Personalisable Clinical Decision Support System.

We introduce a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) as an operation of translational medicine. It is based on random forests, is personalisable and allows a clear insight into the decision making process. A well-structured rule set is created and every rule of the decision making process can be observed by the user (physician). Furthermore, the user has an impact on the creation of the final rule set and the algorithm allows the comparison of different diseases as well as regional differences in the same disease

PECLIDES Neuro: A Personalisable Clinical Decision Support System for Neurological Diseases.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's impact millions of people worldwide. Early diagnosis has proven to greatly increase the chances of slowing down the diseases' progression. Correct diagnosis often relies on the analysis of large amounts of patient data, and thus lends itself well to support from machine learning algorithms, which are able to learn from past diagnosis and see clearly through the complex interactions of a patient's symptoms and data. Unfortunately, many contemporary machine learning techniques fail to reveal details about how they reach their conclusions, a property considered fundamental when providing a diagnosis. Here we introduce our Personalisable Clinical Decision Support System (PECLIDES), an algorithmic process formulated to address this specific fault in diagnosis detection. PECLIDES provides a clear insight into the decision-making process leading to a diagnosis, making it a gray box model. Our algorithm enriches the fundamental work of Masheyekhi and Gras in data integration, personal medicine, usability, visualization, and interactivity. Our decision support system is an operation of translational medicine. It is based on random forests, is personalisable and allows a clear insight into the decision-making process. A well-structured rule set is created and every rule of the decision-making process can be observed by the user (physician). Furthermore, the user has an impact on the creation of the final rule set and the algorithm allows the comparison of different diseases as well as regional differences in the same disease. The algorithm is applicable to various decision problems. In this paper we will evaluate it on diagnosing neurological diseases and therefore refer to the algorithm as PECLIDES Neuro

The value of personalised consumer product design facilitated through additive manufacturing technology

This research attempted to discover how Additive Manufacturing (AM) can best be used to increase the value of personalised consumer products and how designers can be assisted in finding an effective way to facilitate value addition within personalisable product designs. AM has become an enabler for end-users to become directly involved in product personalisation through the manipulation of three-dimensional (3D) designs of the product using easy-to-use design toolkits. In this way, end-users are able to fabricate their own personalised designs using various types of AM systems. Personalisation activity can contribute to an increment in the value of a product because it delivers a closer fit to user preferences. The research began with a literature review that covered the areas of product personalisation, additive manufacturing, and consumer value in product design. The literature review revealed that the lack of methods and tools to enable designers to exploit AM has become a fundamental challenge in fully realising the advantages of the technology. Consequently, the question remained as to whether industrial designers are able to identify the design characteristics that can potentially add value to a product, particularly when the product is being personalised by end-users using AM-enabled design tools and systems. A new value taxonomy was developed to capture the relevant value attributes of personalised AM products. The value taxonomy comprised two first-level value types: product value and experiential value. It was further expanded into six second-level value components: functional value, personal-expressive value, sensory value, unique value, co-design value, and hedonic value. The research employed a survey to assess end-users value reflection on personalised features; measuring their willingness to pay (WTP) and their intention to purchase a product with personalised features. Thereafter, an experimental study was performed to measure end-users opinions on the value of 3D-printed personalised products based on the two value types: product value and experiential value. Based on the findings, a formal added value identification method was developed to act as a design aid tool to assist designers in preparing a personalisable product design that embodies value-adding personalisation features within the product. The design method was translated into a beta-test version paper-based design workbook known as the V+APP Design Method: Design Workbook. The design aid tool was validated by expert designers. In conclusion, this research has indicated that the added value identification method shows promise as a practical and effective method in aiding expert designers to identify the potential value-adding personalisation features within personalisable AM products, ensuring they are able to fully exploit the unique characteristics and value-adding design characteristics enabled by AM. Finally, the limitations of the research have been explained and recommendations made for future work in this area

Towards a virtual research environment for paediatric endocrinology across Europe

