Personal Digital Data Research Articles

Digitalising Asylum Procedures: The Legitimisation of Smartphone Data Extraction for Retrospective Border Control

ABSTRACT The smartification and digitalisation of border controls in Europe has been widely associated with the expansion and interoperation of databases like EURODAC, SIS, or VIS. This article examines the legitimisation of a new instrument of dataveillance for retrospective border control, namely smartphone data extraction in asylum governance. In particular, it asks how smartphone examinations could become a legitimate policy instrument in asylum procedures in the Central European region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis to policy documents, including parliamentary protocols, laws, public commentaries and implementation documents, it argues that the introduction of smartphone data extraction against concerns over privacy and social injustice was based on moralising securitisation strategies as well as techno-solutionist rationalisations. Overall, the (re-)appropriation of personal digital data in the service of border control displays established characteristics of a governmentality of unease but also distinctly Big Data-related legitimisation patterns linked to data/meta-data differentiations and machine-based readouts. The case study raises questions about the implications of using personal digital data for a liberal democratic governance of borders and about its capacity to become an acceptable geopolitical tool for identification and return procedures.

We Are: Giving citizens control over their data.

Summary: The We Are platform gives citizens control of their own health data and actively involves them in decisions about the platform that manages the data, thereby guaranteeing them that they can manage and share their data in a safe way as a leverage for personal wellbeing and the common good. 
 Challenge: Data about citizens, consumers and patients is collected by the government in order to make policies, by companies to develop new products and for marketing and sales, or by hospitals, universities and knowledge institutions for research and innovation. Smart use of data is leading to new insights, valuable innovative processes and even better medicines and health care. Big data will allow us to have a better understanding of who is at risk from specific diseases and who benefits from particular treatments. 
 This can only happen if the data does not continue to be gathered and stored in separate silos. Bringing together data from a wide variety of sources creates inconceivable opportunities for research and development, but it will also require the data to be handled with extreme care.
 Engaging citizens and technology to do something about it: To this end, a Flemish consortium is building a platform providing a personal digital data safe, based for each Flemish citizen. The SOLID technology, a new way of managing data on the web, provides citizens with their own data safe in which they can store their personal data. Citizens manage this safe themselves. They only must enter their data once and can then immediately reuse it for the applications they prefer. 
 All safes are maintained together by a legal entity like a cooperative society. The cooperative governance structure is socially engaged and, on behalf of citizens, ensures utilisation of personal data for innovations aimed at a sustainable health system. 
 What are the next steps, what is the impact: Hence, the combination of personal health data types of all citizens, ranging from lifestyle to wellbeing, curated by themselves, is an unprecedented resource for sustainable innovation & growth, provided the access is arranged, by design, in an ethical way and compliant with legislation. It provides a way to enrich personal health data in a natural way and to collect citizen generated data which is currently often lost or scattered. 
 The realisation of this system innovation requires various activities in which all possible stakeholders (government, companies, research community, civil society and citizens, cf. the quadruple helix) have an important role to play. Doing so, we believe citizen-centered data management will contribute to the empowerment of the patient as a pilot in integrated care

Digital hoarding and personal use digital data

ABSTRACT The problem of “Digital Hoarding” has been studied in a workplace context but less so in relation to personal use digital data. In this study, we examine the relationship between scores on a measure of Digital Hoarding and the digital behaviors associated with personal technology. One hundred and sixty-seven participants completed the Digital Hoarding Questionnaire (DHQ) to assess digital hoarding tendencies. Participants indicated their main storage device for personal use digital data and thought about this when completing a new measure – the Digital Behaviors for Personal use Questionnaire (DBPUQ) designed to capture information item management behaviors and affective responses to digital information items. Higher scores on the DHQ correlated with difficulty finding information items, attachment and distress at potential loss of information items. Participants’ choice of personal device was not associated with DHQ scores, information item management behaviors, affective responses or total information items stored. This work provides a first step toward a better understanding of personal use digital data hoarding. We discuss the implications of digital hoarding of personal use data with respect to increased feelings of anxiety, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and sustainability concerns. Understanding digital hoarding in a personal use data context is foundational for developing design solutions and behavioral interventions aimed at reducing digital data overload.

