The covid-19 pandemic initiated this master thesis project. The pandemic has spread globally causing a lot of fear and uncertainty. We noticed the big shift in people’s daily routines, with the current state being that many individuals are stuck at home, scared to go outside, scared to meet with family members that are within the risk group. The future is very uncertain, people not knowing when society will return to normal. To provide people with a sense of safety, a tool for an easier daily routine, the feeling of more control in their daily lives, an opportunity to help others. These are all purposes that embody the reason for this master thesis.The goal of this master thesis project is to develop a digital prototype of an application concept. The application’s purpose is to provide users with insight of high activity areas of people in their vicinity or specific locations, to hopefully result in the user feeling more in control and hence more safe. The workflow used in this project is based on design thinking, using experience gained from the industrial design engineering program combined with research on the topic of user interfaces to develop and test the concept. The focus of the research in this thesis is placed heavily on usability and graphic design.The process was divided into phases following the process of design thinking, with potential users included in every phase. From interviews, questionnaires and personas during the first phase of context immersion to workshops during the second phase, ideation, to finally usability testing during the third phase, implementation. To ensure that the needs of the user were always focused on throughout the entirety of this master thesis we included potential users in each phase of the project. During the different phases, Tensaii AB provided guidance on decisions made by us, as well as provided feedback on specific methods and results presented during the weekly meetings.The result of this master thesis is an application prototype, the design based on all the data gained from participants and collected literature. A design that, through a high level of usability, enables a wider group of users to easily use it. The concept was named Milocus, translated from Latin to ”my place”. An application that through a check in function can collect data about activity in different areas. The application clearly shows the activity to the user through three categories, calm, busy and very busy. The color choices and design of the application were made using the online tool Material Design.

Background: Smartphones and related applications are increa singly gaining relevance in the healthcare domain. We previously assessed the demands and preferences of medical students towards an application accompanying them during a course on general practice. The current study aims to elucidate the factors associated with adop tion of such a technology. Therefore we provided students with a prototype of an application specifically related to their studies in general practice.

Physical inactivity is a growing public health problem in the 21st century. A large proportion of the adult and adolescent population is not achieving recommended levels of physical activity which has significant consequences for both the individual and our society. With no evidence that the levels of physical inactivity will improve in the future, traditional methods of addressing this problem have evidently proven ineffective. A relatively new and promising approach to this problem that has become increasingly important in recent years is smartphone-based behavioral interventions to promote physical activity and other health-related behaviors. While several studies have shown many positive and promising results with this approach, other studies have also shown that the method is not completely understood. For instance, research shows that many of the health and fitness applications available today do not adequately adhere to behavior change strategies or health-related research, suggesting that these applications are not reaching their fullest potential. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate an application to promote physical activity that was aligned with such research. A high-fidelity prototype based on the Behaviour Change Wheel was developed in Adobe XD and later evaluated by four participants. The outcome of the evaluation indicated that the developed prototype was well received overall, and participants believed it would trigger the desired behavior change of an increase in physical activity. However, due to the study limitations of unrepresentative participants and evaluation environment, time frame and application levels, nothing was truly proven in this regard. Further improvement of the prototype and future studies are needed to evaluate the prototype more accurately. / Fysisk inaktivitet är ett växande hälsoproblem för vårt samhälle under 2000-talet. En stor andel av vuxna och ungdomar uppnår inte rekommenderade hälsonivåer för fysiska aktivitet vilket har påtagliga konsekvenser för både individ och samhälle. Utan några forskningsbevis på att nivåerna för fysisk inaktivitet kommer att förbättras i framtiden har traditionella metoder för att motverka detta problem skenbarligen visats sig vara ineffektiva. Ett relativt nytt och lovande tillvägagångssätt för problemet som blivit alltmer relevant under de senaste åren är smartphonebaserade beteendeinterventioner för att främja fysisk aktivitet och andra hälsorelaterade beteenden. Medan ett flertal studier visat många positiva påföljder och lovande resultat med detta tillvägagångssätt, har andra studier samtidigt visat att metoden inte är helt förstådd och otillräckligt efterforskad. Bland annat visar forskning att många av dagens tillgängliga hälso- och träningsapplikationer inte optimalt följer riktlinjer för vare sig beteendeförändringsstrategier eller hälsorelaterad forskning, vilket antyder att dessa applikationer inte uppnår sin fulla potential. Målet med denna studie var att utveckla och utvärdera en applikation för att främja fysisk aktivitet som var baserad på sådan forskning. En prototyp av hög funktionsnivå baserad på The Behaviour Change Wheel utvecklades i Adobe XD och utvärderades av fyra deltagare. Resultatet från utvärderingen pekade mot att den utvecklade prototypen var väl uppskattad av deltagarna som även ansåg att prototypen skulle framkalla den önskade beteendeförändringen för ökad fysisk aktivitet. Emellertid, på grund av studiebegränsningarna med bland annat icke-representativa deltagare och utvärderingsförhållanden, tidsram samt applikationens funktionsnivå, kunde inte något absolut bevis framläggas i detta avseende. Ytterligare förbättringar av prototypen och framtida studier är nödvändiga för att utvärdera prototypen mer exakt.

