Search

For many patrons, libraries are synonymous with books and reading. However, people don't always take advantage of reader's advisory services offered by libraries. Rather than approaching librarians for suggestions of what to read, most people instead turn to their personal networks or express a preference for more passive approaches to recommendations. As a halfway point between in-person reader's advisory interactions and algorithmic recommendations, Worthington Libraries staff leveraged the NoveList and Polaris APIs to create custom book recommendation kiosks. Recommendation Stations, as we call them, allow people to scan a book barcode, browse read-alikes, check local availability and print shelf locations, all in the guise of an interactive fortune teller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features the speakers and subjects that were included in the original panel at American Library Association (ALA) annual conference. These include "Interconnecting Worlds: Weaving Community Narratives, Andean Histories & the Library's Collections," by Giselle M. Avillés, "Whose History: A Culturally Responsive Approach in Public Library Special Collections" by Alex Mada, and "The Midwest Indigenous Cartography Project" by Heather Sloan.

Purpose: Assistive technologies based on IoT can contribute to improve quality of living of patients with severe motor difficulties by providing partial or total independence. The aim of this work was to analyse the usability and performance of an assistive system based on the IoT when is evaluated by a child patient with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA-I). Materials and methods: The study involved a child with SMA-I and his caregiver. The materials used include an M5Stack Core2 kit, a mobile app, and a smart switch based on the ESP-01S card. The patient sends requests to the caregiver from the app installed on the M5Stack Core2 to a mobile app, and controls smart switches located in the rooms. The system was tested by the participants for a period of 30 days to later evaluate its usability and performance. Results: The results show that the control function of smart switches is the most used and there is no decrease in interactions over the days for the system in general. In addition, the scores obtained from both usability tests (patient and caregiver) were 87.5% and 90%, respectively. The average performance of the entire system was 93.33%. Conclusion: The application of assistive technologies based on the IoT allows obtaining a practical solution that improves the development of daily activities in a patient with SMA-I. Implications for Rehabilitation: A low-cost device can contribute to improve the quality of living of spinal muscular atrophy patients by favouring partial or total independence. IoT-based assistive technologies allow obtaining practical solutions that improve the development of daily activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Little is known about how children learn to control eye-gaze technology, and clinicians lack information to guide decision-making. This paper examines whether typically developing 2–3 year olds can infer for themselves the causal mechanisms by which eye-gaze technology is controlled, whether a teaching intervention based on causal language improves performance and how their performance compares to the same task accessed via a touchscreen. Methods and materials: Typically developing children's (n = 9, Mean Age 28.7 months) performance on a cause and effect game presented on eye-gaze and touchscreen devices was compared. The game was presented first with no specific instruction on how to control the devices. This was followed by a subsequent presentation with explicit instruction about how the access methods worked, using a causal language approach. A final presentation examined whether children had retained any learning. Results: Performance in the eye-gaze condition without instruction (42.5% successful trials) was significantly below performance in the corresponding touchscreen condition (75%). However, when causal language instruction was added, performance with both access methods rose to comparable levels (90.7% eye-gaze and 94.6% touchscreen success). Performance gains were not retained post-intervention. Conclusions: Although 2–3 years in the study could make use of eye-gaze technology with support, this study found no evidence that these children could infer the causal mechanisms of control independently or intuitively. The lack of spatial contiguity and the comparative lack of feedback from eye-gaze devices are discussed as possible contributory factors. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: There are challenges in young children inferring for themselves the causal link between eye movements and control of an eye-gaze device. Explicit instruction may improve children's performance in a specific task, but it is debatable whether this translates to the establishment of causal mechanisms for control of the device. Clinicians should be cautious of making assumptions about what children are learning from activities claiming to teach cause and effect or other foundational eye-gaze control skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AES is yet one of the prominent cryptographic algorithms of the 21st century with the reputation of excellent performance and reliability. AES revolves around the S-Box, a nonlinear substitutive table that is essential to attain the level of cryptosecurity. In this paper, there are several methods discussed as how to increase AES S-Box functionality with regard to new cryptographic threats and their effectiveness. We detail the