004 Datenverarbeitung; Informatik
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Leichte Sprache (LS, easy-to-read German) is a simplified variety of German. It is used to provide barrier-free texts for a broad spectrum of people, including lowliterate individuals with learning difficulties, intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) and/or complex communication needs (CCN). In general, LS authors are proficient in standard German and do not belong to the aforementioned group of people. Our goal is to empower the latter to participate in written discourse themselves. This requires a special writing system whose linguistic support and ergonomic software design meet the target group’s specific needs. We present EasyTalk a system profoundly based on natural language processing (NLP) for assistive writing in an extended variant of LS (ELS). EasyTalk provides users with a personal vocabulary underpinned with customizable communication symbols and supports in writing at their individual level of proficiency through interactive user guidance. The system minimizes the grammatical knowledge needed to produce correct and coherent complex contents by intuitively formulating linguistic decisions. It provides easy dialogs for selecting options from a natural-language paraphrase generator, which provides context-sensitive suggestions for sentence components and correctly inflected word forms. In addition, EasyTalk reminds users to add text elements that enhance text comprehensibility in terms of audience design (e.g., time and place of an event) and improve text coherence (e.g., explicit connectors to express discourse-relations). To tailor the system to the needs of the target group, the development of EasyTalk followed the principles of human-centered design (HCD). Accordingly, we matured the system in iterative development cycles, combined with purposeful evaluations of specific aspects conducted with expert groups from the fields of CCN, LS, and IT, as well as L2 learners of the German language. In a final case study, members of the target audience tested the system in free writing sessions. The study confirmed that adults with IDD and/or CCN who have low reading, writing, and computer skills can write their own personal texts in ELS using EasyTalk. The positive feedback from all tests inspires future long-term studies with EasyTalk and further development of this prototypical system, such as the implementation of a so-called Schreibwerkstatt (writing workshop)
On the recognition of human activities and the evaluation of its imitation by robotic systems
(2023)
This thesis addresses the problem of action recognition through the analysis of human motion and the benchmarking of its imitation by robotic systems.
For our action recognition related approaches, we focus on presenting approaches that generalize well across different sensor modalities. We transform multivariate signal streams from various sensors to a common image representation. The action recognition problem on sequential multivariate signal streams can then be reduced to an image classification task for which we utilize recent advances in machine learning. We demonstrate the broad applicability of our approaches formulated as a supervised classification task for action recognition, a semi-supervised classification task for one-shot action recognition, modality fusion and temporal action segmentation.
For action classification, we use an EfficientNet Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to classify the image representations of various data modalities. Further, we present approaches for filtering and the fusion of various modalities on a representation level. We extend the approach to be applicable for semi-supervised classification and train a metric-learning model that encodes action similarity. During training, the encoder optimizes the distances in embedding space for self-, positive- and negative-pair similarities. The resulting encoder allows estimating action similarity by calculating distances in embedding space. At training time, no action classes from the test set are used.
Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) generalized the concept of CNNs to non-Euclidean data structures and showed great success for action recognition directly operating on spatio-temporal sequences like skeleton sequences. GCNs have recently shown state-of-the-art performance for skeleton-based action recognition but are currently widely neglected as the foundation for the fusion of various sensor modalities. We propose incorporating additional modalities, like inertial measurements or RGB features, into a skeleton-graph, by proposing fusion on two different dimensionality levels. On a channel dimension, modalities are fused by introducing additional node attributes. On a spatial dimension, additional nodes are incorporated into the skeleton-graph.
Transformer models showed excellent performance in the analysis of sequential data. We formulate the temporal action segmentation task as an object detection task and use a detection transformer model on our proposed motion image representations. Experiments for our action recognition related approaches are executed on large-scale publicly available datasets. Our approaches for action recognition for various modalities, action recognition by fusion of various modalities, and one-shot action recognition demonstrate state-of-the-art results on some datasets.
Finally, we present a hybrid imitation learning benchmark. The benchmark consists of a dataset, metrics, and a simulator integration. The dataset contains RGB-D image sequences of humans performing movements and executing manipulation tasks, as well as the corresponding ground truth. The RGB-D camera is calibrated against a motion-capturing system, and the resulting sequences serve as input for imitation learning approaches. The resulting policy is then executed in the simulated environment on different robots. We propose two metrics to assess the quality of the imitation. The trajectory metric gives insights into how close the execution was to the demonstration. The effect metric describes how close the final state was reached according to the demonstration. The Simitate benchmark can improve the comparability of imitation learning approaches.
Social networks are ubiquitous structures that we generate and enrich every-day while connecting with people through social media platforms, emails, and any other type of interaction. While these structures are intangible to us, they carry important information. For instance, the political leaning of our friends can be a proxy to identify our own political preferences. Similarly, the credit score of our friends can be decisive in the approval or rejection of our own loans. This explanatory power is being leveraged in public policy, business decision-making and scientific research because it helps machine learning techniques to make accurate predictions. However, these generalizations often benefit the majority of people who shape the general structure of the network, and put in disadvantage under-represented groups by limiting their resources and opportunities. Therefore it is crucial to first understand how social networks form to then verify to what extent their mechanisms of edge formation contribute to reinforce social inequalities in machine learning algorithms.
To this end, in the first part of this thesis, I propose HopRank and Janus two methods to characterize the mechanisms of edge formation in real-world undirected social networks. HopRank is a model of information foraging on networks. Its key component is a biased random walker based on transition probabilities between k-hop neighborhoods. Janus is a Bayesian framework that allows to identify and rank plausible hypotheses of edge formation in cases where nodes possess additional information. In the second part of this thesis, I investigate the implications of these mechanisms - that explain edge formation in social networks - on machine learning. Specifically, I study the influence of homophily, preferential attachment, edge density, fraction of inorities, and the directionality of links on both performance and bias of collective classification, and on the visibility of minorities in top-k ranks. My findings demonstrate a strong correlation between network structure and machine learning outcomes. This suggests that systematic discrimination against certain people can be: (i) anticipated by the type of network, and (ii) mitigated by connecting strategically in the network.
In this thesis the possibilities for real-time visualization of OpenVDB
files are investigated. The basics of OpenVDB, its possibilities, as well
as NanoVDB and its GPU port, were studied. A system was developed
using PNanoVDB, the graphics API port of OpenVDB. Techniques were
explored to improve and accelerate a single ray approach of ray tracing.
To prove real-time capability, two single scattering approaches were
also implemented. One of these was selected, further investigated and
optimized to achieve interactive real-time rendering.
It is important to give artists immediate feedback on their adjustments, as
well as the possibility to change all parameters to ensure a user friendly
creation process.
In addition to the optical rendering, corresponding benchmarks were
collected to compare different improvement approaches and to prove
their relevance. Attention was paid to the rendering times and memory
consumption on the GPU to ensure optimal use. A special focus, when
rendering OpenVDB files, was put on the integrability and extensibility of
the program to allow easy integration into an existing real-time renderer
like U-Render.
Semantic Web technologies have been recognized to be key for the integration of distributed and heterogeneous data sources on the Web, as they provide means to define typed links between resources in a dynamic manner and following the principles of dataspaces. The widespread adoption of these technologies in the last years led to a large volume and variety of data sets published as machine-readable RDF data, that once linked constitute the so-called Web of Data. Given the large scale of the data, these links are typically generated by computational methods that given a set of RDF data sets, analyze their content and identify the entities and schema elements that should be connected via the links. Analogously to any other kind of data, in order to be truly useful and ready to be consumed, links need to comply with the criteria of high quality data (e.g., syntactically and semantically accurate, consistent, up-to-date). Despite the progress in the field of machine learning, human intelligence is still essential in the quest for high quality links: humans can train algorithms by labeling reference examples, validate the output of algorithms to verify their performance on a data set basis, as well as augment the resulting set of links. Humans —especially expert humans, however, have limited availability. Hence, extending data quality management processes from data owners/publishers to a broader audience can significantly improve the data quality management life cycle.
Recent advances in human computation and peer-production technologies opened new avenues for human-machine data management techniques, allowing to involve non-experts in certain tasks and providing methods for cooperative approaches. The research work presented in this thesis takes advantage of such technologies and investigates human-machine methods that aim at facilitating link quality management in the Semantic Web. Firstly, and focusing on the dimension of link accuracy, a method for crowdsourcing ontology alignment is presented. This method, also applicable to entities, is implemented as a complement to automatic ontology alignment algorithms. Secondly, novel measures for the dimension of information gain facilitated by the links are introduced. These entropy-centric measures provide data managers with information about the extent the entities in the linked data set gain information in terms of entity description, connectivity and schema heterogeneity. Thirdly, taking Wikidata —the most successful case of a linked data set curated, linked and maintained by a community of humans and bots— as a case study, we apply descriptive and predictive data mining techniques to study participation inequality and user attrition. Our findings and method can help community managers make decisions on when/how to intervene with user retention plans. Lastly, an ontology to model the history of crowd contributions across marketplaces is presented. While the field of human-machine data management poses complex social and technical challenges, the work in this thesis aims to contribute to the development of this still emerging field.
Currently, there are a variety of digital tools in the humanities, such
as annotation, visualization, or analysis software, which support researchers in their work and offer them new opportunities to address different research questions. However, the use of these tools falls far
short of expectations. In this thesis, twelve improvement measures are
developed within the framework of a design science theory to counteract the lack of usage acceptance. By implementing the developed design science theory, software developers can increase the acceptance of their digital tools in the humanities context.
For software engineers, conceptually understanding the tools they are using in the context of their projects is a daily challenge and a prerequisite for complex tasks. Textual explanations and code examples serve as knowledge resources for understanding software languages and software technologies. This thesis describes research on integrating and interconnecting
existing knowledge resources, which can then be used to assist with understanding and comparing software languages and software technologies on a conceptual level. We consider the following broad research questions that we later refine: What knowledge resources can be systematically reused for recovering structured knowledge and how? What vocabulary already exists in literature that is used to express conceptual knowledge? How can we reuse the
online encyclopedia Wikipedia? How can we detect and report on instances of technology usage? How can we assure reproducibility as the central quality factor of any construction process for knowledge artifacts? As qualitative research, we describe methodologies to recover knowledge resources by i.) systematically studying literature, ii.) mining Wikipedia, iii.) mining available textual explanations and code examples of technology usage. The theoretical findings are backed by case studies. As research contributions, we have recovered i.) a reference semantics of vocabulary for describing software technology usage with an emphasis on software languages, ii.) an annotated corpus of Wikipedia articles on software languages, iii.) insights into technology usage on GitHub with regard to a catalog of pattern and iv.) megamodels of technology usage that are interconnected with existing textual explanations and code examples.
The Web is an essential component of moving our society to the digital age. We use it for communication, shopping, and doing our work. Most user interaction in the Web happens with Web page interfaces. Thus, the usability and accessibility of Web page interfaces are relevant areas of research to make the Web more useful. Eye tracking is a tool that can be helpful in both areas, performing usability testing and improving accessibility. It can be used to understand users' attention on Web pages and to support usability experts in their decision-making process. Moreover, eye tracking can be used as an input method to control an interface. This is especially useful for people with motor impairment, who cannot use traditional input devices like mouse and keyboard. However, interfaces on Web pages become more and more complex due to dynamics, i.e., changing contents like animated menus and photo carousels. We need general approaches to comprehend dynamics on Web pages, allowing for efficient usability analysis and enjoyable interaction with eye tracking. In the first part of this thesis, we report our work on improving gaze-based analysis of dynamic Web pages. Eye tracking can be used to collect the gaze signals of users, who browse a Web site and its pages. The gaze signals show a usability expert what parts in the Web page interface have been read, glanced at, or skipped. The aggregation of gaze signals allows a usability expert insight into the users' attention on a high-level, before looking into individual behavior. For this, all gaze signals must be aligned to the interface as experienced by the users. However, the user experience is heavily influenced by changing contents, as these may cover a substantial portion of the screen. We delineate unique states in Web page interfaces including changing contents, such that gaze signals from multiple users can be aggregated correctly. In the second part of this thesis, we report our work on improving the gaze-based interaction with dynamic Web pages. Eye tracking can be used to retrieve gaze signals while a user operates a computer. The gaze signals may be interpreted as input controlling an interface. Nowadays, eye tracking as an input method is mostly used to emulate mouse and keyboard functionality, hindering an enjoyable user experience. There exist a few Web browser prototypes that directly interpret gaze signals for control, but they do not work on dynamic Web pages. We have developed a method to extract interaction elements like hyperlinks and text inputs efficiently on Web pages, including changing contents. We adapt the interaction with those elements for eye tracking as the input method, such that a user can conveniently browse the Web hands-free. Both parts of this thesis conclude with user-centered evaluations of our methods, assessing the improvements in the user experience for usability experts and people with motor impairment, respectively.
Ray tracing acceleration through dedicated data structures has long been an important topic in computer graphics. In general, two different approaches are proposed: spatial and directional acceleration structures. The thesis at hand presents an innovative combined approach of these two areas, which enables a further acceleration of the tracing process of rays. State-of-the-art spatial data structures are used as base structures and enhanced by precomputed directional visibility information based on a sophisticated abstraction concept of shafts within an original structure, the Line Space.
In the course of the work, novel approaches for the precomputed visibility information are proposed: a binary value that indicates whether a shaft is empty or non-empty as well as a single candidate approximating the actual surface as a representative candidate. It is shown how the binary value is used in a simple but effective empty space skipping technique, which allows a performance gain in ray tracing of up to 40% compared to the pure base data structure, regardless of the spatial structure that is actually used. In addition, it is shown that this binary visibility information provides a fast technique for calculating soft shadows and ambient occlusion based on blocker approximations. Although the results contain a certain inaccuracy error, which is also presented and discussed, it is shown that a further tracing acceleration of up to 300% compared to the base structure is achieved. As an extension of this approach, the representative candidate precomputation is demonstrated, which is used to accelerate the indirect lighting computation, resulting in a significant performance gain at the expense of image errors. Finally, techniques based on two-stage structures and a usage heuristic are proposed and evaluated. These reduce memory consumption and approximation errors while maintaining the performance gain and also enabling further possibilities with object instancing and rigid transformations.
