Ambient assisted living technology: comparative perspectives of users and caregivers

Developed societies are currently facing severe demographic changes: the world population is ageing at an unprecedented rate. This demographic trend will be also followed by an increase of people with physical limitations. New challenges are being raised to the traditional health care systems, not only in Portugal, but also in all other European states. There is an urgent need to find solutions that allow extending the time people can live in their preferred environment by increasing their autonomy, self-confidence and mobility. AAL4ALL is a project currently being developed in cooperation with 34 Portuguese interdisciplinary partners, from industry to academia, R&D and social disciplines, which employs a novel conceptual approach through the development of an ecosystem of products and services for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) associated to a business model and validated through large scale trial. This paper presents a comparative perspective of the needs and attitudes towards technology of the AAL users and caregivers identified in the analysis of a set of three different surveys: a users survey targeted at the Portuguese seniors and pre-seniors; an informal caregivers survey targeted at the family, friends and neighbours who provide care without any financial compensation; and a formal caregivers survey targeted at physicians, nurses,psychologists, social workers, and direct-care workers providing care to elders. The first results indicate that AAL solutions must be affordable,user friendly and have a true perceived benefit to their users.

An e-marketplace of healthcare and social care services: the perceived interest

The health and social care sector is receiving growing attention for the last years, due to the increased life expectancy, the public demand for a better quality of life and for better health services. These requirements can be met with more cost-efficient approaches and using new technology-based solutions for providing services. The paper presents and discusses some of the main results of a study undertaken in Guimarães, a Municipality at the North of Portugal, on the perceived relevance of an e-Marketplace of social and healthcare services for the inhabitants in general, and in particular for people with special needs; the study also included the identification of the most relevant services to be offered by this platform and allowed concluding that such an e-Marketplace is of recognized relevance and that it is expected a good adhesion from the population.

Cultural tourism in Northwest Portugal – the case of the world heritage site of Guimarães

A cidade de Guimarães, no noroeste português, é um espaço imbuído de um forte significado simbólico e cultural. A acreditação pela U.N.E.S.C.O. do seu centro histórico como Património Cultural da Humanidade, em Dezembro de 2001, contribuiu significativamente para aumentar o seu potencial em termos turísticos. Na realidade, desde aquela data, tem-se assistido a um aumento sustentado do número de visitantes. O presente capítulo debruça-se sobre a análise de alguns resultados de um inquérito por questionário aplicado aos residentes do município de Guimarães com o objetivo de avaliar a sua perceção dos benefícios que a atividade turística pode trazer. O inquérito foi implementado entre Janeiro e Março de 2010. Os resultados mostram que aqueles revelam uma perceção favorável dos impactos do turismo e que esta perceção está correlacionada com a idade e o nível de instrução dos inquiridos.

Planning Considerations for Tourism in the Minho-Lima Region (Northwest Portugal)

In administering their territories, most local municipalities aim to preserve their natural, historical and ethnographical resources while simultaneously using them to increase revenue and employment. In order to efficiently promote the products and services available and attract tourists, decision makers, private and public, need to know and incorporate tourists’ preferences in their marketing strategies. In this chapter we illustrate the use of stated preferences as an instrument to identify national and foreign tourists’ preferences regarding the products and services that the touristic destination of the Minho-Lima region (Northwest Portugal) should offer. As a starting point, we have taken the three general groups of touristic resources mentioned above as attributes. We take Ponte de Lima, a municipality in this region that has a strong cultural tourism potential as an example to identify possible future tourism scenarios for this territory. We believe the previously identified methodology can be a valuable instrument in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the selected territory and, thus, support the decision making process behind its future tourist development and marketing strategies.

Residents’ perception of the benefits of cultural tourism: the case of Guimarães

In many cities throughout Europe and the rest of the world, cultural tourism plays a major role in local economic development. Tourism also acts to preserve cultural heritage, as it provides a way to acquire the revenue needed to restore and preserve historical buildings, and encourages local people to value their traditions and festivals. However, tourism success can be a double-edged sword with tourist flows having a strong impact on the quality of life of residents when certain tourist thresholds are surpassed. This paper aims to address local residents’ perception of the benefits of cultural tourism. To capture their perception, a survey was implemented, addressed to both the city centre inhabitants and the non-urban residents of the Guimarães municipality.

Does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?

The city of Guimarães in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimarães as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city’s World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimarães. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.

Dashboard services for pragmatics-based interoperability in cloud and ubiquitous manufacturing

The real Cloud and Ubiquitous Manufacturing systems require effectiveness and permanent availability of resources, their capacity and scalability. One of the most important problems for applications management over cloud based platforms, which are expected to support efficient scalability and resources coordination following SaaS implementation model, is their interoperability. Even application dashboards need to easily incorporate those new applications, their interoperability still remains a big problem to override. So, the possibility to expand these dashboards with efficiently integrated communicational cloud based services (cloudlets) represents a relevant added value as well as contributes to solving the interoperability problem. Following the architecture for integration of enriched existing cloud services, as instances of manufacturing resources, this paper: a) proposes a cloud based web platform to support dashboard integrating communicational services, and b) describe an experimentation to sustain the theory that the effective and efficient interoperability, especially in dynamic environments, could be achieved only with human intervention.

A Caregiver Support Platform within the Scope of an Ambient Assisted Living Ecosystem

The Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) area is in constant evolution, providing new technologies to users and enhancing the level of security and comfort that is ensured by house platforms. The Ambient Assisted Living for All (AAL4ALL) project aims to develop a new AAL concept, supported on a unified ecosystem and certification process that enables a heterogeneous environment. The concepts of Intelligent Environments, Ambient Intelligence, and the foundations of the Ambient Assisted Living are all presented in the framework of this project. In this work, we consider a specific platform developed in the scope of AAL4ALL, called UserAccess. The architecture of the platform and its role within the overall AAL4ALL concept, the implementation of the platform, and the available interfaces are presented. In addition, its feasibility is validated through a series of tests.

