scholarly journals A conceptual framework for designing Ambient assisted living services for individuals with disabilities in Uganda and South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kyazze ◽  
Janet Wesson ◽  
Kevin Naudé
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
Interaction Techniques ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
User Friendly

Background: Individuals with disabilities experience difficulty in using various everyday technologies such as computers and smartphones.Objectives: To propose a conceptual framework that will lead to the development of practical and user friendly assistive technology.Method: A literature review of challenges faced by individuals with physical disabilities was carried out. Interviews with adults with physical disabilities in Kampala, Uganda, and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, identified three main challenges with regard to using technology: using a mobile phone, controlling an electronic environment and using a computer.Results: The challenges identified can be solved by taking into consideration the needs of individuals with disabilities. However, the design of new technologies and interaction techniques, such as natural hand gestures and voice, as input mechanisms has able-bodied individuals in mind. Individuals with disabilities are considered as an afterthought. The main reason for this is that individuals with a disability are a minority and hence it may not make economic sense for technology innovators to cater for their unique needs. A lack of practical guidelines on how to design for individuals with disabilities is another reason why designing for individuals with disabilities is often an afterthought.Conclusion: This article proposes a conceptual framework that can be used by researchers and technology designers in order to design products that could cater for the unique needs of individuals with disabilities. The article also emphasises the importance of exploring alternative interaction techniques, as they could enable individuals with disabilities to fully utilise technologies such as smart phones, computers and smart home electronics.

Ambient Assisted Living Systems: The Scope of Research and Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Ashish D Patel ◽  
Jigarkumar H. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Living ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Aged Population ◽  
The People ◽  
Living Person

The aged population of the world is increasing by a large factor due to the availability of medical and other facilities. As the number grows rapidly, requirements of this segment of age (65+) are increasing rapidly as well as the percentage of aged persons living alone is also increasing with the same rate due to the inevitable socio-economic changes. This situation demands the solution of many problems like loneliness, chronic conditions, social interaction, transportation, day-to-day life and many more for independent living person. A large part of aged population may not be able to interact directly with new technologies. This sought some serious development towards the use of intelligent systems i.e. smart devices which helps the people with their inability to use the available as well future solutions. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is the answer to these problems. In this paper, issues related to AAL systems are studied. Study of challenges and limitations of this comparatively new field will help the designers to remove the barriers of AAL systems.

Reviewing Home Based Assistive Technologies

2015 ◽  
pp. 317-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis D. Bamidis ◽  
Evdokimos Konstantinidis ◽  
Antonis S. Billis ◽  
Anastasios Sioundas
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
European Level ◽  
Home Based

Population ageing is an unprecedented challenge for human societies, which recently is globally tackled by new technologies. In this chapter technologies tailored for use by the elderly people termed ambient assisted living and e-health are discussed. Focus is only placed on those technologies that can be adapted for home use. Emphasis is drawn both on the technical front as well as on the application front based on recent literature. The scope is to make sure the audience reaches a sufficiently broad understanding of what technology is available for home use by elderly people. Applications and research efforts spent but also funded at the European level with a clear focus on those supported by elderly trials are provided. The chapter is enriched with case studies from various projects.

scholarly journals Deep learning-based ambient assisted living for self-management of cardiovascular conditions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ahmed Qureshi ◽  
Kashif Naseer Qureshi ◽  
Gwanggil Jeon ◽  
Francesco Piccialli
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
World Health ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Cloud Models

AbstractAccording to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases contribute to 17.7 million deaths per year and are rising with a growing ageing population. In order to handle these challenges, the evolved countries are now evolving workable solutions based on new communication technologies such as ambient assisted living. In these solutions, the most well-known solutions are wearable devices for patient monitoring, telemedicine and mHealth systems. This systematic literature review presents the detailed literature on ambient assisted living solutions and helps to understand how ambient assisted living helps and motivates patients with cardiovascular diseases for self-management to reduce associated morbidity and mortalities. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses technique are used to answer the research questions. The paper is divided into four main themes, including self-monitoring wearable systems, ambient assisted living in aged populations, clinician management systems and deep learning-based systems for cardiovascular diagnosis. For each theme, a detailed investigation shows (1) how these new technologies are nowadays integrated into diagnostic systems and (2) how new technologies like IoT sensors, cloud models, machine and deep learning strategies can be used to improve the medical services. This study helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of novel ambient assisted living environments for medical applications. Besides, this review assists in reducing the dependence on caregivers and the healthcare systems.