All performance and memory values as well as the approximation errors are measured, presented and discussed. Overall, the Line Space is shown to result in a considerate improvement in ray tracing performance at the cost of higher memory consumption and possible approximation errors. The presented findings thus demonstrate the capability of the combined approach and enable further possibilities for future work.
The flexible integration of information from distributed and complex information systems poses a major challenge for organisations. The ontology-based information integration concept SoNBO (Social Network of Business Objects) developed and presented in this dissertation addresses these challenges. In an ontology-based concept, the data structure in the source systems (e.g. operational application systems) is described with the help of a schema (= ontology). The ontology and the data from the source systems can be used to create a (virtualised or materialised) knowledge graph, which is used for information access. The schema can be flexibly adapted to the changing needs of a company regarding their information integration. SoNBO differs from existing concepts known from the Semantic Web (OBDA = Ontology-based Data Access, EKG = Enterprise Knowledge Graph) both in the structure of the company-specific ontology (= Social Network of Concepts) as well as in the structure of the user-specific knowledge graph (= Social Network of Business Objects) and makes use of social principles (known from Enterprise Social Software). Following a Design Science Research approach, the SoNBO framework was developed and the findings documented in this dissertation. The framework provides guidance for the introduction of SoNBO in a company and the knowledge gained from the evaluation (in the company KOSMOS Verlag) is used to demonstrate its viability. The results (SoNBO concept and SoNBO framework) are based on the synthesis of the findings from a structured literature review and the investigation of the status quo of ontology-based information integration in practice: For the status quo in practice, the basic idea of SoNBO is demonstrated in an in-depth case study about the engineering office Vössing, which has been using a self-developed SoNBO application for a few years. The status quo in the academic literature is presented in the form of a structured literature analysis on ontology-based information integration approaches. This dissertation adds to theory in the field of ontology-based information integration approaches (e. g. by an evaluated artefact) and provides an evaluated artefact (the SoNBO Framework) for practice.
Graph-based data formats are flexible in representing data. In particular semantic data models, where the schema is part of the data, gained traction and commercial success in recent years. Semantic data models are also the basis for the Semantic Web - a Web of data governed by open standards in which computer programs can freely access the provided data. This thesis is concerned with the correctness of programs that access semantic data. While the flexibility of semantic data models is one of their biggest strengths, it can easily lead to programmers accidentally not accounting for unintuitive edge cases. Often, such exceptions surface during program execution as run-time errors or unintended side-effects. Depending on the exact condition, a program may run for a long time before the error occurs and the program crashes.
This thesis defines type systems that can detect and avoid such run-time errors based on schema languages available for the Semantic Web. In particular, this thesis uses the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and its theoretic underpinnings, i.e., description logics, as well as the Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) to define type systems that provide type-safe data access to semantic data graphs. Providing a safe type system is an established methodology for proving the absence of run-time errors in programs without requiring execution. Both schema languages are based on possible world semantics but differ in the treatment of incomplete knowledge. While OWL allows for modelling incomplete knowledge through an open-world semantics, SHACL relies on a fixed domain and closed-world semantics. We provide the formal underpinnings for type systems based on each of the two schema languages. In particular, we base our notion of types on sets of values which allows us to specify a subtype relation based on subset semantics. In case of description logics, subsumption is a routine problem. For
the type system based on SHACL, we are able to translate it into a description
logic subsumption problem.
In the context of augmented reality we define tracking as a collection of methods to obtain the position and orientation (pose) of a user. By means of various displaying techniques, this ensures a correct visual overlay of graphical information onto the reality perceived. Precise results for calculation of the camera pose are gained by methods of image processing, usually analyzing the pixels of an image and extracing features, which can be recognized over the image sequence. However, these methods do not regard the process of image synthesis or at least in a very simplyfied way. In contrast, the class of model-based methods assumes a given 3D model of the observed scene. Based on the model data features can be identified to establish correspondences in the camera image. From these feature correspondences the camera pose is calculated. An interesting approach is the strategy of analysis-by-synthesis, regarding the computer graphics rendering process for extending the knowledge about the model by information from image synthesis and other environment variables.
In this thesis the components of a tracking system are identified and further it is analyzed, to what extend information about the model, the rendering process and the environment can contribute to the components for improvement of the tracking process using analysis-by-synthesis. In particular, by using knowledge as topological information, lighting or perspective, the feature synthesis and correspondence finding should lead to visually unambiguous features that can be predicted and evaluated to be suitable for stable tracking of the camera pose.
Social media platforms such as Twitter or Reddit allow users almost unrestricted access to publish their opinions on recent events or discuss trending topics. While the majority of users approach these platforms innocently, some groups have set their mind on spreading misinformation and influencing or manipulating public opinion. These groups disguise as native users from various countries to spread frequently manufactured articles, strong polarizing opinions in the political spectrum and possibly become providers of hate-speech or extremely political positions. This thesis aims to implement an AutoML pipeline for identifying second language speakers from English social media texts. We investigate style differences of text in different topics and across the platforms Reddit and Twitter, and analyse linguistic features. We employ feature-based models with datasets from Reddit, which include mostly English conversation from European users, and Twitter, which was newly created by collecting English tweets from selected trending topics in different countries. The pipeline classifies language family, native language and origin (Native or non-Native English speakers) of a given textual input. We evaluate the resulting classifications by comparing prediction accuracy, precision and F1 scores of our classification pipeline to traditional machine learning processes. Lastly, we compare the results from each dataset and find differences in language use for topics and platforms. We obtained high prediction accuracy for all categories on the Twitter dataset and observed high variance in features such as average text length especially for Balto-Slavic countries.
Data-minimization and fairness are fundamental data protection requirements to avoid privacy threats and discrimination. Violations of data protection requirements often result from: First, conflicts between security, data-minimization and fairness requirements. Second, data protection requirements for the organizational and technical aspects of a system that are currently dealt with separately, giving rise to misconceptions and errors. Third, hidden data correlations that might lead to influence biases against protected characteristics of individuals such as ethnicity in decision-making software. For the effective assurance of data protection needs,
it is important to avoid sources of violations right from the design modeling phase. However, a model-based approach that addresses the issues above is missing.
To handle the issues above, this thesis introduces a model-based methodology called MoPrivFair (Model-based Privacy & Fairness). MoPrivFair comprises three sub-frameworks: First, a framework that extends the SecBPMN2 approach to allow detecting conflicts between security, data-minimization and fairness requirements. Second, a framework for enforcing an integrated data-protection management throughout the development process based on a business processes model (i.e., SecBPMN2 model) and a software architecture model (i.e., UMLsec model) annotated with data protection requirements while establishing traceability. Third, the UML extension UMLfair to support individual fairness analysis and reporting discriminatory behaviors. Each of the proposed frameworks is supported by automated tool support.
We validated the applicability and usability of our conflict detection technique based on a health care management case study, and an experimental user study, respectively. Based on an air traffic management case study, we reported on the applicability of our technique for enforcing an integrated data-protection management. We validated the applicability of our individual fairness analysis technique using three case studies featuring a school management system, a delivery management system and a loan management system. The results show a promising outlook on the applicability of our proposed frameworks in real-world settings.
Nowadays, almost any IT system involves personal data processing. In
such systems, many privacy risks arise when privacy concerns are not
properly addressed from the early phases of the system design. The
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) prescribes the Privacy by
Design (PbD) principle. As its core, PbD obliges protecting personal
data from the onset of the system development, by effectively
integrating appropriate privacy controls into the design. To
operationalize the concept of PbD, a set of challenges emerges: First, we need a basis to define privacy concerns. Without such a basis, we are not able to verify whether personal data processing is authorized. Second, we need to identify where precisely in a system, the controls have to be applied. This calls for system analysis concerning privacy concerns. Third, with a view to selecting and integrating appropriate controls, based on the results of system analysis, a mechanism to identify the privacy risks is required. Mitigating privacy risks is at the core of the PbD principle. Fourth, choosing and integrating appropriate controls into a system are complex tasks that besides risks, have to consider potential interrelations among privacy controls and the costs of the controls.
This thesis introduces a model-based privacy by design methodology to handle the above challenges. Our methodology relies on a precise definition of privacy concerns and comprises three sub-methodologies: model-based privacy analysis, modelbased privacy impact assessment and privacy-enhanced system design modeling. First, we introduce a definition of privacy preferences, which provides a basis to specify privacy concerns and to verify whether personal data processing is authorized. Second, we present a model-based methodology to analyze a system model. The results of this analysis denote a set of privacy design violations. Third, taking into account the results of privacy analysis, we introduce a model-based privacy impact assessment methodology to identify concrete privacy risks in a system model. Fourth, concerning the risks, and taking into account the interrelations and the costs of the controls, we propose a methodology to select appropriate controls and integrate them into a system design. Using various practical case studies, we evaluate our concepts, showing a promising outlook on the applicability of our methodology in real-world settings.
Current political issues are often reflected in social media discussions, gathering politicians and voters on common platforms. As these can affect the public perception of politics, the inner dynamics and backgrounds of such debates are of great scientific interest. This thesis takes user generated messages from an up-to-date dataset of considerable relevance as Time Series, and applies a topic-based analysis of inspiration and agenda setting to it. The Institute for Web Science and Technologies of the University Koblenz-Landau has collected Twitter data generated beforehand by candidates of the European Parliament Election 2019. This work processes and analyzes the dataset for various properties, while focusing on the influence of politicians and media on online debates. An algorithm to cluster tweets into topical threads is introduced. Subsequently, Sequential Association Rules are mined, yielding wide array of potential influence relations between both actors and topics. The elaborated methodology can be configured with different parameters and is extensible in functionality and scope of application.
Software systems have an increasing impact on our daily lives. Many systems process sensitive data or control critical infrastructure. Providing secure software is therefore inevitable. Such systems are rarely being renewed regularly due to the high costs and effort. Oftentimes, systems that were planned and implemented to be secure, become insecure because their context evolves. These systems are connected to the Internet and therefore also constantly subject to new types of attacks. The security requirements of these systems remain unchanged, while, for example, discovery of a vulnerability of an encryption algorithm previously assumed to be secure requires a change of the system design. Some security requirements cannot be checked by the system’s design but only at run time. Furthermore, the sudden discovery of a security violation requires an immediate reaction to prevent a system shutdown. Knowledge regarding security best practices, attacks, and mitigations is generally available, yet rarely integrated part of software development or covering evolution.
This thesis examines how the security of long-living software systems can be preserved taking into account the influence of context evolutions. The goal of the proposed approach, S²EC²O, is to recover the security of model-based software systems using co-evolution.
An ontology-based knowledge base is introduced, capable of managing common, as well as system-specific knowledge relevant to security. A transformation achieves the connection of the knowledge base to the UML system model. By using semantic differences, knowledge inference, and the detection of inconsistencies in the knowledge base, context knowledge evolutions are detected.
A catalog containing rules to manage and recover security requirements uses detected context evolutions to propose potential co-evolutions to the system model which reestablish the compliance with security requirements.
S²EC²O uses security annotations to link models and executable code and provides support for run-time monitoring. The adaptation of running systems is being considered as is round-trip engineering, which integrates insights from the run time into the system model.
S²EC²O is amended by prototypical tool support. This tool is used to show S²EC²O’s applicability based on a case study targeting the medical information system iTrust.
This thesis at hand contributes to the development and maintenance of long-living software systems, regarding their security. The proposed approach will aid security experts: It detects security-relevant changes to the system context, determines the impact on the system’s security and facilitates co-evolutions to recover the compliance with the security requirements.
Abstract
This bachelor thesis delivers a comprehensive overview of the topic Internet of Things (IoT). With the help of a first literature review, important characteristics, architectures, and properties have been identified. The main aim of this bachelor thesis is to determine whether the use of IoT in the transport of food, considering the compliance with the cold chain, can provide advantages for companies to reduce food waste. For this purpose, a second literature review has been carried out with food transport systems without the use, as well as with the use of IoT. Based on the literature review, it is possible at the end to determine a theoretical ‘ideal’ system for food transport in refrigerated trucks. The respective used technologies are also mentioned. The findings of several authors have shown that often significant improvements can be achieved in surveillance, transport in general, or traceability of food, and ultimately food waste can be reduced. However, benefits can also be gained using new non-IoT-based technologies. Thus, the main knowledge of this bachelor thesis is that a theoretical ‘ideal’ transport system contains a sensible combination of technologies with and without IoT. This system includes the use of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for real-time food monitoring, as well as an alarm function when the temperature exceeds a maximum. Real-time monitoring with GPS coupled with a monitoring center to prevent traffic jams is another task. Smart and energy-efficient packaging, and finally the use of the new supercooling-technology, make the system significantly more efficient in reducing food waste. These highlights, that when choosing a transport system, which is as efficient and profitable as possible for food with refrigerated transport, companies need not just rely on the use of IoT. On this basis, it is advisable to combine the systems and technologies used so far with IoT in order to avoid as much food waste as possible.
Data flow models in the literature are often very fine-grained, which transfers to the data flow analysis performed on them and thus leads to a decrease in the analysis' understandability. Since a data flow model, which abstracts from the majority of implementation details of the program modeled, allows for potentially easier to understand data flow analyses, this master thesis deals with the specification and construction of a highly abstracted data flow model and the application of data flow analyses on this model. The model and the analyses performed on it have been developed in a test-driven manner, so that a wide range of possible data flow scenarios could be covered. As a concrete data flow analysis, a static security check in the form of a detection of insufficient user input sanitization has been performed. To date, there's no data flow model on a similarly high level of abstraction. The proposed solution is therefore unique and facilitates developers without expertise in data flow analysis to perform such analyses.
