Search

Hybrid project management has gained significant popularity in recent years. Combining multiple project management methodologies, hybrid project management incorporates advantages from other, more-established methodologies. While the term hybrid refers to any new methodology created from combining two or more existing methodologies, in practice, the hybrid approach generally unites Agile methods with the more-traditional Waterfall model. Hybrid project management follows the structure from traditional project management and flexibility from agile project management. Combining both traditional and agile techniques resolve many situations during project development and can achieve success. This article explains the hybrid project management approach and its advantages over Waterfall and Agile methods.

The intrinsic connection between play and technology is becoming increasingly significant in early years education. This is especially true for children who belongs to the Generation Alpha. Gen Alpha generation is greatly influenced by technology, and they seek personalized and interactive education delivered through technology. Game-based learning offers a new way of learning, which conforms to the habits and interests of Gen Alpha. This paper provides an overview of a custom developed educational game and its applicability in the teaching of natural science and also investigates the outcomes obtained through game-based learning, in primary school children.

Digital media nowadays create new ways to teach, learn and interact. Prospective teachers are using technology to transfer their knowledge in a more interesting and accessible way, while at the same time making students more engaged and motivated. AR, as a technology, has the potential to be an effective learning tool in formal and informal learning environments. This paper, present the development of the AR application for geometry teaching for primary school students. By augmenting the student’s vision we enhance their ability to visualize what they are trying to learn. With the developed AR application, they can learn to make the differences between 2D and 3D shapes and how they relate to one another. The designed application is built using a WebAR-based approach and marker-based detection technology.

With the increased aging population, and declined support from the families, societies will need new tools to ensure the well-being of the elderly. Many of them prefer living at home, but they need help and assistance from someone. ICT innovations in the field of robotic systems can make a significant difference in the lives of the elderly and their caregivers. Robotic assistants can enhance the autonomy level of older people thus prolonging the nursing home admission. They have the potential to assist and support elderly in certain daily activities, such as: eating, drinking, reminding of scheduled appointment or taking medication, maintaining a shopping list, emergency notification etc. Some robotic systems can collect medical data about patients’ vital signs, that can be later meaningfully used by doctors and caregivers. However, elderly people require not only service support but also social support. Many researchers agree that social support is beneficial to a person's physical, mental and emotional health. In light of these needs of the elderly, we have designed a low-cost assistive telepresence robotic system, for facilitating the health care and for improving the quality of life of the elderly, creating conditions for more independent living at their homes. The developed robot, along with its functionalities, permit various interactions in a remote environment, like navigation, fetch and carry small objects, measuring vital parameters of an elderly person, reminder, calendar, and interpersonal communication. The potential users of the robot system are not only the elderly but, also professional caregivers. The robot can be remotely controlled by a distant person and can perform some activities as if he/she was physically present at the elderly’s residence. The developed assistive telepresence robot was tested in, both, simulation and experimental environment.

With the increased aging population, and declined support from the families, societies will need new tools to ensure the well-being of the elderly. Many of them would prefer living at home, but they will need help and assistance from someone. Technological innovations in the field of robotic systems can be used to enable independent living, to prolong the life of the elderly in their familiar home environments, to maintain the social connections by reducing social isolation and to improve the quality of life in general. In this paper, we present the design and validation of a low-cost mobile robot system that can assist elderly and professional caregivers in everyday activities. The robot structure and its control objectives are described in detail. The developed assistive telepresence robot was tested in simulation and experimentally. On field experiments were conducted in real environment, with potential end users, which is a major advantage of this study. The results of the evaluation were very satisfactory and have shown that participants can operate the robot safely and efficiently. The participants were very satisfied with the performance and features of the robot.

Stress has become a significant cause for many diseases in the modern society, such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, insomnia etc. Moreover, Covid-19 pandemic negatively affects people’s mental health, increasing depression and anxiety. This raised the question of whether automatic stress detection and recognition systems can be developed and used in everyday life. In this review study, we will examine the recent works on stress recognition systems by reviewing the techniques and methods used. Only studies involving human participants were taken into consideration, as no such analysis has been made so far. By providing a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art, we would like to encourage other researchers to take an active participation in the field of stress research as well as to explore the benefits and opportunities offered by stress recognition systems.

