This thesis is motivated by development of The Wearable Personal Data Information Capture System (WPDICS), which is used to support the "physical" data stream requirement on a person as they experience daily life, including visual and audio information. To fit the acquirement of "wearable", the system should be very tiny in size and very low cost. Our purpose is to conduct a feasibility analysis for WPDICS using commercially available components (Sharp Zaurus SL 5600 Linux PDA) and evaluate the acquisition of "physical" data streams grabbed by this component. In the thesis, we also develop some software test the data acquisition, especially audio and visual data.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2008. / Vita. Bibliography: p.63-64

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2007. / [School of Medicine] Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Includes bibliographical references. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

The purpose of this study is to examine the thermal and mechanical properties of various halogen-free laminates used in handheld electronic products and to correlate these properties to the manufacturing requirements and mechanical performance. Thermal properties determined for the laminates are the glass transition temperature, x,y,z-axis CTE, time to delamination at 260˚C and 288˚C, temperature to decomposition and interconnect stress test. SEM and EDS mapping analyses have been done on the laminates to determine the chemical composition and area fraction of the filler used in the epoxy. Three different fillers are identified from the laminates: Al(OH)3, Mg(OH)2, SiO2. Results show that the SiO2 fillers presented in the laminates reduce the z-axis CTE changes and increase the time to delamination. The x and y axis CTE is found to be lower than the z-axis CTE due to the glass fibers reinforcement in both the x and y directions. The temperature to decomposition is dependent on both the fillers and epoxy chemistry. Al(OH)3 starts to decompose above 200˚C and increases the rate of decomposition at 260˚C. Its decomposition also leads to an increase in z-axis CTE above 240˚C. Interconnect stress test results show that laminates with higher temperature to decomposition exhibit longer cycles to failure. Mechanical test results indicate that the halogenated laminates without fillers perform better than the halogen-free laminates with fillers. High fillers loading increase the flexural modulus and Vickers hardness properties of the laminates but decrease both the flexural strength and energy to fracture. Silica fillers in particular are susceptible to weaken these mechanical properties. Laminates without any fillers show plastic deformation of the epoxy matrix after fracture and result in a high energy to fracture. The adhesion of fillers to the matrix is important as the better the adhesion the higher the flexural strength is for the laminates. Results show that laminates with Al(OH)3 as the major filler have higher flexural strength than laminates with silica fillers, which also demonstrates that adhesion of the Al(OH)3 fillers are better than the silica. Laminates without any filler have higher copper peel strength than laminates with fillers.

The purpose of this study is to examine the thermal and mechanical properties of various halogen-free laminates used in handheld electronic products and to correlate these properties to the manufacturing requirements and mechanical performance. Thermal properties determined for the laminates are the glass transition temperature, x,y,z-axis CTE, time to delamination at 260˚C and 288˚C, temperature to decomposition and interconnect stress test. SEM and EDS mapping analyses have been done on the laminates to determine the chemical composition and area fraction of the filler used in the epoxy. Three different fillers are identified from the laminates: Al(OH)3, Mg(OH)2, SiO2. Results show that the SiO2 fillers presented in the laminates reduce the z-axis CTE changes and increase the time to delamination. The x and y axis CTE is found to be lower than the z-axis CTE due to the glass fibers reinforcement in both the x and y directions. The temperature to decomposition is dependent on both the fillers and epoxy chemistry. Al(OH)3 starts to decompose above 200˚C and increases the rate of decomposition at 260˚C. Its decomposition also leads to an increase in z-axis CTE above 240˚C. Interconnect stress test results show that laminates with higher temperature to decomposition exhibit longer cycles to failure. Mechanical test results indicate that the halogenated laminates without fillers perform better than the halogen-free laminates with fillers. High fillers loading increase the flexural modulus and Vickers hardness properties of the laminates but decrease both the flexural strength and energy to fracture. Silica fillers in particular are susceptible to weaken these mechanical properties. Laminates without any fillers show plastic deformation of the epoxy matrix after fracture and result in a high energy to fracture. The adhesion of fillers to the matrix is important as the better the adhesion the higher the flexural strength is for the laminates. Results show that laminates with Al(OH)3 as the major filler have higher flexural strength than laminates with silica fillers, which also demonstrates that adhesion of the Al(OH)3 fillers are better than the silica. Laminates without any filler have higher copper peel strength than laminates with fillers.