Diese Arbeit soll das von Dietz und Oppermann entwickelte Planspiel „Datenschutz 2.0“ an den heutigen Alltag der Schüler anpassen, die Benutzung in der Sekundarstufe II ermöglichen und die technischen und gesetzlichen Problematiken des Planspiels beheben. Das mit dem Planspiel aufgegriffene Thema Datenschutz ist im rheinland-pfälzischen Informatik-Lehrplan für die Sekundarstufe II verankert. Hier wird der Begriff Datenschutz in der Reihe „Datenerhebung unter dem Aspekt Datenschutz beurteilen“ genannt. Jedoch werden in dem Planspiel keine Daten erhoben, sondern die selbst hinterlassenen Datenspuren untersucht. Diese Form des Datenschutzes ist im Grundkurs in der vorgeschlagenen Reihe „Datensicherheit unter der Berücksichtigung kryptologischer Verfahren erklären und beachten“ unter dem Thema Kommunikation in Rechnernetzen zu finden. Im Leistungskurs steht die Datensicherheit in gleichbenannter Reihe und Thema und in der Reihe „Datenerhebung unter dem Aspekt Datenschutz beurteilen“ im Thema Wechselwirkung zwischen Informatiksysteme, Individuum und Gesellschaft.
The goal of this thesis is to create a recommender system (RS) for business processes, based on the existing ProM plugin RegPFA. To accomplish this task, firstly an interface must be created that sets up and expands a database receiving probabilistic finite automata (PFA) created by RegPFA in tsml format as input. Secondly, a Java program must be designed that uses said database to recommend the process elements that are most likely to follow a given sequence of process elements.
The mitral valve is one of four human heart valves. It is located in the left heart and acts as a unidirectional passageway for blood between the left atrium and the left ventricle. A correctly functioning mitral valve prevents a backflow of blood into the pulmonary circulation (lungs) and thus constitutes a vital part of the cardiac cycle. Pathologies of the mitral valve can manifest in a variety of symptoms with severity ranging from chest pain and fatigue to pulmonary edema (fluid accumulation in the tissue and air space of lungs), which may ultimately cause respiratory failure.
Malfunctioning mitral valves can be restored through complex surgical interventions, which greatly benefit from intensive planning and pre-operative analysis. Visualization techniques provide a possibility to enhance such preparation processes and can also facilitate post-operative evaluation. The work at hand extends current research in this field, building upon patient-specific mitral valve segmentations developed at the German Cancer Research Center, which result in triangulated 3D models of the valve surface. The core of this work will be the construction of a 2D-view of these models through global parameterization, a method that can be used to establish a bijective mapping between a planar parameter domain and a surface embedded in higher dimensions.
A flat representation of the mitral valve provides physicians with a view of the whole surface at once, similar to a map. This allows assessment of the valve's area and shape without the need for different viewing angles. Parts of the valve that are occluded by geometry in 3D become visible in 2D.
An additional contribution of this work will be the exploration of different visualizations of the 3D and 2D mitral valve representations. Features of the valve can be highlighted by associating them with specified colors, which can for instance directly convey pathology indicators.
Quality and effectiveness of the proposed methods were evaluated through a survey conducted at the Heidelberg University Hospital.
Retrospektive Analyse der Ausbreitung und dynamische Erkennung von Web-Tracking durch Sandboxing
(2018)
Aktuelle quantitative Analysen von Web-Tracking bieten keinen umfassenden Überblick über dessen Entstehung, Ausbreitung und Entwicklung. Diese Arbeit ermöglicht durch Auswertung archivierter Webseiten eine rückblickende Erfassung der Entstehungsgeschichte des Web-Trackings zwischen den Jahren 2000 und 2015. Zu diesem Zweck wurde ein geeignetes Werkzeug entworfen, implementiert, evaluiert und zur Analyse von 10000 Webseiten eingesetzt. Während im Jahr 2005 durchschnittlich 1,17 Ressourcen von Drittparteien eingebettet wurden, zeigt sich ein Anstieg auf 6,61 in den darauffolgenden 10 Jahren. Netzwerkdiagramme visualisieren den Trend zu einer monopolisierten Netzstruktur, in der bereits ein einzelnes Unternehmen 80 % der Internetnutzung überwachen kann.
Trotz vielfältiger Versuche, dieser Entwicklung durch technische Maßnahmen entgegenzuwirken, erweisen sich nur wenige Selbst- und Systemschutzmaßnahmen als wirkungsvoll. Diese gehen häufig mit einem Verlust der Funktionsfähigkeit einer Webseite oder mit einer Einschränkung der Nutzbarkeit des Browsers einher. Mit der vorgestellten Studie wird belegt, dass rechtliche Vorschriften ebenfalls keinen hinreichenden Schutz bieten. An Webauftritten von Bildungseinrichtungen werden Mängel bei Erfüllung der datenschutzrechtlichen Pflichten festgestellt. Diese zeigen sich durch fehlende, fehlerhafte oder unvollständige Datenschutzerklärungen, deren Bereitstellung zu den Informationspflichten eines Diensteanbieters gehören.
Die alleinige Berücksichtigung klassischer Tracker ist nicht ausreichend, wie mit einer weiteren Studie nachgewiesen wird. Durch die offene Bereitstellung funktionaler Webseitenbestandteile kann ein Tracking-Unternehmen die Abdeckung von 38 % auf 61 % erhöhen. Diese Situation wird durch Messungen von Webseiten aus dem Gesundheitswesen belegt und aus technischer sowie rechtlicher Perspektive bewertet.
Bestehende systemische Werkzeuge zum Erfassen von Web-Tracking verwenden für ihre Messung die Schnittstellen der Browser. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird mit DisTrack ein Framework zur Web-Tracking-Analyse vorgestellt, welches eine Sandbox-basierte Messmethodik verfolgt. Dies ist eine Vorgehensweise, die in der dynamischen Schadsoftwareanalyse erfolgreich eingesetzt wird und sich auf das Erkennen von Seiteneffekten auf das umliegende System spezialisiert. Durch diese Verhaltensanalyse, die unabhängig von den Schnittstellen des Browsers operiert, wird eine ganzheitliche Untersuchung des Browsers ermöglicht. Auf diese Weise können systemische Schwachstellen im Browser aufgezeigt werden, die für speicherbasierte Web-Tracking-Verfahren nutzbar sind.
This thesis addresses the automated identification and localization of a time-varying number of objects in a stream of sensor data. The problem is challenging due to its combinatorial nature: If the number of objects is unknown, the number of possible object trajectories grows exponentially with the number of observations. Random finite sets are a relatively new theory that has been developed to derive at principled and efficient approximations. It is based around set-valued random variables that contain an unknown number of elements which appear in arbitrary order and are themselves random. While extensively studied in theory, random finite sets have not yet become a leading paradigm in practical computer vision and robotics applications. This thesis explores random finite sets in visual tracking applications. The first method developed in this thesis combines set-valued recursive filtering with global optimization. The problem is approached in a min-cost flow network formulation, which has become a standard inference framework for multiple object tracking due to its efficiency and optimality. A main limitation of this formulation is a restriction to unary and pairwise cost terms. This circumstance makes integration of higher-order motion models challenging. The method developed in this thesis approaches this limitation by application of a Probability Hypothesis Density filter. The Probability Hypothesis Density filter was the first practically implemented state estimator based on random finite sets. It circumvents the combinatorial nature of data association itself by propagation of an object density measure that can be computed efficiently, without maintaining explicit trajectory hypotheses. In this work, the filter recursion is used to augment measurements with an additional hidden kinematic state to be used for construction of more informed flow network cost terms, e.g., based on linear motion models. The method is evaluated on public benchmarks where a considerate improvement is achieved compared to network flow formulations that are based on static features alone, such as distance between detections and appearance similarity. A second part of this thesis focuses on the related task of detecting and tracking a single robot operator in crowded environments. Different from the conventional multiple object tracking scenario, the tracked individual can leave the scene and later reappear after a longer period of absence. Therefore, a re-identification component is required that picks up the track on reentrance. Based on random finite sets, the Bernoulli filter is an optimal Bayes filter that provides a natural representation for this type of problem. In this work, it is shown how the Bernoulli filter can be combined with a Probability Hypothesis Density filter to track operator and non-operators simultaneously. The method is evaluated on a publicly available multiple object tracking dataset as well as on custom sequences that are specific to the targeted application. Experiments show reliable tracking in crowded scenes and robust re-identification after long term occlusion. Finally, a third part of this thesis focuses on appearance modeling as an essential aspect of any method that is applied to visual object tracking scenarios. Therefore, a feature representation that is robust to pose variations and changing lighting conditions is learned offline, before the actual tracking application. This thesis proposes a joint classification and metric learning objective where a deep convolutional neural network is trained to identify the individuals in the training set. At test time, the final classification layer can be stripped from the network and appearance similarity can be queried using cosine distance in representation space. This framework represents an alternative to direct metric learning objectives that have required sophisticated pair or triplet sampling strategies in the past. The method is evaluated on two large scale person re-identification datasets where competitive results are achieved overall. In particular, the proposed method better generalizes to the test set compared to a network trained with the well-established triplet loss.
The content aggregator platform Reddit has established itself as one of the most popular websites in the world. However, scientific research on Reddit is hindered as Reddit allows (and even encourages) user anonymity, i.e., user profiles do not contain personal information such as the gender. Inferring the gender of users in large-scale could enable the analysis of gender-specific areas of interest, reactions to events, and behavioral patterns. In this direction, this thesis suggests a machine learning approach of estimating the gender of Reddit users. By exploiting specific conventions in parts of the website, we obtain a ground truth for more than 190 million comments of labeled users. This data is then used to train machine learning classifiers to use them to gain insights about the gender balance of particular subreddits and the platform in general. By comparing a variety of different approaches for classification algorithm, we find that character-level convolutional neural network achieves performance with an 82.3% F1 score on a task of predicting a gender of a user based on his/her comments. The score surpasses 85% mark for frequent users with more than 50 comments. Furthermore, we discover that female users are less active on Reddit platform, they write fewer comments and post in fewer subreddits on average, when compared to male users.
This paper describes the robot Lisa used by team
homer@UniKoblenz of the University of Koblenz Landau, Germany, for the participation at the RoboCup@Home 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. A special focus is put on novel system components and the open source contributions of our team. We have released packages for object recognition, a robot face including speech synthesis, mapping and navigation, speech recognition interface via android and a GUI. The packages are available (and new packages will be released) on http://wiki.ros.org/agas-ros-pkg.
Der Fachbereich 4 (Informatik) besteht aus fünfundzwanzig Arbeitsgruppen unter der Leitung von Professorinnen und Professoren, die für die Forschung und Lehre in sechs Instituten zusammenarbeiten.
In jedem Jahresbericht stellen sich die Arbeitsgruppen nach einem einheitlichen Muster dar, welche personelle Zusammensetzung sie haben, welche Projekte in den Berichtszeitraum fallen und welche wissenschaftlichen Leistungen erbracht wurden. In den folgenden Kapiteln werden einzelne Parameter aufgeführt, die den Fachbereich in quantitativer Hinsicht, was Drittmitteleinwerbungen, Abdeckung der Lehre, Absolventen oder Veröffentlichungen angeht, beschreiben.
Der Fachbereich 4 (Informatik) besteht aus fünfundzwanzig Arbeitsgruppen unter der Leitung von Professorinnen und Professoren, die für die Forschung und Lehre in sechs Instituten zusammenarbeiten.
In jedem Jahresbericht stellen sich die Arbeitsgruppen nach einem einheitlichen Muster dar, welche personelle Zusammensetzung sie haben, welche Projekte in den Berichtszeitraum fallen und welche wissenschaftlichen Leistungen erbracht wurden. In den folgenden Kapiteln werden einzelne Parameter aufgeführt, die den Fachbereich in quantitativer Hinsicht, was Drittmitteleinwerbungen, Abdeckung der Lehre, Absolventen oder Veröffentlichungen angeht, beschreiben.
“Did I say something wrong?” A word-level analysis of Wikipedia articles for deletion discussions
(2016)
This thesis focuses on gaining linguistic insights into textual discussions on a word level. It was of special interest to distinguish messages that constructively contribute to a discussion from those that are detrimental to them. Thereby, we wanted to determine whether “I”- and “You”-messages are indicators for either of the two discussion styles. These messages are nowadays often used in guidelines for successful communication. Although their effects have been successfully evaluated multiple times, a large-scale analysis has never been conducted. Thus, we used Wikipedia Articles for Deletion (short: AfD) discussions together with the records of blocked users and developed a fully automated creation of an annotated data set. In this data set, messages were labelled either constructive or disruptive. We applied binary classifiers to the data to determine characteristic words for both discussion styles. Thereby, we also investigated whether function words like pronouns and conjunctions play an important role in distinguishing the two. We found that “You”-messages were a strong indicator for disruptive messages which matches their attributed effects on communication. However, we found “I”-messages to be indicative for disruptive messages as well which is contrary to their attributed effects. The importance of function words could neither be confirmed nor refuted. Other characteristic words for either communication style were not found. Yet, the results suggest that a different model might represent disruptive and constructive messages in textual discussions better.
This thesis presents an approach to optimizing the computation of soft shadows from area lights. The light source is sampled uniformly by traversing shadow rays as packets through an N-tree. This data structure stores an additional line space for every node. A line space stores precomputed information about geometry inside of shafts from one to another side of the node. This visibility information is used to terminate a ray. Additionally the graphics processing unit (short GPU) is used to speed up the computations through parallelism. The scene is rendered with OpenGL and the shadow value is computed on the GPU for each pixel. Evaluating the implementation shows a performance gain of 86% by comparison to the CPU, if using the GPU implementation. Using the line space instead of triangle intersections also increases the performance. The implementation provides good scaling with an increasing amount of triangles and has no visual disadvantages for many rays.
