The digitization initiatives in the past decades have led to a tremendous increase in digitized objects in the cultural heritage domain. Although digitally available, these objects are often not easily accessible for interested users because of the distributed allocation of the content in different repositories and the variety in data structure and standards. When users search for cultural content, they first need to identify the specific repository and then need to know how to search within this platform (e.g., usage of specific vocabulary). The goal of the EEXCESS project is to design and implement an infrastructure that enables ubiquitous access to digital cultural heritage content. Cultural content should be made available in the channels that users habitually visit and be tailored to their current context without the need to manually search multiple portals or content repositories. To realize this goal, open-source software components and services have been developed that can either be used as an integrated infrastructure or as modular components suitable to be integrated in other products and services. The EEXCESS modules and components comprise (i) Web-based context detection, (ii) information retrieval-based, federated content aggregation, (iii) metadata definition and mapping, and (iv) a component responsible for privacy preservation. Various applications have been realized based on these components that bring cultural content to the user in content consumption and content creation scenarios. For example, content consumption is realized by a browser extension generating automatic search queries from the current page context and the focus paragraph and presenting related results aggregated from different data providers. A Google Docs add-on allows retrieval of relevant content aggregated from multiple data providers while collaboratively writing a document. These relevant resources then can be included in the current document either as citation, an image, or a link (with preview) without having to leave disrupt the current writing task for an explicit search in various content providers’ portals.

No abstract

Background:The evidence of social robots for people with dementia (PwD) living at home is unclear. The aim was to explore the effects of Coach Pepper (socially assistive humanoid robot system "AMIGO" combined with external tablet-based training) versus an exclusively tablet-based training on quality of life, motivation, cognition, mobility, care dependency, depression, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, as well as the user experience with Coach Pepper. Methods: The study (2019-2020) includes a randomized controlled trial with complementary interviews using content analysis. The intervention group (16 PwD) received Coach Pepper and the control group (16 PwD) an exclusively tablet-based training for three weeks. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires (AES, MOCA, DEMQOL, PAS, TUG, GDS, NPI) and interviews. Results: In both groups, PwD were >80 years old and mainly female. The mild stage of Alzheimer's was predominant in both groups. The comparison of quality of life (DEMQOL questionnaire) between the groups showed a significantly greater increase in the Coach Pepper group (X̅ : 5.48 vs. -0.31; med: 4 vs. 2 points, p = 0.0226). Furthermore, global quality of life increased significantly in the Coach Pepper group (X̅ : 0.4 vs. -0.2; med: 1.0 vs. 0.0 points; p = 0.013). All other outcomes did not differ significantly. Main qualitative results: Attitude/feelings -PwD reacted mainly positively to Pepper. The PwD were generally not afraid of Pepper and did not feel repulsed. They found Pepper nice/pleasant and funny. Communication, social contacts -Pepper was received well and integrated as a family member. His presence was not disturbing, more an enrichment. PwD regarded Pepper as a friend, child and contact person. He promoted communication in PwD. The life of PwD "bloomed" and they bonded with Pepper, which caused feelings of sadness after Pepper moved out. Meaningful activitiesmusic and dance activities stimulated PwD particularly positively. Conclusion: Coach Pepper significantly increased the quality of life of the PwD in the robot group. As the additional qualitative results demonstrate, this increase can be

Background Dementia care is largely provided by informal caregivers, which can present significant challenges and increase caregivers’ burden. Humanoid socially assistive robots (SARs) have the potential to provide assistance, but evidence is missing. The aim was to explore the psychosocial effects of Coach Pepper (humanoid SAR system “AMIGO” combined with a tablet PC‐based dementia training) versus an exclusive tablet PC‐based dementia training on informal caregivers of people with dementia living at home (as well as their experiences). Method A randomized controlled trial with a complementary qualitative part was performed (May 2019‐March 2020). 32 informal caregivers of people with dementia living at home participated in the study. The intervention group received Coach Pepper and the control group received only the tablet‐based dementia training. The duration of the intervention was three weeks per household. Data was collected at baseline and after the intervention by standardized questionnaires for caregiver burden (primary outcome), quality of life, depressive symptoms and affect. Additionally, interviews about caregivers’ experiences were conducted in the intervention group. Result Participants were on average 58.2 (±12.5) years old and predominantly female (68.8%). Quality of life, depressive symptoms and affect demonstrated no significant differences regarding between‐group mean changes, neither did caregivers’ burden, which showed decreasing tendencies of burden in the intervention and control group (Zarit Burden Interview, ‐2.7±8.7 vs. ‐4.4±6.4, p=0.2552). Qualitative findings revealed that participants had positive attitudes regarding Coach Pepper and experienced it as neutral in terms of burden. Some stated that Coach Pepper provided relief/more free time by entertaining the persons with dementia. However, some participants stated that they had to invest additional time until the person with dementia was able to engage with Coach Pepper and that its usability should be improved in certain areas (e.g., communication) to constitute more support for caregivers. Conclusion Coach Pepper had no significant psychosocial effects on informal caregivers of people with dementia. Qualitative findings demonstrated the participants' positive attitudes but highlighted a need for improvement regarding its usability. This study contributes to the development/modification of Coach Pepper based on caregivers’ needs in dementia care.

Background A key problem in developing interventions in dementia care is the lack of knowledge about the mental processes and individual dependencies between functional impairments evolving over time. Neuropsychological profiles reflect the impact of the disease on distinctive neuroanatomic networks associated with complex cognitive domains. Recently serious games have been successfully validated with high potential as dementia biomarkers but increased estimation accuracy and personalised neuropsychological profiling is still required. Method Tablet‐PC‐based intervention was applied within 10 weeks in Austria, engaging persons with dementia (PwD) with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) living at home in terms of playful multimodal training and activation (n=15, age M=81.7 years, MoCA score M=17.9). PwDs interacted with an integrated version of two serious games: (a) 15 PwD played ‘MIRA’, a playful version of the anti‐saccade task, and (b) 8 PwD played ‘MMA’, a suite of cognitive exercises (puzzle, memory, text gap filling). The games were introduced and assisted by trainers, some PwD learned to play alone. Result The score of gaze‐based MIRA showed significant correlation with MoCA score (Rho= .713**) and enabled individual MoCA score estimates with errors of less than M=2.6 MoCA points. MMA showed correlation with MoCA (Rho=p=.755*) and further MoCA subscores so that the neuropsychological profile could be established including impairments in visuospatial operations, attention, abstraction, language and recall. Conclusion The work outlined within the EU project PLAYTIME indicates successful steps towards daily use of gaze‐based games. MIRA together with the MMA training enables continuous estimates of Alzheimer’s mental state in general but also to estimate individual neuropsychological profiles to identify personal impairments and their course over time. The playful training app was very well accepted by PwD users and offers with its pervasive mental assessment tool a large potential for future long‐term monitoring in numerous AD care services.