No abstract

This proposal consists of adding a new language module named Users to provide multi-user support in NCL, proposing three new NCL elements: userBase, userAgent and userProfile. user-Base is used for declaring user and their profiles. userAgent identifies a user and userProfile represents a description of the user’s profile. Each userAgent is associated with only one userProfile, and together, they allow representing a unique user. The user description with its specific characteristics can be loaded from a profile specified with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) standard, for example.

In the healthcare field, games and gamification have been applied as tools to support traditional treatments for dementia, anxiety, and depression. Immersive environments using Virtual Reality (VR) can help elderly users be more focused on the tasks to be done, enhancing their memory skills. This paper proposes a new cognitive exercise called Memo-VR, which combines VR technology with interaction techniques, such as scanning and virtualizing the user’s hands, to play a memory game. Memo-VR was evaluated with a group of elderly users who gave positive feedback about the game.

Incorporating sensory effects to traditional multimedia applications makes it possible to stimulate other human senses in addition to sight and hearing. Furthermore, this new type of application allows the construction of multisensory environments that can be used for healthcare applications, for example, stimulating multiple senses of patients through new types of therapy or cognitive training. In this context, this chapter presents and discusses the characteristics of applications with multiple sensory effects, highlighting possibilities of their use for healthcare. This chapter also describes some use cases of applications and multisensory ambients for helping the treatment of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's, autism spectrum disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, among others. Resumo A incorporação de efeitos sensoriais às aplicações multimídia tradicionais possibilita estimular outros sentidos humanos, além da visão e audição. Ainda, este novo tipo de aplicação permite a construção de ambientes multissensoriais que podem ser utilizados para aplicações em saúde, por exemplo, estimulando múltiplos sentidos de pacientes por meio de novos tipos de terapia ou treinamento cognitivo. Neste contexto, este capítulo apresenta e discute características de aplicações com múltiplos efeitos sensoriais, destacando possibilidades de sua utilização na área da saúde. Este capítulo também descreve alguns casos de uso de aplicações e ambientes multissensoriais, que podem servir como ferramenta auxiliar no tratamento de pacientes diagnosticados com Alzheimer, transtornos do espectro autista, estresse pós-traumático, dentre outros.

This proposal consists of adding one more type of variable storage settings node, called “x-ncl-user-settings,” which stores user information. This information may come from sensors attached to the user, that must update this data periodically. These variables can be used by NCL links or procedural code to drive application behavior based on the perceived user information.