An improved localization algorithm with wireless heartbeat monitoring system for patient safety in psychiatric wards

Psychiatric patients often require continuous monitoring to keep them out of dangerous situations. Accordingly, hospitals hire additional staff to monitor patients' vital signs, maintain patient safety, and ensure that patients do not leave the hospital without notice. However, ward staff have difficulty knowing whenever a psychiatric patient is stepping into potential danger zones or encountering any safety threat. This paper reports the development of a wireless monitoring system to improve patient safety in psychiatric wards and reduce avoidable risks. The proposed system can ease the workload of nurses, help locate patients, and monitor patients' heartbeats. A two-step clustering localization algorithm is proposed for use in tracking patients' locations. This study marks for the first time that heartbeat detection using a ZigBee-based platform with localization function has been proposed. A proof-of-concept system is developed to understand the current hardware challenges and to enable functional analysis of the proposed ZigBee-based patient localization system. The error distance of the proposed localization algorithm is approximately 1 m. Its location accuracy is 90% with the error distance of up to 3 m. The proposed system is expected to improve patient safety significantly in psychiatric wards at low cost.     

Dynamic equipment workspace generation for improving earthwork safety using real-time location system

Earthwork equipment accounts for a large proportion of the fatalities on construction sites. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the period between 1992 and 2002, struck by vehicles and struck by objects (e.g., vehicle parts, vehicle loads, or falling vehicles) were identified as the causes of 30% and 24% of fatal equipment-related accidents on excavations sites, respectively. It is therefore of a paramount importance to improve the safety of construction sites by increasing the peripheral awareness of the operators of earthwork equipment. Several research works have investigated numerous collision avoidance systems that exploit real-time location systems and proximity measurements to mitigate the risk of accidents on excavation sites. However, these systems often detect collisions based on using the workspaces that only account for the geometry and the degrees of freedom of the equipment, and thus disregard the state-dependent characteristics of equipment. This results in reserving a large space for every piece of equipment, which reduces the applicability of these systems in congested sites. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel method for generating dynamic equipment workspaces based on the continuous monitoring of a spectrum of equipment-related information, i.e., the current pose/state of the equipment, and the speed characteristics of each movement. This method uses the required operation stoppage time to determine how much space needs to be reserved for each piece of equipment. A case study is conducted to validate the proposed method. It is shown that the proposed method has a strong potential in capturing the hazardous areas around the equipment and triggering warnings in view of the impending movements of various pieces of equipment. Also, the proposed method proved to have potential applications in actual projects in congested sites where space is limited.     

Human factors systems approach to healthcare quality and patient safety

Human factors systems approaches are critical for improving healthcare quality and patient safety. The SEIPS (Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety) model of work system and patient safety is a human factors systems approach that has been successfully applied in healthcare research and practice. Several research and practical applications of the SEIPS model are described. Important implications of the SEIPS model for healthcare system and process redesign are highlighted. Principles for redesigning healthcare systems using the SEIPS model are described. Balancing the work system and encouraging the active and adaptive role of workers are key principles for improving healthcare quality and patient safety.     

Human factors risk assessment: An integrated method for improving safety in clinical use of medical devices

Medical devices play a critical role in care and treatment. The human-related failures can significantly affect the safety of patients in clinical use of medical devices. This study develops a comprehensive risk assessment model for identification and evaluation of failures which may occur in the clinical use of medical devices. First, the “Swiss cheese” model and SHEL model (the acronym of software, hardware, environment, and liveware) are integrated to comprehensively identify the potential human errors. Then, a new failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) approach improved by rough set theory and grey relational analysis is developed to assess the risk of the identified failures. The proposed method integrates the strengths of the “Swiss cheese” and SHEL model in identifying human failures from both the vertical and horizontal perspectives of the system, and the advantages of the improved FMEA approach in flexibly manipulating vague information in risk evaluation without much priori information. Finally, the proposed method is applied in clinical use of respirator to verify its efficiency and effectiveness.     

提高车辆安全性的输出反馈自适应控制

研究含有时变参数的车辆动力学模型的输出跟踪控制问题.控制目标是使车辆的横摆角速度和质心侧偏角分别跟踪理想的设定值,通过反推方法设计输出反馈自适应控制器.控制器的输出为主动横摆力矩,通过控制主动横摆力矩来控制车辆的输出响应跟踪理想的输出信号,从而提高车辆的安全性.仿真结果表明,该控制器能更好地适应车速和路况的变化,鲁棒性强.     

