Personal Devices Research Articles

Flow Disruptions as A Result of Personal Electronic Devices in Orthopedic Surgery

The operating room (OR) is a complex environment in which highly trained individuals perform cognitively demanding tasks. Distractions in this environment may lead to deleterious effects, as a loss of situational awareness can interfere with surgical procedures. The present study aims to quantify the frequency and nature of distracting events associated with personal electronic devices (PEDs) during twenty elective orthopedic surgery cases. PED use was coded using a real-time, custom data collection tool beginning in the pre-operative area and terminating at the time of handoff with the post-anesthesia care team. PED use accounted for 242 flow disruptions in the OR. The vendor showed the highest frequency of flow disruptions (73), followed by the circulating nurse (52) and the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) (52). Thus, taking a proactive safety approach to account for intraoperative distractions associated with PEDs among OR team members will be critical to ensure high-quality patient care.

Abstract 047: Understanding Patient And Practitioner Use Of The US Validated Device Listing (VDL™)

Hypertension is the leading preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet according to research, only one in four adults with hypertension have their blood pressure (BP) controlled. Clinical guidelines recommend the use of self-measured blood pressure to improve (SMBP) BP control among individuals with hypertension, however, research has shown that most BP devices available for purchase are not validated, raising concerns about the accuracy of BP readings taken by a patient. In response, the American Medical Association (AMA) launched the US Validated Device Listing (VDL)™, the first U.S. list of BP measurement devices developed to assist physicians and patients in identifying devices that have been validated for clinical accuracy. The VDL website, validateBP.org, has had more than 660,000 visitors since it launched in 2020. There are currently 60 devices from 16 manufacturers listed on the site. To better understand awareness and use of SMBP, the VDL, and validated devices, the AMA commissioned a survey from a panel of practitioners and patients. Results from over 300 practitioners indicate that while the vast majority of primary care physicians recommend at-home blood pressure devices to their patients (99%; 151/152), and most are aware of validation and accuracy concerns (58%; 88/152), less than one third of primary care physicians were aware of the Validated Device Listing (29%; 44/152). In a survey of over 300 patients, data indicate that over half prefer to measure blood pressure using a personal device (55%; 166/301), and among self-identified hypertensive patients with a device, the vast majority view accuracy of blood pressure readings as the most important factor when comparing blood pressure devices (83%; 146/176). Results from the small-scale survey point to the continued need for validation resources for SMBP devices, and the need to continue developing a greater awareness of the VDL amongst practitioners and patients.

Personalized Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Gait Generation of a Lower Limb Exoskeleton

Personal assistive devices for rehabilitation will be in increasing demand during the coming decades due to demographic change, i.e., an aging society. Among the elderly population, difficulty in walking is the most common problem. Even though there are commercially available lower-limb exoskeleton systems, the coordination between user and device still needs to be improved to achieve versatile personalized gaits. To tackle this issue, an advanced EXOskeleton framework for Versatile personalized gaIt generation with a Seamless user-exo interface (called “EXOVIS”) is proposed in this study. The main control of the framework uses adaptive bio-inspired modular neural mechanisms. These mechanisms include decoupled central pattern generators (CPGs) with Hebbian-based synaptic plasticity and adaptive CPG post-processing networks with error-based learning. The control method facilitates the rapid online learning of personalized walking gaits described by the walking frequency as well as hip, knee, and ankle joint patterns. The method is verified on a real lower-limb exoskeleton system with six degrees of freedom (DOFs) on different subjects under static and dynamic conditions such as flat terrain and a split-belt treadmill. The results show that the proposed method can not only automatically learn to generate personalized symmetrical gaits, but also asymmetrical gaits, which have not been explicitly shown by other approaches so far.

Aramid nanofiber based Ag/Fe3O4-CNT/rGO hybrid membrane for high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding

With the increase of modern integrated electronic and telecommunication systems, high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with flexibility, outstanding thermal conductive properties and superior EMI shielding performances are designed to solve the problems of electromagnetic radiation and heat accumulation. Herein, flexible asymmetric trilaminar architecture film with good mechanical properties is prepared via the facile three-step vacuum-assisted filtration (VAF) followed by hot-pressing approach, which is composed of silver-plated aramid nanofibers (ANF-Ag), ANF-Fe3O4&CNT (ANF-FC) and ANF-reduced graphene oxide (ANF-rGO) layers. The conductive ANF-Ag and ANF-rGO layers acted as the EMI shielding, thermal conductive layers, and supporting substrate layers. The magnetic ANF-FC layer played the important role in synergistically enhancing the EMI shielding performance. The resultant flexible and asymmetric trilaminar hybrid membrane with a thickness of 112 µm exhibited maximum thermal conductivity of 8.5 W m−1 K−1 and EMI SE of 67.5 dB, but also maintained a high tensile strength of 75.5 MPa and superb electrical conductivity of 2.46 × 106 S/m. This asymmetric trilaminar structures film holds great promise to addresses issues of electromagnetic radiation and heat accumulation for personal smart electronic devices, wearable electronics, electronic telecommunication systems.

Blockchain Based Decentralized Healthcare Network to Share Electronic Medical Records

Over 172 ransomware attacks on US healthcare organizations since 2016 have cost over $157 million total and disrupted care for over 70% of patients impacted, prompting healthcare CIOs to declare cyberattacks as one of the most devastating healthcare issues today. Furthermore, lack of interoperability of patient data between healthcare providers prevents patients from exploring care outside their provider’s network. Though hospitals utilize electronic health records (EHR), data formats remain fragmented and non-interoperable, leaving patients to be responsible for transporting their own data between providers or insurance plans. Permissioned blockchain technology can solve both these issues due to its inherent transparency, immutability and data sharing capabilities. Therefore, I developed a decentralized application called HyperEHRbase that would allow patients to control their own health records and share them with different healthcare providers. My application extends an open-source OpenEHR implementation called ehrbase. Unlike ehrbase, my application writes health records into a Hyperledger blockchain, not a centralized database. The blockchain network is designed to work as a decentralized healthcare network, allowing patients and healthcare providers to mutually exchange data. Patients can register to the healthcare network using their personal devices and voluntarily grant multiple healthcare providers access to their medical records. Doctors and other care providers can also register to the network and access information shared by patients. This system secures electronic healthcare records in an immutable blockchain and makes them interoperable using the OpenEHR standard. Patients will also have control over their data, which is a significant improvement over the current healthcare system.

Multimodal E-Textile Enabled by One-Step Maskless Patterning of Femtosecond-Laser-Induced Graphene on Nonwoven, Knit, and Woven Textiles.

Personal wearable devices are considered important in advanced healthcare, military, and sports applications. Among them, e-textiles are the best candidates because of their intrinsic conformability without any additional device installation. However, e-textile manufacturing to date has a high process complexity and low design flexibility. Here, we report the direct laser writing of e-textiles by converting raw Kevlar textiles to electrically conductive laser-induced graphene (LIG) via femtosecond laser pulses in ambient air. The resulting LIG has high electrical conductivity and chemical reliability with a low sheet resistance of 2.86 Ω/□. Wearable multimodal e-textile sensors and supercapacitors are realized on different types of Kevlar textiles, including nonwoven, knit, and woven structures, by considering their structural textile characteristics. The nonwoven textile exhibits high mechanical stability, making it suitable for applications in temperature sensors and micro-supercapacitors. On the other hand, the knit textile possesses inherent spring-like stretchability, enabling its use in the fabrication of strain sensors for human motion detection. Additionally, the woven textile offers special sensitive pressure-sensing networks between the warp and weft parts, making it suitable for the fabrication of bending sensors used in detecting human voices. This direct laser synthesis of arbitrarily patterned LIGs from various textile structures could result in the facile realization of wearable electronic sensors and energy storage.

Bioreceptor-inspired soft sensor arrays: recent progress towards advancing digital healthcare

Recent advances in soft sensor technology have pushed digital healthcare toward life-changing solutions. Data reliability and robustness can be realised by building sensor arrays that collect comprehensive biological parameter data from several points on the underlying organs simultaneously, a principle that is inspired by bioreceptors. The rapid growth of soft lithography and printing, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and weaving/knitting technologies has facilitated the low-cost development of soft sensors in the array format. Advances in data acquisition, processing, and visualisation techniques have helped with the collection of meaningful data using arrays and their presentation to users on personal devices through wireless communication interfaces. Local- or cloud-based data storage helps with the collection of adequate data from sensor arrays over time to facilitate reliable prognoses based on historical data. Emerging energy harvesting technologies have led to the development of techniques to power sensor arrays sustainably. This review presents developmental building blocks in wearable and artificial organ-based soft sensor arrays, including bioreceptor-inspired sensing mechanisms, fabrication methods, digital data-acquisition techniques, methods to present the results to users, power systems, and target diseases/conditions for treatment or monitoring. Finally, we summarise the challenges associated with the development of single and multimodal array sensors for advanced digital healthcare and suggest possible solutions to overcome them.

