Evaluating the n-Core Polaris Real-Time Locating System in an Indoor Environment

Context-aware technologies allow Ambient Assisted Living developments to automatically obtain information from users and their environment in a distributed and ubiquitous way. One of the most important technologies used to provide context-awareness is Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Wireless Sensor Networks comprise an ideal technology to develop Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) aimed at indoor environments, where existing global navigation satellite systems do not work correctly. In this regard, n-Core Polaris is an indoor and outdoor RTLS based on ZigBee WSNs and an innovative set of locating and automation engines. This paper presents the main components of the n-Core Polaris, as well as some experiments made in a real scenario whose results demonstrate the effectiveness of the system in indoor environments

A Conceptual Model using Ambient Assisted Living to Provide a Home Proactive Monitoring System for Elderly People in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The growth in the ageing population is rapidly increasing and their care cost will be a challenging issue in the future. The number of elderly people worldwide (defined as those aged 60 years and older) was 202 million in 1950; this number has since quadrupled to reach 901 million and is expected to triple again by 2100. In particular, the number of elderly people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is increasing rapidly, from 5% of the total population in 2015 to a forecasted 20.9% by 2050. Clearly, the cost of taking care of elderly people is already a challenge, but it will be very difficult to meet in the future, when it will lead to a much higher expenditure on healthcare facilities. Furthermore, although elderly people are vulnerable to a decline in their health, they do not wish to live as they did in the 1970s to 1990s. Instead, their desire is to live independently in their own homes and continue to practice normal activities. In fact, Saudi culture is changing, and the children tend not to live with their parents as they used to. However, the literature review indicates that there is a lack of professionally designed systems that can fulfil the growing needs or requirements of elderly people in the KSA. These demographic changes raise a number of challenges related to the elderly people’s quality of life, including health, autonomy, care, social communication, and the utilisation of institutional services. These challenges require novel approaches to provide dependable self-adapting technological innovations. The era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the world of the ageing population. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) aims to improve the quality of life of elderly people, and to provide them with technologies and services that support their daily activities, help them to live longer and remain independently at home. The aims and objectives of this research are to review Ambient Assisted Living Technology, to provide examples of relevant technologies and applications, and to examine attitudes and perceptions of elderly people towards using AAL technologies in the KSA. This research also explores the factors of AAL, identifying those that affect the adoption of these technologies in the KSA, by conducting a systematic review, and using quantitative and qualitative analyses. The questionnaire results showed that elderly Saudi Arabians are willing and intending to accept and use AAL technologies, and that there are many factors that influence their adoption and use of AAL technologies. This provides an insight for solutions to the provision of support for their independent living. Thus, we developed a conceptual model using AAL to provide a Home Proactive Monitoring System (AALHPMS) that supports the stakeholders in adopting AAL technologies. We envisage that the AALHPMS can fulfil the needs and requirements of elderly people, motivate healthcare providers to implement AAL technologies, and assist the Saudi Government to make suitable provision for issues associated with the ageing population. In addition, a knowledge-based-system was built using a rule-based system. Experiments using Smart watches were conducted to monitor the heart rates. Further experiments using ZigBee, Bluetooth beacons, and surveillance cameras technology were also undertaken for monitoring the movement of elderly persons at their home. A website was also developed to disseminate knowledge related to ageing population and AAL technology in Saudi Arabia

Técnicas de computación social e información contextual para el desarrollo de actividades de aprendizaje colaborativo

[EN]Educational innovation is a field in which its processes has been greatly enriched by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Thanks to technological advances, the use of learning models where information comes from many different sources is now usual. Likewise, student-student, student-device and device-device collaborations provides added value to the learning processes thanks to the fact that, through it, aspects such as communication, achievement of common goals or sharing resources. Within the educational innovation, we find as a great challenge the development of tools that facilitate the creation of innovative collaborative learning processes that improve the achievement of the objectives sought, with respect to individualized processes, and the fidelity of the students to the process through the use of contextual information. Moreover, the development of these solutions, that facilitate the work of teachers, developers and technicians encouraging the production of educational processes more attractive to students, presents itself as an ambitious challenge in which the perspectives of Ambient Intelligence and Social Computing play a key role. The doctoral dissertation presented here describes and evaluates CAFCLA, a framework specially conceived for the design, development and implementation of collaborative learning activities that make use of contextual information and that is based on the paradigms of Ambient Intelligence and Social Computing. CAFCLA is a flexible framework that covers the entire process of developing collaborative learning activities and hides all the difficulties involved in the use and integration of multiple technologies to its users. In order to evaluate the validity of the proposal, CAFCLA has supported the implementation of three concrete and different use cases. These experimental use cases have shown that, among other benefits, the use of Social Computing customizes the learning process, encourages collaboration, improves relationships, increases commitment, promotes behaviour change in users and enables learning to be maintained over time. In addition, in order to demonstrate the flexibility of the framework, these use cases have been developed in different scenarios (such as a museum, a public building or at home), different types of learning have been proposed (serious games, recommendations system orWebQuest) and different learning objectives have been chosen (academic, social and energy-efficient).[ES]La innovación educativa es un campo que ha sido enormemente enriquecido por el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (TIC) en sus procesos. Gracias a los avances tecnológicos, actualmente es habitual el uso de modelos de aprendizaje donde la información proviene de numerosas y diferentes fuentes. De igual forma, la colaboración estudiante-estudiante, estudiante-dispositivo y dispositivo-dispositivo, proporciona un valor añadido a los procesos de aprendizaje gracias a que, a través de ella, se fomentan aspectos como la comunicación, la consecución de una meta común, o la compartición de recursos. Dentro de la innovación educativa encontramos como un gran desafío el desarrollo de herramientas que faciliten la creación de procesos de aprendizaje colaborativo innovadores que mejoren los resultados obtenidos, respecto a los procesos individualizados, y la fidelidad de los estudiantes al proceso mediante el uso de información contextual.Más aún, el desarrollo de soluciones que faciliten el trabajo a profesores, desarrolladores y técnicos, fomentando la producción de procesos educativos más atractivos para los estudiantes, se presenta como un ambicioso reto en el que las perspectivas de la Inteligencia Ambiental y la Computación Social juegan un papel fundamental. La tesis doctoral aquí presentada describe y evalúa CAFCLA, un framework especialmente concebido para el diseño, desarrollo e implementación de actividades de aprendizaje colaborativo que hagan uso de información contextual basándose en los paradigmas de la Inteligencia Ambiental y la Computación Social. CAFCLA es un framework flexible que abarca todo el proceso de desarrollo de actividades de aprendizaje colaborativo y oculta todas las dificultades que implican el uso e integración de múltiples tecnologías a sus usuarios. Para evaluar la validez de la propuesta realizada, CAFCLA ha soportado la implementación de tres casos de uso concretos y diferentes entre sí. Estos casos de uso experimentales han demostrado que, entre otros beneficios, el uso de la Computación Social personaliza el proceso de aprendizaje, fomenta la colaboración, mejora las relaciones, aumenta el compromiso, favorecen el cambio de comportamiento en los usuarios y mantiene su implicación en el proceso a lo largo del tiempo. Además, con el objetivo de demostrar la flexibilidad del framework, estos casos de uso se han desarrollado en diferentes escenarios (como un museo, un edificio público o el hogar), se han propuesto diferente tipos de aprendizaje (juegos serios, sistema de recomendaciones o WebQuest) y se han elegido diferentes objetivos de aprendizaje (académicos, sociales y de eficiencia energética)