Chris D. Nugent – författare

Information and communication technologies can provide new paradigms in healthcare provision. In particular, new Pervasive Healthcare technologies can revolutionise the dynamics of healthcare, enabling people to remain at home for longer, at lower costs to health and welfare organisations.

This book reveals how pervasive healthcare technologies can be designed in conjunction with users and carers, as well as exploring the application of novel methods and technologies.

The book first defines the problems, various concepts and notions related to activity recognition, and introduces the fundamental rationale and state-of-the-art methodologies and approaches. It then describes the use of artificial intelligence techniques and advanced knowledge technologies for the modelling and lifecycle analysis of human activities and behaviours based on real-time sensing observations from sensor networks and the Internet of Things. It also covers inference and decision-support methods and mechanisms, as well as personalization and adaptation techniques, which are required for emerging smart human-machine pervasive systems, such as self-management and assistive technologies in smart healthcare. Each chapter includes theoretical background, technological underpinnings and practical implementation, and step-by-step information on how to address and solve specific problems in topical areas.

This monograph can be used as a textbook for postgraduate and PhD students on courses such as computer systems, pervasive computing, data analytics and digital health. It is also a valuable research reference resource for postdoctoral candidates and academics in relevant research and application domains, such as data analytics, smart cities, smart energy, and smart healthcare, to name but a few. Moreover, it offers smart technology and application developers practical insights into the use of activity recognition and behaviour analysis in state-of-the-art cyber-physical systems. Lastly, it provides healthcare solution developers and providers with information about the opportunities and possible innovative solutions for personalized healthcare and stratified medicine.

The area of smart homes is fast developing as an emergent area which attracts the synergy of several areas of science. This volume offers a collection of contributions addressing how artificial intelligence (AI), one of the core areas of computer science, can bring the growing area of smart homes to a higher level of functionality where homes can truly realize the long standing dream of proactively helping their inhabitants in an intelligent way.

After an introductory section to describe a smart home scenario and to provide some basic terminology, the following 9 sections turn special attention to a particular exemplar application scenario (provision of healthcare and safety related services to increase the quality of life) exploring the application of specific areas of AI to this scenario.

Arguably medicine is either an arts-based science or a science-based art. In medieval times, clinical decisions were based on simple measures, such as the temperature of the body, the rhythm of the pulse, the consistency of the stool and the colour of the urine. Nowadays, thanks partly to modern technology, medical science has improved in many ways, as has healthcare. In particular, approaches which have their origins in Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research have a significant contribution to make in terms of improving not only diagnosis and treatment of patients, but also providing ways of managing patients in a more effective, more efficient, and more patient-friendly manner. This book focuses on the use of such Intelligent Patient Management to the benefit of clinicians, other healthcare and community practitioners and managers, patients and carers.