Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Context Diversity

The apparition of new mobile phones operating systems often leads to a flood of mobile applications rushing into the market without taking into account needs of the most vulnerable users groups: the people with disabilities. The need of accessible applications for mobile is very important especially when it comes to access basic mobile functions such as making calls through a contact manager. This paper presents the technical validation process and results of an Accessible Contact Manager for mobile phones as a part of the evaluation of accessible applications for mobile phones for people with disabilities.

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular and are already the first access technology to information and communication. However, people with disabilities have to face a lot of barriers when using this kind of technology. This paper presents an Accessible Contact Manager and a Real Time Text application, designed to be used by all users with disabilities. Both applications are focused to improve accessibility of mobile phones.

BrailleTouch is an eyes-free text entry application for mobile devices. Currently, there exist a number of hardware and software solutions for eyes-free text entry. Unfortunately, the hardware solutions are expensive and the software solutions do not offer adequate performance. BrailleTouch bridges this gap. We present our design rationale and our explorative evaluation of BrailleTouch with HCI experts and visually impaired users.

Present day mobile applications are becoming increasingly pervasive and complex, involving sophisticated user interfaces and touchscreen-based interaction designs. Their overall acceptance is highly dependent on usability, hence there exists a strong need to make related usability issues an integral part of the mobile software development. In this paper we propose a touchscreen meta-testing model, a set of individual test cases which represents what we believe to be the basic aspects of usability, common to all touchscreen applications. The main goal of the meta-test is to provide relevant feedback on elementary mobile touchscreen interaction, and to use obtained results as important parameters and usability guidelines within the mobile software development process. Along with universal usability support for touchscreen mobile applications in general, this experimental framework can provide some additional benefits, related to different possible ways of both applying meta-test model and using its final outcomes.

This paper describes an effort to address life-threatening diseases and health conditions through engaging use of mobile devices. The design targeted children ages 7-11, with a goal of becoming aware of the nutritional value of foods that they eat on a regular basis. The implementation efforts resulted in Health Attack, a matching and memory game that seeks to raise the knowledge-level of participants about the foods that they eat. The evaluation of Health Attack, conducted through a demo and questionnaire administered to K-12 teachers, suggests that this type of game would be engaging for younger audiences as a first step in raising health awareness.

This paper will discuss the security, privacy and interoperability of mobile health applications (MHAs) and how these issues must be reconciled in order for MHA devices to be implemented in the most robust fashion. Balance is needed between privacy and accessibility, between security and interoperability and between flexibility and standardization. The interoperability of diverse MHA devices must be a goal for the future in order to realize portability, true continuity and quality of care across a wide spectrum of health services. A pilot project to determine potential threats to the privacy of personal health information on an iPad will be described

Within the Telecom Italia Research Projects a service prototype has been developed in order to satisfy both the needs arising from the consumption and wine production. Thanks to the new technological opportunities opened by the Internet of Things and Distributed Intelligence, the GeoDrinking service is designed to allow worldwide users to publish on the main social networks their wine consumption behaviour patterns. At the same time GeoDrinking allows the wine producers to watch on a dedicated platform those spatial and time consumption patterns, exploiting those data for marketing purposes.

Over the last decade a manifold of WLAN-based localization methods have evolved, whereupon most approaches focus on accurate location estimation and tracking using absolute coordinates. In this paper we propose a system prototype utilizing WLAN infrastructure for relative spatial determinations using discrete, unambiguously distinguishable zones. The prototype allows imitating near field communication (NFC) and beyond using conventional mobile devices not equipped with NFC hardware but a WLAN interface. We prove the functional correctness of our system in the course of a payment scenario at cash-desks, where customers are required to “show” their electronic store card at spatial proximity to their cashier without interferences from neighbors.

Reports of health information systems failures identified the guilty parties laying with issues around social, technical, and organizational factors. The reason so many systems fail may lie in the socio-cultural fit of e-Health systems. We do not understand how to deliver information to providers when they need it, in a usable format, and in a way that fits transparently into their workflow and into the daily lives of patients. In addition to understanding how clinicians use HIT in order to promote health behavior change, it is necessary to consider patient goals, preferences and capacities. Patients with multiple diagnoses are often complex to manage because so much of their experiences happen in between clinical visits. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can play an important role in assisting patients managing personal health information. The key question is how do we take advantage of the power of low-cost ICTs to extend care?

