Human-Centered Design, Operation and Evaluation of Mobile Communications

Mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and wearables have become essential tools for daily activities, enabling seamless shopping, socializing, and financial transactions. These devices, coupled with faster internet access, have transformed human interaction and commerce, offering remote banking services and real-time connections across distances. However, this widespread adoption has also led to a rise in mobile malware attacks, particularly zero-day attacks that exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities. Current detection methods, which rely on known malware signatures, are ineffective against such threats, highlighting the need for advanced systems that can adapt to emerging risks. This paper proposes a system that uses Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) to detect anomalous behaviors in mobile devices indicative of zero-day malware. VAEs model the normal activity patterns on mobile devices, allowing for the detection of deviations that may suggest malicious activity. The study also explores integrating biometric authentication, such as fingerprint and facial recognition, to enhance anomaly detection and protect user privacy. This approach aims to prevent unauthorized access and reduce the risk of data breaches. The research ultimately seeks to contribute to the development of more secure mobile platforms, offering protection against emerging threats like identity theft and ransomware.

This study conducts a comprehensive hazard analysis and risk assessment of the smartphone navigation applications used by visually impaired and blind (VIB) individuals, the research first identifies and analyze potential hazards and assess risk scenarios within home environment following the autonomous mobile service robot hazard analysis and risk assessment [1, 20]. The research emphasizes the importance of integrating hazard analysis and risk assessment into the navigation smartphone apps system design and development phases to address home environment potential hazards and ensuring effective safety measures. Moreover, it advocates for the establishment of industry-wide regulatory frameworks to promote the safe development & deployment of smartphone navigation apps for the blind. By combining qualitative and quantitative risk analysis methods, this study provides a strategic roadmap for enhancing the safety, usability, and reliability of blind smartphone navigation apps, ultimately aiming to improve the independence and safety of VIB users.

Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) is a key scenario in 5G networks to support one million terminals per square kilometer within a base station’ s coverage. To enable this scenario, a clustering-based approach that partitions the terminals within the base station’s coverage area into multiple clusters has been proposed, wherein each cluster is assigned a gateway device to relay communications between terminals and the base station. Among the various clustering techniques, K-means clustering is widely adopted due to its computational efficiency and straightforward implementation. However, it suffers from an imbalance in the number of IoT devices assigned to each cluster, leading to unequal load distribution across gateways. To address this issue, this paper presents an improvement to the k-means method, introducing the SameSizeKMeans (S-Kmeans) algorithm, which equalizes the number of IoT devices per cluster while optimizing energy-efficient transmissions to the cluster center. Furthermore, Genetic Algorithms (GA) are leveraged to optimize cluster assignments and improve fairness by incorporating evolutionary strategies that adjust device distribution across clusters dynamically.

Mobile health (mHealth) applications have rapidly become a cornerstone of modern healthcare, offering users convenient tools for health monitoring, fitness tracking, and chronic disease management. With millions of downloads globally, these apps are deeply integrated into everyday life. However, their widespread adoption has brought increasing concerns about privacy and security, particularly in the wake of frequent data breaches and reports of questionable data-sharing practices. This study examines the privacy and security practices of mHealth applications through a comprehensive analysis of permissions, embedded third-party trackers, and user reviews. By combining technical evaluation with user-centric insights, the findings reveal gaps in transparency and data protection, underscoring the need for stronger regulatory frameworks and privacy-preserving design principles. This research provides critical recommendations for policymakers and developers to enhance the security, privacy, and trustworthiness of mHealth applications, ensuring they meet both functional and ethical standards in handling sensitive user data.

This research paper addresses the growing need for effective sun protection in daily life, focusing on the integration of wearable technology to enhance UV protection behaviors. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a significant cause of skin damage, including premature aging, hyperpigmentation, and skin cancers, yet consistent sun protection practices remain a challenge for many individuals. Despite the availability of sunscreens and protective clothing, issues such as forgetfulness, inconvenience, and lack of awareness hinder their regular use. This study explores how wearable devices can address these gaps by offering a more seamless and integrated solution. Through a mixed-methods approach, including desk research, expert interviews, user interviews, and a nationwide survey, we investigated user behaviors, preferences, and pain points related to sun protection. The research highlights the need for a practical, user-centered wearable that not only provides real-time UV exposure monitoring but also encourages consistent sun protection without disrupting daily routines. By understanding the diverse needs and challenges faced by individuals across different demographics, this study aims to propose design solutions that align with everyday habits, making sun protection more accessible and effective. The findings from this research contribute to the development of innovative strategies for wearable UV protection, with the potential to improve skin health and reduce the long-term risks associated with UV exposure.

