Brad Fain

In the Spring of 2020, closures and safe distancing orders swept much of the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a case study of pivoting an in-person empowerment program focused on lifestyle interventions for people newly diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to an online program. Working as rapidly as possible to sustain participant engagement, our design decisions and subsequent iterations point to initial constraints in telehealth capabilities, as well as learning on the fly as new capabilities and requirements emerged. We present the discovery of emergent practices by family members and healthcare providers to meet the new requirements for successful online engagement. For some participants, the online program led to greater opportunities for empowerment while others were hampered by the lack of in-person program support. Providers experienced a sharp learning curve and likewise missed the benefits of in-person interaction, but also discovered new benefits of online collaboration. This work lends insights and potential new avenues for understanding how lifestyle interventions can empower people with MCI and the role of technology in that process.

In the Spring of 2020, COVID-19 closures and safe distancing orders required healthcare programs across the US to cease in-person treatment. This paper presents a case study of rapidly pivoting a novel, 12-month comprehensive clinical lifestyle program combining education, occupational therapy, cognitive training, and social interaction to an online application-based education program. The focus of the program is empowerment research for people newly diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their care partners, and is conducted by the Emory Brain Health Center. Georgia Tech developed an education application (named MyCEP) for use with our MCI and care partner population combining off-the-shelf services and customized user interfaces. We used an iterative design and development process, testing our application with our end users and our treatment providers, and made updates based on our discovery of the need for new capabilities and requirements. We present the discovery of emergent practices by family members and healthcare providers to meet the new requirements for successful virtual engagement.

Spurned by the increasing concern and consciousness of traumatic brain injuries in deployed U.S. service members, the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force sought help from the Georgia Tech Research Institute to rapidly develop and deploy a system capable of gathering relevant soldier-centric data-the Integrated Blast Effects Sensor Suite. To meet aggressive program milestones and requirements, Georgia Tech Research Institute engaged in rapid systems engineering efforts focused on leveraging iterative development and test methodologies. Ultimately, an integrated system of systems composed of vehicle systems, soldier-worn headset and torso systems, and data retrieval systems was deployed to troops in Afghanistan for an operational assessment. The Integrated Blast Effects Sensor Suite development process and parallel efforts investigating injury dosimetry methodologies have yielded unique findings and lessons learned, which should be incorporated into future evolutions of similar systems.

In recent U.S. military experience, widespread exposure to improvised explosive devices has been implicated in noticeable changes in the incidence of brain injuries inversely related to reduced mortality—thought to be the unintended consequence of increase in exposure to blast wave effects—secondary to improved vital organ protection, improved personal protective equipment. Subsequently, there is a growing need for the development and fielding of fully integrated sensor systems capable of both capturing dynamic effects (i.e., “blast”) on the battlefield—providing critical information for researchers, while providing value to the medical community and leaders—for development of pre-emptive measures and policies. Obtaining accurate and useful data remains a significant challenge with a need for sensors which feed systems that provide accurate interpretation of dynamic events and lend to an enhanced understanding of their significance to the individual. This article describes lessons learned from a data analysis perspective of a collaborative effort led by a team formed at Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a “sensor agnostic” system that demonstrates full integration across variant platforms/systems. The system is designed to allow digital and analog time/frequency data synchronization and analysis, which facilitated the development of complex multimodal modeling/algorithms.

In the Spring of 2020, closures and safe distancing orders swept much of the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a case study of pivoting an in-person empowerment program focused on lifestyle interventions for people newly diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to an online program. Working as rapidly as possible to sustain participant engagement, our design decisions and subsequent iterations point to initial constraints in telehealth capabilities, as well as learning on the fly as new capabilities and requirements emerged. We present the discovery of emergent practices by family members and healthcare providers to meet the new requirements for successful online engagement. For some participants, the online program led to greater opportunities for empowerment while others were hampered by the lack of in-person program support. Providers experienced a sharp learning curve and likewise missed the benefits of in-person interaction, but also discovered new benefits of online collaboration. This work lends insights and potential new avenues for understanding how lifestyle interventions can empower people with MCI and the role of technology in that process.