I dagens samhälle lever människor ännu längre och med en ökande medellivslängd så blir kognitiva sjukdomar som demens allt vanligare. Utan något botemedel i sikte och med ineffektiva behandlingsmetoder så finns ett stort behov av att förbättra livskvalitén för de drabbade. Samtidigt visar forskning att fysisk aktivitet kan minska utvecklingen av sjukdomssymptom. Dock är det många med demenssjukdom som stannar inomhus i ett isolerat tillstånd och undviker att utmana sig själva, vilket får dem mindre aktiva. Dessutom har det visats att ett av de främsta problemen som personer med demens bemöter är svårigheter med navigering. Idag finns det många tekniska hjälpmedel för navigering, exempelvis Google Maps, men de flesta är inte anpassade efter personer med demenssjukdom. Därför är syftet med denna uppsats att undersöka vilka aspekter inom design och funktionalitet som skulle kunna behövas ha i åtanke vid skapandet av en navigeringsapplikation till smartphone för personer med mild demens. Detta med syfte att uppmuntra till en aktiv livsstil och en bättre välmående. En litteraturstudie har gjorts för att ta reda på vilka svårigheter som kan uppstå när personer med mild demens interagerar med en smartphone. Detta har sammanställts tillsammans med resultat från intervjuer med experter inom demensområdet samt med resultat från de tester som genomförts med målgruppen. Samtidigt har en användarcentrerad designmetod använts för att ta fram en designprototyp i flera iterationer. Prototypen har utvärderats och testats i varje iteration. Denna studie visar på att målgruppen har en vilja att hålla sig aktiva och utmana sig själva, men ofta kommer rutin och osäkerhet i vägen för detta - vilket hämmar viljan att aktivera sig. Förslag till navigeringsapplikationen blev därför att lyfta fram incitament för att skapa en större motivationsfaktor till att använda detta hjälpmedel. Förslag på detta var exempelvis att implementera en stegräknarfunktion och därmed ha ett gamifierat tänk. Övriga förslag på implementationer gällande användbarhet var att använda röststyrning samt att ha en intuitiv design med relevans i fokus för att kunna urskilja det viktiga. Från den respons som getts har prototypen potential, men behöver vidareutvecklas och testas mer utförligt. / In today’s society people live longer and along with the rising life expectancy, cognitive diseases such as dementia, will become more common. With no cure in sight and treatment methods not being very effective, there’s a need for improving the life quality for the people affected. Meanwhile, research show that physical activity can reduce the risk of increased symptoms. However, many people with the disease tend to stay in and avoid difficult situations, leaving them less active. Also, one of the most common problems people with dementia face is difficulties navigating. There are many technological aids today helping with navigating, however, most of them are not adapted for people with dementia. Therefore the goal for this bachelor’s thesis is to investigate and explore which aspects in terms of user interface design and functionality that need to be considered when creating a navigation application on a smartphone for people with mild dementia. This is done with the purpose of encouraging for an active lifestyle and a better well being. A literature study was conducted to find what possible difficulties people with mild dementia (PWMD) might have when interacting with a smartphone interface. This was summarized together with the results from interviews with professionals within the area of dementia and the tests with the target group - (PWMD). Alongside, a user centered design approach was used to create a prototype design in several iterations. The prototype was evaluated and tested in every iteration. The study shows that the target group have a will to stay active and engage in new activities, but routine, comfort and sometimes fear comes beforehand and inhibits the will for activity engagement. Suggestions for the app therefore resulted in working with incentive models to raise the motivation for using it. Examples of this was having a pedometer function and a gamified approach. Other implementation suggestions regarding usability included voice control and intuitive design with relevance in focus in order to distinguish what’s important. From the feedback given the prototype has potential, but needs to be tested more extensively.