Development of Ambient Assisted Living Products and Services

2017 ◽  
pp. 230-252
Author(s):  
Ana Isabel Martins ◽  
Alexandra Queirós ◽  
Nelson Pacheco Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
End Users ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
International Classification Of Functioning ◽  
Usability Assessment ◽  
Development Processes

Background: the involvement of the potential end users in the development processes is a relevant issue for the acceptance of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) products and services. Objective: this study aimed to use the conceptual framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to conceptualize instruments for the different phases of the AAL development processes. Methods: personas and scenarios were modified, considering the fundamental concepts of the ICF in order to highlight end user's functioning and health conditions, and an ICF based instrument for usability assessment was defined and validated. Results: the results of several observational studies suggest the adequacy of the ICF based instruments (personas and scenarios and usability assessment instrument). Conclusion: the present study indicates that the ICF based instruments can be useful tools for the development of Ambient Assisted Living products or services.

scholarly journals Improving the Healthcare Effectiveness: The Possible Role of EHR, IoMT and Blockchain

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Girardi ◽  
Gaetano De Gennaro ◽  
Lucio Colizzi ◽  
Nicola Convertini
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Living ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
New Records ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
Clinical Information ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Blockchain Technology

New types of patient health records aim to help physicians shift from a medical practice, often based on their personal experience, towards one of evidence based medicine, thus improving the communication among patients and care providers and increasing the availability of personal medical information. These new records, allowing patients and care providers to share medical data and clinical information, and access them whenever they need, can be considered enabling Ambient Assisted Living technologies. Furthermore, new personal disease monitoring tools support specialists in their tasks, as an example allowing acquisition, transmission and analysis of medical images. The growing interest around these new technologies poses serious questions regarding data integrity and transaction security. The huge amount of sensitive data stored in these new records surely attracts the interest of malicious hackers, therefore it is necessary to guarantee the integrity and the maximum security of servers and transactions. Blockchain technology can be an important turning point in the development of personal health records. This paper discusses some issues regarding the management and protection of health data exchanged through new medical or diagnostic devices.

scholarly journals A Review of Internet of Things Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living Environments

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rytis Maskeliūnas ◽  
Robertas Damaševičius ◽  
Sagiv Segal
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
Global Network ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Acceptance Model ◽  
The Internet Of Things

The internet of things (IoT) aims to extend the internet to real-world objects, connecting smart and sensing devices into a global network infrastructure by connecting physical and virtual objects. The IoT has the potential to increase the quality of life of inhabitants and users of intelligent ambient assisted living (AAL) environments. The paper overviews and discusses the IoT technologies and their foreseen impacts and challenges for the AAL domain. The results of this review are summarized as the IoT based gerontechnology acceptance model for the assisted living domain. The model focuses on the acceptance of new technologies by older people and underscores the need for the adoption of the IoT for the AAL domain.

Influence of Information Literacy Competencies on Users of the Saulsville Public Library, South Africa

Mousaion ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rexwhite Tega Enakrire ◽  
Isaac Mpho Mothiba
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Information Discovery ◽  
Information Literacy Competencies

Information literacy competencies indicate the ability of an individual to apply a certain search strategy of information discovery, to understand its design, to value judgement, and to use it in various contents and contexts. The influence of information literacy competencies plays an important role in enabling information users to meet their information needs and prepares them for lifelong learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of information literacy competencies of users in the Saulsville public library, South Africa. The rationale was a lack of awareness and the inability of the users to find their information needs based on the task and decision at hand. The descriptive survey design adopted for this study made use of a questionnaire to collect data from 1 120 registered members of the Saulsville library. Of the 1 120 registered users being the population for the study, the authors purposively used 10 per cent (112 members) of the population as sample size. The findings revealed that users of the Saulsville public library had limited awareness and competencies of information literacy. The users were exposed to some form of library orientation and the use of library resources during their visit to the library. The findings further indicated that the users’ information literacy competencies were affirmed through the quality of information obtained and the satisfaction of library services rendered by library staff. The study recommends the acquisition of new technologies that could enhance users’ interactive information literacy training in public libraries and formal education settings.  

scholarly journals Workplace Adaptive Technologies for Working Adults With Cognitive and Physical Disabilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 861-861
Author(s):  
Patricia Heyn
Keyword(s):  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Technology System ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Assembly Performance ◽  
Adaptive Technologies ◽  
Assembly Tasks

Abstract Individuals with disabilities usually have difficulty in finding and maintaining employment prospects and thus, they are extremely underrepresented in the workforce. These challenges are even greater when the person has both cognitive and physical disabilities. While there is evidence supporting the benefits of employing individuals with disabilities in the workforce, employers are usually unprepared to hire individuals with disabilities. They are also concerned that the work productivity may be impacted by the employee with a disability. Thus, technology can play an important role in helping a person with cognitive and /or physical impairment work on tasks that require memorization and assembly performance. We will present a mobile technology system that was planned and piloted with working adults with physical and cognitive impairments. Founded on our pilot study, mobile technologies hold the potential to help people with disabilities to perform jobs that require memorization as well as systematic assembly tasks.

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