The increasing adoption of personal mobile devices for professional tasks, commonly referred to as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), has revolutionised workplace dynamics by offering flexibility, reduced operational costs, and enhanced productivity. However, BYOD also introduces significant security challenges, primarily due to the merging of personal and corporate data on a single device. These challenges include unauthorised access to sensitive corporate information, potential data leakage, and difficulties in ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, all of which are exacerbated by the varied security postures of personal devices. This paper proposes a comprehensive security framework that addresses these concerns by separating corporate data from personal data using containerisation, combined with Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) technologies. The proposed framework ensures that corporate data remains isolated from personal use, mitigating risks related to data breaches, privacy violations, and unauthorised access while simultaneously maintaining user privacy and device performance. Furthermore, this framework integrates encryption and remote wipe capabilities to safeguard data in cases of device loss or theft, ensuring compliance with corporate policies and regulatory requirements. The framework integrates technological solutions that enforce strict boundaries between corporate and personal environments on employee-owned devices, thereby fostering a secure BYOD environment. This framework aims to provide a scalable, robust solution to data protection challenges in modern workplaces through a detailed analysis of current strategies and technologies. By addressing both organisational and employee concerns, this approach enables organisations to harness the advantages of BYOD without compromising security or user privacy.

A considerable number of mobile phone devices are utilized globally for both personal and professional purposes. These devices house sensitive information that requires careful protection to ensure it remains secure from unauthorized access and potential threats. Given that these devices contain a substantial amount of sensitive information, they have garnered noticeable interest from cybercriminals, positioning them as appealing targets for potential attacks. In light of the growing concerns surrounding cyber threats, it has become essential to explore and adopt practical security measures that effectively align with the diverse ways in which devices are utilized. This research underscores the need for a more efficient solution that offers users continuous authentication by leveraging their application usage patterns through behavioral biometrics. The proposed solution, BehaveSec addresses this need by providing non-intrusive, real-time authentication by analysing user interaction with mobile applications. BehaveSec aims to enhance mobile phone security by monitoring user behavior for any deviations from established patterns. By identifying anomalies, BehaveSec proactively prevents potential cyber-attacks. The proposed solution comprises of an Android application on the front end and several machine learning models on the back end. A comparison was made on several machine learning models, specifically Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machines, and Random Forest. The models process the user data and analyze the data to verify authentication status. Accuracy, training time and validation loss were evaluated. The results highlight the trade-offs between these models and help recommend the most appropriate model based on the performance metrics for mobile behavioural biometrics. However, further precision and adaptive learning improvements are necessary to maintain effectiveness as user behaviour evolves.

This paper explores the integration of Lightweight Cryptography (LWC) with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles to enhance both security and usability in agricultural Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). By analyzing the Ascon cipher, a NIST-selected standard for lightweight authenticated encryption and applying HCI design principles, we propose a conceptual framework aimed at improving data integrity and user engagement in precision agriculture. While empirical validation is reserved for future work, this foundational study provides a blueprint for deploying user-centric cryptographic solutions in resource-constrained environments.

The goal of the current study was to design an Internet of Things-based mobile application for the purpose of constructing closed citizen security circuits in small communities. A Canvas model, which offered a comprehensive understanding of the commercial strategy to be followed and provided essential information for decision-making, and a SWOT analysis, which also looked at the advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and threats of the environment in which the prototype was made, were used to first identify the security needs of the community. An SCRUM-based applied approach that encouraged project agility was put forth. Google used Firebase to plan the database and React Native, a programming language, to construct the application, which enabled the creation of an iOS and Android app. The application’s graphical user interface was simple to use and straightforward. The platform’s design suggested creating roles, such as a security agent who can see requests and a regular citizen who, when an assistance request is generated, turns on geolocation to show their position on a real-time map. A map derived from the Google Maps API was utilized for this. Furthermore, a landing page was suggested to advertise community security-related events and content, such as preventative culture and best practices for reporting. This website included an online platform for assigning security agent responsibilities and managing registered users. The platform also has a chat function that enables real-time communication between all users in a closed circuit, including direct messages and messages in a worldwide channel. In summary, the development’s first findings demonstrated a strong dedication to enabling local communities to improve citizen security with the use of 4.0 technologies. This strategy improves the relationship between the state and the community while streamlining communication between community players.

