Visual Gesture-Based Character Recognition Systems for Design of Assistive Technologies for People With Special Necessities

In the present scenario, around 15% of the world's population experience some form of disability. So, there has been an enormous increase in the demand for assistive techniques for overcoming the restraints faced by people with physical impairments. More recently, gesture-based character recognition (GBCR) has emerged as an assistive tool of immense importance, especially for facilitating the needs of persons with special necessities. Such GBCR systems serve as a powerful mediator for communication among people having hearing and speech impairments. They can also serve as a rehabilitative aid for people with motor disabilities who cannot write with pen on paper, or face difficulty in using common human-machine interactive (HMI) devices. This chapter provides a glimpse of disability prevalence around the globe and particularly in India, emphasizes the importance of learning-based GBCR systems in practical education of differently-abled children, and highlights the novel research contributions made in this field.

Applying Implementation Science to Support Active Collaboration in Noninvasive Brain–Computer Interface Development and Translation for Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to consider how, alongside engineering advancements, noninvasive brain–computer interface (BCI) for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC; BCI-AAC) developments can leverage implementation science to increase the clinical impact of this technology. We offer the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) as a structure to help guide future BCI-AAC research. Specifically, we discuss CFIR primary domains that include intervention characteristics, the outer and inner settings, the individuals involved in the intervention, and the process of implementation, alongside pertinent subdomains including adaptability, cost, patient needs and recourses, implementation climate, other personal attributes, and the process of engaging. The authors support their view with current citations from both the AAC and BCI-AAC fields. Conclusions: The article aimed to provide thoughtful considerations for how future research may leverage the CFIR to support meaningful BCI-AAC translation for those with severe physical impairments. We believe that, although significant barriers to BCI-AAC development still exist, incorporating implementation research may be timely for the field of BCI-AAC and help account for diversity in end users, navigate implementation obstacles, and support a smooth and efficient translation of BCI-AAC technology. Moreover, the sooner clinicians, individuals who use AAC, their support networks, and engineers collectively improve BCI-AAC outcomes and the efficiency of translation, the sooner BCI-AAC may become an everyday tool in the AAC arsenal.

Social Isolation and Sleep Quality of Older Adults in China: Do Family and Friendship Isolation Differ?

This study provides one of the first population-based studies investigating associations between social isolation, especially its two sub-dimensions (family isolation and friendship isolation), and sleep quality among older adults in China. We address three major research questions: 1) Does the risk of poor sleep quality vary by social isolation status? 2) Are the associations between social isolation and sleep quality mediated by mental disorders (depressive symptoms and loneliness) and physical impairments (pain and comorbidity)? and 3) Does the isolation from family members and friends differ in explaining sleep quality? We analyzed data from the 2014 wave of the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), in which 7,597 respondents (aged 60-98) had complete information on measures of sleep quality (self-rated sleep difficulty), social isolation (using the Lubben Social Network Scale), and other analytical variables. Logistic regression models were estimated to predict the risk of sleep difficulty and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition method was employed to test potential mediating effects. Results showed that social isolation, both family and friendship isolation, was significantly associated with higher risks of having sleep difficulty. The adverse effect of family isolation was found to be stronger than that of friendship isolation. Although both mental disorders and physical impairments mediated significant shares of associations between social isolation and sleep quality, physical impairments explained a lesser extent of them than mental disorders. These findings will be helpful for health policymakers and practitioners to design effective intervention strategies to help older adults with sleep problems.

Psychological Morbidity After Critical Illness

Patients with critical illnesses face a number of severe psychic and physical stressors. Survivors often have long-term cognitive and physical impairments, as well as family, financial, and other stressors. These potential stressors increase the risk of psychiatric disturbances substantially. This chapter describes the burden of distress-related psychiatric morbidity in patients who survive critical illnesses, as well as risk factors for this morbidity. This knowledge serves as the motivation to develop new approaches that can ameliorate, or even prevent, long-term distress in survivors. The chapter also presents information about early attempts to reduce, prevent, and manage long-term psychological morbidity.

Engagement in Music Therapy: A Detailed study of Communication Between the Therapist and Client Presenting with Severe and Multiple Handicaps

<p>The impact of multiple disabilities causes difficulties in the area of communication. Individuals with severe and multiple handicaps often have no verbal language as a result of serious physical impairments. This population may show little obvious response and it is therefore difficult to know if they are engaged and for the person him or herself to maintain engagement when involved in activities. The purpose of the study was to find out what happens in a normal music therapy session, during moments of perceived engagement. Four individuals experienced in the field of multiple disabilities were invited to take part in semi-structured interviews where they observed a half hour video of a therapist and a student with severe and multiple handicaps participating in music therapy. Data was analyzed in two steps, firstly through participants observing and explaining their reactions to video of music therapy and secondly by the researcher interviewing the participants and writing up a transcript of their commentaries about the video. The key themes that emerged in participants' descriptions of engagement during moments in music therapy suggest it is possible to observe and identify engagement as reflected in the students' non-verbal responses, such as body movement, eye contact and vocalizations.</p>

