Abstract

Abstract
Decision Making is one of the most important activities of the human being. Nowadays decisions imply to consider many different points of view, so decisions are commonly taken by formal or informal groups of persons. Groups exchange ideas or engage in a process of argumentation and counter-argumentation, negotiate, cooperate, collaborate or even discuss techniques and/or methodologies for problem solving. Smart Meeting Rooms (SMR) are the election spaces where groups can perform these activities in a local or distributed setting. SMR definition has evolved and in this article we present its evolution side by side with several projects that have been developed during the last decade. We also present the features and evaluation methods present in literature and we make a discussion on the open issues. © 2015 SERSC.

Abstract
To receive a degree from a Higher Education Institution (HEI), the students must successfully undergo the necessary exams, which, most times, require the physical presence of the student in a room where he/she will solve and answer the exams' questions using the traditional pen and paper. This is a well-known and reliable method to evaluate the students, in which the physically presence is a reliable way to diminish the possibilities of fraud. Currently, the modern Learning Management Systems (LMS) are able to provide the necessary features to execute the evaluations activities online, on the software platform. These systems and features can be used in a blended model, in which the students are required to be physically present, in a similar form to a traditional on site exam, and the exam is executed using a LMS. The exam room is equipped with Personal Computers (PC), which are configured with the necessary means to access the LMS and assure that a higher risk of fraud is not introduced by the usage of the PCs and the LMS as support for the exams. We designated this model, as the b-eval model. The adoption of this model requires some changes in the professors' practices, as well as the introduction of more technological means to support the increase in PCs and LMS usage. The professors must design their evaluation process in order to incorporate the features and restrains posed by the PCs and the LMS. In some scenarios, this adoption is advantageous for the professor and for the students, considering that a properly designed exam can easily be executed by the students and instantaneously evaluated and graded. Otherwise, the traditional process takes much longer, as the professor must collect the paper exams, which he will later evaluate and grade. The process can take several days or even weeks. In this position paper we discuss the introduction of the b-eval model, as well as an assessment methodology for its adoption.

Abstract
The increase in life expectancy and the consequent aging of the general population pose, nowadays, major challenges to modern societies. Most elderly people have the usual problems related to old age, like health chronic problems and sensory and cognitive impairments. Besides that, in today’s modern societies, where families have less and less time to look after for their old relatives, the isolation of the elderly is a real concern and a very current problem, which is enhanced if the elders live alone. To solve or, at least, mitigate that problem, it was developed a smart home for elders that is presented and described in this paper. The developed assistive home system, which is based on available technology, can ensure the quality of life, safety and well-being of all older adults that want or desire to live in the comfort of their home, near to their friends and in their neighborhood, instead of living in elder care centers. The proposed solution can record and analyze the elders’ daily routines in order to alert (e.g., e-mails or text messages) the family members and/or social agents (e.g., doctors and caregivers) whenever an unusual situation occurs or when the elder is in danger, provide real-time audio and video when necessary and some comfort features, such as, automatic lighting and temperature control. The relevant events are recorded and maintained in a cloud database, which can be accessed through a dedicated website or by an Internet of Things (IoT) Application Programming Interface (API). Although this type of solution/service is focused in the elderly population, anybody can use it. The developed solution provides comfort and safety to elders and, at the same time, an easier way of monitoring all important events. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.

Abstract
Ambient intelligence (AmI) paradigm has been the catalyst for the creation of several types of smart spaces, and the smart meeting rooms (SMR) is one of them. One of the main aims of AmI spaces is the development of middleware able to provide context aware computing specifically in SMR face-to-face, and distributed/asynchronous meeting settings are envisaged. This paper describes OLAVAmIa context aware middleware system which was tested in LAID environment, a smart meeting room. OLAVAmI allows video production focusing on the speaker, an audio-to-text conversion service, and a multimedia database of meetings produced in an autonomous way. To experiment OLAVAmI usage and functionalities, two tools present in LAID test bed were used. These AmI intelligent layer tools cover two application scenarios: a ubiquitous group decision-making and a service reposition in power systems. The results and insights are presented in this article.

Abstract
This paper presents an accessible platform for the automatic creation of icons through a simple (web) form. The platform allows the creation of personalized icons that can be used as a navigation or search option in web context replacing the usual text keyword metaphor. With the development of this platform we aimed to provide a simpler automatic method of icon creation, allowing users to personalize their icons and share them with others. The icons created are stored in a database that can be used in different Web or digital contexts. As a proof of concept, the platform was integrated with an existing Web application for video searching in the YouTube platform through icons hyperlinks: SAMi [1]. The resulting integrated platform was assessed for usability (user tests) and accessibility (with an automatic assess tool). The results showed the interface is accessible to a group of people with intellectual disabilities, increasing their performance, satisfaction, motivation and autonomy. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.