The grade or slope of a road plays an important role in shaping walking and active mobility behaviors, such as cycling and scootering, by influencing route choice and safety. For individuals with mobility challenges, road slope significantly impacts their ability to navigate streets and sidewalks safely and efficiently. However, the absence of precise road grade data creates barriers to providing accurate travel information and conducting comprehensive analyses. Crowdsensing offers a cost-effective solution for gathering sidewalk elevation data, but validating and fine-tuning this crowd-sensed data remains a challenge. This paper presents a solution to address accessibility for all users, promoting the development of inclusive urban infrastructure and equitable smart cities by introducing a real-time, budget-friendly method for algorithm tuning. Using the motion sensors method, we collect ground truth data to serve as a benchmark for fine-tuning discrepancies in crowd-sensed data. By integrating large volumes of ground truth data alongside lower-quality crowd-sensed data from smartphones, the algorithm could be continuously refined, enabling more accurate predictions of road grades and elevation. This feasibility study provides a roadmap to a scalable and cost-efficient validation method that enhances the reliability of crowdsourced elevation data and contributes to the creation of high-resolution, real-time ground truth data for urban accessibility studies.

At present, the digital economy is booming globally and has become a key driver of China’s economic growth and industrial transformation. The digital economy has profoundly changed the traditional industrial structure with the help of 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and other technologies, especially in the mobile communications industry. China’s mobile industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade, becoming one of the largest markets in the world. With the commercialization of 5G, the popularization of IoT and digital transformation, the industry’s business model and market landscape have undergone fundamental changes, and the landing of new application scenarios, such as smart cities and Internet of Vehicles (IoV), has prompted the industry to enter a new stage of development. However, the rise of the digital economy has also brought new challenges to the tax administration of the mobile communication industry, with the emergence of issues such as tax attribution of cross-regional business, jurisdictional difficulties brought about by data flow and virtual business, blurred tax management boundaries, complex tax collection and administration, lagging tax collection and administration model, tax compliance and information disclosure, corporate tax avoidance behavior and tax base erosion, and so on.

Therefore, the main research of this topic is the challenges and initiatives of taxation in China’s mobile communication industry in the era of digital economy. This paper takes the digitalization of tax collection and administration as the starting point to improve the tax collection and administration mechanism, optimize the tax policy, and better unleash the market vitality of the mobile communication industry.

This paper focuses on the tax risk of the mobile communication industry, analyzes its key aspects, and provides guidance for the healthy development of the industry tax. First of all, the first part of this paper introduces the overview of the mobile communication industry, the main business and business characteristics. Then the second part introduces the tax compliance of the industry, namely the main tax categories, tax collection and management status and collection and management trends. The main taxes involved in the mobile communication industry include value-added tax, enterprise income tax, etc. The situation of tax collection and management is becoming more and more strict. In the future, the industry will face the trend of continuous deepening of digital collection and management, the integration of industry and finance and the increasingly efficient and stricter tax inspection or inspection. Then the third part explores the tax risk of the mobile communication industry. This paper introduces from three aspects: the main tax risks, other tax risks and overseas tax risks. Finally, the fourth part of this paper puts forward six suggestions on enterprise tax compliance management, to continuously empower economic growth, stabilize the industry’s leading position in the global digital economy wave, and put forward targeted suggestions for leading the industry to a higher quality development stage.

The Muse IT EU project is dedicated to delivering cultural heritage to people with sensory deprivation, relying on a complex approach to assistive technologies and virtual reality. Here, from the perspective of multisensory communication and interaction, we focus on one of its commitments, the generation of multimodal digital objects from well-known artefacts for virtual museums. Our current objective was to experiment with new methods and tools to remedy the partial loss of sight. Reporting work in progress, we created a scalable processing workflow to convert paintings into contoured multimodal digital objects with a simplified colour scheme, at the same time subjecting them to sonification and haptification. This was accomplished through a clearinghouse for both their non-semantic and semantic components by setting 60 RGB colours with the same number of piano notes and vibrotactile sensations on par. Respective tooling was augmented by topic-dependent soundscapes and their tactile parallels for subject contextualisation. Finally, the results were mapped to a knowledge graph covering content evolution of artefacts over time, thereby providing for the long-term digital preservation of artistic trends as well. Based on the WikiArt public dataset of paintings, we created and stored in Dataverse a test collection of 300 low-dimensional vs. 5 high-dimensional multimodal digital objects. These will be presented for user evaluation and technology co-design by user feedback in the final phase of the project.