Paediatric endocrinology is a medical specialty dealing with variations of physical growth and sexual development in childhood. Genetic anomalies that can cause disorders of sexual development in children are rare. Given this, sharing and collaboration on the small number of cases that occur is needed by clinical experts in the field. The EU-funded EuroDSD project (www.eurodsd.eu) is one such collaboration involving clinical centres and clinical and genetic experts across Europe. Through the establishment of a virtual research environment (VRE) supporting sharing of data and a variety of clinical and bioinformatics analysis tools, EuroDSD aims to provide a research infrastructure for research into disorders of sex development. Security, ethics and information governance are at the heart of this infrastructure. This paper describes the infrastructure that is being built and the inherent challenges in security, availability and dependability that must be overcome for the enterprise to succeed

Guideline development for technological interventions for children and young people to self-manage ADHD: A realist evaluation

Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. ADHD can affect the individual, their family and the community. ADHD is managed using pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, which principally involves others helping children and young people (CAYP) manage their ADHD rather than learning self-management strategies themselves. Over recent years, technological developments have meant that technology has been harnessed to create interventions to facilitate the self-management of ADHD in CAYP. Despite a clear potential to improve the effectiveness and personalisation of interventions, there are currently no guidelines based on existing evidence or theories to underpin the development of technologies that aim to help CAYP self-manage their ADHD. Objective: To create evidence-based guidelines with key stakeholders that will provide recommendations for the future development of technological interventions, which aim to facilitate the self-management of ADHD. Methods: A realist evaluation approach was adopted in five phases. Phase one involved identifying propositions (or hypotheses) outlining what could work for such an intervention. Phase two involved the identification of middle-range theories of behaviour change to underpin the propositions. Phase three involved the identification and development of Context Mechanism Outcome Configurations (CMOCs), which essentially state, which elements of the intervention could be effected by which contexts and what the outcome of these could be. Phase four involved the validation and refinement of the propositions via interviews with key stakeholders (CAYP with ADHD, their parents and specialist clinicians). Phase five involved the development of the guidelines based on the identified middle-range theories and interview data. Results: Six specialist clinicians, eight parents and seven CAYP were recruited to this study. Seven key themes were identified 1) Positive rewarding feedback, 2) Downloadable gaming resources, 3) Personalisable and adaptable components, 4) Psychoeducation component, 5) Integration of self-management strategies, 6) Goal setting and 7) Context (environmental and personal). The identified mechanisms interacted with the variable contexts a complex technological intervention of this nature could be delivered in. Conclusions: Complex intervention development for complex populations such as CAYP with ADHD should adopt various methodologies and methods such as realist evaluation and user-centered design that involves developing the intervention with key stakeholders to increase the likelihood that the intervention will succeed. The guidelines we describe can be used for the future development of technologies that aim to facilitate self-managed ADHD for CAYP