A retrospective comparative study of maxillofacial injury patterns caused by electric scooters and bicycles.

The emergence of shared stand-up electric scooters has led to an increase in their usage and, subsequently, an increase in the incidence of maxillofacial trauma. This study aimed to investigate the trauma pattern associated with the use of stand-up electric scooters compared with that related to the use of bicycles, which was a popular mode of personal mobility before the emergence of stand-up electric scooters. This study investigated the medical records of patients who visited Wonju Christian Hospital for maxillofacial trauma due to the use of stand-up electric scooter and bicycles between November 1, 2017 and October 31, 2022. Maxillofacial trauma was analyzed based on medical records, including those in the evaluation results of teeth, maxillofacial bones, and soft tissues. Crown fractures and tooth avulsions were observed more frequently with the use of stand-up electric scooters than with the use of bicycles. In contrast, crown-root fractures, tooth subluxation, and extrusive luxation were more commonly observed in bicycle riders. Additionally, the proportion of root fractures was similar between the two groups. However, no vertical root fractures were observed in patients who rode bicycles. The maxillofacial bone fracture rates between the two groups were similar, although the fracture patterns were different. The number of patients using stand-up electric scooters is increasing, and they are likely to have a worse prognosis compared with those using existing personal mobility devices.

Development of micromobility infrastructure in Kazan

The dramatic growth in personal mobility devices, especially in large cities, determines inadequacy of transport and pedestrian infrastructure. In this regard, it is necessary to develop the urban planning policy for a complete integration of a new type of mobility in the traffic system in urbanized territories.Purpose: The development of urban planning recommendations for the formation of micromobility infrastructure for Kazan and the project implementation for the city development.Research findings: All-round analysis of urban planning conditions to determine the formation of the micromobility infrastructure in the city. Determination of the structural organization of the micromobility network in urban planning zones in Kazan.Value: The urban planning recommendations are given for the development of the micromobility infrastructure in Kazan. Boundaries and dislocation of the micromobility network are identified for the city. Planning and infrastructure formation techniques are proposed herein.

Knowledge Shared by Alaska Native Commercial Salmon Set Gillnetters in Norton Sound to Reduce Marine Fatalities

ABSTRACT Objectives The goal of this exploratory pilot study was to reduce marine fatalities in Norton Sound using knowledge shared from Alaska Native salmon set gillnetters in Unalakleet, AK. The following objectives to address this goal were: 1) identify factors that influence safety for Alaska Native commercial set gillnetters in Norton Sound; 2) use findings from objective 1 to improve commercial fishing training, education, and resources; and 3) disseminate and communicate results from objective 1 to commercial fishers in the Norton Sound fleet, commercial fishing safety partners, and the Alaska Native injury prevention community. Methods Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with Alaska Native commercial set gillnetters in Unalakleet, AK. We utilized knowledge shared to identify factors that influence safety for their fleet. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Methodology, 10 interviews were recommended for a homogenous sample. Results Most participants learned to fish at a young age from the family, with safety lessons passed on by family members. Fishing is a lifestyle and interconnected with harvesting and a way of living. Set gillnetters in Norton Sound use open skiffs and have limited access to workable Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) and safety training. Participants reported health benefits but also negative long term physical effects, financial stress, and difficulty fishing with age. Respect and awareness of the ocean was reported as the most important strategy to reduce risk. Stories were shared of falls overboard, capsizing, and local fatalities and hazards, such as being overloaded with fish, entanglement, and maneuvering a small boat in large waves. Stronger winds and shifting weather patterns were experienced from climate change. Conclusion This exploratory pilot study identified factors that influence safety for Alaska Native commercial set gillnetters. Findings should be used to 1) determine best methods to influence behaviors to reduce risks in this hazardous fishery; 2) increase awareness and promote expanded application of best practices, equipment, and resources; 3) encourage and promote outreach initiatives targeted for this unique population; and 4) develop tailored training programs for commercial fishing in an open skiff. Research with Alaska Native fishing communities will require value and respect of indigenous knowledge, collaboration with local people, and follow-up to bring findings back to the community.