Current smart clothing faces challenges due to discomfort provided by some technological components. A wireless body area network using inductively coupled fabric antennas is suggested as one of the solutions to overcome this. Different types of fabric substrates (denim, broadcloth, and jersey) and protective coating (acrylic resin, polyurethane, and silicone) were selected and engineered to optimize the antenna performance – in terms of mechanical and electrical properties. Experimental results show that protective coating affects almost every mechanical property very significantly. Resistance of the antenna was recorded lowest on the polyurethane-coated antennas and inductance was minimized on the broadcloth substrates. Recognizing a trade-off between electrical performance and comfort, this research looks at ways to optimize the overall usability.

It is predictable that the E-book market would attract more and more older customers, and has the potential benefits for older adults to interact with technology and enjoy the reading pleasure. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effects with font sizes and page presentation methods for the E-Book reading performance. 24 older adults, ages 62 to 70, participated in the study. Reading speed and accuracy were measured and subjective satisfaction assessment of older adults recorded. The results indicate that reading with flip page method of E-book caused significantly higher reading speed than reading with scrollbar page method. Subjective results showed that older adults preferred 14 font size and more positive comments showed a preference with flip page presentation method.

In the product design field, it is important to pin point critical product form features (PFFs) that influence consumers’ affective responses (CARs) of a product design. In this paper, an approach based on least squares support vector regression (LS-SVR) and automatic relevance determination (ARD) is proposed to streamline the task of product form feature selection (PFFS) according to the CAR data. The representation of PFFs is determined by morphological analysis and pairwise adjectives are used to express CARs. In order to gather the CAR data, an experiment of semantic differential (SD) evaluation on collected product samples was conducted. The LS-SVR prediction model can be constructed using the PFFs as input data and the evaluated SD scores as output value. The optimal parameters of the LS-SVR model are tuned by using Bayesian inference. Finally, an ARD selection process is used to analyze the relative relevance of PFFs to obtain feature ranking.

This study applied User Centered Design in mobile service design. First, an interview was conducted to analyze needs of teenagers. Chinese teenagers desire more information about daily life and more interaction between users. Second, based on the results of the interview, a low fidelity prototype was develped. To evaluate the design, teenagers participated in the second interview and told its pros and cons. Finally, refinement was made and a high fidelity prototype was ready. This prototype combined both Wikipedia and the query-based interaction. Results of this study have reference value for practitioners to involve target users into development process of information service.

Falls are one of the major risks which the elderly people face. Recently, due to the demands for guardianship of physical functions, the device to detect falls automatically is urgently needed. This study was focused on the method of fall detection and the wireless device based on a triaxial acceleration sensor. To evaluate the performance, experiments were conducted on fall, squat, stand up and walk. The device was also set in three body positions (head, shoulder and belly) to get fall signals compared. It is considered that the difference between valley and peak of the acceleration on

z

axis can be used to detect falls as an obvious feature. If it’s higher than 0.5V, it can be concluded that the person has a fall occurrence. The device is expected to be useful to detect falls of the elderly as healthcare equipment.

REMOTE is an AAL project that aims at advancing the state-of-the-art in fields of tele-healthcare and ambient intelligence by enhancing the elderly’s home with audio-visual, sensor, motoric monitoring and automation abilities to trace vital signs, activity, behaviour and health condition, and detect risks and critical situations, as well as provide, proactively and reactively, effective and efficient support at home. This paper presents the project objectives, the approach and principles endorsed, and the expected results. Overall, REMOTE is characterised by: a user-centered philosophy and consistent involvement of users; processes for reaching consensus among all stakeholders; strong commitment to ethical and legal issues; sound scientific and evidence-based methods (incl. real context pilots in 6 countries) to measure usability, impact and acceptance of the developments by elderly populations.

