Remote Access Software Research Articles

Exploring the feasibility of remote administration of speech audiometry: A comparative study of conventional and digital methods.

This study investigated the effectiveness of remote administration of speech audiometry, an essential tool for diagnosing hearing loss and determining its severity. Utilizing two software tools for remote testing, the research aimed to compare these digital methods with traditional, in-person speech audiometry to evaluate their feasibility and accuracy. Participants underwent the Cantonese Hearing in Noise Test (CHINT) under three listening conditions-quiet, noise from the front, and noise from the right side-using three different administration methods: the conventional in-person approach, video conferencing software, and remote access software. Fifty-six Cantonese-speaking adults residing in Hong Kong participated in this study. Analysis revealed no significant differences in CHINT scores among the three administration methods, indicating the potential for remote administration to yield results comparable to those of conventional methods. The findings supported the feasibility of remote speech audiometry using the investigated digital tools. This study paved the way for the wider adoption of tele-audiology practices, particularly in situations where in-person assessments are not possible.

Remote programming of cardiac implantable electronic devices: A novel approach to program cardiac devices for magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with MRI-conditional cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIED) remain a logistical issue for device programming during the scan. In current practice, a trained person needs to be present on-site to program CIED for MRI scan. This can cause delay in patient care, rescheduling of tests and increase healthcare costs. A novel remote programming (RP) strategy can be utilized to reprogram the CIED remotely. We sought to explore the feasibility and safety of RP of CIEDs in patients undergoing MRI scan. We implemented the Medtronic CIED RP software at our institution after ensuring HIPAA compliance. The MRI technician started the session by contacting an off-site remote operator and placing a programmer wand from the 2090 Medtronic programmer over the CIED. The remote operator logged into a remote access software and provided a unique access code to the MRI technician. After entering the access code into the programmer, the remote operator was able to program the device as needed. We conducted a periodic audit of the first 209 patients who underwent RP of CIEDs for MRI. Outcomes analyzed were successful completion of RP sessions and time saved per scan. Of the 209 MRI scans, 51 scans were performed urgently. There were no connectivity and programming problems or need for MRI rescheduling. In-person reprogramming was not required for any patient. All scans were completed safely in a timely manner, and there were no reports of CIED malfunction. Time saved per scan was estimated to be 28 ± 10 min. Remote programming of CIEDs for MRI scans is a safe and effective strategy.

Role of remote access solutions for accessing library resources: A panacea for sustainable access to legal databases during pandemic

Physical access to libraries and information centers was obstructed due to nationwide lockdown as an outcome of the spread of corona virus. In this scenario, libraries played a pivotal in extending reference and research services to its clientele through various mechanisms. Remote access to electronic resources is one of such mechanisms. The present study is an attempt to know diverse patterns of accessing electronic resources through remote access software during pandemic by users of a Law University based in India namely National Law University Delhi (NLUD). The study also aims to analyze the frequency of referred electronic resources during pandemic on various parameters such as most referred legal database, maximum number of downloads, maximum number of logins, content based logins and downloads for various legal databases from the perspective of different user categories. The data for the present study has been extracted from the remote access software namely Remote Xs subscribed by the university. The Study finds that post graduate students are the major users among different user categories accessing the electronic resources through remote access mechanisms during the lockdown period. The study also reveals that among various electronic resource categories, the most popular category were e-journals. Apart from this, most referred Indian legal database was Manupatra and JSTOR was the most popular International legal database.