consequences of raising S-Box length and size, dynamical S-Box producing, higher nonlinearity, and efficient methods of S-Box calculation by means of hardware and software. Furthermore, it explains the issues with these improvements and how they impact security measures & relevant computations. Here it is possible to state that applying all these modern approaches, it is possible to strengthen the AES S-Box essentially and ensure compliance with present day demands to cryptographic solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy is the most frequent condition affecting the central nervous system and causing large disability. OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of touch screen tablet upon fine motor functions in children with hemiparesis. METHOD: This was a randomized controlled trial involving 60 children, ranging in age from 5 to 7 years old, randomized into two groups: intervention or control group (30 children per group). Both groups were given 12 consecutive weeks of designed fine motor tasks. Additionally, for thirty minutes, the intervention group was given a fine motor exercise program on a touch screen tablet. Upper limb function, finger dexterity and pinch strength were measured pre and post the recommended treatment program using the quality of upper extremity skill test (QUEST), Nine-Hole Peg Test and Jamar hydraulic pinch gauge, respectively. RESULTS: All outcome measures were equivalent between intervention groups at admission (P > 0.05). Significant improvements were found in all assessed variables within the two groups. Meanwhile, the intervention group had significantly higher improvements (P < 0.05) in finger dexterity, pinch strength, and upper limb function when compared with the control groups. CONCLUSION: Including a touch screen smart tablet application with a specially designed fine motor program is an effective method that helps children with U-CP perform more effectively with their fine motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compared to other providers, nurses spend more time with patients, but the exact quantity and nature of those interactions remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to characterize the interactions of nurses at the bedside using continuous surveillance over a year long period. Methods: Nurses' time and activity at the bedside were characterized using a device that integrates the use of obfuscated computer vision in combination with a Bluetooth beacon on the nurses' identification badge to track nurses' activities at the bedside. The surveillance device (AUGi) was installed over 37 patient beds in two medical/surgical units in a major urban hospital. Forty‐nine nurse users were tracked using the beacon. Data were collected 4/15/19–3/15/20. Statistics were performed to describe nurses' time and activity at the bedside. Results: A total of n = 408,588 interactions were analyzed over 670 shifts, with >1.5 times more interactions during day shifts (n = 247,273) compared to night shifts (n = 161,315); the mean interaction time was 3.34 s longer during nights than days (p < 0.0001). Each nurse had an average of 7.86 (standard deviation [SD] = 10.13) interactions per bed each shift and a mean total interaction time per bed of 9.39 min (SD = 14.16). On average, nurses covered 7.43 beds (SD = 4.03) per shift (day: mean = 7.80 beds/nurse/shift, SD = 3.87; night: mean = 7.07/nurse/shift, SD = 4.17). The mean time per hourly rounding (HR) was 69.5 s (SD = 98.07) and 50.1 s (SD = 56.58) for bedside shift report. Discussion: As far as we are aware, this is the first study to provide continuous surveillance of nurse activities at the bedside over a year long period, 24 h/day, 7 days/week. We detected that nurses spend less than 1 min giving report at the bedside, and this is only completed 20.7% of the time. Additionally, hourly rounding was completed only 52.9% of the time and nurses spent only 9 min total with each patient per shift. Further study is needed to detect whether there is an optimal timing or duration of interactions to improve patient outcomes. Clinical Relevance: Nursing time with the patient has been shown to improve patient outcomes but precise information about how much time nurses spend with patients has been heretofore unknown. By understanding minute‐by‐minute activities at the bedside over a full year, we provide a full picture of nursing activity; this can be used in the future to determine how these activities affect patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multi-touch interfaces, scrolling is a common interactive task. Scrolling performance can help users search and browse content initially off-screen. To evaluate this interaction task by performing analyses and making model assumptions about the interaction process, we divided it into two phases: the search phase and the pointing phase. As a result, quantitative modelling was developed, and two scrolling modes with and without distance feedback were considered. The results of the controlled experiments verified our four proposed mathematical hypotheses of the interaction process and indicated that our model achieved a good fit with and without distance feedback. Our work provides a theoretical foundation for modelling sophisticated scrolling actions and suggestions for user interface designs related to scrolling performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's evolving digital health strategy leverages innovative technologies to enhance access to healthcare services. This paper explores the key components of India's digital health transformation, including the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and India's