Abstract. Knowledge is central to the modern economy and society. Indeed, the knowledge society has transformed the concept of knowledge and is more and more aware of the need to overcome the lack of knowledge when has to make options or address its problems and dilemmas. One`s knowledge is less based on exact facts and more on hypotheses, perceptions or indications. Even when we use new computational artefacts and novel methodologies for problem solving, like the use of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS), the question of incomplete information is in most of the situations marginalized. On the other hand, common sense tells us that when a decision is made it is impossible to have a perception of all the information involved and the nature of its intrinsic quality. Therefore, something has to be made in terms of the information available and the process of its evaluation. It is under this framework that a Multi-valued Extended Logic Programming language will be used for knowledge representation and reasoning, leading to a model that embodies the Quality-of-Information (QoI) and its quantification, along the several stages of the decision making process. In this way it is possible to provide a measure of the value of the QoI that supports the decision itself. This model will be here presented in the context of a GDSS for VirtualECare, a system aimed at sustaining online healthcare services.

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In the last years we have witnessed to a substantial increase on the number of people in need of care services, especially among the elderly, a phenomenon related to population ageing. However, this is becoming not exclusive of the elderly, as diseases like obesity, diabetes, and blood pressure have been increasing amongst young adults. This is a new reality which needs to be dealt by the healthcare sector, specifically the public one. Given these new scenarios, the importance of finding new and cost-effective ways for health care delivery are of particular relevance, especially when it is believed that these new patients should not be removed from their natural, day-today life, environment. The evolution of the, so called, new technologies may pay here a very important role as they may become part of the solution for this new problematic. Actually, they are already been used as, in recent years, several projects have raised in this relatively new area of work. These projects, although legitimate ones, were essential for delineating a path to pursue for others to come, as they were in some case, very simple ones (e.g. panic buttons), and, especially, reactive ones. In this paper, we are going to present how we are trying to evolve these projects a step further, through the introduction of proactiveness as a key factor, taking advantage of "new", as in applied to this areas, techniques of decision making, idea generation, argumentation and data quality, applied, not only to the in transit information, but also to the one provided by the several intervenient as well as themselves. In order to be able to pursue this delineated path, a new approach for knowledge representation, reasoning, and even for problem solving is proposed. To achieve these goals, the VirtualECare environment is presented, together with its sustaining infrastructure and architecture. Particular attention will be paidto how it may be used to simulate a virtual Assisted Living Environment in order to, later, better monitor real ones, attending to its customers' needs.

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Abstract. Demographical and social changes have an enormous effect on health care, emergency and welfare services. Indeed, as the average age continues to rise, it is set the mood to an exponential growth in assistance and care, resulting in higher service costs, a decrease in quality of service, or even both. On the other hand, as part of the evolution of traditional Virtual Reality Environments (or Intelligent Mixed Reality), a striving expression for Ambient Intelligence (AmI) it is possible to outline the role of AmI in healthcare, by focusing on its technological, logical (relational) and common sense nature. Our goal is to have in place an electronically-based monitoring system. This would reduce response time to adverse events, improve analytics and reporting, and will provide caregivers with the information they need to positively impact the care of individual patients.

The amount of seniors in need of constant care is rapidly rising: an evident consequence of population ageing. There are already some monitorization environments which aim to monitor these persons while they remain at home. This, however, although better than delocalizing the elder to some kind of institution, may not still be the ideal solution, as it forces them to stay inside the home more than they wished, as going out means lack of accompaniment and a consequent sensation of fear. In this paper we propose EMon: a monitorization device small enough to be worn by its users, although powerful enough to provide the higher level monitorization systems with vital information about the user and the environment around him. We hope to allow the representation of an intelligent environment to move with its users, instead of being static, mandatorily associated to a single physical location. The first prototype of EMon, as presented in this paper, provides environmental data as well as GPS coordinates and pictures that are useful to describe the context of its user.

.With the growing numbers of the elderly population, the society is face to face with a set of new problems, namely the lack of resources to assist their living in a noble mode. Nevertheless, with the use of new computational technologies and novel methodologies for problem solving, some solutions to these problems are emerging (e.g., remote sensing/assistance/supervision). Therefore, it is our goal to show that under such scenarios, it is possible to bring into play different interconnected virtual organizations, through which will be provided to the population, in general, and the elderly, in particular, a number of services (e.g., healthcare, entertainment, learning), without derealization or messing up with their routine.

Collaborative Work plays an important role in today's organizations and normally in areas where decisions must be made. However, any decision that involves a collective or group of decision makers is, by itself, complex. In this work we present the VirtualECare project, built in terms of an intelligent multi-agent system able to monitor, interact and serve its customers, which are, normally, in need of care services, and assisted with tools based on open standards, like OSGi an R-OSGi.