Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) art in care of ageing society: focus on dementia

open access articleBackground: Art enhances both physical and mental health wellbeing. The health benefits include reduction in blood pressure, heart rate, pain perception and briefer inpatient stays, as well as improvement of communication skills and self-esteem. In addition to these, people living with dementia benefit from reduction of their noncognitive, behavioural changes, enhancement of their cognitive capacities and being socially active. Methods: The current study represents a narrative general literature review on available studies and knowledge about contribution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative arts. Results: We review AI visual arts technologies, and their potential for use among people with dementia and care, drawing on similar experiences to date from traditional art in dementia care. Conclusion: The virtual reality, installations and the psychedelic properties of the AI created art provide a new venue for more detailed research about its therapeutic use in dementia

The Internet of Things Will Thrive by 2025

This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center Internet Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-LeeThis current report is an analysis of opinions about the likely expansion of the Internet of Things (sometimes called the Cloud of Things), a catchall phrase for the array of devices, appliances, vehicles, wearable material, and sensor-laden parts of the environment that connect to each other and feed data back and forth. It covers the over 1,600 responses that were offered specifically about our question about where the Internet of Things would stand by the year 2025. The report is the next in a series of eight Pew Research and Elon University analyses to be issued this year in which experts will share their expectations about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, and net neutrality. It includes some of the best and most provocative of the predictions survey respondents made when specifically asked to share their views about the evolution of embedded and wearable computing and the Internet of Things

How smart is the Italian domestic environment? A quantitative study

The market for smart home products in Italy appears to be growing quicker than in other European countries. Continuous technological advances have lowered the price for entry products, allowing more families to acquire smart solutions. Meanwhile, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of the domestic environment as a hybrid space where to conduct different activities that require smart and connected appliances has significantly grown. Ultimately, economic and social instability has produced a higher awareness of energy consumption, bringing many users to question their lifestyle choices and look for smarter and greener solutions. The evolution of living conditions through the growth of smart technology in houses and apartments must be explored by interaction designers, to provide effective user experiences of smart artifacts, that need to seamlessly connect with one another and function together, within a complex, multimodal environment. Considering this, the paper presents the results of a quantitative study carried out at the end of 2021, through an online survey that was completed by 135 respondents. Data are analysed by grouping the respondents in 3 categories: single tenants, couples or roommates (unrelated to each other), and families (at least one parent with their offspring). Different visualizations highlight which rooms are "smarter"-although Italian households appear to be less technological than expected. The main findings concern the relationship between wider technological ecosystems and larger groups of tenants living together, and how the ownership of a smart product leads to the acquisition of other products-thus building a complex network of non-human players

A Qualitative Investigation of Fixed Versus Growth Mindsets of Third and Fourth Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to explore individual mindsets of elementary students and determine the extent to which mindsets reflect fixed or growth perspectives. During this qualitative study, individual interviews were conducted with third and fourth grade students, including ESL (English Second Language) students, middle class students as well poverty stricken students, special education students, and gifted students that attend South Heights Elementary. The findings report the mindsets of fixed or growth perspectives on perseverance through failures and personal grit. Conclusions were drawn based on the findings gathered to determine a correlation between students’ mindsets and their involvement with a consistent, supportive adult as well as their current socioeconomic status

Adaptive Architecture:Regulating human building interaction

In this paper, we explore the regulatory, technical and interactional implications of Adaptive Architecture (AA) and how it will recalibrate the nature of human-building interaction. We comprehensively unpack the emergence and history of this novel concept, reflecting on the current state of the art and policy foundations supporting it. As AA is underpinned by the Internet of Things (IoT), we consider how regulatory and surveillance issues posed by the IoT are manifesting in the built environment. In our analysis, we utilise a prominent architectural model, Stuart Brand’s Shearing Layers, to understand temporal change and informational flows across different physical layers of a building. We use three AA applications to situate our analysis, namely a smart IoT security camera; an AA research prototype; and an AA commercial deployment. Focusing on emerging information privacy and security regulations, particularly the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016, we examine AA from 5 perspectives: physical & information security risks; challenges of establishing responsibility; enabling occupant rights over flows, collection, use & control of personal data; addressing increased visibility of emotions and bodies; understanding surveillance of everyday routine activities. We conclude with key challenges for AA regulation and the future of human–building interaction

