University of Madeira

About: University of Madeira is a education organization based out in Funchal, Portugal. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Dendrimer. The organization has 1014 authors who have published 2759 publications receiving 59457 citations.

WATTSBurning: Design and Evaluation of an Innovative Eco-Feedback System

Abstract: This paper reports a 15 weeks study of artistic eco-feedback deployed in six houses with an innovative sensing infrastructure and visualization strategy The paper builds on previous work that showed a significant decrease in user awareness after a short period with a relapse in consumption In this study we aimed to investigate if new forms of feedback could overcome this issue, maintaining the users awareness for longer periods of time The study presented here aims at understanding if people are more aware of their energy consumption after the installation of a new, art inspired eco-feedback The research question was then: does artistic eco-feedback provide an increased awareness over normal informative feedback? And does that awareness last longer? To answer this questions participants were interviewed and their consumption patterns analyzed The main contribution of the paper is to advance our knowledge about the effectiveness of eco-feedback and provide guidelines for implementation of novel eco-feedback visualizations that overcome the relapse behavior pattern

Co-Design and Evaluation of an Intelligent Decision Support System for Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment

Abstract: Clinical decision support systems have the potential to improve work flows of experts in practice (e.g. therapist's evidence-based rehabilitation assessment). However, the adoption of these systems is challenging, and the gains of these systems have not fully demonstrated yet. In this paper, we identified the needs of therapists to assess patient's functional abilities (e.g. alternative perspectives with quantitative information on patient's exercise motions). As a result, we co-designed and developed an intelligent decision support system that automatically identifies salient features of assessment using reinforcement learning to assess the quality of motion and generate patient-specific analysis. We evaluated this system with seven therapists using the dataset from 15 patients performing three exercises. The results show that therapists have higher usage intent on our system than a traditional system without patient-specific analysis ($p

Virtual Reality for Sensorimotor Rehabilitation Post Stroke: Design Principles and Evidence

Abstract: In the recent years, the use of virtual reality (VR) to enhance motor skills of persons with activity and participation restriction due to disease or injury has been become an important area of research. In this chapter, we describe the design of such VR systems and their underlying principles, such as experience-dependent neuroplasticity and motor learning. Further, psychological constructs related to motivation including salience, goal setting, and rewards are commonly utilized in VR to optimize motivation during rehabilitation activities. Hence, virtually simulated activities are considered to be ideal for (1) the delivery of specific feedback, (2) the ability to perform large volumes of training, and (3) the presentation of precisely calibrated difficulty levels, which maintain a high level of challenge throughout long training sessions. These underlying principles are contrasted with a growing body of research comparing the efficacy of VR with traditionally presented rehabilitation activities in persons with stroke that demonstrate comparable or better outcomes for VR. In addition, a small body of literature has utilized direct assays of neuroplasticity to evaluate the effects of virtual rehabilitation interventions in persons with stroke. Promising developments and findings also arise from the use of off-the-shelf video game systems for virtual rehabilitation purposes and the integration of VR with robots and brain-computer interfaces. Several challenges limiting the translation of virtual rehabilitation into routine rehabilitation practice need to be addressed but the field continues to hold promise to answer key issues faced by modern healthcare.