Intelligent Environments 

Abstract: This paper presents an approach to fall detection with accelerometers that exploits posture recognition to identify postures that may be the result of a fall. Posture recognition as a standalone task was also studied. Nine placements of up to four sensors were considered: on the waist, chest, thigh and ankle. The results are compared to the results of a system using ultra wide band location sensors on a scenario consisting of events difficult to recognize as falls or non-falls. Three accelerometers proved sufficient to correctly recognize all the events except one(a slow fall). The location-based system was comparable to two accelerometers, except that it was able to recognize the slow fall because it resulted in lying outside the bed, whose location was known to the system. One accelerometer was able to recognize only the most clear-cut fall. Two accelerometers achieved over 90% accuracy of posture recognition, which was better than the location-based system. Chest and waist accelerometers proved best at both tasks, with the chest accelerometer having a slight advantage in posture recognition.

Abstract: Digital cities have been evolved from web applications and knowledge bases to smart urban environments. This evolution has mainly been based on broadband metro-networks and complex information systems, and it suggests the form of the future city that is called wireless/smart/digital or ubiquitous city. Although common practices are being developed all over the world, different priorities are defined and different architectures are followed. In this paper we summarize on the applied architectures of multiple city case studies, we use the experiences of the digital city of Trikala, Greece, and we conclude to a common Enterprise Architecture for digital city cases. This common architecture identifies the blue prints for urban information based development. Moreover, this paper presents a common architecture for service delivery in urban spaces.

Abstract: Social connectedness, i.e. the experience of belonging and relatedness between people, is a central concept in understanding and evaluating communication media, in particular awareness systems. A generic measure based on this construct can support the design of such systems. The current paper describes the construction of two questionnaires for the measurement of this concept. These questionnaires were subsequently applied in survey studies in order to establish the structure of the concept and to identify the items that are suited for the measurement of its dimensions. One questionnaire was subjected to an initial validation. We conclude with some preliminary suggestions regarding (design) approaches to foster social connectedness.

Abstract: An augmented brain computer interface that can detect users' brain states in real-life situations has been developed using wireless EEG headsets, smart phones and ubiquitous computing services. This kind of wearable natural user interfaces will have a wide-range of potential applications in future smart environments. This paper describes its ubiquitous system architecture and introduces its enabling technologies, which include machine-to-machine publish/subscribe protocols, multi-tier fog/cloud computing infrastructure and a linked data web. Its real-time responsiveness and easiness-of-use will be demonstrated by playing a multi-player on-line BCI game EEG Tractor Beam at the Intelligent Environment Conference.