Advances in Human-Computer Interaction Human Comfort and Security

"User is king" is not a new concept, but it is certainly one that has gathered considerable momentum in the recent years. The driving force are the increasing and relentless pace of competition and the consequent attempts by many companies to keep and improve their marketshare. Since the beginning of ESPRIT Programme in 1984, the Human Computer Interface has been the subject of attention, in terms of technology development and utilisation of those technologies in various applications in the fields of Information Processing Systems, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, and Office and Business Systems. This topic area had been addressed in a number of different perspectives: user modelling, task analysis, cognitive aspects of interaction and assimilation of information, natural language speech and graphics, processing of multisensor information and its presentation, and a wide range of applications in which these technologies are used. In addition to the previous ESPRIT programmes, the specific programme for Information Technology of the European Framework Programme for 1994-1999 has recognised the ever increasing importance of "ease of use" in computer applications. The work programme on Human Comfort and Security is an attempt to address these issues. Its primary objectives are the exploitation of existing knowledge and expertise in usability engineering by integrating methods and tools into coherent toolsets, the generation of improved human computer interface components, demonstrating their application in practice, and widely disseminating the results and promoting the take-up of these technologies.

Human Comfort and Security.- Evaluating Usability of the Human-Computer Interface.- Experimental Usage Data of Car Audio System Control.- Different Spoken Language Dialogues for Different Tasks.- Computer-based Training System for the TGV Radio-Security Procedures.- Mobile Radio Communication for European Railways.- The Role of Information Fusion in Air Traffic Control Applications.- Multisonar-Based Autonomous Indoor Mobility.- Perception Maps for the Navigation of a Mobile Robot using Ultrasound Data Fusion.- Obstacle Detection from a Moving Vehicle.- Robot Grasping by Integrating Multisensor Data with Fuzzy Logic.- Integrating Nonlinear Spatial and Temporal Constraints in a Distributed Vision System for Surveillance.- Using Temporal Knowledge to Detect Person Movements with a Multisensor System.- Experiments of Acoustic Event Detection and Localization in an Underground Station.- A Modular System Architecture for Multi-Sensor Data Fusion.- A Hybrid Sensor for Colour and Range.- Behavioural Learning: Neural Control of a Visual Sensor.- Reliability Aspects of a Monitoring System using Sensor-based Interaction.- Multisensor Approaches to Video Compression from a Moving Source.- OMNIS/Myriad on its Way to a Full Hypermedia Information System.- Real Time Combustion Analysis.- VERBONDS: Multisensor Bond Verification Prototype and its Industrial Evaluation.- Laser- and Fiber-assisted Sensoric Methods in Medicine.- Computer Aided Detection and Treatment of Foot Deformations.- Advanced User Interaction in Radiotherapy Planning.- Multisensor Support of Computer-aided Dentistry.- Advanced Data Fusion System for River Monitoring.- A Framework for River Quality Monitoring.- Contributors.