Anthony Atkins

Elderly activities recognition and classification for applications in assisted living

Assisted living systems can help support elderly persons with their daily activities in order to help them maintain healthy and safety while living independently. However, most current systems are ineffective in actual situation, difficult to use and have a low acceptance rate. There is a need for an assisted living solution to become intelligent and also practical issues such as user acceptance and usability need to be resolved in order to truly assist elderly people. Small, inexpensive and low-powered consumption sensors are now available which can be used in assisted living applications to provide sensitive and responsive services based on users current environments and situations. This paper aims to address the issue of how to develop an activity recognition method for a practical assisted living system in term of user acceptance, privacy (non-visual) and cost. The paper proposes an activity recognition and classification method for detection of Activities of Daily Livings (ADLs) of an elderly person using small, low-cost, non-intrusive non-stigmatize wrist worn sensors. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve a high classification rate (>90%). Statistical tests are employed to support this high classification rate of the proposed method. Also, we prove that by combining data from temperature sensor and/or altimeter with accelerometer, classification accuracy can be improved.

Activity classification using a single wrist-worn accelerometer

Automatic identification of human activity has led to a possibility of providing personalised services in different domains i.e. healthcare, security and sport etc. With advancement in sensor technology, automatic activity recognition can be done in an unobtrusive and non-intrusive way. The placement of the sensor and wearability are ones of vital keys in the successful activity recognition of free space livings. Experiments were carried out to investigate the use of a single wrist-worn accelerometer for automatic activity classification. The performances of two classification algorithms namely Decision Tree C4.5 and Artificial Neural Network were compared using four different sets of features to classify five daily living activities. The result revealed that Decision Tree C4.5 has outperformed Neural Network regardless of the different sets of features used. The best classification result was achieved using the set containing the most popular and accurate features i.e. mean, minimum, energy and sample differences etc. The best accuracy of 94.13% was achieved using only wrist-worn accelerometer showing a possibility of automatic activity classification with no movement constrain, discomfort and stigmatisation caused by the sensor.

Extending e-business applications using mobile technology

The paper outlines the application of mobile wireless technology to enhance e-business applications. The paper describes the application of mobile technology accessing web enabled databases to extend e-business competitive advantage. A number of applications using mobile technology to enhance e-business systems are outlined in relation to the evolution of mobile devices and wireless technology standards of WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and WiBro (Wireless Broadband). An example of a restaurant wireless Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) and inventory system indicates the use of wireless technology to enhance business activity and contribute to existing e-business operation. A proposed framework is outlined to introduce the application of user mobility to mobile usage as an extension of existing Intranet, Extranet and Internet e-business application.

Strategic Value of Cloud Computing in Healthcare Organisations Using the Balanced Scorecard Approach

The evolution of Cloud Computing over the past few years has the potential to provide many benefits for healthcare organisations. However, healthcare organisations still need to discover the strategic values of adopting such a technology model. The paper discusses the strategic value of implementing Cloud Computing solutions in a Saudi hospital based on the Balanced Scorecard Approach. The paper also presents the strategy map and the KPIs that were used by the hospital. The results of this paper (KPIs, strategy map.) could act as guidelines for similar projects and similar organisations, while taking into consideration the uniqueness of each organisation.

Efficient mutual authentication protocol for radiofrequency identification systems

The radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is expected to play a vital role in identifying objects and serving to prevent counterfeiting and fraud. The use of RFID tags may cause privacy violation of users carrying an RFID tag. Owing to the unique identification number of the RFID tag, the possible privacy threats are information leakage of a tag, traceability of the consumer, denial of service attack and impersonation of a tag. Owing to the large number of tags in any application individual secret value for each tag requires a large number of complex hash computations in the database side. To reduce the computation overhead many protocols use a group secret value for tags in the database side. This study proposes a new authentication protocol which provides privacy and security in a more efficient manner using individual secret values for each tag and also avoids many complex hash operations in the database side. The evaluation indicates that the proposed protocol requires a low storage, computation and communication cost but offers larger ranges of privacy and security protection.

Application of CBR techniques in elderly falling risk for physiotherapist assessment and support

With the aging population increasing at a faster r ate the muscular skeletal system disorder caused by falling is becoming a challenging problem to health providers. In Thailand there is lack of training of therapists to assist the elderly people following fall injuries. The need for innovative approaches to help with the care of elderly is required. This paper addresses this issue by describing a decision support system based on a case based reasoning paradigm to support the physiotherapists in their care for the elderly.

