Mobile Application Development for Senior Citizens

Aged care is a significant issue which concerns all governments. In order to provide assistance and provide quality of life to senior citizens, enormous resources are invested by the government each year. A significant proportion of the investment is used to provide a range of services for senior citizens who stay at home. Since providing quality aged care is an ongoing and complex process, there is a desperate need to develop innovative solutions, which will benefit society at large. Although modern information technology products are changing the lifestyle of younger generations, they have much less impact on old people. This research therefore undertakes a novel study into the question of: What mobile applications can be developed on smartphone devices to improve senior citizens’ quality of lives. By using a requirement framework developed from the literature, this study also explored the availability and suitability of current mobile applications which are available from IPhone Application shops, Nokia OVI stores and other sources in order to identify possible directions for future mobile application development for aged care purposes

Dpws middleware to support agent-based manufacturing control and simulation

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de ComputadoresIn present manufacturing systems, the current challenge is the development of highly reconfigurable, truly distributed solutions. The tendency is to build manufacturing systems with autonomous, intelligent and distributed components that will support reconfiguration and adaptability. The most promising paradigms for the implementation of such systems are multi-agents and service oriented architectures (SOA), mainly over the DPWS (Device Profile for Web Services) implementation which was aimed at devices. An important limitation of most current multi-agent systems is that the management system is not totally distributed. Failure in the agent responsible for the registry can overthrow the entire system. DPWS does not have this limitation, since the management system is totally distributed. However, DPWS does not support agent autonomy notions as efficiently. The possibility of creating a truly distributed multi-agent system by linking both approaches led to this thesis. A Middleware layer was developed that enables agents to benefit from DPWS functionalities in order to reach the proposed goal. This middleware layer joins agents, databases, hardware, simulators, human interface applications such as production system management, error correction and maintenance, etc. To prove this concept a 3D model of an agent controlled manufacturing system with transporters augmented with DPWS communication interfaces was developed

A multi-agent system for administering the prescription of anti-retroviral and anti-TB drugs

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2007Multi-agent systems (MAS) consist of a number of autonomous agents that communicate among themselves to coordinate their activities in order to solve collectively a complex problem that cannot be tackled by any agent individually. These kinds of systems are appropriate in many domains where problems that are complex, distributed and heterogeneous require communication and coordination between separate autonomous agents, which may be running on different machines distributed over the Internet and are located in many different places. In the health care domain, MAS have been used for distributed patient scheduling, organ and tissue transplant management, community care, decision support, training and so on. One other promising area of application is in the prescription of antiretroviral and antiTB drugs. The drugs used to treat the two diseases have many and similar side effects that complicate the prescription process. These factors have to be considered when prescribing medication to a person coinfected with HIV and tuberculosis. This is usually done manually using drug recommendation tables, which are complicated to use and require a great deal of decisionmaking. The design and implementation of a multiagent system that assists health care staff in carrying out the complex task of combining antiretroviral and antiTB drugs in an efficient way is described. The system consists of a number of collaborating agents requiring the communication of complex and diverse forms of information between a variety of clinical and other settings, as well as the coordination between groups of health care professionals (doctors, nurses, counsellors, etcetera.) with very different skills and roles. The agents in the system include: patient agents, nurse agents, lab agents, medication agents and physician agents. The agents may be hosted on different machines, located in many different places distributed over the Internet. The system saves time, minimises decision errors and increases the standard of health care provided to patients

Increase the adoption of Agent-based Cyber-Physical Production Systems through the Design of Minimally Invasive Solutions

During the last few years, many approaches were proposed to offer companies the ability to have dynamic and flexible production systems. One of the conventional ap-proaches to solving this problem is the implementation of cyber-physical production sys-tems using multi-agent distributed systems. Although these systems can deal with several challenges faced by companies in this area, they have not been accepted and used in real cases. In this way, the primary objective of the proposed work is to understand the chal-lenges usually found in the adoption of these solutions and to develop a strategy to in-crease their acceptance and implementation. Thus, the document focuses on the design and development of cyber-physical produc-tion systems based on agent approaches, requiring minimal changes in the existing pro-duction systems. This approach aims of reducing the impact and the alterations needed to adopt those new cyber-physical production systems. Clarifying the subject, the author presents a definition of a minimal invasive agent-based cyber-physical production system and, the functional requirements that the designers and developers must respect to imple-ment the new software. From these functional requirements derived a list of design princi-ples that must be fulfilled to design and develop a system with these characteristics. Subsequently, to evaluate solutions that aim to be minimally invasive, an evaluation model based on a fuzzy inference system is proposed, which rank the approaches accord-ing to each of the design principles and globally. In this way, the proposed work presents the functional requirements, design principles and evaluation model of minimally invasive cyber-physical production systems, to increase the adoption of such systems