Adaptive architecture: Regulating human building interaction

In this paper we explore regulatory, technical and interactional implications of Adaptive Architecture, a novel trend emerging in the built environment. We provide a comprehensive description of the emergence and history of the term, with reference to the current state of the art and policy foundations supporting it e.g. smart city initiatives and building regulations. As Adaptive Architecture is underpinned by the Internet of Things (IoT), we are interested in how regulatory and surveillance issues posed by the IoT manifest in buildings too. To support our analysis, we utilise a prominent concept from architecture, Stuart Brand’s Shearing Layers model, which describes the different physical layers of a building and how they relate to temporal change. To ground our analysis, we use three cases of Adaptive Architecture, namely an IoT device (Nest Smart Cam IQ); an Adaptive Architecture research prototype, (ExoBuilding); and a commercial deployment (the Edge). In bringing together Shearing Layers, Adaptive Architecture and the challenges therein, we frame our analysis under 5 key themes. These are guided by emerging information privacy and security regulations. We explore the issues Adaptive Architecture needs to face for: A – ‘Physical & information security’; B – ‘Establishing responsibility’; C – ‘occupant rights over flows, collection, use & control of personal data’; D- ‘Visibility of Emotions and Bodies’; & E – ‘Surveillance of Everyday Routine Activities’. We conclude by summarising key challenges for Adaptive Architecture, regulation and the future of human building interaction

Micro-Futures

One of humankinds oldest quests has been to find the ‘elixir of life’, a mythical potion that, would grant the drinker immortality (and preferably, eternal youth!). One of the most famous tales of a search for this fabled tonic was that of the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang (246 BC. to 210 BC), who, in the latter part of his life, is said to have become preoccupied with finding this illusive concoction. This article is presented at a workshop that is taking place in the heartland of what was Qin Shi Huang's empire (China), and touches on a modern day search for an elixir of life, this time a high-tech approach based on computers and artificial intelligence technology, that goes by the name of ‘The Technological Singularity’. However, as fascinating as a search for an elixir of life may be, the real motivation of this paper is to introduce micro-fiction as a methodology for capturing and communicating visions for scientific, business and societal innovations. To those end, The Technological Singularity is described and used as a means to illustrate the workings of micro SciFi-Prototyping (micro-SFPs)

Usability of Open Data for Smart City Applications – Evaluation of Data, Development of Application and Creation of Visual Dashboards

Today different sources of information on urban areas are becoming openly available at various spatial and temporal resolutions and extents. They are crucial for driving towards “Smart Cities”. Many smart cityrelevant applications, to understand and predict certain phenomena such as mobility, air quality, etc., depend on large amounts of readily available good quality data. Many datasets related to such topics are already publicly available. However, the appropriate use of these datasets must be ensured by checking the quality of data in a systematic way. Under quality of data, one not only evaluate the number of missing or false data points but also determine data characteristics such as resolution, frequency and ease of use, etc. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to evaluate the open data available in different portals (80 in total) with special consideration to these factors and to evaluate their usability in some of the smart city applications. In this regard, an extensive literature review is carried out. We observed that especially official government data portal often lack these qualities. This could have occurred due to the lack of concrete examples of how cities and citizens can profit from the applications created with the appropriate kind of data. Some civil servants might have experienced some levels of mistrust regarding the abstract ideas of ‘Smart City’ and ‘Open Data’. We therefore illustrate three possible applications, e.g. (a) use of high-resolution low- cost sensor data around Europe (b) GPS trajectories of a large number of taxis monitored inside the city and (c) land-use and accesability data from voluntered geographic information. In this regard, other open source spatial data portals (such as Open Street Map APIs) and open source software such as python and relevant libraries are also utilized. For each application, we elaborate the data characteristics and the detailed methodological steps (e.g., analytics methods) as well as communicate the results with an easy to operate dashboard having strong visualisation and analytical aids (maps, graphs, statistical summary, etc.). The dashboards help to understand the significance of open data and to support decision makers in creatingservices for the citizens with the context of “Smart City”. Finally, we conclude with the limitation and further recommendations to the city officials regarding their role of shaping the future of (smart) cities with the right open data policy