Multi touch is a new-type technology of human computer interaction, it can provide multi user to operate on the same display. Hence, different type of interface design will cause manipulation problem. This study is going to create a 100 inch multi-touch display to observe the user’s interactive behavior through the 6 cameras in public space area. In addition to the manipulation interface, a “Photo.DIG” interface is development to control photos in the depth.

Wearable sensors are increasingly used to monitor and quantify physical activity types and levels in a real-life environment. In this project we studied the activity classification in manual wheelchair users using wearable sensors. Twenty-seven subjects performed a series of representative activities of daily living in a semi-structured setting with a wheelchair propulsion monitoring device (WPMD) attached to their upper limb and their wheelchair. The WPMD included a wheel rotation datalogger that collected wheelchair movements and an eWatch that collected tri-axial acceleration on the wrist. Features were extracted from the sensors and fed into four machine learning algorithms to classify the activities into three and four categories. The results indicated that these algorithms were able to classify these activities into three categories including self propulsion, external pushing, and sedentary activity with an accuracy of 89.4-91.9%.

In this position paper the information society is supposed to emerge as some form of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environment. On the basis of the results of the DfA@eInclusion project, it is maintained that this development asks for a different approach to the solution of inclusion problems, i.e. the Design for All (or Universal Design) approach. The main lines of research and development activity to be carried out in order to contribute to the development of an inclusive AmI environment are then pointed out.

This paper describes efforts toward creating an integrated living space to support heightened awareness of a user’s environment. The work seeks to balance the needs and desires of an individual with those of other people within the locality, community, and world, to include basic comforts like temperature and humidity of a living environment as well as use of resources like power and water. The use of mobile technologies—already prominent among many populations—can be used to raise awareness of the needs and responsibilities of the individual and can highlight opportunities to live in ways that are friendlier to others. Mobile technologies have great promise in connecting users to their environment, and a smart environment enhanced with technology that supports better living can improve the lives of individuals, groups, and the broader community. The goals of this work are toward encouraging: 1) increased awareness of information in the user’s surroundings; 2) integrated control over factors in one’s surrounding and home environments; and 3) increased ability to support sustainable living for both individuals and groups. This work builds on the many smart, green, and sustainable living environment initiatives that have emerged in recent years.

This paper describes the outcomes stemming from the work of a multidisciplinary R&D project of ICS-FORTH, aiming to explore and experiment with novel interactive museum exhibits, and to assess their utility, usability and potential impact. More specifically, four interactive systems are presented in this paper which have been integrated, tested and evaluated in a dedicated, appropriately designed, laboratory space. The paper also discusses key issues stemming from experience and observations in the course of qualitative evaluation sessions with a large number of participants.

Assisted Living Systems with Ambient Intelligence technology raise new challenges to system and software engineering. The development of Assisted Living applications requires domain-oriented interdisciplinary research – it is essential to know both the domain and the context. It is also important that context-descriptive prototypes are: (1) an integrated description that describes system, work processes, context of use; and (2) a formal description. Because (1), designers, including end users, are provided with a means to investigate the system in the context of the envisioned work processes. Because (2), investigations into questions of formalization and automation, not only of the system, but also of the work processes, can be made explicitly and become subject for discussions and further elaboration. Adapted engineering approaches are required to cope with the specific characteristics of ambient intelligent systems. Elderly are the most demanding stakeholders for IT-development – even highly sophisticated systems will not be accepted when they do not address the real needs of the elderly and are not easily accessible and usable. Communication processes are essential in that respect. The evolution and, in particular, the spread of unambiguous symbols were an necessary postulate for the transfer of information, as for example in sign language, speech, writing, etc. In this paper, we report on our experiences in design, development and evaluation of computer applications in the area of ambient assisted living for elderly people, where, to our experiences, engineers highly underestimate the power of appropriate knowledge on semiotics and we demonstrate how we can emphasize universal access by thinking of informatics as semiotics engineering.

This paper describes research in designing smart artifacts for sustainable awareness. The work is based on the cultural probe method by collecting primary visual data about domestic settings. A smart artifact called iAWN is designed in support of energy, health, and environmental awareness at home. We take a design probe approach to exploring design alternatives. The design probe includes mock-up experiments, functional sketch, and script writing. The methods, implementation, project findings, and lessons learned from the iAWN project are described.

