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Yes / Multidimensional data streams are a major paradigm in data science. This work focuses on possibilistic clustering algorithms as means to perform clustering of multidimensional streaming data. The proposed approach exploits fuzzy outlier analysis to provide good learning and tracking abilities in both concept shift and concept drift.

Older people are as diverse a group as they were as younger people. Home environments should reflect these diverse individuals' varying interests, preferences, and needs. In spite of efforts to remain independent and at home, some elderly people have to leave conventional housing and move into long-term care facilities because of factors such as mental or physical health problems or the loss of family members. Most elderly people who move into these facilities do not feel "at home" in their new living arrangements. Assisted living facilities (ALFs) have been developed as a response to these issues. The major goal of assisted living is to create a supportive social setting that elderly residents can call home. Although assisted living is the fastest growing long-term care alternative, it still needs to continually change in response to the needs of older residents and the desires and interests of family members. The purpose of this study was to examine the features that make residents feel "at home" in ALFs in Southwest Virginia and to suggest further policy and design guidelines for better quality of ALFs as a "home." For this purpose, residents' needs, experiences, and opinions of the physical environment, the social environment, and the organizational environments such as policies and programs of ALFs were identified. As a multi-site case study, I studied five ALFs in Southwest Virginia and did a cross-case analysis. In addition to face-to-face interviews with 25 residents and five administrators of five ALFs, I also conducted observations and recorded my feelings in a personal journal with document review. To analyze the data gathered in this study, I used the constant comparative method of data analysis. The respondents' age range was between 64 and 95 and the average age was 82. There were 6 males and 19 females among the respondents and most of them were widowed. They came from a wide geographic area, and most of them have lived in single-family homes for a long time. Many had children or family members nearby. Overall, the five sites selected presented homelike features showing the philosophy of assisted living which combines housing and services. Each facility was designed to be a single-family house or multi-family dwelling in outside appearance. However, the older the structure, the fewer homelike features were provided. As a whole, residents felt isolation and loneliness and they did not have active interaction with other residents because of diverse background among the residents. During meals, people had active interaction with one or two residents. However, all of them had close relationships with the staff. The staff's attitude and behavior seemed to influence greatly the residents' feeling "at home." Friends and family members also provided an important role for the residents to adjust to their new environment. Despite the provision of diverse activities by the facilities, many residents did not participate in the programs. Among the services provided, there were only a few complaints about food and mealtimes. Most of the residents agreed that the rules and regulations were fair; however, one person disagreed with the smoking rules. For the meaning of "home," many residents talked about love, fellowship, privilege, stability, and security. The administrators tried to make the residents feel "at home;" however, they mentioned the limitation of providing a real "home" for the residents due to the residents' diversity. Some categories which could contribute to the perception of ALFs as a "home" were classified by the researcher: safety and security, services and care, autonomy/privacy, independence, social life/friendship, family support, daily routine, personalization, physical environment, and management. Regardless of the type of facilities and the residents' characteristics, most of the respondents were satisfied with their current dwelling. In spite of high satisfaction with the facility, many people did not think of their current dwelling as a real "home." As the biggest difference between living in their own homes and living in the ALF, people pointed out a lack of independence, freedom, and autonomy. Moreover, they talked about the loneliness stemming from living with strangers who are not their family or friends. Residents of ALFs may have reordered their priorities in their current life situation so that safety, security, and care were more important to them than feeling "at home." Among the four factors --personal, physical, social, and organizational-- that affect the residents' perception of ALFs as a "home," many emphasized the importance of social factors such as relationships with the staff and residents, and social support from their family or friends. / Ph. D.

