Risk Communication in Assisted Reproduction in Latvia: From Private Experience to Ethical Issues

The aim of this paper is to analyze the process of risk communication in the context of assisted reproduction in Latvia. The paper is based on a qualitative methodology and two types of data: media analysis and 30 semi-structured interviews (11 patients, 4 egg donors, 15 experts). The study explores a broad definition of risk communication and explores three types of risks: health, psychosocial, and moral. We ask (1), who is involved in risk communication, (2), how risks are discussed using different channels of communication, and (3), what ethical problems arise during this process. In the process of analysis, we identified four types of information channels and two strategies of risk communication used by patients, as well as several ethical problems. In our view, the analysis of risk communication practices is significant to improve patient/physician relationship, as well as better meet patients' needs for comprehensive risk information

Non-intrusive water flow rate measurement: a TEG-powered ultrasonic sensing approach

This paper proposes a thermoelectric generator (TEG)-powered ultrasonic sensing system for non-intrusive water flow rate measurement. The limited power provided by the TEGs is handled by a dedicated energy management unit (EMU), allowing reliable sensing, computation, and transmission tasks. First, we introduce the delta time-of-flight (ΔToF)-based ultrasonic sensing and thermoelectric energy generation theory. Then, the design is given, followed by the system evaluation under different harvesting conditions to show their impact on average sensing and transmission times. The results revealed that our method could achieve high measurement accuracy (±1.4%), comparable to intrusive and battery-powered counterparts, thereby offering a 'plug&play+deploy&forget' hybrid solution

Power-compute co-design for robust pervasive IoT applications

PhD ThesisThe modern development of internet of things (IoT) requires the IoT devices to be more compact and energy autonomous. Many of them require to be able to operate with unstable and low power supplies that come from various energy sources such as energy harvesters. This creates a challenge for building IoT devices that need to be robust to energy variations. In this research we propose methods for improving energy characteristics of IoT devices from the perspective of two main challenges: (i) improving the efficiency and stability of power regulators, and (ii) enhancing the energy robustness of the IoT devices. The existing design methods do not consider these two aspects holistically. One important feature of our approach is holistic use of event-based, temporal representation of data, which involves using asynchronous techniques and duty-cycle-based encoding. For power regulation we use switched-capacitor converters (SCC) because they offer compactness and ease of on-chip implementation. In this research we adapt the existing methods and develop new techniques for SCC design based on asynchronous circuits. This allows us to improve their performance and stability. We also investigate the methods of parasitic charge redistribution, and apply them to self-oscillating SCC, improving their performance. The key contribution within (i) is development of the methods of SCC design with improved characteristics. The majority of novel IoT systems are shifting towards the “AI at the edge” vision, for example, involving neural networks (NN). We consider a perceptron-based neural network as a typical IoT computing device. In our research we propose a novel NN design approach using the principle of pulse-width modulation (PWM). PWMencoded signals represent information with their duty cycle values which may be made independent of the voltages and frequencies of the carrier signals. As a result, the device is more robust to voltage variations, and, thus, the power regulation can be simplified. This is the second major contribution addressing challenge (ii). The advantages of the proposed methods are validated with simulations in the Cadence environment. The simulations demonstrate the operation of the designed power regulators, and the improvements of their efficiency. The simulations also demonstrate the principle of operation of the PWM-based perceptron and prove its power and frequency elasticity. The thesis gives future research directions into a deeper study of the holistic co-design of a variation-robust power-compute paradigm and its impact on developing future IoT applications

Run-time Energy and Time Management for Intermittent LoRaWAN Communications

Intermittent computing, utilising non-volatile memory (NVM) to maintain system state during power outages, addresses the unpredictability of energy harvesting (EH) in Internet of Things (IoT) systems. However, challenges persist, notably in ensuring energy-aware task-based operations and accurate timekeeping during system shutdowns, which impede real-time data collection. To address this, the paper presents an energy and time management unit (ETMU) for intermittent systems, which facilitates task-based operations and timekeeping capabilities using multi-harvest energy sources. This ETMU adjusts energy storage and operating voltage at run-time, meeting the energy needs of specific tasks and startup times while preserving crucial system information during power outages. Furthermore, this ETMU incorporates an ultra-low power real-time clock (RTC), ensuring independent and accurate timekeeping during system power outages.The proposed ETMU is integrated into an intermittent system designed for ultrasonic water flow measurements to demonstrate its functionality. This system incorporates three energy harvesters and utilizes the LoRaWAN communication protocol for data transmission and time synchronization. Experimental results demonstrate the efficient management of intermittent LoRaWAN communications and precise timekeeping for data collection

Public awareness of and attitudes towards research biobanks in Latvia

Background: Public awareness and engagement are among the main prerequisites for protecting the rights of research participants and for successful and sustainable functioning of research biobanks. The aim of our study was to analyse public awareness and attitudes towards research biobanks in Latvia, and to compare these data with the results of the 2010 Eurobarometer study. We also analysed the influence of awareness and attitudes towards biobanks on willingness to participate in biobank studies and on preferred type of informed consent. Methods: We developed a 12-question survey repeating seven questions about biobanks from the 2010 Eurobarometer questionnaire and adding five others. After describing the study variables, we performed a two-stage analysis of the results. In the first stage we analysed differences between the answers from 2010 and 2019 and conducted univariate analyses of relationships among particular variables, and between those variables and the socio-demographic characteristics of participants. In the second stage we investigated multivariable associations of willingness to participate and type of consent with awareness, trust and the socio-economic characteristics of participants. Results: According to our study, the general public in Latvia is still not well informed about research biobanks. Fewer respondents have heard about research biobanks than in 2010. At the same time, the number of respondents who are willing to donate biological samples and personal data to a biobank has increased, e.g. the number of respondents who would definitely or probably be willing to provide information about themselves has increased from 25.8.% to 40.7 since 2010. Overall, concerns about the donation of different types of biological samples and data to a biobank have slightly decreased. Conclusions: Public awareness about biobanks is important for their sustainability. It needs to be increased not only by traditional methods of informing the public, but also by more innovative and participatory approaches, e.g. by citizen science projects. There is a need to strengthen the public visibility and trustworthiness of ethics committees in Latvia in the field of biobanking

Becoming and being a biobank donor: The role of relationships and ethics

Relational aspects, such as involvement of donor’s relatives or friends in the decision-making on participation in a research biobank, providing relatives’ health data to researchers, or sharing research findings with relatives should be considered when reflecting on ethical aspects of research biobanks. The aim of this paper is to explore what the role of donor’s relatives and friends is in the process of becoming and being a biobank donor and which ethical issues arise in this context. We performed qualitative analysis of 40 qualitative semi-structured interviews with biobank donors and researchers. The results show that relatedness to relatives or other types of close relationships played a significant role in the donors’ motivation to be involved in a biobank, risk-benefit assessment, and decisions on sharing information on research and its results. Interviewees mentioned ethical issues in the context of sharing relatives’ health-related data for research purposes and returning research findings that may affect their relatives. We conclude that the question of what information on family members may be shared with a biobank by research participants without informed consent of those relatives, and when family members become research subjects, lacks a clear answer and detailed guidelines, especially in the context of the introduction of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation. Researchers in Latvia and EU face ethical questions and dilemmas about returning research results and incidental findings to donors’ relatives, and donors need more information on sharing research results with relatives in the informed consent process