DİJİTAL MEDYADA SİYASAL İLETİŞİM VE Z KUŞAĞININ ÇEVRİMİÇİ SİYASAL KATILIMI

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA and ONLINE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION of GENERATION Z
 ABSTRACT 
 Today, thanks to the use of data mining and machine learning on social media platforms, all personal data of individuals has become accessible. The effective use of this data has also started to transform political communication. In this study, data was collected from 356 social media user university students aged 18-24 studying in Istanbul through an online survey to analyze the impact of the use of personalized digital data and post-truth content in political communication on Generation Z's online political participation. According to the findings, the participants are not indifferent to the political agenda, but they show a passive online political participation behavior, as well as they worry that their personal digital data will be used in situations they do not consent to, and they are not completely sure about the accuracy of the online political content they encounter. These results, in relation to each other, show that young people both enter the spiral of silence of the digital age and feel the pressure created by the concept of surveillance society.
 Keywords: Generation z, Data mining, Personalized digital data, Online political participation.

Digital identity, privacy security, and their legal safeguards in the Metaverse

The Metaverse is the digitization of the real world, supported by big data, AI, 5G, cloud computing, blockchain, encryption algorithm, perception technology, digital twin, virtual engine, and other technologies that interact with human behavior and thoughts in avatars through digital identity. Cracking the trust problem brought by the avatar depends on the privacy security and authentication technology for individuals using digital identities to enter the Metaverse. To accomplish personal domination of the avatar, metaverse users need privacy data feeding and emotion projection. They must be equipped with proprietary algorithms to process and analyze the complex data generated in adaptive interactions, which challenges the privacy security of user data in the Metaverse. Distinguishing the significance of different identifiers in personal identity generation while imposing different behavioral regulatory requirements on data processing levels may better balance the relationship between personal privacy security and digital identity protection and data utilization in the Metaverse. In response to digital identity issues, there is an objective need to establish a unified digital identity authentication system to gain the general trust of society. Further, the remedies for a right to personality can be applied to the scenario of unlawful infringement of digital identity and privacy security.

Digital body image of users of devices for self-tracking

The article presents the results of an empirical study implemented in a combined strategy in 2020–2021 and aimed at studying digital practices of healthcare of megalopolis residents. One of the focuses of interest was digital self-tracking, namely, the ways users interact with data supplied by personal devices, and the construction of a body image as a result of this process. The analysis of the data obtained allowed us to formulate several conclusions. Thus, for a significant part of active users of digital devices, the generated visual content, expressed in quantitative form, is of significant interest. There is an effect of access to the “real” body as well as the risks of a gap between personal feelings and digital data. The following arguments are put forward in favor of digital information: 1) the gadget can record indicators that are not available at the level of bodily sensations; 2) it generates content in ways that go beyond the capabilities of an individual. When there are significant discrepancies between digital data and subjective experience, as a rule, it is not about their opposition, but about the work of coordinating and “smoothing” information received from various sources. Data visualization forms an idea of the owners of digital devices about their physical condition and progress in achieving their goals. In some cases, the digital body image becomes a reason for communication on social networks and a way of self-presentation. For those who actively practice digital self-tracking, the body image is considered to be incomplete without information expressed in numerical form. Moreover, for feeling corporeality, the experience of vision turns out to be fundamentally significant today.

