Wireless Personal Digital Assistants Research Articles

A State of Art Survey for Understanding Malware Detection Approaches in Android Operating System

Mobile malware is malicious software that targets mobile phones or wireless-enabled Personal digital assistants (PDA), by causing the collapse of the system and loss or leakage of confidential information. As wireless phones and PDA networks have become more and more common and have grown in complexity, it has become increasingly difficult to ensure their safety and security against electronic attacks in the form of viruses or other malware. Android is now the world's most popular OS. More and more malware assaults are taking place in Android applications. Many security detection techniques based on Android Apps are now available. Android applications are developing rapidly across the mobile ecosystem, but Android malware is also emerging in an endless stream. Many researchers have studied the problem of Android malware detection and have put forward theories and methods from different perspectives. Existing research suggests that machine learning is an effective and promising way to detect Android malware. Notwithstanding, there exist reviews that have surveyed different issues related to Android malware detection based on machine learning. The open environmental feature of the Android environment has given Android an extensive appeal in recent years. The growing number of mobile devices, they are incorporated in many aspects of our everyday lives. In today’s digital world most of the anti-malware tools are signature based which is ineffective to detect advanced unknown malware viz. Android OS, which is the most prevalent operating system (OS), has enjoyed immense popularity for smart phones over the past few years. Seizing this opportunity, cybercrime will occur in the form of piracy and malware. Traditional detection does not suffice to combat newly created advanced malware. So, there is a need for smart malware detection systems to reduce malicious activities risk. The present paper includes a thorough comparison that summarizes and analyses the various detection techniques.

Boron nitride/epoxy resin nanocomposites: development, characterization and functionality

Polymer matrix composites with embedded ceramic nanoparticles receive not only enhanced scientific but also technological interest, due to their improved thermo-mechanical, electrical, magnetic and other properties. This materials’ category is undoubtedly a promising new class of engineering materials suitable for applications such as stationary power systems, cellular phones, wireless personal digital assistants and hybrid electric vehicles. Ceramic/polymer nanocomposites exhibit multifunctional performance since they are able to combine structural integrity and appropriate thermal response with tunable dielectric behaviour. In this study, boron nitride/epoxy resin nanocomposites were synthesized and their dielectric and mechanical properties were studied via broadband dielectric spectroscopy and dynamic mechanical analysis, respectively. The increase in dielectric permittivity is caused by the augmentation of the macromolecular mobility at low filler content, the higher permittivity values of boron nitride relative to epoxy resin and by the induced electrical heterogeneity in nanocomposites. Storage modulus appears to be filler dependent and decreases with reducing the filler content. The morphological and structural characterization of the nanocomposites was conducted via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, in order to ensure the successful development of the specimens and the fine dispersion of the nanoparticles.

Construction and applications of blood collection information management system based on wireless personal digital assistant technology

Using wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) mobile terminal product and client/server (C/S) architecture, and based on winCE operating system, the blood information management system is constructed, which is a safe, efficient, stable and practical blood information management system. This blood information management system not only regulates operation procedures of blood collection and blood supply, but also realizes with quantitative blood key link of quality control. This system provides reliable data to ensure the blood quality and safety, in order to ensure clinical blood use safety. This article focuses on constructions and applications of wireless PDA technology in blood information management system. Key words: Personal digital assistant technology; Process control; Blood safety; Informatization

Employing Ultrahigh-Frequency RFID Technology on Deer Farm Managment

This project uses ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) ear tags and readers with a readable range of 3 to 5 m. Forty stags were tagged with radio-frequency identification (RFID) ear tags and allocated into 20 pens. When deer with RFID ear tags walked through the aisle, handheld RFID readers, used as personal digital assistants (PDAs), and stationary RFID readers in frequency range received signals from the tags, and individual deer tag data were transmitted immediately and completely through wireless PDAs to a computer. The inputted data were sent to the deer-farm management system to be collated and organized. Farmers obtained individual deer data without approaching the deer, which decreased the risk of the deer attacking. Employing UHF-RFID technology integrated with software contributes to enhancing the efficiency of deer identification and farm management.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Solifenacin Succinate versus Placebo Control, Phase 4, Multicenter Study Evaluating Urinary Continence after Robotic Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

