---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Special Issue of Pervasive and Mobile Computing Journal on Human Behaviour in Ubiquitous Environments

Ubiquitous computing advocates interaction through calm technology whereby users sense and control what directly interests them, while retaining tangential awareness of other informational opportunities that they can at any time choose to focus on. This requires seamless access to media, information sharing and communication through heterogeneous systems, which are distributed and may be deeply embedded in the physical environment. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to deepen our understanding of human behaviour in context and its impact on technological issues relevant to ubiquitous environments. Research in this area is rapidly gaining importance and has become an essential part of pervasive and mobile computing systems.

This special issue solicits original papers that contribute to our understanding of human behaviour and its impact on the design, development and use of applications in mobile and ubiquitous settings. Submissions can focus on theoretical and applied research in topics including, but not limited to: * Data capture and knowledge discovery for user modelling in ubiquitous environments * Machine learning techniques applied to socially-aware ubiquitous systems * Experience design in socially-aware ubiquitous systems * Human-computer interaction issues in ubiquitous environments * Detecting and using patterns of human behaviour in ubiquitous computing * Modelling and recognition of user activity, mobility and context * Social computing applications in human-centred ubiquitous environments * Pervasive user-generated content: applications, systems and practices * Applications in mobile and ubiquitous environments for learning, business, social computing, travelling, arts, entertainment, gaming, healthcare and virtual worlds.

Submissions should be of high standard for an international, archival research journal, and will be reviewed according to the strict standards of the PMC journal. Papers should not have been submitted or published elsewhere but could be extended or refined versions of conference papers with significant new, original material. Extended versions or refined versions of conference papers are expected to differ from the conference version by at least 30% across all sections - authors are requested to submit their published conference articles and a summary document explaining the enhancements made in the journal version. The manuscript preparation guidelines can be obtained from the PMC Journal's web page (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pmc).

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is March 23, 2009 and authors will be notified of the decision by June 1, 2009. The final manuscripts will be due October 1, 2009. Authors should submit their full manuscripts to the PMC Special Issues (under the "Human Behaviour" topic), using the Elsevier online Editorial System (EES) at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pmc.

Guest editors

Dr. George D. Magoulas School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Birkbeck College, University of London gmagoulas [AT] dcs.bbk.ac.uk

Dr. George Roussos School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Birkbeck College, University of London gr [AT] dcs.bbk.ac.uk

Dr. Mirco Musolesi Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge mirco.musolesi [AT] cl.cam.ac.uk