Jesus D. Ceron

Background: Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are essential tasks performed at home and used in healthcare to monitor sedentary behavior, track rehabilitation therapy, and monitor chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Barthel Index, used by healthcare professionals, has limitations due to its subjectivity. Human activity recognition (HAR) is a more accurate method using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to assess ADLs more accurately. This work aims to create a singular, adaptable, and heterogeneous ADL dataset that integrates information from various sources, ensuring a rich representation of different individuals and environments. Methods: A literature review was conducted in Scopus, the University of California Irvine (UCI) Machine Learning Repository, Google Dataset Search, and the University of Cauca Repository to obtain datasets related to ADLs. Inclusion criteria were defined, and a list of dataset characteristics was made to integrate multiple datasets. Twenty-nine datasets were identified, including data from various accelerometers, gyroscopes, inclinometers, and heart rate monitors. These datasets were classified and analyzed from the review. Tasks such as dataset selection, categorization, analysis, cleaning, normalization, and data integration were performed. Results: The resulting unified dataset contained 238,990 samples, 56 activities, and 52 columns. The integrated dataset features a wealth of information from diverse individuals and environments, improving its adaptability for various applications. Conclusions: In particular, it can be used in various data science projects related to ADL and HAR, and due to the integration of diverse data sources, it is potentially useful in addressing bias in and improving the generalizability of machine learning models.

Background/Objectives: Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are crucial for assessing an individual’s autonomy, encompassing tasks such as eating, dressing, and moving around, among others. Predicting these activities is part of health monitoring, elderly care, and intelligent systems, improving quality of life, and facilitating early dependency detection, all of which are relevant components of personalized health and social care. However, the automatic classification of ADLs from sensor data remains challenging due to high variability in human behavior, sensor noise, and discrepancies in data acquisition protocols. These challenges limit the accuracy and applicability of existing solutions. This study details the modeling and evaluation of real-time ADL classification models based on batch learning (BL) and stream learning (SL) algorithms. Methods: The methodology followed is the Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM). The models were trained with a comprehensive dataset integrating 23 ADL-centric datasets using accelerometers and gyroscopes data. The data were preprocessed by applying normalization and sampling rate unification techniques, and finally, relevant sensor locations on the body were selected. Results: After cleaning and debugging, a final dataset was generated, containing 238,990 samples, 56 activities, and 52 columns. The study compared models trained with BL and SL algorithms, evaluating their performance under various classification scenarios using accuracy, area under the curve (AUC), and F1-score metrics. Finally, a mobile application was developed to classify ADLs in real time (feeding data from a dataset). Conclusions: The outcome of this study can be used in various data science projects related to ADL and Human activity recognition (HAR), and due to the integration of diverse data sources, it is potentially useful to address bias and improve generalizability in Machine Learning models. The principal advantage of online learning algorithms is dynamically adapting to data changes, representing a significant advance in personal autonomy and health care monitoring.

Indoor localization and human activity recognition are two important sources of information to provide context-based assistance. This information is relevant in ambient assisted living (AAL) scenarios, where older adults usually need supervision and assistance in their daily activities. However, indoor localization and human activity recognition have been mostly considered isolated problems. This work presents and evaluates a framework that takes advantage of the relationship between location and activity to simultaneously perform indoor localization, mapping, and human activity recognition. The proposed framework provides a non-intrusive configuration, which fuses data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) placed in the person’s shoe, with proximity and human activity-related data from Bluetooth low energy beacons (BLE) deployed in the indoor environment. A variant of the simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) framework was used to fuse the location and human activity recognition (HAR) data. HAR was performed using data streaming algorithms. The framework was evaluated in a pilot study, using data from 22 people, 11 young people, and 11 older adults (people aged 65 years or older). As a result, seven activities of daily living were recognized with an F1 score of 88%, and the in-door location error was 0.98 ± 0.36 m for the young and 1.02 ± 0.24 m for the older adults. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the groups, indicating that our proposed method works adequately in broad age ranges.

Indoor location estimation is crucial to provide context-based assistance in home environments. In this study, a method for simultaneous indoor pedestrian localization and house mapping is proposed and evaluated. The method fuses a person’s movement data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with proximity and activity-related data from Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) beacons deployed in the indoor environment. The person’s and beacons’ localization is performed simultaneously using a combination of particle and Kalman Filters. We evaluated the method using data from eight participants who performed different activities in an indoor environment. As a result, the average participant’s localization error was 1.05 ± 0.44 m, and the average beacons’ localization error was 0.82 ± 0.24 m. The proposed method is able to construct a map of the indoor environment by localizing the BLE beacons and simultaneously locating the person. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed method could point to a promising roadmap towards the development of simultaneous localization and home mapping system based only on one IMU and a few BLE beacons. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method that includes the beacons’ data movement as activity-related events in a method for pedestrian Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM).