Epidemiology of Occupational Injuries and Workplace Assessment in Turnery Industries at an Industrial District, Eastern Cairo, Egypt

Background Occupational injury could be fatal or non-fatal with lost work time. Turneries are workplaces in which multiple simultaneous health hazards occur and the most common hazards are mechanical hazards. Objective To measure the frequency and types of injuries among a sample of turnery workers, to identify risk factors of occupational injuries among them, and to describe the environmental conditions at some of these turneries as a part of occupational safety prospective. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 75 workers in three Industrial areas in Eastern Cairo El-herafeen, Madinat Al-salam and El-Abour. Data were collected using a structured interview questionnaire with both close and open-ended questions, and an observational environmental checklists were filled by the researcher. Results Seventy-five turnery workers were interviewed, (76%) of them reporting injury during the last 12 months. About (46.7%) of operators believing that their work is extremely dangerous. The most significant determinants for occupational injuries (p value < 0.05) were lack of safety training, non-use of personal protective devices and work hazard perception. In environmental assessment, all work stations had non-covered traditional machines, only 2 work stations out of 10 assessed had natural ventilation with open windows; not any of the work stations had regular noise survey neither did any of the workers use hearing protection equipment even though it was available in 2 work stations; only 4 work stations had floors free from protruding nails, splinters, holes and loose boards, goggles were available in 4 stations while gloves and rubber boots were available in 6 stations. Conclusion Most of workers in small scale work stations specialized in turnery industry had occupational injury during the last 12 months. Most of the observed workstations did not comply with advised safety checklist.

Challenges and opportunities for spoken English learning and instruction brought by automated speech scoring in large-scale speaking tests: a mixed-method investigation into the washback of SpeechRater in TOEFL iBT

The extensive use of automated speech scoring in large-scale speaking assessment can be revolutionary not only to test design and rating, but also to the learning and instruction of speaking based on how students and teachers perceive and react to this technology. However, its washback remained underexplored. This mixed-method study aimed to investigate the washback of TOEFL iBT Speaking’s SpeechRater on Chinese EFL learners through questionnaire and interviews, and explore its associations with test performance and its multi-levelled influential factors. The participants received a mixture of positive and negative washback, such as their motivated individual learning through personal devices, decreasing real-life communicative practices, and increasing exam-driven behaviours. Test takers’ personal understandings of automated speech scoring were found directly influential to the washback of SpeechRater that they experienced. Furthermore, their test scores of TOEFL iBT Speaking were positively correlated with the implicit washback of SpeechRater on their learning but uncorrelated with its explicit washback on their test preparation. The findings have been drawn on to propose a washback model of automated speech scoring and make suggestions to test designers, teachers and learners on how to boost its positive washback and mitigate its negative washback. This research has concluded the importance of test takers’ awareness of the integrated dimensions to evaluate spoken English in real-life use. Accordingly, instructional implications are discussed on how teachers can guide the students to utilize automated speech scoring in learning and set up comprehensive learning goals for spoken English.

The Challenges of Internet Usage for Academic Activities Among Students of Delta State University, Abraka

This study examined the challenges of Internet usage for academic activities among Delta State University, Abraka students. Despite the numerous benefits students derived from internet usage, they are still faced with challenges which stakeholders need to address for an effective educational system. Three research questions were raised to achieve the objectives of the study. The study adopted a descriptive research design with a sample size of 120 students randomly selected from 100 to 400 levels. The data collected from respondents through structured questionnaire were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that the effect of Internet access affordability on academic activities among students of Delta State University Abraka included the cost of accessing the internet, high cost of internet devices and services, lack of access points and devices with limited capacity; lack of personal internet device and reliance on friends and families for internet access. It was also established that most of the students lack internet browsing skills and required skills to use digital devices and language barriers. The study concludes that the effects of safety and privacy concerns on students’ academic activities derived from fear of scams, stealing passwords, fake news and information, fraudster and distraction. It was therefore recommended among others that internet service providers should endeavour to eliminate or reduce internet challenges such as network problems and connection breaks.