The places in which we live have a direct influence on our health and wellbeing. The interest in human health and experience of a space was apparent in the work of 20th century architects such as Le-Corbusier and Alvar Aalto during the tuberculosis epidemic. The Paimio Sanatorium, which was a collaboration between doctors and architect by Alvar Aalto in 1929-33, was one of the most famous projects that shows the tuberculosis influence on architecture. Therefore, the need to redesign spaces in order to live a happier and healthier life began to influence modern architecture from the early 20th century. The change of body perception because of disease impacted architecture, reconfiguring it in a way that the building could function as a medical tool. However, after years of living in a world without pandemics, designers just about to forget the importance of the design and its influence on human health. Although, the new restrictions placed on society due to Covid-19 outbreak, played an important role to reconsider the functional connection between the built environment and human wellness. This thesis explores the ways that the built environment and its surroundings can affect human physical and mental wellbeing by examining the ways that the world has adapted to the new trends and strategies through the design of an assisted living facility in Oldtown, Alexandria, Virginia. / Master of Architecture / In the early months of 2020, the World Health Organization announced a pandemic due to Covid-19 which was first reported in China. Following the WHO declaration, people were forced to be quarantined for months. The fear of the contagious airborne disease became the most important factor in determining which spaces people can safely frequent. Therefore, space became an essential component of concern during the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to play a role in architecture thereafter. These issues are examined through the design of an assisted living facility in Oldtown Alexandria, Virginia.

Zwischenmenschliches Vertrauen spielt in Beziehungen eine wichtige Rolle und beinhaltet die Erwartung, dass auf das Wort des Anderen Verlass ist (Rotter, 1967). Auch im Zusammenhang mit Automation und Mensch-Maschine-Systemen erlangt die Betrachtung von Vertrauen in den vergangenen Jahren immer größere Bedeutung. In den Bereichen automatisierte Fahrzeugsteuerung oder militärische Freund-Feind-Erkennung wurde bereits eine Vielzahl von Erhebungen durchgeführt. Einen Forschungsgegenstand, der bislang jedoch weitestgehend unbeachtet geblieben ist, stellen Heim-Automatisierungen und Unterstützungstechnologien für ältere Personen dar. Die vorliegende Dissertation möchte einen Anstoß für die Forschungsaktivitäten im Kontext von Vertrauen in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Systeme geben und gleichzeitig die Möglichkeiten von Unterstützungs-technologien (für beeinträchtigte Personen) im Wohnumfeld aufzeigen. Im Fokus der Untersuchung steht dabei das Vertrauen älterer Personen, als potentielle Endnutzer, in AAL Systeme. Nach Durchführung der Literaturanalyse, wurden mittels einer Fragebogenstudie zunächst verschiedene Einflussfaktoren auf das Vertrauen in AAL sowie die Nutzungsabsicht der senioren Zielgruppe erforscht. Unter Einbeziehung der Variablen des Technology Acceptance Modells (TAM) (Davis, 1989) werden Personen mit und ohne täglichem Unterstützungsbedarf befragt. Basierend auf den dadurch gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wurden zwei Experimente durchgeführt. Die Probanden der beiden Experimente, die jeweils eine seniore Testgruppe und eine junge Kontrollgruppe umfassten, sollten mittels eines Mock-Ups auf einem Tablet-Computer verschiedene Aufgaben im Wohnumfeld bearbeiten. Im ersten Experiment wurde zusätzlich zu der Standard-Bedienoberfläche der AAL Technologie, entweder persönliche Unterstützung via Operateur oder eine technische Unterstützung zur Verfügung gestellt. Das zweite Experiment untersuchte drei unterschiedliche Stufen von Zuverlässigkeit einer AAL Applikation. / Interpersonal trust as “expectancy that the verbal statements of others can be relied upon” (Rotter, 1967; p. 651) plays an important role in human relationships. But even in the context of automation and man-machine systems, the consideration of trust has acquired even greater importance in recent years. In the field of automated vehicle control systems or military friend-or-foe recognition, a large number of surveys relating to trust have been conducted. An area of research that, to date, has not been well-investigated is home automation, such as smart home and assistive technologies for older people. The present thesis aims to initiate such research activities in the context of trust in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems, as well as to demonstrate the opportunities that assistive technologies present for impaired persons in the living environment. The focus of the present survey is on the trust of older people, as potential end-users, in AAL systems. To establish an understanding of the state of this research field, a literature review has been conducted. Subsequently, the various factors influencing trust in AAL and usage intention of the elderly target group are examined via a written questionnaire study. Taking into account the variables of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), persons with and without need for daily support are interviewed. Based on the obtained results, two subsequent experiments were carried out. The participants in the two experiments, each including a senior test group and a young control group, worked on various tasks through a mock-up on a tablet-computer in the living environment. In the first experiment, in addition to the standard user interface of the AAL technology, either personal support via operator or a technical embedded support was provided to test the differential impact on the trust of the participants in AAL. The second experiment included three different levels of reliability of an AAL application.

