Zeljka Car

Location name extraction for user created digital content services

The increase in the amount of electronically stored textual data over the past decade has opened new communication possibilities in which users significantly participate in services. The result is a variety of digital content services in which new formats, such as free text form, have become particularly accepted and attractive. To support user service interaction, services must be able to obtain specific information from user defined texts. This paper proposes a model for location name extraction, constructed using a neural network trained with a Backpropagation learning algorithm. An analysis of location name interpretation, the semantic and binding problem in Croatian, as well as language specific variations are given.

Prototype-driven software development process for augmentative and alternative communication applications

The paper presents software development model for implementation of communication and education applications based on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Target user group of these applications are people with disabilities, specifically people with complex communication needs. Development process of such applications should follow specific principles to successfully implement all functional and accessible features that applications should contain in order to be accessible and highly usable. Furthermore, development process should be enriched with specific methodologies and approaches in its particular phases in order to fully exploit a necessary synergy of multidisciplinary team consisting of experts from information and communication technology, rehabilitation and education, psychology and graphic design. The presented model was defined during extensive developmental activities over two years period and evaluated on the number of publicly available case-study web and mobile AAC applications.

RUP-based process model for security requirements engineering in value-added service development

Due to the spreading of SMS services and appearing of new business models, value-added SMS services have been introduced. According to the research results about wide distribution of security incidents on ICT systems worldwide, in spite of known security solutions, there is a necessity for organizational approach to implement security. This paper presents research and development efforts in building process model SecuRUP for security requirements engineering conformed to RUP framework. The model consists of processes, artifacts, activities and according roles for successful elicitation, analysis and specification of recognized security requirements and is validated on presented case study. The model validation results have shown significant process improvement, especially on roles and activities identification in SecuRUP elaboration process, but only further case studies in industry can be best indicators for usefulness of such models.

A Conceptual Framework for Business Process Engineering: A Case Study

this paper discusses a conceptual framework for the requirements engineering process for e-school applications offering a service to the information society. The e-school application is considered a fusion of the electronic business and mobile business contexts, containing three dynamic Webinterfaces and an SMS-interface. Implementation of this service requires changes in the school business process it supports. This paper presents a requirements engineering framework which aims at resolving the feedback loop between the application and the business process. The presented framework has been defined in order to help simultaneously develop an application which provides the service and ensures the necessary identification of school business process changes and their models. The framework also provides a mechanism for efficient service deployment and its future evolution without adverse effects on the underlying business process. Presented is a case study for an e-school notification service implemented within this framework.

A method for modeling and evaluating software maintenance process performances

This paper presents a method for modeling and evaluating the performances of telecommunication software maintenance process. The method can be used as a special technique within the given generic model as part of an organizational effort to upgrade process maturity and efficiency. It is based on the modeling of software maintenance process as queueing networks and applies process simulation to determine its performances. The method allows efficient comparison of the alternative process designs without the risks associated with the experiments in real life. Its activities can be implemented in various telecommunication software maintenance processes and other software processes to be formally presented and analyzed for improvement purposes. Implementation is presented in a case study with software maintenance process in a telecommunications company. The results show practicability and applicability of the method in the software organization with the aim of improving software maintenance process.

A Survey on User Interaction Mechanisms for Enhanced Living Environments

Designing user interfaces (UIs) for elderly and/or disabled is a big challenge since they have various special needs that have to be considered in every aspect of a design process. Intelligent UIs that tailor interaction and presentation capabilities based on user needs, preferences and expectations can significantly increase the usability of information and communication technology (ICT) for Enhanced Living Environment (ELE). This paper deals with evolution of interaction in ELE systems together with a survey of the state-of-the-art user interaction frameworks. Using the proposed analysis framework, the survey shows how a challenge of user interaction is approached in different Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) platforms. Finally, based on an elaborated analysis the paper discusses ongoing challenges faced by developers of user interaction frameworks in ELE.

GENESIS: a framework for global engineering of embedded systems

GENESIS is an European initiative involving institutions and persons from older and new EU members, and West Balkan countries. It aims at developing a global network of research and education in embedded systems. The related research will be coordinated in such a way to address hot topics at European and global levels and will concentrate on the fusion of embedded systems and distributed services over the Internet. One of the main objectives of GENESIS is to develop a distributed virtual laboratory to be used in embedded systems research and education and this is described in detail. This paper presents the rationale behind this initiative and the main actions that are proposed to fulfill the educational, and scientific objectives of GENESIS.

Analysis of ICT-based assistive solutions for people with disabilities

Nowadays more than a billion people with various disabilities face barriers in inclusion. ICT-based assistive solutions are high-tech approach for overcoming those barriers. While ICT devices become more and more available and affordable, as well as ICT-based assistive solution more and more numerous, the systematic solution which would enable people with disabilities to search for appropriate ICT-based assistive solution still lacks. This paper is a step towards in that direction. The paper firstly proposes a taxonomy for ICT-based assistive solution and then uses the proposed taxonomy to systematically categorize and describe currently available ICT-based assistive solutions on the global market. Finally, the paper proposes the operationalization of the proposed taxonomy in a form of the spreadsheet tool which enables user friendly search of indexed ICT-based assistive solutions.

Enabling Text-To-Speech Functionality for Websites and Applications Using a Content-Derived Model

Today’s society is largely dependent on the Internet websites that provide it with access to various information. While most users take accessing information in this way as granted, some user groups have significant issues while trying to access websites by traditional means. In this context, we focus on persons with severe visual impairment that are unable to use websites that are not text-to-speech enabled. The paper analyses existing solutions and proposes a model for enabling textto-speech functionality based on deriving tree-like structure from website or web application content. The proposed model is evaluated on two case-studies; institutional website and interactive educational web application.

Voice Controlled Quiz for People with Hearing Impairment

Persons with complex communication needs have difficulties in production and/or understanding of oral and/or written language. Software applications have great potential in speech rehabilitation, especially when providing visual feedback of the produced voice to users thus enabling better rehabilitation and increased user motivation. This paper presents software application for people with hearing impairment that has a form of voice controlled quiz with visual feedback of the users’ input voice frequency. The proposed application is evaluated through a case study of using it as an input for on-line application for hearing-aid evaluation.