integration of biometric identification and digital infrastructure to improve healthcare delivery. The lessons learned from India's large-scale implementation of digital health provide valuable insights for global health markets and digital transformations in healthcare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the problematic democratization of small museum collections online in Cyprus. While the web has enabled cultural heritage organizations to democratize information to diverse audiences, numerous small museums do not enjoy the fruits of this digital revolution; many of them cannot democratize their collections online. The current literature provides insight into small and large museums' challenges worldwide. However, we do not have any knowledge concerning small Cypriot museums. This article aims to fulfill this gap by raising the following research question: What is the current state of small museum collections online in Cyprus, and what challenges do they face in democratizing their collections online? We present our empirical results from the interview summaries gathered from six small museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to commercialize products based on distributed innovation is one of the critical challenges of large-scale open innovation. While this issue has been largely investigated in relation to open-source software (OSS), the literature on commercialization strategies of open-source hardware (OSHW) is comparatively scarce, despite OSHW commercialization being more complex. Based on a multi-method exploratory study, this article shows that with OSHW, firms may strategically leverage a "gray area" between closeness and openness to take advantage of OSWH community innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the digitization of cultural heritage in Russian libraries, archives, and museums. In order to achieve the research goals, both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were adopted to analyze the current status of legislative principles related to digitization through the literature review and the circumstance of the latest projects related to digitization through the literature and website review. The results showed that these institutions seem quite successful where they provide a wide range of services for the users to access the digital collections. However, the main constraints on digitization within libraries, archives, and museums in Russia are connected with the scale of the work, dispersal of rare books throughout the country, and low level of document usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Engineering Research & Development (IJERAD) is the property of International Journal of Engineering Research & Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed to create a genetic information processing technique for the problem of multiple alignment of genetic sequences in bioinformatics. The objective was to take advantage of the computer hardware's capabilities and analyze the results obtained regarding quality, processing time, and the number of evaluated functions. The methodology was based on developing a genetic algorithm in Java, which resulted in four different versions: Gp1,Gp2,Gp3,and Gp4. A set of genetic sequences were processed, and the results were evaluated by analyzing numerical behavior profiles. The research found that algorithms that maintained diversity in the population produced better quality solutions, and parallel processing reduced processing time. It was observed that the time required to perform the process decreased, according to the generated performance profile. The study concluded that conventional computer equipment can produce excellent results when processing genetic information if algorithms are optimized to exploit hardware resources. The computational effort of the hardware used is directly related to the number of evaluated functions. Additionally, the comparison method based on the determination of the performance profile is highlighted as a strategy for comparing the algorithm results in different metrics of interest, which can guide the development of more efficient genetic information processing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) continues to be a worldwide problem. Affected offspring display impaired neurodevelopment, including difficulties with executive control. Although PAE has also been associated with decreased blood flow to fetuses, the relationship between PAE and altered blood flow is not well understood. Methods: We used preclinical models of PAE, transient systemic hypoxia ischemia (TSHI), and PAE + TSHI combined to assess the effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes using translationally relevant touchscreen operant platform testing. Twenty-eight Long-Evans (Blue Spruce, Strain HsdBlu:LE) dams were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: Saccharin Control (Sham), 5% Ethanol (PAE), TSHI, or 5% Ethanol and TSHI (PAE + TSHI). Dams consumed either saccharin or 5% ethanol during gestation. TSHI was induced on Embryonic Day 19 (E19) during an open laparotomy where the uterine arteries were transiently occluded for 1 h. Pups were born normally and, after weaning, were separated by sex. A total of 80 offspring, 40 males and 40 females, were tested on the 5-Choice Continuous Performance paradigm (5C-CPT). Results: Female offspring were significantly impacted by TSHI, but not PAE, with an increase in false alarms and a decrease in hit rates, omissions, accuracy, and correct choice latencies. In contrast, male offspring were mildly affected by PAE, but not TSHI, showing decreases in premature responses and increases in accuracy. No