Augmented Reality (AR) is an upcoming technology focusing on the enrichment of the user’s natural view by integration of text and interactive objects in real time. While indoor AR may rely on stable environment conditions and sensitive tracking devices, high-precision outdoor AR faces more challenging requirements and is thus less spread. Furthermore, constantly changing environment outdoor conditions require a robust system capable to offer different views with appropriate information density, especially in stressful situations. In this case, the correct choice of colors, text size and mark-up style may be critical for the performance of the interactive system. A concept for a new, video-based and compact Augmented Reality vision system, based on Differential-GPS, is presented. Results of a preliminary study on two different approaches for position and object pinpointing give valuable cues for interface design with optimized situation awareness.

This paper presents the results of the implementation of an accessibility verifier tool for AAL systems using the ISO/IEC 24756 standard. The accessibility verifier tool is based in an interaction model where the Common Accessibility Profile (CAP), as defined by the standard, is used to perform the checking of the accessibility constrains of the system configuration against the user capabilities. The paper gives information of the major design decisions in developing the tool, the context of use in the VAALID project and the relation with the standard.

AAL Solutions are not part of mainstream industry yet, being one of the main reasons the complexity of the technologies involved in relation to its targeted beneficiaries, the elderly, and its acceptance by them. Applying HCD methodologies for user involvement and creating physical prototypes is both costly and time consuming, particularly in this domain that combines software artifacts, devices and physical environments. VR techniques are very suited to create Virtual Prototypes that offer the beneficiaries the possibility to visualize and interact with proposed solutions before they exist. This paper presents the results of VAALID project in developing this approach of creating tools for design and simulation of AAL Solutions using VR and Mixed Reality, supporting the early involvement of beneficiaries in the process.

The dominance of computer technology in work and leisure poses particular challenges for older people. Specifically, their lack of computer literacy impedes their ability to explore and use new interactive systems. To investigate the effect of computer literacy and two approaches to compensate a lack thereof, 62 older (M=68 years) and 62 younger (M=25 years) participants were split evenly into three groups: the video group watched a brief instructional video immediately prior to solving eleven tasks using a simulated ticket vending machine, while the control group did not and the wizard group used a redesigned wizard interface instead of the original simulated ticket vending machine to solve the same eleven tasks. Results indicate that both age groups benefited from watching the video, while older adults benefited more, so much so, that they were as effective as the younger non-video group. For the wizard condition age differences were practically eliminated. Particularly efficacy and satisfaction of the older group increased substantially. This result suggests that the careful design and integration of minimal instructions or wizards into interactive devices could contribute to maintain independent living and societal integration for older people.

Due to the rapid growth of the aging population, numerous countries have been attaching importance to establishing the well-being of the elderly. However, long-term healthcare is labor intensive. To alleviate the possible social costs associated with manpower and physical resources, we propose an evidence-based caring system which can inconspicuously and automatically monitor the health status of the elderly by continuously analyzing their real-life long-term living patterns deduced from activity recognition. In this way, caregivers can get hold of the behavior changes even the elderly is not under caregivers’ supervision. Moreover, we adopt a persuasive policy to provide timely reminders and encourage the elderly to achieve a healthier life. In the primary stage, we do preliminary experiments in a nursing room. Based on the experiment, we conduct several interviews aiming to improve our system in the next phase.

The EU 6th Framework Programme Integrated Project AIDE (Adaptive Integrated Driver-vehicle interfacE), was a 50 month project, with 31 partners, including all major European vehicle manufacturers, the main suppliers and a range of leading research institutes and universities. The general objective of the AIDE Integrated Project has been the generation of the knowledge and the development of methodologies and human-machine interface technologies required for safe and efficient integration of ADAS, IVIS and nomad devices into the driving environment. The third sub-project of AIDE aimed at the design, development and demonstration of the innovative adaptive and integrated driver-vehicle interface concept. This entails a unified human-machine interface that resolves conflicts and exploits synergies between different in-vehicle systems. The paper focuses on the presentation of the work emanating from the third sub-project of AIDE presenting the general features of the innovative human-machine interface realized within AIDE, including the results achieved with the demonstration of the system in three prototype vehicles.

