Tobias Fritsch

CAN mobile gaming be improved

The importance of mobile (phone) games is rapidly growing over the last years. One of the current evolutions is getting away from the pure solo content of the current games and creating possibilities to play together. However there are different ways to connect players in a mobile environment. With the growing interest comes the need for more efficient techniques to handle common issues like latency, data distribution and other requirements of multimedia real time applications. Those solutions should also provide viable ideas to other non-gaming related problem fields. This paper will introduce the CAN (Content Addressable Network) technique in the gaming sector. Therefore, we combine the very efficient CAN peer to peer strategy with a real time application (Conquer the tag). We will show how the addressed issues can be solved with our approach. Furthermore we will compare CAN to other P2P architectures like Pastry and Chord.

Mobile phone gaming (a follow-up survey of the mobile phone gaming sector and its users)

Over the last decade the importance of network games has seen a tremendous growth. A large part includes the size reduction of the handheld devices. Mobile gaming in a wireless environment and the availability to play games at any place is receiving major importance. Thus more and more games are released in this section (including a huge number of different mobile phone games).Thus, the mobile market offers a wide variety of devices, such as the new handhelds like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. With the increase in opportunities one must first look at the user behavior to understand how to improve current problems. This paper gives an introduction into the differences of current mobile gaming platforms and their capabilities. Furthermore it features a user survey about individual preferences and social coefficients with unexpected results. The current survey system features a database to handle the huge amount of answers (the predecessor used a polling system). Concluding the results of the previous inquiry, this paper contains a lobby tool based on J2ME and C# to increase the matching mechanisms in a local environment.

Experimental manipulation of reliability in ambient assisted living – an analysis of trust and intention to use

The present study examined three different reliability levels of an ambient assisted living (AAL) application and its influence on trust and intention to use. Past research has generally supported differences in trust in automation by a variation of reliability. However, investigations in the context of AAL, with older people as a target group, have not been empirically established. A 3 reliability (100%; 90%; 80%) × 2 target group (older people; students) experimental design was used for solving home automation tasks with an AAL mock-up. The study revealed no significant influence on trust in AAL and intention to use by the three different reliability conditions. In contrast, older people’s perceived reliability had a significant impact on both variables. The study highlighted the importance of perceived reliability in trust in AAL and usage intention, whereas the manipulated reliability showed only tendencies of these connections.

Expected Reliability of Everyday- and Ambient Assisted Living Technologies

To receive valuable information about expected reliability in everyday technologies compared to Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies, an online survey was conducted including five everyday (train, dishwasher, navigation system, computer, mobile phone) and three AAL (stove, window, floor sensors) technologies. The age range of the 206 participants (109 men; 97 female) was from 14 to 88 years (mean=38.0). The descriptive analysis indicates expected reliabilities of more than 90% for most technologies. Only train punctuality is considered as less reliable with a mean expected reliability of 86%. Furthermore, by using t-tests it can be shown that the three AAL technologies are expected to have a higher reliability than the everyday technologies. Additionally, a sample split at the age of 50 years indicates that elderly participants expect that technologies have a higher reliability than younger participants do. Using these findings, in a next step an experiment with different reliability levels of AAL technologies will be designed. This differentiation will be used to measure the influence of reliability on trust and intention to use in context of Ambient Assisted Living.

Zum Einfluss mobiler Endgeräte auf das individuelle Gesundheitsverhalten von PKV-Versicherten

Gesundheitsmarkte sind entscheidend durch das Phanomen der asymmetrischen Informationsverteilung charakterisiert. Der Begriff der asymmetrischen Informationsverteilung umschreibt, dass zwischen den Akteuren des Gesundheitswesens vor und/oder nach Abschluss von Kontrakten ungleich verteilte Informationsbestande vorliegen. Als Akteure auf dem PKV-Markt treten die privaten Krankenversicherer als Kostentrager, die Versicherten als Nachfrager von Gesundheitsleistungen sowie ambulante, stationare und integrierte Versorgungseinrichtungen als Leistungserbringer auf. Neben dem Problem der „Adversen Selektion“, welches durch verschiedene Formen des „Signalings“ und „Screenings“ gelost werden kann, stellt das Phanomen des „Moral Hazard“ die wesentliche Konsequenz bestehender Informationsasymmetrien dar. Das Phanomen des „Moral Hazard“ kann u. a. sowohl im Kontext von Vertragsbeziehungen zwischen den privaten Krankenversicherungen und Privatversicherten als auch zwischen den Privatversicherten und Arzten auftreten. Mit der Einfuhrung des iPhone durch Apple und die spatestens dadurch eingelautete Ara der „Smartphones“ ergeben sich neue Moglichkeiten zu versuchen, die auf den oben beschriebenen Feldern bestehenden Probleme zu losen bzw. abzumildern. Konkret gesprochen, kann mit dem Einsatz von mobilen Endgeraten (z.B. Smartphones oder Tablet-PCs) am Kern der beschriebenen Probleme angesetzt werden. Dies bedeutet, dass man durch den Einsatz von mobilen Endgeraten Informationsdefizite verringern kann, die auf Seiten der Krankenversicherungen bzw. der Krankenversicherten bestehen. Es kann vermutet werden, dass die durch diesen Abbau von Informationsasymmetrien bedingte Verringerung der Moral-Hazard-Problematik in einer effizienteren Allokation knapper Ressourcen munden wird. Dies wird Krankenversicherungen Spielraume eroffnen, mit einer attraktiveren Pramiengestaltung am Markt zu konkurrieren.

Quality Improvement Models for Business Process Change – A German Case Study

This paper describes the role of business phase models with regards to modern IT-service design. Hence, the usability of two models incorporated for IT-service design in modern business environments will be evaluated. The two examined models are namely the classic four-step model also referred to as PDCA-Circle of Deming on the one hand and the lean Six Sigma model on the other hand.