The evaluation of trajectory reconstruction of the human body obtained by foot-mounted Inertial Pedestrian Dead-Reckoning (IPDR) methods has usually been carried out in controlled environments, with very few participants and limited to walking. In this study, a pipeline for trajectory reconstruction using a foot-mounted IPDR system is proposed and evaluated in two large datasets containing activities that involve walking, jogging, and running, as well as movements such as side and backward strides, sitting, and standing. First, stride segmentation is addressed using a multi-subsequence Dynamic Time Warping method. Then, detection of Toe-Off and Mid-Stance is performed by using two new algorithms. Finally, stride length and orientation estimation are performed using a Zero Velocity Update algorithm empowered by a complementary Kalman filter. As a result, the Toe-Off detection algorithm reached an F-score between 90% and 100% for activities that do not involve stopping, and between 71% and 78% otherwise. Resulting return position errors were in the range of 0.5% to 8.8% for non-stopping activities and 8.8% to 27.4% otherwise. The proposed pipeline is able to reconstruct indoor trajectories of people performing activities that involve walking, jogging, running, side and backward walking, sitting, and standing.

Although there have been many studies aimed at the field of Human Activity Recognition, the relationship between what we do and where we do it has been little explored in this field. The objective of this paper is to propose an approach based on machine learning to address the challenge of the 1st UCAmI cup, which is the recognition of 24 activities of daily living using a dataset that allows to explore the aforementioned relationship, since it contains data collected from four data sources: binary sensors, an intelligent floor, proximity and acceleration sensors. The methodology for data mining projects CRISP-DM was followed in this work. To perform synchronization and classification tasks a java desktop application was developed. As a result, the accuracy achieved in the classification of the 24 activities using 10-fold-cross-validation on the training dataset was 92.1%, but an accuracy of 60.1% was obtained on the test dataset. The low accuracy of the classification might be caused by the class imbalance of the training dataset; therefore, more labeled data are necessary for training the algorithm. Although we could not obtain an optimal result, it is possible to iterate in the methodology to look for a way to improve the obtained results.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of information and communication technologies to support healthy lifestyle interventions. In particular, personal health record systems (PHR-Ss) empower self-care, essential to support lifestyle changes. Approaches such as the user-centered design (UCD), which is already a standard within the software industry (ISO 9241-210:2010), provide specifications and guidelines to guarantee user acceptance and quality of eHealth systems. However, no single PHR-S for metabolic syndrome (MS) developed following the recommendations of the ISO 9241-210:2010 specification has been found in the literature. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the development of a PHR-S for the management of MS according to the principles and recommendations of the ISO 9241-210 standard. Methods: The proposed PHR-S was developed using a formal software development process which, in addition to the traditional activities of any software process, included the principles and recommendations of the ISO 9241-210 standard. To gather user information, a survey sample of 1,187 individuals, eight interviews, and a focus group with seven people were performed. Throughout five iterations, three prototypes were built. Potential users of each system evaluated each prototype. The quality attributes of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction were assessed using metrics defined in the ISO/IEC 25022 standard. Results: The following results were obtained: 1) a technology profile from 1,187 ­individuals at risk for MS from the city of Popayan, Colombia, identifying that 75.2% of the people use the Internet and 51% had a smartphone; 2) a PHR-S to manage MS developed (the PHR-S has the ­following five main functionalities: record the five MS risk factors, share these measures with health care professionals, and three educational modules on nutrition, stress management, and a physical activity); and 3) usability tests on each prototype obtaining the following results: 100% effectiveness, 100% efficiency, and 84.2 points in the system usability scale. Conclusion: The software development methodology used was based on the ISO 9241‑210 ­standard, which allowed the development team to maintain a focus on user’s needs and requirements throughout the project, which resulted in an increased satisfaction and acceptance of the system. Additionally, the establishment of a multidisciplinary team allowed the application of considerations not only from the disciplines of software engineering and health sciences but also from other disciplines such as graphical design and media communication. Finally, usability testing allowed the observation of flaws in the designs, which helped to improve the solution.

Among the factors that outline the health of populations, person's lifestyle is the more important one. This work focuses on the caracterization and prevention of sedentary lifestyles. A sedentary behavior is defined as "any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure of 1.5 METs (Metabolic Equivalent) or less while in a sitting or reclining posture". To propose a method for sedentary behaviors classification using a smartphone and Bluetooth beacons considering different types of classification models: personal, hybrid or impersonal. Following the CRISP-DM methodology, a method based on a two-layer approach for the classification of sedentary behaviors is proposed. Using data collected from a smartphones' accelerometer, gyroscope and barometer; the first layer classifies between performing a sedentary behavior and not. The second layer of the method classifies the specific sedentary activity performed using only the smartphone's accelerometer and barometer data, but adding indoor location data, using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. To improve the precision of the classification, both layers implemented the Random Forest algorithm and the personal model. This study presents the first available method for the automatic classification of specific sedentary behaviors. The layered classification approach has the potential to improve processing, memory and energy consumption of mobile devices and wearables used.