Le concept du « smart » envahit de plus en plus notre vie quotidienne. L’exemple type est sans doute le smartphone. Celui-ci est devenu au fil des ans un appareil incontournable. Bientôt, c’est la ville, la voiture, la maison qui seront « intelligentes ». L’intelligence se manifeste par une capacité d’interaction et de prise de décision entre l’environnement et l’utilisateur. Ceci nécessite des informations sur les changements d’états survenus des deux côtés. Les réseaux de capteurs permettent de collecter ces données, de leur appliquer des pré-traitements et de les transmettre aux applications. Ces réseaux de par certaines de leurs caractéristiques se rapprochent de l’intelligence collective, dans le sens, où des entités de faibles capacités se coordonnent automatiquement, sans intervention humaine, de façon décentralisée et distribuée pour accomplir des tâches complexes. Ces méthodes bio-inspirées ont servi à la résolution de plusieurs problèmes, surtout l’optimisation, ce qui nous a encouragé à étudier la possibilité de les utiliser pour les problèmes liés à l’Ambient Assisted Living ou AAL et à la classification automatique de données. L’AAL est un sous-domaine des services dits basés sur le contexte, et a pour objectifs de faciliter la vie des personnes âgées et handicapées dans leurs défis quotidiens. Pour ce faire, il détermine le contexte et, sur cette base, propose divers services. Deux éléments du contexte nous ont intéressé : le handicap et la position. Bien que la détermination de la position (localisation, positionnement) se fasse à l’extérieur des bâtiments avec des précisions très satisfaisantes, elle rencontre plusieurs difficultés à l’intérieur des bâtiments, liées à la propagation des ondes électromagnétiques dans les milieux difficiles, aux coûts des systèmes, à l’interopérabilité, etc. Nos travaux se sont intéressés au positionnement des personnes handicapées à l’intérieur de bâtiments en utilisant un réseau de capteurs afin de déterminer les caractéristiques de l’onde électromagnétique (puissance, temps, angle) pour estimer la position par méthodes géométriques (triangulation, latération), méthodes de fingerprinting (k plus proches voisins), par des filtres baysiens (filtre de Kalman). L’application est d’offrir des services types AAL tel que la navigation. Nous avons élargi la notion de réseau de capteurs pour prendre en compte tout appareil capable d’émettre et de recevoir une onde électromagnétique et se trouvant dans l’environnement. Nous avons aussi appliqué l’algorithme API sur la classification automatique de données. Enfin, nous avons proposé une architecture à middleware pour la localisation indoor. / The concept of « smart » invades more and more our daily life. A typical example is the smartphone, which becames by years an essential device. Soon, it’s the city, the car and the home which will become « smart ». The intelligence is manifested by the ability for the environment to interact and to take decisons in its relationships with users and other environments. This needs information on state changes occurred on both sides. Sensor networks allow to collect these data, to apply on them some pre-processings and to transmit them. Sensor network, towards some of their caracteristics are closed to Swarm Intelligence in the sense that small entities with reduced capababilities can cooperate automatically, in unattended, decentralised and distributed manner in order to accomplish complex tasks. These bio-inspired methods have served as basis for the resolution of many problems, mostly optimization and this insipired us to apply them on problems met in Ambient Assisted Living and on the data clustering problem. AAL is a sub-field of context-aware services, and its goals are to facilitate the everyday life of elderly and disable people. These systems determine the context and then propose different kind of services. We have used two important elements of the context : the position and the disabilty. Although positioning has very good precision outdoor, it faces many challenges in indoor environments due to the electromagnetic wave propagation in harsh conditions, the cost of