Wireless Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Healthcare: Systems and Applications

Book info: Wireless Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Healthcare: Systems and Applications (Hardcover, 258 pages) – Medical Info Science Reference, 2010. Language: English.

Improving the quality of life for the disabled and elderly is a pressing issue for today’s European societies, as Europe, and industrialized countries worldwide, are confronted with a demographic shift. Researchers are looking toward Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) as the solution to this problem. Wireless Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Healthcare: Systems and Applications provides a compendium of terms, definitions, and explanations of concepts and processes within the area of AAL. It focuses on innovative wireless solutions for smart home environments, which will positively contribute to independent living and quality of life for disabled and elderly individuals, as they rely less on caretakers and more on technology. Other topics include information and communication technologies related to health, new developments in distributed applications and interoperable systems, applications and services, wireless technologies and architectures for health monitoring systems, and wireless communication and sensor networks in smart living space. Editorial Reviews Review The book entitled Wireless Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Health Care: Systems and Applications provides a compendium of terms, definitions and explanations of concepts, processes and acronyms. Additionally, this volume features short chapters authored by leading experts offering an in-depth description of key terms and concepts related to different areas, issues and trends in various areas of Wireless Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Health Care. The book focuses on emerging wireless technologies and innovative wireless solutions for smart home environments. ... This book will be an excellent source of comprehensive knowledge and literature on the topic of Wireless Computing in the area of Health Care and Assisted Living. --Athina A. Lazakidou, University of Peloponnese, Greece; Konstantinos Siassiakos, University of Piraeus, Greece; Konstantinos Ioannou, University of Patras, Greece About the Author

Athina Lazakidou, Ph.D, currently works at the University of Peloponnese, Department of Nursing in Greece as Lecturer in Health Informatics, and at the Hellenic Naval Academy as a Visiting Lecturer in Informatics. She worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cyprus (2000-2002) and at the Department of Nursing at the University of Athens. She did her undergraduate studies at the Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece) and received her BSc in Computer Science in 1996. In 2000, she received her Ph.D. in Medical Informatics from the Department of Medical Informatics, University Hospital Benjamin Franklin at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She is also an internationally known expert in the field of computer applications in health care and biomedicine, with six books and numerous papers to her credit. Her research interests include health informatics, e-Learning in medicine, software engineering, graphical user interfaces, (bio)medical databases, clinical decision support systems, hospital and clinical information systems, electronic medical record systems, telematics, and other web-based applications in health care and biomedicine.

Konstantinos Siassiakos holds a diploma of Electrical and Computer Engineer from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Studies, University of Patras, Greece, and a Ph.D. diploma from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Dr. K. Siassiakos currently works as visiting lecturer at the Technological Educational Institute of Chalkida, at the University of Piraeus in Greece and Hellenic Naval Academy. Also He currently works as Special Scientific Staff at the Civil Service Staffing Council (ASEP). He has worked as an IT consultant at Ministry of Development (General Secretariat of Industry), Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs (General Secretariat for Adult Education), Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity and as a researcher at the Department of Technology Education & Digital Systems, University of Piraeus. His research interests include logistics management, electronic customer relationship management systems, applied cryptography, management information systems, web-based learning systems, educational technologies, human computer interaction, quality assurance, business process reengineering, and e-government technologies.

Konstantinos Ioannou was born in Patras, Greece, in 1975. He received the diploma and the PhD in electrical and computer engineering in 1998 and 2004, respectively, from the Polytechnic School of the University of Patras. His dissertation, elaborated at the Wireless Telecommunications Laboratory of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineers, dealt with Channel Assignment Techniques, Handover Procedures, Traffic Modeling and Call Admission Policies in 2G, 3G Mobile Systems and Security Mobile Systems. During his postgraduate studies, he participated in many European and national research projects. Since the September of 2006, he is working as network engineer in ministry of interior of Greece and as a post doctor in Wireless Telecommunication Laboratory in department of electrical and computer engineering in University of Patras. During the last 2 years, he belongs also to the Technical Consultants Team of the Ministry of Public Order, regarding the C4I Olympic Security System, involved, among others, with TETRA and AVL subsystems. His scientific interests include Mobile and Satellite Communications, Wired and Wireless Networks, Handover and Channel Assignment Techniques and Communication Services. Konstantinos Ioannou is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE).