ICT4AWE 2018 Abstracts


Area 1 - Ambient Assisted Living

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 9
Title:

Caregivers’ Perspectives on Ambient Assisted Living Technologies in Professional Care Contexts

Authors:

Julia van Heek, Martina Ziefle and Simon Himmel

Abstract: An increasing proportion of older people in need of care presents one of the major challenges within demographic change. The development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies is one option to face the challenges of rising care needs. Beyond technical and economic aspects, the acceptance of diverse stakeholders plays a major role for a successful implementation and rollout of those technologies. In particular, it is questionable whether and to which extent the use of assisting technologies is accepted in professional care contexts, in particular with respect to gathering and storage of data. Thus, the current study aimed for an investigation of professional caregivers’ perspectives on the acceptance of AAL technologies in professional care contexts. In a scenario-based online questionnaire, n = 287 professional caregivers evaluated perceived benefits, barriers, and acceptance of AAL technologies. Also, they indicated which data can be gathered and which specific technologies should be used to gather data. Further, data access and data storage were also under study. The results showed a reserved and critical attitude of professional caregivers towards using AAL technologies in their everyday working life and allow to analyze trade-offs between permitted gathered data and specific requested technologies in depth.
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Paper Nr: 25
Title:

Understanding Trust in Medical Technologies

Authors:

Wiktoria Wilkowska and Martina Ziefle

Abstract: This paper aims to extend knowledge with respect to trust in health-related technology and deals with an exploration of this topic and the validation of the findings using multi-method research. The empirical approach aimed at the evaluation of the opinions and attitudes towards the importance of trust conditions (reliability, trustworthiness, operability and easing) and trust “mediators” (physician as a role model, scientific evidence, exchange with peers and hands-on experience), and assessed the relevance of different system features among different users. User factors such as age, gender and the perceived health condition were taken under consideration as representative indicators of the diversity among the (potential) users. Results showed a significant influence of age and gender on the examined trust indicators and underline the importance of considering the users’ diversity in the research of trusted – and thus accepted – medical systems in home environments.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 13
Title:

A Game of Wants and Needs - The Playful, User-centered Assessment of AAL Technology Acceptance

Authors:

Eva-Maria Schomakers, Julia van Heek and Martina Ziefle

Abstract: The use of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies presents one option to face the challenges of recent and rising care needs due to demographic change. User acceptance of those technologies plays a major role for a successful rollout and sustainable technology usage. Empirical research approaches (e.g., online questionnaires) in this area are often impersonal and abstract for the participants. In contrast, the current study aimed for a playful qualitative user study approach in which people empathize with different necessities of support and evaluate desired technologies and respective usage motives as well as barriers. The paper presents first research results of the new undertaken research approach, which was tested with six older participants (aged between 50 and 81 years of age). The results show that the playful approach enables a personal assessment of different assistive technologies and technology-related usage motives and barriers when a prototype testing is not feasible.
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Paper Nr: 49
Title:

High Tech, High Touch: Integrating Digital and Human AAL Advisory Services for Older Adults

Authors:

Diotima Bertel, Soraia Teles, Flora Strohmeier, Pedro Vieira-Marques, Paul Schmitter, Stefan Ruscher, Constança Paúl and Andrea Ch. Kofler

Abstract: While Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions have conquered some market niches of service provisions to the ageing society, those services are often still provided in isolation and in a technocentric way. In this position paper, we build on the concepts of engagement ecosystems and engagement platforms to argue that an integration of physical and virtual worlds is necessary for service provisions in the AAL field in general and in advisory services in particular. We discuss the challenge on how to integrate virtual and physical dimensions in a solution for stakeholders’ engagement. With a focus on the ‘human touch’, we conceptualize Active Advisors, embedded in the scope of the EU-funded project ActiveAdvice. We state that the concept of a human advisor is of utmost relevance in this field due to the digital divide still affecting older age groups. Active Advisors help to overcome the shortage of most service and product platforms, i.e. lack of personalization and interaction, and at the same time offer a face-to-face (f2f) experience in the consumer-organization interactions.
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Paper Nr: 51
Title:

Business Challenges and Technological Innovations Applied in the ICT Platform for Occupational Activation of Senior Citizens

Authors:

Wieslawa Gryncewicz, Robert Kutera and Artur Rot

Abstract: One of the key challenges for the next several years is to face, especially in highly developed countries, the problem of aging and its impact on the general quality of citizens’ life. Due to this trend, the Authors have presented a concept of ICT platform aimed at increasing the activity of people at retirement age. It is dedicated to members of local communities, can be used to support entrepreneurship, self-fulfilment and activation in the field of independent social life. During the realization of the project, the Authors have noticed the different business requirements of senior citizens. They were described in the article together with respective technological innovations which were implemented in the ActGo-Gate platform as an answer to these challenges and requirements.
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Paper Nr: 47
Title:

Reconnecting with Past and Present - Personalizing Sensory Stimulated Reminiscence Through Immersive Technologies – Developing a Multidisciplinary Perspective on the SENSE-GARDEN Room

Authors:

Jon Sørgaard, Mihai Berteanu and J. Artur Serrano

Abstract: Dementia is a degenerative disease affecting the cognitive abilities in a serious way among the persons living with it. Through different kinds of sensory stimulation, one may slow down the deterioration processes among persons with dementia. The use of personal photographs, storytelling and familiar question-and-answers in an informal setting and with informal caregivers may be very valuable. Several national health services around the world have established sensory stimulation gardens (sense-gardens), as well as sensory stimulation rooms (Snoezelen rooms). In the SENSE-GARDEN room, we build on these concepts to develop and implement immersive technologies that create multisensory stimulation – sound, sights, smells, movements. We propose technology-based tools that link the stimulation experience directly to the personal history of persons with dementia to help them reconnect with their past and present. The professional participants in the project come from different fields and have different expectations and views on the various aspects of the project. This may have affect on elements such as goals, strategies, and tasks. In this paper, we sum up our work to build a common understanding and definition of these elements. By using a qualitative approach, we have mapped the different perspectives among representatives of the professional groups involved in the SENSE-GARDEN room. The methods used for mapping and analysing these differences are described. We have discovered some a priori differences that mainly seem to be related to the professional groups. To some extent, this may be due to each group’s tasks and responsibilities within the project, but most likely also to different professional cultures. However, through the process we have found a strong commitment to define a common ground from where the project can progress. The differences we are left with are complementary, not contradictory, and will be valuable as they allow to shape synergies within the development of various aspects of the project.
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Area 2 - Independent Living

Short Papers
Paper Nr: 6
Title:

Effects of Age, Gender, and Personality on Individuals’ Behavioral Intention to Use Health Applications

Authors:

Andreia Nunes, Teresa Limpo and São Luís Castro

Abstract: Health applications, aimed at helping people with or without diseases to monitor their health, are attracting the interest of researchers and consumers. The use of health applications may have a short- and long-term impact on people’s lives by creating early habits to use technology to monitor health, which may prompt the sustained use of this technology over time. This is especially important for elders as these applications offer them the possibility to manage their health autonomously. However, elders are resistant to use technology. One way to improve technology acceptance is by understanding how users’ behavioral intention is influenced by personal characteristics, preferably before entering in the elderly stage of life. This was the main aim of this study: we explored the effects of age, gender, and personality on the behavioral intention to use health applications in younger and older adults (18-39 vs. 40-65 years). Results showed that the effects of personality on individuals’ behavioral intention was moderated by age in older adults and by gender in younger adults. These findings seem relevant to promote the current and future use of health applications, helping people to improve their quality of life and stay healthy throughout the lifespan.
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Paper Nr: 7
Title:

The ACCEPTABILITY of Caregiver Robots in Elderly People

Authors:

Melissa Ferretti, Giovanna Morgavi and Gianmarco Veruggio

Abstract: During the last few years, due to the aging of the population, many scientists have developed ICT tools to offer elderly people an independent life at home as long as possible. Most of these researchers focused their efforts on problem solving without adequate care to the agreeability and/or the acceptability of these ICT objects for their users. These resulting artifacts will hardly be used in real life by the users for which they have been developed. In this paper, we will present an experiment done on 202 over 65 elderly people on the acceptability and the likeness features a caregiver robot must have. From the classification and analysis of the emotions elicited by the physical/appearance characteristics of 25 different real robot pictures we found some interesting results for appealing or unpleasant features for caregiver robot design.
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Paper Nr: 16
Title:

Proposal of an iTV Splash Screen Targeted to Seniors

Authors:

Telmo Silva, Martinho Mota, Carlos Silva, Hilma Caravau, Pedro Almeida and Liliana Reis

Abstract: Population around the world is getting older every year so it is progressively getting more important to find ways to use modern technology to promote active ageing and the general well-being of seniors. In this paper, contextualized in the +TV4E project, a splash screen for an interactive television application is proposed, which serves to contextualize the users by providing information regarding weather, time, date and season, as well as contact information for the nearest pharmacy and taxi. This paper describes the splash screen and its components as well as the field tests carried out to validate its utility.
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Paper Nr: 33
Title:

Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering through Television to Help Older Adults

Authors:

Rita Santos, Hilma Caravau, Ana Isabel Martins, Ciro Martins and Mário Rodrigues

Abstract: This article seeks to present a proposal of a project that aims to develop a television (TV) application that allows older adults to ask for support from a group of volunteers in specific tasks, using voice to carry out some tasks. To this end, a review was made to identify projects that have been addressing TV and voice interfaces in the context of systems and services directed to older adults. The review also focused on initiatives that use digital technologies to support volunteering targeting older adults. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to a group of people considered to be among the groups of stakeholders of the abovementioned application. The results of the review show that, even with several improvements in the last years in voice interaction area, it is not yet generally considered in TV applications and there seem to be few applications that are focused on foster volunteering targeting older adults. Furthermore, the data obtained by the questionnaire reveal the existence of a set of factors that do not allow a generalized acceptance of the use of a TV application to ask for help from a group of volunteers, despite being recognized by diverse groups of stakeholders that this type of applications is important.
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Paper Nr: 35
Title:

Intermodal Transport Systems as a Chance to Enhance First Mile and Last Mile Mobility of Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities - Position Paper on Action Areas for Accessible Urban and Suburban Transport

Authors:

Stefan H. Ruscher, Andrea Ch. Kofler, Vincent Neumayer and Johanna Renat

Abstract: Accessible passenger transport and personal mobility in public transportation are essential factors of Smart Cities. While ongoing transport research focuses on covering ‘first mile and last mile’, it lacks the perspective of the AAL domain, enabling personal mobility for older adults and persons with disabilities. Therefore, an investigation of the current situation of transportation systems in Vienna and Zurich, analysing five mayor action areas was carried out. The identified issues are highlighted thus suggesting a policy-driven approach for implementation of an accessible and intermodal transport system based on a public transport model, which is able to tackle the first mile and last mile problem for all passengers in general, as well as for older adults and persons with disabilities in particular.
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Paper Nr: 14
Title:

Seniors’ Info-Inclusion Through Interactive Television: Results of a Field Trial

Authors:

Telmo Silva, Hilma Caravau, Jorge Ferraz de Abreu and Liliana Reis

Abstract: Television platforms are becoming more relevant due to multiple factors, namely the interactive features that can be provided. Interactivity can effectively support citizens’ problems and needs and open a range of opportunities in several society’s sectors. One of these opportunities is related to seniors’ level of information. In this framework, to improve Portuguese seniors’ info-inclusion in subjects such as social and public services, the +TV4E project aims to develop an Interactive Television (iTV) platform to broadcast personalized content regarding these topics. This paper presents the process and the results of the +TV4E prototype evaluation considering usability and functionality. The platform was made available to a sample of seniors that used it for five weeks in their homes. After this period, the research team applied an evaluation scale and a questionnaire survey to collect data. Despite the high level of usability depicted in results, it was also possible to identify a set of features that should be improved in the final iTV platform.
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Area 3 - Monitoring, Accessibility and HCI