Bladder dysfunction influences recovery of urinary continence after radical prostatectomy. We performed a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study evaluating solifenacin vs placebo on return to continence in patients who were still incontinent 7 to 21 days after catheter removal after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. A wireless personal digital assistant was given to patients the day of catheter removal. Encrypted answers were transmitted daily to dedicated servers. After a 7 to 21-day treatment-free washout period, patients requiring 2 to 10 pads per day for 7 consecutive days were randomized (1:1) to 5 mg solifenacin daily or placebo. The primary end point was time from first dose to continence defined as 0 pads per day or a dry security pad for 3 consecutive days. Secondary end points included proportion of patients continent at end of study, average change in pads per day number and quality of life assessments. A total of 1,086 screened patients recorded personal digital assistant information. Overall 640 patients were randomized to solifenacin vs placebo and 17 failed to take medication. There was no difference in time to continence (p=0.17). Continence was achieved by study end in 91 of 313 (29%) vs 66 of 309 (21%), respectively (p=0.04). Pads per day change from baseline was -3.2 and -2.9, respectively (p=0.03). Dry mouth was the only common adverse event seen in 6.1% and 0.6%, respectively. Constipation rates were similar. The overall rate of continence in the entire population from screening to end of study was 73%. There was no effect on primary outcome but some secondary end points benefited the solifenacin arm. The study provides level 1B clinical evidence for continence outcomes after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

Evaluation of a wireless handheld medication management device in the prevention of drug-drug interactions in a Medicaid population.

With the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, widespread adoption of certain health information technologies, such as electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), is imminent. Drug-drug interaction (DDI) screening and medication history information are commonly incorporated into health information exchange systems to improve medical decision making, safety, and quality of care, but the value of these features is unclear. To evaluate the effect of providing access to an early generation electronic medication management program with medication history accessible to prescribers via a wireless handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) device on the incidence of potential DDIs (i.e., DDIs that may or may not cause patient harm). This study employed a retrospective pre-intervention/post-intervention study design with a comparison group to evaluate the effectiveness of a wireless handheld medication management program in preventing serious potential DDIs. Licensed prescribers in a state Medicaid program who wrote prescriptions during the period from August 2003 through June 2006 were included in this study. The intervention (PDA) group consisted of clinicians who requested and were granted access to the wireless handheld device containing prescription drug history between August 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005. Initially the device contained 100-day patient-specific medication history, but other functionalities were added during the study period including the ability to check for drug-drug interactions and e-prescribing. The comparison group consisted of prescribers who sent a request to obtain, but did not receive, the wireless handheld device during the same time period. Baseline prescribing patterns of 25 previously identified clinically important potential DDIs were assessed over two 12-month periods, one period prior to (baseline) and one period after (follow-up) an index date (date of device deployment for PDA group; date of request for comparison group). A random-effects negative binomial model was used to analyze the primary outcome, the number of potential DDIs per prescriber per 12-month time period. A secondary outcome of interest, the likelihood that a prescriber would prescribe at least 1 potentially interacting medication pair during the baseline and follow-up periods, was analyzed using a random-effects logistic model. A total of 1,615 prescribers constituted the PDA group, and 600 prescribers made up the comparison group. Prescribers in the 2 groups were significantly different in their specialty practice areas (P less than 0.001), number of pharmacy claims at baseline (P less than 0.001), and the likelihood of prescribing at least 1 potential DDI combination during the 1-year baseline period (P=0.003). However, the prescriber groups were similar in their average age (P=0.241) and geographic location (P=0.181). The most widely prescribed potential DDIs included those involving warfarin with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and thyroid hormones. The median number of patient medication history updates requested per PDA group prescriber during follow-up was 24 (range 0 to 1,073). At baseline, 1,104 (68.4%) of the PDA group and 449 (74.8%) of the comparison group had no potential DDIs. During the next year, 1,131 (70.0%) and 462 (77.0%) of the PDA group and comparison group, respectively, had no DDIs. The incidence rate ratio was 1.01 (95% CI=0.87-1.17) for the PDA group relative to the comparison group for change in number of potential DDIs. In the logistic regression model, the odds of prescribing at least 1 potential DDI did not significantly differ by group (odds ratio=1.26, 95% CI=0.96-1.66). These results indicate that there was no significant difference between the intervention and comparison group with regard to the change in the rate of potential DDIs between the baseline and follow-up periods. A stand-alone medication management program in a wireless PDA device was not frequently used by most prescribers to update patient medication histories and was not associated with a reduction in the rate of prescribing potentially clinically important DDIs.