This paper presents the application of the MQTT protocol in the communication with telepresence robots. They are used for various purposes in education, medicine, nursing homes, etc. To ensure a good user experience, sending data from applications to telepresence robots needs to be fast and reliable. The MQTT protocol is open, fast and can be easily implemented. Its features make it ideal for data transmission in the communication with telepresence robots.

Nowadays there is an increasing demand of creating accurate 3D models of various object. Visualization of these models allows the user to get the realistic impression of the object. 3D visualization has many applications in the areas of architecture, engineering, medicine, tourism, education etc. This paper presents the creation of 3D objects using photogrammetry technique. During our research, we have generated 3D model of various small objects. However, the focus was on generating 3D model of a human body, using Meshroom software. The lessons learned, during the data acquisition, as well as 3D reconstruction are presented in this study.

Ambient Assisted Living environments use different sensors and actuators to enable their endusers to live in their preferred environments. Unlike smart homes, where a target audience is usually a family unit, standard Ambient Assisted Living end users are care receivers and care providers. This article describes an approach based on the fog computing paradigm to detect sleep apnea in an Ambient Assisted Living context unobtrusively. The edge nodes process and detect local activities of daily living events and have direct control of the local environment. The fog nodes are used to further process and transmit data. The cloud is used for more complex and anonymous data computation. This research shows that sensors, which are unobtrusive and do not interfere with users' daily routines, can be successfully used for pattern observation.

In contemporary education, especially in natural and technical sciences courses, it is important for students to gain practical experience through the use of laboratory exercises. Although theory classes were conducted online during the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions found it difficult to complete the laboratory experiments. With the increasing availability, sophistication and power of web-based tools and computer simulations, a growing number of virtual laboratories are developed and published. In this study we are proposing an architecture for a virtual laboratory designed and developed as a progressive web application (PWA). The concept of the PWA together with its advantages are also explained in this paper.

Stress is a major problem of the modern society, as it is the cause of many health problems and huge economic losses in companies. It is a growing issue and it has become an inescapable part of our daily lives. The early detection of stress will decrease the damage it costs and prevents it from being chronic. The scientific community is aware of this and much progress has been done in the last years towards the development of an automatic stress measuring system. In this review study, we will examine the recent works on stress detection looking over the measurements executed along different modalities. Only studies involving human participants were taken into account, as no such analysis has been made so far. The performed analysis gives us hints about future development of appropriate methods for automatic stress recognition systems.

The usage of telepresence robots can have a huge positive impact on education. They can provide remote access to the classrooms. This would be really helpful for students who are absent from school. It was especially noticeable during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. This technology can complement the online teaching with displaying classroom boards, performing laboratory exercises that require better view and movement, and so on. Here, we show the usage of telepresence robots in education and cases when robots can be used for remote learning. The main goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of studies related to the application of telepresence robots in education in the last 4 years.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a severe impact on education all over the world. The closures of educational institutions affected teaching and learning processes and had an impact on students’ motivation and engagement. In this context, AR/VR technology can provide assistance to students and support for educators. This paper presents a review of literature on augmented and virtual reality in educational settings in the last 5 years. In total 23 research studies were included in the study. Target group, field of education, reported advantages, limitations and concerns have been investigated and reported. The findings showed that students’ learning can benefit both technologies by increasing engagement, motivation, collaboration and learning achievement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the universities to close face-to-face (f2f) education and move all activities online. Online learning has become essential for students to continue their education. But the shift from traditional f2f to online learning, has raised some questions about the quality and success of the learning process. This study developed an integrated model based on both the TAM and ISS model which is best suited for investigating the impact of online learning systems on students' satisfaction and student outcomes. The results showed that good system quality and information quality will motivate the students to use the online learning system more actively. On the other hand, the system should be ease of use, and students should perceive it as useful for fulfilling their tasks. Such system will provide high level of satisfaction for students, which in turn will lead to positive student outcomes.

