12,463 research outputs found
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Supporting reflection and creative thinking by carers of older people with dementia
This vision paper frames requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. Its purpose is to enable requirements researchers and practitioners to recruit relevant theories, models, techniques and tools from creative problem solving to understand and support requirements processes more effectively. It uses 4 drivers to motivate the case for requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. It then maps established requirements activities onto one of the longest-established creative problem solving processes, and uses these mappings to locate opportunities for the application of creative problem solving in requirements engineering. The second half of the paper describes selected creativity theories, techniques, software tools and training that can be adopted to improve requirements engineering research and practice. The focus is on support for problem and idea finding - two creative problem solving processes that our investigation revealed are poorly supported in requirements engineering. The paper ends with a research agenda to incorporate creative processes, techniques, training and tools in requirements projects
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Role Of Digital Health Wearables In The Wellbeing And Quality Of Life Of Older People And Carers
The number of adults aged 65 and over has increased by 2% across Europe in the past 15 years, and in Northern Ireland by 22% between 2003-2013. The proportion of the population in this age group is projected to increase by 63% to just under 0.5 million by 2033 – which will be a quarter of the population in Northern Ireland. Given Northern Ireland’s Active Ageing Strategy (2015-2021), there is an increasing focus on encouraging physical activity as we get older to preserve mobility and motor skills, and to enjoy the benefits of living longer and to minimise health problems associated with ageing. Over the last two years, we have been investigating the role of wearable activity tracking technologies in self-monitoring of activity by people aged over 55. Example technologies include activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung, and smart watches. Typically, these devices record steps walked, sleep patterns, calories expended and heart rate.
Based on empirical investigations, this policy paper describes the benefits of activity monitors for people aged over 55 for self-monitoring of physical activity, for adopting healthy lifestyles, and for increasing or maintaining physical activity as a way to avoid high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and other medical conditions associated with weight or lower physical activity. It outlines the role of activity trackers in post-operative monitoring of mobility during rehabilitation, in caring, and for possible use of the data for diagnosis and medical interventions. It then discusses the challenges for adoption of these technologies, given currently, off-the-shelf devices are designed and calibrated for use by physically fit (typically young active people) with unrealistic fitness targets for the older generation
Summer learning experience for girls in grades 7–9 boosts confidence and interest in computing careers
Academic exposure to computer science, encouragement to study computer science, and connecting personal interests to computing areas influence women to pursue degrees in computer science. Guided by these recommendations, we designed and offered a summer learning experience for girls in grades 7--9 in summer 2016. The goal of the program was to improve girls\u27 perceptions of learning computer science through academic exposure in the informal setting of a girls-only summer camp. In this paper we present a study of the girls\u27 perceptions of CS learning. Four constructs were used to develop pre- and post-survey items: computing confidence, intent to persist, social supports, and computing outcomes expectations. The camp appeared to have positively influenced the girls on two of the four constructs, by improving computing confidence and positive perceptions of computing careers
Security Code Smells in Android ICC
Android Inter-Component Communication (ICC) is complex, largely
unconstrained, and hard for developers to understand. As a consequence, ICC is
a common source of security vulnerability in Android apps. To promote secure
programming practices, we have reviewed related research, and identified
avoidable ICC vulnerabilities in Android-run devices and the security code
smells that indicate their presence. We explain the vulnerabilities and their
corresponding smells, and we discuss how they can be eliminated or mitigated
during development. We present a lightweight static analysis tool on top of
Android Lint that analyzes the code under development and provides just-in-time
feedback within the IDE about the presence of such smells in the code.
Moreover, with the help of this tool we study the prevalence of security code
smells in more than 700 open-source apps, and manually inspect around 15% of
the apps to assess the extent to which identifying such smells uncovers ICC
security vulnerabilities.Comment: Accepted on 28 Nov 2018, Empirical Software Engineering Journal
(EMSE), 201
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
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Parents’ experiences in using mobile tablets with their child with autism to encourage the development of social communication skills: the development of a parents’ guide
Autism is a lifelong condition that affects how individuals interact with others and make sense of the world around them. The two core difficulties associated with autism are difficulties in social communication and interaction, and the manifestation of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour. However, children with autism may also have many talents and special interests among which is their affinity with digital technologies. Despite the increasing use of mobile tablets in schools and homes, and the children’s motivation in using them, there is limited guidance on how to use the tablets to teach children with autism specific skills. This study aims to fill this gap in knowledge by providing guidelines about the ways in which iPads and other tablets can be used by parents/carers and their child at home to support the development of social communication skills.
