The architectural environment is always changing, as high-rise buildings and complex interior spaces are constructed, causing a wide variety of unpredictable disasters and accidents. Hence, effective ...disaster prevention and rescue are crucial to the protection of life and property. Specifically, firefighting is essential for public safety and building safety. Rescue maps that are currently used in fire departments are two-dimensional (2D) because fire accidents have mostly occurred in low-rise buildings. Therefore, fire incident commanders have previously only had typical fire rescue maps to use for firefighter deployment. Such 2D-based firefighting strategies, tactics, and deployment are not always effective in current structures, and do not inform whether occupants are trapped during a fire. Consequently, fire rescue teams continue to consult maps on different floors when conducting fire rescue tasks, reducing their speed and efficiency. An intelligent integrated fire rescue system could provide real-time status updates, alarm reports, and evacuation guidance, improving fire rescue techniques through a combination of contemporary autosensing and communication systems. To achieve the aim, this work combines existing firefighting equipment, Bluetooth sensors, global positioning information, an optimal fire rescue path-planning algorithm, and visual technology to construct a framework of dynamic rescue/evacuation procedures for fire departments. By providing the locations of firefighters and trapped occupants, real-time updates for optimal path planning in a dynamic environment provide fire departments with accurate and useful information regarding the fire site in real time. The proposed system effectively reduces the number of casualties, supporting rescue process and emergency evacuation.
•Firefighting is essential for public safety and building safety.•Commanders have previously only had rescue maps to rely on for firefighter deployment.•This work presents a framework of dynamic fire rescue procedures for fire departments.•Optimal path planning provides accurate information regarding the fire site in real time.•The proposed system effectively supports disaster prevention and rescue process in complex buildings.
Occlusion poses as a critical challenge in computer vision for a long time. Recently, the technique of synthetic aperture photography using a camera array has been regarded as a promising way to ...address the problem of occluded object imaging. Unfortunately, the expensive cost of a standard camera array system with the required calibration procedure still limits the widespread popularity of this technique. To make synthetic aperture photography practical, in this paper, we propose a novel approach based on a mobile camera-IMU system moving on a planar surface. The contributions of our work include: (1) with geometric property assumptions, we mathematically prove that the transformation matrices for synthetic aperture image generation can be factorized into an infinite homography and a shift; (2) the IMU data are utilized to estimate the homography by selecting the plane at infinity as the reference plane, which is scene independent and does not require any calibration; (3) compared to the conventional camera array based approaches, the proposed method effectively improves the solution for synthetic aperture images capturing and generation by using a more flexible, convenient and inexpensive system. Extensive experimental results with qualitative and quantitative evaluations have demonstrated the see-through-occlusion performance with satisfactory accuracy of the proposed approach in different scenarios.
•The first method that uses camera and IMU data to generate synthetic aperture images.•Analytical factorization of the problem into two parts and solved by separate data.•Totally scene independent homography estimation based on IMU data.•Avoids complicated optimization and reduces computational complexity.•Provides user a more flexible and inexpensive system than conventional methods.
Automatically recognizing dangerous situations for a vehicle and quickly sharing this information with nearby vehicles is the most essential technology for road safety. In this paper, we propose a ...real-time deceleration pattern-based traffic risk detection system using smart mobile devices. Our system detects a dangerous situation through machine learning on the deceleration patterns of a driver by considering the vehicle's headway distance. In order to estimate the vehicle's headway distance, we introduce a practical vehicle detection method that exploits the shadows on the road and the taillights of the vehicle. For deceleration pattern analysis, the proposed system leverages three machine learning models: neural network, random forest, and clustering. Based on these learning models, we propose two types of decision models to make the final decisions on dangerous situations, and suggest three types of improvements to continuously enhance the traffic risk detection model. Finally, we analyze the accuracy of the proposed model based on actual driving data collected by driving on Seoul city roadways and the Gyeongbu expressway. We also propose an optimal solution for traffic risk detection by analyzing the performance between the proposed decision models and the improvement techniques.