Proceedings des FWS 2015
(2016)
Die Aufnahme, Verarbeitung und Analyse farbiger bzw. mehrkanaliger Bilder gewinnt seit Jahren ständig an Bedeutung. Diese Entwicklung wird durch die verbesserten technischen Möglichkeiten und die stetig steigenden Ansprüche aus den vielfältigen Anwendungsfeldern in Industrie, Medizin, Umwelt und Medien befördert. Diesem Trend folgend wurde in Koblenz 1995 erstmals der Workshop Farbbildverarbeitung durchgeführt und hat sich seitdem als jährlich stattfindende Veranstaltung etabliert. Als Veranstaltung der German ColorGroup bietet der Workshop ein Diskussionsforum für Forscher, Entwickler und Anwender, das sich den Problemen der Farbtheorie, Farbmessung, Farbbildaufnahme und spektralen Bildgewinnung ("hyper-spectral imaging") genauso wie der Entwicklung von neuen Methoden und Algorithmen zur Verarbeitung und Analyse von Farbbildern und mehrkanaligen (spektroskopischen) Bilddaten widmet. Ebenso nehmen Fragestellungen der farbtreuen Bildreproduktion auf verschiedenen Ausgabemedien wie auch die Nutzung von Methoden und Verfahren der Farbbildverarbeitung im Rahmen der industriellen Qualitätskontrolle sowie in Robotik und Automatisierung gebührenden Platz ein.
This habilitation thesis collects works addressing several challenges on handling uncertainty and inconsistency in knowledge representation. In particular, this thesis contains works which introduce quantitative uncertainty based on probability theory into abstract argumentation frameworks. The formal semantics of this extension is investigated and its application for strategic argumentation in agent dialogues is discussed. Moreover, both the computational as well as the meaningfulness of approaches to analyze inconsistencies, both in classical logics as well as logics for uncertain reasoning is investigated. Finally, this thesis addresses the implementation challenges for various kinds of knowledge representation formalisms employing any notion of inconsistency tolerance or uncertainty.
The goal of this thesis is to create and develop a concept for a mobile city guide combined with game-based contents.
The application is intented to support flexible and independent exploration of the city of Koblenz.
Based on the geographical data, historical information for and interesting stories of various places were provided in this application. These informations are combined with playful elements in order to create a motivating concept.
Therefore, related approaches were examined and, combined with own ideas, a new concept has been developed. This concept has been prototypically implemented as an Android application and afterwards evaluated by 15 test persons. A questionnaire was used to examine the operability, the motivation of game patterns and the additional value of the application.
Simulation von Schnee
(2015)
Physic simulations allow the creation of dynamic scenes on the computer. Computer generated images become lively and find use in movies, games and engineering applications. GPGPU techniques make use of the graphics card to simulate physics. The simulation of dynamic snow is still little researched. The Material Point Method is the first technique which is capable of showing the dynamics andrncharacteristics of snow.
The hybrid use of Lagrangian particles and a regular cartesian grid enables solving of partial differential equations. Therefore articles are transformed to the grid. The grid velocities can then be updated with the calculation of gradients in an FEM-manner (finite element method). Finally grid node velocities are weight back to the particles to move them across the scene. This method is coupled with a constitutive model to cover the dynamic nature of snow. This include collisions and breaking.
This bachelor thesis connects the recent developments in GPGPU techniques of OpenGL with the Material Point Method to efficiently simulate visually compelling, dynamic snow scenes.
This thesis shows an interaction of primitives in a three-dimensional space which is done by gestures. Functions which are difficult to do by gestures without any absolute feeling of the position are implemented with a touchscreen. Besides the touchscreen a second input device, a Leap-Motion, is used to obtain data of the motion of the hand. To get its data the Leap-Motion uses two CCD-cameras and three infrared LEDs. The interactions that can be done without any feedback of the absolute position are the translation, rotation and scale. These three and the movement through space are implemented as gestures in this thesis. This is done in Blender with the BlenderrnGame Engine and Python. The only function which has been implemented for the touchscreen is to select an object. Later on, a comparative control of the mouse was invented to contrast it with the control of the gestures. There are two big differences between these two controls. On the one hand, the gesture controls can be done in a three-dimensional space but most people aren't used to it yet. On the other hand, there is just a two-dimensional input possibility with the mouse control. Otherwise it is familiar to most persons. The evaluation should reveal if people prefer interaction by mouse control or by gestures. The result shows that the prefered control is done by the mouse. However in some categories of the tests the gestures are quite close to the result of the mouse.
Virtueller Konsum - Warenkörbe, Wägungsschemata und Verbraucherpreisindizes in virtuellen Welten
(2015)
Virtual worlds have been investigated by several academic disciplines for several years, e.g. sociology, psychology, law and education. Since the developers of virtual worlds have implemented aspects like scarcity and needs, even economic research has become interested in these virtual environments. Exploring virtual economies mainly deals with the research of trade regarding the virtual goods used to supply the emerged needs. On the one hand, economics analyzes the meaning of virtual trade according to the overall interpretation of the economical characteristics of virtual worlds. As some virtual worlds allow the change of virtual world money with real money and vice versa, virtual goods are traded by the users for real money, researchers on the other hand, study the impact of the interdependencies between virtual economies and the real world. The presented thesis mainly focuses on the trade within virtual worlds in the context of virtual consumption and the observation of consumer prices. Therefore, the four virtual worlds World of Warcraft, RuneScape, Entropia Universe and Second Life have been selected. There are several components required to calculate consumer price indices. First, a market basket, which contains the relevant consumed goods existing in virtual worlds, must be developed. Second, a weighting scheme has to be established, which shows the dispersion of consumer tendencies. Third, prices of relevant consumer goods have to be taken. Following real world methods, it is the challenge to apply those methods within virtual worlds. Therefore, this dissertation contains three corresponding investigation parts. Within a first analysis, it will be evaluated, in how far virtual worlds can be explored to identify consumable goods. As a next step, the consumption expenditures of the avatars will be examined based on an online survey. At last, prices of consumable goods will be recorded. Finally, it will be possible to calculate consumer price indices. While investigating those components, the thesis focuses not only on the general findings themselves, but also on methodological issues arising, like limited access to relevant data, missing legal legitimation or security concerns of the users. Beside these aspects, the used methods also allow the examination of several other economic aspects like the consumption habits of the avatars. At the end of the thesis, it will be considered to what extent virtual world economic characteristics can be compared with the real world.
Aspects like the important role of weapons or the different usage of food show significant differences to the real world, caused by the business models of virtual worlds.
Die Arbeitsgruppe Echtzeitsysteme an der Universität Koblenz beschäftigt sich seit mehreren Jahren mit der Thematik autonomes und assistiertes Fahren. Eine große Herausforderung stellen in diesem Zusammenhang mehrgliedrige Fahrzeuge dar, deren Steuerung für den Fahrer während der Rückwärtsfahrt sehr anspruchsvoll ist. Um präzise Manöver zu ermöglichen, können elektronische Fahrerassistenzsysteme zum Einsatz kommen. Im Rahmen vorhergehender Arbeiten sind bereits einige Prototypen entstanden, von denen jedoch keiner eine geeignete Lösung für moderne, zweiachsige Anhänger darstellt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein prototypisches Fahrerassistenzsystem entwickelt, wobei es noch weiterer Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeit bedarf, um das System straßentauglich zu machen.
Traditional Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) like for example Lane Departure Warning Systems or the well-known Electronic Stability Program have in common that their system and software architecture is static. This means that neither the number and topology of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) nor the presence and functionality of software modules changes after the vehicles leave the factory.
However, some future DAS do face changes at runtime. This is true for example for truck and trailer DAS as their hardware components and software entities are spread over both parts of the combination. These new requirements cannot be faced by state-of-the-art approaches of automotive software systems. Instead, a different technique of designing such Distributed Driver Assistance Systems (DDAS) needs to be developed. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a novel software and system architecture for dynamically changing DAS using the example of driving assistance for truck and trailer. This architecture has to be able to autonomously detect and handle changes within the topology. In order to do so, the system decides which degree of assistance and which types of HMI can be offered every time a trailer is connected or disconnected. Therefore an analysis of the available software and hardware components as well as a determination of possible assistance functionality and a re-configuration of the system take place. Such adaptation can be granted by the principles of Service-oriented Architecture (SOA). In this architectural style all functionality is encapsulated in self-contained units, so-called Services. These Services offer the functionality through well-defined interfaces whose behavior is described in contracts. Using these Services, large-scale applications can be built and adapted at runtime. This thesis describes the research conducted in achieving the goals described by introducing Service-oriented Architectures into the automotive domain. SOA deals with the high degree of distribution, the demand for re-usability and the heterogeneity of the needed components.
It also applies automatic re-configuration in the event of a system change. Instead of adapting one of the frameworks available to this scenario, the main principles of Service-orientation are picked up and tailored. This leads to the development of the Service-oriented Driver Assistance (SODA) framework, which implements the benefits of Service-orientation while ensuring compatibility and compliance to automotive requirements, best-practices and standards. Within this thesis several state-of-the-art Service-oriented frameworks are analyzed and compared. Furthermore, the SODA framework as well as all its different aspects regarding the automotive software domain are described in detail. These aspects include a well-defined reference model that introduces and relates terms and concepts and defines an architectural blueprint. Furthermore, some of the modules of this blueprint such as the re-configuration module and the Communication Model are presented in full detail. In order to prove the compliance of the framework regarding state-of-the-art automotive software systems, a development process respecting today's best practices in automotive design procedures as well as the integration of SODA into the AUTOSAR standard are discussed. Finally, the SODA framework is used to build a full-scale demonstrator in order to evaluate its performance and efficiency.
101worker is the modular knowledge engineering component of the 101companies project. It has developed maintainability and performance problems due to growing organically, rather than following best software design practices. This thesis lays out these problems, drafts a set of requirements for refactoring the system and then describes and analyzes the resulting implementation. The solution involves collation of scattered and redundant information, setup of unit and functional test suites and incrementalization of the bus architecture of 101worker.
This thesis deals with the development of an interactive Android card game. As an example, the Hebrew game Yaniv was implemented. Focus is the elaboration of required background components and the corresponding implementation in that application. Required game processes will be screened and a possible solution will be identified.
Ray Tracing enables a close to reality rendering implementation of a modelled scene. Because of its functioning, it is able to display optical phenomena and complex lighting. Though, numerous computations per pixel have to be done. In practice implementations can not achieve computer graphics" aim of real-time rendering close to 60 frames per second. Current Graphics Processing Units (GPU) allows high execution parallelism of general-purpose computations. By using the graphics-API OpenGL this parallelism can be achieved and it is possible to design and realize a Ray-Tracer, which operates entirely on the GPU. The developed approach will be extended by an Uniform Grid - a Ray-Tracing acceleration structure. Hence, a speed-up is expected.
This thesis` purpose is the implementation of Ray-Tracer, which operates completely on the GPU, and its expansion by integrating an Uniform Grid. Afterwards, the evaluation of maximum achievable performance takes place. Possible problems regarding GPU-programming will be identified and analysed.
The mitral valve is one of the four valves in the human heart. It is located in the left heart chamber and its function is to control the blood flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. Pathologies can lead to malfunctions of the valve so that blood can flow back to the atrium. Patients with a faulty mitral valve function may suffer from fatigue and chest pain. The functionality can be surgically restored, which is often a long and exhaustive intervention. Thorough planning is necessary to ensure a safe and effective surgery. This can be supported by creating pre-operative segmentations of the mitral valve. A post-operative analysis can determine the success of an intervention. This work will combine existing and new ideas to propose a new approach to (semi-)automatically create such valve models. The manual part can guarantee a high quality model and reliability, whereas the automatic part contributes to saving valuable labour time.
The main contributions of the automatic algorithm are an estimated semantic separation of the two leaflets of the mitral valve and an optimization process that is capable of finding a coaptation-line and -area between the leaflets. The segmentation method can perform a fully automatic segmentation of the mitral leaflets if the annulus ring is already given. The intermediate steps of this process will be integrated into a manual segmentation method so a user can guide the whole procedure. The quality of the valve models generated by the method proposed in this work will be measured by comparing them to completely manually segmented models. This will show that commonly used methods to measure the quality of a segmentation are too general and do not suffice to reflect the real quality of a model. Consequently the work at hand will introduce a set of measurements that can qualify a mitral valve segmentation in more detail and with respect to anatomical landmarks. Besides the intra-operative support for a surgeon, a segmented mitral valve provides additional benefits. The ability to patient-specifically obtain and objectively describe the valve anatomy may be the base for future medical research in this field and automation allows to process large data sets with reduced expert dependency. Further, simulation methods that use the segmented models as input may predict the outcome of a surgery.
In this thesis, an interactive application is developed for Android OS. The application is about a virtual-reality game. The game is settled in the genre of first-person shooters and takes place in a space scenario. By using a stereo renderer, it is possible to play the game combined with virtual-reality glasses.
For definite isolation and classification of important features in 3D multi-attribute volume data, multidimensional transfer functions are inalienable. Yet, when using multiple dimensions, the comprehension of the data and the interaction with it become a challenge. That- because neither the control of the versatile input parameters nor the visualization in a higher dimensional space are straightforward.
The goal of this thesis is the implementation of a transfer function editor which supports the creation of a multidimensional transfer function. Therefore different visualization and interaction techniques, like Parallel Coordinates, are used. Furthermore it will be possible to choose and combine the used dimensions interactively and the rendered volume will be adapted to the user interaction in real time.
Web application testing is an active research area. Garousi et al. did a systematic mapping study and classified 79 papers published between 2000-2011. However, there seems to be a lack of information exchange between the scientific community and tool developers.
This thesis systematically analyzes the field of functional, system level web application testing tools. 194 candidate tools were collected in the tool search and screened, with 23 tools being selected as foundation of this thesis. These 23 tools were systematically used to generate a feature model of the domain. The methodology to support this is an additional contribution of this thesis. It processes end user documentation of tools belonging to an examined domain and creates a feature model. The feature model gives an overview over the existing features, their alternatives and their distribution. It can be used to identify trends and problems, extraordinary features, help decision making of tool purchase or guide scientists how to focus research.
