Research Output
1 - 6 of 6
Publication
Views from the coalface : chemo-sensors, sensor networks and the semantic sensor web
2009-06-01, Hayes, Jer, O'Connor, Edel, Cleary, John, Kolar, H.R., McCarthy, Robert, Tynan, Richard, O'Hare, G. M. P. (Greg M. P.), Smeaton, Alan F., O'Connor, Noel E., Diamond, Dermot
Currently millions of sensors are being deployed in sensor networks across the world. These networks generate vast quantities of heterogeneous data across various levels of spatial and temporal granularity. Sensors range from single-point in situ sensors to remote satellite sensors which can cover the globe. The semantic sensor web in principle should allow for the unification of the web with the real-word. In this position paper, we discuss the major challenges to this unification from the perspective of sensor developers
(especially chemo-sensors) and integrating sensors data in real-world deployments. These challenges include: (1) identifying the quality of the data; (2) heterogeneity of data sources and data transport methods; (3) integrating data streams from different sources and modalities (esp. contextual information), and (4) pushing intelligence to the sensor level.
Publication
A bibliometric study of video retrieval evaluation benchmarking (TRECVid) : a methodological analysis
2011-12-19, Thornley, Clare V., McLoughlin, Shane J., Johnson, Andrea C., Smeaton, Alan F.
This paper provides a discussion and analysis of methodological issues encountered during a scholarly impact and bibliometric study within the field of computer science (TRECVid Text Retrieval and Evaluation Conference, Video Retrieval Evaluation). The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflection and analysis of the methods used to provide useful information and guidance for those who may wish to undertake similar studies, and is of particular relevance for the academic disciplines which have publication and citation norms that may not perform well using traditional tools. Scopus and Google Scholar are discussed and a detailed comparison of the effects of different search methods and cleaning methods within and between these tools for subject and author analysis is provided. The additional database capabilities and usefulness of “Scopus More” in addition to “Scopus General” is discussed and evaluated. Scopus paper coverage is found to favourably compare to Google Scholar but Scholar consistently has superior performance at finding citations to those papers. These additional citations significantly increase the citation totals and also change the relative ranking of papers. Publish or Perish (PoP), a software wrapper for Google Scholar, is also examined and its limitations and some possible solutions are described. Data cleaning methods, including duplicate checks, expert domain checking of bibliographic data, and content checking of retrieved papers are compared and their relative effects on paper and citation count discussed. Google Scholar and Scopus are also compared as tools for collecting bibliographic data for visualisations of developing trends and, due to the comparative ease of collecting abstracts, Scopus is found far more effective.
Publication
Introducing social networks and brain computer interaction
2012-06-21, Bourke, Steven, Healy, Graham, Smeaton, Alan F., Smyth, Barry
It is well known that the brain generates electrical patterns of activity in response to visual stimuli such as faces or any- thing that captures attention in a significant way. Signals of this type can be detected using an EEG (Electroencephalograph) system where we attach electrodes to the scalp and we amplify the detected signals and use a computer to capture them in real time. In this paper we examine the role that automatic sensing of brain activity may have on how users interact with interactive applications like Facebook. This offers a new opportunity for implicit feedback into such systems and in our work we focus on social networking applications. We demonstrate some of these implicit responses with experimental data captured while a user searched Facebook for photos of friends while being connected to an EEG. Finally, we discuss the implications that this kind of automatic implicit feedback may have on future design of such systems.
Publication
Automated murmurs : the social mobile tourist application
2009-08, Freyne, Jill, Brennan, Adam J., Smyth, Barry, Byrne, Daragh, Smeaton, Alan F., Jones, Garth J. F.
The popularity of mobile devices and their increased computing power has given rise to surge in mobile computing technologies. Users are increasingly turning to mobile devices for information relating to their activities and location while on the
move. Independent of this, the world has seen a huge uptake in the social web, which has fueled the production of applications
where users are the sole providers of valuable information. In this work we present a mobile platform which leverages the
popularity of mobile and social computing to produce a location sensitive messaging system which delivers user generated content
to the public in the context of their physical location
Publication
Generating power footprints without appliance interaction : an enabler for privacy intrusion
2011-06-27, Sintoni, Alex, Schoofs, Anthony, Doherty, A., Smeaton, Alan F., O'Hare, G. M. P. (Greg M. P.), Ruzzelli, Antonio G.
Appliance load monitoring (ALM) systems are systems capable of monitoring appliances’ operation within a building using a single metering point. As such, they uncover information on occupants’ activities of daily living and subsequently an exploitable privacy leak. Related work has shown monitoring accuracies higher than 90% ̇ achieved by ALM systems, yet requiring interaction with appliances for system calibration. In the context of external privacy intrusion, ALM systems have the following obstacles for system calibration: (1) type and model of appliances inside the monitored building are entirely unknown; (2) appliances cannot be operated to record power footprints; and (3) ground truth data is not available to fine- tune algorithms. Within this work, we focus on monitoring those appliances from which we can infer occupants’ activities. Without appliance interaction, appliances’ profiling is realised via automated capture and analysis of shapes, steady-state durations, and occurrence patterns of power loads. Such automated process produces unique power footprints, and naming is realised using heuristics and known characteristics of typical home equipment. Data recorded within a kitchen area and one home illustrates the various processing steps, from data acquisition to power footprint naming.
Publication
The scholarly impact of TRECVid (2003-2009)
2011-04, Thornley, Clare V., Johnson, Andrea C., Smeaton, Alan F., Lee, Hyowon
This paper reports on an investigation into the scholarly impact of the TRECVid (TREC Video Retrieval Evaluation) benchmarking conferences between 2003 and 2009. The contribution of TRECVid to research in video retrieval is assessed by analyzing publication content to show the development of techniques and approaches over time and by analyzing publication impact through publication numbers and citation analysis. Popular conference and journal venues for TRECVid publications are identified in terms of number of citations received. For a selection of participants at different career stages, the relative importance of TRECVid publications in terms of citations vis a vis their other publications is investigated. TRECVid, as an evaluation conference, provides data on which research teams ‘scored’ highly against the evaluation criteria and the relationship between ‘top scoring’ teams at TRECVid and the ‘top scoring’ papers in terms of citations is analysed. A strong relationship was found between ‘success’ at TRECVid and ‘success’ at citations both for high scoring and low scoring teams. The implications of the study in terms of the value of TRECVid as a research activity, and the value of bibliometric analysis as a research evaluation tool, are discussed.