This study was conducted to determine whether or not combining feedback modes resulted in improved operator performance, given a specific task and environment. A common industrial handheld scanner with multiple feedback settings was used to assess four experimental feedback conditions (auditory, auditory-visual, auditory-tactile, and auditory-visual-tactile) during simulated box scanning tasks. Participants completed four-50 box trials in a single test session where boxes were scanned and located based on the feedback provided regarding the scan. Task completion time and ranks, hit rate and false alarms were recorded. While the auditory-visual-tactile feedback combination produced the fastest performance time, there was no statistically significant improvement in operator performance between the four feedback settings tested. By understanding the most important feedback modes, or combination of such, identification of the best scanner settings for this device and task can be made.

No / Expecting ambulance clinicians to dependably differentiate the life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by sepsis from an inflammatory response to a non-infectious aetiology, relying upon vital signs and a physical examination of the patient alone, must be considered unrealistic. Although lactate measurement has been integrated into numerous prehospital sepsis screening tools, it is not yet measured routinely within UK ambulance services. Research has generally focused on whether handheld point-of-care lactate measurement devices are as accurate as laboratory analysis of venous or arterial samples. The weight of literature has concluded negatively in relation to this. However, there is potential for handheld devices to be used independently to monitor trends in lactate elimination or accumulation to inform decisions on the efficacy of prehospital interventions, or simply to report categorical data in terms of whether lactate levels are elevated or not. This offers UK paramedics the opportunity to improve sepsis care through the enhanced assessment of risk and acuity, the identification of patients with cryptic shock, more aggressive fluid resuscitation and advanced notification to receiving units.

No / The aim of this review was to examine whether the measurement of lactate in capillary blood samples using point-of-care handheld analysers corresponds sufficiently closely with arterial and venous whole-blood samples analysed by hospital central laboratory or blood gas analyser to be used interchangeably. A systematic search, informed by focused inclusion/exclusion criteria, was performed using multiple databases up to October 2015. A total of 65 articles were considered to have potential relevance and were evaluated in full text, of which ultimately five articles met all inclusion/exclusion criteria, and a final four were selected after data extraction and quality appraisal. All four studies found a predominantly upward bias in the measurement of lactate in capillary samples tested using a handheld point-of-care device over arterial or venous samples tested by laboratory methods or blood gas analyser. In terms of correlation, there was consensus between the studies that the strength of association between the two methods of measurement was statistically significant. Three studies directly examined the extent of agreement between point-of-care capillary lactate measurements and those of laboratory or blood gas analyser reference determined to ±2 standard deviations; 95% confidence intervals, and report contextually broad limits of agreement, identifying a potential for both over triage and, to a lesser extent, under triage. The findings of the review do not support interchangeable use of handheld fingertip point-of-care lactate measurement with laboratory or blood gas analyser methods in the identification of sepsis.

No description available.

This report describes the work method, conclusions and result of my Master Degree in Advanced Product Design at Umeå Institute of Design. The project lasted 17 weeks and took place in spring 2013. The project was carried out in collaboration with Atlas Copco. The main purpose of this project is to explore the future of handheld demolition tools and how to carry out this extremely physically demanding work in an ergonomic and effortless way, while keeping productivity high and complexity low. I will look into the area of robotics, compact machines, and exoskeletons to get inspiration for supportive structures that could potentially semi- or fully automate some of the strenuous movements of today’s work, while trying to incorporate features to solve some of the other problematic aspects like the hazardous silica and asbestos dust spreading in the air and/or detecting hidden pipes and cables to avoid unnecessary interior damages. The result will be a conceptual product meant for the future market of 2025.6