Thematik dieser Arbeit ist das dreidimensionale Image-Warping für diffuse und reflektierende Oberflächen. Das Warpingverfahren für den reflektierenden Fall gibt es erst seit 2014. Bei diesem neuen Algorithmus treten Artefakte auf, sobald ein Bild für einen alternativen Blickwinkel auf eine sehr unebene Fläche berechnet werden soll.
In dieser Arbeit wird der Weg von einem Raytracer, der die Eingabetexturen erzeugt, über das Warpingverfahren für beide Arten der Oberflächen, bis zur Optimierung des Reflective-Warping-Verfahrens erarbeitet. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse der Optimierung bewertet und in den aktuellen sowie zukünftigen Stand der Technik eingeordnet.
Information systems research has started to use crowdsourcing platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turks (MTurk) for scientific research, recently. In particular, MTurk provides a scalable, cheap work-force that can also be used as a pool of potential respondents for online survey research. In light of the increasing use of crowdsourcing platforms for survey research, the authors aim to contribute to the understanding of its appropriate usage. Therefore, they assess if samples drawn from MTurk deviate from those drawn via conventional online surveys (COS) in terms of answers in relation to relevant e-commerce variables and test the data in a nomological network for assessing differences in effects.
The authors compare responses from 138 MTurk workers with those of 150 German shoppers recruited via COS. The findings indicate, inter alia, that MTurk workers tend to exhibit more positive word-of mouth, perceived risk, customer orientation and commitment to the focal company. The authors discuss the study- results, point to limitations, and provide avenues for further research.
This research examines information audit methodologies and information capturing methods for enterprise social software which are an elementary part of the audit process. Information auditing is lacking of a standardized definition and methodology because the scope of the audit process is diversified and dependent on the organization undertaking the audit. The benefits of information auditing and potential challenges of Enterprise 2.0 the audit can overcome are comprehensive and provide a major incentive for managers to conduct an audit. Information asset registers as a starting point for information auditing are not specifically focusing on social software assets. Therefore this research pro-ject combines asset registers from different areas to create a new register suitable for the requirements of Enterprise 2.0. The necssary adaptations caused by the new character of the assets are minor. The case study applying the asset register for the first time however reveals several problematic areas for information auditors completing the register. Rounding up the thesis a template is developed for setting up new work spaces on enterprise social software systems with appropriate metadata taking into account the meaningful metadata discovered in the asset register.
One task of executives and project managers in IT companies or departments is to hire suitable developers and to assign them to suitable problems. In this paper, we propose a new technique that directly leverages previous work experience of developers in a systematic manner. Existing evidence for developer expertise based on the version history of existing projects is analyzed. More specifically, we analyze the commits to a repository in terms of affected API usage. On these grounds, we associate APIs with developers and thus we assess API experience of developers. In transitive closure, we also assess programming domain experience.
Geographic cluster based routing in ad-hoc wireless sensor networks is a current field of research. Various algorithms to route in wireless ad-hoc networks based on position information already exist. Among them algorithms that use the traditional beaconing approach as well as algorithms that work beaconless (no information about the environment is required besides the own position and the destination). Geographic cluster based routing with guaranteed message delivery can be carried out on overlay graphs as well. Until now the required planar overlay graphs are not being constructed reactively.
This thesis proposes a reactive algorithm, the Beaconless Cluster Based Planarization (BCBP) algorithm, which constructs a planar overlay graph and noticeably reduces the number of messages required for that. Based on an algorithm for cluster based planarization it beaconlessly constructs a planar overlay graph in an unit disk graph (UDG). An UDG is a model for a wireless network in which every participant has the same sending radius. Evaluation of the algorithm shows it to be more efficient than the non beaconless variant. Another result of this thesis is the Beaconless LLRAP (BLLRAP) algorithm, for which planarity but not continued connectivity could be proven.
Nutzung von Big Data im Marketing : theoretische Grundlagen, Anwendungsfelder und Best-Practices
(2015)
Die zunehmende Digitalisierung des Alltags und die damit verbundene omnipräsente Datengenerierung bieten für Unternehmen und insbesondere Marketingabteilungen die Chance, Informationen in bisher ungekannter Fülle über ihre Kunden und Produkte zu erhalten. Die Gewinnung solcher Informationen aus riesigen Datenmengen, die durch neue Technologien ermöglicht wird, hat sich dabei unter dem Begriff Big Data etabliert.
Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert diese Entwicklung im Hinblick auf das Potenzial für die unternehmerische Disziplin des Marketings. Dazu werden die theoretischen Grundlagen des Einsatzes von Big Data im Marketing identifiziert und daraus Anwendungsfelder und Best-Practice-Lösungen abgeleitet. Die Untersuchung basiert auf einer Literaturanalyse zu dem Thema Big Data Marketing, welche neben verschiedenen Studien und Befragungen auch Expertenmeinungen und Zukunftsprognosen einschließt. Die Literatur wird dabei zunächst auf die theoretischen Grundlagen des Konstrukts Big Data analysiert.
Anschließend wird die Eignung von Big Data Lösungen für den Einsatz in Unternehmen geprüft, bevor die Anwendung im Bereich des Marketings konkretisiert und analysiert wird. Es wurde dabei festgestellt, dass anhand der theoretischen Aspekte von Big Data eine starke Eignung für den Einsatz im Rahmen des Marketings besteht. Diese zeichnet sich vor allem durch die detaillierten Informationen über Verhaltensmuster von Kunden und ihre Kaufentscheidungen aus. Weiterhin wurden potenzielle Anwendungsfelder identifiziert, welche besonders im Bereich der Kundenorientierung und der Marktforschung liegen. Im Hinblick auf Best-Practice-Lösungen konnte ein grober Leitfaden für die Integration von Big Data in die Unternehmensorganisation entwickelt werden. Abschließend wurde festgehalten, dass das Thema Big Data eine hohe Relevanz für das Marketing aufweist und dies in der Zukunft maßgeblich mitbestimmen wird.
This thesis conducts a text and network analysis of criminological files. The specific focus during the research is the field money laundering. The analysis showed the most important concepts present in the text which were classified in eleven different classes. The relationships of those concepts were analysed using ego networks, key entity identification and clustering. Some of the statements given about money laundering could be validated by the findings of this analysis and their interpretation. Specific concepts like banks and organizations as well as foreign subsidiaries were identified. Aggregating these concepts with the statements in chapter 1.4.3 on the circular process of money laundering it can be stated that different organizations and individuals, present in the criminological files, were placing money through different banks, organizations and investments in the legal financial market. At last this thesis tries to validate the benefits of the used tools for the kind of conducted research process. An estimation on ORA's and Automap's applicability for this kind of research is given in the end.
In this thesis we present an approach to track a RGB-D camera in 6DOF andconstruct 3D maps. We first acquire, register and synchronize RGB and depth images. After preprocessing we extract FAST features and match them between two consecutive frames. By depth projection we regain the z-value for the inlier correspondences. Afterwards we estimate the camera motion by 3D point set alignment between the correspondence set using least-squares. This local motion estimate is incrementally applied to a global transformation. Additionally wernpresent methods to build maps based on point cloud data acquired by a RGB-D camera. For map creation we use the OctoMap framework and optionally create a colored point cloud map. The system is evaluated with the widespread RGB-D benchmark.
In this work a framework is developed that is used to create an evaluation scheme for the evaluation of text processing tools. The evaluation scheme is developed using a model-dependent software evaluation approach and the focus of the model-dependent part is the text-processing process which is derived from the Conceptual Analysis Process developed in the GLODERS project. As input data a German court document is used containing two incidents of extortion racketeering which happened in 2011 and 2012. The evaluation of six different tools shows that one tool offers great results for the given dataset when it is compared to manual results. It is able to identify and visualize relations between concepts without any additional manual work. Other tools also offer good results with minor drawbacks. The biggest drawback for some tools is the unavailability of models for the German language. They can perform automated tasks only on English documents. Nonetheless some tools can be enhanced by self-written code which allows users with development experience to apply additional methods.
In current research of the autonomous mobile robots, path planning is still a very important issue.
This master's thesis deals with various path planning algorithms for the navigation of such mobile systems. This is not only to determine a collision-free trajectory from one point to another. The path should still be optimal and comply with all vehicle-given constraints. Especially the autonomous driving in an unknown and dynamic environment poses a major challenge, because a closed-loop control is necessary and thus a certain dynamic of the planner is demanded.
In this paper, two types of algorithms are presented. First, the path planner, based on A*, which is a common graph search algorithm: A*, Anytime Repairing A*, Lifelong Planning A*, D* Lite, Field D*, hybrid A*. Second, the algorithms which are based on the probabilistic planning algorithm Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (Rapidly-exploring Random Tree, RRT*, Lifelong Planning RRT*), as well as some extensions and heuristics. In addition, methods for collision avoidance and path smoothing are presented. Finally, these different algorithms are evaluated and compared with each other.
Code package managers like Cabal track dependencies between packages. But packages rarely use the functionality that their dependencies provide. This leads to unnecessary compilation of unused parts and to speculative conflicts between package versions where there are no conflicts. In two case studies we show how relevant these two problems are. We then describe how we could avoid them by tracking dependencies not between packages but between individual code fragments.
This master- thesis investigates the topic of intercultural web design. Two websites from different countries are exemplarily compared. On the basis of cultural dimensions, cultural differences are presented on each respective website. The analysis particularly focuses on how detailed the respective website-designer and -operator regards their users" cultural differences and the creation of a cross-cultural web design. The analysis illustrates which cultural - and particularly intercultural - aspects of countries were taken into consideration in the design of the web sites. The investigation led to the conclusion that their implementation was not consequently executed for all web sites. Hence, this thesis offers suggestions for the improvement of aspects which are most important in intercultural web design.
The lasting hype around the mobile internet and the related technology of the mobile applications seem not to drop off. The immense economic potential of this market leads the businesses and ventures to continuously find new ways of monetization. The underlying causes of that phenomenon are rarely challenged. Scientific research in the field of "ubiquitous mobile" has not yet developed a clear overall picture of the causes and effect chains. Attempts of deriving causes by studies in related mass media such as the computer or the internet have been discussed controversially. By combining the research streams of media motive usage and the customer retention, this paper will present a new research model. Based on a quantitative survey in the German speaking the gained data proves the motives for mobility, information gathering and entertainment purposed to be the most important drivers of customer satisfaction in mobile applications. The paper also highlights a significant correlation between the customer satisfaction and the other determinants of customer retention.
Software systems are often developed as a set of variants to meet diverse requirements. Two common approaches to this are "clone-and-owning" and software product lines. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. In previous work we and collaborators proposed an idea which combines both approaches to manage variants, similarities, and cloning by using a virtual platform and cloning-related operators.
In this thesis, we present an approach for aggregating essential metadata to enable a propagate operator, which implements a form of change propagation. For this we have developed a system to annotate code similarities which were extracted throughout the history of a software repository. The annotations express similarity maintenance tasks, which can then either be executed automatically by propagate or have to be performed manually by the user. In this work we outline the automated metadata extraction process and the system for annotating similarities; we explain how the implemented system can be integrated into the workflow of an existing version control system (Git); and, finally, we present a case study using the 101haskell corpus of variants.
Today, augmented reality is becoming more and more important in several areas like industrial sectors, medicine, or tourism. This gain of importance can easily be explained by its powerful extension of real world content. Therefore, augmented realty became a way to explain and enhance the real world information. Yet, to create a system which can enhance a scene with additional information, the relation between the system and the real world must be known. In order to establish this relationship a commonly used method is optical tracking. The system calculates its relation to the real world from camera images. To do so, a reference which is known is needed in the scene to serve as an orientation. Today, this is mostly a 2D-marker or a 2D-texture. These are placed in the real world scenery to serve as a reference. But, this is an intrusion in the scene. That is why it is desirable that the system works without such an additional aid. An strategy without manipulating the scene is object-tracking. In this approach, any object from the scene can be used as a reference for the system. As an object is far more complex than a marker, it is harder for the system to establish its relationship with the real world. That is why most methods for 3D-object-tracking reduce the object by not using the whole object as reference. The focus of this thesis is to research how a whole object can be used as a reference in a way that either the system or the camera can be moved in any 360 degree angle around the object without loosing the relation to the real world. As a basis the augmented reality framework, the so called VisionLib, is used. Extensions to this system for 360 degree tracking are implemented in different ways and analyzed in the scope of this work. Also, the different extensions are compared. The best results were achieved by improving the reinitialization process. With this extension, current camera images of the scene are given to the system. With the hek of these images, the system can calculate the relation to the real world faster in case the relation went missing.
Real-time graphics applications are tending to get more realistic and approximate real world illumination gets more reasonable due to improvement of graphics hardware. Using a wide variation of algorithms and ideas, graphics processing units (GPU) can simulate complex lighting situations rendering computer generated imagery with complicated effects such as shadows, refraction and reflection of light. Particularly, reflections are an improvement of realism, because they make shiny materials, e.g. brushed metals, wet surfaces like puddles or polished floors, appear more realistic and reveal information of their properties such as roughness and reflectance. Moreover, reflections can get more complex, depending on the view: a wet surface like a street during rain for example will reflect lights depending on the distance of the viewer, resulting in more streaky reflection, which will look more stretched, if the viewer is locatedrnfarther away from the light source. This bachelor thesis aims to give an overview of the state-of-the-art in terms of rendering reflections. Understanding light is a basic need to understand reflections and therefore a physical model of light and its reflection will be covered in section 2, followed by the motivational section 2.2, that will give visual appealing examples for reflections from the real world and the media. Coming to rendering techniques, first, the main principle will be explained in section 3 followed by a short general view of a wide variety of approaches that try to generate correct reflections in section 4. This thesis will describe the implementation of three major algorithms, that produce plausible local reflections. Therefore, the developed framework is described in section 5, then three major algorithms will be covered, that are common methods in most current game and graphics engines: Screen space reflections (SSR), parallax-corrected cube mapping (PCCM) and billboard reflections (BBR). After describing their functional principle, they will be analysed of their visual quality and the possibilities of their real-time application. Finally they will be compared to each other to investigate the advantages and disadvantages over each other. In conclusion, the gained experiences will be described by summarizing advantages and disadvantages of each technique and giving suggestions for improvements. A short perspective will be given, trying to create a view of upcoming real-time rendering techniques for the creation of reflections as specular effects.
