No description available.

Examensarbetet bygger på en egen observation av brister som finns i de trygghetslarm som kommunerna använder sig av idag. Idén är att personer ska känna sig trygga på allmänna platser. Arbetet kommer att baseras på tre grundparametrar, position, fall och puls. Det är både teoretiskt fakta men även att testa olika system. Första fasen i arbetet är att strukturera ner grundparametrarna i mindre delar. Arbetet utförs genom att avläsa marknadens sortiment på trygghetslarm. Därefter utföra en egenskapad testanalys på komponenterna. Den andra fasen är att testköra och sammanfoga grundparametrarna till en produkt och att avläsa både marknaden och prisbilden. Även hur armbandet ser ut i dag och att tillverka en konstruktion som passar bättre dagens behov. Tredje fasen är en analys på vad som blev bra och vad som blev mindre bra, för att kontrollera att samtliga kriterier uppfyllts. En kontroll så att samtliga kriterier som har angetts uppfyllts. Produktens slutliga konstruktion för detta projekt ska ha en instruktionsmanual och en tillverkningsmanual. Konstruktion av ett nytt trygghetslarm genomfördes. Ett antal komponenter och analyser utfördes för att välja rätt komponenter till rätt grundparameter. Grundparametrarnas mål uppfylldes, ett av dem var trygghet på allmänplats.

A novel model was developed to test the use of short data sets for testing various alarm thresholds as part of an energy management program. Several years of 15-minute interval data were utilized from five buildings in Jacksonville, Florida. The model aggregated the data by day type and occupancy so that there were four period types used. For all of the buildings’ meters, their daily usage by period type was tested against the threshold to determine if an alarm would be triggered, which would then be assigned a reward and cost based upon the type and duration of response. The risk management value was converted to dollars, in order to normalize the energy and time. It was determined that the 5-month short data set was the most appropriate choice for short data sets. In addition, it was concluded that the thresholds should be set between 0.8 and 1.0 standard deviation above the average of the short window. Several recommendations for further study are also enclosed.

Bakgrunden tar upp tidigare studier att intensiwårdspatienter utsätts kontinuerligt for stress,   höga ljudnivåer och störd sömn, som tillsammans kan leda till en utveckling av IVA syndromet.   Syftet med studien var attkartlägga larmstarter från teknisk apparatur och andra störande     ljud på en intensiwårdsavdelning. Metoden var en observationsstudie dagtid under tre     dagar på två intensiwårdssalar och larmstartsprotokoll användes, for att dokumentera   varje larmstart från teknisk apparatur. En ljudnivåmätare användes ftir att få en uppskattning av decibel på larmstarter från     den tekniska apparaturen. Resultaten belyser att teknisk   apparatur såsom respiratorer, stod for 262larmstarter (cirka 33yo), övervakningsutrustning   som mäter invasivt blodtryck, for 175 larmstarter (cirka 22%o) och saturationlarm ftir 143   larmstarter (cirka 18o/o) av alla larmstarter i studien. Ett medelvärde påvisar 0,72larmstarter   per minut. Andra frekvent störande ljudfaktorer tas också upp i studien, som kan medfora en   ökad ljudnivå fiir patienterna på intensiwårdsavdelningen. Mätningarna visade att respiratorerna och sprutpumparnas larmstarter stod     ft)r de högst uppmätta decibelnivåerna på   80 decibel.

Abstract This study analyzed the contexts of three types of agonistic calls (Growl, Threat rattle, Vibrato growl) in Formosan macaques and their responses to predators and alarm calls at Mt. Longevity. Under natural condition, 112 five-minute scan samplings and 100 twenty-minute behavior samplings were collected to record agonistic behaviors and agonistic calls of macaques. In addition, 11 dog-presence tests and 102 playback experiments were successfully conducted from January 2003 to April 2004. Of 385 agonistic events, 61.8% comprise of vocal bouts contained units belonging to single type of agonistic calls, and 31.8% bouts were mixed units contained more than one type of agonistic calls. Among these three single types of agonistic calls, Vibrato growl was used most frequently during conspecific interactions (44.3%); Threat rattle was used toward human (51.7%) and dogs (94.4%). During intraspecies conflicts of macaques, the vocal rates of three single type agonistic calls decreased from adult males, adult females and juveniles to infants. The average units per bout of Growl was higher than that of Threat rattle and Vibrato growl (p<0.0002). However, the agonistic interactions explain the different functions of the three types of agonistic calls. Growl was frequently accomplished with chase of callers (45.6%), while flee was usually expressed by receivers (57.9%). When monkeys uttered Threat rattle or Vibrato growl, open mouth threat was the most frequent behavior expressed by callers (80.5% and 73.1%), while evade was most frequent behavior expressed by receivers (43.9% and 31.9%). Growl conveyed messages about intense callers and contexts, and receivers avoided damage through fleeing. These results support Smith (1981) hypothesis referential signal carry information about external objects, contexts or a caller internal state as reflected in the probability of its subsequent behavior pattern. Receivers are able to attribute a certain meaning and express appropriate responses by the combination of signal structure and the context in which they are exposed the call. Six different acoustic features of alarm calls existed between adult males and juvenile males. Alarm calls from Juveniles have higher Maximal, Median and Modulation Fundamental Frequencies than from adult males (p<0.0001). But alarm calls from juveniles have lower Highest Frequency, Total Range of Frequency and Duration of each Unit than from adult males (p<0.005). The results support current theory that the duration and fundamental frequency reflect body size. In the playback experiments, macaques responded stronger to alarm calls from adult males than from juvenile males (p<0.0001). The average response score of macaques toward alarm calls from playback experiments was highest from infants, followed by juveniles, adult females and adult males. Adult macaques often responded to playbacks by looking in the direction of the loudspeaker. Juveniles and infants most often responded to playback calls by escape and startle. In playback experiments of alarm calls from adult males, F troop had significant different responses in three different places, strongest in the unfamiliar place (p<0.0001). The presents of dog elicited macaques with stronger responses than playback of dog barks (p<0.0001).

