State-of-the-Art Sensors for Remote Care of People with Dementia during a Pandemic: A Systematic Review

In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of people diagnosed with dementia. With diminishing public health and social care resources, there is substantial need for assistive technology-based devices that support independent living. However, existing devices may not fully meet these needs due to fears and uncertainties about their use, educational support, and finances. Further challenges have been created by COVID-19 and the need for improved safety and security. We have performed a systematic review by exploring several databases describing assistive technologies for dementia and identifying relevant publications for this review. We found there is significant need for appropriate user testing of such devices and have highlighted certifying bodies for this purpose. Given the safety measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this review identifies the benefits and challenges of existing assistive technologies for people living with dementia and their caregivers. It also provides suggestions for future research in these areas

Investigating the Feasibility of a 3D Virtual World Technology for People with Dementia

Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) are computer-generated, simulated, graphical and multimedia environments, designed so that users can ‘live in’ and engage via their own digital and graphical self-representations known as ‘avatars’. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using 3DVWs to enhance engagement and quality of life in people with dementia. A mixed-methods research design, guided by a feasibility framework, was used, with data collected from semi-structured interviews, observations, and surveys. Eleven residents expressed interest in the 3DVWs intervention after reading an advertisement and attended an introductory session. After this, eight people expressed a desire to participate in the six-session intervention. Participants generally enjoyed the experience of using 3DVWs. Of those who completed all six sessions, two-thirds showed a positive change in their quality of life score. Moreover, those who participated in almost all sessions showed higher satisfaction with the use of the 3DVW than those who dropped out. Both residents and care staff perceived the 3DVW as engaging, fun and memory stimulating. The findings support the feasibility of using 3DVWs with people with dementia, and this justifies the need for further research

Annual Operating Costs Minimization in Electrical Distribution Networks via the Optimal Selection and Location of Fixed-Step Capacitor Banks Using a Hybrid Mathematical Formulation

The minimization of annual operating costs in radial distribution networks with the optimal selection and siting of fixed-step capacitor banks is addressed in this research by means of a two-stage optimization approach. The first stage proposes an approximated mixed-integer quadratic model to select the nodes where the capacitor banks must be installed. In the second stage, a recursive power flow method is employed to make an exhaustive evaluation of the solution space. The main contribution of this research is the use of the expected load curve to estimate the equivalent annual grid operating costs. Numerical simulations in the IEEE 33-and IEEE 69-bus systems demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in comparison with the solution of the exact optimization model in the General Algebraic Modeling System software. Reductions of 33.04% and 34.29% with respect to the benchmark case are obtained with the proposed two-stage approach, with minimum investments in capacitor banks. All numerical implementations are performed in the MATLAB software using the convex tool known as CVX and the Gurobi solver. The main advantage of the proposed hybrid optimization method lies in the possibility of dealing with radial and meshed distribution system topologies without any modification on the MIQC model and the recursive power flow approach. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Robótica em medicina dentária

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre no Instituto Universitário Egas MonizA evolução contínua da investigação e do desenvolvimento tecnológico no sector da medicina dentária visa criar novas oportunidades em termos de abordagem clínica e concepção de instrumentos de trabalho inovadores. Os avanços da computação, tecnologia CAD-CAM e CAD-CAL, lasers, articuladores e arcos faciais virtuais, radiografias e CBCT modificaram os procedimentos convencionais para que a maioria dos passos seja executada digitalmente, possibilitando a realização de tratamentos mais precisos, rápidos e tecnicamente sofisticados. As cirurgias assistidas e realizadas por robôs são atualmente usadas baseando-se nestas tecnologias. Vários protótipos robóticos estão a ser testados e usados tanto no campo da cirurgia, implantologia quer na pratica geral, permitindo o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas digitalmente vinculadas, encorajando também a atualização das perspetivas em termos de ensino e formação dos futuros profissionais de saúde.O conceito da robótica, área jovem aplicada à medicina dentária representa a próxima abordagem de alto nível digital e tecnológico, apoiando-se na dimensão audiovisual já presente nos consultórios e blocos cirúrgicos. O advento e progresso da inteligência artificial no paneamento, combinada com a robótica, resulta num prospeto de instrumentos mecatrônicos inovadores, seguros e tecnicamente evoluídos. A investigação, desenvolvimento e a imaginação de protótipos novos aumentam cada vez mais os campos de aplicabilidade e desenvolvem técnicas de planeamento novas permitindo a conceitualização futurista de um nicho emergente.The continuous evolution of research and technological development in dental sector aims to create new opportunities in terms of clinical approaches and the design of new innovative work tools. Advances in computing technology, CAD-CAM and CAD-CAL, lasers, articulators and virtual facial arches, radiography and CBCT have modified conventional procedures that most steps are performed digitally, enabling more accurate, quick and technically sophisticated treatments. Robotically assisted surgeries are currently based on these technologies. Several robotic prototypes are being tested and used in the field of surgery, implantology and general practice, allowing the development of new digitally linked techniques, also encouraging new perspectives in terms of education and training of future health professionals. As a relatively young area, the concept of robotics applied to dental medicine represents the next high-level digital and technological approach, based on the audiovisual dimension already present in offices and surgical units.The advent and progress of artificial intelligence in planning, combined with robots results in a prospect of innovative, safe and technically evolved mechatronic instruments. Research, development and the imagination of new prototypes increase the fields of applicability and develop new planning techniques allowing the futuristic conceptualization of the emerging niche.L'évolution continue de la recherche et du développement technologique dans le secteur dentaire vise à créer de nouvelles opportunités en termes d'approches cliniques et conception de nouveaux outils de travail innovants. Les progrès informatiques des technologies CAD-CAM et CAD-CAL, lasers, articulateurs et les arcs faciaux virtuels et le CBCT ont modifié les procédures conventionnelles afin que la plupart des étapes soient exécutés de manière numérique, permettant des traitements plus précis, rapides et techniquement sophistiqués. La chirurgie assistée par robot repose sur ces technologies. Plusieurs prototypes robotiques sont testés et utilisés dans le domaine de la chirurgie, de l'implantologie et omni pratique, permettant le développement de nouvelles techniques numériques, encourageant également de nouvelles perspectives en termes d'éducation et de formation des futurs professionnels de santé. Domaine relativement jeune, le concept robotique appliquée à la médecine dentaire représente la prochaine approche technologique de haut niveau, basée sur la dimension audiovisuelle déjà présente dans les cabinets et blocs opératoires.L'avènement et les progrès de l'intelligence artificielle dans la planification, combiné aux robots, traduit une perspective d'instruments mécatroniques innovants, sûrs et techniquement évolués. La recherche, le développement et l'imagination de nouveaux prototypes élargissent les champs d'applicabilité et développent des nouvelles techniques de planification permettant la conceptualisation futuriste de la niche émergent

CorrNet: Fine-grained emotion recognition for video watching using wearable physiological sensors

Recognizing user emotions while they watch short-form videos anytime and anywhere is essential for facilitating video content customization and personalization. However, most works either classify a single emotion per video stimuli, or are restricted to static, desktop environments. To address this, we propose a correlation-based emotion recognition algorithm (CorrNet) to recognize the valence and arousal (V-A) of each instance (fine-grained segment of signals) using only wearable, physiological signals (e.g., electrodermal activity, heart rate). CorrNet takes advantage of features both inside each instance (intra-modality features) and between different instances for the same video stimuli (correlation-based features). We first test our approach on an indoor-desktop affect dataset (CASE), and thereafter on an outdoor-mobile affect dataset (MERCA) which we collected using a smart wristband and wearable eyetracker. Results show that for subject-independent binary classification (high-low), CorrNet yields promising recognition accuracies: 76.37% and 74.03% for V-A on CASE, and 70.29% and 68.15% for V-A on MERCA. Our findings show: (1) instance segment lengths between 1–4 s result in highest recognition accuracies (2) accuracies between laboratory-grade and wearable sensors are comparable, even under low sampling rates (≤64 Hz) (3) large amounts of neu-tral V-A labels, an artifact of continuous affect annotation, result in varied recognition performance

