Peripheral Devices Research Articles

European recommendations on the proper indication and use of peripheral venous access devices (the ERPIUP consensus): A WoCoVA project.

Since several innovations have recently changed the criteria of choice and management of peripheral venous access (new devices, new techniques of insertion, new recommendations for maintenance), the WoCoVA Foundation (WoCoVA = World Conference on Vascular Access) has developed an international Consensus with the following objectives: to propose a clear and useful classification of the currently available peripheral venous access devices; to clarify the proper indication of central versus peripheral venous access; discuss the indications of the different peripheral venous access devices (short peripheral cannulas vs long peripheral cannulas vs midline catheters); to define the proper techniques of insertion and maintenance that should be recommended today. To achieve these purposes, WoCoVA have decided to adopt a European point of view, considering some relevant differences of terminology between North America and Europe in this area of venous access and the need for a common basis of understanding among the experts recruited for this project. The ERPIUP Consensus (ERPIUP = European Recommendations for Proper Indication and Use of Peripheral venous access) was designed to offer systematic recommendations for clinical practice, covering every aspect of management of peripheral venous access devices in the adult patient: indication, insertion, maintenance, prevention and treatment of complications, removal. Also, our purpose was to improve the standardization of the terminology, bringing clarity of definition, and classification.

Recognition of handwritten MNIST digits on low-memory 2 Kb RAM Arduino board using LogNNet reservoir neural network

The presented compact algorithm for recognizing handwritten digits of the MNIST database, created on the LogNNet reservoir neural network, reaches the recognition accuracy of 82%. The algorithm was tested on a low-memory Arduino board with 2 Kb static RAM low-power microcontroller. The dependences of the accuracy and time of image recognition on the number of neurons in the reservoir have been investigated. The memory allocation demonstrates that the algorithm stores all the necessary information in RAM without using additional data storage, and operates with original images without preliminary processing. The simple structure of the algorithm, with appropriate training, can be adapted for wide practical application, for example, for creating mobile biosensors for early diagnosis of adverse events in medicine. The study results are important for the implementation of artificial intelligence on peripheral constrained IoT devices and for edge computing.

Longitudinal Assessment of Safety of Femoropopliteal Endovascular Treatment With Paclitaxel-Coated Devices Among Medicare Beneficiaries

Paclitaxel-coated peripheral devices have been associated with increased mortality, yet this harm signal has not been replicated outside of meta-analyses of small trials. To provide a longitudinal assessment of the safety of femoropopliteal endovascular treatment with peripheral drug-coated devices (DCDs) among Medicare beneficiaries. SAFE-PAD (Safety Assessment of Femoropopliteal Endovascular Treatment With Paclitaxel-Coated Devices) was a retrospective cohort study designed with the US Food and Drug Administration to evaluate the noninferiority of mortality between DCDs and non-drug-coated devices (NDCDs) for femoropopliteal revascularization performed in 2978 inpatient and outpatient facilities in the US from April 1, 2015, through December 31, 2018. Evaluation of the primary outcome was assessed through May 31, 2020. Participants were Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries 66 years and older with 1 or more years of enrollment prior to femoropopliteal revascularization. Prespecified subgroups included low-risk cohorts, procedure location, disease severity, and device type. Inverse probability weighting was used to account for imbalances of observed characteristics. Sensitivity analyses were used to evaluate the potential influence of unmeasured confounding. Treatment with DCDs vs NDCDs as determined by claims codes during the index procedure. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included repeated hospitalization, repeated lower extremity revascularization, and lower extremity amputation. Falsification end points were acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia. Of 168 553 patients, 70 584 (41.9%) were treated with a DCD. The mean (SD) age was 77.0 (7.6) years, 75 744 (44.9%) were female, 136 916 of 167 197 (81.9%) were White individuals, 85 880 of 168 553 (51.0%) had diabetes, 82 554 of 168 553 (49.0%) used tobacco, 78 665 of 168 553 (45.7%) had critical limb ischemia (CLI), and 13 296 of 168 553 (7.9%) had a prior amputation. Median follow-up was 2.72 years (interquartile range, 0.87-3.77; longest, 5.16 years). After weighting, the cumulative incidence of all-cause mortality was 53.8% with DCDs and 55.1% with NDCDs (hazard ratio [HR], 0.95; 95% CI, 0.94-0.97; noninferiority P < .001). Cox regression and instrumental variable analyses were consistent with the primary findings. No harm associated with DCDs was observed among subgroups, including those treated with stents (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-1.00) or balloons (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.92-0.96), with or without CLI (CLI: HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.93-0.97; non-CLI: HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.99), and those within the lowest quartile of total comorbidities (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92-0.99). In this initial report from the SAFE-PAD cohort study, DCDs were found to be noninferior to NCDCs in respect to mortality through a median follow-up of 2.72 years. This finding remained robust in sensitivity analyses and was consistent across prespecified subgroups.