systems, interoperabilty, etc. Our works have been involved in positioning disabled people in indoor environment by using wireless sensor network for determining the caracteristics of the electromagnetic wave (signal strenght, time, angle) for estimating the position by geometric methods (triangulation, lateration), fingerprinting methods (k-nearest neighbours), baysiens filters (Kalman filter). The application is to offer AAL services like navigation. Therefore we extend the definition of sensor node to take into account any device, in the environment, capable of emiting and receiving a signal. Also, we have studied the possibility of using Pachycondylla Apicalis for data clustering and for indoor localization by casting this last problem as data clustering problem. Finally we have proposed a system based on a middleware architecture.

Hintergrund. Der Anteil älterer Menschen an der Bevölkerung nimmt stetig zu. Einer der Ansätze zur Bewältigung der zunehmenden Alterung ist der Einsatz von technischen Hilfsmitteln (Ambient Assisted Living – AAL), die es ermöglichen, dass alternde Menschen möglichst lange in ihrer gewohnten Umgebung wohnen bleiben können und die zu einer Entlastung der Health Professionals beitragen sollen. Hier wird eine Befragung zu den Nutzerpräferenzen von Senioren im Kreis Görlitz, Sachsen vorgestellt. Methodik. Um die AAL-Akzeptanz der Senioren zu untersuchen, wurde eine Befragung durch die Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz durchgeführt, die Aufschluss über die Bedürfnisse, Präferenzen und mögliche Barrieren älterer Menschen bezüglich assistierender Technologien geben soll. Es wurden insgesamt 29 Senioren befragt. Ergebnisse. Es zeigte sich, dass besonders Technologien, die die Sicherheit erhöhen, von den Befragten gewünscht werden (Rauchmelder, Wärmesensor). Hohe Akzeptanz erfahren auch der Transponder zur Türöffnung, die Klingel mit optischem Signal, die Geräteabschaltung und die automatische Flurbeleuchtung. Wenig Zustimmung erhalten die Terminerinnerung, das Informationsdisplay und die automatische Lüftung. Auch die Messung der Luftfeuchte mit Alarm und die Vitalerkennung mit Notruf werden kaum akzeptiert. Diskussion. Bezüglich der Akzeptanz durch einzelne Personengruppen (Einfluss soziodemographischer Faktoren), konnte nicht immer eindeutige Tendenzen erkannt werden. Die Ergebnisse sollen im Zuge einer Umfrage durch die Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz mit 1.000 Personen (Projekt: „Vertrauen in Assistenz-Technologien zur Inklusion - VATI“) entsprechend überprüft und verifiziert werden. / Background. The proportion of older people in the population is steadily increasing. One of the approaches to the management of aging is the use of technical aids (Ambient Assisted Living - AAL), which make it possible that aging people to remain living in their familiar surroundings as long as possible and to contribute to relief of Health Professionals. Here a survey on user preferences of seniors in the district Görlitz, Saxony is presented. Methodology. To investigate the AAL acceptance of the seniors, a survey by the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz was performed, the information on the needs, preferences and potential barriers older people should give respect to assistive technologies. 29 seniors were interviewed. Results. It was found that most technologies, enhance its security, desired by the respondents (smoke detectors, heat sensor). High acceptance will also learn the transponder to the door opening bell with optical signal, the unit shutdown and automatic corridor lighting. Little agreement receive the appointment reminder, the information display and automatic ventilation. The measurement of humidity with alarm and detection with Vital Emergency hardly be accepted. Discussion. Regarding the acceptance by particular groups of people (influence of sociodemographic factors), could not be detected always clear tendencies. The results are expected in the course of a survey by the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz with 1.000 persons (Project: 'Trust in assistance technologies for inclusion - VATI') are checked and verified accordingly.

