Modelling employee resilience using wearables and apps::a conceptual framework and research design

Occupational stress can cause health problems, productivity loss or absenteeism. Resilience interventions that help employees positively adapt to adversity can help prevent the negative consequences of occupational stress. Due to advances in sensor technology and smartphone applications, relatively unobtrusive self-monitoring of resilience-related outcomes is possible. With models that can recognize intra-individual changes in these outcomes and relate them to causal factors within the employee's context, an automated resilience intervention that gives personalized, just-in-time feedback can be developed. This paper presents the conceptual framework and methods behind the WearMe project, which aims to develop such models. A cyclical conceptual framework based on existing theories of stress and resilience is presented as the basis for the WearMe project. The operationalization of the concepts and the daily measurement cycle are described, including the use of wearable sensor technology (e.g., sleep tracking and heart rate variability measurements) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (mobile app). Analyses target the development of within-subject (n=1) and between-subjects models and include repeated measures correlation, multilevel modelling, time series analysis and Bayesian network statistics. Future work will focus on further developing these models and eventually explore the effectiveness of the envisioned personalized resilience system

Enabling Automated, Conversational Health Coaching with Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence

Health coaching is a promising approach to support self-management of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes; however, there aren’t enough coaching practitioners to support those in need. Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have the potential to enable innovative, automated health coaching interventions, but important gaps remain in applying AI and ML to coaching interventions. This thesis aims to identify computational approaches and interactive technologies that enable automated health coaching systems. First, I utilized computational approaches that leverage individuals’ self-tracking and health data and used an expert system to translate ML inferences into personalized nutrition goal recommendations. The system, GlucoGoalie, was evaluated in multiple studies including a 4-week deployment study which demonstrated the feasibility of the approach. Second, I compared human-powered and automated/chatbot approaches to health coaching in a 3-week study which found that t2.coach — a scripted, theoretically-grounded chatbot designed through an iterative, user-centered process — cultivated a coach-like experience that had many similarities to the experience of messaging with actual health coaches, and outlined directions for automated, conversational coaching interventions. Third, I examined multiple AI approaches to enable micro-coaching dialogs — brief coaching conversations related to specific meals, to support achievement of nutrition goals — including a knowledge-based system for natural language understanding, and a data-driven, reinforcement learning approach for dialog management. Together, the results of these studies contribute methods and insights that take steps towards more intelligent conversational coaching systems, with resonance to research in informatics, human-computer interaction, and health coaching

Searching for the Good Life: Rhetoric, Medicine, and the Shaping of Lifestyle

The “Chronic Care Model” (CCM), developed by Edward H. Wagner, represents a watershed attempt to address the disconnect between acute models of care and those oriented toward chronic patients for whom lifestyle changes rooted in everyday life are a central concern. To achieve the system-wide changes needed to advance the cause of patient self-care, the CCM focuses on synergizing various layers of the healthcare system, including clinical research and quality improvements, new communication technologies, and provider-patient interactions. Crucially, the conduits that connect these layers have received scant attention, especially when it comes to the methods of interaction and persuasion that enhance the prospects for healthcare innovation. This project addresses this gap drawing inspiration from Richard McKeon’s claim that the art of rhetoric provides tools for synergizing complex and highly interactive human systems. Thus, it rhetorically re-imagines the CCM, arguing that rhetoric plays a role in cultivating better clinical practices through collaboration across the spectrum of activities that make up chronic care. To achieve this end, this project focuses on a CCM inspired case study: the Online Lifestyle Support System (OLSS), developed through a robust relationship between academic researchers and corporate disseminators. The OLSS translates an evidence-based lifestyle curriculum into an online platform designed to assist obese and diabetic patients in managing their weight and co-morbid conditions. This online system includes online lessons and live lifestyle coaching. In order to capture unique insights about the practices of lifestyle management within the OLSS, this dissertation draws on three interview projects with individuals working at each layer of chronic care delivery: lifestyle coaches, participants in the study, and those tasked with advertizing and selling the OLSS to new clinical environments. Drawing on the words of these different groups provides grist for the granular development of new insights into the practices that make-up chronic care. Finally, in framing these interview projects, this dissertation draws on rhetorically-inflected terms from the ancient Greek tradition: paideia (education), phronesis (experiential learning), and eudaimonia (the fulfilling life), to articulate the developmental and persuasive processes involved in the preparation of practitioners, the cultivation of self-care, and the effort to disseminate new research findings