EXTENDING E-ADMINISTRATION CAPABILITIES FOR SAFE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT USING ICT PERIPHERAL DEVICES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

This work investigated extending e-administration capabilities for safe school management using ICT peripheral devices in Ebonyi State. Specifically, it investigated the ICT peripheral devices available to principals of public and private secondary schools in Ebonyi State and the extent they use these peripheral devices in extending the functionality of e-administration platforms for managing safe school in the face of growing insecurity in secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population was 350 principals, while multistage sampling procedure was adopted to sample 120 principals (60 public and 60 private secondary school principals). A 10-item questionnaire which was divided into two parts was used to collect data for the study. Kuder-Richardson 21 and Cronbach’s Alpha method were used to establish the reliability for the two parts of the questionnaire and the reliability coefficients obtained were 0.98 and 0.87 respectively. Data analysis was done using frequencies and percentages for research question one, while mean was used for research question two. X 2 and t-test were used to test Ho1 and Ho2 respectively at 0.05 level of significance. Findings indicated that all the five ICT peripheral devices were not available in public secondary schools, but one of the five ICT peripheral devices was available in private secondary schools. Finding from Ho2 indicated that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of public and private school principals on the extent to which they apply ICT peripheral devices to extend the scope of their e-administration platforms in secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Based on these findings conclusion was drawn and it was recommended among others that the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) should help by donating some ICT peripheral devices that can be used to enhance school management and safety of their children. Article visualizations:

LPWAN in the TV White Spaces

Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) is an enabling Internet-of-Things technology that supports long-range, low-power, and low-cost connectivity to numerous devices. To avoid the crowd in the limited ISM band (where most LPWANs operate) and cost of licensed band, the recently proposed Sensor Network over White Spaces (SNOW) is a promising LPWAN platform that operates over the TV white spaces. As it is a very recent technology and is still in its infancy, the current SNOW implementation uses the Universal Software Radio Peripheral devices as LPWAN nodes, which has high costs (≈$750 USD per device) and large form-factors, hindering its applicability in practical deployment. In this article, we implement SNOW using low-cost, low form-factor, low-power, and widely available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices to enable its practical and large-scale deployment. Our choice of the COTS device (TI CC13x0: CC1310 or CC1350) consequently brings down the cost and form-factor of a SNOW node by 25× and 10×, respectively. Such implementation of SNOW on the CC13x0 devices, however, faces a number of challenges to enable link reliability and communication range. Our implementation addresses these challenges by handling peak-to-average power ratio problem, channel state information estimation, carrier frequency offset estimation, and near-far power problem. Our deployment in the city of Detroit, Michigan, demonstrates that CC13x0-based SNOW can achieve uplink and downlink throughputs of 11.2 and 4.8 kbps per node, respectively, over a distance of 1 km. Also, the overall throughput in the uplink increases linearly with the increase in the number of SNOW nodes.

In the preparation and administration of intravenous medicines, what are the best practice standards that healthcare professionals need to follow to ensure patient safety? Protocol for a systematic review.

