Telecare and self-management: a guideline for anticipating future care in scenario-based design

An important aim of telecare technologies for chronic patients is supporting self-management. Although patient involvement is crucial for successful implementation, any adaptation of telecare systems to needs of users requires explicit reflection regarding which form of self-management it should support. Scenario-based methods (SBDs) are proposed to involve users in the earlier phases of development. This paper aims to extend SBDs by incorporating explicit exploration of self-management forms. We first analyzed what self-management forms were inscribed in the design of a telecare system for COPD patients. These were mainly based on compliance to medical treatment. However, our study shows that many patients thrive better on self-management based on cooperation and concordance with healthcare professionals. To overcome this discrepancy between design and use practices we developed a guideline enabling designers to anticipate and reflect on which form of self-management is desirable to incorporate in the design of telecare technologies for chronic patients

Efficient Decision Support Systems

This series is directed to diverse managerial professionals who are leading the transformation of individual domains by using expert information and domain knowledge to drive decision support systems (DSSs). The series offers a broad range of subjects addressed in specific areas such as health care, business management, banking, agriculture, environmental improvement, natural resource and spatial management, aviation administration, and hybrid applications of information technology aimed to interdisciplinary issues. This book series is composed of three volumes: Volume 1 consists of general concepts and methodology of DSSs; Volume 2 consists of applications of DSSs in the biomedical domain; Volume 3 consists of hybrid applications of DSSs in multidisciplinary domains. The book is shaped decision support strategies in the new infrastructure that assists the readers in full use of the creative technology to manipulate input data and to transform information into useful decisions for decision makers

eXplainable data processing

Seminario realizado en U & P U Patel Department of Computer Engineering, Chandubhai S. Patel Institute of Technology, Charotar University of Science And Technology (CHARUSAT), Changa-388421, Gujarat, India 2021[EN]Deep Learning y has created many new opportunities, it has unfortunately also become a means for achieving ill-intentioned goals. Fake news, disinformation campaigns, and manipulated images and videos have plagued the internet which has had serious consequences on our society. The myriad of information available online means that it may be difficult to distinguish between true and fake news, leading many users to unknowingly share fake news, contributing to the spread of misinformation. The use of Deep Learning to create fake images and videos has become known as deepfake. This means that there are ever more effective and realistic forms of deception on the internet, making it more difficult for internet users to distinguish reality from fictio

Intelligent data processing

Seminario realizado en U & P U Patel Department of Computer Engineering, Chandubhai S. Patel Institute of Technology, Charotar University of Science And Technology (CHARUSAT), Changa-388421, Gujarat, India 2021[EN]In recent years, disruptive technologies have emerged and have revolutionized our communication capabilities over the internet. One of those technologies is Deep Learning. It fits under the broader branch of Artificial Intelligence known as Machine Learnin

Design and realization of a middleware for mobile task coordination

The trend towards interconnection of applications has long been recognized as a key challenge for information systems design. Following this trend, organi- zations have developed and introduced many distributed systems with differ- ent functionalities. Furthermore, computing becomes today increasingly mobile; performances of mobile devices (i.e. PDAs and smartphones) as well as the expansion of high-speed mobile networks allows many tasks to be performed beyond stationary workspaces. The dramatic growth of stand-alone and partly incompatible applications will negatively affect the integration, coordination and communication for entire so- lution. Contemporary solutions focus on stationary systems only; the usage of mobile devices is limited to simple scenarios (i.e. information access). In order to support the seamless integration of mobile devices, future distributed solutions should take services and service meta-information into account (e.g. variation of network bandwidth, battery power, availability, connectivity, reachability, sensors data and locations of services and service providers). In this master thesis we want to analyze how a distributed environment with va- riety of separated (mobile) service providers - implemented with different tech- nologies - can be integrated and coordinated. Finding compromises between performance, comfort and intelligent intercommunication is the main goal of this thesis. Therefore, it is concentrated on the conceptualization and design of a central middleware component that provide the coordination and communication functionalities for stationary and mobile entities. In order to prove some possible communication scenarios, the thesis provides a middleware-based scenario

