The acceptability and feasibility of using the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) to inform practice in care homes

Background: The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) measures social care related quality of life (SCRQoL) and can be used to measure outcomes and demonstrate impact across different social care settings. This exploratory study built on previous work by collecting new inter-rater reliability data on the mixed-methods version of the toolkit and exploring how it might be used to inform practice in four case study homes. Method: We worked with two care home providers to agree an in-depth study collecting SCRQoL data in four case-study homes. Data was collected about residents’ age, ethnicity, cognitive impairment, ability to perform activities of daily living and SCRQoL in the four homes. Feedback sessions with staff and managers were held in the homes two weeks after baseline and follow-up data collected three months later. Interviews with managers explored their views of the feedback and recorded any changes that had been made because of it. Results: Participant recruitment was challenging, despite working in partnership with the homes. Resident response rates ranged from 23 to 54 % with 58 residents from four care homes taking part in the research. 53 % lacked capacity to consent. Inter-rater reliability for the ASCOT ratings of SCRQoL were good at time one (IRR = 0.72) and excellent at time two (IRR = 0.76). During the study, residents’ ability to perform activities of daily living declined significantly (z = -2.67, p < .01), as did their expected needs in the absence of services (z = -2.41, p < .05). Despite these rapid declines in functionings, residents’ current SCRQoL declined slightly but not significantly (Z = -1.49, p = .14). Staff responded positively to the feedback given and managers reported implementing changes in practice because of it. Conclusion: This exploratory study faced many challenges in the recruitment of residents, many of whom were cognitively impaired. Nevertheless, without a mixed-methods approach many of the residents living in the care homes would have been excluded from the research altogether or had their views represented only by a representative or proxy. The value of the mixed-methods toolkit and its potential for use by providers is discussed

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE ACCURACY OF THE NAVIGATION DATA OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE SYSTEM MIKROKOPTER

Bochum University of Applied Sciences (HS BO) is currently involved in an UAV project, whose fundamental developments are the result of an internet community. The MikroKopter system, being built by the laboratory, is a manually and autonomous flying platform. With regard to the implementation of an autonomous flight the MikroKopter is equipped with appropriate sensors for the flight control. The interaction of these components allows horizontal and vertical stabilized positioning of the system, as well as the return to the launch site. Using these positioning data a stabilization and orientation of the camera occurs, followed by a manual or automatically triggering of the camera to the predetermined positions. All flight data is completely recorded and can be evaluated at a later date. Investigations to the quality of navigation data are presented. Based on different flights at the Bochum test field, combined with the use of alternative navigation sensors, an evaluation of the standard components of the MikroKopter system occurs. Another focus is given by efforts to optimize the control, stabilization and orientation of the camera

ENHANCEMENTS IN UAV FLIGHT CONTROL AND SENSOR ORIENTATION

The acquisition of photogrammetric image data by means of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has developed in recent years to an interesting new measurement method especially for small to medium sizes of objects. In addition the latest developments in the field of navigation systems (GNSS), of inertial sensors and other sensors in combination with powerful and easy to program microcontrollers have made a major contribution to this. In particular, the development of MEMS sensors has triggered the boom of the UAV and has given decisively influence and it is still going on. The integration of sensors on a single board not only enables a cost-effective manufacturing and mass production, but also the use in accordance with small, lightweight UAV. The latest developments on a 50 mm &times; 50 mm-sized circuit board combine the sensors and the microcontroller for the flight control and flight navigation. Both the board and the microcontroller are easy to program and maintain several interfaces for connecting additional sensors, such as GNSS, ultrasonic sensors and telemetry. This article presents the UAV system of the Bochum University of Applied Sciences, the used sensors and the obtained results for accurate georeferencing

ISPRS BENCHMARK FOR MULTI-PLATFORM PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Airborne high resolution oblique imagery systems and RPAS/UAVs are very promising technologies that will keep on influencing the development of geomatics in the future years closing the gap between terrestrial and classical aerial acquisitions. These two platforms are also a promising solution for National Mapping and Cartographic Agencies (NMCA) as they allow deriving complementary mapping information. Although the interest for the registration and integration of aerial and terrestrial data is constantly increasing, only limited work has been truly performed on this topic. Several investigations still need to be undertaken concerning algorithms ability for automatic co-registration, accurate point cloud generation and feature extraction from multiplatform image data. One of the biggest obstacles is the non-availability of reliable and free datasets to test and compare new algorithms and procedures. The Scientific Initiative “ISPRS benchmark for multi-platform photogrammetry”, run in collaboration with EuroSDR, aims at collecting and sharing state-of-the-art multi-sensor data (oblique airborne, UAV-based and terrestrial images) over an urban area. These datasets are used to assess different algorithms and methodologies for image orientation and dense matching. As ground truth, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), Aerial Laser Scanning (ALS) as well as topographic networks and GNSS points were acquired to compare 3D coordinates on check points (CPs) and evaluate cross sections and residuals on generated point cloud surfaces. In this paper, the acquired data, the pre-processing steps, the evaluation procedures as well as some preliminary results achieved with commercial software will be presented

ISPRS benchmark for multi-platform photogrammetry

Airborne high resolution oblique imagery systems and RPAS/UAVs are very promising technologies that will keep on influencing the development of geomatics in the future years closing the gap between terrestrial and classical aerial acquisitions. These two platforms are also a promising solution for National Mapping and Cartographic Agencies (NMCA) as they allow deriving complementary mapping information. Although the interest for the registration and integration of aerial and terrestrial data is constantly increasing, only limited work has been truly performed on this topic. Several investigations still need to be undertaken concerning algorithms ability for automatic co-registration, accurate point cloud generation and feature extraction from multiplatform image data. One of the biggest obstacles is the non-availability of reliable and free datasets to test and compare new algorithms and procedures. The Scientific Initiative “ISPRS benchmark for multi-platform photogrammetry”, run in collaboration with EuroSDR, aims at collecting and sharing state-of-the-art multi-sensor data (oblique airborne, UAV-based and terrestrial images) over an urban area. These datasets are used to assess different algorithms and methodologies for image orientation and dense matching. As ground truth, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), Aerial Laser Scanning (ALS) as well as topographic networks and GNSS points were acquired to compare 3D coordinates on check points (CPs) and evaluate cross sections and residuals on generated point cloud surfaces. In this paper, the acquired data, the pre-processing steps, the evaluation procedures as well as some preliminary results achieved with commercial software will be presented