Kevin Curran

Stream a Framework for Detecting Movement Indoors

There are many advantages to being able to track in real-time the movement of things or humans. This is especially important in tracking goods in the supply chain, in security and also in health and safety. The Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system works well in outdoor environments but it cannot track items indoors. There is also the problem of power hungry sensor chips inherent in some GPS trackers. Mobile Cellular triangulation also works well for many outdoor solutions but problems with cost, accuracy and reliability make it difficult to deploy for indoor tracking scenarions. The levels of accuracy can vary by up to 50 meters which hinder its ability for adoption in many use case scenarios. There are also problems with poor cellular coverage in rural areas. Solutions built on WiFi–the IEEE 802.11 standard overcome many of these issues. WiFi location tracking works via sampling of the received signal strength (RSS) which along with triangulation and prior mapping allows systems to locate items or humans with fine-granularity. This WiFi fingerprinting is a viable cost-effective approach to determining movement within indoor enviroments. This paper presents an overview of popular techniques and off-the-shelf solutions which can be used to determine movement of people and objects indoors. We outline the Locator frameworks which is built on both active and passive indoor localisation techniques for tracking movement within indoor environments.

Using Mobile Technology to Provide Personalized Reminiscence for People Living With Dementia and Their Carers: Appraisal of Outcomes From a Quasi-Experimental Study

Background Dementia is an international research priority. Reminiscence is an intervention that prompts memories and has been widely used as a therapeutic approach for people living with dementia. We developed a novel iPad app to support home-based personalized reminiscence. It is crucial that technology-enabled reminiscence interventions are appraised. Objective We sought to measure the effect of technology-enabled reminiscence on mutuality (defined as the level of “closeness” between an adult living with dementia and their carer), quality of carer and patient relationship, and subjective well-being. Methods A 19-week personalized reminiscence intervention facilitated by a program of training and a bespoke iPad app was delivered to people living with dementia and their family carers at their own homes. Participants (N=60) were recruited in dyads from a cognitive rehabilitation team affiliated with a large UK health care organization. Each dyad comprised a person living with early to moderate dementia and his or her family carer. Outcome measurement data were collected at baseline, midpoint, and intervention closure. Results Participants living with dementia attained statistically significant increases in mutuality, quality of carer and patient relationship, and subjective well-being (P<.001 for all 3) from baseline to endpoint. Carers attained nonsignificant increases in mutuality and quality of carer and patient relationship and a nonsignificant decrease in subjective well-being. Conclusions Our results indicate that individual-specific reminiscence supported by an iPad app may be efficient in the context of early to moderate dementia. A robust randomized controlled trial of technology-enabled personalized reminiscence is warranted.

‘There is still so much inside’: The impact of personalised reminiscence, facilitated by a tablet device, on people living with mild to moderate dementia and their family carers

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the impact of a home-based, personalised reminiscence programme facilitated through an iPad app on people living with dementia and their family carers. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 15 people living with dementia and 17 family carers from a region of the United Kingdom. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Six key themes emerged related to usability (‘It’s part of my life now’); revisiting the past (‘Memories that are important to me’); home use (‘It was homely’); impact on the person living with dementia (‘It helped me find myself again’); gains and abilities (‘There is still so much inside’) and impact on relationships (‘It’s become very close’). These themes highlighted the impact of the reminiscence experience at an individual and relationship level for people living with dementia and their carers. The reminiscence experience also appeared to facilitate the development of new insights among participants that emphasised abilities and gains rather than disabilities and losses. The significance of personal memories was a core theme although this was not without its challenges, particularly if memories were distressing. The reminiscence experience was differentiated by individual roles. Carers tended to become more relationship-focused, whereas people living with dementia highlighted the significance of learning new skills. The study concluded that individual specific reminiscence supported by an iPad app can have a positive impact on people living with dementia and their carers at an individual and relationship level.