Engagement in Music Therapy: A Detailed study of Communication Between the Therapist and Client Presenting with Severe and Multiple Handicaps

<p>The impact of multiple disabilities causes difficulties in the area of communication. Individuals with severe and multiple handicaps often have no verbal language as a result of serious physical impairments. This population may show little obvious response and it is therefore difficult to know if they are engaged and for the person him or herself to maintain engagement when involved in activities. The purpose of the study was to find out what happens in a normal music therapy session, during moments of perceived engagement. Four individuals experienced in the field of multiple disabilities were invited to take part in semi-structured interviews where they observed a half hour video of a therapist and a student with severe and multiple handicaps participating in music therapy. Data was analyzed in two steps, firstly through participants observing and explaining their reactions to video of music therapy and secondly by the researcher interviewing the participants and writing up a transcript of their commentaries about the video. The key themes that emerged in participants' descriptions of engagement during moments in music therapy suggest it is possible to observe and identify engagement as reflected in the students' non-verbal responses, such as body movement, eye contact and vocalizations.</p>

Physical Impairments, Sensory Disturbance and Functional Ability in Cancer Patient With and Without Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy Symptoms

ObjectiveThe present study examined the objective and patient-reported measures of physical impairments, sensory disturbance and functional ability between cancer patients with and without chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) symptoms.Methods41 cancer survivors exposed to neurotoxic chemotherapies were conveniently recruited and completed a single cross-sectional assessment of patient-reported outcomes (VAS for pain intensity and ABC scale) and objective assessments (SWM test, TUG test, 5xSTS test, Romberg test with eyes open and eyes closed, 6MWT, and FAB scale).ResultsCancer patients who had undergone chemotherapy with CIPN symptoms did significantly worse in the SWM test, TUG test, 5xSTS test, Romberg test with eyes closed, 6MWT, FAB scale, and ABC scale (p<0.05) when compared with cancer survivors without CIPN symptoms.ConclusionCancer survivors with CIPN symptoms have lower physical performance, sensory perception, and functional ability, which may increase the risk of falling and disability. These findings further emphasize the need for effective rehabilitation and interventions to treat CIPN symptoms and related physical impairment and functional deficits.

Effects of physical impairments on fitness correlates of the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus

Physical impairments are widely assumed to reduce the viability of individual animals, but their impacts on individuals within natural populations of vertebrates are rarely quantified. By monitoring wild populations of white-footed mice over 26 years, we assessed whether missing or deformed limbs, tail or eyes influenced the survival, body mass, movement and ectoparasite burden of their bearers. Of the 27 244 individuals monitored, 543 (2%) had visible physical impairments. Persistence times (survival) were similar between mice with and without impairments. Mice with eye and tail impairments had 5% and 6% greater mass, respectively, than unimpaired mice. Mice with tail impairments had larger home ranges than did unimpaired mice. Burdens of black-legged ticks ( Ixodes scapularis ) were higher among mice with tail and limb impairments while burdens of bot fly larvae ( Cuterebra ) were higher among mice with cataracts compared to mice without impairments. Our findings do not support the presupposition that physical impairments reduce viability in their bearers and are inconsistent with the devaluation of impaired individuals that pervaded early thinking in evolutionary biology.

Special Needs Insurance: More Stability for a Growing Family's Budget

Objective.— To propose an insurance product called special needs insurance. The insurance will pay parents a lump sum up to $100,000 if they have a child that is born with or develops a special needs condition such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism. Background.— Raising a child is expensive; raising a child with a special need can be hundreds of thousands of dollars more expensive. These additional costs include direct costs that are not covered by health insurance and indirect costs such as the loss of earnings when a working parent must tend to a special needs child. Method.— We analyze a gamut of birth and early childhood disabilities, both physical and cognitive, from the medico-actuarial perspective. We describe each condition using relevant medical literature and calculate prevalence rates from epidemiological studies (appendix A1-A15). After accounting for multiple births, we develop a final premium. Results.— We find that physical impairments are sufficiently well understood to guarantee a fixed payout, whereas cognitive impairments such as autism are less understood, and so for these we propose a cognitive fund that does not guarantee a fixed payout. We find that an average single premium of $4,600 allows the insurer to profitably pay out the proposed benefits. Conclusions.— Raising a special needs child can put a significant strain on the affected family's budget. We propose an insurance product that provides relief through a large lump sum payout. Although no new insurance product can be guaranteed success, our analysis of this product gives an interested insurer reasonable justification to take on this new risk.