The Web of Things (WoT) is a technology concept that allows the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) with the World Wide Web (WWW). It will vastly affect our lives in the near future given that it offers new services and applications via the well-known web window. In todays’ world where one can hardly imagine everyday life without access to various online services and applications via a plethora of devices, one can notice that technology has a huge impact on our day-to-day quality of living. That is why a user’s Quality of Experience (QoE) towards used technology in general plays a crucial role in their Quality of Life (QoL). Furthermore, security perception in terms of technology is the feature that vastly affects QoE and, consequently, QoL, as the number of security and privacy threats, risks, and vulnerabilities in cyber space, i.e., the technology environment that we increasingly use, is constantly rising. In order to reach the ultimate goals—the adoption of WoT technology and improvement of our QoL—we must know how this important aspect of security is so far addressed and analyzed. Therefore, this paper gives a comprehensive and structured analysis of the existing literature in this field through a proposed framework and provides an overview of research opportunities that should be addressed and elaborated in future investigations.

Given the growing number of older people, society as a whole should ideally provide a higher quality of life (QoL) for its ageing citizens through the concept of personalised ageing. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are subject to constant and rapid development, and can contribute to the goal of an improved QoL for older adults. In order to utilise future ICT solutions as a part of an age-friendly smart environment that helps achieve personalised ageing with an increased QoL, one must first determine whether the existing ICT solutions are satisfying the needs of older people. In order to accomplish that, this study contributes in three ways. First, it proposes a framework for the QoL of older adults, in order to provide a systematic review of the state-of-the-art literature and patents in this field. The second contribution is the finding that selected ICT solutions covered by articles and patents are intended for older adults and are validated by them. The third contribution of the study are the six recommendations that are derived from the review of the literature and the patents which would help move the agenda concerning the QoL of older people and personalised ageing with the use of ICT solutions forward.

By improving the quality of life and extending the length of life, Western society is becoming an increasingly ageing population with a higher proportion of seniors. From another point of view, there is a critical shortage of care staff, both in hospitals and for in-home care. Thanks to new technology trends such as Smart Homes and Smart Furniture, there is an opportunity for increased support for seniors by utilizing new technologies. This paper presents the current trends and possibilities in applying smart information and communications technology (ICT) solutions for in-home care concerning diseases in old age. The paper consists of a systematic review according to the PRISMA methodology of the available literature in Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, PubMed, Springer, and the Espacenet patent database. Publications report the usage of some types of artificial intelligence and their implementation and non-intrusive sensing technologies. The patents review identified solutions with a focus on monitoring the state of older adults and mobility improvement. Existing ICT smart solutions must address the following issues: (1) ease-of-use; (2) invisibility and disuse that isolate older adults; (3) privacy and security; (4) affordability of technology in terms of cost; and (5) supporting elderly individuals to stay in their homes or move in different environments independently. There is a significant gap between a large number of scientific publications and commercial solutions. The existing products reflect the specifics of the diseases in a rather wider context instead of the fulfilment of exact needs. It is often stated that such devices can be used across diseases, but the direct connection and benefits for the disease is still rather weak. The challenge remains to tap the existing potential of a large number of innovative ideas on the market and improve the quality of life.

The security of each system is essential for its use. In order to make this process as successful as possible, it is advisable to develop a threat model for the system under consideration at the design stage. The purpose of the threat model is to enable the identification of security threats, by whose further analysis we can conclude which are the greatest vulnerabilities of the system and which pose the greatest risk. There exist many different approaches to threat modeling in terms of methods, methodologies, and tools. In this paper, we give an overview of those approaches and apply one of them, i.e., the most represented and mature to a specific system. A STRIDE-based methodology, software-centric method, and Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool (MTMT) mixture has been used to threat model the Web of Things (WoT)-based temperature management system which is in the design phase.

The rapid growth in subscribers and usage of multimedia services enlarges the volume of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) call control signalling creating a need to understand Quality of Experience (QoE) in this case and improve it. This paper provides an analysis of influence of SIP call control signalling on QoE for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. The aim was to investigate whether SIP call control signalling load has the influence on the human perception of SIP signalling performances and QoE, and to identify the importance of distinct SIP-based signalling performance metrics. Moreover, the intention was to determine whether SIP call control signalling load changes its impact if previously proposed algorithm for differentiated treatment of SIP messages is activated, and quantify mutual relationships of considered user perceptions and QoE. The findings show that SIP call control signalling load has a strong and negative impact on dependent variables and that the proposed algorithm improves QoE and human perception of SIP signalling performances.