Adapting Training and Use of an Application for Cognitively Impaired Older Adults Amidst COVID-19

The emergence of COVID-19 and social distancing requirements have resulted in disruptions to daily life, reduced opportunities for social engagement, and diminished resource access for millions of older adults. Individuals with cognitive impairments (CI) are particularly vulnerable to risk for social isolation. This presentation will discuss the PRISM-CI pilot trial, which aims to examine the feasibility and potential efficacy of the PRISM-CI software system on enhancing connectivity and quality of life among a diverse sample of 50 older adults aged 65 and over with a CI. PRISM-CI, adapted from the PRISM system (developed by the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement) for this population, is intended to support social engagement, memory, and access to resources and information. We will present data regarding the feasibility and perceived value of PRISM-CI and discuss the challenges, and strategies used, to adapt the PRISM-CI trial during the pandemic. We used a multi-modal approach to provide remote training and specialized tablet instruction that includes individualized training sessions tailored to individuals’ learning needs, hobbies, and prior technology use. The adapted protocol also involves the use of remote access software for troubleshooting. We will also discuss how participant feedback guided the inclusion of additional features, such as Zoom videoconferencing and virtual library access, for the PRISM-CI application. Finally, we will demonstrate how the adaptation of the PRISM-CI protocol holds promise for the use of flexible, remote technology approaches to reach socially isolated older adults to foster psychosocial well-being.

B-PO05-043 REMOTE PROGRAMMING OF CARDIAC IMPLANTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR MRI SCANS IS A SAFE AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGY

Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) in patients (pts) with MRI-conditional cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIED) remain a logistical issue for device programming during the scan. In current practice, a trained person needs to be physically present on-site to reprogram CIED pre- and post-MRI scan. This can cause delay in patient care, rescheduling of tests and increased manpower requirement. A novel remote programming (RP) algorithm can be utilized to reprogram the CIED remotely. We sought to explore the feasibility and safety of RP of CIED’s in pts with MRI conditional devices undergoing an MRI scan. We implemented the Medtronic CIED RP software at our institution after ensuring HIPAA compliance. The MRI technician started the session by contacting an off-site remote operator and placing a programmer wand from 2090 Medtronic programmer over the device. The remote operator logged into a remote access software (BomgarTM) and provided a unique access code to the MRI technician. Once the access code was entered into the programmer, the remote operator was able to reprogram the device as needed. We conducted a periodic audit of the first 50 pts who underwent RP with this software pre- and post- MRI. Outcomes analyzed were safety parameters during RP. Of the 50 MRI scans, 17 were emergent and 33 elective. There were no connectivity and programming problems or need for MRI rescheduling. In-person reprogramming was not required for any pt. All scans were completed safely in a timely manner, and there were no reports of CIED malfunction. Remote programming of CIED’s for MRI scans is a safe and effective strategy even if required emergently.

Remote Access Mechanism Exploring Electronic Databases in Law Schools in India: A Lifeline during COVID-19 Lockdown

Bar Council of India under Section 4 of Advocates Act 1961 passed by Indian Parliament, governs legal education and practice in India. Law Schools are approved and governed under the rules framed by Bar Council of India. Currently, India has twenty three law schools apart from more than 2000 law departments and colleges in India. Lockdown of academic institutions due to COVID-19 interrupted educational and research activities in law schools too. The paper here and now showcases a comparative study of usage of electronic contents by their patrons during pre-lockdown and lockdown period by remote access mechanism. The paper traces user various mechanisms used by law schools in India for remotely accessible of electronic databases. Usage patron of databases through remote access software and content based comparison of electronic databases have been evaluated in the paper for better understandings of tools and type of electronic contents used by law school patrons. The paper traces a comparison of mechanisms used by law schools in India for remotely accessible of electronic databases. The paper also sketches a number of findings based on user responses and contents in demand to suggest future planning and procurement of digital contents for strengthening base of legal education and research.

Consultation on urological specimens from referred cancer patients using real-time digital microscopy: Optimizing the workflow

