| Mirrors of the World -- Supporting Situational Awareness with Computer Screens | | BIBAK | 1-8 | |
| Gerrit C. van der Veer; Olga Kulyk; Dhaval Vyas | |||
| In this paper we develop a notion of support for social and situational
awareness. Our initial ideas are based on the metaphor of using a mirror to see
what you are not looking at. We provide two studies that, for different
contexts, apply the metaphor to develop design ideas that fit the context of
use. Keywords: social awareness support, situational awareness support, displays | |||
| User Experience in Windows 7 | | BIBAK | 9-10 | |
| Ioan Lazarciuc | |||
| The experience of a user with an operating system has the power to transform
the software in a success or a failure. The new Windows version uses the test
program feedback and the latest technologies, like multi-touch, in order to
offer the users a well organized, intuitive and efficient working environment. Keywords: user experience, Windows 7, touch | |||
| New directions in UI: WPF and Silverlight | | BIBAK | 11-12 | |
| Dan Petric; Daniel Lacatus; Stefan Szasz | |||
| Windows Presentation Foundation, or WPF, is the new framework for UI
development included in the .NET 3.0+ technologies, aiming to replace the older
Windows Forms Framework. With a special Direct 3D based engine, the new
framework offers support for video streaming and 3D operations together with
other graphical visual effects that where impossible to achieve in the old
Window Forms. Silverlight is another framework designed to support the
development of web applications with a very attractive interface. Implemented
as a browser plugin, Silverlight allows these applications to run on the most
of the operating systems being a more advanced environment that the DHTML (HTML
and JavaScript) language. Both frameworks represent the new generation of
instruments used for creating special and innovative User Interfaces, superior
to the classical ones. Keywords: WPF, silverlight, user interface framework | |||
| Creating and Visualizing Lessons in eGLE Elearning Platform | | BIBAK | 13-18 | |
| Teodor Stefanut; Victor Bacu; Dorian Gorgan | |||
| Together with the development of the Internet and with the large use of
personal computers, the eLearning Platforms have known an accelerated
development providing educational services to significantly lower costs than
classical methods. Today, the development of these systems has been slowed down
because of their limited processing and storage capabilities that can be used
at once. Being used in new domains that require the management and processing
of large volumes of information (ex. satellite images, 3D simulations etc.),
the eLearning Environments based on single server architectures will be
replaced by the ones based on Grid networks that will provide the capabilities
necessary to perform this kind of operations. This paper will describe the eGLE
eLearning Platform which has been created based on Grid technology and will
also present a method to create lessons in Earth Observation domain using these
extended storage and processing capabilities. Keywords: e-learning platform, GRID based lesson, eGLE | |||
| Usage of Computer-Based Collaborative Interfacing Tools for Learning | | BIBAK | 19-24 | |
| Stefan Trausan-Matu; Vlad Posea; Traian Rebedea | |||
| The paper presents several researches performed during several years at the
Computer Science Department of the "Politehnica" University of Bucharest for
supporting the learning activities with computers. The shift from the cognitive
paradigm to the socio-cultural one is discussed. The experiments of using
instant messenger (chat) and blog are discussed in detail. Keywords: collaborative learning, chat, blog | |||
| The Accessibility of Elearning Platforms for the Visually Impaired Students | | BIBAK | 25-30 | |
| Marian Padure | |||
| The accessibility of the interfaces, with which a student with visual
impairments interacts, remains an unsolved issue. Even if, there have been
elaborated and recommended various standards for web accessibility (e.g.
W3C-WAI), and also for e-learning system (e.g. I.M.S.,E-Learn-ViP), these are
present only at a primary level or not entirely acceptable. In our research we
intended to evaluate two platforms e-learning throughout two methodological
steps, with the help from students with visual impairments. The accessibility
of an e-learning system is useful to all the users, not only to those with
visual impairments. Keywords: e-learning, accessibility, visual disabilities | |||
| A Study Regarding the Abstract Specification of the User Interface by Using USIXML and UIML Languages | | BIBAK | 31-34 | |
| Simina Tofan; Anamaria Pradais; Sabin Buraga | |||
| The paper proposes a study regarding the methods of abstract specification
for a game user interface by using UsiXML and UIML descriptive languages.
Certain aspects about the model-based interaction in the context of CADUI
(Computer-Aided Design of User Interface) and the effective use of the
modelling tools are presented. Keywords: abstract specification, modelling, description language | |||
| The Components of a Text to Speech System | | BIBAK | 35-38 | |
| Mihai Alexandru Ordean; Andrei Saupe; Mihaela Ordean; Dorian Gorgan | |||
| Converting words from written form into speakable forms strongly influences
the performance of a text-to-speech (TTS) system. The text analysis component
of a TTS system is responsible for parsing the language structure and meaning.