Human activity recognition (HAR) is a classification process that is used for recognizing human motions. A comprehensive review of currently considered approaches in each stage of HAR, as well as the influence of each HAR stage on energy consumption and latency is presented in this paper. It highlights various methods for the optimization of energy consumption and latency in each stage of HAR that has been used in literature and was analyzed in order to provide direction for the implementation of HAR in health and wellbeing applications. This paper analyses if and how each stage of the HAR process affects energy consumption and latency. It shows that data collection and filtering and data segmentation and classification stand out as key stages in achieving a balance between energy consumption and latency. Since latency is only critical for real-time HAR applications, the energy consumption of sensors and devices stands out as a key challenge for HAR implementation in health and wellbeing applications. Most of the approaches in overcoming challenges related to HAR implementation take place in the data collection, filtering and classification stages, while the data segmentation stage needs further exploration. Finally, this paper recommends a balance between energy consumption and latency for HAR in health and wellbeing applications, which takes into account the context and health of the target population.

The phenomenon of the increasing number of ageing people in the world is arguably the most significant economic, health and social challenge that we face today. Additionally, one of the major epidemiologic trends of current times is the increase in chronic and degenerative diseases. This paper tries to deliver a more up to date overview of chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age and provide a more detailed outlook on the research that has gone into this field. First, challenges for seniors, including chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age, are specified. Second, a review of seniors’ needs and concerns is performed. Finally, solutions that can improve seniors’ quality of life are discussed. Publications obtained from the following databases are used in this scoping review: Web of Science, PubMed, and Science Direct. Four independent reviewers screened the identified records and selected relevant publications published from 2010 to 2017. A total of 1916 publications were selected. In all, 52 papers were selected based on abstract content. For further processing, 21 full papers were screened.” The results indicate disabilities as a major problem associated with seniors’ activities of daily living dependence. We founded seven categories of different conditions - psychological problems, difficulties in mobility, poor cognitive function, falls and incidents, wounds and injuries, undernutrition, and communication problems. In order to minimize ageing consequences, some areas require more attention, such as education and training; technological tools; government support and welfare systems; early diagnosis of undernutrition, cognitive impairment, and other diseases; communication solutions; mobility solutions; and social contributions. This scoping review supports the view on chronic diseases in old age as a complex issue. To prevent the consequences of chronic diseases and other limitations associated with old age related problems demands multicomponent interventions. Early recognition of problems leading to disability and activities of daily living (ADL) dependence should be one of essential components of such interventions.

This paper presents a quality of experience (QoE) conceptual model to the context of unified communications (UC) through summary, classification, and discussion of multiple influence factors (IFs) and dimensions affecting it. A deep and comprehensive understanding of the IFs and their impact on QoE for a given service is an essential precondition for successful QoE management with the overall goal of prominently optimizing end‐user QoE, while making efficient use of network resources and maintaining a satisfied user base. The proposed conceptual model was used to conduct a qualitative meta‐analytical review of selected papers. The results of the qualitative review include various IFs, QoE dimensions, and key findings in the form of research recommendations for QoE in the context of UC.

There are dozens of definitions of smart furniture with meanings that vary greatly. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an exact definition of the phrase “smart furniture” based on literature and patent analysis. Why a definition? Because by providing a good definition, we have a statement that captures the meaning, the use, the function, and the essence of a term or a concept and allows the impacts on stakeholders to be described. A literature search was undertaken between 20 July 2018 and 31 August 2018, and the databases searched included SCOPUS, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore (1998–2017), which were searched by keywords that included the phrase “smart furniture.” Patent searching was performed in the ESPACENET database, where 226 articles from scientific databases and 737 patent applications were examined. After the application of strict criteria, we obtained 23 articles and six patents containing meaningful definitions of smart furniture. Based on the results, smart furniture should be defined as designed, networked furniture that is equipped with an intelligent system or is controller operated with the user’s data and energy sources. Smart furniture needs to have the ability to communicate and anticipate a user’s needs using a plurality of sensors and actuators inside the user’s environment, resulting in user-adapted furniture. The research results and discussion presented in this paper are based on the recognition that the smart furniture research has great policymaking, technological, and economy potential while contributing to the user’s wellbeing and Quality of Life (QoL). This paper indicates that the collaboration between the ICT and social-economic research has to be initiated and consolidated in a sustainable way or in an environment that satisfies the needs expressed by the user.