The institutional future of Brussels

A number of public policies – from the regional organisation of multilingual education to the development of multicultural activities, with consistent management of the various Community and regional powers in between – have a hard time fitting into Brussels’s current framework. The matter of reforming this framework, whether slightly or radically, is thus regularly brought up.Brussels Studies has chosen to ask the question of Brussels’s institutional future based on a widely circulated document that proposes some rather radical solutions, namely, the “Brussels Manifesto” (http://www.manifestobru.be). Without delivering a “turnkey” institutional model, its signatories advocate developing a federalism that relies heavily on the regions. A colloquium on the subject was held last 19 March. The proceedings of this colloquium form the backbone of this issue of Brussels Studies, which is published, as usually, in three languages. In a new development, these articles are accompanied by some longer untranslated texts that were supplied by a few of the authors. So, in this issue Alain Maskens, who is the president of the non-profit association Manifesto and co-author of the manifesto itself, engages in a dialogue with two constitutional lawyers: Nicolas Lagasse (FUSL) and Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove (KUL). Hugues Dumont (FUSL ‑ co-author of Issue 10 of Brussels Studies), who is likewise a constitutional lawyer, was given the task of drawing the conclusions of the debate.Some very different visions of the region’s future meet each other in this dialogue. Alain Maskens, as a promoter of the Brussels Manifesto, advocates an intensive form of regionalism that leaves the cultural communities with only the powers of the cultural promotion of their respective languages, excluding education, “personalisable” subject matters, and culture. Secondly, he calls for a re-examination of Brussels’s boundaries or, failing that, clear progress towards the creation of an urban community (see moreover Issue 11 of Brussels Studies). The manifesto’s signatories make a particularly original proposal in suggesting that the distinction between the borders of the federated entities and those of the linguistic regions truly be taken seriously. If this were done, enlarging the Brussels-Capital Region would then not challenge the monolingual status of the municipalities that do not enjoy “linguistic easements”. Thirdly, he brings up the region’s chronic under-financing and asks that the region be saved from otherwise unavoidable asphyxiation. Finally, the Brussels Manifesto calls for the creation of bilingual electoral lists on the region’s territory. To do this, it advocates putting an end to the candidates’ identification by language. Consequences would be both the possibility of creating bilingual lists and the elimination of the guarantees of parliamentary representation given to the Flemish residents of Brussels.In focusing on the manifesto’s authors’ goals, i.e., promoting the organisation of bilingual and multicultural cultural activities, developing bilingual education, and waging an effective employment policy, Nicolas Lagasse asks to what extent the proposed solutions fit the bill. At the end of his review it seems to him that these goals would be served better by a reasonable evolution of the current structure than by the far-reaching reforms that the manifesto proposes. In his view, these reforms would be difficult to put into effect. Consequently, he advocates continuing to think in terms of advancing stepwise, building each time on the achievements of the previous step. He even suggests strengthening the communities by removing from the Constitution the clause that limits their actions to the sphere of their own languages. If the wish is to put an end to cultural compartmentalisation in Belgium, he says, everyone must be free to invest in bicultural activities. He even proposes going back on the Saint Quentin agreements that transferred the French-speaking Community’s powers to the French-speaking Community Commission (COCOF). In his opinion, refederating the community powers and simply dismantling the COCOF would improve the coordination and consistency of the policies that are implemented.Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove, for his part, reveals the vagueness of many of the manifesto’s proposals as well as the fact that many of them are unacceptable to Flemish political leaders because they either go against compromises for which they paid dearly or collide head-on with their notions of Belgium and the relations amongst the federated entities that make up the country. So, it appears impossible for him to envision changing the region’s boundaries to make them coincide with Brussels’s economic hinterland. The history of the Flemings’ demands is notably that of their request that the same language rules should apply across the territory of each of the different federated entities and the idea of dissociating regional territory from linguistic territory would not, in Van Nieuwenhove’s view, be likely to get the support of Flemish political circles. In the same vein, ending the guaranteed representation for Brussels’s Flemish residents would, in his view, sever the tie with Flanders, a tie that is one of the last obstacles to separatism.Finally, in drawing his conclusions, Hugues Dumont wonders about the enforceability of the manifesto’s ideas. As he sees it, a series of fundamental proposals in the Brussels Manifesto appear difficult to carry out because they are incompatible with the French political class’s concern to conserve a strong tie between Brussels and Wallonia and are totally opposed to the Flemish leaders’ ideas. However, that does not mean that one must be fatalistic. And so, Dumont points to five reforms that he believes are possible: doing away with the COCOM to the benefit of the Brussels Region, lifting the prohibition on the communities’ subsidising bi- or multicultural activities, transferring the power to legislate in bicultural subject matters of regional or local interest to the Brussels Region, giving this same region the power to organise bilingual education, and, finally, eliminating the COCOF as a federated political entity.De l’organisation d’un enseignement plurilingue au niveau régional au développement d’activités multiculturelles en passant par une gestion cohérente des compétences communautaires et régionales, nombreuses sont les politiques publiques qui trouvent difficilement place dans le cadre bruxellois actuel. Sa réforme – plus ou moins radicale – est donc régulièrement évoquée.Brussels Studies a choisi de se poser la question de l’avenir institutionnel de Bruxelles en partant d’un document largement diffusé et proposant des solutions plutôt radicales : le « Manifeste bruxellois » (http://www.manifestobru.be). Sans pour autant livrer de modèle institutionnel « clé sur porte », ses signataires préconisent le développement d’un fédéralisme fortement axé sur les régions. Un colloque a été organisé le 19 mars dernier, dont les actes constituent ce nouveau numéro de Brussels Studies. Publiés comme à l’habitude en trois langues, ils sont accompagnés, chose nouvelle, de textes plus longs non traduits, fournis par certains auteurs. Alain Maskens, président de l’asbl Manifesto et coauteur du Manifeste y dialogue avec deux constitutionnalistes : Nicolas Lagasse (FUSL) et Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove (KUL). Hugues Dumont (FUSL ‑ coauteur du nº 10 de Brussels Studies), également constitutionnaliste, est chargé de tirer des conclusions de l’échange.Des conceptions fort différentes de l’avenir de la région s’y rencontrent. Alain Maskens, promoteur du Manifeste, prône un régionalisme intensif ne laissant aux communautés que les compétences de promotion culturelle d’une langue, à l’exclusion de l’enseignement, des matières personnalisables et de la culture. En deuxième lieu, il réclame un réexamen des frontières bruxelloises ou, à défaut, des avancées claires sur la voie de la constitution d’une communauté urbaine (voyez par ailleurs le nº 11 de Brussels Studies). Proposition particulièrement originale, les signataires du Manifeste suggèrent de prendre réellement au sérieux la distinction entre la frontière des entités fédérées et celle des régions linguistiques. Un élargissement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale n’entraînerait donc pas de remise en question du caractère unilingue des communes sans “facilités linguistiques”. Troisièmement, il rappelle le sous-financement chronique de la région et demande qu’elle soit sauvée d’une inéluctable asphyxie. Enfin, le Manifeste appelle à la constitution de listes électorales bilingues sur le territoire de la région. Pour ce faire, il prône la fin de l’identification linguistique des candidats. En découlerait la possibilité de constitution de listes bilingues, mais aussi la suppression des garanties de représentation parlementaire offertes aux Flamands de Bruxelles.Se centrant sur les objectifs poursuivis par les auteurs du Manifeste – favoriser l’organisation d’activités culturelles bilingues et multiculturelles, développer un enseignement bilingue et mener une politique de l’emploi performante – Nicolas Lagasse pose la question de