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Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most frequent causes of disability among older people, characterized by motor disorders, rigidity, and balance problems. Recently, dance has started to be considered an effective exercise for people with PD. In particular, Irish dancing, along with tango and different forms of modern dance, may be a valid strategy to motivate people with PD to perform physical activity. The present protocol aims to implement and evaluate a rehabilitation program based on a new system called “SI-ROBOTICS,” composed of multiple technological components, such as a social robotic platform embedded with an artificial vision setting, a dance-based game, environmental and wearable sensors, and an advanced AI reasoner module.Methods and Analysis: For this study, 20 patients with PD will be recruited. Sixteen therapy sessions of 50 min will be conducted (two training sessions per week, for 8 weeks), involving two patients at a time. Evaluation will be primarily focused on the acceptability of the SI-ROBOTICS system. Moreover, the analysis of the impact on the patients' functional status, gait, balance, fear of falling, cardio-respiratory performance, motor symptoms related to PD, and quality of life, will be considered as secondary outcomes. The trial will start in November 2021 and is expected to end by April 2022.Discussions: The study aims to propose and evaluate a new approach in PD rehabilitation, focused on the use of Irish dancing, together with a new technological system focused on helping the patient perform the dance steps and on collecting kinematic and performance parameters used both by the physiotherapist (for the evaluation and planning of the subsequent sessions) and by the system (to outline the levels of difficulty of the exercise).Ethics and Dissemination: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the IRCCS INRCA. It was recorded in ClinicalTrials.gov on the number NCT05005208. The study findings will be used for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presentations in scientific meetings.

Abstract Background Mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia progressively compromise the ability of people to live independently and can have a negative impact on their quality of life. Within the current European Active and Assisted Living programme (AAL), project TV-AssistDem has been developed to deliver a TV-based platform service to support patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia and provide relief to their caregivers. The application is intended to be used daily at home, mainly by the participants themselves, with the help of their informal caregivers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of TV-AssistDem to improve quality of life in people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia. Methods This is a 12-month European multicentre randomized controlled trial which will be performed in two countries: Spain and Romania. Two hundred and forty older adults will be recruited using identical inclusion/exclusion criteria. The primary outcome will be the change from baseline of TV-AssistDem on patient quality of life at 12 months. The secondary outcomes will be the changes from baseline of: 1) informal caregiver quality of life, 2) informal caregiver burden, 3) patient treatment adherence, 4) patient treatment compliance, 5) patient functional status, and 6) healthcare cost-effectiveness at 12 months. Patients in the intervention group will have access to an interactive platform which offers remote assistive services through a device connected to the television. The core services of the platform are: 1) Calendar and reminders, 2) Health monitoring and data transmission to a health server and 3) Videoconference; service-oriented applications are: 4) Cognitive stimulation; 5) Reminiscences; and 6) Patient and caregiver healthcare education. The analysis will be made following an intention-to-treat procedure. Linear and Generalized Mixed Model analysis will be performed. Discussion We hypothesize that the regular use of TV-AssistDem will result in an improvement in patient quality of life. The uniqueness of this home TV-based intervention lies on its widespread accessibility and its integrative approach to quality of life in people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia and their informal caregivers. However, several anticipated challenges will need to be faced: poor engagement and connectivity problems. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03653234, Date of registration: 31 August 2018.

Among more dramatic effects, the COVID-19 scenario also raised the need for new online information and communication services, promoting the spread of software solutions whose usefulness will last well beyond the pandemic situation. Particularly in the cultural heritage domain, it has been unveiled the relevance of new AI-based approaches, able to dynamically aggregate information and making them available for a customized fruition aimed to the individual cultural growth. Here, we integrate machine learning techniques for the automatic generation of contents for an intelligent tutoring system grounded on automated planning techniques. We present a solution for semantic, intelligent creation of personalized cultural contents, born as a lesson-making assistant, but developed as to become a multi-function “cultural crossover”, useful in the frame of a wide range of planning, dissemination, and managing activities for cultural heritage contents.

The increasing dynamism of contemporary society poses some challenges also to current learning processes that could benefit from new methods based upon intelligent technologies. The use of technology, in this context, can be an enabling factor. The Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), for example, are systems that, despite some limitations (for example, lack of dynamic adaptability and reduced innovation compared to classical learning environments), are able to support the acquisition of knowledge by their users through the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies. The experience of the authors in the field of education, coming from the development of crisis management training systems, has been renewed and enriched over the years, arriving to a new generation of ITSs. This latter one is able to support the dynamic adaptation of the lessons and to bring the educational processes out of the classrooms, overcoming the original limitations of the ITSs and pursuing the idea of a continuous learning both in time and in space. Tecnologie intelligenti per la formazione a supporto dell’invecchiamento attivo La crescente dinamicità della società contemporanea pone delle sfide anche agli attuali processi di apprendimento che potrebbero trarre beneficio da nuovi metodi basati su tecnologie intelligenti. L’utilizzo della tecnologia, in questo contesto, può risultare un fattore abilitante. Gli Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), ad esempio, sono sistemi che nonostante alcune limitazioni (per es., scarse capacità di adattamento dinamico e ridotta innovazione rispetto agli ambienti di apprendimento classici), sono in grado di supportare l’acquisizione di conoscenze da parte dei loro utenti attraverso l’utilizzo di moderne tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione. L’esperienza degli autori nel campo dell’educazione, generata prevalentemente durante lo sviluppo di sistemi di addestramento alla gestione delle crisi, si è rinnovata ed arricchita negli anni, fino ad andare verso una nuova generazione di ITS in grado di supportare l’adattamento dinamico delle lezioni e di portare i processi educativi fuori dalle aule, superando le originarie limitazioni degli ITS e perseguendo l’idea di un apprendimento continuo sia nel tempo che nello spazio.