The adoption of democratic and participatory design processes involving community members can lead to the creation of better and more livable environments. This thesis examines the potential of location-based augmented reality (L-AR) as a system solution for engaging the public in evaluating design proposals, intending to contribute to democratizing built environment design. We introduce a mobile L-AR prototype, D-ARE, which leverages mobile devices’ capabilities to allow interactive and in-situ visualization of design proposals, along with features like interactive AR form views, performance data displays, and interfaces for facilitating discussion threads. The paper also discusses challenges in transforming complex design data into understandable formats for non-specialist users. It presents insights gathered from D-ARE's user evaluation with 20 participants, highlighting promising engagement possibilities and identified challenges. The findings emphasize the transformative potential of in-situ AR applications and the importance of fostering informed dialogue between designers and community members to ensure that built environments reflect their needs and perspectives.

With the development of science and technology, the integration of digital technology and traditional art brings new possibilities for visual experience and cultural innovation. Ink art carries deep cultural heritage. However, limited by time and space, confined to shelf art and its profound connotation, it is difficult to be widely disseminated and experienced.

Therefore, an immersive role-playing reasoning game themed on ink art was designed based on the combination of digital narrative theory and constructing a knowledge graph. The game takes the contextual space of ink landscape paintings as the interaction dimension. By utilizing AI to construct a narrative knowledge graph interaction model of ink art, it enhances the user's cultural experience through role-playing and task advancement.

According to the study, 30 volunteers aged 18–30 were invited to participate in the experiment, and their gaming experience was evaluated using the Memory Retention Test, the Mood Change Experiment, and the SUS System Usability Test. The SUS scores and the results of the two experiments showed that the Ink Role-Playing Game was more effective than the Traditional Ink Painting Exhibit in enhancing the memory completeness, especially in terms of remembering the complex plots and details. Moreover, the ink role-playing game had a significant positive effect on the participants' mood changes, and most of the participants had a high level of interest in the game and expressed their willingness to continue playing this immersive role-playing reasoning game based on the theme of ink art. By integrating traditional art into interactive experience, the ink role-playing game is expected to be widely used in the fields of education, cultural communication and artistic innovation, which not only enhances the audience's sense of participation and learning effect, but also opens up new paths for the modernization of traditional culture inheritance and promotion.

This study focuses on the design strategy for intangible cultural heritage-themed smartphone applications. The primary objective is to develop a de-sign strategy that incorporates aesthetic qualities, cultural significance, and functional capabilities. Through the comprehensive application of both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, this study investigates and categorizes common challenges encountered in the translation design of pat-terns related to intangible cultural heritage. The identified issues are ad-dressed through an analysis of visual cognitive styles and aesthetic and cultural comprehension among users. The findings of this study are grounded on practical case studies, yielding refined design examples that are subsequently validated through experimental assessment.

The article addresses the revaluation of food heritage and the development of sustainable culinary tourism in Latin America, with emphasis on Ecuador and Guatemala. It highlights the role of technology as a key driver of these initiatives, proposing the development of a mobile application designed to promote local and ancestral products, facilitate access to information on culinary traditions and directly connect consumers with producers. The study underscores the relevance of preserving and revitalizing gastronomic knowledge, as it contributes to enriching the cultural identities of both countries. It also examines the challenges and opportunities presented by digital tools to increase the visibility of these products in a global market. The initiative seeks to foster sustainable economic development, empower local communities and preserve cultural heritage, all by strengthening interest in indigenous cuisine. A survey of 49 foreigners from Europe and the United States reflected that 85% would be interested in using an app to plan culinary experiences in Ecuador and Guatemala. Also, 72% considered that this tool could attract more tourists and promote traditional cuisine, while 68% would pay for exclusive content and reservations. In conclusion, this proposal combines sustainability and digitalization, creating a platform that connects consumers with the cultural and gastronomic richness of both countries, strengthening culinary tourism and preserving local traditions.

In order to effectively combine virtual reality technology and intelligent tourism applications, a tourism platform integrating strategy formulation and virtual reality experience will be created to promote the transformation of traditional tourism to digital and personalized. In this study, semi-structured interviews were used to summarize user needs, and factor analysis was used to cluster user needs. Secondly, the AHP analytic hierarchy process was used to calculate the weights of each demand index. Finally, QFD was used to calculate the weights of characteristic indicators, 8 design functions were extracted and 4 schemes were designed, and physiological experiments and grey correlation analysis were used to determine the optimal design scheme. By integrating the theoretical models of AHP, QFD and GRA, and applying them to the design and development process of the VR application of the tourism guide, a VR application of the tourism guide was designed, which further verified the scientificity and rationality of the design process. This design process can provide reference and theoretical guidance for the design and development of the same type of VR application.