l’adéquation des solutions proposées. Au terme de son examen il lui semble que ces objectifs seraient mieux servis par une évolution raisonnable de la structure actuelle que par les profondes réformes proposées dans le Manifeste. Celles-ci lui paraissant du reste difficilement applicables, il prône une poursuite de la logique des avancées successives sur la base des acquis engrangés précédemment. Il suggère même de renforcer les communautés en supprimant de la Constitution la limitation de leurs actions au domaine de leur propre langue. Si l’on veut mettre fin au cloisonnement culturel en Belgique, dit-il, il faut permettre à chacun d’investir dans des activités biculturelles. Il propose même de revenir sur les accords de la Saint-Quentin qui avaient transféré des compétences de la Communauté française vers la Commission communautaire française (Cocof). Le remembrement des compétences communautaires et la suppression pure et simple de la Cocof lui semblent de nature à améliorer la coordination et la cohérence des politiques mises en œuvre.Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove, quant à lui, met en évidence l’indétermination de beaucoup de propositions du Manifeste, ainsi que le fait que nombre d’entre elles sont inacceptables pour les responsables politiques flamands, soit qu’elles sont contraires à des compromis chèrement acquis par eux, soit qu’elles heurtent de front leurs conceptions de la Belgique et des relations entre les entités fédérées qui la composent. Ainsi, il lui apparaît impossible d’envisager une modification des frontières de la région qui viseraient à les faire coïncider avec l’hinterland économique de Bruxelles. L’histoire des revendications flamandes est notamment celle de leur demande d’uniformisation linguistique du territoire des différentes entités fédérées et l’idée d’une dissociation entre territoire régional et territoire linguistique ne lui semble pas de nature à emporter l’adhésion du monde politique flamand. Dans le même ordre d’idées, la suppression de la représentation garantie des Flamands de Bruxelles romprait, selon lui, le lien avec la Flandre, lequel lien est l’un des derniers obstacles au séparatisme.Enfin, Hugues Dumont, à l’occasion de ses conclusions, s’interroge sur le caractère applicable du Manifeste. En porte-à-faux par rapport au souci de la classe politique francophone de conserver un lien fort entre Bruxelles et la Wallonie et en opposition totale avec bien des conceptions des responsables flamands, une série de propositions fondamentales paraissent difficilement réalisables. Cela ne signifie pas pour lui qu’il faille être fataliste. Et de pointer cinq réformes qui lui paraissent envisageables : la suppression de la Cocom au profit de la Région bruxelloise, la levée de l’interdiction faite aux communautés de subventionner des activités bi- ou multiculturelles, le transfert à la Région bruxelloise de la compétence de légiférer dans les matières biculturelles d’intérêt régional ou local, l’attribution à la même région du pouvoir d’organiser un enseignement bilingue et, enfin, la suppression de la Cocof en tant que collectivité politique fédérée.Organisatie van meertalig onderwijs in het Gewest, ontplooiing van multiculturele activiteiten en coherent beheer van de gewest- en gemeenschapsbevoegdheden zijn voorbeelden van de vele beleidsmaatregelen die moeilijk kunnen worden genomen binnen het huidige Brusselse institutionele landschap. De – min of meer radicale – hervorming van dat landschap wordt dus regelmatig ter sprake gebracht. Brussels Studies wenst het debat over de institutionele toekomst van Brussel op gang te brengen op basis van een op grote schaal verspreid document dat vrij radicale oplossingen aanreikt: het Brussels Manifest (http://www.manifestobru.be). De auteurs van het Brussels Manifest reiken evenwel geen institutioneel model “sleutel op de deur” aan, maar ze staan voor een federaal bestel dat sterk op de gewesten steunt. Op 19 maart jongstleden werd hierover een colloquium gehouden, waarvan de handelingen dit nieuwe nummer van Brussels Studies vormen. Ze zijn naar gewoonte vertaald in drie talen. Nieuw is dat er langere teksten van bepaalde auteurs, die niet vertaald werden, bijgevoegd zijn. Alain Maskens, voorzitter van de vzw Manifesto en coauteur van het Manifest, treedt in dialoog met twee grondwetspecialisten: Nicolas Lagasse (FUSL) en Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove (KULeuven). Hugues Dumont (FUSL – coauteur van Brussels Studies nr. 10), eveneens een grondwetspecialist, trekt de conclusies uit die dialoog.In de dialoog botsen sterk uiteenlopende visies op de toekomst van het Gewest met elkaar. Alain