Development and evaluation of a PDA-based teleradiology terminal in thyroid nodule diagnosis

We developed a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA)-based teleradiology terminal which allowed a secure connection to the hospital's Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) through the DICOM protocol. Ten members of the hospital's medical staff completed a questionnaire about its mobility, usability, stability, performance and diagnostic efficiency in a real health-care environment. There was a high degree of satisfaction with the system's mobility (mean score 4.1, SD 1.0, on a five-point scale), usability (mean score 4.2, SD 1.1), stability (mean score 3.9, SD 0.4) and performance (mean score 4.2, SD 0.6). The system was evaluated as a tool for providing assistance in diagnosing thyroid nodules from ultrasound images. A total of 144 ultrasound images with thyroid nodules were assessed by an expert. Six image quality attributes were evaluated. The physician concluded that the ultrasound thyroid images on the PDA screen were of similar quality to those displayed on a diagnostic visual display unit screen. However, the expert found difficulties in diagnosing microcalcification, internal echo texture and vascularity. The PDA terminal provided rapid, secure and convenient portable access to PACS images and the image quality was sufficient for diagnostic interpretation of ultrasound images of the thyroid.

A system for the provision of medical diagnostic and treatment advice in home care environment

Healthcare is an increasingly collaborative enterprise, involving broad range of healthcare services provided by many individuals and organizations. Apart from the provision of healthcare services to patients during hospitalization, the ability to assist people who have healthcare needs at their homes (e.g., the elderly) has become an increasingly critical issue. Provision of such personalized medical care services to patients requires readily access to integrated healthcare services ubiquitously. The integration of mobile and wireless devices with Grid technology can provide ubiquitous and pervasive access to Grid services. This article presents MASPortal, a Grid portal application for the assistance of people who are in need of medical advice at their homes. MASPortal is designed for use with wireless Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and provides remote access to an automated medical diagnostic and treatment advice system via an adaptive and easy to use interface. MASPortal has been implemented with a multi-layered security infrastructure in order to ensure secure access to healthcare processes and sensitive patient data.

MEMSWear-biomonitoring system for remote vital signs monitoring

This paper proposes a remote vital signs monitoring system, which integrates wireless body area network (WBAN) and personal digital assistant (PDA) phone technology. Four different physiological signs, e.g., ECG, SpO 2 , temperature and blood pressure, can be continuously acquired or derived from two wireless sensor nodes—ECG sensor and integrated SpO 2 /temperature sensor. Once sentinel events happened or the request to real-time display vital signs is confirmed, all physiological signs and critical indices will be immediately transmitted to patient's PDA phone through Bluetooth and further relayed to doctor's PDA phone through global system for mobile communication (GSM) technology. A prototype of such system has been successfully developed and implemented, which will offer high standard of healthcare with a major reduction in cost for our society.

Value of wireless personal digital assistants for practice: perceptions of advanced practice nurses

The aims were to explore advanced practice nurses' perceptions on wireless Personal Digital Assistant technologies, to establish the type and range of tools that would be useful to support their practice and to identify any requirements and limitations that may impact the implementation of wireless Personal Digital Assistants in practice. The wireless Personal Digital Assistant is becoming established as a hand-held computing tool for healthcare professionals. The reflections of advanced practice nurses' about the value of wireless Personal Digital Assistants and its potential to contribute to improved patient care has not been investigated. A qualitative interpretivist design was used to explore advanced practice nurses' perceptions on the value of wireless Personal Digital Assistant technologies to support their practice. The data were collected using survey questionnaires and individual and focus group interviews with nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and information technology managers based in British Columbia, Canada. An open-coding content analysis was performed using qualitative data analysis software. Wireless Personal Digital Assistant's use supports the principles of pervasivity and is a technology rapidly being adopted by advanced practice nurses. Some nurses indicated a reluctance to integrate wireless Personal Digital Assistant technologies into their practices because of the cost and the short technological life cycle of these devices. Many of the barriers which precluded the use of wireless networks within facilities are being removed. Nurses demonstrated a complex understanding of wireless Personal Digital Assistant technologies and gave good rationales for its integration in their practice. Nurses identified improved client care as the major benefit of this technology in practice and the type and range of tools they identified included clinical reference tools such as drug and diagnostic/laboratory reference applications and wireless communications. Nurses in this study support integrating wireless mobile computing technologies into their practice to improve client care.