Coalition based approach for shop floor agility – a multiagent approach

Dissertation submitted for a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, speciality of Robotics and Integrated Manufacturing from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e TecnologiaThis thesis addresses the problem of shop floor agility. In order to cope with the disturbances and uncertainties that characterise the current business scenarios faced by manufacturing companies, the capability of their shop floors needs to be improved quickly, such that these shop floors may be adapted, changed or become easily modifiable (shop floor reengineering). One of the critical elements in any shop floor reengineering process is the way the control/supervision architecture is changed or modified to accommodate for the new processes and equipment. This thesis, therefore, proposes an architecture to support the fast adaptation or changes in the control/supervision architecture. This architecture postulates that manufacturing systems are no more than compositions of modularised manufacturing components whose interactions when aggregated are governed by contractual mechanisms that favour configuration over reprogramming. A multiagent based reference architecture called Coalition Based Approach for Shop floor Agility – CoBASA, was created to support fast adaptation and changes of shop floor control architectures with minimal effort. The coalitions are composed of agentified manufacturing components (modules), whose relationships within the coalitions are governed by contracts that are configured whenever a coalition is established. Creating and changing a coalition do not involve programming effort because it only requires changes to the contract that regulates it

Collaborative networks in ambient assisted living

Tese de doutoramento em InformáticaCollaborative Work plays an important role in today’s organizations, especially in areas where decisions must be made. However, any decision that involves a collective or group of decision makers is, by itself, complex, but is becoming recurrent in recent years. In this work we present the VirtualECare project, an intelligent multiagent system able to monitor, interact and serve its customers, in need of care services. In last year’s there has been a substantially increase on the number of people needed of intensive care, especially among the elderly, a phenomenon that is related to population ageing. However, this is becoming not exclusive of the elderly, as diseases like obesity, diabetes and blood pressure have been increasing among young adults. This is a new reality that needs to be dealt by the health sector, particularly by the public one. Given this scenario, the importance of finding new and cost effective ways for health care delivery are of particular importance, especially when it is believed that they should not be removed from their natural “habitat”. Following this line of thinking, the VirtualECare project will be presented, like similar ones that preceded it. On the other hand, this is a growing interest in combining the advances in information society ‐ computing, telecommunications and presentation – in order to create Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs). Indeed, the new economy, along with increased competition in today’s complex business environments, takes the companies to seek complementarities in order to increase competitiveness and reduce risks. Under these settings, planning takes a major role in a company life. However, effective planning depends on the generation and analysis of ideas (innovative or not) and, as a result, the idea generation and management processes are crucial. In particular if is believed that the use of GDSS in the healthcare arena will allow professionals to achieve better results in the analysis of one’s Electronically Clinical Profile (ECP). This achievement is vital, regarding the explosion of knowledge and skills, together with the need to use limited resources and get the expected outcomes.Hoje em dia, o Trabalho Colaborativo desempenha um papel deveras importante na maioria das organizações, especialmente em áreas em que decisões têm de ser tomadas. No entanto, e muito embora comece a ser recorrente, qualquer decisão que envolva um grupo colectivo de decisores é, por si só, complexa. Nesta tese apresenta‐se o projecto VirtualECare, um sistema inteligente multi‐agente capaz de monitorar, interagir e servir os seus utilizadores, com necessidades de cuidados de saúde. Nos últimos anos têm‐se verificado um aumento substancial no número de pessoas necessitadas de cuidados intensivos, especialmente entre a população mais envelhecida, um fenómeno directamente relacionado com o envelhecimento gradual da população. No entanto, esta é uma problemática que começa a deixar de estar exclusivamente associada aos idosos, uma vez que, doenças como a obesidade, diabetes e a pressão arterial têm vindo a aumentar junto dos, assim chamados, jovens adultos. Esta é uma nova realidade com a qual o sector da saúde necessita de lidar, especialmente o sector público. Apresentados estes cenários, a importância de encontrar novas formas, mais eficazes ao nível dos custos, de providenciar cuidados de saúde, a quem deles necessita, torna‐se ainda mais premente, especialmente quando acreditamos que estes não devem ser deslocalizados do seu “habitat” natural. Seguindo esta linha de raciocínio, vamos apresentar o projecto VirtualECare, bem como similares que o precederam. Recentemente tem‐se vindo a assistir a um interesse crescente em combinar os avanços na, assim chamada, sociedade da informação – computação, telecomunicações e apresentação – de forma a se criarem Sistemas de Apoio à Decisão em Grupo (GDSS). Na realidade, a nova economia, associada ao elevado crescimento da competitividade do, já de si, complexo mundo empresarial, provoca a procura, por parte das empresas e/ou instituições, de outras que as possam complementar para assim se poderem tornar mais competitivas e reduzir os riscos assumidos. Neste cenário, o planeamento assume um papel da maior importância na vida de uma empresa. No entanto, um planeamento eficaz depende da geração e posterior análise de ideias (inovativas ou não) e, como resultado, o processo de geração e análise de ideias também se torna crucial. O nosso objectivo é aplicar os já apresentados GDSS a uma nova área. É de esperar que o uso de GDSS na área da prestação de cuidados de saúde irá permitir que os seus profissionais obtenham melhores e mais imediatos resultados na análise de um qualquer Processo Clínico Electrónico (ECP), sendo este um factor crucial, tendo em conta a explosão de conhecimento e técnicas conjugadas com a necessidade de melhor se utilizar os recursos existentes

