ABSTRACT
IoT technologies generate intelligence and connectivity and develop knowledge to be used in the decision-making process. However, research that uses big data through global interconnected infrastructures, such as the 'Internet of Things' (IoT) for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA), is fraught with several ethical concerns. A large-scale application of IoT operating in diverse piloting contexts and case studies needs to be orchestrated by a robust framework to guide ethical and sustainable decision making in respect to data management of AHA and IoT based solutions. The main objective of the current article is to present the successful completion of a collaborative multiscale research work, which addressed the complicated exercise of ethical decision making in IoT smart ecosystems for older adults. Our results reveal that among the strong enablers of the proposed ethical decision support model were the participatory and deliberative procedures complemented by a set of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to operationalize core ethical values such as transparency, trust, and fairness in real care settings for older adults and their caregivers.
ABSTRACT
This paper introduces technical solutions devised to support the Deployment Site - Regione Emilia Romagna (DS-RER) of the ACTIVAGE project. The ACTIVAGE project aims at promoting IoT (Internet of Things)-based solutions for Active and Healthy ageing. DS-RER focuses on improving continuity of care for older adults (65+) suffering from aftereffects of a stroke event. A Wireless Sensor Kit based on Wi-Fi connectivity was suitably engineered and realized to monitor behavioral aspects, possibly relevant to health and wellbeing assessment. This includes bed/rests patterns, toilet usage, room presence and many others. Besides hardware design and validation, cloud-based analytics services are introduced, suitable for automatic extraction of relevant information (trends and anomalies) from raw sensor data streams. The approach is general and applicable to a wider range of use cases; however, for readability's sake, two simple cases are analyzed, related to bed and toilet usage patterns. In particular, a regression framework is introduced, suitable for detecting trends (long and short-term) and labeling anomalies. A methodology for assessing multi-modal daily behavioral profiles is introduced, based on unsupervised clustering techniques. The proposed framework has been successfully deployed at several real-users' homes, allowing for its functional validation. Clinical effectiveness will be assessed instead through a Randomized Control Trial study, currently being carried out.
ABSTRACT
European population will face an unprecedented aging era in the next years. Albeit aging in itself is a success goal, it may bring with it a general decline and functional limitations. In order to decelerate such decline, one of the most efficient strategies is physical activity. The present paper reports the insight emerging from three focus-group interviews organized at the beginning of the MOTION-Remote Home Physical Training for Seniors project, whose main aim regarded the implementation of an ICT system capable of offering home-based gym sessions to healthy seniors. The sixteen interview participants (11 females and 5 males, averaged age 72.3) provided several indications, which were grouped into the following themes: (1) ICT technical characteristics; (2) Platform accessibility; (3) Physical program features; (4) Psychological factors. At the end of the thematic analysis, results suggest that theoretical frameworks mainly focusing on ICT issues might be insufficient to endorse the successful development and maintenance of ICT systems such as MOTION, which challenges seniors to accept ICT while staying committed to the physical exercise program .