In an effort to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, governments around the world have closed universities and schools. Educational institutions needed to respond quickly and adapt to the new situation. Many of them have applied an online teaching model, but there were also some that have applied the flipped classroom model. This study investigates the effects of online and flipped classroom model, in 7th grade students. Empirical research was conducted in three elementary schools in Republic of North Macedonia during corona pandemic. The study lasted for two months and involved 167 participants. The results showed that both methods have a positive impact on the students’ learning motivation, attitudes, engagement, interaction, collaboration and general satisfaction. These findings suggest that the aforementioned teaching methods can facilitate the delivery of theoretical knowledge not only during emergencies (such as Covid-19 pandemic), but also during normal educational process.

Introduction and Objectives. Sleep apnea is medical condition that affects about 4% of the population and may cause various medical complications such as fatigue, hearth problems and elevated blood pressure, diabetes type II, metabolic syndrome and others. Nowadays, there is a huge demand for technology solutions and new care models that will help in understanding patient’s needs and characteristics, facilitating treatment adherence and shared-decision making. Methods. This paper proposes a system and methodology based on fog computing paradigm to unobtrusively detect sleep apnea and to enable patients with sleep apnea and health care providers to be active participants and collaborate in chronic disease management. The methodology is based on findings that sleep apnea is accompanied by body or leg movement. Therefore, the proposed system uses non-invasive PIR and piezoelectric-based sensors placed under the mattress. Data processing and sleep apnea detection is performed by machine learning algorithms on the edge nodes. Anonymized data are also sent to the cloud for further evaluation and assessment by medical experts and are used for model improvement. Results. In order to evaluate the proposed system and methodology, an experiment for continuous monitoring of a single person over a period of 8 hours was conducted. Signals obtained from PIR and bed sensors were segmented and signal features were extracted. Depending on the window length 250 to 270 features in total were generated, and then reduced to 32 by discarding those with low importance or high data drift sensitivity. Four machine learning algorithms for sleep apnea detection were applied on the obtained feature set and the results were compared. The accuracy of the different classifiers based on different sliding window configurations was analyzed. It was found that, as windows length increases, the accuracy increases too. When using windows of 5 seconds the accuracy was 80%, when the window length was increased to 10 seconds, the accuracy raised to around 90%, and for 20 seconds windows, the accuracy further improved to above 95%. Conclusions. The use of novel technology, like unobtrusive sensors and fog computing, can improve the patient-centered care for patients with sleep apnea. The flexibility of the fog architecture enables better placement of computing and network resources. The fact that accuracy is increasing for larger window length is an important discovery. It can be used for design of a system that makes several predictions at the same time. In this proof the concept of the proposed system architecture we have conducted experiment with only 3 patients, which has to be increased.

One of the most popular and reliable distance learning technologies is videoconferencing. Videoconferencing uses audio and video telecommunications to bring people at different sites together when travel is not an option. Videoconferencing is used to bridge the distance gap between various sites, in order to stimulate collaboration, support and enhance student or staff communication and to enable flexible quality learning and accessibility with minimal costs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potentials of videoconferencing distance learning and to understand student perceptions and their satisfaction with this kind of education. Also, a comparation of students’ attitude between videoconferencing distance learning and traditional classroom environment learning is made. The results showed that this form of distance education can be accepted equally good as traditional methods of teaching.

Recent demographic trends in most countries show that the percentage of elderly is rapidly increasing. Ageing society is demanding technological solutions that will help to overcome these issues. Robotic assistants used in the elderly and the disabled care has emerged as a potential solution. This study presents a low-cost assistive telepresence robot system for facilitating the health care of the elderly, and improving the quality of life of the elderly and handicapped.