Introduction: Centralization of cancer treatment entails a reassessment of the diagnostic tissue specimens. Packaging and shipment of glass slides from the local to the central pathology unit means that the standard procedure is time-consuming and that it is difficult to comply with governmental requirements. The aim was to evaluate whether real-time digital microscopy for urological cancer specimens during the primary diagnostic process can replace subsequent physical slide referral and reassessment without compromising diagnostic safety. Methods: From May to October 2014, tissue specimens from 130 patients with urological cancer received at Næstved Hospital’s Pathology Department, and expected to be referred for further treatment at cancer unit of a university hospital, were diagnosed using standard light microscopy. In the event of diagnostic uncertainty, the VisionTek digital microscope (Sakura Finetek) was employed. The Pathology Department at Næstved Hospital was equipped with a digital microscope and three consultant pathologists were stationed at Rigshospitalet with workstations optimized for digital microscopy. Representative slides for each case were selected for consultation and live digital consultation took place over the telephone using remote access software. Time of start and finish for each case was logged. For the physically referred cases, time from arrival to sign-out was logged in the national pathology information system, and time spent on microscopy and reporting was noted manually. Diagnosis, number of involved biopsies, grade, and stage were compared between digital microscopy and conventional microscopy. Results: Complete data were available for all 130 cases. Standard procedure with referral of urological cancer specimens took a mean of 8 min 56 s for microscopy, reporting and sign-out per case. For live digital consultations, a mean of 18 min 37 s was spent on each consultation with 4 min 43 s for each case, depending on the number of digital slides included. Only in two cases could a consensus regarding the diagnosis not be reached during live consultation; this did not, it should be noted, affect patient treatment. Complete agreement between conventional and digital histopathology diagnosis was reached in all the 53 patients referred to central pathology units. The participating pathologists were in general comfortable using live digital microscopy, but they emphasized that a fast internet connection was essential for a smooth consultation. Discussion and Conclusion: An almost perfect agreement between live digital and conventional microscopy was observed in this study. Live digital consultation allowed cases to be referred from local hospitals to central cancer units without the standard delay caused by shipment. Only a few preselected specimen slides for each patient were presented in live consultation, which reduced the time spent on diagnosis compared to using the conventional method. Implementation of real-time digital microscopy would result in quicker turnaround and patient referral time, and with careful selection of relevant specimen slides for consultation, diagnostic safety would not be compromised.

English

A case study of off campus (remote) access to licensed/subscribed electronic resources (e-resources) of the Health Sciences Library of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, which offers diverse sets of electronic information resources for its users, is presented here. User community, residing outside the campus and off campus were disadvantaged by the inability to access library e-resources in their hours of need. Due to the pressing demand from the user community for off/remote campus access to the subscribed e-resources, library initiated the search for an appropriate off campus login access solution and identified EZproxy remote access software as the solution. EZproxy platform provides a single point remote access to various subscribed resources of the library. This article gives various steps involved in the implementation of off campus access facility in the library with its benefits, conditionality for access and technical details.

A low-cost tele-imaging platform for developing countries.

Purpose: To design a “low-cost” tele-imaging method allowing real-time tele-ultrasound expertise, delayed tele-ultrasound diagnosis, and tele-radiology between remote peripherals hospitals and clinics (patient centers) and university hospital centers (expert center).Materials and methods: A system of communication via internet (IP camera and remote access software) enabling transfer of ultrasound videos and images between two centers allows a real-time tele-radiology expertise in the presence of a junior sonographer or radiologist at the patient center. In the absence of a sonographer or radiologist at the patient center, a 3D reconstruction program allows a delayed tele-ultrasound diagnosis with images acquired by a lay operator (e.g., midwife, nurse, technician). The system was tested both with high and low bandwidth. The system can further accommodate non-ultrasound tele-radiology (conventional radiography, mammography, and computer tomography for example). The system was tested on 50 patients between CHR Tsevie in Togo (40 km from Lomé-Togo and 4500 km from Tours-France) and CHU Campus at Lomé and CHU Trousseau in Tours.Results: A real-time tele-expertise was successfully performed with a delay of approximately 1.5 s with an internet bandwidth of around 1 Mbps (IP Camera) and 512 kbps (remote access software). A delayed tele-ultrasound diagnosis was also performed with satisfactory results. The transmission of radiological images from the patient center to the expert center was of adequate quality. Delayed tele-ultrasound and tele-radiology was possible even in the presence of a low-bandwidth internet connection.Conclusion: This tele-imaging method, requiring nothing by readily available and inexpensive technology and equipment, offers a major opportunity for telemedicine in developing countries.