Noninvasive methods for children\u27s cholesterol level determination

Today, there is a controversy about the role of cholesterol in infants and the measurement and management of blood cholesterol in children. Several scientific evidences are supporting relationship between elevated blood cholesterol in children and high cholesterol in adults and development of adult arteriosclerotic diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Therefore controlling the level of blood cholesterol in children is very important for the health of the whole population. Non-invasive methods are much more convenient for the children because of their anxieties about blood examinations. In this paper we will present a new try to find non-invasive methods for determining the level of blood cholesterol in children with the use of intelligent system

Surface EMG decomposition using a novel approach for blind source separation

We introduce a new method to perform a blind deconvolution of the surface electromyogram (EMG) signals generated by isometric muscle contractions. The method extracts the information from the raw EMG signals detected only on the skin surface, enabling longtime noninvasive monitoring of the electromuscular properties. Its preliminary results show that surface EMG signals can be used to determine the number of active motor units, the motor unit firing rate and the shape of the average action potential in each motor unit

From health care services to healthcare profiling within the COVID-19 emergency : the role of the health quality impact assessment inside the local health unit

Purpose: The work considers the application of the quality of the care profile in hospital care, trying to obtain an overview of the resources used in the entire emergency management process in order to understand the information necessary for setting up improvement of activities. The analysis, combines theoretical reflections and empirical evidence relating to the treatment of the COVID-19 virus, develops the approach in question within the complex process of establishing a more effective and efficient care path. Design/Methodology/Approach: The choice of the field survey, is based on the qualitative method and in particular through the use of the case study, finds justification with the study objective and with the nature of the phenomenon investigated. This method lends itself to the need to observe the phenomena being analyzed in the environment of natural manifestation, even in the presence of other variables such as, the peculiarity of the managerial approach of the structure being investigated. Taking into account the current lack of knowledge on the subject being analyzed (COVID-19), the research is also based on a study of exploratory cases. Exploratory studies are appropriate when the understanding of the phenomenon under analysis from a theoretical (clinical) point of view is still in the embryonic stage. More generally, case studies are aimed at understanding complex organizational phenomena. The investigation concerns the Alfa Hospital in Calabria, selected as a study unit on the basis of some considerations. From a territorial point of view it operates in a vast provincial area. The strong focus on share capital is an important element in relation to the issue of quality as it represents a meta-condition for starting efficiency and planning processes. In addition, from an organizational point of view, the Company participated as a partner in projects on issues relating to emergency management. The Company is the regional reference hospital, DEA II level, regional HUB headquarters and COVID-19 Center. It is the reference point of the SPOKE centers, ensuring the highly specialized functions related to the emergency / urgency, coordinating the activity of the networks at local-regional and national level. Findings: The research focuses on the collection of data that represent the effort made by the Company in the construction of a theoretical-practical framework that acts as a reading key for the interrelation of emergency management with the Company's specific organizational-management model within the path concerning the provision of health services and the related care profiles having as central inspiring logic the centralization of the patient. Practical Implications: Consistent with what happened in other sectors of the Public Administration, where the process of change has as its objective the search for efficiency and efficacy, in Italy there is growing awareness that an efficient, effective and fair health service must be considered a critical success factor for the economic and social development of the country. The health system is at the center of great attention, having to demonstrate that it is adequately using the constantly decreasing resources available to it, in the face of a growing demand for health. Originality/value: The need for a growing orientation towards performance and the use of programming tools in the healthcare sector has been consolidated in the overall process of public administration corporatization. In this context, pathologies characterized by the length of care paths and high complexity in terms of treatment and complications must be considered. These pathologies are important in epidemiological terms, absorbed resources and potential for improvement from the point of view of intervention policies, public health services and efficiency.peer-reviewe