The present work introduces a rigid-body physics engine, focusing on the collision detection by GPU. The increasing performance and accessibility of modern graphics cards ensures that they can be also used for algorithms that are meant not only for imaging. This advantage is used to implement an efficient collision detection based on particles. The performance differences between CPU and GPU are presented by using a test environment.
The publication of freely available and machine-readable information has increased significantly in the last years. Especially the Linked Data initiative has been receiving a lot of attention. Linked Data is based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and anybody can simply publish their data in RDF and link it to other datasets. The structure is similar to the World Wide Web where individual HTML documents are connected with links. Linked Data entities are identified by URIs which are dereferenceable to retrieve information describing the entity. Additionally, so called SPARQL endpoints can be used to access the data with an algebraic query language (SPARQL) similar to SQL. By integrating multiple SPARQL endpoints it is possible to create a federation of distributed RDF data sources which acts like one big data store.
In contrast to the federation of classical relational database systems there are some differences for federated RDF data. RDF stores are accessed either via SPARQL endpoints or by resolving URIs. There is no coordination between RDF data sources and machine-readable meta data about a source- data is commonly limited or not available at all. Moreover, there is no common directory which can be used to discover RDF data sources or ask for sources which offer specific data. The federation of distributed and linked RDF data sources has to deal with various challenges. In order to distribute queries automatically, suitable data sources have to be selected based on query details and information that is available about the data sources. Furthermore, the minimization of query execution time requires optimization techniques that take into account the execution cost for query operators and the network communication overhead for contacting individual data sources. In this thesis, solutions for these problems are discussed. Moreover, SPLENDID is presented, a new federation infrastructure for distributed RDF data sources which uses optimization techniques based on statistical information.
This thesis addresses the problem of terrain classification in unstructured outdoor environments. Terrain classification includes the detection of obstacles and passable areas as well as the analysis of ground surfaces. A 3D laser range finder is used as primary sensor for perceiving the surroundings of the robot. First of all, a grid structure is introduced for data reduction. The chosen data representation allows for multi-sensor integration, e.g., cameras for color and texture information or further laser range finders for improved data density. Subsequently, features are computed for each terrain cell within the grid. Classification is performedrnwith a Markov random field for context-sensitivity and to compensate for sensor noise and varying data density within the grid. A Gibbs sampler is used for optimization and is parallelized on the CPU and GPU in order to achieve real-time performance. Dynamic obstacles are detected and tracked using different state-of-the-art approaches. The resulting information - where other traffic participants move and are going to move to - is used to perform inference in regions where the terrain surface is partially or completely invisible for the sensors. Algorithms are tested and validated on different autonomous robot platforms and the evaluation is carried out with human-annotated ground truth maps of millions of measurements. The terrain classification approach of this thesis proved reliable in all real-time scenarios and domains and yielded new insights. Furthermore, if combined with a path planning algorithm, it enables full autonomy for all kinds of wheeled outdoor robots in natural outdoor environments.
Durch eine systematische Literaturanalyse sollen die wichtigsten Aspekte des Phänomens Crowdsourcing abgedeckt werden. Da die Summe an Forschungsfragen relativ breit gefächert ist, soll der Fokus der Arbeit auf die im Folgenden aufgelisteten Fragen gelegt werden: Was ist unter dem Begriff Crowdsourcing gezielt zu verstehen? Wie lässt sich das Phänomen Crowdsourcing von anderen angrenzenden Konzepten trennen? Wo liegen die Gemeinsamkeiten und wesentlichen Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Konzepten? Welche Ausprägungsformen von Crowdsourcing sind in Theorie und Praxis vorzufinden? In welchen Bereichen kommt Crowdsourcing zum Einsatz? Welche Unternehmen setzen Crowdsourcing erfolgreich um? Welche Plattformen zur Unterstützung von Crowdsourcing sind vorhanden? Welche Ziele bzw. Ergebnisse sollen mit dem Einsatz von Crowdsourcing erreicht bzw. erzielt werden? Wie läuft der Crowdsourcing-Prozess ab und in welche Phasen lässt sich dieser unterteilen? Wie sieht die Wertschöpfung durch Crowdsourcing (a) allgemein und (b) speziell für Unternehmen aus? Welche Chancen und Potenziale sowie Risiken und Grenzen entstehen dabei den Unternehmen? Was lässt sich in Zukunft im Bereich des Crowdsourcing noch verbessern, das heißt in welchen Bereichen besteht noch Forschungsbedarf?
Der Fachbereich 4 (Informatik) besteht aus fünfundzwanzig Arbeitsgruppen unter der Leitung von Professorinnen und Professoren, die für die Forschung und Lehre in sechs Instituten zusammenarbeiten.
In jedem Jahresbericht stellen sich die Arbeitsgruppen nach einem einheitlichen Muster dar, welche personelle Zusammensetzung sie haben, welche Projekte in den Berichtszeitraum fallen und welche wissenschaftlichen Leistungen erbracht wurden. In den folgenden Kapiteln werden einzelne Parameter aufgeführt, die den Fachbereich in quantitativer Hinsicht, was Drittmitteleinwerbungen, Abdeckung der Lehre, Absolventen oder Veröffentlichungen angeht, beschreiben.
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit soll eine Methodik erarbeitet werden, die englische, keyword-basierte Anfragen in SPARQL übersetzt und bewertet. Aus allen generierten SPARQL-Queries sollen die relevantesten ermittelt und ein Favorit bestimmt werden. Das Ergebnis soll in einer Nutzerevaluation bewertet werden.
The subject of this thesis was to analyse the involvement of classical creativity techniques and IT tools in different phases of the innovation process. In addition, the present work deals with the integration of Design Thinking and TRIZ into the innovation process. The aim was to define a specific innovation process based on diverse existing Innovation process models from the literature. This specific innovation process should serve as a basis for the analysis of integration of creativity techniques, IT tools, Design Thinking and TRIZ. Summarizing it can be said that the application of creativity techniques and IT Tools is admissible and useful in every phase of the innovation process. In this work it was shown that the design thinking method can be integrated in the early stages of the innovation process. Also, the process model of TRIZ, which differs from traditional innovation processes, can be combined with classical innovation processes.
Einfluss eines Ausrichtungswerkzeugs auf die Bedienbarkeit in unbeaufsichtigten Eyetrackingsystemen
(2015)
Eye gaze trackers are devices that can estimate the direction of gaze of a person. Among usability testing eye tracking also allows persons with decreased limb mobility to control or to interact with the computer. The quality and availability of eye tracking equipment has been increasing while costs have been decreasing. This development leads to entering new markets by using eye tracking as an additional input dimension for a variety of applications. Up to now eye tracking has been supervised by qualified experts, who assured that the important conditions like position in front of the eye tracking device, calibration and light conditions has been kept, while using.
This thesis examines an adjustment tool, which is helping the user to adjust in front of the eye tracker and helping to keep this position during the experiment. Furthermore the accuracy while moving the head has been analysed. In this experiment an remote eye gaze tracker has been used to control a game character in the video game called 'Schau Genau!'. The goal was to determine whether the game is playable without the barrier of adjusting and calibration. The results show that adjusting in front of an eye tracker is not a problem, keeping this position is. Small changes of the head position after the calibration process leads to a lack of accuracy. Giving up the calibration and using someone else calibration shows way bigger deviation. Additional head movement increases error rate and makes controlling more difficult.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit sollen weltweit herrschende inhaltliche Ausprägungen und Schwerpunkte des Themengebiets "BMI" bzw. "GMI" mit Hilfe des Literatur-Reviews akademischer Artikel herausgearbeitet werden. Die festgestellten Beziehungen und Zusammenhänge sollen visualisiert und lokalisiert werden, um eine globale Sicht über das Thema herzustellen. Unter anderem sollen die in das finale Set aufgenommenen Artikel auf eine Korrelation zwischen BMI und Controlling bzw. Management hin überprüft werden. Als letzter Schritt soll eine Ableitung möglicher Forschungslücken unternommen werden.
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie sich Modellfehler auf die Positionsgenauigkeit und Handhabbarkeit beim Rangieren mit einem Fahrerassistenzsystem auswirken. Besonderer Wert wird dabei auf die Bestimmung von Fehlergrenzen gelegt. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie groß der Eingangsfehler sein darf, damit die Assistenz noch hinreichende Qualitätseigenschaften hinsichtlich ihrer Präzision und Robustheit aufweist. Dazu erfolgt zunächst eine quantitative Betrachtung der Fehler anhand des kinematischen Modells. Danach wird eine qualitative Betrachtung anhand von systematischen Experimenten durchgeführt. Es wird zunächst ein Controller entwickelt, mit dem sich ein Manöver mithilfe der visuellen Informationen der Assistenz simulieren lässt.
Dann wird eine Methode vorgestellt, mit deren Hilfe man das Manöver anhand definierter Fehlergrenzen bewerten kann. Um einen großen Raum möglicher Fehlerkombinationen effizient zu durchsuchen, wird das probabilistische Verfahren des Annealed Particle Filters benutzt. Mithilfe einer Testumgebung werden schließlich systematische Experimente durchgeführt. Zur weiteren Evaluation des Assistenzsystems in einer kontrollierten Umgebung erfolgte in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Fraunhofer ITWM in Kaiserslautern die Portierung des Assistenzsystems auf die dortige Simulationsumgebung RODOS.
Through the increasing availability of access to the web, more and more interactions between people take place in online social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, or sites where opinions can be exchanged. At the same time, knowledge is made openly available for many people, such as by the biggest collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia and diverse information in Internet forums and on websites. These two kinds of networks - social networks and knowledge networks - are highly dynamic in the sense that the links that contain the important information about the relationships between people or the relations between knowledge items are frequently updated or changed. These changes follow particular structural patterns and characteristics that are far less random than expected.
The goal of this thesis is to predict three characteristic link patterns for the two network types of interest: the addition of new links, the removal of existing links and the presence of latent negative links. First, we show that the prediction of link removal is indeed a new and challenging problem. Even if the sociological literature suggests that reasons for the formation and resolution of ties are often complementary, we show that the two respective prediction problems are not. In particular, we show that the dynamics of new links and unlinks lead to the four link states of growth, decay, stability and instability. For knowledge networks we show that the prediction of link changes greatly benefits from the usage of temporal information; the timestamp of link creation and deletion events improves the prediction of future link changes. For that, we present and evaluate four temporal models that resemble different exploitation strategies. Focusing on directed social networks, we conceptualize and evaluate sociological constructs that explain the formation and dissolution of relationships between users. Measures based on information about past relationships are extremely valuable for predicting the dissolution of social ties. Hence, consistent for knowledge networks and social networks, temporal information in a network greatly improves the prediction quality. Turning again to social networks, we show that negative relationship information such as distrust or enmity can be predicted from positive known relationships in the network. This is particularly interesting in networks where users cannot label their relationships to other users as negative. For this scenario we show how latent negative relationships can be predicted.
The aim of this paper is to identify and understand the risks and issues companies are experiencing from the business use of social media and to develop a framework for describing and categorising those social media risks. The goal is to contribute to the evolving theorisation of social media risk and to provide a foundation for the further development of social media risk management strategies and processes. The study findings identify thirty risk types organised into five categories (technical, human, content, compliance and reputational). A risk-chain is used to illustrate the complex interrelated, multi-stakeholder nature of these risks and directions for future work are identified.
In the recent years, Software Engineering research has shown the rise of interest in the empirical studies. Such studies are often based on empirical evidence derived from corpora - collections of software artifacts. While there are established forms of carrying out empirical research (experiments, case studies, surveys, etc.), the common task of preparing the underlying collection of software artifacts is typically addressed in ad hoc manner.
In this thesis, by means of a literature survey we show how frequently software engineering research employs software corpora and using a developed classification scheme we discuss their characteristics. Addressing the lack of methodology, we suggest a method of corpus (re-)engineering and apply it to an existing collection of Java projects.
We report two extensive empirical studies, where we perform a broad and diverse range of analyses on the language for privacy preferences (P3P) and on object-oriented application programming interfaces (APIs). In both cases, we are driven by the data at hand, by the corpus itself, discovering the actual usage of the languages.
3D-models are getting more important in many areas such as multimedia applications, robotics or film industries. Of particular interest is the creation of 3D-models from a series of monocular images. This is because the cameras that are required for this purpose are becoming cheaper, smaller and more sophisticated at the same time. Increasingly often, suitable cameras are already integrated in devices like smartphones, tablet PCs or cars for example. Hence, there is a great potential for applications of this reconstruction technique.
This thesis is based on the use of a series of images that were taken with arncalibrated camera. The first step is to extract point correspondences from this image series making use of the well-known SURF- and A-KAZE-features. Starting from the point correspondences, it is possible to reconstruct a 3D-Modell with different algorithms that consists of a point cloud and camera poses. To reduce errors in the 3D-model, this thesis especially focuses on explaining the bundle adjustment algorithm, which is being used for a non-linear error minimization of a cost function.
The thesis also introduces the application for the 3D-reconstruction and the visualization of the results, that was developed in the course of this thesis.
The implemented system is evaluated based on statistics and the newly aquiredrnknowledge is presented. The thesis concludes with a summary of its results, and a number of ideas for potential future applications and developments.
This thesis presents a prototypical application for speech therapy as a therapeutical tool, simulating the articulation of German phonemes and the swallowing reflex. A special attention is given to a three-dimensional visualization of anatomical models of the pharyngolaryngeal region, which can be used in an interactive way. For examining the benefits of such an application in relation to conventional therapy mediums, the thesis considers iteratively the requirements of speech therapists.
