People with dementia often experience loneliness and social isolation. This can result in increased cognitive decline which, in turn, has a negative impact on quality of life. This paper explores the use of the social robot, MARIO, with older people living with dementia as a way of addressing these issues. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted to explore the perceptions and experiences of the use and impact of MARIO. The research took place in the UK, Italy and Ireland. Semi-structured interviews were held in each location with people with dementia (n = 38), relatives/carers (n = 28), formal carers (n = 28) and managers (n = 13). The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed that despite challenges in relation to voice recognition and the practicalities of conducting research involving robots in real-life settings, most participants were positive about MARIO. Through the robot’s user-led design and personalized applications, MARIO provided a point of interest, social activities, and cognitive engagement increased. However, some formal carers and managers voiced concern that robots might replace care staff.

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Abstract-This paper investigates the pedagogical basis of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHS) that incorporate Learning Styles in order to accommodate user's learning style preferences and needs. Therefore, AES adapt the learning content, its presentation and navigation to the user's learning style preferences. We collect thirty three (33) Adaptive and Intelligent Web-based Educational Systems (AIWBES) that incorporate learning styles and discuss twenty of them, namely the AEHS, as the remaining are Intelligent Tutorng Systems. The main achievement of this work is the investigation of AEHS' pedagogical basis in terms of adaptation rules. We conclude that these systems follow similar patterns in their adaptation logic.

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