Mobile Statistic Process Control e-service supported with wireless PDA and digital calipers

This paper deals with describing an e-service driven SPC model for the closed-loop quality control in a machining process. Digital calipers are used to sample the real-time measuring data and linked to the above SPC prototype service module. Wireless Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), as client-side support, are used to run the SPC service module and to realise the on-site Quality Control management. In addition, both the correlative analysis of signals and the fault trees construction according to potential quality goal parameters play a very important role in searching the certain fault sources to influence the quality goal parameters. In order to verify the method and technology proposed in this paper, a running example is also given.

Activity-Oriented Design of Health Pal: A Smart Phone for Elders' Healthcare Support

Wireless telephones and personal digital assistants are emerging, as the information hubs connect their human users with assorted electronic devices and the World Wide Web. As such, they quickly become the de facto basis for personalized information services. The Kannon project team at the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan is developing a ubiquitous service infrastructure for elders' healthcare support. Among their deliverables, there is a PDA Phone, christened Health Pal, which can communicate with Bluetooth/ZigBee devices, universal plug-and-play (UPnP) e-home service platforms, and online healthcare providers to offer 24/7 healthcare services to elderly people. This paper presents the early results of this effort including the functional and operational concepts of Health Pal as well as the activity-oriented approach of its design. Preliminary results of its usefulness and usability evaluations are reported. A comparison of this platform against several similar prototypes was also included to illustrate the advantage of applying activity-oriented design approach to human-computer interactions.

Computação móvel em agricultura

The new information and communication technologies adoption and use in the different economy sectors are being responsible for the generation of new and interesting business models. Amongst the possibilities we face today and by the potential it offers to the agricultural sector we call the attention to the “m-Business”. The “m-Business” can be defined as using mobile Technologies to support goods, services, information and knowledge exchange. This model includes a wide range of mobile activities, namely communication between people using electronic mail, the possibility to receive products information through short messages services or collecting field information with wireless personal digital assistants. The “m-Business” refers not only to final consumers applications but also enterprise solutions that support organizations in their relations with the costumers and generate additional profits. This model by using the convergence of mobile phone and Internet Technologies to support the new information and communication technologies use anywhere anytime has a high potential for the agricultural field where the spatial component and the need to follow the business in the field are the daily concerns of the managers acting in this field. In this work we will present some national initiatives that are being launched in the agricultural field taking advantage from mobile computing solutions and draw some conclusions about their potential to the agricultural sector. We will also present some developments under way in this field specially in the communication networks field where the “WiMax” technology big promises can make us believe that in the near future we will have broad band access in the rural areas.

A mobile clinical e-portfolio for nursing and medical students, using wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs)

This paper outlines the development and evaluation of a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) based clinical learning tool designed to promote professional reflection for health professionals. The "Clinical e-portfolio" was developed at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing to enable students immediately to access clinical expertise and resources remotely, and record their clinical experiences in a variety of media (text, audio and images). The PDA e-portfolio tool was developed to demonstrate the potential use of mobile networked technologies to support and improve clinical learning; promote reflective learning in practice; engage students in the process of knowledge translation; help contextualize and embed clinical knowledge whilst in the workplace; and to help prevent the isolation of students whilst engaged in supervised clinical practice. The mobile e-portfolio was developed to synchronise wirelessly with a user's personal Web based portfolio from any remote location where a cellular telephone signal or wireless (Wi-Fi) connection could be obtained. An evaluation of the tool was undertaken with nurse practitioner and medical students, revealing positive attitudes to the use of PDA based tools and portfolios, but limits to the use of the PDA portfolio due to the inherent interface restrictions of the PDA.