The comfort of adolescent patients and their parents with mobile sensing and digital phenotyping

To integrate mobile sensing and digital phenotyping into youth mental health care, the norms of comfort among adolescent patients and their parents with mobile sensing and digital phenotyping must be understood. The current study sought to elucidate the norms of comfort among adolescent patients and the parents of adolescent patients. It was hypothesized that the type of data sensor, level of detail, and participant group would affect comfort ratings and that there would be an interaction between group membership and the level of detail. Finally, comfort with the collection of speech data was explored. One hundred nine adolescent patients and 85 parents completed an online questionnaire about comfort with various mobile data sensors. Overall, the results support our hypotheses and match the results of previous research in adult patients, with adolescent patients' comfort decreasing with more detailed and personal digital data collected. These results indicate that comfort with mobile sensing and digital phenotyping in the context of mental health care depends on the individual's role, the type of data sensor, and the level of detail of the data sensor. Understanding these norms of comfort can help to improve the integration of information technology into the mental health care of youth.

Making sense of digital health data: Negotiating epistemological tensions of everyday eating in Singapore

Engagements with personal digital data are growing in recent decades, as many digital technologies offer any interested user the opportunity to track their habits and practices. Yet, far from being objective and neutral conduits of knowledge, digital data is often politicised, invested with particular values, norms, and assumptions about human experiences. Digital health technologies, in particular, are often found to be coded through biomedical understandings of health and the individualism of Western ethics. Such politics of data knowledge inevitably has implications on the ways people in different socio-cultural contexts make sense of their health, bodies, and correspondingly, experience spaces of health through engagements with digital data. Drawing on diaries and diary-interviews with users of digital food-tracking devices in Singapore, this paper develops the idea of ‘epistemological tensions’ to theorise the socio-cultural differences in digital practices beyond the dominant focus on Anglo-American experiences. The findings suggest that people’s engagements with digital health technologies can be experienced as ‘glitchy’ and fraught with epistemological tensions, as they constantly position their healthy eating practices between algorithmic advice offered by these technologies, and the socio-cultural norms of health and eating that they subscribe to. In negotiating such tensions, people are also found to express agency that has spatial and temporal implications on their health practices. In sum, this paper underscores the importance of critically situating, instead of simply scrutinising, everyday geographies of datafication. Doing so can yield more contextually nuanced insight into the potential and limits of digital technologies in mediating health geographies in different social and cultural contexts.

Passive Sensor Data for Characterizing States of Increased Risk for Eating Disorder Behaviors in the Digital Phenotyping Arm of the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative: Protocol for an Observational Study

BackgroundData that can be easily, efficiently, and safely collected via cell phones and other digital devices have great potential for clinical application. Here, we focus on how these data could be used to refine and augment intervention strategies for binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN), conditions that lack highly efficacious, enduring, and accessible treatments. These data are easy to collect digitally but are highly complex and present unique methodological challenges that invite innovative solutions.ObjectiveWe describe the digital phenotyping component of the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative, which uses personal digital device data to capture dynamic patterns of risk for binge and purge episodes. Characteristic data signatures will ultimately be used to develop personalized models of eating disorder pathologies and just-in-time interventions to reduce risk for related behaviors. Here, we focus on the methods used to prepare the data for analysis and discuss how these approaches can be generalized beyond the current application.MethodsThe University of North Carolina Biomedical Institutional Review Board approved all study procedures. Participants who met diagnostic criteria for BED or BN provided real time assessments of eating behaviors and feelings through the Recovery Record app delivered on iPhones and the Apple Watches. Continuous passive measures of physiological activation (heart rate) and physical activity (step count) were collected from Apple Watches over 30 days. Data were cleaned to account for user and device recording errors, including duplicate entries and unreliable heart rate and step values. Across participants, the proportion of data points removed during cleaning ranged from <0.1% to 2.4%, depending on the data source. To prepare the data for multivariate time series analysis, we used a novel data handling approach to address variable measurement frequency across data sources and devices. This involved mapping heart rate, step count, feeling ratings, and eating disorder behaviors onto simultaneous minute-level time series that will enable the characterization of individual- and group-level regulatory dynamics preceding and following binge and purge episodes.ResultsData collection and cleaning are complete. Between August 2017 and May 2021, 1019 participants provided an average of 25 days of data yielding 3,419,937 heart rate values, 1,635,993 step counts, 8274 binge or purge events, and 85,200 feeling observations. Analysis will begin in spring 2022.ConclusionsWe provide a detailed description of the methods used to collect, clean, and prepare personal digital device data from one component of a large, longitudinal eating disorder study. The results will identify digital signatures of increased risk for binge and purge events, which may ultimately be used to create digital interventions for BED and BN. Our goal is to contribute to increased transparency in the handling and analysis of personal digital device data.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04162574; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04162574International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/38294

