Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Inter-networked computers enable virtual collaborative work. In the course of interacting with one another, individuals send and receive messages and files of various sorts. This may be done within specialized collaborative work environments, or by simply employing a combination of different communication tools and applications. In the course of doing their work, collaborators perform different actions that create and/or otherwise manipulate digital artifacts that are related to different aspects of their collaboration. Social network analysis is used to develop a fuller understanding of interactions between people. We describe a software prototype of a tool that automatically measures and analyzes aspects of collaboration developing visualizations of likely social interactions. In this paper we describe the system, some early results, and several different possible applications of the technology.

In this paper we introduce an application level protocol for sharing of XML based data. This protocol is especially designed for mobile environment. It is able to deal with unreliability of the mobile wireless networks where the client’s bandwidth is limited and the connection may frequently fail. We describe the synchronization process of the data from the client side as well as from the server side. The protocol can deal with data synchronization conflicts and can prevent them in most cases by using data locking mechanism. Data buffering mechanism from client and server side is supporting the re-establishing of data consistency after connection failure. The protocol has been verified by means of a scenario from a facility management domain.

Problem identification is an area of research from Autonomic Computing. The problem identification can bring several benefits in a production line, especially in continuous production of the Information Technology Industry. This work presents an approach based on Symptom Ontologies to facilitate problem identification and solution prediction, and use of clickstream analysis for recommendation of material, when the solution is not appropriated.

This contribution is focused on the data exchange during the iterative work with heterogeneous CAD systems. The important cognition is the fact that without an application infrastructure it is not possible to design a universal data format for data exchange which allows mutual transformation of any data without non returnable distortion. The paper shows the data exchange scenarios that help to solve this problem. The proxy management and differential conversion are introduced. The proxy management is based on storing an additional data in the transformed files. The main pillar of the differential conversion is the log of changes and identifiers’ mapping. Both strategies are focused on the problems of the cyclic conversions used during the iterative model/drawing creation and both involve the agents that manage additional data structures, which help to correct the data during backward import.

This paper presents a web-based virtual environment which supports designers geographically distributed to engage in the same assembly scenario and complete the assembly task synchronously. Firstly, a client-server based architecture for collaborative assembly is discussed. The discussion highlights how to decompose the collaborative assembly environment into several functional modules, and how to deploy the right module on the right side. Secondly, some key technologies including task classification and subdivision, and multimodal interaction, are discussed in detail. At last, we give our implementations and discuss limitations in our current research effort.

New forms of interaction are arising closer to the users and embedded in the intelligent environments. In this work we present a context-aware application through Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) offering services to the users in an implicit way. The only required interaction with the system is to wear a little device called tag (smart label). Some of these services such as location, presence, access or inventory are implicit in this technology. Another, more important for us, is the visualization service, we call “Mosaic of Visualization”. Our main goal is to link the easy interaction by means of the identification process, through RFID technology, with the presentation of information.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) significantly contribute to the majority of national economies. Often they are confronted with difficulties. This paper reports on a project that was carried out in order to help managers of small and medium-sized enterprises to improve managerial processes. This work proposes a visual model for diagnosing corporate planning in SMEs. Developed computer programs contain tests that allow collaborative examination of the state of planning in SMEs and visually analyzing the results. By using this model, managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with experts can improve corporate planning. The proposed visual model was tested in small and medium-sized enterprises and proved to be valuable for enhancing corporate planning.

This paper describes an approach to empowering heterogeneous groups of people to share the tasks of digitising and updating buildings that may convey a credible sense of presence. We argue that more effective tools are required to clearly display alternative and ad-hoc local planning proposals in web based interactive 3D, free at the point of access. Initial workshops have shown that such tools are only likely to be used if those so doing can influence the outcome. Consensus needs to be obtained among a broad group to exert strong influence. Tools are therefore needed to share concerns, examine alternatives, and propose solutions through collaborative citizen based proposals, examination and discussion. Consequently the VEPs Interreg project has been examining how to optimise shared web based collaborative digital 3D modelling and discussion, focused on urban and rural environments, where the increasing availability of LiDAR laser scanning offers appropriately accurate remote sensed data.

Knowledge Management (KM) is a complex objective, especially in the instance of extended enterprises consisting of SMEs, and critical in new product design and development (NPD). The use of patterns is essential to get KM in collaborative NPD processes. This paper presents the use of patterns adopted in the CE-TILE project to standardize information and knowledge in collaborative work. The different types of patterns and models established for the knowledge capture, formalization and configuration are also described.

To cope with the dynamism of the intelligent manufacturing grid environment, an agent and knowledge enacted dynamic workflow management system is proposed to support the manufacturing process modeling, control and management, smoothing the integration of the flow of the work during collaborative manufacturing process. Autonomous software agents are used to implement the functional components and to encapsulate the end user and participating resource in the system. The domain knowledge is constructed to support the agent conversation and abstract workflow modeling; Knowledge based rule mechanisms is applied to support process scheduling and enactment in the multi-agent environment. The design and prototype implementation of the system is discussed and demonstrated with a case study.