It indicates all the knowledge about the text and reveals out the message. The
core element of the text analysis component is the text parser which translates
and disambiguates the human language and conveys the meaning among a
potentially unlimited range of possibilities. In this paper the focus is on the
text analysis component of a TTS system tailored for the Romanian language. Our
goal is to produce an efficient parser of the written text and proper data
structures to allow the tuning of the core unit selection component of our TTS
system. We go beyond previous research by enhancing our parser with further
computational efficiency and better output representation. Keywords: text-to-speech, text processing, hyphenation | |||
| Synchronizing Video Sequences with Text Streams | | BIBAK | 39-42 | |
| Marian Dardala; Adriana Reveiu; Titus Felix Furtuna | |||
| The construction of multimedia applications assumes to control and to
management the media streams. The most complex data type involved in the
multimedia applications is the video type. To use such a multimedia resource
there are end-user oriented solutions as in the case of specialized software
components from the authoring multimedia software products. In this case the
emphasis is: on the presenting scenario, on the composition, on the
synchronizing of elements involved in the presentation. In the development of
low level applications, that is when the developer wants to build its own
module for video sequences development, he/she must implement the streams
synchronization module too, and the synchronization of native streams, from the
multimedia resource with the external streams of the multimedia resource. In
this article we intend to show the solutions for representing of text external
streams and for synchronizing them with audio streams and with the images of a
video stream. Keywords: multimedia, video sequences, text streams | |||
| Interaction Techniques in Earth Science Applications | | BIBAK | 43-48 | |
| Victor Bacu; Teodor Stefanut; Dorian Gorgan | |||
| The modelling, simulation and visualization of environmental data involves
the defining and development of some particular interaction techniques. An
architecture that supports different interaction techniques is presented in
this paper. In addition, some test scenarios are presented to highlight the
interaction model. Keywords: interaction techniques, web services | |||
| A Generic Component Approach for Dynamic Generation of User Interfaces | | BIBAK | 49-56 | |
| Cristian Frasinaru; Vlad Costel Ungureanu | |||
| In this article, we describe a new technique for dynamically generating user
interfaces, used for data visualization and editing. Based on the Model Driven
Architecture (MDA) specifications we propose a solution composed of an abstract
framework, which not only allows the integration between entities in the
persistence layer with their visualization models, but also offers a mechanism
for multiple implementations for various Java technologies. The results
obtained in our projects that use this framework allow us to consider that the
utilization of this technique significantly reduces the development cycle and
insures an easier maintenance. Keywords: component-based design, graphical user interfaces, model-based architecture | |||
| Virtual Geographical Space Visualization Based on Graphics Cluster Using Hybrid Algorithms | | BIBAK | 57-60 | |
| Cristinel Mihai Mocan | |||
| Modeling and visualization of virtual geographical space involves high power
computation resources and complex models. In this article I will describe some
experiments on the solutions supported by the Equalizer graphics cluster to
provide remote visualization and fast distributed processing. The performance
is evaluated for various cluster configurations and spatial data models. The
research concerns as well with demonstrating the efficiency and flexibility of
hybrid algorithms from the point of view of the cluster graph and remote
visualization. In terms of practical and theoretical analysis, it is realized a
comparison to what we find in the literature. Keywords: graphic cluster, remote visualization | |||
| Recent Approaches in the Formative Usability Evaluation | | BIBAK | 61-64 | |
| Costin Pribeanu; Ruxandra Dora Marinescu; Irina Cristescu; Lucretia Pirvu; Dragos Daniel Iordache | |||
| The advances in the digital information quality and the degree of its
utilization require a user-centred design approach in order to increase the
usability of IT applications. The purpose of this paper is to present a
synthesis of recent approaches in the formative usability evaluation of
interactive systems. The topics is diverse, including indicators frequently
used to assess the reliability and validity of evaluation results. Keywords: usability, formative evaluation, heuristic evaluation | |||
| Efficiency Evaluation of First Person Interaction Metaphors for Manipulation of Virtual Prototypes | | BIBAK | 65-68 | |
| Florin Girbacia; Doru Talaba | |||
| In this paper an evaluation study of first person interaction metaphors used
for manipulation of virtual prototypes in an immersive environment is
presented. A multimodal interface based on Virtual Reality (VR) technologies
that offers direct access to the space model by using several sensorial
channels (visual, tactile, verbal) is described. Users can manipulate 3D
objects using 6DOF tracking device, voice commands, gestures and visualize the
design status in an immersive CAVE -- like system. The results of conducted
evaluation study illustrate that using VR technologies as an alternative for
the WIMP interface for Computer Aided Design software is feasible. Keywords: virtual reality, metaphors | |||
| Evaluation of Motivational Value of an Augmented Reality System for Learning Biology | | BIBAK | 69-72 | |
| Dragos Daniel Iordache; Costin Pribeanu | |||
| The development of augmented reality (AR) technologies creates new
opportunities and challenges for e-learning systems designers. An important
goal of these new platforms is increasing the learning motivation of students.