The presence and perceptibility of personal digital data: findings from a participant map drawing method

Personal digital data are often imagined and experienced as invisible and immaterial phenomena, albeit with increasingly powerful impacts on people’s lives. In this article we discuss findings from an ethnographic project involving 30 participants in Sydney, Australia, directed at identifying their practices and understandings concerning their home-based digital device use and the personal data generated with and through engagements with these technologies. As well as engaging in a video-recorded home tour, we asked participants to hand draw maps of the digital devices located within their homes and the flows of digital data emitting from the devices. These maps mark the presence, interconnections and mobilities of digital technologies and the digitised details generated by their sociomaterial entanglements. The maps were also used to spark further discussion with the participants about their devices and data, seeking to understand their sense-making practices. Working with our concept of ‘digital scaffolding’, we explore what these participant-generated maps can reveal and make visible about digital technologies and data in relation to the domestic environment as well as the world outside the home. We consider what the maps themselves show in terms of digital presence, and what the mapping activity made perceptible within the research encounter.

Whose data are they? Elementary school students’ conceptualization of data ownership and privacy of personal digital data

The proliferation of information technology has enabled the emergence of different types of smart technologies, such as digitally enhanced toys and self-tracking wearable devices. Even though the rapid global spread of such devices has raised concerns about privacy, little is known about how children perceive such risks, while the children’s voices on the topic are rarely heard. The broader goal of our work is to understand how children can be empowered through scaffolded inquiry experiences to reflect on their own use of smart, self-tracking devices and gain a deeper understanding of the digital infrastructure and the political economy of digital data. This study examined children’s awareness of their digital data and issues of online privacy. At the same time, we examined the construct of psychological ownership in relation to children’s personal digital data to further understand students’ disclosure practices. We report on data from 63 fifth and sixth grade students to investigate students’ awareness of how their tracked data could be used and their conceptualization of data ownership. To achieve this, we designed and implemented a learning module that employed the use of activity trackers by elementary school students. We collected data via individual pre- and post-implementation interviews, and group discussions during the implementations. Data were analyzed qualitatively using the theoretical lens of psychological ownership and frameworks of data literacy. Results suggest that students demonstrate ownership of self-tracked data, ignoring the shared ownership with other parties, but this is associated with their limited awareness of the complex infrastructure of the digital environment and the commercial exploitation of their personal digital data by others. Also, results showed that students employ a set of criteria to concede data ownership to others. Findings suggest that actions should be taken to help children develop a nuanced understanding of the data economy and its impact on themselves. This study provides directions for future research and can also inform efforts to design educational materials aiming to develop students’ understanding of online data privacy.

Remote Fieldwork in Homes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Video-Call Ethnography and Map Drawing Methods.