Remote access technology offers tremendous possibilities to the cytometry community

THE opportunity for low cost, high quality training and supervision is an attractive one to most scientists in the cytometry field. Many have had little if any training, no expertise based locally, or may not have the funds to attend regional or international training courses. In addition, rather than general cytometry they may require assistance with a particular application, which could be accomplished in a number of hours through support from an expert. Separately, shared resource scientists, also known as core facility staff, are generally responsible for the performance and upkeep of multiple complex instruments, as well as monitoring, training etc. Some acquisitions or cell sorts may take hours for a single run, and with limited staff the scientist is usually multitasking on an hourly basis. Also, if users of the core facility are having problems and staff is unavailable, valuable samples or time may be lost. There is potential for error at many steps of flow cytometry, including sample preparation, experimental design and fluorochrome selection, instrument set up, compensation, gating, analysis, and interpretation. External/offsite tracking may improve monitoring, and perhaps limit such errors. Also interand intra-instrumentation variations can lead to different results for the same sample. A means of unifying performance, setup, and interpretation is vital, in particular with multicenter collaborations. Peer-review of results and analysis, as well as hierarchical approval systems, provides some solutions, but further stream-lining is clearly beneficial. Remote access technology for cytometry (or remote cytometry) may offer solutions to many such issues and can be performed at very low costs to the institution. There is potential for such systems to facilitate instrumentation monitoring, control equipment in containment areas, speed up vendor service, improve training courses, increase collaborations, and further promote cytometry globally.

A Comparative Evaluation of Remote Administration Tools

Remote administration is important for improving efficiency in managing and maintaining computer systems across communication networks in a cost-effective manner. Contemporary remote access tools support versatile features for controlling remote systems through a wide range of attractive features. Many remote administration tools are found in the market and it is difficult to choose appropriate tools to meet our needs. This paper presents comparative study of selected popular remote administration tools to help users in making appropriate selection of suitable tools. The paper undergoes comparison among various categories, such as Graphical User Interface (GUI) oriented tools, Command-Line Interface (CLI) tools, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) tools, Web based GUI tools, Console based tools, etc. considering various popular remote access software tools. Keywords: Remote administration; Remote Access Tools (RATs); Communication Networks

Remote access: don't be a victim

The theft of source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere has put remote access programmes in the spotlight. But the security implications posed by remote management products are not new. In fact, data released over the past year shows that poorly configured remote access programmes routinely account for 62% of data breaches and network security incidents. So what precautions can people take to make sure they aren't an easy target? Historically, attackers went after large corporate entities. But as this has become more difficult, they're opting for smaller remote locations because they can accomplish the same thing with only a little more effort. It's imperative that businesses, large and small, take the time to evaluate their remote access software because companies are routinely exposing systems inside their network to outside attackers, and more often than not the only security is a poorly chosen password, explains Kurt Bager of Netop.

Remote access laboratories in applied mathematics

AbstractThe cutting edge knowledge in the art of mathematical technology is located in dispersed nodes, research groups on applied mathematics, mathematical physics, scientific computing etc. The work often leads to development of software representing state‐of‐the‐art methods in the field. These environments are often experimental, under revisions, near the laboratory floor of on‐going research. This stage sometimes precedes the later development to actual products and commercialization.Web‐technologies are a viable media for innovative processes and knowledge transfer. In this article I draw attention to the possibility of creating added value for the knowledge repository of applied mathematics and computational methods via remote access software sharing. I present examples and refer to the obvious potential of this approach in the modern era of grid computing. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Current status and history of teleradiology in India

Teleradiology is yet to take off in India. This is unfortunate since this technology is ideal for a country like India, where expertise in remote areas for advanced investigations such as CT and MR, is lacking. We were the first center in India to use teleradiology on a regular basis. Our initial methodology in 1996 was using video-capture cards and Windows 95 dial-up protocols. Now we use DICOM transfers and remote-access software. Even today, 4 years later, we are the only center in India using teleradiology on a regular basis.