Modélisation bayésienne et robotique

This document describes my research around Bayesian modeling and robotics. My work started with the modeling of biological processes before evolving towards robotics. In both cases, I was interested in both perception and action. I first proposed a model of human perception of planar surfaces with optic flow which fuses in a single framework two concurrent hypotheses of the literature. I also proposed and compared several models of eye movement selection in a Multiple Object Tracking task. I was able to show that the model with explicit uncertainty was the closest to the subjects eye movements.In robotics, I worked on the state estimation of several robots with classical filtering techniques but also including fusion of multiple sources of information of various nature and characteristics. I also discuss the Iterative Closest Point algorithm for which we proposed a more rigorous method for evaluating the different variants. The last piece of work I present deals with online three-dimensional path planning and execution of a tracked robot with significant climbing capabilities.I conclude this document with perspectives on what I call situated robotics, that is robots not taken in isolation but embedded in a sensorized environment shared with humans.Ce document décrit mes travaux de recherche autour de la modélisation bayésienne et de la robotique. Mon travail a commencé par la modélisation de processus biologiques avant, dans un deuxième temps, d'évoluer vers la robotique. Dans les deux cas, je me suis intéressé à la fois à la perception et à l'action. J'ai donc proposé un modèle de la perception humaine de plans par le flux optique qui réunit deux hypothèses de la littérature dans un cadre unique. J'ai aussi proposé et comparé différents modèle de la sélection de mouvement oculaire dans une tâche de suivi multi-cibles, et montré que le modèle prenant en compte explicitement l'incertitude proposait des mouvements plus proches de ceux des sujets.Du côté robotique, j'ai travaillé sur l'estimation d'état de plusieurs robots avec des techniques classiques de filtrage mais en incluant la fusion de plusieurs sources d'informations de nature et caractéristiques différentes. Je discute aussi de l'algorithme d'Iterative Closest Point pour proposer une méthode plus rigoureuse d'évaluation des différentes variantes. Le dernier travail que je présente concerne la planification en ligne et l'exécution de chemin pour un robot à chenille avec des capacités de franchissement importantes.Je conclus ce document par des perspectives de travail sur ce que j'appelle la robotique située, c'est-à-dire des robots non plus isolés mais plongés dans un environnement équipé de capteurs et partagé avec des humains

Avaliação da usabilidade de produtos e serviços "ambient assisted living" numa abordagem "living lab"

