Hospital 5.0: Enhancing Nurses with the Use of Wearables

The idea of enhancing humans physically, cognitively, and psychologically is promoted by transhumanists. It requires from technology to focus on one's individual abilities so as to improve them beyond what is possible at the natural state. While enhancement was long the realm of cyborgs and referred to a lonely use of technology, this concept could also be applied to organisations. This paper proposes an analysis of the concept of 'enhancement' applied to the workforce and demonstrates how one could design an intervention to enhance nursing staff in hospitals. Dimensions to consider when developing technology for enhancement in the workplace are identified

Cyborgs as Frontline Service Employees: A Research Agenda

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose This paper identifies and explores potential applications of cyborgian technologies within service contexts and how service providers may leverage the integration of cyborgian service actors into their service proposition. In doing so, the paper proposes a new category of ‘melded’ frontline service employees (FLEs), where advanced technologies become embodied within human actors. The paper presents potential opportunities and challenges that may arise through cyborg technological advancements and proposes a future research agenda related to these. Design/methodology This study draws on literature in the fields of services management, Artificial Intelligence [AI], robotics, Intelligence Augmentation [IA] and Human Intelligence [HIs] to conceptualise potential cyborgian applications. Findings The paper examines how cyborg bio- and psychophysical characteristics may significantly differentiate the nature of service interactions from traditional ‘unenhanced’ service interactions. In doing so, we propose ‘melding’ as a conceptual category of technological impact on FLEs. This category reflects the embodiment of emergent technologies not previously captured within existing literature on cyborgs. We examine how traditional roles of FLEs will be potentially impacted by the integration of emergent cyborg technologies, such as neural interfaces and implants, into service contexts before outlining future research directions related to these, specifically highlighting the range of ethical considerations. Originality/Value Service interactions with cyborg FLEs represent a new context for examining the potential impact of cyborgs. This paper explores how technological advancements will alter the individual capacities of humans to enable such employees to intuitively and empathetically create solutions to complex service challenges. In doing so, we augment the extant literature on cyborgs, such as the body hacking movement. The paper also outlines a research agenda to address the potential consequences of cyborgian integration

The Data Pharmacy: Wearables from Sensing to Stimulation

Taking up the therapeutic discourse of contemporary neuro wearables, this essay explores how models of the quantified self are increasingly supplemented by pharmacological mediations. We argue that contemporary neuro wearables are more than instruments for self-tracking; they are increasingly devices of therapeutic transmission. Pharmacological media rely on digital wellness ideologies and offer datafied solutions to the toxicity of both big tech and big pharma. Beyond questions of efficacy—that is, the question of whether neuro devices do what they say—this essay focuses on matters of cultural framing and aspiration that underpin the wellness industry. Our interest is to supplement current understandings of bio-technical management by tracing the emergence of what we term the data pharmacy—where data and pharma industries and cultural imaginaries are increasingly fused within an emergent paradigm of computational wellness. This pivot in big tech’s wellness portfolio translates existing biodata and health analytics into pharmacological techniques that aim to automate ways of thinking, feeling, and being

SERENITY: THE FUTURE OF COGNITIVE MODULATION FOR THE HYPER ENABLED OPERATOR

In the Special Operations community, cognitive enhancement and resilience is at the forefront of the 2035 Hyper Enabled Operator Program (HEO). The United States Special Operations Command’s vision is to combine cutting-edge communications and data capabilities into a next generation tactical system for the end user. Using algorithms and autonomous systems to enhance the ability to make rational decisions faster can ultimately determine life or death on the battlefield. Over the past several years, cognitive enhancement with the introduction of brain computer interface (BCI) technology has had major breakthroughs in the medical and science fields. This thesis looks to analyze BCI technology for future cognitive dominance and cognitive overmatch in the Hyper Enabled Operator. Machine-assisted cognitive enhancement is not beyond reach for special operations; throughout the research and after multiple interviews with subject matter experts, it has been concluded that interfaces using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), median nerve stimulation (MNS), or several other exploratory procedures have been successful with enhancing cognition and reducing cognitive load. Special Operations should not shy away from transformational innovative technology or wait for commercial or lab-tested solutions. To start, Special Operations should foster avant-garde theories that provide solutions and evolve ideas into unsophisticated prototypes that can be fielded immediately.Major, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

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)

A Systematic Review of Extended Reality (XR) for Understanding and Augmenting Vision Loss

Over the past decade, extended reality (XR) has emerged as an assistive technology not only to augment residual vision of people losing their sight but also to study the rudimentary vision restored to blind people by a visual neuroprosthesis. To make the best use of these emerging technologies, it is valuable and timely to understand the state of this research and identify any shortcomings that are present. Here we present a systematic literature review of 227 publications from 106 different venues assessing the potential of XR technology to further visual accessibility. In contrast to other reviews, we sample studies from multiple scientific disciplines, focus on augmentation of a person's residual vision, and require studies to feature a quantitative evaluation with appropriate end users. We summarize prominent findings from different XR research areas, show how the landscape has changed over the last decade, and identify scientific gaps in the literature. Specifically, we highlight the need for real-world validation, the broadening of end-user participation, and a more nuanced understanding of the suitability and usability of different XR-based accessibility aids. By broadening end-user participation to early stages of the design process and shifting the focus from behavioral performance to qualitative assessments of usability, future research has the potential to develop XR technologies that may not only allow for studying vision loss, but also enable novel visual accessibility aids with the potential to impact the lives of millions of people living with vision loss

How will the Internet of Things enable Augmented Personalized Health?

Internet-of-Things (IoT) is profoundly redefining the way we create, consume, and share information. Health aficionados and citizens are increasingly using IoT technologies to track their sleep, food intake, activity, vital body signals, and other physiological observations. This is complemented by IoT systems that continuously collect health-related data from the environment and inside the living quarters. Together, these have created an opportunity for a new generation of healthcare solutions. However, interpreting data to understand an individual's health is challenging. It is usually necessary to look at that individual's clinical record and behavioral information, as well as social and environmental information affecting that individual. Interpreting how well a patient is doing also requires looking at his adherence to respective health objectives, application of relevant clinical knowledge and the desired outcomes. We resort to the vision of Augmented Personalized Healthcare (APH) to exploit the extensive variety of relevant data and medical knowledge using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to extend and enhance human health to presents various stages of augmented health management strategies: self-monitoring, self-appraisal, self-management, intervention, and disease progress tracking and prediction. kHealth technology, a specific incarnation of APH, and its application to Asthma and other diseases are used to provide illustrations and discuss alternatives for technology-assisted health management. Several prominent efforts involving IoT and patient-generated health data (PGHD) with respect converting multimodal data into actionable information (big data to smart data) are also identified. Roles of three components in an evidence-based semantic perception approach- Contextualization, Abstraction, and Personalization are discussed