1. Balancing health and socioeconomic impacts : a uniform framework for evaluating non-pharmaceutical interventionsMatjaž Gams, Anže Marinko, Nina Reščič, Aljoša Vodopija, Sophie Vandepitte, Delphine De Smedt, Jana S. Javornik, Franc Strle, Vito Janko, David Susič, Zoja Anžur, Mitja Luštrek, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: This paper introduces a uniform evaluation framework for assessing the effectiveness of past non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in managing infectious diseases, taking into account the cultural and social differences between countries. The framework enables quantifying and finding the optimal balance of both the health and socioeconomic impacts of NPIs. The aim is to assist policymakers in understanding which NPIs lead to the optimal balance by highlighting unnecessary costs - the costs that could be avoided while maintaining the same infection rates. To assess the extent of unnecessary socioeconomic consequences experienced by a country during a past epidemic of infectious diseases, we use the following approach. First, we develop a model that predicts the number of infections from NPIs in a country. Second, we estimate the socioeconomic costs (SEC) of the NPIs universally for countries included in the study. Third, we develop a model that prescribes the NPI plans with the optimal trade-off between the number of infections and the SEC. Fourth, we create a model that specifically adjusts each country’s SEC. Finally, we provide additional analysis to increase comprehension of the effects of NPIs. Demonstrated through an analysis of COVID-19 pandemic responses in 17 countries, the study offers a systematic presentation of the framework and a concrete examination of the integrated effects of NPIs. It provides insights into interventions’ direct and indirect consequences, offering guidance for future epidemic responses. The framework enables a systematic understanding of the effects of the NPIs applied, acknowledging the national diversity in health measure acceptance and implementation. This allows for fair analysis across countries, identifying and displaying the economic, social, and health-related costs of suboptimal NPI strategies, i.e., unnecessary costs. The framework is applicable for any infectious disease, NPIs, or country, assuming the medical interventions are similar, e.g., timing and amount of vaccination Ključne besede: Bombus dahlbomii, Patagonian bumblebee, invasive species, population dynamics, socioeconomic consequences, infectious diseases Objavljeno v DiRROS: 14.11.2025; Ogledov: 148; Prenosov: 58
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2. Intelligent supportive system for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilitiesGašper Slapničar, Mitja Luštrek, Erik Dovgan, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are a vul-nerable and often marginalized group of people, commonly without the ability ofsymbolic communication. This makes expressing and recognizing their innerstate and desires challenging and requires in-depth knowledge and under-standing of each individual. Use of standard assistive technologies is thusinfeasible due to lack of personalization. This challenge is tackled by theINSENSION system—a novel intelligent decision support system leveraging state-of-the-art noninvasive audio-visual sensor technologies together with machinelearning algorithms and expert knowledge, to detect and interpret behaviors andcommunications (nonverbal signals—NVSs) of people with PIMD in challengingreal-world scenarios. The detection of NVSs supports caregivers and allows thepeople with PIMD a form of communication through a communicator application.Furthermore, the system enables them to control and adjust their environmentthrough a smart room and multimedia player. According to quantitative andqualitative evaluation, good recognition accuracy is achieved, and the systemempowers people with PIMD and increases their quality of life.RESEARCH ARTICLEwww.advintellsyst.comAdv. Intell. Syst. 2025, 2400925 2400925 (1 of 19) © 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-VCH GmbH Ključne besede: INSENSION system, people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities Objavljeno v DiRROS: 29.07.2025; Ogledov: 356; Prenosov: 227
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3. A review of methods for unobtrusive measurement of work-related well-beingZoja Anžur, Klara Žinkovič, Junoš Lukan, Gašper Slapničar, Sebastijan Trojer, Mitja Luštrek, Marc Langheinrich, 2025, pregledni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Work-related well-being is an important research topic, as it is linked to various aspects of individuals’ lives, including job performance. To measure it effectively, unobtrusive sensors are desirable to minimize the burden on employees. Because there is a lack of consensus on the definitions of well-being in the psychological literature in terms of its dimensions, our work begins by proposing a conceptualization of well-being based on the refined definition of health provided by the World Health Organization. We focus on reviewing the existing literature on the unobtrusive measurement of well-being. In our literature review, we focus on affect, engagement, fatigue, stress, sleep deprivation, physical comfort, and social interactions. Our initial search resulted in a total of 644 studies, from which we then reviewed 35, revealing a variety of behavioral markers such as facial expressions, posture, eye movements, and speech. The most commonly used sensory devices were red, green, and blue (RGB) cameras, followed by microphones and smartphones. The methods capture a variety of behavioral markers, the most common being body movement, facial expressions, and posture. Our work serves as an investigation into various unobtrusive measuring methods applicable to the workplace context, aiming to foster a more employee-centric approach to the measurement of well-being and to emphasize its affective component. Ključne besede: affective computing, ambient intelligence, work-related well-being, behavioral markers Objavljeno v DiRROS: 08.07.2025; Ogledov: 380; Prenosov: 227