This paper presents an evaluation of motivational value of an AR scenario for
learning biology. After user testing, qualitative and quantitative measures
have been collected, which asses the educational and motivational value of the
learning scenario. While the results validity is sustained by the comparison
between the two types of measures, the qualitative measures also offer and a
detailed description of user learning experience. Keywords: educational software, augmented reality, motivational value | |||
| Emotional State Evaluation Based on the Human Body Position, Through Computer-Vision Methods | | BIBAK | 73-76 | |
| Delia Mitrea; Sergiu Nedevschi; Dorian Gorgan | |||
| The recognition of the users' emotional states is a subject of interest
concerning the human-computer interaction, as it conforms to the concept of
natural interaction. The elimination of every constraint regarding the
human-machine communication is one of the objectives of the nowadays research
in the domain: the aim is that of making the machine invisible to the user. The
body language, consisting in the body position and gestures, is one of the
non-verbal, indirect means for emotion expression, besides the face expression
and voice tonality. The computer-vision specific methods provide efficient, low
cost techniques for emotional state recognition based on body position,
respectively on human gestures, in the context of human-computer interaction.
We study the problem of emotional state recognition based on body language,
through computer-vision techniques. First, the nowadays knowledge in the domain
is studied, and then the proposed solution is applied, consisting in image
skeletonization and supervised classification. Keywords: natural interaction, body language, body posture recognition | |||
| A User Centered Approach in Developing an Intelligent System for National Cancer Registry Management | | BIBAK | 77-82 | |
| Adriana-Mihaela Guran; Grigoreta-Sofia Cojocar; Luciana Neamtiu | |||
| Cancer registry is an informational system for acquiring, managing and
analyzing information about neoplazic disease persons. Its purpose is to
provide accurate information about cancer occurrence in a particular
geographical region. In this paper we present a proposal for the architecture
of a multiagent system for national cancer registry. One of the main concerns
in developing the system was its usability, that is why we have applied a
task-based design, using GTA method and interviews and observation, in order to
gather valid information for the future users. Keywords: user centered design, task analysis | |||
| An Ontology-Based Competence Management Interactive System for IT Companies | | BIBAK | 83-88 | |
| Cristina Niculescu; Stefan Trausan-Matu | |||
| The paper presents an interactive information system for competence
management based on ontologies for information technology companies. The
advantage of using an ontology-based system is the possibility of the
identification of new relations among concepts based on inferences starting
from the existing knowledge. The inferences may be performed in our approach by
a reasoning engine, using classifiers in the Descriptions Logics tab associated
with the Protégé ontology environment. The user can choose to
query instances of one type of concept, based on the relations that are
displayed for him/her in a dropping menu. In addition to choosing relations
modeled in the ontology, the user may also query inferred relations that are
not explicitly stored in the knowledge base. Other search type is browsing the
ontology. Starting from base-concepts, the user can get specific information
about any instance or concept. The paper also presents some use-cases and
further developments. Keywords: ontology, competences, user interfaces | |||
| Applying Social Science Methods in Software Engineering -- A Practical Approach | | BIBAK | 89-94 | |
| Daniela-Maria Andrei; Adriana-Mihaela Guran; Horia D. Pitariu | |||
| One of the main problems in designing interactive systems is to make it
usable. This means you have to know the users and their needs and expectations.
Software engineering approaches in building interactive systems does not
support these aspects related to users. That is why, the methods used by social
sciences can be adapted in order to provide the needed information about users.
In this paper we present some of the methods used by social sciences that can
be helpful in requirements analysis and usability evaluation. These methods
have been successfully applied and some case studies are also presented. Keywords: usability, human factors, user centered design | |||
| Critical Remarks on the Interaction of Users with File Systems | | BIBAK | 95-98 | |
| Lucian Chetan | |||
| Every major operating system stores data by means of hierarchical file
systems. Easily understood by users, this form of organizing data has remained
basically the same since its inception, but is unable to effectively organize
large quantities of personal files, such as music, documents, etc. A new
approach is necessary, one that builds on top of existing functionality. The
solution consists in the implementation of virtual file systems --
metadata-centric file systems that allow adding meaning to data. This leads to
a more intuitive way of managing personal files: searching, previewing and
meaningfully displaying data in graphical user interfaces. The article presents
an overview of such file systems, and how the graphical user interfaces must
reflect the new capabilities. At the end, the article suggests new ways of
bridgind the gap between locally stored data and Internet data, whose goal is
to ultimately create a more satisfying user experience. Keywords: virtual file system, metadata | |||
| Current State of Research in Augmented Reality | | BIBAK | 99-104 | |
| Dragos Catalin Barbu | |||
| This article will review current research in augmented reality. Describes
the work carried out in several parts and explains the problems encountered in
the construction of augmented reality. It will summarize the approaches taken
to overcome these problems. Keywords: augmented reality, tridimensional presentation | |||
| Recommendations for E-Learning Solutions Development and Evaluation | | BIBAK | 105-110 | |
| Daniel Safta; Dorian Gorgan | |||
| This paper describes basic concepts in computer assisted training, state of
the art in Romania and guidelines for developing educational software. We've
approached expert educational systems, the IMS Learning Design Model, a series
of parameters for e-learning techniques and their use in choosing and/or
obtaining an educational software solution. Keywords: e-learning, educational expert systems, conceptual models | |||