Aims and objectives
To examine nurses’ experiences regarding the benefits and obstacles of using a smart mobile device application in home care.
Background
The popularity of mobile phones and ...Internet technology has established an opportunity for interaction between patients and health care professionals. Line is an application allowing instant communication that is available for free globally. However, the literature relating to use of Line in this area is limited.
Design
A qualitative study involving individual in‐depth interviews.
Methods
Participants included community nurses (N = 17) from six home care facilities in southern Taiwan who had used Line for home care of chronically ill patients for at least six months. The study was conducted using semi‐structured in‐depth interviews, which were recorded and converted into transcripts for content analysis.
Results
Seven themes emerged from data analysis: reduction in medical care consumption and costs, reduction in workload and stress, facilitating improvement in the quality of care, promotion of the nurse–patient relationship, perceived risk, lack of organisational incentives and operating procedures and disturbance to personal life.
Conclusions
Nurses considered Line valuable for use in home care. While this application has diverse functions, its video transfer function could in particular help nursing staff make prompt decisions about patients’ problems and promote nurse–patient relationships. However, there might be hidden risks including legal consequences, safety risks to patients, possible violations of professionalism and increased risk of nurse burnout. Increasing nursing staff awareness of using mobile messaging software applications is necessary.
Relevance to clinical practice
This study provides relevant information about the benefits, disadvantages, risks and limitations of nurses’ use of Line. The study also provides suggestions for software programmers and future organisational strategy and development.
In the context of European Higher Education students face an increasing focus on independent, individual learning—at the expense of face-to-face interaction. Hence learners are, all too often, not ...provided with enough opportunities to negotiate in the target language. The current case study aims to address this reality by going beyond conventional approaches to provide students with a hybrid game-based app, combining individual and collaborative learning opportunities. The 4-week study was carried out with 104 German language students (A1.2 CEFR) who had previously been enrolled in a first-semester A1.1 level course at a Spanish university. The VocabTrainerA1 app—designed specifically for this study—harnesses the synergy of combining individual learning tasks and a collaborative murder mystery game in a hybrid level-based architecture. By doing so, the app provides learners with opportunities to apply their language skills to real-life-like communication. The purpose of the study was twofold: on one hand we aimed to measure learner motivation, perceived usefulness and added value of hybrid game-based apps; on the other, we sought to determine their impact on language learning. To this end, we conducted focus group interviews and an anonymous Technology Acceptance Model survey (TAM). In addition, students took a pre-test and a post-test. Scores from both tests were compared with the results obtained in first-semester conventional writing tasks, with a view to measure learning outcomes. The study provides qualitative and quantitative data supporting our initial hypotheses. Our findings suggest that hybrid game-based apps like VocabTrainerA1—which seamlessly combine individual and collaborative learning tasks—motivate learners, stimulate perceived usefulness and added value, and better meet the language learning needs of today’s digital natives. In terms of acceptance, outcomes and sustainability, the data indicate that hybrid game-based apps significantly improve proficiency, hence are indeed, effective tools for enhanced language learning.
Smart blood pressure holter İlhan, İlhan
Computer methods and programs in biomedicine,
March 2018, 2018-Mar, 2018-03-00, 20180301, Letnik:
156
Journal Article
Recenzirano
•In this study, a wireless blood pressure holter was developed.•The smart mobile device is used as a recording, control and display device through the developed interface.•The cuff was designed to ...take measurements from an arm and Resistor-Capacitor (RC) and digital filters were used on the cuff.•The blood pressure was estimated using the Simple Hill Climbing Algorithm.•The test results indicated that the wireless blood pressure holter can satisfy the requirements of a classical holter device.
In this study, a wireless blood pressure holter that can be used with smart mobile devices was developed. The developed blood pressure holter consists of two parts, which are a smart mobile device and a cuff. The smart mobile device is used as a recording, control and display device through a developed interface, while the cuff was designed to take measurements from the arm.