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 5
Title:

Wear It or Fear It - Exploration of Drivers & Barriers in Smartwatch Acceptance by Senior Citizens

Authors:

Sima Ipakchian Askari, Alina Huldtgren and Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Abstract: The number of people with an age above 65 is increasing, and many live longer. Most seniors prefer to stay at their own home. Within the area of ambient assisted living (AAL) technology solutions have been aimed to assist seniors in the challenges that can arise when wanting to live independently. However, technology acceptance has been rather low, also due to stigmatization when using assistive systems. New technologies, such as the smartwatch, which is unobtrusive and not recognized as an assistive device by outsiders, have the potential to improve the autonomy and independence of seniors. This research aims to investigate the potential barriers and drivers of smartwatch use by seniors, by means of conducting a diary study and interviews. Results showed that the acceptance of the smartwatch depended mainly on the usability, interest and added value of the smartwatch. Additionally, the findings indicate that changes to the smartwatch need to be made in order to address the barriers that are found, and to ultimately enhance acceptance.
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Paper Nr: 17
Title:

Dynamic Gait Monitoring Mobile Platform

Authors:

Robin Amsters, Ali Bin Junaid, Nick Damen, Jeroen Van de Laer, Benjamin Filtjens, Bart Vanrumste and Peter Slaets

Abstract: Human gait is an important indicator of health. Existing gait analysis systems are either expensive, intrusive, or require structured environments such as a clinic or a laboratory. In this research, a low-cost, non-obtrusive, dynamic gait monitoring platform is presented. By utilizing a mobile robot equipped with a Kinect sensor, comprehensive gait information can be extracted. The mobile platform tracks the skeletal joint movements while following the person. The acquired skeletal joint data is filtered to improve detection. Gait parameters such as step length, cadence and gait cycle time are extracted by processing the filtered data. The proposed approach was validated by using a VICON motion capture system. Results show that the proposed system is able to accurately detect gait parameters but requires a calibration procedure. Even though the camera is moving while tracking, the performance is on par with existing works. Step times can be detected with an average accuracy of around 10 milliseconds. Step length can be detected with an average accuracy of a few centimeters.
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Paper Nr: 26
Title:

Acceptance of a Digital Paper-based Diabetes Diary - Understanding Precursors of Acceptance of Digitally Assisted Diabetes Care

Authors:

André Calero Valdez and Martina Ziefle

Abstract: Diabetes prevalence has steadily been increasing over the last decades and is expected to continue in this trajectory. Diary keeping is considered the central part of any successful therapy. Since paper-based diary keeping is often poor and electronic diaries often challenging for elderly users, we developed Diabetto. Using focus groups and interviews we analyzed the requirements for Diabetto. It uses a LiveScribe Echo pen as a replacement for a regular pen in traditional paper-based diary keeping, while at the same time adds interactive therapy support and access to a nutrition database through pen-input and text-to-speech. By enhancing an already familiar process we managed to achieve a high acceptance of the device. In an experimental evaluation using an extended TAM model we analyzed the influence of user-diversity factors on the acceptance. Interestingly typical predictors of acceptance, such as efficiency during use, did not influence ease of use, indicating that the digital pen might not be perceived as computerized technology.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 28
Title:

Dynamic Movement Monitoring - Algorithms for Real Time Exercise Movement Feedback

Authors:

Marcel Tiator, Fabian Büntig and Christian Geiger

Abstract: Following to an implantation of an artificial knee joint, patients have to perform rehabilitation exercises at home. The motivation to exercise can be low and if the exercises are not executed, an extended rehabilitation time or a follow-up operation is possibly required. Moreover, incorrect exercise executions over a long period can lead to injuries. Therefore, we present two Programming by Demonstration (PbD) algorithms, a Nearest-Neighbour (NN) model and the Alpha Algorithm (AlpAl), for measuring the quality of exercise executions, which can be used in order to give feedback in exergames. The models can locate an ideal posture depending on a patient’s posture in a dynamic movement. Furthermore, they work in real time and independent of the execution speed, in order to suggest the correct exercise movement. To validate the functionality of the algorithms, four correct and incorrect test movements of four persons were analyzed from the monitoring algorithms. Each localized ideal movement from the algorithms as well as each ground truth movement were compared with an imitated test movement by a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm. Since we expect a linear dependency between the DTW-distances, we calculated the linear correlation, which was significant high. Hence, we think that the proposed algorithms are appropriate to monitor physiotherapeutic exercises while playing an exergame.
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Paper Nr: 40
Title:

Council of Coaches - A Novel Holistic Behavior Change Coaching Approach

Authors:

Harm op den Akker, Rieks op den Akker, Tessa Beinema, Oresti Banos, Dirk Heylen, Björn Bedsted, Alison Pease, Catherine Pelachaud, Vicente Traver Salcedo, Sofoklis Kyriazakos and Hermie Hermens

Abstract: A modern way of life needs a modern way of coaching. Despite the proliferation of ICT solutions for personalized health care, there is still no easy way to provide older adults with integrated coaching services. In this paper we introduce the concept of Council of Coaches — a radically new virtual coaching concept based on multiple autonomous, embodied virtual coaches, which form together a personal council that fulfills the needs of older adults in an integrated way. In this concept, coaching takes the form of an open dialog in which clients co-construct together with a selected number of coaches their own plans to go for a healthier lifestyle. Virtual coaches are presented to users by means of embodied conversational social characters. We discuss technical and social challenges on the path towards realizing the Council of Coaches concept, a radically new view of health coaching that involves the state of the art in human-computer interaction, natural dialogue, and argumentation technology.
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Paper Nr: 2
Title:

An Acoustic-based Tracking System for Monitoring Elderly People Living Alone

Authors:

Akira Sasou, Nyamerdene Odontsengel and Shumpei Matsuoka

Abstract: Japan is becoming a super-aged society and the population of elderly people is increasing, although the overall population in Japan is decreasing. In order to support a safe and secure autonomous life and to improve the quality of life for elderly people living alone, the development of monitoring and life-support systems is a pressing matter. In this paper, we propose a monitoring system that would enable relatives and other interested parties to easily monitor the daily life of elderly people from afar by using mobile devices. With such a monitoring system, it is very important to protect the privacy of the people being monitored. The proposed monitoring system seeks to approximately but recognizably reconstruct the status of elderly people's daily life by using computer graphics (CG) based on information obtained from various types of sensors, mainly consisting of acoustic sensors such as microphone arrays that are utilized to track the walking patterns of elderly people based solely on the sound of their footsteps.
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Paper Nr: 4
Title:

Internet Interventions for Family Caregivers of People with Neurocognitive Disorder - A Literature Review

Authors:

Audrey Duceppe, Caroline Camateros and Jean Vézina

Abstract: Taking care of a loved one can be a new, yet challenging role for caregivers. However, these caregivers are usually overbooked and do not have the time needed to reach for help. Internet interventions are a great way to offer psychoeducation, support and tools for caregivers, in the comfort of their home. This literature review explores the impact of internet intervention programs. Twenty-two studies were found in PsychNet, Medline and Google scholar using "family caregiver, dementia, neurocognitive disorder, internet, technology, web" as keywords. A review of these studies showed that internet intervention for caregivers have an impact on the caregiver’s psychological health (e.g. feeling of burden, stress, depression, anxiety, etc.), on their relation to the care receiver (reaction to disruptive behaviors, self efficacy, positive aspects of caregiving, better understanding of the illness, etc.) and even of the care receiver himself (disruptive behaviors occurrence and severity). However, internet intervention programs for caregivers show a great versatility in their effectivity results, but they still appear to be a good way to provide psychoeducation on neurocognitive disorder, to reduce negative emotion associated with caregiving and improve the caregiving relationship itself.
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Paper Nr: 18
Title:

Augmented Reality Object Selection User Interface for People with Severe Disabilities

Authors:

Julius Gelšvartas, Rimvydas Simutis and Rytis Maskeliūnas

Abstract: This paper presents a user interface that was designed for people with sever aging related conditions as well as mobility and speech disabilities. Proposed user interface uses augmented reality to highlight objects in the environment. Augmented reality is created using a projection mapping technique. Depth sensor is used to perform object detection on a planar surface. This sensor is also used as part of a camera-projector system to perform automatic projection mapping. This paper presents the user interface system architecture. We also provide a detailed description of the camera-projector system calibration procedure.
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Paper Nr: 21
Title:

Using Amplitude Modulation for Extracting Gait Features

Authors:

Abdulhakim Elkurdi, Ipek Caliskanelli and Samia Nefti-Meziani

Abstract: Feature extraction for gait analysis has been explored widely over the past years. The set of static and/or dynamic skeleton parameters which are obtained from tracking body joints (i.e. limbs and trunk) are initially pool of gait features extraction. The challenge of gait feature extraction is to reduce the noise in the row data which is due the computational complexity of determination of the gait cycle and sub-phases of the gait cycle, correctly. Although marker-based motion capture systems are highly accurate, they often only used in laboratory environments which leads to a constrained method. Alternative products such as MS Kinect overcome the limitations of the motion capture systems by providing low-cost, moderate accuracy with flexibility of quick installation even in residential settlements. The level of accuracy of the MS Kinect camera for 3D skeleton points can be increased by using pre-processing techniques which helps to overcome the jitter and nose in data. The proposed method modifies the gait walk signal using amplitude modulation (AM) technique to extract high predictive power of gait features without the need of gait cycle determination. Experimental results on 14 health subjects and 3 different types of walking speeds shows that AM technique provides 100% correctly classified instances using support vector machine (SVM) and decision tree (DT) classifiers, while 97.6% with k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier.
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Paper Nr: 27
Title:

A Wearable Vibrotactile Interface for Unfavorable Posture Awareness Warning

Authors:

Christian Lins, Sebastian Fudickar, Alexander Gerka and Andreas Hein

Abstract: We present the concept of a vibrotactile interface with up to 13 tactors (vibration motors) that are distributed over the full body to warn industry workers when taking unfavorable postures. The developed system is to be integrated into a motion capture workwear for industry workers to serve as posture feedback system to prevent unfavorable or even harmful postures. Such postures are a risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), especially among older adults. We evaluated the vibrotactile system with 11 subjects to identify the optimal notification vibration sequences (regarding pulse length and repetition) and the accuracy of the location-dependent perception. Results indicate that the optimal pulse length is about 150 ms and is repeated 2 or 3 times within the sequence for maximum attention.
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Paper Nr: 37
Title:

Relevant Acoustic Group Features for Automatic Sleepiness Recognition

Authors:

Dara Pir and Jarek Krajewski

Abstract: This paper compares the discriminating powers of various acoustic group features for the task of automatic sleepiness recognition using three different classifiers: Voted Perceptron, Simple Logistic, and Random Forest. Interspeech 2011 Sleepiness Sub-Challenge’s “Sleepy Language Corpus” (SLC) is used to generate the 4368 acoustic features of the official baseline feature set. The feature space is divided into Low-Level Descriptor (LLD) partitions. We consider the resulting feature space in groups rather than individually. A group feature corresponds to a set of one or more LLD partitions. The relevance of various group features to sleepiness state is then evaluated using the mentioned classifiers. Employing larger feature sets has been shown to increase the classification accuracy in sleepiness classification. Our results, however, demonstrate that a much smaller subset of the baseline feature set outperforms the official Sub-Challenge baseline on the SLC test data.
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Paper Nr: 39
Title:

Experimental Verification of Fall Simulation and Wearable Protect Airbag

Authors:

Youngho Lee, Beomguen Jo, Jeoungwoo Lee, Jaemin Kim, Soonmoon Jung, Taekyung Lee and Junghwa Hong

