Events of daily living classification on an ambient assisted living environment

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e ComputadoresPopulation ageing is a global demographic challenge and countries all around the world are facing significant pressure on their health and social care systems in order to mitigate the effects of it. The emerging social aspect introduced some crucial challenges to society and greater demands on the actual health care sector, which led to the emergence and increased integration of agefriendly innovative welfare technological-based care services for safe and independent ageing, including the assisted living technologies based on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm and Pervasive HealthCare. The Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems intend to provide caregivers with a detailed overview of their Events of Daily Living (EDL), which constitutes a clinical criteria to evaluate activity limitations. This dissertation addresses these challenges and contributes to the Ambient Assisted Living research, by means of a holistic solution composed of a beyond the state-of-the-art AAL technologies, representing a novel approach to assist in the investigation and on the modeling of a subset of Events of Daily Living (EDL), for sustaining independent living and a continual naturalistic assessment of health. The investigation was focused on 1) developing a multisensorial pervasive Research Data Acquistion (RDA) Platform with embedded Ambient Intelligence (AmI), 2) COTS to verify their validity and reliability for healthcare applications. The proposed solution has been thoroughly evaluated in the Ambient Assisted Living Laboratory that showed its effectiveness classifying EDL through the application of the AAL paradigm in the real world.O envelhecimento populacional é um desafio demográfico global e os países em todo o mundo estão sob com enorme pressão nos seus sistemas de saúde a fim de mitigar os efeitos que poderão advir. O aspecto social emergente introduziu alguns desafios cruciais para a sociedade e uma maior sobrecarga no setor de saúde, o que levou ao surgimento e aumento da integração de serviços inovadores de assistência social, de modo a que haja um envelhecimento seguro e independente, incluindo as tecnologias de assistência à vida com base no paradigma de Ambient Intelligence (AmI) e no Pervasive HealthCare, os sistemas de Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). Eles pretendem fornecer aos profissionais de saúde uma visão detalhada de seu Events of Daily Living (EDL), que constitui um critério clínico para avaliar as limitações da atividade. Para enfrentar estes desafios, esta dissertação contribui para a pesquisa na área de Ambient Assisted Living, por meio de uma solução holística composta por uma tecnologia além das tecnologias state-of-the-art, representando uma nova abordagem para auxiliar na investigação e na modelação de um subconjunto de Events of Daily Living (EDL), para sustentar uma vida independente e uma avaliação naturalística contínua da saúde. A investigação foi focada em 1) desenvolver uma plataforma multisensorial pervasiva Research Data Acquistion (RDA) com Ambient Intelligence (AmI), 2) COTS para verificar a sua validade e fiabilidade para aplicações de assistência médica. A solução proposta foi avaliada no Ambient Assisted Living Laboratory, que mostrou bastante eficácia ao classificar EDL através da aplicação do paradigma AAL no mundo real

Risks of Daily Living Activities on Related Disability

Indonesian lost 6 days productive time in average because the disability of daily activities, that must be dealt with seriously because the effect of this problem is the declining quality of life of a person and will also cause a burden for country. This research is expected to be the key to understand and overcome the problems of disability in daily activities. The research used cross sectional design with a secondary data based of Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 5. The analysis in this study was logistic regression with samples aged >40 years who participated in data collection conducted by RAND with a total of 8185 respondents. Almost all variables examined in this study were statistically significant with disabilities, there were age (p = 0.000, OR = 2.996, 95%CI = 2.726 – 3.294), gender (p = 0.000, OR = 1.858, 95%CI = 1.693 – 2.039), marital status (p = 0.000, OR = 2.211, 95%CI = 1.997 – 2.448), employment status (p = 0.000, OR = 2.540, 95%CI = 2.321 – 2.780), arthritis status (p = 0.000, OR = 1.687, 95%CI = 1.482 – 1.919) and obesity (p = 0.000, OR = 1.345, 95%CI = 1.177 – 1.538). Only variable educational level that is not significant with disability (p=0,198). The target of disability management is prioritized at an older age by providing health education and assistance so that they can withstand the threat of daily disability and lead to an improvement in their quality of life

Coping Strategies among Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Cluster Analysis