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5. Protocol of the study for predicting empathy during VR sessions using sensor data and machine learningEmilija Kizhevska, Kristina Šparemblek, Mitja Luštrek, 2024, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Virtual reality (VR) technology is often referred to as the ‘ultimate empathy machine’ due to its capability to immerse users in alternate perspectives and environments beyond their immediate physical reality. In this study, participants will be immersed in 3-dimensional 360˚ VR videos where actors express different emotions (sadness, happiness, anger, and anxiousness). The primary objective is to investigate the potential relationship between participants’ empathy levels and the changes in their physiological attributes. The empathy levels will be self-reported with questionnaires, and physiological attributes will be measured using different sensors. The main outcome of the study will be a machine learning model to predict a person’s empathy level based on their physiological responses while watching VR videos. Despite the existence of established methodologies and metrics in research and clinical domains, our aim is to contribute to addressing the gap of a universally accepted “gold standard” for assessing empathy. Additionally, we expect to deepen our understanding of the relationship between different emotions and psychological attributes, gender differences in empathy, and the impact of narrative context on empathic responses. Objavljeno v DiRROS: 23.07.2024; Ogledov: 885; Prenosov: 456
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6. How does day-to-day stress appraisal relate to coping among office workers in academia? : an ecological momentary assessment studyStephanie Hulin, Larissa Bolliger, Junoš Lukan, Anneleen Caluwaerts, Rosalie De Neve, Mitja Luštrek, Dirk De Bacquer, Els Clays, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Existing literature indicates that academic staff experience increasing levels of work stress. This study investigated associations between day-to-day threat and challenge appraisal and day-to-day problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and seeking social support among academic office workers. This study is based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) design with a 15-working day data collection period utilising our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. A total of 55 office workers from academic institutions in Belgium (n = 29) and Slovenia (n = 26) were included and 3665 item measurements were analysed. Participants were asked approximately every 90 min about their appraisal of stressful events (experienced during the working day) and their coping styles. For data analysis, we used an unstructured covariance matrix in our linear mixed models. Challenge appraisal predicted problem-focused coping and threat appraisal predicted emotion-focused coping. Our findings suggest an association between threat appraisal as well as challenge appraisal and seeking social support. Younger and female workers chose social support more often as a coping style. While working from home, participants were less likely to seek social support. The findings of our EMA study confirm previous research on the relationship between stress appraisal and coping with stress. Participants reported seeking social support less while working from home compared to working at the office, making the work location an aspect that deserves further research. Ključne besede: academic setting, coping, work stress Objavljeno v DiRROS: 25.03.2024; Ogledov: 1010; Prenosov: 499
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7. SONAR, a nursing activity dataset with inertial sensorsOrhan Konak, Lucas Liebe, Kirill Postnov, Franz Sauerwald, Hristijan Gjoreski, Mitja Luštrek, Bert Arnrich, 2023, drugi znanstveni članki Povzetek: Accurate and comprehensive nursing documentation is essential to ensure quality patient care. To streamline this process, we present SONAR, a publicly available dataset of nursing activities recorded using inertial sensors in a nursing home. The dataset includes 14 sensor streams, such as acceleration and angular velocity, and 23 activities recorded by 14 caregivers using five sensors for 61.7 hours. The caregivers wore the sensors as they performed their daily tasks, allowing for continuous monitoring of their activities. We additionally provide machine learning models that recognize the nursing activities given the sensor data. In particular, we present benchmarks for three deep learning model architectures and evaluate their performance using different metrics and sensor locations. Our dataset, which can be used for research on sensor-based human activity recognition in real-world settings, has the potential to improve nursing care by providing valuable insights that can identify areas for improvement, facilitate accurate documentation, and tailor care to specific patient conditions. Ključne besede: nursing documentation, nursing activities, SONAR, sensors Objavljeno v DiRROS: 11.12.2023; Ogledov: 1131; Prenosov: 627