Doutoramento em Ciências e Tecnologias da SaúdeO envelhecimento demográfico constitui um desafio à sustentabilidade das sociedades modernas. A população idosa está sujeita a uma evidente diminuição da capacidade funcional, que pode ser minimizada através da utilização de soluções tecnológicas que diminuam a necessidade de assistência e, consequentemente, favoreçam uma velhice autónoma e independente. O Ambient Assited Living (AAL) refere-se a produtos e serviços tecnológicos inteligentes imbuídos no ambiente físico e que são facilitadores de interações inteligentes e naturais entre a pessoa idosa e o ambiente físico. Sendo os produtos e serviços AAL direcionados para a população idosa torna-se fundamental garantir a sua usabilidade. A Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde (CIF), da Organização Mundial de Saúde, é um elemento chave que permite uma abordagem multidisciplinar, completa e centrada no indivíduo para a avaliação da funcionalidade humana. Segundo a CIF, os produtos e serviços AAL enquadram-se nos fatores ambientais que condicionam a funcionalidade humana. Este trabalho consistiu no desenvolvimento de uma metodologia adequada à avaliação da usabilidade de produtos e serviços AAL que utiliza a CIF como modelo enquadrador. O desenvolvimento desta metodologia baseou-se numa abordagem Living Lab que promove o envolvimento de todas as partes interessadas ao longo do processo de desenvolvimento. A metodologia de avaliação de usabilidade Living Usability Lab (LUL) é composta por três fases: validação conceptual, teste protótipo e teste piloto. A sua consolidação exigiu o desenvolvimento, adaptação e avaliação de um conjunto de instrumentos. Para a validação conceptual foram adaptados e criados inquéritos preliminares, personas e cenários. Para o teste protótipo e teste piloto realizou-se a tradução e adaptação cultural e linguística do Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) e da System Usability Scale (SUS), e desenvolveu-se e validou-se a ICF Based Usability Scale (ICF-US). Nos testes de validação dos instrumentos estiveram envolvidos cerca de 60 utilizadores. A metodologia de avaliação de usabilidade LUL foi utilizada num estudo experimental com cerca de 80 utilizadores, em que se consideraram vários projetos de investigação em estádios de desenvolvimento diferentes, e que permitiu demonstrar a sua validade e robustez. Dentro dos vários métodos e ferramentas desenvolvidas, a ICF-US deve ser realçada. Esta foi construída com base no modelo conceptual da CIF e permite, por um lado, realizar uma avaliação global de usabilidade e, por outro, discriminar facilitadores e barreiras o que é fundamental numa abordagem Living Lab. Introduzir a CIF na avaliação de tecnologia é de extrema relevância, pois permite conciliar a área da funcionalidade humana com o AAL e assim estabelecer uma linguagem comum entre as diferentes partes envolvidas no desenvolvimento de produtos e serviços AAL.The demographic aging is a challenge to the sustainability of modern societies. The elderly population suffers a clear decrease of functional capacity, which can be minimized through the use of technological solutions that reduce the need for assistance and, consequently, favors autonomy and independence. The Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) refers to products and intelligent technological services imbued in the physical environment that are facilitators of smart and natural interactions between the elderly people and the physical environment. As AAL products and services are directed to the elderly population it is vital to ensure their usability. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), proposed by the World Health Organization, is a key element that allows a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach based on the individual to assess human functioning. According to the ICF, AAL products and services are considered environmental factors that affect individual functioning. This work consisted in developing an appropriate methodology to evaluate the usability of AAL products and services using the ICF as a conceptual model. The development of this methodology was based in a Living Lab approach, which advocates the involvement of all stakeholders in the development process. The usability evaluation methodology Living Usability Lab (LUL) consists of three phases: concept validation, prototype test and pilot test. Its consolidation required the development, adaptation and validation of a set of instruments. For the conceptual validation preliminary questionnaires, personas and scenarios were developed and adapted. For the prototype test and pilot test the translation, cultural and linguistic adaptation of the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) and the System Usability Scale (SUS) were performed, and the ICF based Usability Scale (ICF-US) was developed and validated. The instruments validation tests involved around 60 users. The usability evaluation methodology was validated in an experimental study with 80 users that considered several research projects in different stages of development, and allowed to demonstrate its validity and robustness. Within the various methods and tools developed ICF-US should be highlighted. This was based on the conceptual model of the ICF and allows on the one hand, make an overall assessment of usability and on the other, discriminate facilitators and barriers which is fundamental in a Living Lab approach. Using the ICF in the evaluation of technology is extremely important because it reconciles the areas of human functioning and AAL, establishing a common language between the different parties involved in the development of AAL products and services