Conception d'un clavier musical pour entraîner les fonctions motrices et cognitives dans la maladie d'Alzheimer

La maladie d’Alzheimer (MA) est la cause la plus fréquente de démence chez les personnes âgées. Un traitement n’a pas encore été trouvé, mais des études montrent que la combinaison de thérapies pharmacologiques et non pharmacologiques (TNP) peut ralentir la progression des symptômes de la maladie. Parmi les TNP, la thérapie musicale active ou musicothérapie active (TMA) a été largement utilisée. Cependant, cette approche requiert une supervision constante pour que la thérapie soit exécutée correctement. L’utilisation de technologies adaptées aux besoins des personnes avec MA pourrait alors leur permettre de participer de manière autonome aux sessions de TMA. Ce mémoire de maîtrise s’organise autour de deux articles scientifiques. Le premier est une recension des écrits au sujet de la TMA utilisée en MA. Le deuxième article présente la démarche de co-conception d’un prototype du dispositif de clavier musical surdimensionné capable de guider les utilisateurs atteints de MA (stade léger) à travers des sessions de TMA qui comprennent des activités musicales,cognitives et motrices. Des études complémentaires devront évaluer les effets de l’utilisation de ce dispositif musical sur les différents symptômes de la MA. Cependant, le matériau présenté dans le premier article de la thèse (recension des écrits) et les données en lien avec le deuxième article (co-conception), tels que les témoignages des participants au stage léger de la MA et les prototypes créés, indiquent que l’utilisation de ce clavier peut potentiellement atténuer les symptômes associés à la MA et ainsi améliorer la qualité de la vie de cette population.Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. A cure has not yet been found, but studies show that the combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies (NPT) can slow down the progression of the symptoms of the disease. Among the NPT, active music therapy (AMT) has been widely used to help relieve the symptoms of dementia. However,most AMT require constant supervision or guidance so that the person with AD can participate in the therapy session and perform it correctly. The use of technologies specifically designed to meet the needs of this population could allow them to autonomously participate in AMT sessions.This master’s thesis is organized into two articles, the first is a literature review regarding the application of AMT in AD. The second article presents the co-design process of an oversized musical keyboard that can guide users with mild AD through AMT sessions that integrate musical, cognitive and motor tasks. Further studies should evaluate the effects of using this device on different symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the results presented in the first article of the thesis and the observations from the interactions between the participants (with mild AD) and the prototypes provided during the co-design process indicate that the use of this keyboard has the potential to alleviate symptoms related to AD and, thus, improve the quality of life

Head Injuries, Student Welfare, and Saving College Football: A Game Plan for the NCAA

This article sets forth a challenging but viable game plan for protecting the health and well-being of intercollegiate football players. Acting proactively will help revitalize the NCAA\u27s brand of competitive, student-centered athletics. This article consists of three parts: The Problem of Head Injuries in College Football; Solving the Problem of Head Injuries in College Football; and Conclusion

Sustainable Technology and Elderly Life

The coming years will see an exponential increase in the proportion of elderly people in our society. This accelerated growth brings with it major challenges in relation to the sustainability of the system. There are different aspects where these changes will have a special incidence: health systems and their monitoring; the development of a framework in which the elderly can develop their daily lives satisfactorily; and in the design of intelligent cities adapted to the future sociodemographic profile. The discussion of the challenges faced, together with the current technological evolution, can show possible ways of meeting the challenges. There are different aspects where these changes will have a special incidence: health systems and their monitoring; the development of a framework in which the elderly can develop their daily lives satisfactorily; and in the design of intelligent cities adapted to the future sociodemographic profile. This special issue discusses various ways in which sustainable technologies can be applied to improve the lives of the elderly. Six articles on the subject are featured in this volume. From a systematic review of the literature to the development of gamification and health improvement projects. The articles present suggestive proposals for the improvement of the lives of the elderly. The volume is a resource of interest for the scientific community, since it shows different research gaps in the current state of the art. But it is also a document that can help social policy makers and people working in this domain to planning successful projects