Semi-structured interviews with 10 parents of primary school aged children (4-11 years old) with autism were conducted with the aim to explore their experiences in using mobile devices, such as iPads and android tablets, and social activities with their children to create opportunities for social communication development. The interview involved questions about the parents’ knowledge and experience in autism, their understanding of social communication skills, the use of technology at home, and their links with the child’s school.
Qualitative analysis of the interviews showed that parents used a variety of strategies to boost their child’s social communication skills.
Among these strategies were:
a) the use of communication symbols,
b) the use of the child’s special interest as motivator to gain their attention, and
c) allowing time to their child to respond.
It was also found that parents engaged their child in joint activities such as cooking, role play and creating social stories together on the device. Seven out of ten parents mentioned that the tablet is a motivating tool that can be used to teach social communication skills, nonetheless all parents raised concerns over screen time and their child’s sharing difficulties. The need for training and advice as well as building stronger links with their child’s school was highlighted. In particular, it was mentioned that recommendations would be welcomed about how parents can address their child’s difficulties in initiating or sustaining a conversation, taking turns and sharing, understanding other people’s feelings and facial expressions, and showing interest to other people.
This is the first study to date that resulted in the development of a parents’ guide informed by evidence-based practice and the participants’ experiences and concerns. The proposed guidelines aim to urge parents to feel more confident in using the tablet with their child in more collaborative ways. In particular, the guide offers recommendations about how to develop verbal and non-verbal communication, gives examples of tablet based activities to interact and create things together, as well as it offers suggestions on how to provide a worry free tablet experience and how to connect with the school
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A Mobile App Delivering a Gamified Battery of Cognitive Tests Designed for Repeated Play (OU Brainwave): App Design and Cohort Study
Background: Mobile phone and tablet apps are an increasingly common platform to collect data. A key challenge for researchers has been participant “buy-in” and participant attrition for designs requiring repeated testing.
Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and asses the utility of 1 – 2 minute versions of both classic and novel cognitive tasks within a user focussed and driven mobile phone and tablet app designed to encourage repeated play.
Methods: A large sample (N = 13,979 at first data collection) participated in multiple, self-paced, sessions of working memory (N-back), spatial cognition (Mental rotation), sustained attentional focus (Persistent Vigilance task), and split attention (Multiple object tracking) tasks along with an implementation of a novel action learning task. A full morningness-eveningness questionnaire was also included. Data was collected across an 18 month period. While the app prompted reengagement at set intervals, each participant was free to repeatedly complete each task as many times as they wished.
Results: We found a significant relationship between morningness and age (r = 0.298, n = 12755, p
Conclusions: Using extremely short testing periods and permitting participants to decide their own level of engagement - both in terms of which gamified task they played, and how many sessions they completed - we were able to collect a substantial and valid dataset. We suggest that the success of OU brainwave should inform future research oriented apps - particularly in issues around balancing participant engagement with data fidelity
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Mobile-assisted language learning [Revised and updated version]
Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is the use of smartphones and other mobile technologies in language learning, especially in situations where portability and situated learning offer specific advantages. A key attraction of mobile learning is the ubiquity of mobile phones. Typical applications can support learners in reading, listening, speaking and writing in the target language, either individually or in collaboration with one another. Increasingly, MALL applications relate language learning to a person’s physical context when mobile, primarily to provide access to location-specific language material or to enable learners to capture aspects of language use in situ and share it with others. Mobile learning can be formal or informal, and mobile devices may form a bridge connecting in-class and out-of-class learning. When learning takes place outside the classroom, it is often beyond the reach and control of the teacher. This can be perceived as a threat, but it is also an opportunity to revitalize and rethink current approaches to teaching and learning. Mobile learning appeals to a wide range of people for a variety of reasons. It may exclude some learners but it is often a mechanism for inclusion. It is likely that the next generation of mobile learning will be more ubiquitous, which means that there will be smart systems everywhere for digital learning. Mobile learning is proving its potential to address authentic learner needs at the point at which they arise, and to deliver more flexible models of language learning
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