http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7896 2013-06-19T16:10:59Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79331 Low dimensionality spectral sensing for low cost material discrimination and identification Bardagjy, Andrew Matthew Spectroscopy is a powerful tool in material identification, characterization and discrimination. Unfortunately industrial and laboratory spectrometers are typically very large, costly, and inconvenient. The aim of this thesis is to broaden the awareness and appeal of spectroscopic sensing modalities by exploring specialized, rather than general purpose instruments. Rather than sensing the entire spectrum, these devices work by observing just the particular spectral features needed to perform identification or discrimination. This approach greatly simplifies the instrument reducing the cost, size, power consumption, and analysis complexity by many orders of magnitude. In this work the anatomy of such specialized sensors is explored by way of a thorough discussion of illuminators, current sources, photodetectors, photodiode amplifiers, control systems and part selection. In the following chapters, instruments are designed and fabricated, and their tradeoffs are enumerated and discussed. Finally, these building-blocks are combined to construct several working prototypes which are informally characterized. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2013.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-193). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79308 WristQue : a personal sensor wristband for smart infrastructure and control Mayton, Brian D. (Brian Dean) Despite the rapid expansion of computers beyond desktop systems into devices and systems in the environment around us, the control interfaces to these systems are often basic and inadequate, particularly for infrastructure systems. WristQue is a wearable interface for interacting with computerized systems in the environment, providing both explicit remote control with buttons, touch, and gestural interfaces, and automatic closed-loop control using environmental sensors on the device, fused with precise indoor location for context. By placing these sensors and controls on the wrist, they are generally able to sense the environment unobstructed and are conveniently within reach at all times. WristQue is able to continuously collect and stream sensor data through a wireless network infrastructure, including temperature, humidity, activity, light, and color. A 9-DoF inertial/ magnetic measurement unit can be enabled to use the WristQue as a wrist-based gestural interface to nearby devices. Location and orientation data is used to implement a pointing interface that the user can use to indicate a device to control. This interface was implemented and tested using the WristQue and a commercial UWB localization system. The other sensors on the WristQue were validated by collecting several days of environmental data and conducting several controlled experiments. With these capabilities, the WristQue can be used in a number of sensing and control applications, such as lighting and comfort control. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2013.; "February 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-72). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79307 SparkInfo : designing a social space for co-creation of multimedia contents Hwang, Jee Yeon People can have more insights and social experiences when they collaborate on collecting, revisiting, and utilizing their contents, such as images and videos; however, designing a social space that offers rich co-creation and exploration of multimedia contents remains a challenge. I propose a new system, SparkInfo, which enables users to create, exchange and augment their multimedia elements in ways that are personally unique and sociable. SparkInfo is designed for a group of people, who have created multimedia elements for the same purpose or at the same event, to collect their elements in one place and have a meaningful experience of their co-created media resources. SparkInfo provides a social space for the co-creation of multimedia resources. In the process of exploring and embellishing their materials, SparkInfo users can create new ideas, stories, and information. By utilizing this process, the users are able to experience how SparkInfo can embody the cycle of knowledge building, re-mixing, and sharing. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2013.; "February 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-87). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79306 ReflectOns : mental prostheses for self-reflection Sadi, Sajid H. (Sajid Hassan) Since the time of the first philosophers, logic and observed human behavior have stood somewhat in contradiction. More recently, scientist have started to delve into decision making to understand why the way we act differs from rational choice, and indeed from our own desires. We believe that it is possible to use just-in-time feedback drawn from machine-observable behavior to help align behavior with personal goals. This dissertation presents mental prosthetics, a model for distributed, embodied, design-embedded, just-in-time interfaces that augment the human judgment process. Drawing information from the activity of the user around them, mental prostheses analyze behavioral patterns in a way orthogonal to human cognition. Unlike persuasive interfaces, mental prostheses attempt to align choices with personal goals by cueing the user with just-in-time information. Lastly, these devices provide calm yet understandable feedback to draw the user's attention at the correct time to the information available to them. This dissertation provides several prototypes and design explorations as a means of sampling the various approaches to data collection, synthesis, and feedback. Focusing on self-reflection, these sample designs form a subclass of mental prostheses that we term reflectOns. We show through the studies carried out in the course of this dissertation that these systems are effective in changing behavior to be better aligned with user goals. Lastly, this dissertation provides a set of design guidelines that assist in the creation of new mental prostheses. While we discuss a variety of scenarios in this work, it is only the beginning of the exploration. The design guidelines provide insight into both the critical aspects of the design of such systems, as well as possible input and feedback methodologies. These guidelines, together with the reflectOns themselves, provide a basis for future work in this area. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2013.; "September 2012." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118). 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z