Les espèces végétales, et en particulier les espèces d'arbres, forment un cadre de choix pour un processus de reconnaissance automatique basé sur l'analyse d'images. Les critères permettant de les identifier sont en effet le plus souvent des éléments morphologiques visuels, bien décrits et référencés par la botanique, qui laissent à penser qu'une reconnaissance par la forme est envisageable. Les feuilles constituent dans ce contexte les organes végétaux discriminants les plus faciles à appréhender, et sont de ce fait les plus communément employés pour ce problème qui connaît actuellement un véritable engouement. L'identification automatique pose toutefois un certain nombre de problèmes complexes, que ce soit dans le traitement des images ou dans la difficulté même de la classification en espèces, qui en font une application de pointe en reconnaissance de formes.Cette thèse place le problème de l'identification des espèces d'arbres à partir d'images de leurs feuilles dans le contexte d'une application pour smartphones destinée au grand public. Les images sur lesquelles nous travaillons sont donc potentiellement complexes et leur acquisition peu supervisée. Nous proposons alors des méthodes d'analyse d'images dédiées, permettant la segmentation et l'interprétation des feuilles d'arbres, en se basant sur une modélisation originale de leurs formes, et sur des approches basées modèles déformables. L'introduction de connaissances a priori sur la forme des objets améliore ainsi de façon significative la qualité et la robustesse de l'information extraite de l'image. Le traitement se déroulant sur l'appareil, nous avons développé ces algorithmes en prenant en compte les contraintes matérielles liées à leur utilisation.Nous introduisons également une description spécifique des formes des feuilles, inspirée par les caractéristiques déterminantes recensées dans les ouvrages botaniques. Ces différents descripteurs fournissent des informations de haut niveau qui sont fusionnées en fin de processus pour identifier les espèces, tout en permettant une interprétation sémantique intéressante dans le cadre de l'interaction avec un utilisateur néophyte. Les performances obtenues en termes de classification, sur près de 100 espèces d'arbres, se situent par ailleurs au niveau de l'état de l'art dans le domaine, et démontrent une robustesse particulière sur les images prises en environnement naturel. Enfin, nous avons intégré l'implémentation de notre système de reconnaissance dans l'application Folia pour iPhone, qui constitue une validation de nos approches et méthodes dans un cadre réel. / Plant species, and especially tree species, constitute a well adapted target for an automatic recognition process based on image analysis. The criteria that make their identification possible are indeed often morphological visual elements, which are well described and referenced by botany. This leads to think that a recognition through shape is worth considering. Leaves stand out in this context as the most accessible discriminative plant organs, and are subsequently the most often used for this problem recently receiving a particular attention. Automatic identification however gives rise to a fair amount of complex problems, linked with the processing of images, or in the difficult nature of the species classification itself, which make it an advanced application for pattern recognition.This thesis considers the problem of tree species identification from leaf images within the framework of a smartphone application intended for a non-specialist audience. The images on which we expect to work are then potentially very complex scenes and their acquisition rather unsupervised. We consequently propose dedicated methods for image analysis, in order to segment and interpret tree leaves, using an original shape modelling and deformable templates. The introduction on prior knowledge on the shape of objects enhances significatively the quality and the robustness of the information we extract from the image. All processing being carried out on the mobile device, we developed those algorithms with concern towards the material constraints of their exploitation. We also introduce a very specific description of leaf shapes, inspired by the determining characteristics listed in botanical references. These different descriptors constitute independent sources of high-level information that are fused at the end of the process to identify species, while providing the user with a possible semantic interpretation. The classification performance demonstrated over approximately 100 tree species are competitive with state-of-the-art methods of the domain, and show a particular robustness to difficult natural background images. Finally, we integrated the implementation of our recognition system into the \textbf{Folia} application for iPhone, which constitutes a validation of our approaches and methods in a real-world use.

Household food waste levels pose a considerable problem in terms of sustainability. Food stock management applications for smartphones are interventions that support people in planning and keeping an overview of their food stock in order to reduce food waste. So far mainly their usability and effectiveness for reduction of food waste have been researched in HCI. This study aimed at investigating how these applications are being integrated into people’s food practices, and how their features contributed to the integration. In a three-week long field study seven participants used one of two applications in their daily lives. Through interviews and diary entries it was observed that some people integrated the applications into their food practices to replace other actions like checking one’s food stock. New connections to the food practices were created through expiration reminders and providing means to check the food stock from a distance. Reminders were seen as helpful even if not always necessary and can be seen as an opportunity to further support the integration process. The main issues for the integration were the high-effort adding processes and remembering to update the inventory after consumption.