significant interactions between PAE and TSHI were detected on any measure. Conclusion: Transient systemic hypoxia ischemia impaired performance on the 5C-CPT in females, leading to a bias toward stimulus responsivity regardless of stimulus type. In contrast, TSHI did not affect male offspring, and only slight effects of PAE were seen. Together, these data suggest that TSHI in females may cause alterations in cortical structures that override alterations caused by moderate PAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a simple yet novel method of designing a fractional-order proportional derivative (namely, PDμ) controller for all types of integrating plants. Considering the importance of the direct synthesis approach, the method obtains robust closed-loop performance. The setpoint parameter is obtained using the multi-optimization Pareto solution, considering the optimal values in control efforts and performance index together. The numerical investigations have shown improved servo and regulatory responses compared to recently published strategies with fractional orders. It is also known that classical PIDs cannot accurately follow a ramp setpoint. A real-world situation also demands that the reference inputs become an acceleration ramp type. The proposed technique can handle rising ramp setpoints with plant uncertainty and measurement noise. Hardware verification is also performed on a quadrotor minidrone to check for real-time issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics is the property of Editorial Department of Journal of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2019, the University of Houston Libraries formed a Theses and Dissertations Digitization Task Force charged with digitizing and making more widely accessible the University's collection of over 19,800 legacy theses and dissertations. Supported by funding from the John P. McGovern Foundation, this initiative has proven complex and multifaceted, and one that has engaged the task force in a broad range of activities, from purchasing digitization equipment and software to designing a phased, multiyear plan to execute its charge. This plan is structured around digitization preparation (phase one), development of procedures and workflows (phase two), and promotion and communication to the project's targeted audiences (phase three). The plan contains step-by-step actions to conduct an environmental scan, inventory the theses and dissertations collections, purchase equipment, craft policies, establish procedures and workflows, and develop digital preservation and communication strategies, allowing the task force to achieve effective planning, workflow automation, progress tracking, and procedures documentation. The innovative and creative approaches undertaken by the Theses and Dissertations Digitization Task Force demonstrated collective intelligence resulting in scaled access and dissemination of the University's research and scholarship that helps to enhance the University's impact and reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-light images are captured in situations where the environment lighting is poor or the camera hardware is not capable of producing good quality images. These types of images tend to have low contrast, blurry details, noise, and color distortion. In computer vision applications, image brightness plays a crucial role, and therefore, low-light image enhancement is used as a preprocessing step. In this study, we have improved the Low-Light Enhancement Network with Global Awareness (GLADNet) method by adding a UNet based edge information extraction unit. The channel attention mechanism was also incorporated into the edge information extraction unit to achieve color preservation. Our experiments show that our proposed method has achieved higher PSNR, SSIM, and FSIM metrics compared to reference images. Additionally, it has produced lower NIQE and BRISQUE values for non-reference performance evaluation. Moreover, our proposed method removes noise better and produces visual results that are closer to the target images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features of the definition of an agent and a software agent, its dimensions and other components; models of software agents and its properties; classification of software agents by architecture, communication principles and agent communication languages (ACL), as well as existing platforms for their development (e.g., JADE, SPADE); multi-agent system (MAS); behavior types of SPADE software agent based on the example of one of the platforms (including for subsequent experiments to compare behaviors in terms of hardware resources usage). Minor adjustments have been made to the syntax of mathematical expressions describing the agent model, and a revision of the formalized definitions of agent property set has been proposed; a formalized description of the model of studied agent type is determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows positive effects of health-oriented leadership (HoL) on employees. However, the increasing spread of working from home may challenge leadership effectiveness. This study examines whether ICT hassles weaken the positive relationships between HoL and follower outcomes. Effectiveness of HoL was tested as perceived by employees while working from home for 1) employee exhaustion with an experimental vignette study (N = 138), and 2) employee strain and engagement in a survey with two measurement points (N = 214). Results provided evidence for lower exhaustion and strain, and higher engagement with more HoL. Results also showed higher exhaustion and strain, and lower engagement with more