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A health or activity monitoring system is the most promising approach to assisting the elderly in their daily lives. The increase in the elderly population has increased the demand for health services so that the existing monitoring system is no longer able to meet the needs of sufficient care for the elderly. This paper proposes the development of an elderly tracking system using the integration of multiple technologies combined with machine learning to obtain a new elderly tracking system that covers aspects of activity tracking, geolocation, and personal information in an indoor and an outdoor environment. It also includes information and results from the collaboration of local agencies during the planning and development of the system. The results from testing devices and systems in a case study show that the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) model with k = 5 was the most effective in classifying the nine activities of the elderly, with 96.40% accuracy. The developed system can monitor the elderly in real-time and can provide alerts. Furthermore, the system can display information of the elderly in a spatial format, and the elderly can use a messaging device to request help in an emergency. Our system supports elderly care with data collection, tracking and monitoring, and notification, as well as by providing supporting information to agencies relevant in elderly care.

Understanding the context of the elderly is very important for determining guidelines that improve their quality of life. One problem in Thailand, in this context, is that each organization involved in caring for the elderly has its own separate data collection, resulting in mismatches that negatively affect government agencies in their monitoring. This study proposes the development of a central database for elderly care and includes a study of factors affecting their quality of life. The proposed system can be used to collect data, manage data, perform data analysis with multiple linear regression, and display results via a web application in visualizations of many forms, such as graphs, charts, and spatial data. In addition, our system would replace paper forms and increase efficiency in work, as well as in storage and processing. In an observational case study, we include 240 elderly in village areas 5, 6, 7, and 8, in the Makham Tia subdistrict, Muang district, Surat Thani province, Thailand. Data were analyzed with multiple linear regression to predict the level of quality of life by using other indicators in the data gathered. This model uses only 14 factors of the available 39. Moreover, this model has an accuracy of 86.55%, R-squared = 69.11%, p-Value < 2.2×10−16, and Kappa = 0.7994 at 95% confidence. These results can make subsequent data collection more comfortable and faster as the number of questions is reduced, while revealing with good confidence the level of quality of life of the elderly. In addition, the system has a central database that is useful for elderly care organizations in the community, in support of planning and policy setting for elderly care.

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Purpose The research objectives are as follows: to understand the situation of solid waste management in the Makham Tia Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Surat Thani Province, Thailand; identify the patterns in household waste generation and 3Rs behavior (recycle, reuse and reduce waste); and formulate sustainable municipal solid waste management guidelines. Design/methodology/approach This study aimed to propose the solution by using data analysis and a participatory research approach to set the guidelines for sustainable community waste management in a low-budget area. A survey of household behavior was done with questionnaires. Mixed clustering using the Gower coefficient was performed to assess the categorical socio-demographic variables along with the numeric variables related to the 3Rs behavior. The guidelines for waste management were generated based on the characteristics of the household groups. Findings The guidelines for waste management were generated based on the characteristics of the household groups. An appropriate practical plan for municipal solid waste management in Makham Tia Subdistrict was proposed in this work. The study showed that the guidelines were implemented and revised by members of the community, and this led to the development of sustainable community solid waste management for the future. Originality/value The goal of this study was to provide a solution for sustainable community waste management in a low-budget location by using data mining techniques and a participatory research approach. The study showed that the guidelines were implemented and revised by members of the community, and this led to the development of sustainable community solid waste management for the future.