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Research Interests

It is imperative from both a human dignity as well as costs on the national health services that people remain for as long as is practicable within their own homes. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is of paramount importance given the demographics of the European citizen and the ever increasing proportion of the European citizens who are 65+. Projected population trends predict increased numbers of elderly living at home and that by 2050 22% of the world’s population will be aged 60 years or older. AAL systems empower older adults in living independent lives and which in turn will significantly reduce increasing state elder care costs. Through Activities of Daily Living (ADL) systems, healthcare and interactive social media systems the independent lives of our older adults can be maintained and supported within their own homes.

My research has evaluated the efficacy of several User Interfaces (UI's) which have been specifically designed for displaying information to caregivers of the elderly. It assesses which graphical format for visualising Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) is the easiest to understand when different time-line information is being displayed. Further to this, it investigates the minimal number/type of sensors required to effectively monitor the activities of elders within their own homes.

Engagement and Collaboration

I have collaborated with University College Dublin on various AAL research projects, and submitted successful ethics applications in order for research using sensors within the homes of elder members of the community.

Past Research Students

2011 Ms Jie Wan, MSc in Ambient Assisted Living for the Elderly.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Byrne, C.A., O’Grady, M., Collier, R. and O’Hare, G.M., 2020, September. An Evaluation of Graphical Formats for the Summary of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). In Healthcare (Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 194). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Byrne, C., Collier, R. and O’Hare, G., 2018. A Review and Classification of Assisted Living Systems. Information, 9(7), p.182.

Wan, J., Byrne, C., OGrady, M. J., & OHare, G. M. Managing Wandering Risk in People With Dementia. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, (Volume: 45 No. 6, pp 819-823), August 2015.

Conference Proceedings and Papers

Brennan, A., Barrett, K., Byrne, C., O’Hare, G.M.P., Kavanagh, A. Review of User Interfaces for Caregivers in Ambient Assisted Living, The Eighth International Conference on Ambient Computing, Applications, Services and Technologies, AMBIENT 2018, November 18 – 22, Athens, Greece.

Byrne, C.A., Collier, R.W., O’Grady, M.J., & O’Hare, G.M.P., Brennan, A. Measuring Activities of Daily Living in Ambient Assisted Living Systems, The Eighth International Conference on Emerging Networks and Systems Intelligence, EMERGING 2016, October 9 - 13, 2016 - Venice, Italy. 

Byrne, C.A., Collier, R.W., O’Grady, M.J., & O’Hare, G.M.P., User Interface Design for Ambient Assisted Living Systems, In Proceedings of Human Computer Interaction International 2016 Conference Lecture Notes in Computer Science, (Volume: 9749, pp 35-45), 17th-22nd July, 2016, Toronto, Canada, Springer Publishers.

Wan,  J., Byrne, C.A., O'Hare, G.M.P., O'Grady, M. Orange Alerts: Lessons from an Outdoor Case Study. Pervasive Health Workshop - Orange Alerts - Behaviour Modelling and Health of Older People in their Homes.   26/28 September 2011 Lecce, Italy.

Wan,  J., Byrne, C.A., O'Hare, G.M.P., O'Grady, M. OutCare: Supporting Dementia Patients in Outdoor Scenario. Conference Proceedings: OutCare: Supporting Dementia Patients in Outdoor Scenario. 14th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems 8, 9 & 10 September 2010 Cardiff, Wales, UK.

Wan,  J., Byrne, C.A., O'Hare, G.M.P., O'Grady, M. Chapter: OutCare: Supporting Dementia Patients in Outdoor Scenario. Setchi, R, et al. (eds). Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems:14th International Conference, KES 2010, 8-10 September 2010 Cardiff, Wales, UK, pages 365-374.

O’Hare, G.M.P, O’Grady, M.J., Muldoon, C. & Byrne, C.A., Ambient Documents: Intelligent Prediction for Ubiquitous Content Access, In Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, UAHCI2007. Held as part of HCI International 2007, 22nd-27th July, Beijing, China, 2007 Proceedings, Part II; 01/2007, pages 971-979, Springer-Verlag.

O’Grady, M.J., O’Hare, G.M.P., Byrne, C.A. Ambient Intelligence. 2nd Edition International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Taylor and Francis Publishers, 2007.

O’Grady, M.J., O’Hare, G.M.P., Byrne, C.A. Mobile HCI.  2nd Edition International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Taylor and Francis Publishers 2006.

Keegan, S., O’Hare, G.M.P., O’ Hare, P., Byrne, C.A. U-Commerce: An Infrastructural Perspective. Encyclopedia of Mobile Computing and Commerce Idea group Publishing, USA, 2006.

Denieffe,  D.,  Hickey, E.,  Byrne C.A. &  O’Hare. G.M.P., Network Context Awareness in Service Provision to Mobile Devices In Proceedings of .XVth International Symposium on Services and Local accesS. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. March 21-24 2004.

Byrne, C.A.,  O’Hare, G.M.P., & Sas, C,. The Fourth Wall of Virtual Communities: An Examination of the Collaborative Community Concept, in Proceedings of  7th International Conference on Knowledge Based Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems. at 7th World  Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003) Orlando, USA, July 27-30, 2003.

O’Hare, G.M.P., Sas, C. & Byrne, C.A., The Social Influence Model and its  Applicability to the Study and Understanding of the Virtual Community. In Proceedings of  6th World  Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2002) Orlando,  USA, July 14-18, 2002.

O’Hare, G.M.P., Sas, C. & Byrne, C.A., Navigation in 3D Non-Immersive Virtual Reality: A Usability Study. In Proceedings of 6th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2002) Orlando, USA, July 14-18, 2002.

O’Hare, G.M.P., Sas, C. & Byrne, C.A.,  Agent Mediation and Management of Virtual Communities: A Redefinition of the Traditional Community Concept. Symposium on Technology Economic and Social Applications of Distributed Intelligence (TESADI: 01) in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems Management and Cybernetics (SMC: 01) Tucson, Arizona, USA, October 7-10 2001.

Byrne. C.A , A Case Study Evaluation of Beaumont Hospital Information System in accordance with the 1988 Council of Europe Recommendations on Hospital Information Systems, M.Sc Dissertation, School of Library & Information Systems, University College Dublin (UCD), 1994.

Burke, M. & Byrne. C.A. , A Case Study Evaluation of Beaumont Hospital Information System in Accordance with the 1988 Council of Europe Recommendations on Hospital Information Systems.  College Review, University College Dublin, April 19-21, 1995.