Applicazione dello User-Centered Design nella progettazione di un sistema di supporto alle decisioni per viticultura di precisione

Lo scopo di questo progetto è la progettazione dell'interfaccia utente di un Decision Support System (DSS) web based per la gestione integrata dei vigneti utilizzando lo user centered design. Questo sistema permetterà di facilitare il lavoro dei viticoltori confrontando una serie di variabili e fattori che verranno utilizzati per migliorare le loro capacita decisionali ed ottenere un livello ottimale di produttività del vino.

A user supported object tracking framework for interactive video production

We present a user supported tracking framework that combines automatic tracking with extended user input to create error free tracking results that are suitable for interactive video production. The goal of our approach is to keep the necessary user input as small as possible. In our framework, the user can select between different tracking algorithms - existing ones and new ones that are described in this paper. Furthermore, the user can automatically fuse the results of different tracking algorithms with our robust fusion approach. The tracked object can be marked in more than one frame, which can significantly improve the tracking result. After tracking, the user can validate the results in an easy way, thanks to the support of a powerful interpolation technique. The tracking results are iteratively improved until the complete track has been found. After the iterative editing process the tracking result of each object is stored in an interactive video file that can be loaded by our player for interactive videos.

Intensive Family Reunification Services: A Conceptual Framework and Case Example

Recent federal mandates require child welfare agencies to make reasonable efforts to reunify families after out-of-home placement. Consistent with those mandates, agencies are increasingly employing techniques from family preservation services intended initially to prevent out-of-home placement. The purpose of this article is to articulate a conceptual framework and practice guidelines for family reunification services and to describe an experimental reunification program based on a family preservation model. A case example illustrates the way in which the services affected one family that participated in the experiment.

What does professionalization mean? Developing a conceptual framework of professionalization in sports federations

Professionalization seems to be an appropriate strategy for sports organizations to meet organizational pressure due to challenges of a more complex and dynamic changing environment (e.g. Shilbury & Ferkins, 2011). However, despite the increasing number of studies attempting to disclose professionalization in sports organizations, it still remains unclear, what the term professionalization actually mean, and which aspects a suitable concept of professionalization for studying the phenomena should consist in (Dowling et al., 2014). To bridge this gap, we firstly display scholars’ perspective of professionalization in sports organizations in order to explore the common ground as well as divergences in previous approaches. We will then consider practical views of Swiss experts to gain valuable insight, as pointed out by Slack (2014), into current thinking and acting towards professionalization in sports federations in Switzerland. In semi-structured interviews, we asked six experts, who accompany the professionalization processes of Swiss national sports federations, about their subjective understanding of professionalization, and its characteristics. The interviews were analyzed applying hermeneutic approach to systematically reconstruct the observed characteristics of professionalization resulting in three main topics: (1) changed management philosophy, (2) specialization and functional differentiation, and (3) management tools. Based on the literature review as well as insights from the Swiss experts, we will provide a synthesis of crucial aspects for developing a conceptual framework of professionalization that can be useful for further studies. References Dowling, M., Edwards, J., & Washington, M. (2014). Understanding the concept of professionalisation in sport management research. Sport Management Review, 17, 520-529. Shilbury, D., & Ferkins, L. (2011). Professionalisation, sport governance and strategic capability. Managing Leisure, 16, 108-127. Slack, T. (2014). The social and commercial impact of sport, the role of sport management. European Sport Management Quarterly, 14, 454–463.

Using clustering techniques for intelligent camera-based user interfaces

The area of Human-Machine Interface is growing fast due to its high importance in all technological systems. The basic idea behind designing human-machine interfaces is to enrich the communication with the technology in a natural and easy way. Gesture interfaces are a good example of transparent interfaces. Such interfaces must identify properly the action the user wants to perform, so the proper gesture recognition is of the highest importance. However, most of the systems based on gesture recognition use complex methods requiring high-resource devices. In this work, we propose to model gestures capturing their temporal properties, which significantly reduce storage requirements, and use clustering techniques, namely self-organizing maps and unsupervised genetic algorithm, for their classification. We further propose to train a certain number of algorithms with different parameters and combine their decision using majority voting in order to decrease the false positive rate. The main advantage of the approach is its simplicity, which enables the implementation using devices with limited resources, and therefore low cost. The testing results demonstrate its high potential.

A review and a conceptual framework of the key value drivers of mass customisation

The aim of this paper is to conceptualise the key value drivers of mass customisation in order to provide a structured approach to explain the added value that customers attribute to mass customised products. We assume that the added value of mass customisation is ultimately reflected in an increased willingness to pay. Previous studies show diverse results concerning customers' willingness to pay for mass customised products. We contribute to the existing body of research by suggesting and discussing the influence of general product characteristics and factors of the mass customisation approach on the key value drivers of mass customisation. Furthermore, the development of a conceptual framework offers explanations for the dissimilarity in customers' willingness to pay and advances the knowledge about the value increment of mass customised products as perceived by customers.