Restrictions on physical movements and in-person encounters during the COVID-19 crisis confronted many qualitative researchers with challenges in conducting and completing projects requiring face-to-face fieldwork. An exploration of engaging in what we term ‘agile research’ in such circumstances can offer novel methodological insights for researching the social world. In this article, we discuss the changes we made to our ethnographic fieldwork in response to the introduction of a national lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The ‘Living with Personal Data’ project, based in Sydney, Australia, and designed well before the advent of COVID-19, explores a diverse range of people’s feelings, practices and understandings concerning home-based digital devices and the personal digital data generated with their use. Using a video ethnography ‘home tour’ and an elicitation technique involving hand-drawn maps of people’s homes, digital devices and the personal data generated with and through these devices, this approach was designed to elicit the sensory, affective and relational elements of people’s digital device and personal data use at home. The fieldwork had just commenced when stay-at-home and physical distancing orders were suddenly introduced. Our article builds on and extends a growing body of literature on conducting fieldwork in the difficult conditions of the extended COVID-19 crisis by detailing our experiences of very quickly converting an ethnographic study that was planned to be in-person to a remote approach. We describe the adaptations we made to the project using video-call software and discuss the limits and opportunities presented by this significant modification.

Physical activity, patient-reported symptoms, and clinical events: Insights into postprocedural recovery from personal digital devices

BackgroundPersonal digital devices may offer insights into patient recovery and an approach for remote monitoring after procedures.ObjectiveTo examine associations between activity measured using personal digital devices, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and clinical events among patients after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) or bariatric surgery.MethodsWe aggregated personal digital device, PROM, and electronic health record data in a study conducted at 2 health systems. We used Fitbit devices for step count assessments, KardiaMobile for cardiac rhythm assessments, and PROMs for pain and palpitations over 5 weeks.ResultsAmong 59 patients, 30 underwent AF ablation and 29 bariatric surgery. Thirty-six patients (63%) reported pain. There was no difference in median [interquartile range] daily steps between patients with and those without pain (4419 [3286–7041] vs 3498 [2609–5888]; P = .23). Among AF ablation patients, 21 (70%) reported palpitations. Median daily steps were lower among those with palpitations than among those without (4668 [3021–6116] vs 8040 [6853–10,394]; P = .03). When accounting for within-subject correlation, recordings of AF were associated with a significant mean decrease in median daily steps (–351; 95% confidence interval –524 to –177; P <.01). Patients who received a new antiarrhythmic drug prescription had AF recorded in a median of 5 [5–5] of 5 total weeks, whereas patients who did not receive a new antiarrhythmic recorded AF in a median of 1 [0–3] week (P = .02).ConclusionPersonal digital device and PROM data can provide insight into postprocedural recovery outside of usual clinical settings and may inform follow-up and clinical decision-making. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03436082)

Consumer Views on Using Digital Data for COVID-19 Control in the United States

Curbing COVID-19 transmission is currently the greatest global public health challenge. Consumer digital tools used to collect data, such as the Apple-Google digital contact tracing program, offer opportunities to reduce COVID-19 transmission but introduce privacy concerns. To assess uses of consumer digital information for COVID-19 control that US adults find acceptable and the factors associated with higher or lower approval of use of this information. This cross-sectional survey study obtained data from a nationally representative sample of 6284 US adults recruited by email from the web-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel in July 2020. Respondents evaluated scenarios reflecting uses of digital data for COVID-19 control (case identification, digital contact tracing, policy setting, and enforcement of quarantines). Levels of support for use of personal digital data in 9 scenarios to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 infection, rated on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Multivariable linear regression models were fitted for each scenario and included factors hypothesized to be associated with views about digital data use for COVID-19 mitigation measures. Black and Hispanic survey respondents were oversampled; thus, poststratification weights were used so that results are representative of the general US population. Of 6284 individuals invited to participate in the study, 3547 responded, for a completion rate of 56%. A total of 1762 participants (52%) were female, 715 (21%) identified as Black, 790 (23%) identified as Hispanic, and 1224 (36%) were 60 years or older; mean (SD) age was 51.7 (16.6) years. Approval of scenarios was low, ranging from 28% to 43% (52%-67% when neutral responses were included). Differences were found based on digital data source (smartphone vs social media: coefficient, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.23-0.35]; P < .001; smart thermometer vs social media: coefficient, 0.09 [95% CI, 0.03-0.16]; P = .004). County COVID-19 rates (coefficient, -0.02; 95% CI, -0.16 to 0.13 for quartile 4 compared with quartile 1) and prior family diagnosis of COVID-19 (coefficient, 0.00; 95% CI, -0.25 to 0.25) were not associated with support. Compared with self-described liberal individuals, conservative (coefficient, -0.81; 95% CI, -0.96 to -0.66; P < .001) and moderate (coefficient, -0.52; 95% CI, -0.67 to -0.38; P < .001) individuals were less likely to support the scenarios. Similarly, large political differences were observed in support of the Apple-Google digital contact tracing program, with less support from conservative (coefficient, -0.99; 95% CI, -1.11 to -0.87; P < .001) and moderate (coefficient, -0.59; 95% CI, -0.69 to -0.48; P < .001) individuals compared with liberal individuals. Respondents from racial/ethnic minority groups were more supportive of the scenarios than were White, non-Hispanic respondents. For example, compared with White respondents, Black respondents were more supportive of the Apple-Google contact tracing program (coefficient, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.07-0.32; P = .002). In this survey study of US adults, many were averse to their information being used on digital platforms to mitigate transmission of COVID-19. These findings suggest that in current and future pandemics, public health departments should use multiple strategies to gain public trust and accelerate adoption of tools such as digital contact tracing applications.

