Nadiyah Johnson

Novel balance detection systems are important for various reasons. It is especially necessary for measuring imbalance for elderly people. Every year many older adults are injured by balance related falls. A potential risk of falling can be identified from monitoring a person’s balance. Injuries caused by falls can happen to people of any age, it is particularly important for elderly people as they have a higher possibility of fall. Tools to measure imbalance are either very expensive or… Show more

Novel balance detection systems are important for various reasons. It is especially necessary for measuring imbalance for elderly people. Every year many older adults are injured by balance related falls. A potential risk of falling can be identified from monitoring a person’s balance. Injuries caused by falls can happen to people of any age, it is particularly important for elderly people as they have a higher possibility of fall. Tools to measure imbalance are either very expensive or inaccurate. We have developed a system that can measure imbalance of a person and thus can detect the risk of falling. This system can be used by older adults to measure their balance and help care givers appropriately care for a particular elderly person. Show less

presents a middleware solution for systems that work to detect, and
with additional work possibly prevent, angry outbursts (also described in psychological
literature as “rage”) using physiological sensor data and context-aware technology. This
paper will cover a range of topics from methods for collecting system requirements for a
subject group to the development of a social-context aware middleware. In doing such,
the goal is to present a system that can be constructed and used… Show more

presents a middleware solution for systems that work to detect, and
with additional work possibly prevent, angry outbursts (also described in psychological
literature as “rage”) using physiological sensor data and context-aware technology. This
paper will cover a range of topics from methods for collecting system requirements for a
subject group to the development of a social-context aware middleware. In doing such,
the goal is to present a system that can be constructed and used in an in lab environment
to further the research of building real-world systems that predict crisis events, setting the
state for early intervention methods based on this approach. Show less

We are investigating how mobile technology can help through the process of civilian reintegration to address the impact of reintegration related stress on veterans. As part of our investigation we have developed the prototype of a mobile-phone based veteran peer-mentor support system called iPeer. The mobile technology facilitates real-time behavioral data collection from the participating veteran mentees. Each mentee receives a behavioral survey twice a week. A report on the mentee's survey… Show more

We are investigating how mobile technology can help through the process of civilian reintegration to address the impact of reintegration related stress on veterans. As part of our investigation we have developed the prototype of a mobile-phone based veteran peer-mentor support system called iPeer. The mobile technology facilitates real-time behavioral data collection from the participating veteran mentees. Each mentee receives a behavioral survey twice a week. A report on the mentee's survey response is then presented to the veteran mentor. As a result this system facilitates remote tracking of mental-health conditions. Our primary goal is to monitor the social functioning and risk taking behaviors of the veterans trying to readjust into social life. These behaviors are considered to be indications of difficulties adjusting to civilian life, and in more extreme cases, mental illness like anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [1] Show less

The challenges of civilian reintegration can adversely impact the life of veterans. Research shows that peer-mentorship can be very effective for mental health problems. Dryhootch (DH), a veteran-led community organization, has successfully implemented a peer-mentor program for veterans going through civilian reintegration. This article proposes iPeer, a mobile-based augment for the DH peer-mentor program. iPeer tracks the status of the veterans in real-time and presents the status report to… Show more

The challenges of civilian reintegration can adversely impact the life of veterans. Research shows that peer-mentorship can be very effective for mental health problems. Dryhootch (DH), a veteran-led community organization, has successfully implemented a peer-mentor program for veterans going through civilian reintegration. This article proposes iPeer, a mobile-based augment for the DH peer-mentor program. iPeer tracks the status of the veterans in real-time and presents the status report to veteran mentors (VM) who also went through similar experiences. The participating veterans are assessed semiweekly on their social functioning and risk taking behaviors through surveys. Our major contributions include, (1) proposing a mobile social-computing support for remote and after-hour access of socio-interactive care for veterans going through civilian reintegration, (2) identifying four key issues that need to be addressed when designing such a sociotechnical system for veterans and (3) presenting qualitative evidence about the impact of the technology-augmented process on target-users' experience. Show less

Veterans often face great difficulties during the community and family reintegration after military deployment. Mental health problems resulting from war related traumatic experiences often make social readjustment very difficult. Many research suggests that peer-mentorship can be very effective for mental-health problems. Dryhootch (DH), a community organization led by veterans, has implemented a veteran peer-mentor program. The primary objective of DH program is to provide peer-mentor support… Show more

Veterans often face great difficulties during the community and family reintegration after military deployment. Mental health problems resulting from war related traumatic experiences often make social readjustment very difficult. Many research suggests that peer-mentorship can be very effective for mental-health problems. Dryhootch (DH), a community organization led by veterans, has implemented a veteran peer-mentor program. The primary objective of DH program is to provide peer-mentor support to veterans going through social readjustment. In this paper we propose to expand DH’s paper-based peer-mentor program with a mobile-based system, iPeer. The proposed expansion improves the efficiency of the current DH approach by augmenting the existing social process with mobile technologies used extensively by younger veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. We provide a description of the evolution of this mobile-based peer-mentor support tool through collaborative design research. We also present our initial usability findings in order to demonstrate the improved efficiency offered by the augmented technology. Show less