The present paper examines simulator adaptation syndrome (SAS) as a barrier to simulator use for older adults. A brief description of the phenomenon is provided and its history discussed. There are generally three domains in which to make changes to alleviate the problem. Changes to the simulator, the scenarios, and the participants are viable avenues to reducing the effects of SAS. The experiences of the author’s attempts to deal with high attrition rates among older adults in research and in a driving evaluation scenario are described and successful strategies are presented.

As vehicle and computer technology are more and more merging, new forms of assistance and automation in vehicles open up the potential to increasing safety and improving comfort. In HAVEit, an EU-FP7 Integrating Project, car and truck manufacturers, suppliers and research organizations explore highly automated driving applications, where the automation can take over substantial parts of the driving task, but where the driver is still in the loop. The interaction between the human and such an automation becomes a crucial part for a successful, dynamic balance between human and machine. Starting with design explorations, generic interaction and display schemes for highly automated driving were derived, implemented, tested in assessments and experiments, and finally applied to the demonstrator vehicles of HAVEit.

In the increasingly fast strive for new advanced driver assistance systems and a continuously higher automation of the driving task, it is essential not to lose sight of the most important factor: the driver. Therefore, we have to develop interaction strategies that center around the user perspective without loosing sight of the technological availability. Individual design for a certain assistance function must be balanced with the integrated and compatible design of multiple functions in several vehicles. This paper details the iterative interactIVe approach and details how the strategy space was structured to find possible common elements, derive generic interaction strategies universal to several or all systems, and identify the main research questions for the further course of the project.

Most car accidents are caused by improper driving behaviors. Studies have shown that changing lanes improperly is one of the main causes of traffic accidents. This shows that drivers need an assisting alarm system to help them avoid the danger during overtaking. We also found that the existing alarm system and researches try to use different sensory outputs as the alarm signals. However, there were no studies to compare how the different sensory alarm signals affect the drivers. Therefore, in this study, we have setup three kinds of alarm signals (visual, sound, and haptic alarm signals) to see which one is more suitable at the high speed context. On top of that, the sensitivity of the alarm system may be the other key factor that affects drivers’ behaviors. So, we manipulate two most commonly shown alarm signal frequencies when the driver feels threatened. The results of this study have proven that the sound and haptic signals are better than visual outputs when drivers are put in a high visual loading situation. This result could be the guideline for future designers of a driving alarm system.

Many vehicles today are equipped with navigation systems, and all of these systems use speech or a combination of speech and graphics to provide drivers with directions to their destinations. This study investigates the effect of gender of voice when providing driving instructions in English to drivers that are non-native speakers of English. In a 2(native/non-native) by 2(gender of voice) between participant study, 40 participants in age group 18-25 drove in a driving simulator for 25 minutes with navigation information system that gave drivers directions to a set destination. Results show that gender of voice did not affect native English speaking drivers. For non-native speakers, however, a female voice worked better for both female and male drivers. Non-native speakers consistently missed to act on navigational information give by the male voice. Design implications for voice systems are discussed.

We present in this paper results of research conducted on evaluation of speech user interfaces in cars. The approach is based on segmentation of the driver’s attention data based on user activity and attention. The methodology applied is based on the proposed standard of Lane Change Test (ISO proposal #26022) which is extended by splitting the data based on operation performed. We summarize first results obtained while larger scale study is ongoing.

An on-road experiment has been performed with an equipped vehicle, to study whether the effects on driving behaviour and acceptance of a forward collision warning system and of a lane deviation warning system are different when the systems are isolated or when they are used in parallel. 24 participants were assigned in three experimental and one reference group and were asked to drive the equipped vehicle for 15 consecutive trips on a highway at similar traffic and environmental conditions. The effects of the two isolated systems improve the longitudinal and lateral driving behaviour respectively and are rated as useful and satisfactory, while the use of the systems in parallel does not have a positive effect on driving behaviour. In the latter case the systems are not considered satisfactory and cause frustration to the drivers, thus the need emerges to integrate systems and interfaces.