Introduction: Intravenous therapy and medicines (IVTM) are the most common invasive interventions in use in healthcare. Prescribed IVTM play an essential role in the treatment of illness, management of chronic conditions and in maintaining health and wellbeing. The intravenous (IV) route is the administration of concentrated medications (diluted or undiluted) directly into peripherally or centrally inserted vascular access devices. Medication safety is a key priority and best practice standards are required to guide the safe preparation and administration of IVTM. Methods: We will conduct a systematic review of the literature pertaining to the preparation and administration of intravenous therapy and medicines. Our search will include studies concerned with the preparation and/or administration of IVTM via peripheral or central vascular access devices. We will be guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) in this review. Literature will include all trial designs, national/international guidelines, and expert consensus opinion made available in English from 2009 to present day. Conclusions: We will synthesise the evidence concerning safe and effective preparation and administration of intravenous therapy and medicines to inform the development of a national guideline for healthcare professionals in Ireland. The availability of up-to-date, contemporaneous evidence-based practice standards will ensure quality and safety for service-users. Registration: This study has been submitted to PROSPERO and we are awaiting confirmation of registration.

Anesthetic considerations in patients with implantable devices and chronic pain surgery

The use of advanced invasive techniques for the control of chronic pain in patients with multiple comorbidities is becoming increasingly common. Neuromodulation offers a new management alternative involving the infusion of one or more drugs into the epidural or intrathecal space through a fully implantable infusion pump. It also involves spinal stimulation, a minimally invasive technique in which electrodes are positioned in the epidural space and connected to a pulse generator that is implanted subcutaneously and generates pulses designed to suppress the noxious stimulus. This article will describe the anesthetic considerations in cases of implantable drug delivery systems, and spinal and peripheral nerve stimulation devices. Additionally, patients with electrical or drug neuromodulation devices may present to anesthetic practice for surgical indications unrelated to their chronic pain pathology. Hence the importance of being familiar with the basic components of these devices, how they work, what drugs they use and the potential associated complications in the perioperative context, in order to ensure proper management and patient safety.

Internet of Things Simulation Learning Model Based on Virtual Remote Input Output

In our technology-driven world, various methods for teaching in an educational venue or in a simulated environment have been suggested especially for computer and coding education, among which virtual learning is a widely used teaching approach. In particular, IoT (Internet of Things)-related education has been made possible owing to the industrial developments that have occurred in various fields since the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Because it is mostly based on hardware and simple operations taught in a two-dimensional (2D) environment, conventional virtual learning of coding decreases the interest among learners. Therefore, there is a need for a three-dimensional (3D)-based educational approach that can arouse interest in learners. The proposed model allows various IoT systems to be indirectly built; it provides an inexpensive learning method by applying a simulation system in a 3D environment. The model is implemented on IoT devices, real IoT systems, and an IoT simulator based on the Arduino platform, thereby reducing the cost of building an education system while at the same time arousing the interest of learners with its 3D environment for learning. Various education-related content can be provided to learners through such an indirectly developed system. A header file type library is created by analyzing the prototype of the GPIO (general-purpose input/output) function suitable for the IoT device to be used in the virtual IoT simulator; a virtual remote IO module is also implemented. In addition, the physical and electrical characteristics of the peripheral devices to be applied were identified and implemented in a virtual space. Sensors and actuators with various characteristics were implemented to enhance the educational effect, and a test code was written to check the consistency of an operation between the real system and the virtual system. An experiment conducted to check the update cycle of the actual input and output showed that they differ by more than 5,000 fold on average. This is a physical limitation resulting from the difference between a method that directly controls an actual electrical signal with a register and a method of transmitting and receiving signals through a communication device. The actual system motion analysis showed no cases in which the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) deviated from the line and there was a slight difference in the responsiveness when returning to the original position from the deviation.

Smartphone-based imaging systems for medical applications: a critical review.