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Acquisition and Interpretation of Digital Information in Forensic Assessments

Despite the now ubiquitous presence of technology in everyday life, there is little written on the subject of personal digital data as it pertains to forensic mental health evaluations. Ethical concerns and limited consensus guidance on this issue have previously made it challenging to use this information in a responsible way. This Perspectives article elaborates on the different types of personal data that exist and the practical aspects of acquiring such information, including data location and legal considerations. Incorporation of personal digital information into the forensic assessment as a form of collateral information is discussed, along with the current state of the literature on technology use and its relationship to psychopathology and risk. Given the important role of technology in the life of the modern individual, deeper research into this topic will be necessary in the immediate future to establish practice standards for the safe and ethical use of digital information in both forensic and non-forensic mental health assessments.

University Student’s Perceptions of Self-Tracking Devices, Data Privacy, and Sharing Digital Data for Research Purposes

Purpose: Wearable physical activity monitors present new ethical considerations for researchers and research ethics boards. Best practice guidelines are needed for research involving wearable monitors and should consider how these devices may impact participants outside of the research context. This study examines the perceptions of university students who wore activity monitors for research purposes in order to inform such guidelines. Methods: Focus groups were held with university students who wore digital self-tracking devices for a study examining sleep and physical activity. Questions focused on motivations to wear a physical activity monitor for research, understandings of how personal digital data generated by self-tracking devices are used and accessed, and perceptions of privacy. Results: 83% of students trusted the research process and were motivated to contribute to scientific knowledge by wearing a digital tracking device. Most (83%) understood how their data were used and accessed for research purposes, but 79% were less clear on how data might be accessed and used by third parties. 79% of participants also agreed that different data carries different social and personal implications and thus should not be treated the same by researchers. Conclusions: Protocols for research involving wearable monitors should include briefing/debriefing sessions to clarify data privacy, storage, and use issues. Researchers should also consider how wearing these devices might prompt unexpected emotional and other responses and the social implications of use for participants. The concept of privacy requires further exploration in the context of digital data collection using commercial devices.