Zusätzlich zum Rendern wird die Rechenleistung moderner Grafikkarten immer häufiger auch für allgemeine Berechnungen (GPGPU) genutzt. Für die Umsetzung stehen verschiedene Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung, die von der Verwendung der Renderingpipeline bis zu eigenständigen Schnittstellen reichen. In dieser Arbeit werden mit Render-To-Texture, Transform Feedback, Compute Shader und OpenCL vier verschiedene GPGPU-Methoden untersucht. Anhand von Partikelsystemen werden sie hinsichtlich der benötigten Berechnungszeit, der GPU-Auslastung, Lines of Code und Portierbarkeit miteinander verglichen. Dazu wurden sowohl das N-Körper Problem, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics und ein Partikelschwarm als Partikelsysteme umgesetzt. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass insbesondere OpenCL und Compute Shader sehr gute Ergebnisse liefern.
New techniques concerning the automatic identification of objects (Auto-ID) show unique potential for being used in the economy. This paper focuses on the technology of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and examines its uses and potentials regarding selected economic sectors. In the course of this paper, RFID will be directly compared to the bar code, the currently most prevalent system for object identification in the economy. To this end, the different basic modes of operation of both technologies will be introduced, and differences between their technical realizations will be brought to light. Moreover, this paper distinguishes and evaluates both technologies with regards to their potential use in three different branches of industry. Their differentiation provides the basis for determining and evaluating the RFID technology- probability of replacing the bar code in the consumer goods sector, the logistic sector, and the pharmaceutic sector.
Entscheidungsverhalten unter Unsicherheit mit Berücksichtigung von Persönlichkeitseigenschaften
(2014)
The subject of this Bachelor Thesis is the research of decision-making in consideration of personal characteristics. One part of this thesis should analyze the uncertainty and the risk of decision-making and explain which differences a decision-maker is faced with. The other part should compare different groups of people and point out that these groups are faced with different problems in their decision making process. The differences in these groups are based on demographical and personal characteristics, such as the type of profession or the level of knowledge. The conclusion of this paper is to assign different types of heuristics, logics, theories and other decision-supporting tools to the different groups of people.
The goal of this work is evaluation and optimization of several eye-tracking algorithms for estimation of relevant features regarding accuracy. The extracted features are pupil- and glintcenters. The algorithms are applicable to off the shelf cameras. A synthetic model of the eye was modified and utilized. The model was used to supply ground truth for the evaluation of the methods.
Eine systematische Literaturstudie zu beaconless Algorithmen für drahtlose Ad-hoc- und Sensornetze
(2014)
Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are computer networks consisting of sensor nodes.In position-based protocols nodes broadcast messages containing their position information periodically. These messages are called beacons. The use of beacons however has downsides, which led to the emerging of beaconless algorithms. Despite their importance in the research area of computer networks and to the best of our knowledge, beaconless algorithms have not been systematically surveyed.
The aim of this work is a comprehensive, systematic review of beaconless algorithms since the turn of the millennium. Relevant articles are categorized based on their similarities and their differences are compared. Thus, this work serves as a reference to the current state of research of beaconless algorithms and as a basis for finding research gaps.
In the last few years, information technology experienced a great increase. People and Enterprises are able to exchange information through the development of the Web 2.0 to the Social Web. Social Networks like Facebook or Xing, blogs from known and unknown people or the many discussion forums are common platforms where people have the opportunity to share and exchange information. Enterprises and people have to accept this fact and development. The reputation is also influenced by the overabundance of information. The result of this development is the digital reputation, which extend the entire reputation. Everyone who is looking for an order or a job can assume that his orrnher name will be "googled", whether he or she is a part of an internet branch or not. Every information is available through search engines. Just a quick look at the Facebook or Xing profile is needed to get a brief impression of someone. The communications expert Klaus Eck said that someone who takes the internet seriously will get a benefit for the development of his digital reputation. This research work will show you through a self made questionnaire what is seen as positive and negative influences on the reputation in Social Networks and how the digital reputation impacts the entire reputation.
Im Verlauf der vergangenen Jahre wurden unter der Leitung von Dr. Merten Joost basierend auf Microcontrollern der ATMega-Reihe verschiedene Projekte zur Ansteuerung der Peripheriegeräte eines Computers realisiert. Hierzu zählen unter anderem die Abfrage einer Tastatur, die Ausgabe von Audio- und Videosignalen sowie eine Programmierumgebung mit eigener Programmiersprache. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die gesammelten Projekte zu verbinden, um als Ergebnis einen eigenständigen "Homecomputer" zu erhalten, der per Tastatur angesteuert werden können soll und über eine Audio- und Videoausgabe verfügen soll. Dabei wird eine SD-Karte als Speichermedium dienen, das per Tastatureingabe über eine Art Shell verwaltet werden kann.
Diese Arbeit versucht zu klären, ob der richtige Zeitpunkt für eine innovative Veränderung eines Geschäftsmodells ermittelt werden kann. Wenn ja, gilt es herauszufinden, wann dieser Zeitpunkt eintritt.
In einer kurzen Einführung sind die Problemstellung und die Ziele dieses Themas zusammengefasst und die Vorgehensweise der Literaturrecherche, sowie deren Bearbeitung beschrieben.
Es folgen die drei Hauptkapitel, welche inhaltlich aufeinander aufbauen. In dem Kapitel zwei sind Geschäftsmodelle thematisiert. Hier sind zunächst aus verschiedenen Quellen Definitionen des Begriffs "Business Model" herausgearbeitet, damit ein allgemeines Verständnis der Bedeutung eines Geschäftsmodells gewährleistet ist. Diese Definitionen sind durch das von Chesbrough und Rosenbloom (2002) praktische Beispiel der Nutzung eines Geschäftsmodells des Unternehmens Xerox Corporation gestützt. Im nächsten Schritt gilt es Typen von Business Models zu identifizieren. Als Quelle dient hierfür Weill et al (2005).
Der letzte Abschnitt von Kapitel zwei beschäftigt sich mit den sechs Dimensionen eines Geschäftsmodells nach Bieger und Reinhold (2011). Diese sechs Dimensionen spielen zum Ende dieser Arbeit eine Rolle als Kriterien für die Analyse heutiger Literatur zum Timing von Geschäftsmodellen.
Kapitel drei ist gleichzeitig Teil zwei der drei Hauptkapitel. Hier liegt der Fokus auf Innovationen. Der Begriff Innovation ist zunächst definiert und seine Wichtigkeit dargestellt, bevor verschiedene Arten von Innovationen beschrieben werden. Die einzelnen Innovationsarten leiten sich aus den Differenzierungskriterien nach Vahs und Brem (2013) ab. Um auch an dieser Stelle die Realität aus Unternehmenssicht näherzubringen, sind Fragestellungen aufgeführt, welche ein Geschäftsführer sich stellen sollte, wenn er sein Geschäftsmodell verändern möchte oder muss. Literaturgrundlage dieser Fragestellungen ist ein Artikel von Zott und Amit aus dem Jahr 2010.
Nach der umfassenden Klärung des Begriffs Innovation und kurzer Hilfestellung für Geschäftsführer folgt eine Beschreibung zweier Methoden, um Geschäftsmodelle innovativ zu verändern. Die erste Methode ist die Nutzung des St. Galler Business Model Navigators nach Gassmann, Frankenberger und Csik (2013). Der St. Galler Business Model Navigator wurde an der Universität St. Gallen in der Schweiz von dem Institut für Technologiemanagement entwickelt.
Die zweite beschriebene Methode für Business Model Innovation ist das Business Model Canvas Tool nach Osterwalder und Pigneur (2010), welches auf die sogenannten "nine building blocks" aufbaut.
Das letzte Hauptkapitel dieser Arbeit bezieht sich auf dessen zentrale Fragestellung mit dem Stichwort Timing. Hier wird mit einem praktischen Beispiel von Timing von technologischen Innovationen begonnen, der IBM Mainframe Case, analysiert von Mahajan und Muller (1996). Danach folgt eine kurze Zusammenfassung des Standes in der heutigen Literatur zum Thema Timing. Im nächsten Schritt ist ein eigener Beitrag zum Thema "Business Model Innovation Timing" geschrieben, weswegen sich Literaturangaben in diesem Abschnitt auf dem Minimum halten.
Diese Bachelorarbeit schließt ab mit der eigenen Analyse von heutiger Literatur zum Timing von Geschäftsmodellen. Ergebnis dieser Analyse ist eine Tabelle mit einer 20 x 7 Matrix, wo der Inhalt zwanzig ausgewählter Quellen den sechs Dimensionen eines Geschäftsmodells aus Kapitel zwei, sowie dem Kriterium Timing zugeordnet ist. So entsteht ein Überblick darüber, über welche Kriterien in der Literatur mehr oder weniger geschrieben wurde. Diese Analyse und Zuordnung ist ausgewertet, indem die Quellen mit dem Kriterium Timing genauer betrachtet werden, um die zentrale Fragestellung dieser Arbeit zu beantworten zu versuchen.
Ein kurzes Fazit rundet die Bachelorarbeit ab.
Beim Bitcoin handelt es sich um eine dezentrale virtuelle Währung in einem Peer-to-Peer Netzwerk. Die digitalen Münzen wurden 2008 durch Satoshi Nakamoto erfunden und seit 2009 in Umlauf gebracht. Das angestrebte Ziel des Bitcoin sind Transaktionen zum Erwerb virtueller und realer Güter ohne das Einwirken von Finanzintermediären. Dadurch können Transaktionskosten minimiert werden. Das Vertrauen in solche dritte Parteien wird dabei durch ein mathematisches Konzept ersetzt und durch das Bitcoinnetzwerk und all seine Nutzer sichergestellt. Obwohl die digitalen Münzen eigentlich als Tauschmittel konzipiert wurden, ist der aktuelle Anwendungsbereich noch sehr gering. Die Kursentwicklung hingegen erfuhr seit Anfang 2013 mehrere Berg- und Talfahrten auf den Handelsplattformen für den Bitcoin. Während sich viele wissenschaftliche Arbeiten mit den technischen Aspekten im Bereich der Informatik befassen, klafft im ökonomischen Kontext noch eine große Lücke. Was macht ein Zahlungsmittel eigentlich aus und wie ist der Bitcoin im volkswirtschaftlichen Sinne einzuordnen? Mit diesen Fragestellungen wird sich in dieser Ausarbeitung auseinandergesetzt. Als Vergleichsgröße wurden dabei, auf Basis sorgfältig ausgewählter Literatur, die Aspekte realer Währungen nach ihren Funktionen, Eigenschaften und Formen untersucht. Anschließend wurden die technischen Grundlagen der virtuellen Währung dargelegt, um ebenfalls den Bitcoin darauf anzuwenden. Dabei hat sich gezeigt, dass die digitalen Münzen als virtuelle Währung, gegenüber realen Währungen, noch deutliche Defizite aufweisen. Eine besonders gravierende Schwachstelle stellt dabei die hohe Volatilität des Kurses dar. Sie sorgt dafür, dass der Bitcoin mit einer solchen Instabilität nicht die Wertaufbewahrungsfunktion gewährleisten kann. Da dies ein ausschlaggebendes Kriterium zur Erfüllung der Geldfunktionen darstellt, kann der Bitcoin ebenfalls nicht die Rolle als Zahlungsmittel erfüllen, wie es bei den realen Währungen der Fall ist.
In der Literatur sind Projekte als geeignetes Mittel zur Implementierung von Strategien im Unternehmen anerkannt. Ähnlich wie bei einem Projekt handelt es sich bei der Implementierung von Strategien um zeitlich befristete Aufgaben, die in der Regel eine hohe Komplexität und Neuartigkeit aufweisen. Aufgrund dessen werden heutzutage strategische Vorhaben in Form von Projekten umgesetzt. Somit haben Projekte eine hohe Bedeutung für die strategische Entwicklung von Unternehmen. Um diese strategische Entwicklung sichern zu können, muss ein permanentes Lenkungssystem für strategische Projekte im Unternehmen implementiert werden " das Projektportfoliomanagement. Aufgrund der Komplexität und Neuartigkeit strategischer Projekte ist das Projektportfoliomanagement ein hoch komplexes Lenkungssystem mit vielen Subprozessen, die mit hohen Kosten und Zeitaufwand verbunden sind. Diese Masterarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Optimierung des Projektportfoliomanagements anhand der Lean-Philosophie. Letztere ist eine Sammlung von Prinzipien und Methoden, die für die Verschlankung der Produktion in der Automobilindustrie entwickelt wurde. Der Einsatz der Lean-Prinzipien brachte eine derartige Steigerung der Effizienz und Effektivität bei der Automobilherstellung, dass diese Prinzipien auch in anderen Branchen und Funktionsbereichen eigesetzt werden. Nun soll das Potential der Lean-Philosophie für die Optimierung des Projektportfoliomanagements untersucht werden.
Die Medizinische Visualisierung komplexer Gefäßbäume hat das Potential den klinischen Alltag in der Gefäßchirurgie zu erleichtern.
Dazu sind exakte, hochaufgelöste Darstellungen und echtzeitfähige Berechnungsmethoden notwendig. Bekannte Ansätze aus den Bereichen der direkten (z.B. Raycasting) und indirekten
(z.B. Marching Cubes) Volumenvisualisierung sind nicht in der Lage alle Anforderungen zufriedenstellend zu erfüllen. Verbesserte
Ergebnisse können mit hybriden Methoden erzielt werden, die unterschiedliche Visualisierungsverfahren kombinieren.
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein hybrides Renderingsystem zur Darstellung von Blutgefäßen entwickelt, das die Bildqualität durch Integration einer Marching Cubes Oberfläche in ein Raycasting–System optimiert, dabei Detailstrukturen erhält und ausreichende Performanz zur Interaktion bietet. Die Ergebnissezeigen die verbesserte Plastizität und Genauigkeit der Darstellung.Anhand von Experten– und Laienbefragungen konnte der Nutzen des Systems vor allem für die Patientenaufklärung nachgewiesen werden. Die Erschließung zusätzlicher Anwendungsgebiete ist durch die Weiterentwicklung des Renderers möglich.
