Call for Papers: Special Issue on Pandemic Preparedness with Pervasive Computing
Oliver Amft, Hassan Ghasemzadeh and Damith Ranasinghe


Title and Abstracts Due: 18 December 2022 (to pvc4-2023@computer.org)
Full Manuscripts Due: 28 February 2023 (via submission site)
Publication: October – December 2023
The last few years demonstrated how vulnerable our current healthcare systems are against pandemics. The challenges and complexities that the world witnessed in dealing with COVID-19 warrant the development of new pervasive computing solutions that can be harnessed to prevent and manage future pandemics.

Pervasive technologies that integrate sensors, data, analytics, and simulations, but also interact with citizens and patients, have been identified as important tools. For example, wearable sensors and devices can gather and interpret relevant health data for disease diagnosis, patient treatment, as well as pandemic management at clinical and epidemiological scales. Public interactive devices may inform on health-related risks of an area or building section. Smartphone apps could help to adjust social behavior, manage health when medical centers are inaccessible, or foster health competences as new medical insight becomes available. Other wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices could provide accurate contact tracing using Bluetooth or alternative technologies. Furthermore, simulations, analyses, and dashboards exploiting data of pervasive systems could reveal important behavioral and physiological biomarkers of the disease, provide insights into disease transmission, and assist in clinical decision making and interventions.

The goal of this special issue is to provide a medium for researchers and practitioners to present their work on the design, development, evaluation, and application of pervasive technologies for pandemic awareness, mitigation, containment, and prevention. The issue intends to provide a comprehensive view on methods, capabilities, and future potential of pervasive technologies towards pandemic preparedness. Thus, topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Pervasive and mobile technologies for contact tracing and their analysis
Pervasive systems and analyses of data for viral disease spread monitoring
Pervasive systems for management of Long-COVID
Wearable systems for infection diagnosis, treatment monitoring, pandemic management, and control
Pervasive technologies and simulations thereof to mitigate disease transmission
Interactive and/or educational systems for social, behavioral, and non-pharmaceutical interventions in response to a pandemic situation
Control and prevention of pandemic-related health effects
Pervasive technologies to manage mental health, substance use, and pandemic-related stresses
Pervasive systems for managing health orders and directives
Pervasive technologies and analyses of data for the safe execution and management of events and public gatherings in “living-with-the-virus”
Practical experience and lessons learnt from pervasive, including wearable, technology deployments
Submission Guidelines
For author information and guidelines on submission criteria, please visit the Pervasive Computing’s Author Information page. Please submit papers through the ScholarOne system, and be sure to select the special issue name. Manuscripts should not be published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Please submit only full papers intended for review, not abstracts, to the ScholarOne portal.

Questions?
Please contact the guest editors at pvc4-2023@computer.org.

Guest Editors:

Oliver Amft, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Hassan Ghasemzadeh, Arizona State University, United States
Damith Ranasinghe, University of Adelaide, Australia