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Adaptive user interfaces involves the design of dynamic interfaces, the main purpose of which is to present an adapted alternative to the user to ease the interaction. User’s preferences, context situation, and device’s capabilities help these systems to adapt the interface to make the interaction more adequate to the current situation. Being aware of different characteristics of these entities is vital for reaching the main goals of these systems efficiently. To collect knowledge from these entities, it is necessary to design several formal models to help to organize and give meaning to the gathered data. This article analyzes several literature solutions for modeling users, context, and devices considering different approaches. The article identifies their advantages and drawbacks to finally propose a new ontology model that addresses the identified limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MUGGES mobile service prosuming platform aims at enabling user-aware service provision and consumption from the very mobile devices in a true peer-to-peer manner, still providing centralized support to user- and location-aware micro-service searching. Thus, users will not only provide contents but also launch and host services from their own mobile devices. Explorative field trials in Spain and Finland assessing the potential of the ‘prosuming concept' were carried out for several weeks with students and IT professionals. The feedback gathered from end-users showed that the MUGGES proposed location concept eases service creation and consumption, although service provisioning from mobile devices is still in its infancy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The participation of users within AAL environments is increasing thanks to the capabilities of the current wearable devices. Furthermore, the significance of considering user's preferences, context conditions and device's capabilities help smart environments to personalize services and resources for them. Being aware of different characteristics of the entities participating in these situations is vital for reaching the main goals of the corresponding systems efficiently. To collect different information from these entities, it is necessary to design several formal models which help designers to organize and give some meaning to the gathered data. In this paper, we analyze several literature solutions for modeling users, context and devices considering different approaches in the Ambient Assisted Living domain. Besides, we remark different ongoing standardization works in this area. We also discuss the used techniques, modeled characteristics and the advantages and drawbacks of each approach to finally draw several conclusions about the reviewed works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heterogeneity and dynamism of people make addressing user diversity and its categorisation critical factors, which should be carefully considered when developing pro-environmental strategies and interventions. Nevertheless, the complexities of individuals complicates the creation of modelling and classification systems. The aforementioned issue opens a research opportunity, which should be tackled to improve the development of human-centric systems and processes. Throughout the present piece of research, our objective is to bridge that gap by extracting knowledge and insights relating to how to address user diversity when designing technologies considering sustainable behaviour. For this, we explore the possibilities of the FOX model—an early meta-model to approach the diversity of individuals when addressing pro-environmental behaviour—to classify and understand individuals while taking their heterogeneity into account. After introducing the model, a qualitative survey of eight experts is conducted. From this study, relevant findings are analysed and exposed. Taking into account the gathered knowledge, three user profiles are developed, based on the dimensions proposed by the model. Furthermore, scenarios are created for each profile, presenting three case studies where different application modes of the model are described (personalised interventions, prediction and forecasting, and individual and collective interventions). Finally, the extracted findings are analysed, discussing the main issues related to the development of pro-environmental technologies and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the context-driven interaction in smart environments, the provision of user-aware mobile micro-services from smartphones, and algorithm for user verification in multi-task interactions.