No abstract

One of the challenges in virtual environments is the difficulty users have in interacting with these increasingly complex systems. Ultimately, endowing machines with the ability to perceive users emotions will enable a more intuitive and reliable interaction. Consequently, using the electroencephalogram as a bio-signal sensor, the affective state of a user can be modelled and subsequently utilised in order to achieve a system that can recognise and react to the user's emotions. This paper investigates features extracted from electroencephalogram signals for the purpose of affective state modelling based on Russell's Circumplex Model. Investigations are presented that aim to provide the foundation for future work in modelling user affect to enhance interaction experience in virtual environments. The DEAP dataset was used within this work, along with a Support Vector Machine and Random Forest, which yielded reasonable classification accuracies for Valence and Arousal using feature vectors based on statistical measurements and band power from the α, β, δ, and θ waves and High Order Crossing of the EEG signal.

Abstract-Movement asymmetry is one of the motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Therefore, being able to detect and measure movement symmetry is important for monitoring the patient's condition. The present paper introduces a novel symbol based symmetry index calculated from inertial sensor data. The method is explained, evaluated, and compared to six other symmetry measures. These measures were used to determine the symmetry of both upper and lower limbs during walking of 11 early-to-mid-stage PD patients and 15 control subjects. The patients included in the study showed minimal motor abnormalities according to the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS). The symmetry indices were used to classify subjects into two different groups corresponding to PD or control. The proposed method presented high sensitivity and specificity with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.872, 9% greater than the second best method. The proposed method also showed an excellent intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.949, 55% greater than the second best method. Results suggest that the proposed symmetry index is appropriate for this particular group of patients.

Abstract-Gait analysis can convey important information about one's physical and cognitive condition. Wearable inertial sensor systems can be used to continuously and unobtrusively assess gait during everyday activities in uncontrolled environments. An important step in the development of such systems is the processing and analysis of the sensor data. This paper presents a symbol-based method used to detect the phases of gait and convey important dynamic information from accelerometer signals. The addition of expert knowledge substitutes the need for supervised learning techniques, rendering the system easy to interpret and easy to improve incrementally. The proposed method is compared to an approach based on peak-detection. A new symbol-based symmetry index is created and compared to a traditional temporal symmetry index and a symmetry measure based on cross-correlation. The symbol-based symmetry index exemplifies how the proposed method can extract more information from the acceleration signal than previous approaches.

Background Information on how behavior change strategies have been used to design digital interventions (DIs) to improve blood pressure (BP) control or medication adherence (MA) for patients with hypertension is currently limited. Objective Hypertension is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and can be controlled with appropriate medication. Many interventions that target MA to improve BP are increasingly using modern digital technologies. This systematic review was conducted to discover how DIs have been designed to improve MA and BP control among patients with hypertension in the recent 10 years. Results were mapped into a matrix of change objectives using the Intervention Mapping framework to guide future development of technologies to improve MA and BP control. Methods We included all the studies regarding DI development to improve MA or BP control for patients with hypertension published in PubMed from 2008 to 2018. All the DI components were mapped into a matrix of change objectives using the Intervention Mapping technique by eliciting the key determinant factors (from patient and health care team and system levels) and targeted patient behaviors. Results The analysis included 54 eligible studies. The determinants were considered at two levels: patient and health care team and system. The most commonly described determinants at the patient level were lack of education, lack of self-awareness, lack of self-efficacy, and forgetfulness. Clinical inertia and an inadequate health workforce were the most commonly targeted determinants at the health care team and system level. Taking medication, interactive patient-provider communication, self-measurement, and lifestyle management were the most cited patient behaviors at both levels. Most of the DIs did not include support from peers or family members, despite its reported effectiveness and the rate of social media penetration. Conclusions This review highlights the need to design a multifaceted DI that can be personalized according to patient behavior(s) that need to be changed to overcome the key determinant(s) of low adherence to medication or uncontrolled BP among patients with hypertension, considering different levels including patient and healthcare team and system involvement.