A mobile clinical e-portfolio for nursing and medical students, using wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs)

This paper outlines the development and evaluation of a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) based clinical learning tool designed to promote professional reflection for health professionals. The "Clinical e-portfolio" was developed at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing to enable students immediately to access clinical expertise and resources remotely, and record their clinical experiences in a variety of media (text, audio and images). The PDA e-portfolio tool was developed to demonstrate the potential use of mobile networked technologies to support and improve clinical learning; promote reflective learning in practice; engage students in the process of knowledge translation; help contextualize and embed clinical knowledge whilst in the workplace; and to help prevent the isolation of students whilst engaged in supervised clinical practice. The mobile e-portfolio was developed to synchronise wirelessly with a user's personal Web based portfolio from any remote location where a cellular telephone signal or wireless (Wi-Fi) connection could be obtained. An evaluation of the tool was undertaken with nurse practitioner and medical students, revealing positive attitudes to the use of PDA based tools and portfolios, but limits to the use of the PDA portfolio due to the inherent interface restrictions of the PDA.

A Preliminary Study toward Wireless Integration of Patient Information System

This paper presents the results of a study toward generating a wireless environment to provide real-time mobile accessibility to patient information system. A trial system is set up where database, Internet, and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are integrated in such a way that the medical professionals like physicians, nurses, and lab assistants can create, access, and update medical records using wireless PDAs from any location in the hospital, which is covered by wireless LAN. The same services, which can be carried out via fixed terminals with Internet connectivity, can be carried out using wireless PDAs. The implementation has used and integrated many technologies like Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic®, Structured Query Language (SQL) Server, ActiveSync®, IEEE802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology and wireless security concepts. The paper details the architectural aspects of technology integration and the methodology used for setting up the end-to-end system. The proposed architecture, its performance data, and the common implementation barriers are reported.

Power-aware network swapping for wireless palmtop PCs

Virtual memory is considered to be an unlimited resource in desktop or notebook computers with high storage capabilities. However, in wireless mobile devices, like palmtops and personal digital assistants (PDAs), storage memory is limited or absent due to weight, size, and power constraints, so that swapping over remote memory devices can be considered as a viable alternative. However, power-hungry wireless network interface cards (WNICs) may limit the battery lifetime and application performance if not efficiently exploited. In this paper, we study performance and energy of network swapping in comparison with swapping on local microdrives and flash memories. We report the results of extensive experiments conducted on different WNICs and local swapping devices, using both synthetic and natural benchmarks. Our study points out that remote swapping over power-manageable WNICs can be more efficient than local swapping, especially in bursty workload conditions. Such conditions can be forced where possible by reshaping swapping requests to increase energy efficiency and performance.

Application and Usage of Wireless PDAs in a First-Year Medical Curriculum

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have played an increasingly prominent role in the clinical rotation components (i.e., 3rd and 4th years) of many medical programs. However, to date very few medical schools have actively utilized these devices in the first year of medical studies. This paper will focus on the role librarians played in the implementation of wireless PDAs as a learning tool, into a new first-year medical curriculum. Issues discussed will include: the collaborative selection of a “Gold Standard” suite of PDA software; PDA orientation and training for faculty and students; integration of these devices; student PDA usage; and future directions.

A Comparative Approach to Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk Assessment

Trauma patients are at risk for developing DVT/PE. The Bronson Trauma Model incorporates a DVT scoring system into the daily routine for all injured patients admitted to the Trauma Care Unit. Dr Paul Blostein added the DVT Risk Assessment spreadsheet to his personal digital assistant and made it available to other members of the team to allow calculation of a patient's DVT risk percentage during daily multidisciplinary rounds in the Trauma Care Unit. The Trauma Program has found the incorporation of the scoring systems into the trauma registry to be a value-added component of our performance improvement process. Bronson's unique model of trauma care, where patients are admitted and discharged from the same room, combined with today's technology of wireless laptops and personal digital assistants, promotes a progressive approach to DVT/PE prophylaxis and performance improvement. Our trauma follow-up program has proven to be effective in reintegrating patients back into the trauma system to optimize their functional status and improve their outcome.

Mobile Clinical Learning using Wireless Personal Digital Assistants for Professional Healthcare Students

Mobile Clinical Learning using Wireless Personal Digital Assistants for Professional Healthcare Students