Bertsobot: gizaki-robot arteko komunikazio eta elkarrekintzarako portaerak

216 p.Bertsobot: Robot-Portaerak Gizaki-Robot Arteko Komunikazio eta ElkarrekintzanBertsotan aritzeko gaitasuna erakutsiko duen robot autonomoa garatzeada gure ikerketa-lanaren helburu behinena. Bere egitekoa, bertsoa osatzekoinstrukzioak ahoz jaso, hauek prozesatu eta ahalik eta bertsorik egokienaosatu eta kantatzea litzateke, bertsolarien oholtza gaineko adierazkortasunmaila erakutsiz gorputzarekin. Robot-bertsolariak, gizaki eta roboten artekoelkarrekintza eta komunikazioan aurrera egiteko modua jarri nahi luke, lengoaianaturala erabiliz robot-gizaki arteko bi noranzkoko komunikazioan

Bertsobot: gizaki-robot arteko komunikazio eta elkarrekintzarako portaerak

216 p.Bertsobot: Robot-Portaerak Gizaki-Robot Arteko Komunikazio eta ElkarrekintzanBertsotan aritzeko gaitasuna erakutsiko duen robot autonomoa garatzeada gure ikerketa-lanaren helburu behinena. Bere egitekoa, bertsoa osatzekoinstrukzioak ahoz jaso, hauek prozesatu eta ahalik eta bertsorik egokienaosatu eta kantatzea litzateke, bertsolarien oholtza gaineko adierazkortasunmaila erakutsiz gorputzarekin. Robot-bertsolariak, gizaki eta roboten artekoelkarrekintza eta komunikazioan aurrera egiteko modua jarri nahi luke, lengoaianaturala erabiliz robot-gizaki arteko bi noranzkoko komunikazioan

Socio-Cognitive and Affective Computing

Social cognition focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in social interactions. On the other hand, the term cognitive computing is generally used to refer to new hardware and/or software that mimics the functioning of the human brain and helps to improve human decision-making. In this sense, it is a type of computing with the goal of discovering more accurate models of how the human brain/mind senses, reasons, and responds to stimuli. Socio-Cognitive Computing should be understood as a set of theoretical interdisciplinary frameworks, methodologies, methods and hardware/software tools to model how the human brain mediates social interactions. In addition, Affective Computing is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects, a fundamental aspect of socio-cognitive neuroscience. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning computer science, electrical engineering, psychology, and cognitive science. Physiological Computing is a category of technology in which electrophysiological data recorded directly from human activity are used to interface with a computing device. This technology becomes even more relevant when computing can be integrated pervasively in everyday life environments. Thus, Socio-Cognitive and Affective Computing systems should be able to adapt their behavior according to the Physiological Computing paradigm. This book integrates proposals from researchers who use signals from the brain and/or body to infer people's intentions and psychological state in smart computing systems. The design of this kind of systems combines knowledge and methods of ubiquitous and pervasive computing, as well as physiological data measurement and processing, with those of socio-cognitive and affective computing

Hybrid wheelchair controller for handicapped and quadriplegic patients

In this dissertation, a hybrid wheelchair controller for handicapped and quadriplegic patient is proposed. The system has two sub-controllers which are the voice controller and the head tilt controller. The system aims to help quadriplegic, handicapped, elderly and paralyzed patients to control a robotic wheelchair using voice commands and head movements instead of a traditional joystick controller. The multi-input design makes the system more flexible to adapt to the available body signals. The low-cost design is taken into consideration as it allows more patients to use this system