Sergio T. Carvalho

Applying context-aware techniques to design remote assisted living applications

We present an architecture that includes two essential services to compose the supporting infrastructure required by context-aware applications: a Context Service, that provides access to context information, and a Discovery Service. A reference implementation, based on Web Services technology, was used to develop a remote assisted living application, which relies on ambient sensors, placed in each room, to capture context information and on a combo medical appliance to perform blood pressure measurements on the patient, according to a care plan prescribed by a doctor. The collected set of context data may be transmitted to a monitoring centre and also interpreted locally using medical knowledge; the identification of a patients abnormal condition can activate local actions or send an emergency message to a monitoring centre. This infrastructure can help a doctor to monitor and assist the patient while he or she is performing daily activities and may also help improving the patients treatment compliance and quality of life.

Using Discovery and Monitoring Services to Support Context-Aware Remote Assisted Living Applications

Ubiquitous and pervasive applications are aware of the context of the used resources. This class of application can benefit from mechanisms to discover resources (devices and sensors) that meet their requirements and mechanisms to monitor the state and provide access to the functionalities of these resources. We present an architecture that includes two essential services to compose the supporting infrastructure required by the mentioned applications: a Context Service, that provides access to context information, and a Discovery Service. Resource Agents, which encapsulate and provide access to the actual resources and sensors, are also included in the proposal. A reference implementation, based on Web Services technology, was used to develop a remote assisted living application, which relies on ambient sensors, placed in each room, to capture context information and on a combo medical appliance to perform blood pressure measurements on the patient, according to a care plan prescribed by a doctor. The collected set of context data may be transmitted to a monitoring center and also interpreted locally using medical knowledge; the identification of a patients abnormal condition can activate local actions or send an emergency message to a monitoring center. The local infrastructure can help a doctor to monitor and assist the patient while he or she is performing daily activities. It may also help reducing hospitalization time and improving the patient’s treatment compliance and quality of life.

Dynamic Variability Management in Product Lines: An Approach Based on Architectural Contracts

Software product lines capture commonalities and variabilities of products in order to facilitate the process development of new products. However, variability management is traditionally done just in development time and deployment time, not attending classes of applications that require a high degree of adaptability such as ubiquitous/pervasive and context-aware applications. This paper presents an approach for runtime variability management, considering product lines aimed at context-aware applications. The approach focuses on product line architecture description associated to contracts, which are used to manage dynamic variabilities. In a contract can be set services and context rules at a high level of abstraction. Services encapsulate variabilities and are capable of adapting/reconfiguring architecture of a product on dynamic way, while the rules determine a context which a particular service should be activated. This approach was applied in scenarios involving dynamic variabilities in a product line focused on home health care applications, where it was possible to observe its feasibility.

E-Learning e Jogos Eletrônicos Interativos: Possibilidadespara a Educação Médica

Resumo: Este artigo correlaciona conceitos de e-learning, jogos eletronicos, geracao e narracao de estorias, com o objetivo de investigar a possibilidade de aplicacao de jogos eletronicos interativos em ambiente de e-learning para educacao medica. A correlacao e estabelecida levando-se em conta as caracteristicas e fatores necessarios a motivacao e engajamento do estudante na sua aprendizagem, considerando em especial, o modelo de aprendizagem Problem-Based Learning (PBL), aplicado na educacao medica. Abstract: This article correlates concepts of e-learning, electronic games, generation and narration of stories, in order to investigate the possibility of interactive eletronic games in e-learning environment for medical education. The correlation is established taking into account the characteristics and factors necessary for the student motivation and engagement in their learning, especially considering the model of learning Problem-Based Learning (PBL), applied in medical education.