­^¤å´£­n¡G Two different topics associated with their respective applications are proposed in this thesis. The first topic is focused on the implementation of a 4-Kb 500MHz 4-T CMOS SRAM using low-Vthn bitline drivers and high-Vthp latches. The storage of data is realized by a pair of cross-coupled PMOS transistors, while the wordline is controlled by a pair of NMOS transistors. The advantages of dual threshold voltage transistors can be used to reduce the access time and maintain data retention at the same time. The second topic is the implementation of cascade address transition detector (ATD) design with high noise immunity. We employ a feedback loop to prevent interference of noise and false alarm signal to stabilize the generated CS (Chip Select) signal. Besides, we use one delay buffer to dynamically adjust the CS strobe.

No description available.

Most of the operating vessel traffic management systems experience problems, such as track loss and track swap, which may cause confusion to the traffic regulators and lead to potential hazards in the harbour operation. The reason is mainly due to the limited adaptive capabilities of the algorithms used in the detection process. The decision on whether a target is present is usually based on the magnitude of the returning echoes. Such a method has a low efficiency in discriminating between the target and clutter, especially when the signal to noise ratio is low. The performance of radar target detection depends on the features, which can be used to discriminate between clutter and targets. To have a significant improvement in the detection of weak targets, more obvious discriminating features must be identified and extracted. This research investigates conventional Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) algorithms and introduces the approach of applying ar1ificial intelligence methods to the target detection problems. Previous research has been unde11aken to improve the detection capability of the radar system in the heavy clutter environment and many new CFAR algorithms, which are based on amplitude information only, have been developed. This research studies these algorithms and proposes that it is feasible to design and develop an advanced target detection system that is capable of discriminating targets from clutters by learning the .different features extracted from radar returns. The approach adopted for this further work into target detection was the use of neural networks. Results presented show that such a network is able to learn particular features of specific radar return signals, e.g. rain clutter, sea clutter, target, and to decide if a target is present in a finite window of data. The work includes a study of the characteristics of radar signals and identification of the features that can be used in the process of effective detection. The use of a general purpose marine radar has allowed the collection of live signals from the Plymouth harbour for analysis, training and validation. The approach of using data from the real environment has enabled the developed detection system to be exposed to real clutter conditions that cannot be obtained when using simulated data. The performance of the neural network detection system is evaluated with further recorded data and the results obtained are compared with the conventional CFAR algorithms. It is shown that the neural system can learn the features of specific radar signals and provide a superior performance in detecting targets from clutters. Areas for further research and development arc presented; these include the use of a sophisticated recording system, high speed processors and the potential for target classification.

Within the healthcare system, nurses, are involved in many critical steps of the patient care process such as surgery triaging, post-procedure recovery monitoring and handoff release to a caregiver. A significant portion of their time is spent on the hospital floors where patients recover from their medical procedures. In today’s healthcare environments, multiple devices – typically monitors, ventilators, and infusion pumps – are used during said patient recovery process. Health equipment manufacturers often add alarms to medical devices, which serve a variety of purposes, ranging from simple notifications to warnings and alerts about potential hazards that require rapid action. In typical hospital units, several types of medical devices that monitor a variety of parameters based on patient and nurses/assistants needs. Many devices have similar alarm tones, regardless of risk levels. A typical nurse will attend to multiple patients, and the number of alarms that require attention place tremendous demands on nurses’ cognition, which causes enormous alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue is not a new phenomenon and is very common in other industries, such as chemical processing, and nuclear power. The additional stress and burden of false alarms and non-actionable alarms is also troublesome. Many for-profit companies have developed commercial alarm management tools and aids to combat these problems and the rapid adoption of smart phones and tablets in healthcare has made alarm management more mobile and visual. However, even after these advances, the number of deaths and adverse events are still at an unacceptable level. The purpose of this study to establish that the current training methods used by various hospitals are inadequate and to explore the effects of rigorous one-on-one training and metacognitive intervention in managing alarm related adverse events. This study also identifies deficiencies in the current training methods and assesses the impact of individualizing alarm threshold settings on alarm workload, response and error rates.

Like your average morning alarm, hospital alarms are specifically designed to elicit cognitive distress via auditory stimulation. They sound continuously, beckoning hospital staff to investigate the source of their call, day and night. As a result, caregivers become desensitized and begin to ignore the seemingly constant stimulus. However, ignoring these pleas for help can lead to adverse patient outcomes as the true alarms are indistinguishable from the false. In this study, we will review literature from the last five years to examine how alarm fatigue in nurses leads to detrimental patient outcomes and how we can begin to reduce the incidence of alarm fatigue. For example, when telemetry leads are improperly applied or lose their adherence, they are more sensitive to patient movements and can cause alterations on the recorded cardiac strips, creating the illusion that a patient is having an arrhythmia when, in reality, the patient is fine. This phenomenon causes alarms to chime, requiring the nurse to rush into the room to check on the patient and turn off the alarm. This can occur multiple times a shift, causing the nurse to become overwhelmed, to ignore the alarm, or to become distracted from their other duties due to the constant alarm response. This situation can easily be avoided by proper preparation of skin at the attachment site and the replacement of leads and pulse oximeters with disposable versions that can be changed daily. The aim of this study is to provide a multifaceted approach to identify ways to reduce the amount of alarm fatigue in an acute care setting in order to improve patient outcomes and consequently increase both patient and nurse satisfaction.