A New End-User Composition Model to Empower Knowledge Workers to Develop Rich Internet Applications

Enabling real end-user programming development is the next logical stage in the evolution of Internetwide service-based applications. Even so, the vision of end users programming their own web-based solutions has not yet materialized. This will continue to be so unless both industry and the research community rise to the ambitious challenge of devising an end-to-end compositional model for developing a new age of end-user web application development tools. This paper describes a new composition model designed to empower programming-illiterate end users to create and share their own off-the-shelf rich Internet applications in a fully visual fashion. This paper presents the main insights and outcomes of our research and development efforts as part of a number of successful European Union research projects. A framework implementing this model was developed as part of the European Seventh Framework Programme FAST Project and the Spanish EzWeb Project and allowed us to validate the rationale behind our approach.

Análisis interdisciplinar de las redes móviles e Internet en Europa

Internet fue sólo el principio de los grandes cambios. Desde la invención de la imprenta no ha habido un cambio tecnológico con tantas repercusiones como el de la era de la digitalización. Más aún, con la aparición de los primeros terminales móviles que confirmaron la nueva revolución en esta etapa. Este proyecto se centra en el caso europeo. Para ello, se realiza un análisis que, en primer lugar, abordará el tema económico, en el que se explicarán los factores que han influido positiva y negativamente, tales como: el capitalismo, la globalización, la crisis financiera... Después, se expondrá la cuestión política, haciendo referencia al marco legal europeo, los proyectos y las relaciones internacionales. Otros de los aspectos a tratar (y no menos importantes) serán los relacionados con el desarrollo cultural, el movimiento social y los impactos medioambientales. Finalmente se expondrán los distintos tipos de tecnología a los que han dado lugar estos cambios, y cómo han ido evolucionando a lo largo del tiempo, hasta la aparición de nuevas formas de comunicación. Una vez estudiadas las distintas disciplinas, se podrá “diseñar” una posible perspectiva hacia la que se dirigen las redes móviles e Internet en Europa. En definitiva, conocer de dónde venimos, qué es lo que hacemos y hacia dónde nos dirigimos. Internet was only the beginning of great changes. Since the invention of the printing press there has been such an important technological change as the age of digitization. Moreover, with the appearance of the first mobile terminal which confirmed the new revolution at this stage. This project concentrates on the European case. To do this, an analysis is performed that, in the first place board the economic issue, which will explain the factors that have influenced positively and negatively, such as capitalism, globalization, financial crisis... Then the political question will be discussed, referring to the European legal framework, projects and international relations. Other aspects to be treated (and no less important) are those related to the cultural, social movement and environmental impacts. Finally we will present the different types of technology to which these changes have led, and how they have evolved through time, until the emergence of new forms of communication. After studying the different disciplines, you can "design" a possible perspective towards that target mobile networks and Internet in Europe. In short, knowing where we came from, what we do and where we are going.

Combining Wireless Sensor Networks and Semantic Middleware for an Internet of Things-Based Sportsman/Woman Monitoring Application.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are spearheading the efforts taken to build and deploy systems aiming to accomplish the ultimate objectives of the Internet of Things. Due to the sensors WSNs nodes are provided with, and to their ubiquity and pervasive capabilities, these networks become extremely suitable for many applications that so-called conventional cabled or wireless networks are unable to handle. One of these still underdeveloped applications is monitoring physical parameters on a person. This is an especially interesting application regarding their age or activity, for any detected hazardous parameter can be notified not only to the monitored person as a warning, but also to any third party that may be helpful under critical circumstances, such as relatives or healthcare centers. We propose a system built to monitor a sportsman/woman during a workout session or performing a sport-related indoor activity. Sensors have been deployed by means of several nodes acting as the nodes of a WSN, along with a semantic middleware development used for hardware complexity abstraction purposes. The data extracted from the environment, combined with the information obtained from the user, will compose the basis of the services that can be obtained.