Introduction/Background: The variability in coping strategies among caregivers of children with ASD may contribute to broader health outcomes; however, it is unclear if specific coping strategies are related to overall strain in this population. Therefore, this study identified groups of caregivers based on coping mechanisms and investigated differences in strain among groups. Materials & Methods: This study utilized a secondary data analysis, and included survey responses of 273 caregivers of children with ASD. Measures consisted of the COPE Inventory, and the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire. Data analyses consisted of cluster analysis to group caregiver coping strategies, and Analysis of Variance to compare the caregiver coping groups on strain level. Results: There were four distinct groups of caregivers of children with ASD with different coping styles: Social-Supported/ Planning, Spontaneous/ Reactive, Self-Supporting/ Reappraisal, and Religious/ Expressive. Caregivers in the Social-Supported/ Planning group demonstrated significantly higher levels than the remaining three groups in the use of the following coping strategies: planning, use of instrumental social support, and use of emotional social support, relative to the other three groups. Caregivers in group the Spontaneous/ Reactive group used less restraint and less suppression of competing activities relative to the other three groups. Caregivers in the Self-Supporting/ Reappraisal showed more acceptance, and positive reinterpretation and growth coping strategies. Caregivers in the Religious/ Expressive group demonstrated significantly higher levels of religious coping relative to the other three groups and utilized more venting of emotions strategies. Groups did not differ on strain level. Conclusion: This study showed that caregivers of children with ASD may utilize differential combinations of coping strategies. Future research should investigate differences between groups of caregivers based subjective strain

Aboriginal Dreaming

The earth is the very substance of Australian Aboriginal life. The importance of the sense of place in Aboriginal life cannot be overstressed. An intimate knowledge of the environment and geography was, and still is, imperative to survival within a hunting and gathering context

Recognizing and celebrating Xhosa traditional music in South Africa

The recognition and celebration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) as a way forward to promote democracy and inclusivity continues to be part of South Africa\u27s nation building process. One effective platform for this to take place is through community music making as music making in Africa is a way of life. Since democracy in 1994 many initiatives were set up to explore and foster traditional music. This paper presents a brief contextualization of IKS, identity and community music making. It reports on the a Xhosa music research project (2004-2006) as an ethnographic study which is descriptive and interpretive as a holistic cultural portrait. Participants in the project included post-graduate music students, community culture bearers and academics. Only some significant aspects of the Xhose music project at the University of Fort Hare will be reported on. We contextualize the recognition and celebration of IKS within the parameters of the music and the culture of the amaMpondo within the Xhosa people. The paper specifically focuses on the ritual life of the amaMpondo. It also describes the indigenous bow instruments of the Uhadi and Umrhubhe as unique examples of South Africa\u27s traditional music. As this initiative proved a worthy undertaking, we challenge whether such a project could strengthen local IKS elsewhere and be a pathway for tertiary institutions to engage effectively with local community music practitioners in order to prepare students effectively as holistic music educators.<br /

Teaching A New Generation: The Differences Are Not Trivial

As organizational behavior learners apply managerial knowledge in classroom exercises or in the field, the hidden knowledge they hold of the cultural context of these applications works spontaneously to create meaning. This contextual knowledge is developed profoundly in our formative years; thus tacit experiential knowledge differs by generation. Today’s college-aged Millennials see organizational life and OB theory differently than yesterday’s Gen X, or Baby Boomer cohorts. These differences are revealed in an exercise using the vintage (1982) and current editions of the board game Trivial Pursuit. This activity asks learners to find the presence of generationally-cultivated knowledge in their daily lives and consider its effect on their use of OB theory. The experiential exercise is also linked to field interviews and other activities related to understanding generational differences in world view

Coping Mechanisms Of Elderly, Ill, Homebound Clients

This study was a descriptive one whose purpose was to identify coping mechanisms used by elderly, ill, homebound clients. The sample included 30 home health clients in a small southern community. The average age of the subjects was 76 years. Data were collected using Coping Resources Inventory (Hammer & Mart i n g , 1988) and a demographic and health history form. Data were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, and Pearson r_. Analysis of the data revealed that the elders utilized spiritual/philosophical , cognitive, social, and emotional coping skills equally and more often than physical coping skills. There were significant correlations between social coping skills and sex, marriage, and previous home health experience ; between cognitive coping skills and the need for assistance with activities of daily living; between physical coping skills and diagnoses of diabetes or bone and joint disorders ; and between total coping skills and p r e v i o u s ho m e h e a l t h experience. Recommendations for further study include investigation of the coping mechanisms of well and ill elders and the impact of nursing care on coping. Geriatric Nurse Clinicians should promote the use of a broad range of coping mechanisms to prevent crises