In-ear SpO2 for classification of cognitive workload

The brain is the most metabolically active organ in the body, which increases its metabolic activity, and thus oxygen consumption, with increasing cognitive demand. This motivates us to question whether increased cognitive workload may be measurable through changes in blood oxygen saturation. To this end, we explore the feasibility of cognitive workload tracking based on in-ear SpO2 measurements, which are known to be both robust and exhibit minimal delay. We consider cognitive workload assessment based on an N-back task with randomised order. It is shown that the 2-back and 3-back tasks (high cognitive workload) yield either the lowest median absolute SpO2 or largest median decrease in SpO2 in all of the subjects, indicating a measurable and statistically significant decrease in blood oxygen in response to increased cognitive workload. This makes it possible to classify the four N-back task categories, over 5 second epochs, with a mean accuracy of 90.6%, using features derived from in-ear pulse oximetry, including SpO2, pulse rate and respiration rate. These findings suggest that in-ear SpO2 measurements provide sufficient information for the reliable classification of cognitive workload over short time windows, which promises a new avenue for real time cognitive workload tracking

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

The Comparison of the Novel Co-adsorbent Molecules' Effects on the DSSC's Efficiency

6th International Conference on Nanomaterials - Applications & Properties (NAP) -- SEP 14-19, 2016 -- Minist Educ & Sci Ukraine, Lviv, UKRAINEWOS: 000391877500018In this paper, the effect of co-adsorbed molecules used in Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) on the performance parameters have been investigated. The aim of using these molecules is to prevent agglomeration during the soaking process of TiO2 covered electrodes. In order to understand the effect of the co-adsorbed molecules, typical DSSC devices with and without co-adsorbers were fabricated

Effect of pH and annealing temperature on the structural and magnetic properties of cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet powders produced by the sol-gel method

WOS: 000381049100019Cerium substituted yttrium iron garnet (Ce0.2Y2.8Fe5O12; Ce-YIG) nanoparticles were produced via the sol-gel method from solutions of Ce-, Y- and Fe-based precursors, a solvent and a chelating agent. The solutions were dried at 200 degrees C and heat treated at temperatures between 800 degrees C and 1400 degrees C for 3 h in air. The effects of pH and annealing temperature on the structure, phase formation, magnetic properties and crystallite size were investigated. A cubic YIG phase was obtained for the sample annealed at 1400 degrees C. The presented results showed that the pH value of the starting solution affects the crystal size and consequently, the saturation magnetization