Information technology supporting healthcare and social care services

The authors are developing a pilot project for a Municipality in the North of Portugal, envisaging the definition and implementation of an e-marketplace for healthcare and social services, in order to facilitate the interaction between healthcare and social services professionals and people with special needs (or their relatives). Based on the results of a survey on user needs analysis and expectations conducted in 2011, the paper discusses the relevance and interest of such platforms and the main drivers and motivations of the population for using such services, as well as which services would motivate citizens to use the platform. The results of the study will be used to select the products and services perceived to be the most desired by the potential users. The paper thus makes three main contributions: (1) the results of the study confirm the interest and the perceived potential of such a service, from the end-users perspective; (2) the findings support the advantage of expanding this pilot project to a full scale implementation; and (3) the performed analysis improves our understanding of the relations between the characteristics of the inquired population and the perceived interest in such platforms.

The impact of the digital divide on the perceived interest of an e-Marketplace to support healthcare and social care services

In a Europe increasingly aging, it is now recognized the importance and potential of the service industry for ageing well based on information and communication technologies (ICT), as exemplified by the electronic market of social services and health care, the GuiMarket, proposed by the authors. However, this new range of services requires that individuals have advanced digital skills to fully participate in society. Based on the results of a survey made on a sample of 315 individuals, this paper discusses the importance granted GuiMarket and the intended frequency of use, concluding there is a close relationship between ICT access and use that respondents anticipate making of GuiMarket and alike services.

How does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?: the case study of Guimarães

To date few studies have been undertaken in Portugal dealing with the attitudes, motivations, and profile of tourists who visit World Heritage Sites. Also, few studies have dealt with destination image (e.g., Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2010; Lopes, 2011). As far as it is known, none have approached the issue of gender differences in the choice of a Portuguese heritage destination. Since cultural tourism destinations need to differentiate themselves from each other, appropriate market segmentation must be based on a deep understanding of the customers’ motivations and preferences. Keeping in mind results from empirical literature (e.g., Silberberg, 1995; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Richards, 2004; Pérez, 2009; Sheng, Shen, & Chen, 2008), gender seems to be a possible approach to market segmentation, whether for Guimarães or for other cultural tourism destinations around the world. Located in the north-western region of Portugal, Guimarães is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical centre as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study analyses the possible relation between gender and attitudes and motivations towards a World Heritage Site, such as Guimarães. Additionally, the empirical approach used in the study tries to capture differences in the perceived attributes of the city. Commonalities and distinctions within and between groups of tourists, by focusing on the specific characteristic of gender, were analysed. The study addressed two main questions: first, whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination; and, second, whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences.

Does Gender Affect Visiting a World Heritage Site?

The city of Guimar˜aes in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimar˜aes as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimar˜aes. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city’s World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimar˜aes. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.

The role of cultural mega events in the enhancement of city’s image attributes: differences between engaged and attendee participants

In a time of fierce competition between regions, an image serve as a basis to develop a strong sense of community, which fosters trust and cooperation that can be mobilized for regional growth. A positive image and reputation could be used in the promotional activities of the region benefiting all the stakeholders as a whole. Mega cultural events are frequently used to attract tourists and investments to a region, but also to enhance the city’s image. This study adopts a marketing/communication perspective of city’s image, and intends to explain how the image of the city is perceived by their residents. Specifically, we intend to compare the perceptions of residents that effectively participated in the Guimarães European Capital of Culture (ECOC) 2012 (engaged residents), and the residents that only assisted to the event (attendees). Several significant findings are reported and their implications for event managers and public policy administrators presented, along with the limitations of the study.

O reconhecimento dos bens do património histórico, artístico e cultural: esudo de caso dos municípios da sub-região Minho-Lima

Este trabalho tem por objetivos analisar o disposto no POCAL (1999), na NICSP nº 17 do IPSASB (2006c), e na opinião de diversos autores, quanto ao reconhecimento dos bens do património, histórico, artístico e cultural (BPHAC); bem como, verificar se poderão existir problemas inerentes ao reconhecimento destes bens, na sub-região Minho-Lima, ultrapassáveis com a adoção das NICSP em Portugal. Do estudo efetuado, concluímos que o POCAL (1999) não apresenta os requisitos para o reconhecimento dos ativos. A NICSP nº 17 (IPSASB, 2006c) refere que, se a entidade reconhecer esses elementos como ativos, deve observar os requisitos para o reconhecimento dos ativos fixos tangíveis mencionados nessa norma. Atendendo também a que alguns dos municípios portugueses sentem dificuldades no reconhecimento dos bens do património, histórico, artístico e cultural, concluímos que adotar um novo Sistema de Normalização Contabilística aplicável à Administração Pública (SNCAP), assente nas NICSP, poderá ser a solução para ultrapassar tais dificuldades e garantir alguma comparabilidade da informação.

Cultural mega-events and the enhancement of a city's image: differences between engaged participants and attendees

A city’s image can serve as the basis upon which to develop a strong sense of community. This, in turn, fosters trust and cooperation which may attract tourists and investment, and drive regional economic growth. One strategy to enhance a city’s image is to host cultural mega-events. This study focuses on Guimarães, one of the European Capitals of Culture of 2012, and adopts a marketing communication perspective to explore issues of city image. The objective of the study reported was to understand whether images of Guimarães improved after it hosted the cultural mega-event. To attain this goal, we compare the perceptions of residents who participated in the event (engaged participants) and attendees. Several significant findings are reported and their implications for event managers and public policy administrators are presented, along with the limitations of the study.