ICT hassles. Moreover, the relationships of HoL with employee outcomes were weaker with more ICT hassles. Findings provide initial evidence that HoL positively affects employees when working from home, but that its effectiveness may be impaired by technical issues. Findings suggest that in order to maintain the effectiveness of HoL while working from home, organisations must provide reliable IT equipment and technical support. The study ties in with research on digital leadership and leadership effectiveness and contributes to the deeper understanding of situational contingencies of health-specific leadership during the process of digitisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject matter of this article is finite state machines (FSMs), which are used as control devices in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The goal of this study is to develop description styles for fault-tolerant FSMs in hardware description languages (HDLs) that prevent failures in the state register and in the input vector of the FSM. The tasks to be solved are as follows: development of description methods for FSM transitions from illegal states in case of failure in the state register, as well as for FSM transitions from each state in case of failure in the input vector; determination of FSM output vector values in case of the above failures; development of description styles for fault-tolerant FSMs; and investigation of the efficiency of the proposed description styles for faulttolerant FSMs. The methods used are: the theory of finite state machines, state encoding methods of FSMs, description styles of FSMs, and Verilog hardware description language. The following results were obtained: two styles of describing fault-tolerant FSMs have been developed, safe0 and safe1, which do not increase the area and do not decrease the performance of FSMs, and in some cases allow the area to be reduced (for some examples by a factor of 4.8) and increase the performance (for some examples by a factor of 2.355). In addition, the description styles of fault-tolerant FSMs neutralize design errors when transitions are described in each state but not for all possible values of input variables. Conclusions. In this paper, the problem of designing faulttolerant FSMs when the values of bits in the state register or in the input vector of the FSM change because of the negative external impact is described. Different ways of solving the problem at the level of FSM description in HDL are considered. Two description styles for fault-tolerant FSMs are proposed: safe0 and safe1. The fault tolerance of FSMs is provided in the following manner. When the input vector is not defined in the FSM specification for a specific state, the FSM will remain in the initial transition state, i.e. the FSM will not transit to another state. If the code of the illegal state is set in the state register, the FSM will transition to the start state. For all these faults, the safe0 style provides a zero output vector at the FSM output, whereas the safe1 style preserves the value of the previous output vector. A promising direction for future research seems to be the development of new styles and methods of FSM description, aimed at improving the FSM parameters (an area, a performance and a power consumption), as well as improving the reliability and fault tolerance of FSMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical networks are an integral part of modern telecommunication systems. Huge traffic and ever-increasing requirements for data transmission capacity and quality encourage the wider use of modern optical technologies in telecommunications. The rational choice of equipment for the design of optical networks is an urgent task at present. The subject of this study is the process of selecting optical line terminals, which is associated with the evaluation of possible options by a set of indicators. The OLT (optical line terminal) in PON technology implements the function of organizing subscriber lines and is also a node equipment - an L4 switch that combines the functions of routing (IP), traffic fragmentation (VLAN), switching (MAC), quality of service (QoS), and some necessary network service functions. The optimal structuring of PON access networks demands a judicious selection of software and hardware, guided by their tactical and technical characteristics, in view of the substantial information load they entail. One of the effective approaches to solving such problems is the use of MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making) methods. Purpose: to construct a TOPSIS model of the optimal choice of optical linear terminals in the conditions of unclear information for different cases of aggregation of evaluations of decision makers. Task: to formalize the process of selecting optical linear terminals; develop a multi-criteria mathematical model for the effective selection of optical line terminals. Methods used in the study: The fuzzy TOPSIS method, four methods of aggregating the opinions of decision makers. The following results were obtained. Alternatives and criteria for their evaluation are defined. On the basis of interviews with decision makers, evaluations of the degree of importance of the criteria and alternatives to the criteria were determined. Linguistic changes were used to describe decision-makers' evaluations, which were interpreted as triangular fuzzy numbers. During this study, four methods of aggregating the evaluations of decision makers were used. A fuzzy TOPSIS model for selecting an optical line terminal is constructed. The ranking of the selected optical line terminals is obtained and the best alternative