Browsing by Author "Marcelino, Luis"
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- Decision support system using mobile app statisticsPublication . Constante, Fabian; Guevara, Juan; Silva, Catarina; Gonçalves, Dulce; Marcelino, LuisNowadays to make the right decision about where and how to request or buy a service, a user is often supported by a mobile device that offers more than simple descriptive data. Nevertheless, not all information on services is fully accessible. The difficulty in keeping track of changes in services’ costs causes delays and can result in waste of time and money. In fact, the decision of which service to use usually involves some level of uncertainty and risk. Hence, the user should have access to some form of decision support system that could be easily available through mobile applications. The power of these devices allows to apply knowledge areas already developed, carrying statistics with dynamic and interactive graphics, thus allowing for a more systematic control of services and corresponding expenses. In this work we analyze the existing related work on mobile decision support systems and propose an architecture of a decision support system using Mobile App Statistics. Tests were carried out with a car fuel app to support the decision of choosing the gas station at each point. Results show that using the additional statistical information provided users can take better decisions during the request of a service.
- Energy consumption behaviour characterization with mobile gamificationPublication . Toasa, Renato; Silva, Carlos; Silva, Catarina; Gonçalves, Dulce; Neves, Luis; Marcelino, LuisExcessive electric energy consumption results in high costs for consumers, and often on using non-renewable resources. Additionally, in many cases, it is difficult for the consumer or for the energy provider to determine if one or more equipment is being used efficiently. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to promote awareness about energy consumption. For that purpose, a mobile application with a gamification approach was designed to identify users’ behaviors towards the use of energy and, based on the user’s answers, offer advices to save energy and promote ecological awareness. The outcome of using gamification on a mobile application with such goals results in a streamlined data collection application that combines information and entertainment. The collected information is being gathered to potentially create consumer profiles that better reflect the user’s energy consumption.
- Location Privacy Concerns in Mobile ApplicationsPublication . Marcelino, Luis; Silva, CatarinaPrivacy is a ubiquitous topic in research nowadays, specially in mobile application scenarios. Users are seldom aware of the privacy hazards they are under when using mobile applications. In this paper we compare two privacy studies and present development strategies that can be employed to favour the awareness of privacy and security issues with a strong focus on location data. Results show that developers should play an increasingly important role in the assurance of privacy since users of mobile apps, although concerned with privacy issues, are not fully prepared for making the right decisions in every situation as a rerun of an old study shows.
- On privacy in user tracking mobile applicationsPublication . Gasparovic, Marko; Nicolau, Pedro; Marques, Ana; Silva, Catarina; Marcelino, LuisIn mobile applications, user tracking with Global Positioning System (GPS) can be very beneficial, making life easier for the user, by e.g. finding points of interest nearby, such as gas stations, super markets, restaurants etc. Nevertheless, the location of the user can be misused and hence privacy issues can become a relevant problem in mobile application development. Technically, location is determined either internally by the device or externally by interacting systems and networks. The resultant location information may be stored and used under various conditions and applications can track the position of the user without his/her consent and eventually misuse it for instance with the intent of sending redirected publicity or even getting logs of the user's location. However, the user's location may not always be obtained using the most precise location function available. In this work we discuss and propose different options for the accuracy geo localization in an application can be and uphold that it is up to the developer to decide which method is appropriate or that the the user should have the freedom to define his/her privacy thresholds. These thresholds can be extremely variable both between users and scenarios, and we present a survey to approach this issue. Results show that users are concerned with privacy issues, but they are not necessarily acting accordingly to keep their privacy at a high level of protection. Finally, we point out that developers shouldn't misuse possibilities of tracking and users should be more cautious with application permissions as will be shown in a real case study.