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The rapid proliferation of mobile context aware applications has resulted in an increased research interest towards developing specialized context data management strategies for mobile entities. The purpose of this paper is to aim to develop a new way to model mobile entities and manage their contexts accordingly.

This paper proposes the concept of “Mobile Space” to model mobile entities and presents strategies to manage the various contexts associated therein. To handle availability related issues, two system services are designed: the “Availability Updating Service” which is an identifier based mechanism and is designed to keep track of mobile objects and handle availability related issues, and the “Application Callback Service” which is a publish/subscribe based mechanism to handle application disruptions and interruptions arising due to mobility.

The paper presents a detailed study of the proposed framework and a description of the underlying services and the components therein to validate the framework. Experimental results carried out in WiFi and 3G environments indicate that the proposed techniques can support mobile applications and minimize application disruptions with minimal overhead.

The proposed context management framework is generic in nature and is not designed for a specific class of applications. Any mobile context aware application can leverage on the framework and utilize the provided functionalities to manage application disruptions. Also, the decoupling of mobile application layer and the underlying context data management layer renders context data management layer transparent to the application design.

Wheelchair users face great difficulty in transferring themselves from one surface to another, for example from wheelchair to a toilet commode. In such cases, mostly a caregiver’s assistance may be required, but it affects one’s dignity. The purpose of this paper is to develop a robotic self-transfer device, which is aimed at offering privacy and independence to people with lower limb disabilities in performing daily activities.

The device, attached to a powered wheelchair, is useful in transferring a user from a wheelchair to a toilet commode or any other surface following simple and natural transfer procedure without the need of any caregiver. The user can achieve transfer by operating joysticks. The device employs two linear actuators and a motor to accomplish the transfer. Trials were carried out to test the performance of the device by involving potential beneficiaries.

The device could successfully transfer the participants from a wheelchair to a chair with less effort in less than a minute. The results of the trials show that the participants felt comfortable in using the device. It was also found that the device is superior to other existing transfer systems in terms of comfort and operation.

The existing self-transfer systems are alternative solutions that serve the purpose of mobility coupled with self-transfer. Instead of developing an alternative mobility solution, this paper proposes a novel design of a self-transfer device that can be used as an attachment to wheelchair.

Connected Health is an emerging and rapidly developing field never before witnessed across the healthcare sector. It has the potential to transform healthcare service systems by increasing its safety, quality and overall efficiency. However, as healthcare technologies or medical devices continuously rely more on software development, one of the core challenges is examining how Connected Health is regulated – often impacting Connected Health innovation. The purpose of this paper is to present an understanding of how Connected Health is regulated. Many of these regulatory developments fall under “medical devices”, giving rise to Software-as-a-Medical Device (SaaMD).

Through an extensive literature review, this paper demystifies Connected Health regulation. It presents the outcome of expert discussions which explore the key regulatory developments in the context of Connected Health to provide a practical guide to understanding how regulation can potentially shape healthcare innovation.

Several key issues are identified, and the authors present a comprehensive overview of regulatory developments relating to Connected Health with a view to support the continued growth of IT-enabled healthcare service models. The authors also identify the key challenges in Connected Health and identify areas for future research.

A key outcome of this research is a clearer understanding of the opportunities and challenges that regulation and standards present to Connected Health. Furthermore, this research is of critical importance in a first attempt towards recognising the impact of regulation and standards compliance in Connected Health.

With the arrival of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Education 4.0 era, the inevitability of educators using technology in the classroom has grown. A global health pandemic has hastened the adoption of online teaching. The interdependence of technologies and pedagogies necessitates vigour and variability, along with evolving teaching and learning practices. Past literature has advocated for various roles and forms of technology in education; however, inconsistencies in “blended learning” definitions have posed challenges in understanding blended learning’s full potential. Thus, a quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to examine the efficacies and outcomes of blended learning.

A quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to examine the efficacies and outcomes of blended learning. A total of 96 samples were carefully chosen based on established theoretical definitions, relevant to technology use. The samples were then placed into three categories: Web-based applications, standalone applications and devices. Effect sizes (ESs) acquired from Cohen’s d formula (1988; 1992) were used to determine overall effectiveness. The ES of individuals in each of the delivery platform categories was totalled and averaged. This combined ES was then interpreted using Cohen’s (1988) benchmark. Subsequently, a combination of ESs was compared based on the similar type of delivery method, as well as the dependent variables in which the average of the respective combined ESs was calculated for interpretation.

Findings show that all three delivery methods were effective in enhancing a learner’s performance, especially for language teaching and learning. The study provides insights that can assist stakeholders in selecting different delivery platforms to befit the needs of discrete disciplines.