Background: Overweight and obesity are significant public health concerns that are prevalent in younger age cohorts. Preventive or therapeutic interventions are difficult to implement and maintain over time. On the other hand, the majority of adolescents in the United States have a smartphone, representing a huge potential for innovative digitized interventions, such as weight loss programs delivered via smartphone applications. Although the number of available smartphone applications is increasing, evidence for their effectiveness in weight loss is insufficient. Therefore, the proposed study aims to assess the efficacy of a gamification-based smartphone application for weight loss in overweight and obese adolescents. The trial is designed to be a phase II, single-centre, two-arm, triple-blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a duration of 6 months. Method: The intervention consists of a smartphone application that provides both tracking and gamification elements, while the control arm consists of an identically designed application solely with tracking features of health information. The proposed trial will be conducted in an urban primary care clinic of an academic centre in the United States of America, with expertise in the management of overweight and obese adolescents. Eligible adolescents will be followed for 6 months. Changes in body mass index z score from baseline to 6 months will be the primary outcome. Secondary objectives will explore the effects of the gamification-based application on adherence, as well as anthropometric, metabolic and behavioural changes. A required sample size of 108 participants (54 participants per group) was calculated. Discussion: The benefits of the proposed study include mid-term effects in weight reduction for overweight and obese adolescents. The current proposal will contribute to fill a gap in the literature on the mid-term effects of gamification-based interventions to control weight in adolescents. This trial is a well-designed RCT that is in line with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement.

Actuellement, l’asthme est la 1ère maladie professionnelle respiratoire. L’utilisation de produits de nettoyage et de désinfection est un facteur de risque émergent de l’asthme lié au travail, surtout dans le secteur de la santé. Cependant, les produits spécifiques en cause dans l’asthme restent à identifier. L’évaluation de l’exposition professionnelle aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection est difficile dans les études épidémiologiques. De plus, le biais du travailleur sain (HWE) est important à considérer dans les études épidémiologiques sur l’asthme lié au travail.L’objectif de la thèse comportait deux aspects : 1) un aspect méthodologique visant à améliorer l’évaluation des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection en développant des méthodes novatrices ; 2) un aspect étiologique visant à estimer le rôle des expositions professionnelles dans le contrôle de l’asthme en prenant en compte un potentiel HWE.Tout d’abord, des matrices emplois-expositions (MEE) et emplois-tâches¬-expositions (METE) ont été développées via les données de femmes non-asthmatiques tirées au sort dans une cohorte prospective d’infirmières américaine (NHSII : Nurse’s Health Study II). Puis, une méthode d’évaluation des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection utilisant une application smartphone scannant les codes-barres de produits et une base de données (BDD) a été développée. L’étude du rôle des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection dans le contrôle de l’asthme a été réalisée dans l’étude Épidémiologique des facteurs Génétiques et Environnementaux de l'Asthme disposant de données longitudinales détaillées sur l’histoire professionnelle et les phénotypes d’asthme. Afin de prendre en compte un potentiel HWE, un modèle marginal structural (MMS) a été appliqué.Une hétérogénéité de l’estimation des expositions par les MEE et METE était observée dans la plupart des métiers infirmiers, sauf pour les infirmières exerçant aux urgences et dans l’administration/la formation. Nous avons montré que la METE était plus adaptée que la MEE pour estimer les expositions, en particulier pour les métiers infirmiers ayant des tâches hétérogènes. Via l’application, 126 produits ont été recueillis auprès de 14 personnels hospitaliers de l’étude pilote, et des informations sur les composés étaient disponibles pour tous les produits via la BDD associée. Cette étude a montré que ce nouvel outil était simple à mettre en place, facile et rapide à utiliser pour les participants, et permettait d’évaluer de façon précise les expositions aux différentes substances. Ces résultats confirment la faisabilité et l’intérêt de cette méthode et suggèrent son déploiement dans les études épidémiologiques. Dans la partie étiologique, nous avons observé la présence d’un HWE dans notre échantillon d’étude. Malgré la prise en compte de ce HWE en utilisant un MMS, les résultats des associations ne permettaient pas de conclure sur le rôle des expositions professionnelles dans le contrôle de l’asthme. / Currently, asthma is the first occupational respiratory disease. The use of disinfectants and cleaning products has been identified as an emerging risk factor for work-related asthma, especially in the healthcare industry. However, identifying