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8. HARE : unifying the human activity recognition engineering workflowOrhan Konak, Lucas Liebe, Kirill Postnov, Franz Sauerwald, Hristijan Gjoreski, Mitja Luštrek, Bert Arnrich, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Sensor-based human activity recognition is becoming ever more prevalent. The increasing importance of distinguishing human movements, particularly in healthcare, coincides with the advent of increasingly compact sensors. A complex sequence of individual steps currently characterizes the activity recognition pipeline. It involves separate data collection, preparation, and processing steps, resulting in a heterogeneous and fragmented process. To address these challenges, we present a comprehensive framework, HARE, which seamlessly integrates all necessary steps. HARE offers synchronized data collection and labeling, integrated pose estimation for data anonymization, a multimodal classification approach, and a novel method for determining optimal sensor placement to enhance classification results. Additionally, our framework incorporates real-time activity recognition with on-device model adaptation capabilities. To validate the effectiveness of our framework, we conducted extensive evaluations using diverse datasets, including our own collected dataset focusing on nursing activities. Our results show that HARE’s multimodal and on-device trained model outperforms conventional single-modal and offline variants. Furthermore, our vision-based approach for optimal sensor placement yields comparable results to the trained model. Our work advances the field of sensor-based human activity recognition by introducing a comprehensive framework that streamlines data collection and classification while offering a novel method for determining optimal sensor placement. Ključne besede: human activity recognition, multimodal classification, privacy preservation, real-time classification, sensor placement Objavljeno v DiRROS: 11.12.2023; Ogledov: 1229; Prenosov: 645
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9. Feasibility of remote blood pressure estimation via narrow-band multi-wavelength pulse transit timeGašper Slapničar, Wenjin Wang, Mitja Luštrek, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Contact-free sensing gained much traction in the past decade. While remote monitoring of some parameters (heart rate) is approaching clinical levels of precision, others remain challenging (blood pressure). We investigated the feasibility of estimating blood pressure (BP) via pulse transit time (PTT) in a novel remote single-site manner, using a modified RGB camera. A narrow-band triple band-pass filter allowed us to measure the PTT between different skin layers, harvesting information from green and near-infrared wavelengths. The filter minimizes the inter-channel influence and band overlap, however some overlap remains within the filter bands. We further resolve this using a color-channel model and a novel channel-separation method. Using the proposed setup and algorithm, we obtained multi-wavelength (MW) PTTs in an experiment inducing BP changes to 9 subjects. The results showed good absolute Pearson’s correlation coefficient between both MW PTT and systolic BP (R = 0.61, p = 0.08) as well as diastolic BP (R = 0.54, p = 0.05), pointing to feasibility of the proposed novel remote MW BP estimation via PTT. This was further confirmed in a leave-one-subject-out experiment, where a simple Random Forest regression model achieved mean absolute errors of 3.59 and 2.63 mmHg for systolic and diastolic BP respectively.
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 27.07.2023; Ogledov: 1270; Prenosov: 792
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10. The association between day-to-day stress experiences, recovery, and work engagement among office workers in academia : an Ecological Momentary Assessment studyLarissa Bolliger, Ellen Baele, Elena Colman, Gillian Debra, Junoš Lukan, Mitja Luštrek, Dirk De Bacquer, Els Clays, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the associations between day-to-day work-related stress exposures (i.e., job demands and lack of job control), job strain, and next-day work engagement among office workers in academic settings. Additionally, we assessed the influence of psychological detachment and relaxation on next-day work engagement and tested for interaction effects of these recovery variables on the relationship between work-related stressors and next-day work engagement. Methods. Office workers from two academic settings in Belgium and Slovenia were recruited. This study is based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) with a 15-working day data collection period using our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. Participants were asked repeatedly about their work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences. Fixed-effect model testing using random intercepts was applied to investigate within- and between-participant levels. Results. Our sample consisted of 55 participants and 2710 item measurements were analysed. A significant positive association was found between job control and next-day work engagement (β = 0.28, p < 0.001). Further, a significant negative association was found between job strain and next-day work engagement (β = −0.32, p = 0.05). Furthermore, relaxation was negatively associated with work engagement (β = −0.08, p = 0.03). Conclusions. This study confirmed previous results, such as higher job control being associated with higher work engagement and higher job strain predicting lower work engagement. An interesting result was the association of higher relaxation after the working day with a lower next-day work engagement. Further research investigating fluctuations in work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences is required. Ključne besede: work-related stress, stress exposure, work engagement, office workers, academia Objavljeno v DiRROS: 04.05.2023; Ogledov: 1261; Prenosov: 713
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