The rise of smart technologies has created new opportunities to support blind and visually impaired persons (VIPs). One of the biggest problems we identified in our previous research on problems VIPs face during activities of daily life concerned the recognition of persons and their facial expressions. …

Background: Brief interventions in primary healthcare are cost-effective in reducing drinking problems but poorly implemented in routine practice. Although evidence about implementing brief interventions is growing, knowledge is limited with regard to impact of initial role security and therapeutic commitment …

Objectives: To identify determinants of the initial employment of physician assistants (PAs) for inpatient care as well as of the sustainability of their employment. Design: We conducted a qualitative study with semistructured interviews with care providers. Interviews continued until data saturation …

BACKGROUND: Shiftwork is a major job demand for nurses and has been related to various negative consequences. Research suggests that personal and job resources moderate the impact of work schedules on stress, health and well-being. OBJECTIVES: This longitudinal study examined whether the interactions …

This paper highlights key opportunities for technology design for informal caregivers who provide long-term in-home care. For this purpose, a study with informal caregivers was conducted, including interviews (N=4) and online questionnaires (N=34) based on holistic analysis of supportive technologies. …

Gentle stroking touches are rated most pleasant when applied at a velocity of between 1–10 cm/s. Such touches are considered highly relevant in social interactions. Here, we investigate whether stroking sensations generated by a vibrotactile array can produce similar pleasantness responses, with the …

In this thesis, we present an articulated, empirical view on what human music making is, and on how this fundamentally relates to computation. The experimental evidence which we obtained seems to indicate that this view can be used as a tool, to systematically generate models, hypotheses and new technologies …

Nursing home residents with dementia face challenges in adapting to a new living environment and feeling at home. Due to communicative limitations, people with dementia after often left out of design processes. The aim of this study is to investigate the housing needs in relation to the interior design …

Emerging pervasive technologies such as the Internet of Things and Open Data will have severe impact on the experience, interactions and wellbeing of citizens in future smart cities. Local governments are concerned how to engage and embed citizens in the process of smart city development because without …

A series of new, easily synthesized C60-fullerene derivatives is introduced that allow for optimization of the interactions between rr-P3HT and the fullerene by systematic variation of the size of the ester group. Two compounds gave overall cell efficiencies of 4.8%, clearly outperforming [60]PCBM which …