The development of system architectures and applications for smart homes and ambient assisted living has been the main activity of a number of academic and industrial research projects around the world. Existing system architectures for smart environments usually employ different architectural styles in a multi-layer logical architecture to support the integration and interoperation of heterogeneous hardware and software technologies, which are subsequently used to provide two major functionalities: monitoring and assistance. It is also usual among existing architectures that the database management system is the most common but the least exploited architectural component, existing in the periphery of the system and devoted exclusively for data storage and retrieval. However, database technology has advanced and matured considerably over the years, and, as a result, current database management systems can be and do more. This thesis considers the hypothesis of several features of modern database management systems being employed to address functional (e.g. well-being and security monitoring, automated control, data processing) and non-functional (e.g. interoperability, extensibility, data security and privacy) requirements of smart environments, i.e. the database management system serves as a platform for smart environments. The scope of this thesis is therefore to investigate the possibility of using different features supported by database management systems to create a database-centric system architecture for the development of smart home environments and ambient assisted living. The thesis also investigates the development of applications for health monitoring and assistance: 1) a serious game for fall prevention that assists people in practicing Tai Chi at home, and 2) a non-intrusive home-based method for sleep assessment. These features are explored in this thesis to address general functional aspects of smart environments, such as monitoring, processing, coordination and control of various types of events in a given environment. Extensibility and security features and cross-platform capabilities of database management systems are employed to accommodate non-functional, but still technical, properties of smart environments, including interoperability, extensibility, portability, scalability, security and privacy. Heterogeneous technologies are integrated into the system using programming language and platform independent software resource adapters. Interoperation among integrated technologies is mediated in an active database. The feasibility of the proposed database-centric system architecture was pragmatically investigated with the development of a "smart bedroom'' demonstrator and with the implementation of a number of short-term and long-term types of services to support active aging, aging in place and ambient assisted living. In the proposed architecture, active in-database processing maintains sensitive data within the database. This increases data security and independence from external software applications for data analysis. Changes in the system are managed during runtime, which improves flexibility and avoids system downtime. The proposed system architecture was evaluated taking into account different application scenarios and heterogeneous computing platforms. As a conclusion, modern database management systems support features that can be successfully employed in a database-centric system architecture to effectively and efficiently address functional and non-functional requirements of smart environments.

In partnership with iMonSys - an emerging company in the passive care field - a new system, 'Verity', is being developed to fulfil the role of a passive behaviour monitoring and alert detection device, providing an unobtrusive level of care and assessing an individual's changing behaviour and health status whilst still allowing for independence of its elderly user. In this research, a Hidden Markov Model incorporating Fuzzy Logic-based sensor fusion is created for the behaviour detection within Verity, with a method of Fuzzy-Rule induction designed for the system's adaptation to a user during operation. A dimension reduction and classification scheme utilising Curvilinear Distance Analysis is further developed to deal with the recognition task presented by increasingly nonlinear and high dimension sensor readings, and anomaly detection methods situated within the Hidden Markov Model provide possible solutions to identification of health concerns arising from independent living. Real-time implementation is proposed through development of an Instance Based Learning approach in combination with a Bloom Filter, speeding up the classification operation and reducing the storage requirements for the considerable amount of observation data obtained during operation. Finally, evaluation of all algorithms is completed using a simulation of the Verity system with which the behaviour monitoring task is to be achieved.