The appraisal of Facebook online community: An exposition of mobile commerce in social media reviews

Peer reviewe

Socially Assistive Robots for Exercising Scenarios. Studies on group effects, feedback, embodiment and adaption

Schneider S. Socially Assistive Robots for Exercising Scenarios. Studies on group effects, feedback, embodiment and adaption. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2019.Even though positive effects of being physically active are commonly known, only a few parts of the world population are sufficiently ac- tive. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that this problem affects 31% of the adult’s world population and 80% of the adolescent population. Appropriate levels of physical activity (PA) are essential to prevent obesity in childhood and to keep a Quality of Life (QOL) in old age but are also essential to prevent other Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). Thus, physical inactivity is growing into a severe problem globally, and there is a growing need to motivate people to become more physically active during their lifetime. One primary cause that raises PA levels is having a peer or help from professionals. However, having assistance is not possible in every situation. It might be challenging to find and schedule with a partner or to commute to other places. Roboticist introduced Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) as an assistive tool for exercising, cognitive or rehabilitation tasks. This thesis explores SAR in the context of exercising along four features that have been partly targeted but not yet thoroughly investigated. These features are a) the social role of the robot, b) encouragement c) embodiment and d) adaptation. First, this thesis looks at the mo- tivational effects of exercising with SAR concerning features a) - c). Second, this thesis questions how a system can adapt to the user, and whether adaptivity or adaptability is enough to close the gap between user needs and system behavior. I conducted studies that test the dif- ferent features by assessing subjective ratings of the robot as well as measurable motivational variables (e.g., time spent exercising with the robot) in a bodyweight workout scenario. The results show that features a) - c) have a positive influence on user’s exercising time. Additionally, users perceive a robot compan- ion as more likable than a robot instructor or a human partner. Fur- thermore, an adaptive robot increases the associated competence and quality of relationship compared to an adaptable robot. However, the results also show that the robot does not always have to exercise along with the user. In situations where it is not possible, the robot could also only give encouraging feedback. This thesis backs up earlier find- ings of using SAR by replicating motivational group exercising ef- fects found in Human-Human Interaction (HHI). Thus, the evidence that SARs are a suitable tool for rehabilitative interventions increases which may convince health experts to consider SAR as a useful thera- peutic tool. Nevertheless, this thesis evaluated the effects only during short-term interactions. Thus, proving that the found effects are long- lasting is essential for future studies

Learn Languages, Explore Cultures, Transform Lives

Selected Papers from the 2015 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Aleidine J. Moeller, Editor 1. Creating a Culture-driven Classroom One Activity at a Time — Sharon Wilkinson, Patricia Calkins, & Tracy Dinesen 2. The Flipped German Classroom — Theresa R. Bell 3. Engaging Learners in Culturally Authentic Virtual Interactions —Diane Ceo-Francesco 4. Jouney to Global Competence: Learning Languages, Exploring Cultures, Transforming Lives — J. S. Orozco-Domoe 5. Strangers in a Strange Land: Perceptions of Culture in a First-year French Class — Rebecca L. Chism 6. 21st Century World Language Classrooms: Technology to Support Cultural Competence — Leah McKeeman & Blanca Oviedo 7. Effective Cloud-based Technologies to Maximize Language Learning — Katya Koubek & John C. Bedward 8. An Alternative to the Language Laboratory: Online and Face-to-face Conversation Groups — Heidy Cuervo Carruthers 9. Free Online Machine Translation: Use and Perceptions by Spanish Students and Instructors —Jason R. Jolley & Luciane Maimone 10. A Corpus-based Pedagogy for German Vocabulary — Colleen Neary-Sundquist 11. Grammar Teaching Approaches for Heritage Learners of Spanish —Clara Burgo 12. Going Online: Research-based Course Design — Elizabeth Harsm