Pilot research is vital for achieving the goals of the Oregon Roybal Center for Aging &Technology (ORCATECH). The overall objective of the ORCATECH Pilot Core is to support small-scale and innovative pilot projects that are consistent with our Center's theme - novel measurement and translation in behavioral and social science using pervasive computing technologies in the home and community. To this end our exemplary pilots focus on specific aspects of using pervasive computing to assess health and well-being outcomes. Major fundamental tenets for these pilots are to: 1) address key gaps in the process of creating new measurement methods in the field;2) facilitate translation by focusing on facilitating career development of junior investigators;and S) create a commons of pilot investigators coming together around interrelated project themes. In all cases, the expectation is that pilot projects will provide critical preliminary data that will lead to larger research and translation efforts. Six exemplary pilots are outlined consistent with these principles. These include: developing methodology to conduct culturally sensitive health and well-being measurements using technologies that may be unfamiliar to an older minority population (Pilot 1), integrated data analytics of large sets of multiple data streams to predict wellness status (Pilot 2), analysis of recurrence tolerance and other temporal aspects of online assessments relative to wellness status (Pilot S), developing everyday ambient measures of cognition and function (Pilot 4), mapping mobility patterns using a novel sensor system assessing multiple persons unobtrusively in personal spaces (Pilot 5), and relating night time activity to objective sensed activity and health behaviors and outcomes during subsequent days (Pilot 6). A natural training element is built into each pilot by pairing investigators early in their careers with those more experienced. Finally, the pilots'investigators will closely share their work with each other on an ongoing basis through the Data Forum and other ORCATECH venues.
ORCATECH's Pilot Core is dedicated to the overall Center goal of facilitating optimal measurement of health and well-being for our aging population through advancing innovative in-home, always-on technologies. These new approaches hold tremendous promise to improve public health by providing highly sensitive, real-time, real-world information for more accurate timely diagnoses and individualized treatment and care.
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