Female clients\u2019 gender preferences for frontline health workers who provide maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services at primary health care level in Nigeria

BackgroundIn Nigeria, anecdotes abound that female clients, particularly within northern Nigeria, have gender-based preferences for frontline health workers (FLHWs) who provide healthcare services. This may adversely affect uptake of maternal newborn and child health services, especially at primary healthcare level in Nigeria, where a huge proportion of the Nigerian population and rural community members in particular, access healthcare services. This study explored female clients’ gender preferences for frontline health workers who provide maternal, newborn and child healthcare (MNCH) services at primary healthcare level in Nigeria.MethodsThe study adopted a cross-sectional quantitative design with 256 female clients’ exit interviews from selected primary health facilities within two States - Bauchi (northern Nigeria) and Cross-River (southern Nigeria). Data was collected using Personal Digital Assistants and data analysis was done using SPSS software. Descriptive analysis was carried out using percentage frequency distribution tables. Bivariate analysis was also carried out to examine possible relationships between key characteristic variables and the gender preferences of female clients involved in the study.ResultsOut of 256 women who accessed maternal, newborn and child health services within the sampled health facilities, 44.1% stated preference for female FLHWs, 2.3% preferred male FLHWs while 53.5% were indifferent about the gender of the health worker. However only 26.6% of female clients were attended to by male FLHWs. Bivariate analysis suggests a relationship between a female client’s health worker gender preference and her pregnancy status, the specific reason for which a female client visits a primary healthcare facility, a female client’s location in Nigeria as well as the gender of the health worker(s) working within the primary healthcare facility which she visits to access maternal, newborn and child health services.ConclusionsThe study findings suggest that female clients at primary healthcare level in Nigeria possibly have gender preferences for the frontline health workers who provide services to them. There should be sustained advocacy and increased efforts at community engagement to promote the acceptability of healthcare services from male frontline health workers in order to have a significant impact on the uptake of MNCH services, particularly within northern Nigeria.

Aggregating multiple real-world data sources using a patient-centered health-data-sharing platform

Real-world data sources, including electronic health records (EHRs) and personal digital device data, are increasingly available, but are often siloed and cannot be easily integrated for clinical, research, or regulatory purposes. We conducted a prospective cohort study of 60 patients undergoing bariatric surgery or catheter-based atrial fibrillation ablation at two U.S. tertiary care hospitals, testing the feasibility of using a patient-centered health-data-sharing platform to obtain and aggregate health data from multiple sources. We successfully obtained EHR data for all patients at both hospitals, as well as from ten additional health systems, which were successfully aggregated with pharmacy data obtained for patients using CVS or Walgreens pharmacies; personal digital device data from activity monitors, digital weight scales, and single-lead ECGs, and patient-reported outcome measure data obtained through surveys to assess post-procedure recovery and disease-specific symptoms. A patient-centered health-data-sharing platform successfully aggregated data from multiple sources.

3DMRI - Elucidating the origin of biometric authentication based on the acoustic characteristics of the ears with high resolution 3D MRI

A world run on cash transactions is rapidly disappearing. The power and connectivity of the Internet has driven most business toward digital solutions. Paying bills and shopping is done online and paying while outside of the home is increasingly done by card or even smartphone apps. The diminished role of cash, while convenient, does require that consumers put their trust into security systems beyond their own control. Someone can safeguard their own wallet but cannot encrypt personal digital payment data. This transition has led to the vast cybersecurity industry which is constantly in need of innovation in order to keep one step ahead of nefarious actors willing to exploit weakness in the system. Digital theft and fraud, especially identity fraud, are now major concerns in the modern world. Our main defence is password protected accounts and encryption in the form of cyphers. As we have seen though, these are fallible and hackers have successfully stolen data from some of the most secure companies on the planet. To combat this, cybersecurity research is increasingly turning to biometric forms of identification which rely on the unique features possessed by every individual. Fingerprints and face scans are the most well-known and employed forms of biometric ID. For example, smartphones can be locked and unlocked with a simple glance at the screen and these methods have considerable benefits. Never having to remember a password again is one and a thief cannot decode your face like they potentially can a cypher. However, there are drawbacks, and impersonations with face ID and fingerprinting can still occur. In order to add another layer of protection, a collaboration between academia and industry is turning to an overlooked feature of the human body, being the ear. Dr Shouhei Yano is using his background studying sound localisation using earphones progressed from entertainment applications to create a new way of providing accurate, secure biometric identification.