enhance visual access and help differentiate an environment. The effectiveness of these concepts to aid navigation and wayfinding in VEs must be empirically validated.     

Affective Experience Measurement in Outdoor Environment via Machine Visual Cognition

Outdoor environments with quality landscapes can benefit people’s physical and mental health. Real-time assessment on individuals’ environmental affective experience can improve the scientism in measuring the quality of outdoor environments. Existing measurement methods are often insufficient for the cases of a larger site area or sample size. The machine visual cognition of Artificial Intelligence can realize the recognition of facial expressions and the changes in video images, which supports high-precision and long-cycle measurements on individuals’ affective experience in outdoor environments. Taking an urban community square as the study site, this research simultaneously collects participants’ facial data from video images and their electrodermal activity data, wherein Convolutional Neural Network algorithm model is trained with a deep learning algorithm, i.e. codec–SVM optimized model, whose reliability is tested through an additional experiment. The research reveals that: 1) The accuracy rate of the main and additional experiments in measuring individuals’ affective experience is 82.01% and 65.08%, respectively; 2) The additional experiment verifies the application potential of the codec–SVM optimized model; And 3) the model works more effective for outdoor scenarios with varying usage behaviors and open views. Therefore, machine visual cognition can be used for emotion measurement in a larger site area or sample size and contributes to the effectiveness of landscape optimization efforts, especially as an instrumental tool to study the affective experience of the ones who have communication or reading disability. The findings also demonstrate the model’s great potential in building Smart Cities with refined public services.     

Tribochemical Surface Reaction and Lubricating Oil Film

A radioactive tracer technique was used to investigate a tribo-chemical surface reaction obtained by a thrust collar type friction Machine. Radioactive dibenzyl disulfide labeled with sulfur-35 was used as an additive. Steel and copper disks were used as friction specimens.

Radioactive copper sulfide on the friction surface was quantitatively measured with a G-M tube, and a kinetical analysis of the reaction was carried out.

The friction coefficient decreased linearly depending on the amount of surface produced on the friction surface. This dependency was accompanied by adsorption of dibenzyl disulfide, which made a more effective lubricating oil film and was enhanced by the sulfide on the friction surface.

The results of kinetical analysis were explained effectively by considering the oil film behavior related to the adsorptive action of the surface sulfide.     

Electronic behaviour settings for CSCW

Being present in the same room not only enables people to exchange non-verbal communication but also the physical properties of the room offer opportunities for action and thus contribute to the ongoing social process. This paper discusses concepts from social and behavioural sciences to better understand the role of physical environments and artefacts with respect to cooperation among a group of people. Barker's behaviour setting theory is studied and applied to electronic settings. Requirements for electronic behaviour settings to enable situated cooperation in CSCW across spatial and temporal distances will be derived. Electronic behaviour settings should embody their own physical behaviour, and thus provide electronic places for cooperation. Adaptation to a particular group process can be achieved through a particular constitution of the setting and its adaptation in the course of practical use. This paper studies how this concept maps to existing groupware systems and outlines from practical experience whether this concept may help users adopt groupware in their work practice. This approach will contribute to the support of situated action in computer-supported cooperative work.     

异构车载自组网中两级资源调度机制研究

WiMAX网络和WAVE网络中资源调度方式不同,但又需要在移动网关节点处进行互通。为此,提出一种基于反馈的两级资源调度机制。在WiMAX网络中采用基于权重的轮询调度,针对WAVE网络提出一种基于反馈的EDCA接入方式,使节点各业务的发送速率契合WiMAX 网络中的调度规则。仿真结果表明,相比同类方法,该机制使系统的平均传输时延降低至20 ms,网关节点处的排队队长缩短了50%。