Context and profile based cascade classifier for efficient people detection and safety care system

This study propose a system of extracting and tracking objects for a multimedia system and addresses how to extract the head feature from an object area. It is observed in images taken from real-time records like a video, there is always a variance in human behavior, such as the position, size, etc. of the person being tracked or recorded. This study discusses how to extract and track multiple objects based on context as opposed to a single object. Via cascade extraction, the proposed system allows tracking of more than one human at a time. For this process, an extraction method based on internal and external contexts, which defines features to distinguish a human, is proposed. The proposed method defines shapes of shoulder and head area to recognize the head-shape of a human, and creates an extractor according to its edge information and geometrical shapes context. In this paper, humans in images are extracted and recognized using contexts and profiles. The proposed method is compared with a single face detector system and it shows better performance in terms of precision and speed. This trace information can be applied in safety care system. Extractions can be improved by validating the image using a context based detector when there are duplicated images.     

A strategy for improving safety related software engineeringstandards

There are many standards which are relevant for building safety- or mission-critical software systems. An effective standard is one that should help developers, assessors and users of such systems. For developers, the standard should help them build the system cost-effectively, and it should be clear what is required in order to conform to the standard. For assessors, it should be possible to objectively determine compliance to the standard. Users, and society at large, should have some assurance that a system developed to the standard has quantified risks and benefits. Unfortunately, the existing standards do not adequately fulfil any of these varied requirements. We explain why standards are the way they are, and then provide a strategy for improving them. Our approach is to evaluate standards on a number of key criteria that enable us to interpret the standard, identify its scope and check the ease with which it can be applied and checked. We also need to demonstrate that the use of a standard is likely either to deliver reliable and safe systems at an acceptable cost or to help predict reliability and safety accurately. Throughout the paper, we examine, by way of example, a specific standard for safety-critical systems (namely IEC 1508) and show how it can be improved by applying our strategy     

RMAN克隆ORACLE数据库技术在完善医院信息系统维护工作中的作用简

在当前的医院信息化建设中，应该注意网络安全的维护工作，特别是在ORACLE数据库安全维护方面，更是需要特别的注重。以下本篇就来探讨RMAN克隆ORACLE数据库技术在完善医院信息系统维护工作中的作用。     

渔获质量安全溯源信息管理系统的设计与实现

随着信息技术的提高,将信息技术应用于远洋渔船的薄弱环节是必然趋势.将RFID技术应用于渔获物的质量安全溯源系统,有利于源头数据的建立.本文首先介绍了系统的设计思路,以及软硬件开发环境,接着介绍了系统采用的一些关键技术和系统的实现情况.最后提出了该溯源系统中的不足之处,以及以后的研究方向.     

基于联盟区块链的农产品质量安全高效追溯体系

针对农产品追溯系统中的安全和效率问题，依据区块链的去中心化安全特性，提出一种基于联盟区块链的高效解决办法。首先，通过星际文件系统（IPFS）对农产品数据进行hash转变，从而减小区块中单条事务数据量，并利用IPFS数据的不可逆原理，达到数据的初步保障；其次，建立联盟区块链模型进行数据验证，区块链数据验证的共识算法采用实用拜占庭容错（PBFT）算法来减少全网共识时间；最后，根据仿真实验中参与节点数、区块大小和网络带宽，来拟合验证交易的时间曲线，进而计算出不同带宽下的区块链交易效率，并结合数以万计的传感器参与下的农产品追溯系统的实际情况，对比区块链双链结构，给出分析结果。实验结果表明，在低于1000个验证节点的条件下，区块链最大共识时长为32 min，联盟链系统可支持35~40万条传感器数据，可适用于大范围、多数据的农产品追溯。     

农产品质量安全检测管理决策支持系统及其应用

为了提高农产品质量安全检测数据的利用率,挖掘农产品质量安全检测管理潜力,运用数学建模技术,构建了具有较强科学性和通用性的农产品质量安全检测分析模型.根据信息管理系统的发展趋势及农产品检测数据的特点,设计了基于B/S的具有"三库"数据库结构的4层系统结构框架.在此基础上,应用基于数据挖掘技术和模型组件技术,建立了网络化和数字化的农产品质量安全检测管理决策支持系统.经过近两年的试运行,应用结果表明,该系统表现出较好的可靠性和普适性,方便了检测及管理人员的检测和监管.     

Three-stage process for improving roll bending quality

Continuous pyramidal three-roll bending process has the simple configuration. However, two planar zones exist near the leading and trailing edges after a conical roll bending. This paper proposes a three-stage process to improve the geometrical quality of a bent cone for providing an alternative process for the manufacture of the crowns of Francis turbines for hydro plants or the towers of wind power plants. The process was simulated under the commercial software LS-DYNA with an explicit scheme and ANSYS with an implicit scheme. The geometrical quality of the bent cone was improved after the final stage of the process.     