the specific products at risk for asthma remains challenging, partly because assessment of occupational exposure to disinfectants/cleaning products is difficult in epidemiological studies and needs improvement. Moreover, taking into account possible healthy worker effect (HWE) is essential in work-related asthma study.The aims of the thesis were to improve the methods for assessment of occupational exposure to disinfectants/cleaning products by developing new methods; and to study the association between occupational exposure to disinfectants/cleaning products and asthma control taking into account a possible HWE.First, job-exposure (JEM) and job-task-exposure matrices (JTEM) have been created using data from a random sample of women without asthma from a large prospective cohort of US nurses (NHSII: Nurse’s Health Study II). Second a new assessment method using a smartphone application with a barcode scanner and a database was designed to evaluate occupational exposure to disinfectants and cleaning products. The study of the association between occupational exposure to disinfectants and cleaning products and asthma control has used data from the French Epidemiological study on the genetics and environment of asthma. Longitudinal data were available on occupational history and asthma phenotypes. To control for a possible HWE, a marginal structural model (MSM) was used.For the first part, JEM and JTEM exposure estimates were heterogeneous in most nursing jobs, except in emergency room and education/administration. The JTEM may provide more accurate estimates than the JEM, especially for nursing jobs with heterogeneous tasks. Through the smartphone application, 126 products were registered for 14 hospital workers of the pilot study. Information on components was available for all products in the database. The method developed is feasible and applicable to larger epidemiological studies. In the etiological part, a HWE was observed in the study sample. Even after controlling for a HWE, results did not allow concluding on the association between occupational exposures and control of asthma.

The monitoring of pharmaceuticals, heavy metal, pH and free chlorine concentration in drinking water is important for public health and the environment. However, conventional laboratory-based analytical methods are labor-intensive, expensive, and time consuming. This thesis focuses on developing an integrated, highly sensitive, easy-to-use, and low-cost pharmaceuticals, heavy metal, pH and free chlorine sensing system for drinking water quality monitoring. A low-temperature, solution-processed modification of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) with β-cyclodextrin (βCD) on glassy carbon electrode is developed for detecting low levels of acetaminophen. The adsorption properties of βCD are combined with the high surface area of carbon nanotubes towards enhanced electrochemical sensing of acetaminophen with a limit of detection of 11 nM and linear range from 0.05-300 μM. Also, a systematic investigation is carried out using four types of modified MWCNT-βCD. A novel, one-step approach called Steglich esterification modified MWCNT-βCD results in large effective surface area, and fast electron transfer towards sensitive detection of acetaminophen and 17β-estradiol (E2, primary female sex hormone) in the range of 0.005–20 and 0.01–15 μM, with low detection limits of 3.3 and 2.5 nM, respectively. The similar MWCNT-βCD modified electrodes can also detect heavy metal ion (lead, Pb2+) with a limit of detection of <10 ppb. Low frequency noise behavior of these sensors are studied. A spin-coated Pd/PdO based pH sensor, and amine-modified carbon electrode-based free chlorine sensor are fabricated on a common substrate together with the pharmaceuticals and heavy metal sensors. A Wheatstone-bridge temperature sensor is fabricated based on silicon and PEDOT:PSS on another substrate. All the sensors are connected to an Arduino microcontroller based data acquisition system with a smartphone application interface. The integrated sensing system is easy-to-use, low-cost, and can provide accurate monitoring data with real drinking water samples. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Low-cost, easy-to-use, and sensitive monitoring system for pharmaceuticals, heavy metal, pH and free chlorine in drinking water is crucial for public health safety. In this thesis, we develop solution-based synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified by β-cyclodextrin for electrochemical sensing of pharmaceuticals and heavy metal. The modification approaches are compared and characterized to analyze their electrochemical behavior and sensing performances. The developed sensors are highly sensitive toward the detection of acetaminophen (a widely used pain-killer) and estrogen hormone in drinking water. We also develop a modified spin-coating technique to deposit palladium/palladium oxide films for potentiometric pH sensor, a calibration-free free chlorine sensor based on modified carbon electrode, and a resistive temperature sensor. The developed pH, free chlorine and temperature sensors are highly sensitive, and stable with fast response time. All the sensors are integrated and interfaced with a custom-made and smartphone-controlled electronic readout system for accurate and on-site drinking water quality monitoring at low cost.