Biomedical Engineering Applications for People with Disabilities and the Elderly in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Biomedical Engineering Applications for People with Disabilities and the Elderly in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond presents biomedical engineering applications used to manage people’s disabilities and care for the elderly to improve their quality of life and extend life expectancy. This edited book covers all aspects of assistive technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), telemedicine, e-Health, m-Health, smart sensors, robotics, devices for rehabilitation, and "serious" games. This book will prove useful for bioengineers, computer science undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, practitioners, biomedical engineering students, healthcare workers, and medical doctors.

This volume introduces recent advances in biomaterials, sensors, cellular engineering, biomedical devices, nanotechnology, and biomechanics applied in caring for the elderly and people with disabilities. The unique focus of this book is on the needs of this user base during emergency and disaster situations. The content includes risk reduction, emergency planning, response, disaster recovery, and needs assessment. This book offers readers multiple perspectives on a wide range of topics from a variety of disciplines. This book answers two key questions: What challenges will the elderly and people with disabilities face during a pandemic? How can new (or emerging) advances in biomedical engineering help with these challenges?

• Includes coverage of smart protective care tools, disinfectants, sterilization equipment and equipment for rapid and accurate COVID-19 diagnosis
• Focuses on the limitations and challenges faced by the elderly and people with disabilities in pandemic situations, such as limitations on leaving their homes and having caregivers and family visit their homes. How can technology help?
• Discusses tools, platforms and techniques for managing patients with COVID-19

Valentina Emilia Balas is Full Professor in the Department of Automatics and Applied Software, Faculty of Engineering, at Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania. She holds a PhD in Applied Electronics and Telecommunications from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara. Her research spans intelligent systems, computational intelligence, applied informatics, and engineering applications. Dr. Balas serves as Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms and International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering, and is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. She is actively involved in the evaluation of national and international research projects and doctoral theses, and contributes to scholarly initiatives that support the advancement of intelligent and computational systems research.

Oana Geman is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Education and Sport at the University of Suceava, Romania. She holds a PhD in Electronics and Telecommunication and a postdoc in Computer Science (2012). Over the past 5 years, she has published 6 books and more than 76 articles; her various works have been cited more than 660 times. She is a member of IEEE, has served as the chair or organizer of many international conferences, and is a reviewer for many top journals in the field.