The term educational robot is usually associated with systems that can be classified as robots and that are used in the process of education with a final goal to learn with, form or about it. In the last decades,due to the technological and pedagogical advancements as well as low prices of the educational robots, their usage is dramatically increased. This is also reflected in the increasing number of articles that are published in the last decades. Various education robots have different features from architectural, structural and functional point of view. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to present a literature review of the educational robots and their characteristics.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), a neurodevelopmental disability in children, is one of the major health concern nowadays. In everyday situations, children with ASD encounter problems related with perceiving, understanding and using non-verbal cues as gestures, tone of voice or facial expression. Considering this facts, it is not surprising that the daily social interactions will be a problem for them. Conventional methods for treating children with ASD such as pharmacotherapy, special education and behavioral therapy, are not always successful and are usually expensive. There is a notable need to develop technology-based methods which will act as a supplement to the traditional ones, in order to make them more effective. CatchMyEmotion is an interactive game designed to measure the perceptual skills that are implicated in the recognition of facial emotions. It is designed and developed to promote emotional understanding, and to enhance facial and emotional recognition skills in children with ASD.

Complexity theory, as part of mathematics and physics, deals with complex systems (also called dynamical systems) in which many variables and many interactions between them, expressed as non-linear dependences, are involved. Such systems describe ever evolving processes happening in nature, where only change is a constant and unpredictability is omnipresent. The complexity theory also examines the dependencies of the processes. In what extent the outcome from one process will affect the other? As educational issues (educational system itself, class community, teaching methods, online learning, student community, student engagement, staff development, curriculum development, educational policy, local or global changes of the environment) in a great extent are behaving as complex systems, the complexity theory has inherently became well established discipline in educational research. In this paper we highlight the importance of a complexity theory as a viewpoint in educational research and we analyze three challenges present in higher educational sector from this point of view. Key words: complexity theory, higher education, processes, changes.

Stock prediction is attracting a lot of attention, mainly due the financial gains that may be obtained. However, this is very difficult task and it is very challenging problem that intrigues multiple scientific disciplines such as finance, computer sciences as well as engineering and mathematics. There are many approaches and theories regarding stock movement prediction. In the era of social network and big data, as well as huge speed of news spreading, probably the most interesting are those theories based on social media sentiment analysis. This approach is taking as input non quantifiable data such as financial news articles, social networks posts, or tweeter messages, about a company and predicting its future stock trend with news sentiment classification. Sentiment classification is performed using artificial intelligence algorithms. Main aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive review of current state of the art related to stock movement prediction based on social media sentiment analysis with an emphasis on a Twitter platform.

New information technologies are giving rise to new possibilities in education even for the youngest. The use of innovative methods in education has the potential not only to improve education, but to generate interest in various areas, and to motivate children to learn better since they use multiple sensory modalities. The concept of tangible user interface (TUI) seems the ideal solution for preschool children. This paper presents the development and evaluation of an interactive educational game that uses tangible user interface. The application allows children to learn the characteristics and differences between animals, on a simple and easy way. They are able to manipulate the digital information by selecting and positioning physical object, representing the various animals. Developed application is augmented with the QR codes which enable the system to detect selected animal. The developed interactive educational game was evaluated with children in one kindergarten, and the results are presented in this article.

In this paper we present wireless solution for continuous monitoring of vital parameters by using the leverage of both the biosensors and the smart technology. The proposed solution consists of three commercially available biomedical sensors and a portable smart technology device. The integration allows continuous capture of the heart rate, respiratory rate, part-time blood pressure and oxygen saturation. The application enables insight into the recent history of the parameters, additionally providing information of the shock index, Glasgow comma scale score and the hemodynamic stability of the patient. The solution is suitable for pre-hospital, during the vehicle transport and in-hospital environment. Given all the hardware used is commercially available, the integration is highly cost effective when compared to the hospital equipment. The reliability has been tested in hospital environment.

Agile software methodologies are among the most rational development patterns in global economic environment on which software development enterprises rely. They help software projects to face the dynamic changing business requirements of the customers. However, there is no standard tool for measuring agility and selecting the particular agile method for a particular project. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing tools for measuring agility in agile methodologies, as well as measuring agility in software development teams. This can help in decision-making processes regarding the adoption of an appropriate agile method for a particular project.