The researchers recommend the three categories of technological intervention described above as tangible tenets for future research in blended learning implementation. Thus far, no blended learning researcher has attempted to categorize the myriad of technological interventions available into concrete, concise groupings. With the recommended categories of technological intervention, blended learning practitioners would have a better sense of direction in the context of investigating the effectiveness of a specific intervention implemented. The researchers deem the recommended categories of technological intervention as immensely useful for the blended learning community to begin establishing intervention as one of the important elements to look at. For example, the effectiveness of a technological intervention under both the Web-based application and standalone application categories, respectively, in relation to a similar dependent variable can be compared to further understand the implications of using interventions of a different nature. And such studies will need to extend the investigation to the present by examining all recent studies.

This paper aims to demonstrate the need for telecare service providers to broaden their horizons in order to offer an extended range of service options when considering the holistic needs of vulnerable people who wish to remain independent in the community.

The paper describes the processes involved in establishing a telecare service to include the provision of all forms of assistive technologies including aids and adaptations and elements of standalone telecare, which are particularly relevant to families of people with learning disabilities. The work includes a review of a survey of local authorities which demonstrates a clear expansion of AT provision.

The Nottingham model of assisted living provider services is proposed as an example of how home improvements, community equipment and telecare/health services may be integrated.

The implications of these changes are discussed in the context of additional resources needed for improved prescribing, installation and support.

Telecare services have evolved from community alarm systems into sophisticated methods of supporting the health and well‐being of many vulnerable groups. Their potential for extending this role may be supported by the integration of services involving all telecare alarm services, primary care services and community equipment stores. The key to integration may be the expanded role of the 24‐hour monitoring centres to provide case review facilities that allow prevention services to be offered following an emergency, as well as the issuing of standalone telecare devices. The potential for successful integration may be governed by the level of training provided for call handling staff, and by the creation of specialist centres using virtualisation technologies.

This paper seeks to describe how the special built‐in features of modern smart phones can be used to open up the potential of these devices for use as assistive technologies in supporting the independence and quality of life of vulnerable people.

The paper describes, through a number of relevant examples, how low‐cost, downloadable applications enable the camera, the microphone, the accelerometer, the GPS receiver and the touch‐screen, to be used for specific assistive purposes.

Smart phones and their applications are capable of providing useful support to a range of vulnerable groups including people with sensory disabilities, diabetics and people suffering from mental health problems, epilepsy or communication issues. It is likely that mobile care services using smart phones will be offered in tandem with home telecare services to extend the independence of the service user from the home to the outside environment.

The paper demonstrates how smart phone applications are capable of transforming a high‐performance mobile phone into a number of different assistive devices that can improve the lives of millions of people with and without disability.

A pilot project was initiated in Wrexham in North Wales with two groups of patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). One group was provided with a commercial telehealth system (HomMed Genesis) while the other received a medical telecare service involving standalone vital signs peripherals and a phone call from a respiratory nurse who collected data and entered them into a spreadsheet. After four months of monitoring, the outcomes were analysed for both groups and were found to be largely similar both in terms of the interventions, and the perceived quality of life benefits for the patients. A cost benefit analysis showed that the savings to the NHS exceeded the project costs by about £9,000 thanks mainly to a reduction in the number of exacerbations exhibited by the patients. It is recommended that this form of telecare may greatly increase the independence of people with a chronic disease or long‐term condition and that further studies need to be initiated to determine which measurement regime is most suitable.

The purpose of this study was to examine how cost, network and technology factors affect the use of mobile technologies for clients’ care in internal medicine department in Nigeria’s premier teaching hospital, the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

The study adopted a survey design covering a cross-section of medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses and medical laboratory technologists in the Department of Internal Medicine. A questionnaire guided data collection.

There is a high level of consciousness and use of mobile technologies for meeting healthcare needs of internal medicine clients in the University College Hospital, Ibadan and medical practitioners are deploying the technology most. However, there is no similar evidence of consciousness and use of wearable health-care technologies and solutions. The hospital makes some provision for mobile technology support for relevant medical staff and purposes. However, about three in 10 of the respondents reported that they use their own funds to recharge hospital-provided mobile phones means.

The study focusses only on one institution but the result reflects the situation in other hospitals, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria being the major supplier of health and medical human resources in the country.

The hospital requires undertaking institutional assessment of mobile service need and consumption for clients’ care and thereafter make adequate provision to match the need. Furthermore, the institution could work out various forms of collaboration with mobile technology operators in the country to subsidise the cost of the use of telephones for clients’ care as part of their corporate social responsibility.

The institution could work out collaboration with mobile technology operators in the country to subsidise cost of mobile client care as part of the philanthropic and corporate social responsibility of telecom companies.

This study focusses mainly on internal medicine and has implication for a more proper understanding of adult deployment of mobile phones for client care.