.Significance: Smartphones come with an enormous array of functionality and are being more widely utilized with specialized attachments in a range of healthcare applications. A review of key developments and uses, with an assessment of strengths/limitations in various clinical workflows, was completed.Aim: Our review studies how smartphone-based imaging (SBI) systems are designed and tested for specialized applications in medicine and healthcare. An evaluation of current research studies is used to provide guidelines for improving the impact of these research advances.Approach: First, the established and emerging smartphone capabilities that can be leveraged for biomedical imaging are detailed. Then, methods and materials for fabrication of optical, mechanical, and electrical interface components are summarized. Recent systems were categorized into four groups based on their intended application and clinical workflow: ex vivo diagnostic, in vivo diagnostic, monitoring, and treatment guidance. Lastly, strengths and limitations of current SBI systems within these various applications are discussed.Results: The native smartphone capabilities for biomedical imaging applications include cameras, touchscreens, networking, computation, 3D sensing, audio, and motion, in addition to commercial wearable peripheral devices. Through user-centered design of custom hardware and software interfaces, these capabilities have the potential to enable portable, easy-to-use, point-of-care biomedical imaging systems. However, due to barriers in programming of custom software and on-board image analysis pipelines, many research prototypes fail to achieve a prospective clinical evaluation as intended. Effective clinical use cases appear to be those in which handheld, noninvasive image guidance is needed and accommodated by the clinical workflow. Handheld systems for in vivo, multispectral, and quantitative fluorescence imaging are a promising development for diagnostic and treatment guidance applications.Conclusions: A holistic assessment of SBI systems must include interpretation of their value for intended clinical settings and how their implementations enable better workflow. A set of six guidelines are proposed to evaluate appropriateness of smartphone utilization in terms of clinical context, completeness, compactness, connectivity, cost, and claims. Ongoing work should prioritize realistic clinical assessments with quantitative and qualitative comparison to non-smartphone systems to clearly demonstrate the value of smartphone-based systems. Improved hardware design to accommodate the rapidly changing smartphone ecosystem, creation of open-source image acquisition and analysis pipelines, and adoption of robust calibration techniques to address phone-to-phone variability are three high priority areas to move SBI research forward.

Inducing lateralized phosphenes over the occipital lobe using transcranial magnetic stimulation to navigate a virtual environment.

Electrical stimulation involving visual areas of the brain produces artificial light percepts called phosphenes. These visual percepts have been extensively investigated in previous studies involving intracortical microsimulation (ICMS) and serve as the basis for developing a visual prosthesis for the blind. Although advances have been achieved, many challenges still remain with implementing a functional ICMS for visual rehabilitation purposes. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary occipital lobe offers an alternative method to produce phosphenes non-invasively. A main challenge facing blind individuals involves navigation. Within the scientific community, methods to evaluate the ability of a visual prosthesis to facilitate in navigation has been neglected. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of evoking lateralized phosphenes to navigate a computer simulated virtual environment. More importantly, we demonstrate how virtual environments along with the development of a visual prosthesis share a mutual relationship benefiting both patients and researchers. Using two TMS devices, a pair of 40mm figure-of-eight coils were placed over each occipital hemisphere resulting in lateralized phosphene perception. Participants were tasked with making a series of left and right turns using peripheral devices depending on the visual hemifield in which a phosphene is present. If a participant was able to accurately perceive all ten phosphenes, the simulated target is able to advance and fully exit the virtual environment. Our findings demonstrate that participants can interpret lateralized phosphenes while highlighting the integration of computer based virtual environments to evaluate the capability of a visual prosthesis during navigation.

Usefulness of sleep events detection using a wrist worn peripheral arterial tone signal device (WatchPAT™) in a population at low risk of obstructive sleep apnea.

Due to the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it is recommended to use in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) or a home sleep apnea test (HSAT) in uncomplicated adult subjects at high risk of OSA. The aims of the present study were to compare a HSAT device, a wrist worn peripheral arterial tone signal device (WatchPAT™-200 [WP]) with PSG and respiratory polygraphy (RP) in a low-risk population of OSA. A total of 47 adult subjects at low risk of OSA were simultaneously examined with the three different approaches in a single night. The sleep studies were scored independently and in a blinded fashion, then the results and the parameters (Respiratory Disturbance Index, apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] and oxygen desaturation index of 3%) were compared with several statistical analyses. The agreement between the sleep tools and correlation for the assessed parameters were analysed and compared with Bland and Altman plots and Pearson's coefficient (WP versus PSG, r=0.86). For the severity of OSA ranked according to PSG, the Cohen's k was 0.60 and 0.82 for WP and RP, respectively. Specificity was higher for RP compared to WP for identifying the presence of OSA (AHIPSG cut-off ≥5events/hr: 0.85 versus 0.73), while was quite similar in identifying patients who were more likely to be treated (AHIPSG cut-off ≥15events/hr: 0.94 versus 0.96). Assessing the costs and the simplicity of the examination, the results of our present study demonstrate the usefulness of WP compared to PSG, especially in screening and follow-up for the ability to exclude subjects from treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (AHI <15events/hr) in a population with a low pre-test risk of moderate-to-severe OSA.

