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Passive Human Sensing (PHS) is an approach to collecting data on human presence, motion or activities that does not require the sensed human to carry devices or participate actively in the sensing process. In the literature, PHS is generally performed by exploiting the Channel State Information variations of dedicated WiFi, affected by human bodies obstructing the WiFi signal propagation path. However, the adoption of WiFi for PHS has some drawbacks, related to power consumption, large-scale deployment costs and interference with other networks in nearby areas. Bluetooth technology and, in particular, its low-energy version Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), represents a valid candidate solution to the drawbacks of WiFi, thanks to its Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) mechanism. This work proposes the application of a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DNN) to improve the analysis and classification of the BLE signal deformations for PHS using commercial standard BLE devices. The proposed approach was applied to reliably detect the presence of human occupants in a large and articulated room with only a few transmitters and receivers and in conditions where the occupants do not directly occlude the Line of Sight between transmitters and receivers. This paper shows that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the most accurate technique found in the literature when applied to the same experimental data.

Passive human sensing approaches based on the analysis of the radio signals emitted by the most common wireless communication technologies have been steadily gaining momentum during the last decade. In this context, the Bluetooth technology, despite its widespread adoption in mobile and IoT applications, so far has not received all the attention it deserves. However, the introduction of the Bluetooth direction finding feature and the application of Artificial Intelligence techniques to the processing and analysis of the wireless signal for passive human sensing pave the way for novel Bluetooth-based passive human sensing applications, which will leverage Bluetooth Low Energy features, such as low power consumption, noise resilience, wide diffusion, and relatively low deployment cost. This paper provides a reasoned analysis of the data preprocessing and classification techniques proposed in the literature on Bluetooth-based remote passive human sensing, which is supported by a comparison of the reported accuracy results. Building on such results, the paper also identifies and discusses the multiple factors and operating conditions that explain the different accuracy values achieved by the considered techniques, and it draws the main research directions for the near future.

The aim of this study is to compare the performances of patients with Rett syndrome that were undergoing advanced telerehabilitation (ATR) and patients that were undergoing basic telerehabilitation (BTR). It was hypothesized that patients that were undergoing ATR training would have better improvement in nearly all the motor and cognitive scale scoring activities that were administered, thus showing reduced disability. A total of 20 young girls and women with a diagnosis of RTT, ranging from age 4 to 31 years old (Median: 12.50; IQR: 9.50-17.25) underwent a pre-test, treatment post-test 1, treatment, and post-test 2 procedure. The treatment consisted of either ATR or BTR, lasting 10 weeks with three sessions a week of about an hour. The results showed that the group with advanced telerehabilitation improved their performance better than the control group only in some neuropsychological measurements. The results are discussed in the light of critical factors of telerehabilitation.

Background: The closure of all educational institutions and most rehabilitation centres represents a precautionary measure to face the COVID-19 pandemic, but the isolation and social distancing may be particularly challenging for children with special needs and disabilities (SEND), such as Rett Syndrome (RTT). The main aim of this study was to promote cognitive and social interactions among children with RTT through an interactive school program. Methods: The Interactive School palimpsest was composed of moments in which a teacher spoke directly to children with RTT and expected a response through eye gaze, and moments in which storeys-cartoon were presented while tracking the eye gaze of children. We investigated behavioural, social and cognitive parameters. Results: Children participated in both social and cognitive tasks with the spontaneous reduction of stereotypies and with increase in attention. They recalled more significant indexes when music or a song was presented together with a cartoon or a cognitive task. Conclusions: This study provides initial insights in promoting cognitive and social interactions and in the support needs of families with a child with RTT during the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Dovigo, Caprì, Iannizzotto, Nucita, Semino, Giannatiempo, Zocca and Fabio.)

Background: Since subjects with Rett syndrome (RTT) focus their attention mainly on the faces of people with whom they interact, in this study the role of a human-like smart interactive agent (an avatar) in enhancing cognitive processes is examined. More in depth, this study aimed to understand if, and to what extent, the use of an avatar can improve attention and memory abilities in subjects with RTT., Method: Thirty-six subjects with RTT participated in the study. All participants performed over-selectivity and memory tasks, for a total of six trials. These trials were randomly presented in two different conditions: with and without virtual avatar., Results: The results indicated that the participants improved their attention and memory abilities when they performed the tasks with the avatar. There were no improvements when they performed the tasks without the avatar., Discussion: The results were discussed considering the relationship between motivation, attention and memory in RTT.

Objective: Several studies agree on the link between attention and eye movements during reading. It has been well established that attention and working memory (WM) interact. A question that could be addressed to better understand these relationships is: to what extent can an attention deficit affect eye movements and, consequently, remembering a word? The main aims of the present study were (1) to compare visual patterns of word stimuli between children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and typically developing (TD) children, during a visual task on word stimuli; (2) to examine the WM accuracy of the word stimuli; and (3) to compare the dynamic of visual scan path in both groups., Method: A total of 49 children with ADHD, age and sex matched with 32 TD children, were recruited. We used eye-tracking technology in which the Word Memory Test was implemented. To highlight the scan path of participants, two measures were used: the ordered direction of reading and the entropy index., Results: ADHD groups showed a poorer WM than TD group. They did not follow a typical scan path across the words compared with TD children, but their visual scanning was discontinuous, uncoordinated, and chaotic. ADHD groups showed an index of entropy among the four categories of saccades higher than TD group., Conclusions: The findings were discussed in light of two directions: the relationship between atypical visual scan path and WM and the training implications related to the necessity of redirecting the dynamic of visual scan path in ADHD to improve WM.

This study examined both children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing students in dynamic measures of intelligence through the use of a virtual avatar. Three conditions were compared: in the first condition, the avatar simply gave the instructions; in the second condition, the avatar presented the instructions and gave feedback on the attention of the learner; in the third condition, the avatar was not presented. Results indicated that ADHD subtypes do not differ in problem solving and the interactive avatar improved the performance of groups with ADHD in the dynamic intelligence test. Overall, these results support the hypothesis that the function of regulation and feedback of the avatar improve the attention process and, consequently, boosts performance.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and the tolerability of a new vision-based non-intrusive eye tracker in a population composed of normal controls and in patients affected by nonadvanced Parkinson's disease (PD). PD patients characteristically have difficulty in sustaining repetitive motor actions. Previous studies showed a progressive bradykinesia and hypokinesia of pursuit ocular movements (POM) in advanced PD. We found that the values of POM were lower in PD patients than in normal controls (p < 0.001). In PD patients, the values correlated closely with Hoehn and Yahr stage and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor subscore (p < 0.001, for both). Our data suggest that deficit in POM occurs also in nonadvanced PD patients and it is closely correlated with clinical scores. Thus, this vision-based system can be considered a new method to provide, noninvasively, measures of POM dysfunctions and can be used as reliable indices of disease severity in PD patients., ((c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.)