The study of physiology-based measurement of emotion reactivity for evaluating user experience (UX) has gaining attention in HCI research recently. Physiological methods uses various sensors to measure physiological responses, like: change in skin conductance, changes in heart rate, breathing rate, pupil size, or even brain activity. These physiological methods can be used as alternative to the well-established evaluation methods. This paper summarizes researches done in this area, in recent years. At first, a brief overview of user interfaces, user experience and emotions are given. Then, some physiological parameters (for measuring emotions) that can be used during evaluation are explained. At the end, the methods used by various researchers, for evaluating UX are presented, as well as our next plans in this area of research.

Maps are a powerful tool for geographic data presentation. Interactive maps a computer-based tool designed to collect, manipulate, analyze and visualize geographic data. They can be used also as a new teaching and learning tool for teachers, to conduct problem-solving active-ties in the classroom, and for students, to explore geographic issues. This paper describes the process of creating interactive map of Republic of Macedonia using OpenLayers. The application allows visual presentation of some geographic and statistical data for Republic of Macedonia, like: region-al borders, location of cities, presentation of some important information about selected city, population density for re-goons and cities, total number of men, women and children etc.

Software engineering is a scientific discipline that deals with all phases of (requirements analysis, design and modeling, implementation, evaluation and validation, as well as maintenance). Learning various concepts of software engineering is not a trivial task, and requires more than a one semester course. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit is a popular and affordable education robotic platform, used as an educational tool in various areas. This paper describes how the LEGO MINDSTORMS robots can be used for teaching the basics of software engineering. We have also evaluated the outcomes of the course in order to reveal the effects of using this off-the-shelf robot kit.

On a battlefield wounded soldiers suffer comlex and severe injuries. First responder has a primary role in these situations, providing medical treatment to wounded soldiers, helping them to stay alive until medics can treat them. Recent technological development can help first-responder and medics to triage wounded and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these emergency activities. In this paper we are presenting a novel approach, using a biosensor for measuring soldiers’ vital parameters data, and a mobile application for gathering, organizing and visualizing this data. We believe that this solution will help saving more lives on a battlefield.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Kanban methodology and present it as a tool for project management in software development. Kanban was originally invented as a tool of Lean Manufacturing, but its usage has proven to be useful in many other areas like software engineering. The usage of Kanban in software development is increasingly growing, as the traditional methods are replaced with new much more flexible methods. The implementation of Kanban in software development brings many advantages and benefits. Flexibility, increased productivity and efficiency are only a few benefits of its implementation. Kanban is a Japanese term meaning signboard or graphic and a way for teams and organizations to visualize their work, identify and eliminate bottlenecks and achieve operational improvements in terms of throughput and quality.

Recently, we are witnesses of major technological changes: the powerful, user-friendly mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, became more prevalent than desktop computers and laptops. In this paper we will use this new reality to focus on use of mobile devices in an educational process. In particular, we will explain the development of interactive mobile applications directly on mobile devices using TouchDevelop. It is a cloud-based integrated environment for developing, testing and running programs. The programs are coded in the TouchDevelop scripting language. The main goal is to make students active participants in application design, instead of being just passive users. At the same time, this will encourage them to continue to actively participate in programming process, using different devices.

With the rapid evolution in computer technology, there’s an augmented need to eminently dedicate attention to the computer-aided interaction, including crucial design aspects, implementing and evaluating the interfaces that provide this type of communication. Various techniques for human-computer interaction have been used, commencing with keyboards, printers, moving on with gesture interaction, speech interaction, touch screens, eye gaze tracking and many more. Most of these techniques are still analyzed and examined if they could ensure an ease at performing given tasks, such as moving the mouse cursor, selecting menus, moving or dragging objects on the computer screen, thus helping users with disadvantages to interact with the workstation. This paper describes usability study of an existing eye-tracking system and evaluate its correctness and calculate its error percentage, which can lead us to the deduction if this system would present an efficient interaction and provide facilitation of performing certain tasks, such as reaching a goal, following a trajectory, steering through straight tunnels and steering through circular tunnels.