Maskens, promotor van het Manifest, staat voor een doorgedreven regionalisme dat de gemeenschappen enkel nog bevoegdheden laat op het vlak van de culturele promotie van een taal, met uitsluiting van onderwijs, persoonsgebonden aangelegenheden en cultuur. Op de tweede plaats eist hij dat de grenzen van het Brussels Gewest worden herzien of dat er op zijn minst grote stappen met het oog op de oprichting van een stadsgemeenschap (cf. Brussels Studies nr. 11) worden gedaan. De ondertekenaars van het Manifest doen het zeer originele voorstel om het onderscheid tussen de grenzen van de deelgebieden en de grenzen van de taalgebieden ernstig te nemen. Een uitbreiding van het Brussels Gewest zou bijgevolg de eentaligheid van de gemeenten “zonder taalfaciliteiten” niet ter discussie stellen. Op de derde plaats wijst Alain Maskens op de chronische onderfinanciering van het Gewest en vraagt hij om het Gewest van die financiële wurggreep te bevrijden. Ten slotte roept hij op tot tweetalige kieslijsten voor het Brussels Gewest. Daartoe beveelt hij aan om een einde te maken aan de taalaanhorigheid van de kandidaten. Dan zouden tweetalige kieslijsten mogelijk worden, maar zouden de Vlaamse Brusselaars hun gewaarborgde vertegenwoordiging in het Brussels Parlement verliezen.Nicolas Lagasse neemt de doelstellingen van de auteurs van het Manifest – de organisatie van tweetalige en meertalige culturele activiteiten, tweetalig onderwijs en een performant werkgelegenheidsbeleid – onder de loep. Hij vraagt zich af of de voorgestelde oplossingen adequaat zijn. Na zijn onderzoek komt hij tot de slotsom dat die doelstellingen beter bereikt kunnen worden via een geleidelijke evolutie van de huidige structuur dan via de radicale hervormingen die in het Manifest worden voorgesteld. Hij vindt trouwens dat ze moeilijk geconcretiseerd kunnen worden. Hij is voorstander van de methode van opeenvolgende geleidelijke hervormingen op basis van wat reeds verworven is. Hij stelt zelfs voor om de bevoegdheden van de gemeenschappen uit te breiden door de grondwettelijke bepaling volgens welke ze hun acties tot hun taalgebied moeten beperken, te schrappen. Als men een einde wil maken aan de culturele verzuiling in België, dan moet iedereen kunnen investeren in biculturele activiteiten. Hij stelt zelfs voor om de SintKwintensakkoorden, die bevoegdheden van de Franse Gemeenschap aan de Franse Gemeenschapscommissie (Cocof) hadden overgedragen, te herzien. Volgens hem zou een herschikking van de gemeenschapsbevoegdheden en de afschaffing zonder meer van de Cocof de coördinatie en de coherentie van het beleid verbeteren.Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove wijst erop dat veel voorstellen in het Manifest vaag blijven. Bovendien zijn een aantal ervan onaanvaardbaar voor de Vlaamse politici, omdat ze in strijd zijn met de compromissen waarvoor ze hebben gestreden, of omdat ze haaks staan op hun visie op België en de betrekkingen tussen de deelgebieden. Volgens hem is het ondenkbaar om de grenzen van het Brussels Gewest te wijzigen, zodat het economisch hinterland van Brussel in het Gewest wordt geïntegreerd. In hun eisen hebben de Vlamingen steeds aangedrongen op eentaligheid op het grondgebied van de verschillende deelgebieden. Het idee om het gewestelijk grondgebied en het taalgebied van elkaar los te koppelen zou volgens Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove dan ook nooit goedgekeurd worden door de Vlaamse politici. De afschaffing van de gewaarborgde vertegenwoordiging van de Vlaamse Brusselaars zou volgens hem de banden met Vlaanderen, een van de laatste obstakels voor het separatisme, doorsnijden.Ten slotte stelt Hugues Dumont in zijn conclusies de vraag of de voorstellen in het Manifest in de praktijk haalbaar zijn. Ze staan haaks op het streven van de Franstalige politici om een sterke band tussen Brussel en Wallonië te behouden en zijn volledig in strijd met heel wat opvattingen van de Vlaamse politici. Een reeks fundamentele voorstellen lijken dan ook moeilijk realiseerbaar. Dat betekent volgens hem niet dat we fatalistisch moeten zijn. Hij wijst op vijf hervormingen die volgens hem een haalbare kaart zijn: de afschaffing van de Gemeenschappelijke Gemeenschapscommissie en de overdracht van haar bevoegdheden aan het Brussels Gewest, de opheffing van het verbod voor de gemeenschappen om bi- of multiculturele activiteiten te subsidiëren, de overdracht aan het Brussels Gewest van de wetgevende bevoegdheid inzake biculturele aangelegenheden van regionaal of lokaal belang, de toewijzing aan het Gewest van de bevoegdheid om tweetalig onderwijs te organiseren en, tot slot, de afschaffing van de Cocof als gezagsniveau

