Wearable devices and smartphone applications have allowed for the utilization of different at-home treatments. Biofeedback is a mind-body technique that enables users to self-regulate the responses of the autonomic nervous system. This paper has conducted a proof-of-concept study to test multimodal biofeedback treatment with smartphone application and custom-made wearable sensor. While contact-based measurements included skin temperature and skin conductance from the sensor, the smartphone's front camera recorded the patient's face to estimate cardiovascular parameters such as heart rate and heart rate variability. The tested individual completed five biofeedback treatments at home, with activation stress exercises before and after a 5-day experiment. The obtained results show increased finger's skin temperature and heart rate variability during biofeedback sessions, indicating the successful biofeedback treatment.

The smart home concept is rapidly becoming a key component in the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) society. Home automation systems help customers by improving energy-efficiency, allowing for security monitoring and convenience with simplified control over smart IoT devices. However, it has been determined that the older population has difficulties interacting with complex technical devices. Possible solution to this problem would be involving Interactive Voice Response (IVR) machine, which would enable intelligent smart home control based on the information it gathers from voice-based commands. We explore the concept of a smart home with the integration of voice over IP (VOIP) and IVR technologies, along with smart IoT devices and cloud-based services. The presented smart home concept uses voice-assistance which allows for fluent and intuitive interaction. We have modified existing solutions applied for the English language and accommodated them to work for south Slavic languages. The design and implementation of the prototype for the simple IVR-based smart-home system are explained.

Remote photoplethysmography proved useful as a non-contact method for estimating physiological data from different parts of the body. Recent studies have mainly focused on the face region for extraction of blood pulsation signal. In this paper, we have demonstrated the feasibility of non-contact remote photoplethysmography in the monitoring of free flap tissue. An experimental study was conducted, where video recordings of free flaps are obtained during breast reconstruction surgery for 8 patients. The hemoglobin absorption rate of the free flap is closely related to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values extracted from free flap pulsation signal during surgery. Obtained results show significantly lower SNR values when the free flap is disconnected from the blood supply compared to the SNR values when the flap is intact or after successful blood supply establishment. This method shows potential as a convenient, non-invasive and reliable tool in post-operative microvascular free flap monitoring.

The ubiquity of wireless technologies in the Internet of Things (IoT) concept enforces utilization of power-optimized wireless techniques. Furthermore, a specially tailored mesh-routing algorithm is required in order to achieve battery longevity and node accessibility. In the paper, we propose an improved BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) mesh-routing algorithm for an IoT Smart Home application. The proposed algorithm is based on a time-slotted medium-access scheme, which enables communication nodes to sleep and/or exchange information. In order to achieve compatibility with any BLE-enabled device, such as mobile phones/tablets, routing and data information is transmitted via Eddystone beacons. Performance analysis of the proposed BLE mesh-routing algorithm is carried out using an OMNeT++ discrete simulation environment and Mixim framework. Validation of the proposed algorithm is completed on the basis of measurements from a real-life test network. The results show that the proposed algorithm is suitable for the IoT applications where the energy efficiency of the communication nodes is a key priority and propagation delays are not critical.

Recent advances in the development of wearable sensors and smartphones open up opportunities for executing computing operations on the devices instead of using them for streaming raw d ...