Design of arm layered oil recovery data monitoring system

Aiming at the different characteristics of different reservoirs between oil wells, this paper studied and designed a layered underground oil recovery data acquisition system based on ARM Cortex-A7 architecture. This system mainly consists of three parts, namely sensor, measurement circuit and data acquisition and processing. I.mx6ull is selected as the main control chip, and a data acquisition platform is built with the peripheral device AD8229 instrument amplifier. The SPI protocol and state machine are used to communicate with the downhole multi-reservoir data, and ESP8266 module is used to transmit the downhole multi-parameter data to the Alibaba Cloud server. Through the software and hardware experiment system test, it shows that the designed system has the characteristics of good real-time performance, high precision and low cost.

The classification of EEG-based winking signals: a transfer learning and random forest pipeline.

Brain Computer-Interface (BCI) technology plays a considerable role in the control of rehabilitation or peripheral devices for stroke patients. This is particularly due to their inability to control such devices from their inherent physical limitations after such an attack. More often than not, the control of such devices exploits electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that the extraction of the features and the classification of the signals is non-trivial for a successful BCI system. The use of Transfer Learning (TL) has been demonstrated to be a powerful tool in the extraction of essential features. However, the employment of such a method towards BCI applications, particularly in regard to EEG signals, are somewhat limited. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different TL models in extracting features for the classification of wink-based EEG signals. The extracted features are classified by means of fine-tuned Random Forest (RF) classifier. The raw EEG signals are transformed into a scalogram image via Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) before it was fed into the TL models, namely InceptionV3, Inception ResNetV2, Xception and MobileNet. The dataset was divided into training, validation, and test datasets, respectively, via a stratified ratio of 60:20:20. The hyperparameters of the RF models were optimised through the grid search approach, in which the five-fold cross-validation technique was adopted. The optimised RF classifier performance was compared with the conventional TL-based CNN classifier performance. It was demonstrated from the study that the best TL model identified is the Inception ResNetV2 along with an optimised RF pipeline, as it was able to yield a classification accuracy of 100% on both the training and validation dataset. Therefore, it could be established from the study that a comparable classification efficacy is attainable via the Inception ResNetV2 with an optimised RF pipeline. It is envisaged that the implementation of the proposed architecture to a BCI system would potentially facilitate post-stroke patients to lead a better life quality.

Development of Flexible Verification Environment for AMBA APB

The SoC (System on Chip) uses AMBA (Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture) as an on chip bus. APB (Advanced Peripheral Bus) is one of the components of the AMBA bus architecture. APB is low bandwidth and low performance bus used to connect the peripherals like UART, Keypad, Timer and other peripheral devices to the bus architecture. This paper introduces the AMBA APB bus architecture design. The design is created using the verilog HDL and is tested by a System verilog test- bench. This design is verified using SV. A reuse based methodology for SoC design has become essential in order to meet these challenges. The work embodied in this paper presents the design of APB Protocol and the Verification of slave APB Protocol. Coverage analysis is a vital part of the verification process; it gives idea that to what degree the source code of the DUT has been tested. The functional coverage analysis increases the verification efficiency enabling the verification engineer to isolate the areas of untested function. The design and verification IP is built by developing verification components using Verilog and System Verilog respectfully with relevant tools such as Questasim and Cadence, which provides the suitable building blocks to design the test environment.

Cryoneurolysis and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation: Reply.

