HM4All: A vital signs monitoring system based in spatially distributed ZigBee networks

Low power consumption and small footprint make ZigBee based devices well suited for personal healthcare applications, being a promising alternative to general care patient monitoring. However, their use in a healthcare facility to monitor several mobile patients poses several difficulties, mainly because this protocol was primarily designed to operate in low data rate scenarios. This paper introduces HM4All, a remote vital signs monitoring system, and presents a prototype system being deployed in a hospital internment floor. Its architecture, original network topology, software applications and wireless sensors are described.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Grupo AMI – Assistência Médica Integral (Casa de Saúde Guimarães, SA

HM4All: A Vital Signs Monitoring System based in Spatially Distributed ZigBee Networks

Abstract-Low power consumption and small footprint make ZigBee based devices well suited for personal healthcare applications, being a promising alternative to general care patient monitoring. However, their use in a healthcare facility to monitor several mobile patients poses several difficulties, mainly because this protocol was primarily designed to operate in low data rate scenarios. This paper introduces HM4All, a remote vital signs monitoring system, and presents a prototype system being deployed in a hospital internment floor. Its architecture, original network topology, software applications and wireless sensors are described

Erotic Aspects of Everyday Life as a Challenge for Ubiquitous Computing

In this paper we discuss how interactive technology disables or enables erotic aspects of everyday life, and we discuss a number of design concepts in order to relate erotic aspects to the issue of visibility versus invisibility in ambient computing. This discussion has general relevance for the study of residual categories in ubiquitous computing

Time for a Nappy Change: controls affecting families’ nappy choices

Lifecycle assessments suggest that modern cloth nappies have fewer environmental impacts than their disposablecounterparts in terms of GHG, plastic and landfill (UNEP 2021). However, despite these apparent environmentalbenefits consumers still use predominantly disposable nappies. This paper will use theories of plannedbehaviour to explore the differences in perceived and actual behaviours between disposable and cloth nappyusers. A self-selecting web-based survey was used to recruit participants with children up to the age of fiveand explore their decision-making in this regard. The findings of the survey reveal that disposable nappy usersare more likely to prioritise convenience and to cite additional laundry loads as the main reasons for not usingcloth nappies. This is despite tending to have the necessary infrastructure (such as disposable income, spaceand washing facilities) to enable them to do so. This indicates that the perceptions of home-laundered clothnappies as inconvenient makes families more likely to opt for disposable nappies. Whilst cloth nappies weregenerally assumed to be more environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing by all parents irrespectiveof their choices, this was not enough to overcome the convenience and ease of use for the majority of participants.This study concludes that many disposable nappy users select disposable nappies with the assumptionthat they are easier and more convenient when this may not be the case. The implication of this study is thatinterventions which improve the convenience of cloth nappies and the perception of ease of use will encouragegreater uptake of cloth nappies.References.UNEP. (2021) Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessments Single-use nappies and their alternatives hostedby. United Nations Environment Programme