Design and Evaluation of a Smart-Glasses-based Service Support System

The character of IT transformed from an attached commodity to the center of new products and services. Especially in technical customer services, new technologies such as smart glasses offer great opportunities to overcome current challenges. Due to the complexity of service systems engineering, guidance on how to design smart glasses-based service support systems is necessary. To overcome this complexity and fill the research gap of design knowledge, we (1) analyze the domain in a multi-method approach eliciting meta-requirements, (2) propose design principles, and (3) instantiate them in a prototype. We follow a design science research approach combing the buildphase with four evaluation cycles obtaining focus groups twice, demonstration with prototype and, based on that, a survey with 105 experts from the agricultural sector. We address real-world problems of information provisioning at the point of service and, thereby, contribute to the methodological knowledge base of IS Design and Service Systems Engineering

An Exploratory Study of Patient Falls

Debate continues between the contribution of education level and clinical expertise in the nursing practice environment. Research suggests a link between Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses and positive patient outcomes such as lower mortality, decreased falls, and fewer medication errors. Purpose: To examine if there a negative correlation between patient falls and the level of nurse education at an urban hospital located in Midwest Illinois during the years 2010-2014? Methods: A retrospective crosssectional cohort analysis was conducted using data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) from the years 2010-2014. Sample: Inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who experienced a unintentional sudden descent, with or without injury that resulted in the patient striking the floor or object and occurred on inpatient nursing units. Results: The regression model was constructed with annual patient falls as the dependent variable and formal education and a log transformed variable for percentage of certified nurses as the independent variables. The model overall is a good fit, F (2,22) = 9.014, p = .001, adj. R2 = .40. Conclusion: Annual patient falls will decrease by increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees and/or certifications from a professional nursing board-governing body

Wearable Communications in 5G: Challenges and Enabling Technologies

As wearable devices become more ingrained in our daily lives, traditional communication networks primarily designed for human being-oriented applications are facing tremendous challenges. The upcoming 5G wireless system aims to support unprecedented high capacity, low latency, and massive connectivity. In this article, we evaluate key challenges in wearable communications. A cloud/edge communication architecture that integrates the cloud radio access network, software defined network, device to device communications, and cloud/edge technologies is presented. Computation offloading enabled by this multi-layer communications architecture can offload computation-excessive and latency-stringent applications to nearby devices through device to device communications or to nearby edge nodes through cellular or other wireless technologies. Critical issues faced by wearable communications such as short battery life, limited computing capability, and stringent latency can be greatly alleviated by this cloud/edge architecture. Together with the presented architecture, current transmission and networking technologies, including non-orthogonal multiple access, mobile edge computing, and energy harvesting, can greatly enhance the performance of wearable communication in terms of spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, latency, and connectivity.Comment: This work has been accepted by IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazin

Mobile Service Support based on Smart Glasses

Emerging technologies, such as smart glasses, offer new possibilities to support service processes. Specifically, in situations where a person providing a service, such as a technician, needs both hands to complete a complex set of tasks, hands-free speech-controlled information systems can offer support with additional information. We investigated this research field in a three-year consortium with partners from the agricultural technology sector. During the course of our research, we 1) analyzed the domain in a multi-method approach to develop (meta-)requirements, 2) proposed design principles, 3) instantiated them in a prototype, and 4) evaluated the prototype. We followed a design science research approach in which we combined the build phase with four evaluation cycles that comprised focus groups, a prototype demonstration, and, based on that demonstration, a survey with 105 domain experts. We address real-world problems in providing information at the point of service and contribute to the methodological knowledge base of IS design and service systems engineering by developing and implementing design requirements and principles for smart glasses-based service support systems