We would like to thank our colleagues for their thoughtful letter1 regarding the use of percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation to treat postoperative pain.2 We agree that combining a local anesthetic–based peripheral nerve block with percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation will most likely prove the optimal management after painful surgical procedures, although we hesitate to describe it as “novel” given this combination was reported in multiple publications previously.3–6 Several feasibility studies found that the acute pain from orthopedic procedures such as rotator cuff repair frequently required the addition of local anesthetic–based nerve block to percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation in the recovery room.3–6 Therefore, in a recently completed randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled trial (n = 66), we administered a single-injection ropivacaine peripheral nerve block after ultrasound-guided percutaneous lead insertion in all participants (NCT03481725). While the ropivacaine peripheral nerve block did provide effective postoperative analgesia as our colleagues suggest in their letter, the transition to stimulation during block resolution proved very challenging for the majority of participants—it was not a “smooth” transition from one modality to the next. The problem stems from the finding that current intensity requirements can vary dramatically—and unpredictably—preoperatively and postoperatively,3–6 and that percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation current can induce pain and muscle contractions with an intensity that is too high.3 Therefore, the pulse generator must be set to a relatively low intensity in the recovery room to ensure that the electrical current does not induce pain and/or contractions during block resolution 4 to 12 h postdischarge (and providing suboptimal analgesia until increased by the patient).We agree with our colleagues that the cost of the available percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation system may discourage its general adoption and that the (off-label) use of existing stimulating perineural catheters is enticing due to their availability and dramatically lower cost. This possibility certainly deserves investigation. However, we are somewhat pessimistic regarding the probability of providing adequate analgesia using a single stimulating catheter to deliver both perineural local anesthetic and, subsequently, electrical current. In general, perineural catheters must be inserted within the same fascial plane as the target nerve/plexus for adequate local anesthetic administration. In contrast—and as described in our review article—for percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation, “…the optimal distance from the lead tip to epineurium of the target nerve was consistently 1.0 to 1.5 cm… A relatively remote distance theoretically promotes selective stimulation of the desired larger-diameter myelinated sensory neurons without activating motor or smaller-diameter sensory neurons that induce muscle contraction and discomfort, respectively… In addition, leads placed at this distance from the nerve are less sensitive to small changes in positioning due to movement which is critical in avoiding unpleasant sensations with purposeful muscle contraction.”3 Therefore, at more than 1.0 cm from the target nerve and rarely within the same fascial plane, it is improbable that a perineural local anesthetic infusion would provide significant analgesia.The University of California at San Diego has received funding and product for other research projects of Drs. Ilfeld and Finneran from: Epimed (Farmers Branch, Texas); Infutronics (Natick, Massachusetts); and a manufacturer of percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation devices, SPR Therapeutics (Cleveland, Ohio).

Modular motion control software development to support a versatile, low-cost aerosol jet platform for printed electronics

A wide variety of digital fabrication methods rely on computer numerical control motion systems for positioning and synchronization of complex functions. Although low-cost microcontrollers have supported widespread adoption of 3D printing and greatly reduced barriers to market entry, higher precision printing methods such as aerosol jet printing continue to rely on expensive, purpose-built motion control platforms. Advances in low-cost and versatile microcontrollers present a compelling opportunity for the design of inexpensive, simple, and modular motion control applications suitable for precision printing modalities that require multitasking. Here, an aerosol jet printer is developed with an inexpensive 32-bit microcontroller using real-time operating system features. Multitasking enables robust synchronization of the motion system with a variety of peripheral hardware devices necessary for functional patterning. This is demonstrated for electronic inks with competitive performance compared to high-end commercial printing platforms, while maintaining a modular, accessible, and versatile framework to support portability for hybrid manufacturing capabilities.

Ergonomic Study of VDT Workstations for Wheelchair Users

ABSTRACT This study presents a three-dimensional computer-modelling system based on Transom JACK software, with 3D objects/equipment and human subjects with specific anthropometric measurements to visualize and evaluate human-machine interaction. A computer simulation method is then adopted to evaluate some VDT (Visual Display Terminal) workstations to determine whether they are appropriate for use by wheelchair users. The study indicates that currently available commercial computer desks present difficulties, in terms of both spatial design and reachability of peripheral devices, to wheelchair users. Some VDT tasks result in awkward body postures in virtual subjects. New VDT workstations are designed and recommended to solve the shortcomings found.