Address direction finding of ZigBee devices

Statement of problem. The active use of wireless technologies requires the development of means of monitoring devices and data transmission networks and, in particular, ZigBee wireless personal networks. Therefore, the detection and localization of working ZigBee devices is an urgent task of radio monitoring services. Correlation-interferometric direction finders based on two-channel radio receiving equipment cyclically connected to various pairs of elements of a multi-element antenna system can serve as a tool for bearing radio signals. For the direction finding of packet radio signals, the direction finder accumulates time samples from different antenna pairs over long time intervals; joint processing of these data allows determining the direction of arrival of radio signals. An obstacle to the direction finding of ZigBee devices is the fact that many similar devices can simultaneously operate in the same frequency range, generating a chaotic alternation of packets in the air. As a consequence, the accumulation of information from a specific ZigBee device for different antenna pairs of the direction finder becomes problematically. Purpose of the work is to develop a method for joint identification and bearing of detected devices of ZigBee networks. Results. the presented method of address bearing is implemented on the basis of the mobile direction finder ARTICLE-M, used to search for and locate unauthorized sources of radio emissions, and allows detecting signals of the 802.15.4 standard, identifying personal network devices, as well as forming estimates of directions to these sources of radio emissions. Practical importance. the use of address bearing of ZigBee network devices increases the functionality of existing radio monitoring equipment, and also allows the localization of unauthorized radio sources masquerading as Internet of Things devices.

Technological and social distractions at unsignalized and signalized campus crosswalks: A multi-stage naturalistic observation study

The use of personal listening devices (PLDs) is most prevalent among the college attending population. PLDs can be quite distracting, especially when its users are performing focused tasks such as street crossings. Such scenarios are commonplace on campuses of rural higher education institutes, where students must cross multiple unsignalized crosswalks to get to their destination. To evaluate the dangers of PLD use and pedestrian behavior while navigating crosswalks, 1274 pedestrians were systematically observed over nine hours at four crosswalks; naturalistic observations were followed by a survey of 135 pedestrians, and two focus groups with a total of eight participants following a unique three-stage protocol. Results show that societal distractions such as crossing in group settings or talking with other members of a group while crossing led to more risky pedestrian behavior, than did technological distractors such as PLDs or cellphone use. There was also a consensus on hand gesture meanings for pedestrian-driver communication despite the presence of relatively diverse population. Findings from this study can serve as guidelines to develop external human machine interfaces (eHMIs) for automated vehicles, and appropriate countermeasures to reduce pedestrian distractions at crosswalks of higher education institutes.

The Use of Personal Electronic Devices in the OR

The Use of Personal Electronic Devices in the OR

Scrolling in the OR: Problematic Personal Electronic Device Use – Is It Smartphone Addiction?

Scrolling in the OR: Problematic Personal Electronic Device Use – Is It Smartphone Addiction?

Perioperative Personal Electronic Devices: Tool or Curse?

Perioperative Personal Electronic Devices: Tool or Curse?

A SP-ICP-MS protocol for the detection of metal nanoparticles composition and size in tattooed ex vivo human skin explants

We developed and validated a protocol based on Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (SP ICP-MS) to detect composition and size of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) in tattoo inks end ex vivo tattooed human skin explants. The explants were tattooed with different inks using an ordinary tattoo machine. Then, 72 hours after tattooing, skin explants were subjected to alkaline extraction by tetramethylammonium hydroxide solution and MNPs of Ag, Al2O3, Au, Cr2O3, CuO, Fe2O3, TiO2 and ZnO were analysed for particle composition and size by SP ICP-MS. The method was validated by assessing the limit of detection, accuracy, precision, and size stability over 72 hours. Particles of Al2O3, Cr2O3, CuO, Fe2O3, TiO2 and ZnO were observed in human skin in the range from 27 nm to 153 nm, and from 26 nm to 228 nm in tattoo inks. Ag and Au NPs were not found neither in inks nor in the skin. Advantages of the protocol were the ability to simultaneously detect the composition of particles and their size, the straightforward sample preparation, the high sensitivity and precision, and the speed of execution of the analysis. The developed methodology can be applied to skin exposed to other consumer products topically applied, such as sunscreens, cosmetics, personal care products and medical devices, which can be all sources of MNPs, in order to improve knowledge and support the human exposure assessment process.

Digital home monitoring for capturing daily fluctuation of symptoms; a longitudinal repeated measures study: Long Covid Multi-disciplinary Consortium to Optimise Treatments and Services across the NHS (a LOCOMOTION study)

IntroductionA substantial proportion of COVID-19 survivors continue to have symptoms more than 3 months after infection, especially of those who required medical intervention. Lasting symptoms are wide-ranging, and presentation varies...