Abstract
Contextual factors allow us to fully grasp an event, situation, communication process or action. Frequently, the context in which an event takes place provides more valuable information than the event itself. This chapter addresses context and its importance from a general perspective and in the particular domain of conflict resolution. It describes many different contextual dimensions such as the verbal, social or cultural, pointing out the importance of each one to understand individuals’ actions. It then moves on to the address the recent field of Context-aware Computing: the vision of computers that are sensible to contextual cues, harness it and use such information to provide better services. Several context-aware solutions are described in this chapter that point out the range of application domains. However, no such application exists in the domain of conflict resolution. While the next chapters are dedicated do describing the components of such an application, this chapter ends with the enumeration of several contextual dimensions that are of relevance to fully describe a conflict and its resolution process.

Abstract
Each one of us has a particular way to behave before a conflict. We can assume a cooperative and collaborative attitude or we can behave in a more selfish or competitive way. Given our personality traits or our past experiences, each one has a tendency to behave more towards one or the other. Nonetheless, there are also external factors that influence our conflict handling style including the individuals we are conflicting with, our level of stress or fatigue, the level of escalation of the conflict or even the context or the setting in which it is being settled. Undeniably, the personal conflict resolution style of the parties is preponderant for the outcome of the conflict resolution process. The mediator, while knowing the style of each party, may better conduct the process, namely by pointing out and changing unrealistic, selfish or overly competitive behaviors. Traditionally, the mediator makes use of questionnaires to assess the conflict resolution style of the parties. In this chapter we detail a new view on the problem in which this knowledge is built in real-time, in a non-invasive way, based on the behavior evidenced by the parties during the conflict resolution process. The level of escalation of the conflict is also analyzed similarly, through the non-invasive analysis of the level of stress of the parties during the actual negotiation process. The relationship between stress and the personal conflict handling style is also studied.

Abstract

Abstract
Ambient Intelligence emerged more than two decades ago, with the exciting promise of technologically empowered environments that would be everywhere, cater to all our needs, be constantly available, know who we are and what we like, and allow us to make explicit requests using natural means instead of the traditional mouse and keyboard. At a time in which this technological unravelling was expected to have already happened, we still use the mouse and the keyboard. In this paper we make a brief analysis of why is this evolution taking more than initially expected. We then move on to analyse several different projects that are innovative, in the sense that they encompass fields of application that go beyond the initially envisioned, and show the diverse areas that AmI systems may potentially come to change. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.

Abstract

Abstract
Providing quality public transportation can be extremely expensive when demand is low, variable and unpredictable. Demand Responsive Transportation (DRT) systems try to address these issues with routes and frequencies that may vary according to observed demand. The design and operation of DRTs involve multiple criteria and have a combinatorial nature that prevents the use of traditional optimization methods. We have developed an innovative Decision Support System (DSS) integrating simulation and optimization, to help design and operate DRT services, minimizing operating costs and maximizing the service quality. Experiments inspired in real problems have shown the potential of this DSS. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.