Resistor-Capacitor (RC) and digital filters were used on the cuff that communicates with the smart mobile device via Bluetooth. The blood pressure was estimated using the Simple Hill Climbing Algorithm (HCA). It is possible to measure instantaneous or programmable blood pressure and heart rate values at certain intervals using this holter.
The test was conducted with 30 individuals at different ages with the guidance of a specialist health personnel. The results showed that an accuracy at 93.89% and 91.95% rates could be obtained for systolic and diastolic pressure values, respectively, when compared with those obtained using a traditional sphygmomanometer. The accuracy level for the heart rate was measured as 97.66%. Furthermore, this device was tested day and night in the holter mode in terms of working time, the continuity of the Bluetooth connection and the reliability of the measurement results.
The test results were evaluated separately in terms of measurement accuracy, working time, the continuity of the Bluetooth connection and the reliability of the measurement results. The measurement accuracy for systolic, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate values was obtained as 93.89%, 91.95% and 97.66%, respectively. The maximum number of measurements which can be conducted with four 1000 mA alkaline batteries at 20 min intervals was found approximately 79 (little more than 24 h). In addition, it was determined that the continuity of the Bluetooth connection and the reliability of the measurement results were automatically achieved through the features in the interface developed for the smart mobile device. These different evaluations showed that the smart blood pressure holter can meet the requirements of a classical holter device.
Existing distance measurement methods either require multiple images and special photographing poses or only measure the height with a special view configuration. We propose a novel image-based ...method that can measure various types of distance from single image captured by a smart mobile device. The embedded accelerometer is used to determine the view orientation of the device. Consequently, pixels can be back-projected to the ground, thanks to the efficient calibration method using two known distances. Then the distance in pixel is transformed to a real distance in centimeter with a linear model parameterized by the magnification ratio. Various types of distance specified in the image can be computed accordingly. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
With the rapid development of science and technology, social competition becomes more and more fierce, and work pressure becomes more and more intense. The problem of sleep has become a disease of ...modern civilization, and in order to alleviate sleep problems and improve sleep quality, related research methods are constantly updated, and there are more and more ways to address these problems. In this paper, we propose a dynamic assisted sleep light that adjusts the color temperature, illuminance, and frequency of change by controlling the backlight of the smart mobile device, so that the user experiences an improved quality of sleep. In this study, the methods of subjective questionnaire survey and non-subjective physiological parameter measurement were adopted for analysis. The results showed that the continuous use of the light source could continuously enhance the user’s delta energy during sleep and promote the improvement of sleep quality.
Highlights • A wireless blood pressure measuring device used together with a smart mobile device was developed. • The smart mobile device was used as an indicator and a control device. • The cuff ...communicating with this device through Bluetooth was designed to measure blood pressure on the arm. • Digital filter was used on the cuff instead of classical analog signal processing and filtering circuit. • The test results showed that higher accuracy could be achieved with the device developed.
Regular physical activity (PA) contributes to health, growth and development in childhood and it is essential for children to achieve appropriate PA levels (PAL). However, most children around the ...world fail to comply with the recommended PAL requirements. Rope skipping, as a highly accessible, enjoyable, and affordable physical activity for students, has been considered a sustainable afterschool physical activity to promote physical fitness of students by educators. The booming development of smart fitness product design and the advent of exergames have brought new possibilities for physical education and rope skipping: personalized guidance, intuitive and interesting feedback and visualized exercise data analysis—there is much room for optimization. In this study, an intelligent skipping rope and its service system were studied for primary school students (aged 7–12) who started to get involved in this sport. First, user needs, product functions, and system requirement were summarized by conducting observations and user interviews. Then, a prototype of the hardware and software interface were designed based on analysis of user research. Next, a usability test of the interactive prototype was carried out and optimization was finally made based on the feedback of the usability evaluation. The final system design includes combined innovations in software and hardware with the intention to increase children’s participation in physical activity and assist them in skipping rope in the right way with proper equipment and programs.
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