Using a serious game to assess spatial memory in children and adults

Short-term spatial memory has traditionally been assessed using visual stimuli, but not auditory stimuli. In this paper, we design and test a serious game with auditory stimuli for assessing short-term spatial memory. The interaction is achieved by gestures (by raising your arms). The auditory stimuli are emitted by smart devices placed at different locations. A total of 70 participants (32 children and 38 adults) took part in the study. The outcomes obtained with our game were compared with traditional methods. The results indicated that the outcomes in the game for the adults were significantly greater than those obtained by the children. This result is consistent with the assumption that the ability of humans increases continuously during maturation. Correlations were found between our game and traditional methods, suggesting its validity for assessing spatial memory. The results indicate that both groups easily learn how to perform the task and are good at recalling the locations of sounds emitted from different positions. With regard to satisfaction with our game, the mean scores of the children were higher for nearly all of the questions. The mean scores for all of the questions, except one, were greater than 4 on a scale from 1 to 5. These results show the satisfaction of the participants with our game. The results suggest that our game promotes engagement and allows the assessment of spatial memory in an ecological way

A Gamification Engine Architecture for Enhancing Behavioral Change Support Systems

This paper presents a gamified framework designed to offer behavioural change support and treatment adherence services to people living with Dementia (PLWD), their caregivers and medical/social professionals

Scaffolding in Indoor and Outdoor Mobility a Wearable and Mobile Application for Senior Tourism in a Playable City

The growth of urban population and the challenges of an ageing society have brought to the fore the need of innovative ways to re-invent sustainable healthy ageing lifestyles and meet the growing demand on transport and residents’ assistance with ageing-in-place. Fatalities involving older adult pedestrians is a major problem in EU urban areas, given the general lack of information about traffic and road conditions. Indoor and Outdoor Mobility are also likely to affect Senior Tourism and older adults’ travel patterns. This paper proposes a digital application designed for wearables and mobile devices that engages the users in a set of missions and routes that are customized to their context and mobility condition, based on a multi-peer review system.This work was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) and ESF under Community Support Framework III – the project SEDUCE 2.0 nr. POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 031696.publishe

Design of a Framework for Cognitive Support in Dementia Care for the Elderly

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceThis section provides an overview of the magnitude of dementia care in communities and health care systems. It introduces the background and context for the utilization of technology and digital solutions to address mental health issues in the elderly, specifically focusing on dementia. The objective is to propose a design framework for the development of health technology that caters to caregivers of individuals living with dementia. A brief review of the latest studies related to the successful adoption of technology for dementia and cognitive impairment decline will serve as the foundation for the proposal of this thesis. The following paragraphs approach the background and context of the healthcare problems related to ageing and introduce dementia from a technological perspective. The research question is presented, along with the proposed objectives to address that question. Furthermore, the relevance of this study within the context of information management is summarized

The Cowl - v.78 - n.10 - Nov 14, 2013

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 78 - No. 10 - November 14, 2013. 24 pages

A conceptual approach to enhance the well-being of elderly people

The number of elderly people living alone is increasing. Consequently, a lot of research works have been addressing this issue in order to propose solutions that can enhance the quality of life of elderly people. Most of them have been concerned in dealing with objective issues such as forgetfulness or detecting falls. In this paper, we propose a conceptual approach of a system that intends to enhance the daily sense of user’s well-being. For that, our proposal consists in a system that works as a social network and a smartwatch application that works unobtrusively and collects the user’s physiological data. In addition, we debate how important features such as to detect user’s affective states and to potentiate user’s memory could be implemented. Our study shows that there are still some important limitations which affect the success of applications built in the context of elderly care and which are mostly related with accuracy and usability of this kind of system. However, we believe that with our approach we will be able to address some of those limitations and define a system that can enhance the well-being of elderly people and improve their cognitive capabilities.The work presented in this paper has been developed under the EUREKA - ITEA3 Project PHE (PHE-16040), and by National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the projects UID/EEA/00760/2019 and UID/CEC/00319/2019 and by NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-033275 (AIRDOC - “Aplicação móvel Inteligente para suporte individualizado e monitorização da função e sons Respiratórios de Doentes Obstrutivos Crónicos ”) by NORTE 2020 (Programa Operacional Regional do Norte)