The Design and Evaluation of Personalised Ambient Mental Health Monitors

Mobile and environmental sensing technology can be used to assess human behaviour and mental health trajectories outside of laboratories and in ecologically-relevant settings. To achieve maximum benefit, the set of equipment and the monitoring patterns must be personalised to respect individual needs and fit into individual lifestyles. We have developed a sensor network infrastructure for mobile phones and homecare using a rule-oriented programming architecture to monitor the activity signatures of people with Bipolar Disorder (BD). We believe that the use of this rule-based paradigm within the network for a mental health setting to be a contribution of this work. We are evaluating the effectiveness of the technology in an ongoing technical trial with control participants as a precursor to studying the effectiveness of the system for use with people with BD. In this paper, we report the design and development of the monitoring system along with preliminary findings from the technical trial of the system, and discuss future developments

Development of a patient-centred intervention to improve knowledge and understanding of antibiotic therapy in secondary care.

Background: We developed a personalised antimicrobial information module co-designed with patients. This study aimed to evaluate the potential impact of this patient-centred intervention on short-term knowledge and understanding of antimicrobial therapy in secondary care. Methods: Thirty previous patients who had received antibiotics in hospital within 12 months were recruited to co-design an intervention to promote patient engagement with infection management. Two workshops, containing five focus-groups were held. These were audio-recorded. Data were analysed using a thematic framework developed deductively based on previous work. Line-by-line coding was performed with new themes added to the framework by two researchers. This was used to inform the development of a patient information module, embedded within an electronic decision support tool (CDSS).The intervention was piloted over a four-week period at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust on 30 in-patients. Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were developed and implemented to assess short term changes in patient knowledge and understanding and provide feedback on the intervention. Data were analysed using SPSS and NVIVO software. Results: Within the workshops, there was consistency in identified themes. The participants agreed upon and co-designed a personalised PDF document that could be integrated into an electronic CDSS to be used by healthcare professionals at the point-of-care. Their aim for the tool was to provide individualised practical information, signpost to reputable information sources, and enhance communication between patients and healthcare professionals.Eighteen out of thirty in-patients consented to participant in the pilot evaluation with 15/18(83%) completing the study. Median (range) age was 66(22-85) years. The majority were male (10/15;66%). Pre-intervention, patients reported desiring further information regarding their infections and antibiotic therapy, including side effects of treatment. Deployment of the intervention improved short term knowledge and understanding of individuals infections and antibiotic management with median (IQR) scores improving from 3(2-5)/13 to 10(6-11)/13. 13/15(87%) reported that they would use the intervention again. Conclusion: A personalised, patient-centred intervention improved understanding and short-term knowledge of infections and antibiotic therapy in participating patients'. Long term impact on attitudes and behaviours post discharge will be further investigated

A Tailored Smart Home for Dementia Care

Dementia refers to a group of chronic conditions that cause the permanent and gradual cognitive decline. Therefore, a Person with Dementia (PwD) requires constant care from various classes of caregivers. The care costs of PwDs bear a tremendous burden on healthcare systems around the world. It is commonly accepted that utilising Smart Homes (SH), as an instance of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies, can facilitate the care, and consequently improve the quality of PwDs well-being. Nevertheless, most of the existing platforms assume dementia care is a straight application of standard SH technology without accommodating the specific requirements of dementia care. A consequence of this approach is the inadequacy and unacceptability of generic SH systems in the context of dementia care. Contrary to most of the existing SH systems proposed for dementia care, this study considers the specific requirements of PwDs and their care circle in all development steps of an SH. In addition, it investigates how utilising novel design and computing approaches can enhance the quality of SHs for dementia care. To do so, the requirements of dementia care stakeholders are collected, analysed and reflected on in an SH system design. Extensions and adaptation of existing frameworks and technologies are proposed to implement a prototype based on the resulting design. Finally, thorough evaluations and validation of the prototype are carried out. The evaluations by a group of stakeholders show the suitability of the proposed methodology and consequently the resulting prototypes for reducing dementia care difficulties as well as its potential for deployment in the real-world environment