In the Spring of 2020, COVID-19 closures and safe distancing orders required healthcare programs across the US to cease in-person treatment. This paper presents a case study of rapidly pivoting a novel, 12-month comprehensive clinical lifestyle program combining education, occupational therapy, cognitive training, and social interaction to an online application-based education program. The focus of the program is empowerment research for people newly diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their care partners, and is conducted by the Emory Brain Health Center. Georgia Tech developed an education application (named MyCEP) for use with our MCI and care partner population combining off-the-shelf services and customized user interfaces. We used an iterative design and development process, testing our application with our end users and our treatment providers, and made updates based on our discovery of the need for new capabilities and requirements. We present the discovery of emergent practices by family members and healthcare providers to meet the new requirements for successful virtual engagement.

In recent U.S. military experience, widespread exposure to improvised explosive devices has been implicated in noticeable changes in the incidence of brain injuries inversely related to reduced mortality—thought to be the unintended consequence of increase in exposure to blast wave effects—secondary to improved vital organ protection, improved personal protective equipment. Subsequently, there is a growing need for the development and fielding of fully integrated sensor systems capable of both capturing dynamic effects (i.e., “blast”) on the battlefield—providing critical information for researchers, while providing value to the medical community and leaders—for development of pre-emptive measures and policies. Obtaining accurate and useful data remains a significant challenge with a need for sensors which feed systems that provide accurate interpretation of dynamic events and lend to an enhanced understanding of their significance to the individual. This article describes lessons learned from a data analysis perspective of a collaborative effort led by a team formed at Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a “sensor agnostic” system that demonstrates full integration across variant platforms/systems. The system is designed to allow digital and analog time/frequency data synchronization and analysis, which facilitated the development of complex multimodal modeling/algorithms.

Spurned by the increasing concern and consciousness of traumatic brain injuries in deployed U.S. service members, the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force sought help from the Georgia Tech Research Institute to rapidly develop and deploy a system capable of gathering relevant soldier-centric data-the Integrated Blast Effects Sensor Suite. To meet aggressive program milestones and requirements, Georgia Tech Research Institute engaged in rapid systems engineering efforts focused on leveraging iterative development and test methodologies. Ultimately, an integrated system of systems composed of vehicle systems, soldier-worn headset and torso systems, and data retrieval systems was deployed to troops in Afghanistan for an operational assessment. The Integrated Blast Effects Sensor Suite development process and parallel efforts investigating injury dosimetry methodologies have yielded unique findings and lessons learned, which should be incorporated into future evolutions of similar systems.

This paper illustrates the advantages of using human factors evaluation techniques as a method of informing rehabilitation service provider decisions about client care and assistive technology selection. Successful integration of accessibility evaluation techniques can strengthen an evidence based service program and offer service providers another tool for providing efficient, effective, and rapid services to individuals in need. With accessibility evaluation data showing the functional abilities required to operate a given product or set of products, it is possible to empirically demonstrate that an individual has the potential to successfully utilize the provided workplace equipment. Conversely, if the accessibility evaluation data reveal that the functional capabilities required to use a product exceed the capabilities of a given user, it would be possible to demonstrate the need for particular interventions or accommodations. With accessibility evaluation data, service providers can make better informed decisions about client care.

The objective of this study was to derive empirical knowledge of the visual search strategies of computer users who suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This was accomplished by recording eye movement during the use of feature-enhanced software. The results from this study show that there are differences between users who have AMD and users who are fully sighted (FS). Detailed analyses confirmed the hypotheses that there would be performance differences between the AMD and FS participants, and that specific features of the interface, namely icon size, background color, and the number of icons on a display, would significantly affect the search strategies of users.

We examined age-related effects on decision making in a task environment familiar to most younger and older adults. Participants made route-selection decisions in real time. Participants received information about traffic density and expected speed limits of main and alternative routes, from which they determined the optimality of their present route versus alternative routes. The experiment evaluated the effects of information type, amount of congestion, alternative route speed limit, and age on speed and quality of decision making. Measures of optimal route selection revealed main effects of alternative route speed limit, congestion level, and message type, but there was not a main effect of age, and age did not interact with any variable. In terms of decision speed (but not quality of decision making), older participants were slower, and age interacted with alternative route speed and with message type. The data are interpreted in relation to previous data examining everyday problem solving and aging.