Over the past years, many research methods have been developed to improve designing systems. There is, however, great need for research in this field in order to find new techniques and solutions appropriate for modelling structures of innovative products. This paper puts forward methodological and practical evaluations of some aspects of design creation. Author presents main principles that underline methodological perspectives for a closer integration of art and technology in design of innovative products. The paper presents two key research problems: a) possibility of combining traditional design methods with new computing tools. b) design methodology as a basis for multidisciplinary innovation process. Examples used to illustrate the methodology include design of an architectural structures.

With the constant upgrading of the quality of human life, naturally the demand for travel continues to increase. People are no longer satisfied with the old standard travel plans, and they prefer to make their own personalized travel plans from the gathered information within the Internet. In this paper, we design to setup one integrated tourism platform based on the concept of Web 2.0. It will allow users to share the experiences, pictures, and description of various locations though our designed platform. Users can have an automatically generated trip planning before the trip, have an automatically generated tourism manual during the trip, and share the experience of the whole tourism after the trip. Though the integrated travel web site, one user can retrieve the popular tourism locations recently by browsing the site. The user can also have a personal travel plan that match his preferences by easily selecting some options. After the travel, the user can record and share the travel experience of one single tourism location or the whole travel route to others.

Domestic kitchen area is the most important, most intensely used functional area in the apartment. With regard to laboratory nature of kitchen works, equipment and users of different age and physical fitness, kitchen is a potentially dangerous place. From the beginning of its existence kitchen has influenced family integration and socialization processes. For centuries the kitchen area has been changing its equipment, shape and location with regard to other rooms in a home. The appearance of ergonomics and anthropometry sciences made it possible to do a research, in order to simplify kitchen work. American housewives initiated an improvement of the kitchen area. The technical progress enabled an infiltration of functional areas, an integration of equipment functions and their grouping, which is seen in models of the open kitchen and the island-shaped kitchen. The evolution of domestic kitchen is a constant process, and because of that fact, it needs to be ergonomically analyzed. It is necessary to take into consideration the ergonomic criteria of both planning and correcting the existing kitchen solutions. Ergonomic education of statistic user contributes to the reduction of accidents and the facilitation of kitchen work.

Beside physical methods to modify the limits of interior space, there are also some design decisions and tricks that can change the perception of a visual space. Therefore, it’s possible to correct interior without redesigning or destructions – breaking old walls and making new ones, for example, with the help of optical illusions that change visual perception of interior space. A room can be visually enlarged, deepened, broadened, heightened, narrowed, or lowered. Things like color, lighting, interior elements placement, integrated – horizontal or vertical – lines, shapes, mirrors and even style of interior equipment and finishing materials can correct the interior space because they can have a significant impact on the size, proportion and mood of a space. It’s possible to achieve great effects by combining knowledge of perception and knowledge of design.

Life in our present world demands of man an increasing degree of mobility, and increasing flexibility from his environment. Users and recipients demand more and more from architects. Architecture should be a reflection of specific individual characteristics of its user. Introducing dynamic aspects to architecture is rooted in history. It always had its causes, since architecture functions as a mirror of social phenomena. Man’s social and environmental evolution maintained equilibrium. However, the application of mechanisms for mobile facades, or mutable shapes in general, exposes the individual to even more dynamic conditions in his or her immediate spatial surroundings. This prompts us to consider human’s actual adaptive capabilities, so as to maintain optimal conditions for live in such a dynamic environment. By introducing artificial control over the intensity of changes in the space surrounding us, do we risk disturbing the evolutional equilibrium of the individuals living in that space?

Technology can provide personalized support to improve overall functioning of individuals with an intellectual disability. Among the wide diversity of available technologies, several can be specifically used to promote the emergence of self-determined behavior. These are referred to as "self-determination support technologies". Among others, PocketPC and Smartphone applications can be use to help people traveling within a city. These applications provide step-by-step assistance along predefined routes. Consequently, the goal of our study was to adapt and field-test one of this Smartphone application

(Visual Assitant).