Multilevel static analysis for improving program quality

In this paper, we discuss some program analysis methods for finding defects in source code that are combined to form a multilevel analysis system. The first level consists of the checks using abstract syntax tree (AST) walks and intraprocedural dataflow; this level also builds a memory model for the subsequent levels. The memory model requires evaluating integer expressions and points-to sets. The second level is an interprocedural summary-based approach whereby the program features of interest are calculated as attributes of value classes that are formed in the program. Finally, the third level is a path-sensitive analysis that builds reachability formulas for program points and tracks the predicates that should hold for the desired features to be observable. The errors are found by testing the formulas for satisfiability with an SMT solver. All these levels of analysis are implemented in the Svace analyzer toolset, which demonstrates scalability up to millions of lines of code and precision of 60–90% true positives.     

Method for improving image quality in digital linear tomography

A computer simulation method that eliminates blurring in medical imaging and retains the real image needed at the focal plane is introduced. The quantitative analysis of a sample quantum layer of a continuous body is given. It was found that the tomographic layer thickness is inversely proportional to the angle of X-ray source travel, and is also dependent on the linear attenuation coefficient of the body.     

基于Web的亚热带水果产品质量安全追溯系统关键技术研究

为了实现对亚热带水果"从果园到餐桌"全方位的跟踪和追溯,分析了水果产品生产流程并确定了影响其质量的关键点,以产品生产批次作为"身份标识",采用UCC/EAN-128编码方式结合流程编码、RFID和二维码等编码技术进行了追溯编码,并采用任务与角色相结合的权限分配策略,构建了一个多层次多用户权限动态管理的亚热带水果生产加工全过程的质量跟踪与追溯系统,为生产者、质检部门和消费者提供一个集产品生产加工诸环节的信息交流平台,并以网络、语音、短信、触摸屏向公众提供追溯查询和防伪服务,具有应用推广价值。     

A fuzzy quality control-decision support system for improving operational reliability of liquid transfer operations in laboratory automation

Quality control in liquid transfer operations can eliminate false assay results due to transfer failures, monitor the stability of laboratory equipment, provide baselines for continuous improvement, and enable automatic recovery actions for a number of fault conditions. This paper describes the work done to add real-time quality control capability in liquid transfer operations on a closed-loop controlled MEMS based liquid transfer device.Real-time data acquisition enables the interpretation of system variables. Using fuzzy logic as a decision support tool, an overall quality metric and failure mode is deduced from these variables for each channel per operation. Detection of ordinary fault conditions like clogged tips or unexpected empty source wells can activate automatic recovery actions without human intervention, leading to 24/7 utilization of an automated laboratory system. Exported quality data can be used for bio-informatics data analysis as well as documentation for regulatory agencies.     

Application of machine vision in improving safety and reliability for gear profile measurement

This research presents a camera-based measurement system which is developed to improve the safety and reliability for gear profile measurement system. Gear profile measurement is vital in precision engineering. To increase the safety and reliability of the precision measurement, application of camera or vision is very useful. Automatic control is also necessary to increase reliability of the measurement system. Normally, gear profiles are measured using contact-based stylus system. During gear profile measurement, human monitoring is required to avoid accident and sometimes we may face great danger regarding safety of our body especially eyes. The stylus is sharp and thin and if it is collided to the gear teeth there is high probability of breaking and scattering the stylus tip. To save time, if the measurement probe scans the gear shape with a speed of 10 mm/s then the issue of safety should be considered highly. The traditional methods for gear measurement are either time consuming or expensive. This paper presents the successful implementation of the camera system in precision measurement which saves time and increases safety and reliability of the measurement with the increment of the measurement performance by increasing production rate. Color-based stylus tracking algorithm is implemented to acquire better reliability of the complete system. Thus, the developed system with vision enhances safety and reliability of the precision measurement.     

MAPO index for risk assessment of patient manual handling in hospital wards: a validation study

Manual handling of disabled patients – as regards movement – is one of the major factors affecting acute low back pain of exposed nursing staff. In the absence of quantitative methods assessing this kind of risk, the Research Unit Ergonomics of Posture and Movement of Milan developed in 1997 a risk assessment method called Movement and Assistance of Hospital Patients (MAPO), which is applicable in hospital wards.

A first study conducted in 1999 allowed the identification of three levels of MAPO index corresponding with increasing probabilities of being affected by acute low back pain. In accordance with the well-known traffic light model, for MAPO index values between 0 and 1.5 the risk is considered to be absent or negligible. For values between 1.51 and 5.00 the risk is considered to be moderate. For values exceeding 5.00 the risk is considered to be high. In view of the limitations of the previous study, the results needed confirmation and so, in 2000–2001, another cross-sectional study was carried out, which included 191 hospital wards for acute and chronic patients and 2603 exposed subjects. This paper presents the analytical results of the association between the MAPO index and acute low back pain in this new data sample.

The agreement between results of the two studies indicates that the MAPO index can be used as a risk index, although with some caution, as detailed in the paper. It can assess the risk exposure level of patient manual handling in wards and can be a useful tool for planning effective preventive actions to reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in health-care workers looking after disabled patients.