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AbstractOne effective strategy to improve the quality of life for people with dementia (PWD) is rehabilitation, though patients often show reluctance due to the disease’s effects. A trending motivational approach is gamification. However, most research in this field has focused on the medical or technical aspects of system development, with less attention given to the role of game elements in the patient experience. In this study, a scoping review based on the PRISMA method was conducted on gamified rehabilitation systems, focusing on gamification elements, and interaction with technological platforms. By reviewing 46 studies, we extracted game elements based on the gamification pyramid, technological platforms, and rehabilitation methods, and compared them with previous studies on PWD interactions. This analysis identified opportunities and challenges for future research. Additionally, nine factors to improve user experience in the design of gamification systems for dementia rehabilitation were presented based on the review results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The syntax of spaces is one of the significant factors affecting visitors' sense of security in urban parks. Due to the vitality and green nature of parks, they are expected to provide more sense of peace and security to visitors than other urban spaces; However, Tappeh-Bashi Park in the city of Naghadeh, located in West Azarbaijan province, Iran, is a counterexample. This park, despite its glory days not so far past, has become a place for addicts and criminals because of a lack of surveillance, ethnic conflicts, and the stoning of two people there. Recently, measures have been taken by the municipality to improve the security of the park, such as taking out criminals, implementing some sports facilities, and planting trees, and flowers. Although this has significantly reduced the rate of crime, citizens still do not desire to visit this park due to their sense of fear of possible crimes. The root of this issue is both subjective and objective and this study's focus is on the objective aspect. The purpose is to find the areas inducing a sense of fear of crime in visitors in the case study by assessing the role of the objective factors related to the spatial syntax of the park in both physical and visual dimensions. To do so, the qualities affecting the sense of fear in visitors of Tappeh-Bashi Park and their extracted indicators were evaluated by space syntax technique and through Depthmap software. In this research, the four qualities of accessibility, choice, controllability, and integration in the physical dimension, and the qualities of lighting, visibility, and attraction in the visual dimension were evaluated. First of all, the base map of the site was updated, and the axial maps of indicators including connectivity, mean depth, metric depth, permeability, and mysteriousness were prepared in DepthMap software and valued in Geographic Information System (GIS). Next, the obtained quality maps were weighed and overlaid to get the final axial map. Then, the visual graph of the clustering coefficient indicator was combined with the final map, which gave us three areas inducing a sense of fear among visitors. Finally, three areas were also examined in terms of visibility indicators such as maximum radial line, compactness, and occlusivity, which gave us a good insight to analyse the potentials of each area for reducing sense of fear. For findings validation, the agent analysis of the site was applied, which proved area two has the potential for designing against the sense of fear of crime with the aim of enhancing social interaction. The site also was assessed according to the intensity of lighting at night showing that area three lacks proper lighting. The results showed that the dead-end and undefined routes in the park have reduced the mobility and integrity of pedestrian paths. Moreover, spaces with low levels of lighting at night, spaces that lack natural surveillance, and mysterious and abandoned spaces in the park have the highest potential to induce feelings of insecurity and a sense of fear of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones are one of the latest technologies which have a profound impact on users' daily life. This technology was adapted to meet the expectations of users in different age's groups, but elderly users may encounter some difficulty while using these devices. The current study was aimed to evaluate the usability of smartphones for elderly users, and assess their level of satisfaction with these devices. The number of 30 elderly subjects with previous experience of using a smartphone were invited to take part in the study. Participants were asked to unlock the phone, enter their contact list and call a specific person, add a new number to their contact list and save it, compose a text message and send it, set an alarm, and locate the nearest bank with the help of a smartphone map application. Demographic questionnaires and System Usability Scale (SUS) were filled out by the subjects and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to assess user's satisfaction. The average time spent on completing different tasks, namely unlocking, finding a specific contact, adding a new number, texting, setting an alarm, and using a map were: 45.6, 79.4, 119.5, 113.5, 54, and 48 seconds ,respectively. The mean score for SUS and satisfaction were 59.13 and 62.5, respectively, which were acceptable for these two factors. Age is an important factor in the usability of this technology, with older people stating lower levels of usability. Since the results of the study showed that smartphones need to become more usable for this group of users, it can be said that age of consumers is an important factor that should be taken into account when designing new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractEvidence indicates haptic stimulation can effectively evoke emotions and can be utilized in communication technologies’ design. Due to the impact of culture on people’s tactile behaviours and lack of research in West Asian cultures, this study aims to investigate the impact of affective haptics in Persian users. Using a wearable prototype, a test is conducted on 78 users to evaluate the arousal and valence level of their 4 emotions (anger, happiness, relaxed and sadness) when exposed to text messages with and without haptic stimulation and to see if they can recognise the stimuli with given haptic patterns. A semi-focused interview is also done to evaluate the results further with qualitative feedbacks. Results show vibro-tactile stimuli increase the arousal level and reduce the valence level of the emotions; however, vibrotactile stimuli cannot convey the desired valence level as they cannot render the tactile patterns related to each emotion properly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]