Remote patient monitoring using safe and secure WBAN technology

In the recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous growth and development in the field of wireless communication technology and sensors. Resulting into opening new dimensions in various research fields. The integration of Nano scale devices with low power consumption circuits brought a new evolution in wireless networks. This blend of technologies led to the formation of a new field in WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) known as WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network). WBAN is based on small sensors designed to operate and function mainly on the human body. As we are dealing with human lives, security and privacy are major concerns as patients’ data is at the stakes. Authentication is an important factor in securing information from unauthorized usage. Now-a-days a lot of research has been done in order to improve the overall authentication mechanisms in WBAN. In this poster, we are surveying the security challenges in WBAN with a focus on the authentication phase. A list of several methods along with their schemes has been studied and recapitulated. ECG is one the most popular schemes used in WBAN, benefiting from its uniqueness. However, it comes with challenges as creating an extract trait could get complicated. ECG could be aided by the help of combining fingerprint which will result in a non-destructive method of biometric authentication compared with single ECG trait

Prospective Therapeutic Strategies for Cervical Cancer

Abstract – Cervical cancer is one of the leading causal cancer-related fatalities in the world. Cervical cancer patients can be treated by conventional treatment such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, medications and combination treatments. Currently, more targeted treatments are being developed to cure cervical cancer. The treatments include immunotherapy, virotherapy and gene therapy which will be discussed in this paper. In immunotherapy, the synergy of CTLA-4 suppression and PD-1/PDL-1 immune checkpoint inhibition targeting their corresponding pathways enhanced the human immune system resulting a promising treatment effects. Oncolytic viruses such as Newcastle disease virus selectively infect and kill cancerous cells/tissues without harming normal cells/tissues. This character has made them a potential modality in combating cancer which popularly known as oncolytic virotherapy. Gene therapy delivers modified genetic materials to the target cancer cells via viral and non-viral vectors. It is used to target the abnormal gene, to increase cells’ susceptibility towards drugs or conventional therapy, to induce tumour cells apoptosis, to enhance tumour cell immunogenicity recognition and to inhibit the oncogene expression. The objective of this minireview is to add to the general knowledge on aforementioned therapeutic strategies against cervical cancer

Development of a survey instrument for measuring workers satisfaction on usability of manual handling equipments at the warehouse: a pilot study

Scientific evidence show that manual handling devices are one of the effectives controls that can lower the physical demands of manual material handling (MMH) activities. Incidence and severity of the musculoskeletal injuries might happen to workers while company’s productivity, product quality, and overall busi�ness competitiveness also will be affected. However, few studies had been done regarding on manual handling devices provided in the industries especially in term of user satisfaction on the usability of the devices when performing their job and task. The aim of this study is to develop a survey instrument for the evaluation of worker satisfaction on usability of manual handling device among warehouse worker in manufacturing industry. A set of questionnaires was developed which consist of three sections; demographic profile of respondent, work nature and discomfort survey and worker satisfaction on the usability of the manual handling devices. The content of the questionnaire was derived through extend literature reviews and expert’s opinions. A pilot study was conducted at four manufacturing companies in their warehouse’s operation. The reliability and validity of the instrument were determined through Cronbach’s Alpha, face validity and content validity. Cronbach’s Alpha values for each section of the questionnaire range from 0.937 and 0.961 while the value for Cronbach’s Alpha for all 35 standardized items is 0.921. The finding shows that the survey instrument has face and content validity at acceptable level. In conclusion, finding indicated that this instrument had acceptable and adequate reliability and validity to meet its objectives. The survey instrument now ready to be distributed in larger data sets

The evaluation of workers satisfaction on usability of manual handling equipment among warehouse workers in Malaysia

Numerous researchers have found that heavy physical demand and improper posture when performing the tasks in various sectors such as manufacturing and warehouse might contribute to the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) especially when the tasks involving lifting, pushing and pulling activities. In order to reduce high risk manual handling activities, effectives and usable manual handling equipment (MHE) should be introduce to lower the physical demand of manual material handling (MMH) acti�vities. However, most of the MHE studies previously is not really focus on usability evaluation. So, this study intends to evaluate the usability of current MHE used in manufacturing warehouse operation in term of efficiency, comfortability, energy expenditure, safety aspect, design, productivity, effectiveness and user friendliness. A usability survey was conducted among warehouse workers in manufacturing com�pany at southern region of peninsular Malaysia. Besides that, the prevalence of backpain among the warehouse workers was measured through Modified Nordic Discomfort Assessment tools that are incorporate in the usability survey. Result for the most least agreement in user usability for pallet jack was energy expenditure (3.73), efficiency (3.96) and comfortability (3.99); for load carrying cart was energy expen�diture (3.62), design (3.74) and comfortability (3.90); for forklift was comfortability (3.87), design (3.93) and safety (4.08); for pallet stackers was energy expenditure (3.79), design (3.82) and user friendliness (3.82); for conveyor system was productivity (3.50), comfortability (4.00) and safety (4.00). It was also found that the highest prevalence of MSDs among warehouse workers was lower back, followed by legs (left and right) and shoulders (left and right). In conclusion, most MHE available in manufacturing warehouse operation lacking in term of energy expenditure, efficiency, comfortability, design and user friendliness. It is clear that the first stage in design criteria for MHE should be developing an understanding of the user usability requirement to ensure the aids are suitable for the tasks

Design and development of Spherical Amphibian Vehicle (SAV)

Spherical Amphibian Vehicle (SAV) is a spherical robot that is capable of operating in two different environments which are terrestrial and underwater. SAV has a wide range of applications in scientific research and military activities such as ocean exploration and search and rescue missions. However, motion control of a spherical robot is a very challenging task because of the nonlinearity of the robot system, time-variance, uncertainty external disturbances and difficulty in hydrodynamic modelling. This project is focused on building a SAV that is cost-efficient and able to function on land and underwater. The designed robot is a 2 degree of freedom (DoF) movement that can move forward/reverse and left/right direction. It uses one DC motor and one servo motor to actuate the forward/reverse motion and sideways (left/right) motion, respectively. Arduino UNO is selected to be used as a microcontroller due to its effectiveness and low cost. The spherical amphibian robot is designed with Arduino bluecontrol interface

Bacterial adhesion on the titanium and stainless-steel surfaces undergone two different treatment methods: polishing and ultrafast laser treatment

Bacterial adhesion has become a significant problem in many industries causing billions of dollars for its complicated removal treatment and maintenance. In this study, metal surfaces undergone treatment with ultrafast laser with varies power. The microstructure produced on its original surfaces were expected to prevent the adhesion of Escherichia coli (E. coli) ATCC 8739 and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) ATCC 6838. The laser treatment was performed at 380 fs pulse duration, 515 µm central wavelength and a repetition rate of 200 kHz. Stainless steel AISI 316L was treated with an average laser power of 0.04 W (SS-0.04) and 0.11 W (SS-0.11), while Grade 5 titanium alloy was tested with high laser power 0.11 W (T-0.11). The adhesion was observed after 16 hours and the number of adhering bacteria was counted per cm2. The result achieved shows that, increasing the average laser power is leading to an enhanced S. aureus adhesion while E. coli adhesion is reduced which is due to the hydrophobicity interaction and difference in surface texture. Meanwhile, the laser treatment showed significant reduction of the bacterial adhesion on its surface compared to the polished surfaces. Thus, ultrafast laser texturing can be suggested as a promising method to reduce the bacterial adhesion, which reduced the adhesion of >80% for E. coli and >20% for S. aureus

Risk factors associated with low anterior resection syndrome: a cross-sectional study

Purpose Oncological outcomes following rectal cancer surgery have improved significantly over recent decades with lower recurrences and longer overall survival. However, many of the patients experienced low anterior resection syndrome (LARS). This study identified the prevalence and risk factors associated with the development of LARS. Methods This cross-sectional study involved patients who were diagnosed with rectal cancer and had undergone sphincter-preserving low anterior resection from January 2011 to December 2020. Upon clinic follow-up, patients were asked to complete an interviewed based questionnaire (LARS score) designed to assess bowel dysfunction after rectal cancer surgery. Results Out of 76 patients, 25 patients (32.9%) had major LARS, 10 patients (13.2%) had minor LARS, and 41 patients (53.9%) had no LARS. The height of tumor from anal verge showed an association with the development of major LARS (P=0.039). Those patients with less than 8 cm tumor from anal verge had an increased risk of LARS by 3 times compared to those with 8 cm and above (adjusted odds ratio, 3.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–9.13). Conclusion Results from our study show that low tumor height was a significant risk factor that has a negative impact on bowel function after surgery. The high prevalence of LARS emphasizes the need for study regarding risk factors and the importance of understanding the pathophysiology of LARS, in order for us to improve patient bowel function and quality of life after rectal cancer surgery

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

De-Multiplexed Multiwavelength Interferometry for High Precision Metrology

In the era of global warming, harnessing green energy has become a top priority for nations around the world. Solar cells have been developed for over half a century, but the dull appearances of solar cells impede their widespread adaptation in size-constrained metropolitan cities like Singapore. Current colorful solar cell technologies are extremely inefficient, and their adaptation cannot be justified. In the first part of this thesis, we propose a new way to use High Contrast Gratings to materialize colorful solar cells with a very small penalty on efficiencies. We show optimized designs for Silicon, Indium-Phosphide, and Perovskite solar cells, and verify the viability of our idea through preliminary experimental demonstrations. In the second part of the thesis, we innovate in nanoscale metrology, a key component of nanomanufacturing. Many areas of science and technology rely on the precise determination of distance over a sufficiently long range. Advanced ranging technology has the potential to open up a wide application field including 3D sensing, robotics and inspection for automated manufacturing, where high-precision, long-range, efficiency, and noise-tolerance are key. The small wavelength of light makes it a suitable candidate for precision metrology. A single wavelength interferometer has a high accuracy, but a small range that is limited by the ambiguous interferometric fringe order. We present a new arithmetic algorithm for multiwavelength interferometry that has a theoretical maximum range of the lowest-common-multiple of the wavelengths used, the resolution of a single-wavelength interferometer, and the theoretical maximum noise tolerance of an algebraic approach. We first describe the analytical formulation, analyze the noise tolerance, and present a recursive solution to extend the range through multiple wavelengths. To justify the practicality, experimental results from a simultaneous phase shifting demultiplexed two-wavelength interferometry system, with a range-resolution ratio of > 3e5, are presented to demonstrate the reliability of our method in the absence of any error correction