Privacy and security protection of RFID data in e-passport

E-passport is a biometric passport that combines both paper and electronic chip. It includes biometrics information and ID using RFID chip or tag. The goal of e-passport is to provide strong authentication through documents that unambiguously identify the passport holder. An e-passport can protect forging of ID and can make rapid progress in immigration. The use of RFID tag may cause privacy violation of users using the tag. Due to the unique identification number of the RFID tag, this is subjected to different privacy and security threats such as information leakage of a tag, traceability of the person, denial of service attack, and impersonation of a tag. This paper investigates different privacy and security problems in RFID systems used in e-passport and proposes the implementation of a proposed authentication protocol to overcome those privacy and security problems. Simulation experiments show that the protocol is secure for larger entropy.

Fall-risk screening system framework for physiotherapy care of elderly

Highlights? The decline in musculoskeletal system in the aging population is the biggest cause of injury death in older people. ? Current demand for physiotherapists outstrips current supply. ? The innovative approach is described which combines a risk assessment of the elderly with a case based reasoning system. ? The proposed approach supports physiotherapists and improves the health care of older people. In 2008 the global older population (aged 65 and over) was estimated to be about 7% of the worlds population; it is estimated to reach 2 billion by 2050 accounting for 22% of the world total population. This demographic trend sets new challenges to health services and policies, and imposes a significant financial and social burden on economies as a whole. The decline in musculoskeletal system in the aging population is the biggest cause of injury death in older people who require effective physiotherapy treatment. However the current demand for physiotherapists outstrips current supply. To address this problem this paper described an innovative approach which consists of a screening risk assessment of the elderly which can be combined with a case based reasoning system to support physiotherapist in managing the care of the elderly following a fall. Although the study is based on a small cohort of the Thai population it is believed that this approach can address the shortage of physiotherapists and bring a significant improvement in the health care of older people.

Transforming to a smart hospital system: Proposed application in the Medina Maternity and Children’s Hospital

Purpose Expert knowledge is an important organisational resource, and organisations need to retain the knowledge learned by experience, which can be shared as part of inter-professional learning. In a healthcare context, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and ZigBee technologies can be used together, to provide real-time information for decision support and to create a secure and reliable smart hospital management information system (SHMIS) that allows the dynamic control of objects and transforms operational processes, while minimising any potential risks to patients and staff. Currently, the RFID technology in Saudi Arabia is being solely used for the monitoring of newborn infants, and some difficulties have been encountered during the different stages of tagging and monitoring. The current system in Medina Maternity and Children’s Hospital (MMCH) uses battery-powered active RFID tags, which are expensive and require routine maintenance. This study aims to discuss the way in which the MMCH in Medina, Saudi Arabia, could be transformed into an SHMIS. Design/methodology/approach The extraordinary growth of RFID and ZigBee technologies has made it possible to identify, locate and track objects in various environments in real time. The RFID technology is a non-contact identification technology that is cheap and reliable but has limited range in the case of passive tags. ZigBee has greater range and lower power consumption, giving more precise location of the object’s movements (0.6 m). Passive RFID when combined with ZigBee technology can be used to improve services provided by healthcare organisations through continuous data collection and supporting real-time decision-making, by applying expert knowledge of domain experts to data produced by communication from electronic and sensor technologies. Findings A prototype object-tracking system using RFID and ZigBee was developed to support the knowledge transformation for knowledge reasoning for decision support (KRDS), and the outcome of this research was validated with domain experts in hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Two feasibility case studies were conducted at MMCH in Saudi Arabia, to evaluate the proposed system. A survey was also conducted to address the requirements at MMCH, and the researcher adopted a range of strategy techniques, including interviews and meetings with staff, and the setting up of communities of practise (CoPs) at the target hospital. Research limitations/implications This paper has investigated the transformation process of an automatic healthcare tracking and monitoring systems for the purpose of developing a smart system in Saudi hospitals. For the scope of the project, the prototype implementation was restricted to a laboratory environment, to demonstrate the proposed proof of concept. The next phase will include conducting a scale up of the system, with implementation and testing done in a real hospital environment. Originality/value This paper proposes a prototype application of an (SHMIS that allows the dynamic control of objects and transforms operational processes, while minimising any potential risks to patients and staff.

A study of the application of automatic healthcare tracking and monitoring system in Saudi Arabia

Purpose – This paper aims to outline the results of a study of the potential use of sensor technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and/or ZigBee technology in providing real-time tracking and tracing of patients and equipment in hospitals. The government of Saudi Arabia has given high priority to providing the best practice in patients’ care. However, the growing requirement of the healthcare industry to obtain real-time information and data from various applications that can improve the performance and accuracy of management systems has not been addressed seriously in Saudi Arabia. Design/methodology/approach – ZigBee and RFID are both emerging technologies and have become important topics in recent years. RFID technology is a non-contact identification technology that does not require direct eyesight to the target object. It is cheap and reliable, but its coverage zone is limited. ZigBee is another communication technology, which has a larger coverage and can also be used as an automati...