Creating an inclusive art environment requires engaging multiple senses for a fully immersive experience. Culture is inherently synesthetic, enriched by all senses within a shared time and space. In an optimal synesthetic setting, people of all abilities can connect meaningfully; when one sense is compromised, other channels can be enhanced to compensate. This is the power of multimodality.

Digital technology is increasingly able to capture aspects of multimodality. To document multimodality aspects of cultural practices and products for the long-term remains a challenge. Many artistic products from the performing arts tend to be multimodal, and are often immersive, so only a multimodal repository can offer a platform for this work. To our knowledge there is no single, comprehensive repository with a knowledge base to serve arts and disability. By knowledge base, we mean classifications, taxonomies, or ontologies (in short, knowledge organisation systems).

This paper presents innovative ways to develop a knowledge base which capture multimodal features of archived representations of cultural assets, but also indicate various forms how to interact with them including machine-readable description. We will demonstrate how back-end and front-end applications, in a combined effort, can support accessible archiving and data management for complex digital objects born out of artistic practices and make them available for wider audiences.

In recent years, with the rapid increase in cultural consumption among Chinese residents, a trend known as ‘Guochao’ (national tide) has quietly emerged and surged, resulting in record-breaking attendance at museums nationwide. Concurrently, cultural and creative products launched by various museums, such as the Palace Museum and Henan Museum, have received widespread acclaim from consumers. However, time and geographical constraints make it difficult for people to appreciate and purchase these cultural and creative products offered by different museums. Digital museums, leveraging digital technology, have emerged as an effective solution to this problem. This paper constructs a research model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and structural equation modeling, proposing relevant hypotheses. We utilize SPSS 22.0 and AMOS21.0 to test these hypotheses. The study explores users’ continuous intention to use digital museums and their willingness to purchase cultural and creative products from digital museum platforms from perspectives such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and hedonic motivation. The research indicates that performance expectancy, social influence, and hedonic motivation significantly positively affect users’ continuous usage intention, whereas the impact of effort expectancy and facilitating conditions is not significant. Furthermore, users’ continuous usage intention also has a significant positive effect on their purchasing intention. The related recommendations can not only help digital museums enhance users’ continuous usage intention but also provide guidance for increasing users’ willingness to purchase cultural and creative products.

This study presents findings from the application of Human-Centered Design (HCD) to citizen engagement in the SILVANUS Project by clarifying the necessary steps in the design process and presenting key factors and challenges in enhancing public awareness through targeted educational materials on wildfires and forest ecosystems. This study employed a HCD approach across various European countries, guided by the Design Thinking Framework and inspired by media communication theories. The study involved stakeholders and citizens from different countries who collaborated in the design of educational materials focused on wildfire preparedness, response, and restoration. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of HCD in developing educational materials for wildfire management and highlights broader challenges in citizen engagement. Raising awareness is a critical first step, but sustaining long-term risk-reducing behaviors requires continued reinforcement through training, incentives, and community-driven initiatives. Accessibility and inclusivity of educational materials remains a challenge, as digital tools are not always equally accessible for different groups of citizens. A combination of digital and traditional engagement strategies is necessary to reach diverse communities effectively. Shared values and the nature of the educational materials fostered collaboration rather than conflict during the HCD process. While discussions arose regarding topic categorization, information depth and content focus, and the appropriate level of detail, these discussions remained constructive rather than contentious.

With the growing popularity of modern tea beverages such as milk tea and tea lattes, traditional tea culture faces declining engagement among younger generations. This study explores how digital games can revitalize Chinese tea traditions through interactive and emotionally engaging experiences. Inspired by pet-raising and simulation management games, we developed TeaSpirit, an interactive game that combines pet nurturing, cultural education, and interactive storytelling to enhance users’ appreciation of traditional tea customs. Using emotional design principles, TeaSpirit fosters engagement through narrative-driven experiences, dynamic pet interactions, and cross-device integration (mobile + smartwatch). A user study with 120 participants assessed the game’s effectiveness in improving cultural appreciation and engagement. Results indicate that TeaSpirit significantly enhances players’ understanding of tea culture and rituals while fostering a deep emotional connection. This study demonstrates the potential of gamified interactive systems in preserving and promoting intangible cultural heritage.