Fall Prediction and Prevention Systems: Recent Trends, Challenges, and Future Research Directions.

Fall prediction is a multifaceted problem that involves complex interactions between physiological, behavioral, and environmental factors. Existing fall detection and prediction systems mainly focus on physiological factors such as gait, vision, and cognition, and do not address the multifactorial nature of falls. In addition, these systems lack efficient user interfaces and feedback for preventing future falls. Recent advances in internet of things (IoT) and mobile technologies offer ample opportunities for integrating contextual information about patient behavior and environment along with physiological health data for predicting falls. This article reviews the state-of-the-art in fall detection and prediction systems. It also describes the challenges, limitations, and future directions in the design and implementation of effective fall prediction and prevention systems

Investigating design issues of context-aware mobile guides for people with visual impairments

While mobile wayfinding systems for visually impaired people offer huge potential, most insufficiently address the differences between visual impairments and contextual environments, and offer very little context-awareness - usability issues of which are vital in supporting independent mobility. Participants experiencing a loss of central vision, loss of peripheral vision, and total vision loss made up three groups. Our multidisciplinary model of context was used to design a user study, which involved asking participants to walk to pre-determined outdoor and indoor landmarks. Significant differences were found between groups relating to information requirements, and the environmental cues encoded and used to orientate and navigate. The study also found differences between indoor and outdoor contexts. It was concluded that what is meaningful to one form of visual impairment is incidental to another. These issues need to be captured and accounted for if wayfinding systems are to be usable

Towards an Integrated Development Environment for Context-Aware User Interfaces

The emergence of mobile computing devices brings along the fact that users interact with computers in various environments. The user interface of a mobile system can be affected by environmental context. Several approaches succeed in providing architectures and frameworks to support the building and reuse of software components considering context information. Taking into account context information in designing the interaction of a system, however, has not yet been extensively investigated. In this paper we will discuss an Integrated Development Environment, DynaMo-AID, we are developing to support the design, prototyping, evaluation and deployment of context-aware interactive systems

How Can Mobile Applications Reduce Energy Consumption? An Experimental Investigation of Electric Vehicles

The role of information systems for environmental sustainability has received considerable attention over the last several years. In view of global warming and climate change, a transition from combustion to electric vehicles (EVs) can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since sustainable behavior often lacks relevant information about its environmental effects, the role of information systems in influencing energy consumption is being explored in this paper. The main focus is to investigate the impact of driver assistance systems in form of mobile applications on the energy consumption of EVs. To test such an impact, a field experiment is conducted by defining a control group and an experimental group. Test drives are performed with an all-electric, lithium-ion battery powered, small passenger city car. As the treatment of the study, a mobile application is chosen that monitors excessive acceleration and hard braking. The results reveal significant differences among the groups, which indicate that using smartphone-based driver assistance systems significantly reduces the energy consumption of EVs. This can entail several benefits, including an increase of range of EVs, electricity cost savings, decrease of vehicle wear, and reduction of GHG emissions. The findings are discussed and implications for research and practice are given

The LAB@FUTURE Project - Moving Towards the Future of E-Learning

This paper presents Lab@Future, an advanced e-learning platform that uses novel Information and Communication Technologies to support and expand laboratory teaching practices. For this purpose, Lab@Future uses real and computer-generated objects that are interfaced using mechatronic systems, augmented reality, mobile technologies and 3D multi user environments. The main aim is to develop and demonstrate technological support for practical experiments in the following focused subjects namely: Fluid Dynamics - Science subject in Germany, Geometry - Mathematics subject in Austria, History and Environmental Awareness – Arts and Humanities subjects in Greece and Slovenia. In order to pedagogically enhance the design and functional aspects of this e-learning technology, we are investigating the dialogical operationalisation of learning theories so as to leverage our understanding of teaching and learning practices in the targeted context of deployment

Mobile information systems' security, privacy, and environmental sustainability aspects

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Evaluating LAB@FUTURE, a collaborative e-learning Laboratory experiments platform

This paper presents Lab@Future, an advanced e-learning platform that uses novel Information and Communication Technologies to support and expand laboratory teaching practices. For this purpose, Lab@Future uses real and computer generated objects that are interfaced using mechatronic systems, augmented reality, mobile technologies and 3D multi user environments. The main aim is to develop and demonstrate technological support for practical experiments in the following focused disciplines namely: Fluid Dynamics - Science subject in Germany, Geometry - Mathematics subject in Austria, History and Environmental Awareness – Arts and Humanities subjects in Greece and Slovenia. In order to pedagogically enhance the design and functional aspects of this e-learning technology, we are investigating the dialogical operationalisation of learning theories so as to leverage our understanding of teaching and learning practices in the targeted context of deployment. To be able to evaluate the lab@future system in its entire complexity an evaluation methodology including several phases has been developed, performing formative as well as summative evaluations

Mobile phones use by urban refugees in South Africa: Opportunities and challenges

The utilization of mobile phones is increasingly seen as a crucial means of reducing inequalities and ensuring people’s inclusion in society. Yet, an understanding of the factors affecting the use of mobile phones remains inadequate. Drawing from Sen’s capability approach and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the findings suggest that mobile phone use affords valuable capabilities to the users. However, the generation of these capabilities is contingent on power relations in the social field - between social structures and individual’s agency. In South Africa, the capabilities of empowerment that urban refugees can generate through mobile phone use are either enhanced or hindered by interrelated factors, namely the affordances of mobile phones, socio-environmental factors, and personal factors. This paper contributes to the theory in the field of Information Systems by proposing a dynamic framework with precise constructs for theorizing and explaining the mechanisms and social practices that shape mobile phone use and the capabilities for empowerment