A Self-Attention Deep Neural Network Regressor for real time blood glucose estimation in paediatric population using physiological signals

With the advent of modern digital technology, the physiological signals (such as electrocardiogram) are being acquired from portable wearable devices which are being used for non-invasive chronic disease management (such as Type 1 Diabetes). The diabetes management requires real-time assessment of blood glucose which is cumbersome for paediatric population due to clinical complexity and invasiveness. Therefore, real-time non-invasive blood glucose estimation is now pivotal for effective diabetes management. In this paper, we propose a Self-Attention Deep Neural Network Regressor for real-time non-invasive blood glucose estimation for paediatric population based on automatically extracted beat morphology. The first stage performs Morphological Extractor based on Self-Attention based Long Short-Term Memory driven by Convolutional Neural Network for highlighting local features based on temporal context. The second stage is based on Morphological Regressor driven by multilayer perceptron with dropout and batch normalization to avoid overfitting. We performed feature selection via logit model followed by Spearman's correlation among features to avoid feature redundancy. We trained as tested our model on publicly available MIT/BIH-Physionet databases and physiological signals acquired from a T1D paediatric population. We performed our evaluation via Clarke's Grid error to analyse estimation accuracy on range of blood values under different glycaemic conditions. The results show that our tool outperformed existing regression models with 89% accuracy under clinically acceptable range. The proposed model based on beat morphology significantly outperformed models based on HRV features

Robotic Technology in Pediatric Neurorehabilitation. A Pilot Study of Human Factors in an Italian Pediatric Hospital

The introduction of robotic neurorehabilitation among the most recent technologies in pediatrics represents a new opportunity to treat pediatric patients. This study aims at evaluating the response of physiotherapists, patients and their parents to this new technology. The study considered the outcomes of technological innovation in physiotherapists (perception of the workload, satisfaction), as well as that in patients and their parents (quality of life, expectations, satisfaction) by comparing the answers to subjective questionnaires of those who made use of the new technology with those who used the traditional therapy. A total of 12 workers, 46 patients and 47 parents were enrolled in the study. Significant differences were recorded in the total workload score of physiotherapists who use the robotic technology compared with the traditional therapy (p < 0.001). Patients reported a higher quality of life and satisfaction after the use of the robotic neurorehabilitation therapy. The parents of patients undergoing the robotic therapy have moderately higher expectations and satisfaction than those undergoing the traditional therapy. In this pilot study, the robotic neurorehabilitation technique involved a significant increase in the patients' and parents' expectations. As it frequently happens in the introduction of new technologies, physiotherapists perceived a greater workload. Further studies are needed to verify the results achieved

New Technologies for implementing Learning Future Scenarios: The European Learning GRID Infrastructure Project

The purpose of this paper is to describe the ELeGI (www.elegi.org) Project . ELeGI has the ambitious goal of developing software technologies for service oriented effective human learning and promoting and supporting a learning paradigm shift. A new paradigm focused on knowledge construction using experiential based and collaborative learning approaches in a contextualised, personalised and ubiquitous way will replace the current information transfer paradigm focused on content and on the key authoritative figure of the teacher who provides information. We have chosen a synergic approach, sometimes called “human centred design”, to replace the classical, applicative approach to learning. With consideration of humans at the centre, learning is clearly a social, constructive phenomenon. It occurs as a side effect of interactions, conversations and enhanced presence in dynamic Virtual Communities created and deployed using GRID technologies

The European Learning Grid Infrastructure Integrated Project

semantic Grid for human learning is the vision behind the European ELeGI Integrated Project for the implementation of future learning scenarios based on ubiquitous, collaborative, experiential-based and contextualized learning through the design, implementation and validation of the Learning Grid

Generalised Environment for Process Management in Cooperative Software Engineering

In this paper we present an Open Source platform supporting distributed software engineering processes, which is currently under development in the GENESIS project1 (GEneralised eNvironment for procEsS management in cooperatIve Software engineering). It supports the definition, enactment and control of software processes in a distributed manner and the formal and informal communication among distributed software engineer teams using Workflow and Document Management technologies. We make use of software agents as technological glue to control and monitor the activities execution at different sites (low invasive approach). The highly flexible process definition language allows Project manager to define a software process at different levels of detail supporting both iterative refinement and on the fly activities flow modification

The Anatomy of the Learning Grid

Over the last few years, Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) needs have been changing in accordance with ever more complex pedagogical models as well as with technological evolution, demanding for high dynamic and configurable environments for running multiple teaching and learning scenarios.. Grid technologies have started to be very popular even in education due to the advantages that they offer being based on a secure, flexible and coordinated way of sharing resources over Internet as well as on its enormous capability of information processing. A Grid may facilitate learning processes in allowing each learner to collaboratively use the resources already existing online, by facilitating and managing dynamic communication with other people and agents, through the implementation of dynamic Virtual Organizations allowing to share learning resources. Nevertheless, in order to be effectively used in TEL, Grid must be complemented with other technologies bringing to the concept of “Learning Grid” whose description is the object of this chapter

A New Paradigm for Virtual Scientific Experiment

In this work we present an e-learning implementation of a new process for acquiring knowledge based on inductive experimental approach. The process uses an especially didactical methodology to present a Virtual Scientific Experiment (VSE) to the learner. The VSE is a computer simulation, based on a mathematical model, which represents the real scientific scene like pendulum motion, chute etc. The VSE approach suggests a didactical situation where the learner gradually acquire new knowledge thanks to some discovers in the scene. This is made without the knowledge of the theoretical models, which are connected with the experiment in the scene. From a technological point of view the e–learning implementation is based on IWT (Intelligent Web Teacher). IWT is an e-learning platform that guarantees the flexibility of its modalities of representation and management of the main entities involved in the e-learning process through the adoption of three different models: the knowledge model, the student’s model, and the didactic model. IWT realizes a paradigm based on a pattern adapter, which allows the use of a large range of possible categories of Learning Object (LO) with previous installation of a suitable module named Driver. The Driver manages its creation, delivery and possible feedback in a transparent way, both for the user and the other modules running on the platform. To build the new didactical methodology we created new drivers to integrate in IWT all the instrument to build, to simulate and to visualize the mathematical models of real VSE. So the teacher can use in IWT Dymola and Simulnik to build mathematical model Learning Object and realize the virtual experiments

The anatomy of the learning grid

Over the last few years, Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) needs have been changing in accordance with ever more complex pedagogical models as well as with technological evolution, demanding for high dynamic and configurable environments for running multiple teaching and learning scenarios.. Grid technologies have started to be very popular even in education due to the advantages that they offer being based on a secure, flexible and coordinated way of sharing resources over Internet as well as on its enormous capability of information processing. A Grid may facilitate learning processes in allowing each learner to collaboratively use the resources already existing online, by facilitating and managing dynamic communication with other people and agents, through the implementation of dynamic Virtual Organizations allowing to share learning resources. Nevertheless, in order to be effectively used in TEL, Grid must be complemented with other technologies bringing to the concept of “Learning Grid” whose description is the object of this chapter