A pilot study was conducted with a 19 years old adult with Down syndrome. Main results showed that the participant was happy, excited and surprisingly confident. He only needed 3 trials to be able to use the technology to travel alone within the city. Parents and caregiver recognize the effectiveness and relevance of the technology and claimed that it can be use to assist not only with learning new travels but also to complete tasks such as house chores or work tasks.

The 21st-century man spends more than half of his time in the environment of artificial light and technology tools, such as cellular phones, computer, TV, radio etc – they build the contemporary living environment – a technosphere. Therefore, a question should be asked whether the technosphere has not become a “natural environment” for the contemporary man? In this context people’s attitude towards the environment is becoming an even more important issue. It has to be remembered that the natural environment is susceptible to and dependent on human activity, whereas the technical environment/technosphere reflects the intentions present in the process of technology creation. Technology does not have to be controversial in relation to the natural environment. It may become an integral part of the environment as a whole, without a division into a natural and artificial/built environment.

The aim of the publication is therefore to present the role of computers in the process of creating a technosphere which is friendly both for the nature and the human being.

Increasingly today more and more complex machinery are designed, produced or maintained. It causes that the requirements of machines operators in the scope of assurance protection are progressively higher. As a result new laws, standards and practices are introduced. These regulations concern all the machines which are placed into the EU market. In this paper the practical verification of construction design for safety is done on the example of shaping machines such as: loathes, milling machines, drilling machines and horizontal boring machines with the application of existing law. The investigated machines were offered for sale on Polish market by Internet.

This study presents a novel microfabricated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) chip based on silicon. A microheater utilizing doped semiconductors as heating resistors and a temperature sensor made of Pt are integrated on the chip to make up a thermal module. The micro-stationary PCR chip is fabricated on a silicon wafer using photolithography, wet etching and ion implantation technology. The package is created without complex processes. Three types of configurations for the microheater are designed and simulated to analyze the temperature distribution by the finite element analysis so as to enhance the temperature uniformity in the reaction chamber. With this approach, the microheater is optimized. Finally, the simulation results are validated by infrared images from experiments.

Fire, first open and then closed, was kindled and maintained through the ages. Fire started in hearths allowed for lighting and heating rooms and thermal processing of food. It considerably changed the quality of the domestic life (thus the English term “hearth” stands not only for a fireplace itself but extended its meaning into the concept of home.). Emergence of fire contributed to emergence and development of economy, including industry. High temperatures were obtained initially by burning wood, and later coal and gas. Electrification also enabled application an electric arc, microwaves and electromagnetic induction for the same purpose of obtaining high temperatures. Fire and high temperature have always played a significant role in households. They have been used for heating living spaces as well as for thermal processing of food, thus affecting spatial arrangement of rooms and a sequence of household activities and housework. Striving for comfortable conditions in flats inspired specific actions, which consequently were directed towards subduing and maintaining fire, removing smoke and ash, etc. The research paper discusses a historical evolution of appliances for thermal processing of food and their influence on organization and arrangement of contemporary kitchen work.

This work presents the usability evaluation of the mGuides system, which emerged as a response to the educational needs of students affected by the earthquake that hit Chile in the year 2010. With this system, teachers generate working guides through an editor, including learning guides and questionnaires for their learners. At the same time, students visualize and complete these working guides on cellular phones. The objective of this work is to present the impact of usability evaluations as part of the process for the development of the mGuides system, contributing mainly to the validation of the functionalities and the detection of errors. The results show that the mGuides system was highly accepted by both teachers and students, and that it is an intuitive and easy-to-use tool.

The future of universal access is very much determined by considerations that reflect also the changes at the global level. One of the key changes is the shift towards an Urban Age. In this paper it is addressed from the perspective of how information and communication technology, in particular ambient intelligence, will influence the future of our cities. The paper presents the concepts of Hybrid, Smart and Humane Cities and their dependencies. They are also used as umbrella scenarios for developing new research lines for ambient intelligence. The paper closes with presenting twelve of these research lines that were developed in the EU-funded InterLink-project.