Abstract: Falling of the elderly becomes an important issue in the aging society. Falls could cause fractures which is significant cause of morbidity and mortality. As a result, active protecting devices are being developed to protect fallers’ body from severe injuries. In this study, as boundary condition and injury parameter are figured out by experiments and simulation of falls situation, the wearable airbag for protecting from falls is designed and make prototype of airbag. After that, compare contact force between fall simulation and experiments with prototype airbag. It will be possible to establish the reliability of the development of the fall prevention system for the elderly and to be the basis for the future development.
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Area 4 - TELEMEDICINE AND E-HEALTH

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 1
Title:

Blockchain Technology in Healthcare

Authors:

Dean Rakic

Abstract: A big portion of data that are produced by various digital ecosystems has met a lack of interoperability on the line between applications, data streams and predictability in the healthcare. The new technology approach in the distributed messaging and Blockchain became a key component of many healthcare technology stacks and can derive real-time data streams as valuable and scalable enough to enable real-time healthcare predictive analytics. Besides, ingesting data streams from various sources from patterns of data can extend healthcare trend analysis to the higher level of prediction, accuracy and improve models that suffer from complex and long-running analyses. A better response, lower availability requirements and unifying predictive modelling will accelerate healthcare interoperability and thus increase the accuracy of diagnoses, put the evidence-based medicine (EBM) in the right direction and other healthcare benefits which increase optimum outcomes and quality.
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Paper Nr: 3
Title:

Telephone Intervention for Caregivers - Impacts of an Individualized Telephone Intervention Targeting the Caregiver of a Person with Alzheimer’s with Nonaggressive Behavioural Symptoms

Authors:

Anne-Sophie Godbout, Jean Vézina and Chantal Dubé

Abstract: Caregiving for a person with Alzheimer’s disease can have a negative impact on the individual who has to endorse this role. High levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, caregiver burden, and desire to institutionalize have been reported in the literature. Those consequences justify the development of efficient interventions that will diminish the individual and societal repercussions of the role of caregiving for a person with Alzheimer’s disease. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impacts of a telephone intervention for caregivers of a person with Alzheimer’s disease. To do so, 50 caregivers were recruited and randomly assigned to the control group (n = 25) or the intervention group (n = 25). Results show that caregivers who were assigned to the intervention group showed significant lower levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, caregiver burden and desire to institutionalize. These results support the pertinence to develop interventions that can help caregivers cope with their role and with the management of the symptoms of the care receiver.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 8
Title:

Insufficient Behavioral Change Skill Hampers Adoption of Ehealth Services

Authors:

Miriam Vollenbroek-Hutten, Tess Goolkate, Michele Lankheet, J. H. (Han) Hegeman, Gozewijn Dirk Laverman and Bert-Jan van Beijum

Abstract: This study aims to get, starting from behavioural change theories, a better understanding of the perceptions of patients regarding their own responsibility for promoting their health and to translate this into requirements for development and implementation of eHealth services. Nineteen patients with Diabetes Type 2 and nine older adults (>65 years) with lower limb or hip fracture were interviewed. The topic list was based on the Self-Determination Theory, the Theory of Change and the Social Cognitive Theory and included Autonomy, Relatedness, Competence, Motivation, Skills and Knowledge. Results show that both patient groups have insufficient knowledge about proper health management. In addition, patients with Diabetes Type 2 appear to be insufficiently motivated for life style changes with outcomes that become apparent mainly in long-term. Patients with lower limb or hip fractures are in contrast highly motivated but lack autonomy, competence and skills. Both patients groups feel positively influenced by relatives, rely to a large extent on or have a wish for more in depth involvement of the professionals. These issues will probably hamper patients from becoming proactive in improving their health and using technology but are expected to be solvable when addressed in the development of the technologies as well as with implementing in daily health care.
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Paper Nr: 15
Title:

The GezelschApp - A Dutch Mobile Application to Reduce Social Isolation and Loneliness

Authors:

Stephanie Jansen-Kosterink, Patrick Varenbrink and Arno Naafs

Abstract: The social isolation among older adults is a growing concern, as both social isolation and loneliness have been associated with ill health. Information communication technology can overcome the social and spatial barriers of social interaction by enabling easy affordable communication and activities of multiple form between older adults and others anytime and anywhere. Therefore, technology-supported intervention, such as the GezelschApp could prevent and ameliorate social isolation and loneliness among older adults. The aim of this paper is to introduce this new technology, to provide an overview of the current evaluation and to present the intermediate results concerning the usability of end-user acceptance of this technology. The GezelschApp is a mobile application to reduce social isolation and loneliness among older adults. This application, also accessible by PC and tablet, gives older adults access to a homepage with six features (an inbox for messages, news, activities, information, tips and friends). On beforehand interested older adults are screened by a coach before they receive a personal access code. During the 3 months evaluation of the GezelschApp the usability, end-user acceptance, level of experienced loneliness and quality of life are assessed. Although the evaluation of the GezelschApp is still running, the first focus groups (n=10) with users highlight the need of the current application to make new friends in a save manner and to participate in social activities.
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Paper Nr: 24
Title:

“Should I Trust or Should I Go?” or What Makes Health-Related Websites Appear Trustworthy? - An Empirical Approach of Perceived Credibility of Digital Health Information and the Impact of User Diversity

Authors:

Luisa Vervier, André Calero Valdez and Martina Ziefle

Abstract: An abundance of information is available on the Internet. At the same time the quality of information fluctuates largely. When people use such information for making important decisions, this becomes an issue. “Health” is one of the most searched topics on the Web and search results might have the biggest consequences for one’s life. However, trust in found information, or lack thereof, filters usage. To understand which elements on a website convince people to trust the information or not, we conducted a study with two aims: firstly, identify factors which trigger credibility; secondly, investigate to what extend both the medial presentation and the severity of the related disease influence the assessment of credibility. Possible factors were first collected in three focus groups and then operationalized in a questionnaire. We collected 184 responses where three different health websites differing in complexity and in the severity of disease (light vs. life striking) were presented and assessed. Results show that for more severe diseases more complex information is preferred. Further actually being ill influences the criteria significantly.
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Paper Nr: 44
Title:

FHIR FLI: An Open Source Platform for Storing, Sharing and Analysing Lifestyle Data

Authors:

Kiran Gopinathan, Nikolaos Alexandros Kaloumenos, Kinnari Ajmera, Alexandru Matei, Ian Williams and Andrew Davis

Abstract: Consumers and healthcare organisations alike are increasingly interested in using digital health solutions to reduce the risk of chronic conditions or to help manage these conditions outside hospitals. Equally, there is a strong public health benefit in helping individuals adopt and improve healthy lifestyle behaviours. The first step in this direction is the ability to record and analyse lifestyle data. Currently, lifestyle logging platforms use proprietary data formats. Data is segregated among different platforms, impacting consumers, service providers, research institutes and public health bodies. Our aim is to facilitate the transfer of information between individuals and organisations that hold or require their lifestyle data. We demonstrate that an open source platform based on a clinically recognised interoperability standard - Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) - can meet both consumers and industry needs. We use as an example the case of people managing arthritis. Our contributions are: (i) an extension of the FHIR standard for lifestyle data, (ii) a reference architecture for a Personal Lifestyle Record, (iii) integration with voice-enabled digital assistants for lifestyle data capture and (iv) an open source implementation of this architecture that retrieves, saves and analyses lifestyle data from wearable devices.
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Paper Nr: 52
Title:

Designing an E-coaching System for Older People to Increase Adherence to Exergame-based Physical Activity

Authors:

Despoina Petsani, Evdokimos I. Kostantinidis and Panagiotis D. Bamidis

Abstract: E-coaching technologies constitute an emerging trend because they differ from the ordinary methods that tend to patronize user’s behavior. E-coaching focuses on co-organization and personalisation of the intervention by the user and the system. The current work describes some important features that must be studied in the design process of an e-coaching system that promotes the adherence of physical activity in older adults. The proposed system will be based upon already existing exergame platform for elderly, the webFitForAll. Firstly, the significance of physical activity in elder’s everyday life and how the physical activity guidelines are implemented in webFitForAll are discussed. Furthermore, the behavior change techniques, that are an important part of e-coaching systems, are presented as well as the design plans for the e-coaching environment.
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