A study on technologies that enable high-speed communication regardless of the interface standard between the host devices and peripheral devices

Recently, I/O interfaces for connecting a computer to peripheral devices have emerged to provide 10Giga services for communication companies. Therefore, Intel has developed Thunderbolt cables, which enable electrical signals and high-speed data transfer to facilitate 10Giga services. Thunderbolt is a type of input–output interface that is used to connect computers and peripherals. It is capable of high-speed input/output(I/O), incurs lower overheads than USB, and supports data, images, and voice simultaneously. As these are very recent standards, they have not been applied to many computers. Moreover, no device exists to use interfaces having a different protocols while differentiating between Thunderbolt and USB devices. Therefore, if both interfaces are mutually incompatible, the user must utilize Thunderbolt or USB devices separately. For this reason, a device that automatically identifies Thunderbolt or USB and automatically adapts to the user’s environment is required. In this study, Thunderbolt MAC and a MAC are alternately connected to each other via an electrical Multiplexer to auto detect link information and connect to Host. Then, based on the determined result, the Thunderbolt to PCIe bridge or the USB to PCIe bridge is electrically connected to the PCIe BUS to which the Multiplexer is connected.

Abstract P19: Developing an Innovative Visual Fields Rapid Assessment Device (VRAD) for Acute Telestroke Use

Background: Acute telestroke evaluations rely on the ability to rapidly and accurately calculate the NIH Stroke Scale. Remote visual field deficit (VFD) testing is often challenging, requiring trained bedside assistance particularly in rural hospital settings. These deficits account for up to 3 points on the NIHSS, which is enough to affect treatment decisions and impact outcomes. Objective: To create a simple, rapid, and robust screening telemedicine peripheral device to standardize visual field testing during acute telestroke consults and to reduce reliance on bedside assistants for this task. Methods: A one-size-fits-all device was designed such that an LED stimulus is located in each quadrant of the peripheral visual field. Bioengineers, neuro-ophthalmologists, and vascular neurologists collaborated in the development of the prototype. A randomized investigator-blinded pilot clinical trial is in progress. Stroke patients with fully-mapped visual fields were selected. The device, in the form of glasses, is easily placed on the patient’s face, and LED lights are flashed in the standard 8 fields, via a repeatable algorithm, during a simulated acute telestroke encounter. Lights are visible to the remote teleprovider for interpretation of the responses. Patients and examiners will be surveyed for feedback on ease of use of the device (primary outcome). Results from device will be compared to in-person confrontational testing and to previously recorded Humphrey mapped deficits in this same patient population (secondary). Validation is set at a sensitivity of 90% compared to confrontational or to the Humphrey static visual field test results. Results/Conclusion: Remote testing of VFDs in acute telestroke patients is difficult, especially in smaller community rural hospitals. We developed a simple and rapidly applied facial device that can assist the teleprovider in VFD evaluations, potentially affecting treatment options of thrombectomy, thrombolytics, or transfer. An on-going pilot study will test the sensitivity of the device against confrontational and static VF assessments. Innovative telestroke peripherals represent the future of the next generation of diagnostic tools specifically engineered fo remote acute stroke patient evaluations.

Improving the Methodology of Placing Peripheral Devices for Monitoring the Technical Condition of Rolling Stock

Purpose. Based on the research work of units and parts of rolling stock undercarriage in transient modes of emergency situations it is proposed to optimize the sequential placing of peripheral contactless devices for technical control of locomotives and cars on railway lines. Methodology. Investigation of transient processes of temperature increase of faulty axle bearings of locomotives and cars during remote technical diagnosing allows one to organize theory and hardware construction of the peripheral systems for testing the rolling stock on the move. Automatic control of the technical state of the rolling stock on the move – the last and in some cases the only possible process step, which allows revealing unacceptable defects in rolling units and thereby prevent emergencies in railway transport. Findings. Based on the research it was proposed a solution to the optimization problem of placing peripheral control devices of rolling stock when moving according to the criteria of the linear and exponential nature of heating defective axle boxes of wheelsets and other units of undercarriage. The risks of train stop on the railway line because of the erroneous classification of normally heated axle boxes as overheated, as well as the consequences of classification of overheated axle box as normally heated axle boxes were evaluated. Originality. Optimization model of placing peripheral control devices based on probabilistic criteria for evaluating the degree of permissible risk that, at a minimum, should not be exceeded during the transition to control technical means. A functional block diagram of test hardware diagnostics for the wheelsets when determining the gradations of digital indicators of defects was proposed. Practical value. The value of the results obtained lies in the improvement of a method of placing technical control peripheral devices and diagnosing rolling stock when determining the distance between the control stations in the same direction and organizing tracking modes for railcars with developing defects. From a technical point, reduced error probability is directly related to traffic safety and diagnostic algorithms.