En la actualidad, la cámara de vídeo se ha convertido en un dispositivo omnipresente. Debido a su miniaturización, estas se pueden encontrar integradas en multitud de dispositivos de uso diario, desde teléfonos móviles o tabletas, hasta ordenadores portátiles. Aunque estos dispositivos son empleados por millones de personas diariamente de forma inofensiva, capturando vídeo, realizando fotografías que luego son compartidas, etc.; el empleo de videocámaras para tareas de videovigilancia levanta cierta preocupación entre la población, sobre todo cuando estas forman parte de sistemas inteligentes de monitorización. Esto supone una amenaza para la privacidad debido a que las grabaciones realizadas por estos sistemas contienen una gran cantidad de información que puede ser extraída de forma automática mediante técnicas de visión artificial. Sin embargo, la aplicación de esta tecnología en diversas áreas puede suponer un impacto muy positivo para las personas. Por otro lado, la población mundial está envejeciendo rápidamente. Este cambio demográfico provocará que un mayor número de personas en situación de dependencia, o que requieren apoyo en su vida diaria, vivan solas. Por lo que se hace necesario encontrar una solución que permita extender su autonomía. La vida asistida por el entorno (AAL por sus siglas en inglés) ofrece una solución aportando inteligencia al entorno donde residen la personas de modo que este les asista en sus actividades diarias. Estos entornos requieren la instalación de sensores para la captura de datos. La utilización de videocámaras, con la riqueza en los datos que ofrecen, en entornos privados haría posible la creación de servicios AAL orientados hacia el cuidado de las personas como, por ejemplo, la detección de accidentes en el hogar, detección temprana de problemas cognitivos y muchos otros. Sin embargo, dada la sencilla interpretación de imágenes por las personas, esto plantea problemas éticos que afectan a la privacidad. En este trabajo se propone una solución para poder hacer uso de videocámaras en entornos privados con el objetivo de dar soporte a las personas y habilitar así el desarrollo de servicios de la vida asistida por el entorno en un hogar inteligente. En concreto, se propone la protección de la privacidad en aquellos servicios AAL de monitorización que requieren acceso al vídeo por parte de un cuidador, ya sea profesional o informal. Esto sucede, por ejemplo, cuando se detecta un accidente en un sistema de monitorización y ese evento requiere la confirmación visual de lo ocurrido. Igualmente, en servicios AAL de telerehabilitación puede ser requerida la supervisión por parte de un humano. En este tipo de escenarios es fundamental proteger la privacidad en el momento en que se esté accediendo u observando el vídeo. Como parte de este trabajo se ha llevado a cabo el estudio del estado de la cuestión en la cual se han revisado los métodos de protección de la privacidad visual presentes en la literatura. Esta revisión es la primera en realizar un análisis exhaustivo de este tema centrándose, principalmente, en los métodos de protección. Como resultado, se ha desarrollado un esquema de protección de la privacidad visual basado en el reconocimiento del contexto que permite adecuar el nivel de privacidad durante la observación cuando las preferencias del usuario coinciden con el contexto. La detección del contexto es necesaria para poder detectar en la escena las circunstancias en que el usuario demanda determinado nivel de privacidad. Mediante la utilización de este esquema, cada uno de los fotogramas que componen un flujo de vídeo en directo es modificado antes de su transmisión teniendo en cuenta los requisitos de privacidad del usuario. El esquema propuesto hace uso de diversas técnicas de modificación de imágenes para proteger la privacidad, así como de visión artificial para reconocer dicho contexto. Por tanto, en esta tesis doctoral se realizan diversas contribuciones en distintas áreas con el objetivo de llevar a cabo el desarrollo del esquema propuesto de protección de la privacidad visual. De este modo, se espera que los resultados obtenidos nos sitúen un paso más cerca de la utilización de videocámaras en entornos privados, incrementando su aceptación y haciendo posible la implantación de servicios AAL basados en visión artificial que permitan aumentar la autonomía de las personas en situación de dependencia.