This thesis imparts a general view of the mechanics and implementation of latest voxelization strategies using the GPU. In addition to established voxelization procedures using the rasterization pipeline, new possibilities arising from GPGPU programming are examined. On the basis of the programming language C++ and the graphics library OpenGL the implementation of several methods is explained. The methods are compared in terms of performance and quality of the resulting voxelization and are evaluated critically with regards to possible use cases. Furthermore, two exemplary applications are detailed that use a voxelized scene in such a way that the augmentation of established techniques of real time graphics are facilitated. To this end, the concepts and the implementations of Transmittance Shadow Mapping and of Reflective Shadow Mapping utilizing a voxel based ambient occlusion effect is explained. Finally, the prolonging relevance of voxelization is put into prospect, by addressing latest research and further enhancements and applications of the presented methods.
The present thesis covers the implementation and optimization of global illumination in three-dimensional scenes. Global illumination does not only consider direct illumination dependent on one or more light sources, but also indirect illumination which is emitted by surrounding objects in the scene. The thesis focuses on the implementation of a global illumination method and its improvement using OpenGL 4.4. This is done by a voxelization of the scene. By traversing the resulting voxel structure, additional information is taken from the scene, which contributes to a plausible global illumination.
Simulation of fractures
(2014)
Real-time computing often avoids the simulation of fractures due to its complexity. The field of engineering science provides methods to create these simulations to improve games and other applications. Steadily rising computer capacities allow suitable simulations on a real-time basis and make this aspect increasingly interesting. The topic and aim of this research is to simulate fractures of stiff bodies. The primary objective is the physical plausibility and performance of the application. This thesis analyses the potential of computer science to realize the simulation of fractures.
Three existing as well as one self-created were implemented and analysed. The works "Real time simulation of deformation and Fracture of stiff material" from Müller et al., "real time simulation of Brittle Fracture using Modal analysis" from Glondu et al. and "Fast and Controllable simulation of the Shattering of Brittle Objects" from Smith et al. form the basis of this thesis. The introduced methods use different computation of forces and fractures. The developed procedure uses the idea of generating secondary breaks. The approaches were implemented based on the Bullet physics-engine. The results of the work show that physically based breaks are realizable on a real-time basis.
The analysis of the physical methods demonstrates that their performance mainly depends on the constitution of the used objects. This thesis shows that the further investigation of this topic can discover new possibilities. The improvement of the realism in virtual worlds can be achieved by executing physically plausible methods.
Diese Arbeit beschreibt den Entwurf und die Umsetzung einer prototypischen Android-Applikation zum Dokumentieren von Reiserouten. Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die grundlegenden Aspekte des Reisens, der notwendigen Hilfsmittel sowie das Betriebssystem Android wird das Konzept und die Anforderungen an die Anwendung vorgestellt. Anschließend werden die Realisierung der Implementierung erläutert und die Ergebnisse der Evaluation offengelegt.
In diesem Bericht wird der Einsatz von drahtlosen Sensornetzen zur Temperaturmessung in Fließgewässern untersucht. Es wird dargestellt, inwieweit solche Netze als Bindeglied zwischen Fernerkundung und stationären Sensoren eingesetzt werden können. Es werden die Anforderungen an Sensornetze für die Anwendung Gewässermonitoring ermittelt und eine prototypische Realisierung von Netzknoten für ein solches Sensornetz dargestellt. Als Ergebnis dieser Arbeit werden die Genauigkeit von Temperaturmessungen mit solchen Sensorknoten im Vergleich zu einem Temperaturlogger als Referenzsystem dargestellt. Die Messungen zeigen, dass eine vergleichsweise gute Messgenauigkeit zu geringen Kosten erreichbar ist. Durch Weiterentwicklung des hier dargestellten Prototypen steht für die Temperaturüberwachung in Gewässern ein vielversprechendes und kostengünstiges neues Messinstrument zur Verfügung. Dieses kann auf der einen Seite in tieferen Regionen Gewässertemperaturen messen, als dies mit Fernerkundung möglich ist, und auf der anderen Seite eine höhere räumliche Auflösung als stationäre Messstationen erreichen. Zusätzlich dienen die Literaturrecherche und die Formulierung der Kriterien einer Eingrenzung des Anwendungsbereichs für weiterführende Arbeiten.
The animation of models has become an important part in different areas of everyday life. It is a demanding task for computer graphics to generate
a natural deformation of organic models. Skinning is a common method to animate models without animating each vertex individually. The skin of the model deforms automatically by manipulating individual bones of a skeleton.
This bachelor thesis deals with the most common algorithm, linear blend skinning and aims to find some optimizations regarding the visual effect
and performance. Additionally it presents certain instancing methods which are combined with the skinning methods in the application to show the advantages and disadvantages of the latter.
Meine Bachelorarbeit ist als Fortsetzung und Weiterentwicklung der Studienarbeit "Erstellung einer HTML 5-basierten Lernoberflache zur Unterstützung der Zielgruppe der AnfängerInnen für das Softwareprogramm CrypTool 2" von Liane Syre, eingereicht am 13.08.2013 an der Universität Koblenz-Landau, konzipiert. Die Inhalte ihrer Studienarbeit dienen somit als Grundlage für die hier vorliegende Bachelorarbeit.
Ich habe im Rahmen meiner Bachelorarbeit einen Prototyp eines teilweise automatisierten Lerntagebuchs entwickelt, welchen ich im Folgenden Vorstellen mochte. Außerdem stelle ich meine ebenfalls eigenständig konzipierte LearnCrypTo-Homepage in dieser Arbeit vor.
Nach einer Einleitung in die Thematik (Kapitel 2) folgt eine Literaturstudie zu Serious Games als Teilbereich des Media-based Learning (Kapitel 3), in welchem auch explizit auf die Führung eines Lerntagebuches und didaktische Konzepte eingegangen wird.
Es folgt eine Beschreibung wichtiger Aspekte bei der Erstellung einer Lernsoftware und gehe im Kontext der Serious Games noch mal auf die Spielerstellung ein (Kapitel 4).
Da meine Bachelorarbeit vor allem darauf ausgerichtet ist, CrypTool 2 AnfängerInnen nahe zu bringen, erläutere ich sodann die für benannte Zielgruppe wichtigsten Funktionen von CrypTool 2 (Kapitel 5).
Dann gehe ich naher auf Inhalt und Aufbau meiner eigens erstellten LearnCrypTo-Homepage ein (Kapitel 6).
Ich erläutere gegen Schluss meiner Arbeit ausgewählte technische Aspekte (Kapitel 7).
In einem abschließenden Fazit versuche ich, die Ergebnisse meiner Arbeit zu bewerten und wage einen kleinen Ausblick (Kapitel 8).
Im Verlaufe der Arbeit wird vermehrt mit einer hauptsachlich englischen Terminologie gearbeitet. Um Missverständnissen vorzubeugen werde ich die englischen Begriffe bei ihrer ersten Verwendung in meiner Arbeit ins Deutsche übersetzen und im Folgenden dann weiter mit der englischen Bezeichnung arbeiten.
Um Lesbarkeit zu fordern benutze ich in meiner Arbeit das generische Maskulinum.
This work compiles the comparison of different medical drug-dispensers. A drug-dispenser is a device which allows it from a larger amount of drugs to take a smaller one. To perform this comparison 15 requirements for the dispensers were found. The requirements "organization", "remind" and "ergonomics" are assigned to the taking-easement. "Compliance", "adaptability", "selectivity", "persistence", "functionality", "correctness" and "specificity / sensitivity" belong to the compliance, which is therapy loyalty. With it this category makes most demands. The category storage collects "hygiene", "pharmaceutical forms" and "robustness". Finally, the requirements "clarity" and "data protection" were assigned to other requirements. After this, different dispenser-concepts were first introduced and analyzed on the fulfillment of the requirements. The following concepts were analyzed: pillbox, oneweek-dispenser, Blister, tubular bag, MEMS, OtCM, electronic Dispenser, smartphone application. According to the analysis the dispensers could be compared with each other. It turned out that all concepts show deficits. Hence the author developed an own concept which fulfils all requirements except for two from well to very well. It represents the mightiest concept.
Kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen stehen durch den permanenten Wandel unserer Wirtschaft [Baumann & Schulte, 2002, S. 5] immer größeren Herausforderungen gegenüber, die sie bewältigen müssen [Bullinger & Buck, 2007]. Um diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen, muss die Organisation der Geschäftsprozesse innerhalb des Unternehmens effektiv und effizient erfolgen, damit ein möglichst hohes Maß an Transparenz erreicht werden kann.
Um eine effektivere und effizientere Unternehmenssteuerung zu gewährleisten und damit den Unternehmer entlasten zu können, sowie Transparenz zu schaffen, muss der Einsatz von zielgerichteten Methoden zur Schaffung von Kompetenzen im Bereich Prozessmanagement gerade in kleinen und mittelständischen Handwerksunternehmen im Vordergrund stehen. Diese haben aber auf Grund ihrer geringen Größe meist nicht das Know-how und die Ressourcen, sich neben den operativen Aufgaben mit den neuen Strategien der Betriebsführung zu beschäftigen [Kuiper, et al., 2012, S. 107].
Eine Möglichkeit Transparenz zu schaffen liegt in der Erhebung von Kennzahlen. In dieser Arbeit werden verschiedene Kennzahlensysteme betrachtet und ihre Eignung für den Einsatz in kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen anhand von definierten Kriterien verglichen. Das Ergebnis dieses Vergleiches zeigt, dass die in der Literatur identifizierten Kennzahlensysteme für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen nicht deren Anforderungen entsprechen. Die Systeme liefern darüber hinaus nur wenige konkrete Methoden, wie Kennzahlen in KMU erhoben werden können.
Im Zuge dieser Arbeit werden auch kleine und mittelständische Handwerksunternehmen nach deren Nutzung und Wissen in Bezug auf Kennzahlen befragt. Das Ergebnis dieser Befragung zeigt, dass in den meisten Unternehmen nur sehr wenig Wissen in diesem Bereich vorhanden ist.
Auf Grundlage der Ergebnisse der vergleichenden Analyse bestehender Kennzahlensysteme aus dem ersten Teil dieser Arbeit und der Analyse der Unternehmensbefragung, wird im letzten Teil dieser Arbeit ein Vorschlag für ein prozessorientiertes Kennzahlensystem entwickelt und vorgestellt. Dieser Vorschlag für ein Kennzahlensystem ist insbesondere auf die Bedürfnisse von kleinen und mittelständischen Handwerksunternehmen ausgerichtet. Aber auch mit diesem System können nicht alle Schwierigkeiten die kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen bei der Arbeit mit Kennzahlen haben, eliminiert werden. Das System gibt eine strukturierte Vorgehensweise vor, und erläutert konkrete Maßnahmen, die zur Überwindung von Barrieren bei der effektiven Arbeit mit Kennzahlen, durchgeführt werden können.
Der Apple ][ war einer der drei ersten kompletten Computersysteme auf dem Markt. Von April 1977 an wurde er rund 16 Jahre lang mehrere Millionen mal verkauft. Entwickelt wurde dieser 8 Bit Homecomputer von Steve Wozniak und Steve Jobs. Sie ebneten damit den Weg für den Macintosh und das heute gut bekannte Unternehmen Apple.
Diese Arbeit beschreibt die Implementierung eines Softwareemulators für das komplette Apple ][ Computersystem auf nur einem Atmel AVR Microcontroller. Die größte Herausforderung besteht darin, dass der Microcontroller nur eine geringfügig höhere Taktrate als die zu emulierende Hardware hat. Dies erfordert eine effiziente Emulation der CPU und Speicherverwaltung, die nachfolgend zusammen mit der Laufzeitumgebung für die Emulation vorgestellt wird. Weiterhin wird die Umsetzung des Emulators mit Display und Tastatur in Hardware naher erläutert.
Mit dieser Arbeit wird die erfolgreiche Entwicklung eines portablen Apple ][ Emulators, von der Software über die Hardware bis hin zu einem Prototypen, vorgestellt.
Online Handschrifterkennung chinesischer Schriftzeichen auf androidfähigen mobilen Endgeräten
(2014)
Usage of mobile dictionaries or translators requires an input. This input has to be processed and recognized beforehand. Chinese characters are more suited for a handwritten input than a keyboard based one. Reason for that are the characters consisting mostly of pictograms or ideograms.
This thesis deals with an implementation of a prototypical recognition system on a mobile device. The recognition process should be online and therefore running while writing. It can save time for the user, because suggestions are made during runtime.
Basics and an overview over the current state of the art in online handwriting recognition will be given. An approach will be chosen and implemented, such that the recognition process is fast and needs little memory. The implementation will be tested and it will show, that a fast recognition can be possible on small devices. Suggestions for expansions and improvements will be given, including a future work part.
The increased networking of devices has established the usage of distributed applications as a common method in software development. Despite the demand of anonymity in using distributed applications, software frameworks still lack appropriate support in developing them. Building anonymous communicating applications therefore often results in an expensive individual approach. This work integrates an approach for anonymous communication using remote procedure calls into a software framework for building distributed applications. This also includes the design, development, and prototypical implementation of a binding for the MAppLab Remote Procedure Call Framework on the basis of the mPartAPI Framework. Furthermore the resulting prototype will be tested in an exemplary scenario.
Die vorliegende Arbeit hat gezeigt, dass es möglich ist an bestehenden Studien zum Thema Perceived External Reputation und der Teilnahme an der Implementierung von Dienstleitungsinnovationen anzuknüpfen. Es war sogar möglich die Abhängigkeiten der beiden Themen voneinander herauszustellen. Dies gelang unter zu Hilfenahme von weiteren Einflussfaktoren wie der erwarteten Ansehenssteigerung durch innovatives Verhalten und dem Stolz der Mitarbeiter mit dem eigenen Unternehmen in Verbindung gebracht zu werden.