is determined. The results of modeling with different methods of aggregating assessments of decision makers are compared. Conclusions. The use of the Fuzzy TOPSIS method for optimal selection of optical linear terminals is proposed. The influence of the methods of aggregation of evaluations of decision-makers is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardware security in the cyber security domain had become a more of a controversial topic over the past decade due to the introduction of new design technologies in semiconductors and expansion of global supplier chains. In proportion to the technological advancement of hardware production, the success rate of the existing hardware attacks had also evolved over the time with a significantly high rate of emergence of new attacking techniques and methods. Computing hardware is becoming a more and more attractive attack surface due to several reasons. The technology of analyzing the hardware components is becoming more and more affordable and accessible to the general public than before. Also due to the influx of IoT devices in the market, trend of simplifying the design structure to decrease the power consumption and maximizing the processing speed has become the theme of modern hardware implementations rather than the security of the devices. When considering the market demand and user requirements, it is more obvious for the computer manufacturers to give priority to user requirements rather than stressing more on the security aspects of their designs and devices. But there could be some catastrophic outcomes if the security aspects of these hardware tends to fail in a critical infrastructure, because these semiconductors are used in devices ranging from simple IoT devices to more complex systems like SCADA systems. Therefore, it is always a better approach to find a balance ground between the user requirement as well as the security of the hardware, without compromising either of both in the design and development. In this article, it presents an overall insight to trends in Hardware Security domain, specifically related to modern computer hardware design and manufacturing processes, distribution, usage, their disposal and recycling. These various stages are analyzed under Three main objectives of exposing the threats to computer hardware, suggesting countermeasures to minimize or eliminate those threats and discussing about the utilization of various design tools that can assist in the way to securing these computer hardware systems in their day-to-day applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The research was carried out to determine the attitudes of nursing undergraduate students toward e-learning implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject and methods: The study sample consisted of 320 undergraduate students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Nursing Department of a state university. Personal Information Form and the Test of e-Learning Related Attitudes were administered to the research participants. Results: Of the students, 68.8% were female and 51.6% were between the ages of 21–24. The attitude of 55.3% (177) toward e-learning is negative. Attitude scores of students aged 25–29 were significantly higher compared to those aged 17–20 and 21–24 years old (p = 0.002). The attitude scores of the students who have a computer are significantly higher than those who do not (p = 0.001). Most students did not agree with the statement "E-learning will provide me with better learning opportunities than conventional learning methods." (disagree n = 121; 37.8%, strongly disagree n = 110; 34.4%). Conclusion: It is noticed that e-learning is not sufficient in subjects such as conducting clinical and laboratory practices in health sciences fields with practical training like nursing, and students' attitudes are generally negative. For undergraduate health sciences education, face-to-face and online education for support purposes can be used together in theoretical courses. In addition, it is recommended to use effective online communication techniques in online courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, Aims and Objectives: Cleaning smartphones of healthcare workers (HCWs) is generally recommended; however, most previous studies on bacterial contamination of smartphones assessed touchscreens alone. This study compared the prevalence of bacterial contamination on touchscreens and posterior surfaces of smartphones owned by HCWs. Method: A cross‐sectional study of smartphones used by HCWs working at an emergency department (ED) at a Japanese tertiary care hospital was conducted. Bacteria on each surface of the smartphones were isolated separately. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the prevalence of microbial contamination on each surface of the smartphones and the types of associated bacterial species. Fisher's exact test was used to compare dichotomous outcomes. Results: The smartphones of 40 HCWs working in the ED of a Japanese tertiary care hospital were examined. The touchscreens and posterior surfaces were contaminated in 26 (65.0%) and 36 (90.0%) smartphones, respectively, indicating the posterior surface was more frequently contaminated (p = 0.014). Bacillus species and coagulase‐negative staphylococci were most frequently isolated from each surface of the smartphones. Conclusions: The posterior surface of a smartphone was more significantly contaminated with bacteria than the touchscreen. Both surfaces of smartphones need to be cleaned to prevent bacterial contamination in healthcare environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how large touchscreen buttons affect user task completion time, error rate, and subjective satisfaction (ease of pointing and clicking on targets). In this experiment, 31 participants completed button click tasks of square targets placed at 30 (5 × 6) different locations, with seven button sizes (10 mm, 30 mm, 50 mm, 70 mm, 90 mm, 110 mm, and 130 mm). Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that on a 65'' large touch screen (W 1428 × H 803 mm), 70 mm buttons achieved essentially the best performance in completion time, 50 mm in error rates, and 90 mm in subjective satisfaction, respectively. We also compare the differences in efficiency among different button areas and button sizes. The surrounding area and lower area require a bigger button size to achieve the best performance in terms of error rates and subjective satisfaction. The right area requires a bigger optimal button size than the left area considering error rates, while it is the opposite for subjective satisfaction. Practitioner summary: This study investigates how the size and location of buttons on the increasingly popular large touch screen affect user experience. The study reveals that 70, 50, 90 mm size buttons are recommended when speed, accuracy and satisfaction are priorities respectively. The interaction between button size and button area is significantly different. The surrounding area and lower area require a bigger button size to achieve the best performance in terms of error rate and subjective satisfaction. Considering error rates, the right area requires a bigger optimal button size than the left area, while it is opposite for subjective satisfaction. These findings could facilitate the optimal design of usable large touch screens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of determining the probability of timely elimination of critical failures under conditions of incomplete data represented by small samples of hardware dwell time in failure state and critical hardware time is considered. This probability is the probability of stochastic dominance of the critical time of the hardware over the time of the hardware in the state of failure, i.e. the probability that the random time of the hardware in the state of failure is less than the critical time of the hardware. Critical time is the time during which the elimination of the occurred failures does not lead to the occurrence of an unrecoverable failure of the object or to a significant reduction in the efficiency of its functioning. The problem of determining the probability of timely elimination of critical failures is formulated as a problem of finding guaranteed (lower and upper) probability estimates on the set of available initial data, represented by small samples of the time of stay of the equipment in the state of failure and critical time of the equipment. The guaranteed estimates of the probability of timely elimination of critical failures are found using the results of solving the problem of Markov moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current quantum hardware is significantly affected by computation errors. Error reduction is thus required to obtain meaningful results from quantum computers. Quantum error mitigation (QEM) methods, which are a class of hardware-friendly error-reduction methods not relying on the encoding of quantum information, are being actively researched. In this article, I review the major QEM methods. I then introduce the recent progress in QEM technologies proposed by our research group. First, I review the worlds' first quantum sensing method incorporating QEM. I then review the generalized quantum subspace expansion method, quite a general unified framework of QEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The system outage probability of two‐way hybrid satellite‐terrestrial relaying networks with hardware impairments is investigated, using a novel method which features appropriate signal‐to‐noise‐and‐distortion ratio expression adjustment. A concise closed‐form lower bound expression is derived, which is in good agreement with the exact outage probability in all signal‐to‐noise ratio regions. Based on the tight bound, an asymptotic expression is obtained, revealing that the hardware impairments coin the system outage probability ceiling. The deducing method, characterized by generality, can be applicable to various realistic fading channels. Simulation results validate the derived expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hardware-software system has been implemented to monitor the environmental state (EnvState) at the site of railway (RY) accidents and disasters. The proposed hardware-software system consists of several main components. The first software component, based on the queueing theory (QT), simulates the workload of emergency response units at the RY accident site. It also interacts with a central data processing server and information collection devices. A transmitter for these devices was built on the ATmega328 microcontroller. The hardware part of the environmental monitoring system at the RY accident site is also based on the ATmega328 microcontroller. In the hardwaresoftware system for monitoring the EnvState at the RY accident site, the data processing server receives information via the MQTT protocol from all devices about the state of each sensor and the device's location at the RY accident or disaster site, accompanied by EnvState contamination. All data is periodically recorded in a database on the server in the appropriate format with timestamps. The obtained information can then be used by specialists from the emergency response headquarters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]