11,707 research outputs found

    A genetic algorithm for group formation in elderly communities

    Get PDF
    Over the last few years, agent technology has proposed different approaches for the development of systems that support the formation and dynamic management of teams or groups. Following this idea, this paper proposes a model for group formation in elderly communities defining it as a Coalition Structure Generation Problem. Specifically, the proposal has been used to analyse which is the best way to organize older people into activity groups in elderly communities. The model parameters are physical requirements, preferences and social relationships, being the model able to learn from each execution and improve the future configurations. The results show near-optimal solutions to all proposed scenarios, beating greatly the computational time of CPLEX, and flexibility to deal with different scenarios and configurations.- This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. A. Costa thanks the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia the Post-Doc scholarship with the Ref. SFRH/BPD/102696/2014. This work is also partially supported by the MINECO/FEDER TIN2017-89156-R and the Post-Doc scholarship with the Ref. SP20170057

    An Advanced Home ElderCare Service

    Get PDF
    With the increase of welfare cost all over the developed world, there is a need to resort to new technologies that could help reduce this enormous cost and provide some quality eldercare services. This paper presents a middleware-level solution that integrates monitoring and emergency detection solutions with networking solutions. The proposed system enables efficient integration between a variety of sensors and actuators deployed at home for emergency detection and provides a framework for creating and managing rescue teams willing to assist elders in case of emergency situations. A prototype of the proposed system was designed and implemented. Results were obtained from both computer simulations and a real-network testbed. These results show that the proposed system can help overcome some of the current problems and help reduce the enormous cost of eldercare service

    ANGELAH: A Framework for Assisting Elders At Home

    Get PDF
    The ever growing percentage of elderly people within modern societies poses welfare systems under relevant stress. In fact, partial and progressive loss of motor, sensorial, and/or cognitive skills renders elders unable to live autonomously, eventually leading to their hospitalization. This results in both relevant emotional and economic costs. Ubiquitous computing technologies can offer interesting opportunities for in-house safety and autonomy. However, existing systems partially address in-house safety requirements and typically focus on only elder monitoring and emergency detection. The paper presents ANGELAH, a middleware-level solution integrating both ”elder monitoring and emergency detection” solutions and networking solutions. ANGELAH has two main features: i) it enables efficient integration between a variety of sensors and actuators deployed at home for emergency detection and ii) provides a solid framework for creating and managing rescue teams composed of individuals willing to promptly assist elders in case of emergency situations. A prototype of ANGELAH, designed for a case study for helping elders with vision impairments, is developed and interesting results are obtained from both computer simulations and a real-network testbed

    ΊCrAss001 represents the most abundant bacteriophage family in the human gut and infects Bacteroides intestinalis

    Get PDF
    peer-reviewedCrAssphages are an extensive and ubiquitous family of tailed bacteriophages, predicted to infect bacteria of the order Bacteroidales. Despite being found in ~50% of individuals and representing up to 90% of human gut viromes, members of this viral family have never been isolated in culture and remain understudied. Here, we report the isolation of a CrAssphage (ΩCrAss001) from human faecal material. This bacteriophage infects the human gut symbiont Bacteroides intestinalis, confirming previous in silico predictions of the likely host. DNA sequencing demonstrates that the bacteriophage genome is circular, 102 kb in size, and has unusual structural traits. In addition, electron microscopy confirms that ΩcrAss001 has a podovirus-like morphology. Despite the absence of obvious lysogeny genes, ΩcrAss001 replicates in a way that does not disrupt proliferation of the host bacterium, and is able to maintain itself in continuous host culture during several weeks

    Home healthcare worker scheduling : a group genetic algorithm approach

    Get PDF
    Home healthcare worker scheduling is a hard combinatorial problem concerned with the allocation of care tasks to healthcare givers at a minimal cost while considering healthcare service quality by striving to meet the time window restrictions specified by the patients. This paper proposes a group genetic algorithm (GGA) for addressing the scheduling problem. The approach utilizes the strengths of unique group genetic operators to effectively and efficiently address the group structure of the problem, providing good solutions within reasonable computation times. Computational results obtained show that the GGA approach is effective

    Predicting Health Impacts of the World Trade Center Disaster: 1. Halogenated hydrocarbons, symptom syndromes, secondary victimization, and the burdens of history

    Get PDF
    The recent attack on the World Trade Center, in addition to direct injury and psychological trauma, has exposed a vast population to dioxins, dibenzofurans, related endocrine disruptors, and a multitude of other physiologically active chemicals arising from the decomposition of the massive quantities of halogenated hydrocarbons and other plastics within the affected buildings. The impacts of these chemical species have been compounded by exposure to asbestos, fiberglass, crushed glass, concrete, plastic, and other irritating dusts. To address the manifold complexities of this incident we combine recent theoretical perspectives on immune, CNS, and sociocultural cognition with empirical studies on survivors of past large toxic fires, other community-scale chemical exposure incidents, and the aftereffects of war. Our analysis suggests the appearance of complex, but distinct and characteristic, spectra of synergistically linked social, psychosocial, psychological and physical symptoms among the 100,000 or so persons most directly affected by the WTC attack. The different 'eigenpatterns' should become increasingly comorbid as a function of exposure. The expected outcome greatly transcends a simple 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder' model, and may resemble a particularly acute form of Gulf War Syndrome. We explore the role of external social factors in subsequent exacerbation of the syndrome -- secondary victimization -- and study the path-dependent influence of individual and community-level historical patterns of stress. We suggest that workplace and other organizations can act as ameliorating intermediaries. Those without acess to such buffering structures appear to face a particularly bleak future
    • 

    corecore