An integrated smart home system (ISHS) is an effective way to improve the quality of life of the elderly. The elderly’s willingness is essential to adopt an ISHS; to the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated the elderly’s perception of ISHS. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the elderly’s perception of the ISHS by comprehensively evaluating its possible benefits and negative responses. A set of sensors required for an ISHS was determined, and interviews were designed based on four factors: perceived comfort, perceived usability, perceived privacy, and perceived benefit. Subsequently, technological trials of the sensor-set followed by two focus group interviews were conducted on nine independently living elderly participants at a senior welfare center in South Korea. Consistent with previous studies, the results of this investigation indicate that elderly participants elicited negative responses regarding usability complexity, and discomfort to daily activities. Despite such negative responses, after acquiring enough awareness about the ISHS’s benefits, the elderly acknowledged its necessity and showed a high level of willingness. Furthermore, these results indicate that for a better adoption of an ISHS, sufficient awareness regarding its benefits and development of elderly-friendly smart home sensors that minimize negative responses are required.

ObjectiveThis study evaluated the efficiency of a curved polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage in comparison with a wedge PEEK cage according to radiologic and clinical outcomes in patients with cervical degenerative disease.MethodsA total of 37 patients who suffering from cervical disc disease with radiculopathy or myelopathy were reviewed retrospectively. Seventeen patients were underwent anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion with a curved shape PEEK cage (curved cage group), and twenty patients with wedge shape PEEK cage (wedge cage group). Clinical assessment was graded using Odom's criteria, NDI score and VAS score. For radiologic analysis, disc height (DH), segmental angle (SA), subsidence were measured at the preoperative and last follow up.ResultsA comparison of the preoperative and postoperative results revealed improvements after the surgery in the DH and SA in both cage groups. The change of postoperative DH between the preoperative and the last follow-up in wedge cage group and curved cage group was 6.85% and 25.5%, respectively. The change of postoperative SA was 1.75° and 0.95°, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the DH and SA between the 2 groups. The subsidence rate in the wedge cage group and curved cage group was 20% and 6%, respectively.ConclusionThe 2 different cage groups showed significant improvements in the disc height, segmental angle and clinical outcomes. However, the shape of PEEK Cage influences the tendency for subsidence. Increasing contact surface area and fitting into two adjacent vertebral body prevent significant subsidence.

In recent decades, smart home technology has advanced, improving the well-being and quality of life of its users. Thus, its applications have expanded, particularly in health and environmental monitoring. Numerous devices have been developed to accommodate user requirements of monitoring; however, the adoption of monitoring devices is closely related to user perception. User perception can be considered from different perspectives. One method of understanding different user perceptions is comparing wearable and nonwearable devices, owing to the differences in their obtrusiveness. The aim of this study was to systematically review the applications and user perceptions of health and environmental monitoring devices, emphasizing on the wearable and nonwearable distinction. We conducted a focused search of articles related to smart home technology and its user perceptions based on its applications. The inclusion criteria were original and peer-reviewed articles centered on health and environmental monitoring devices. We identified and analysed 159 of the 4476 relevant articles and divided the articles into two categories. The first category comprised health and environmental monitoring and their applications by the type of device. The second category comprised user perceptions of monitoring devices. The devices were grouped into wearable and nonwearable devices for our analysis. We identified user perceptions based on usefulness, ease of use, and privacy. Because wearable and nonwearable devices complement their limitations, we recommend their integration for improving user perception.

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