Student Sensor Lab at Home: Safe Repurposing of Your Gadgets

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed various restrictions on the accessibility of conventional teaching laboratories. Enabling learning and experimenting at home became necessary to support the practical element of students’ learning. Unfortunately, it is not viable to provide or share a fully featured sensor lab to every student because of the prohibitive costs involved. Therefore, repurposing electronic devices that are common to students can bring about the sought-after practical learning experience without the hefty price tag. In distinction to the conventional lab instruments, however, consumer-grade devices are not designed for use with external sensors and/or electronic circuitry. They are not professionally maintained, do not undergo periodic safety tests, and are not calibrated. Nevertheless, nearly all modern computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones are equipped with high-quality audio inputs and outputs that can generate and record signals in the audible frequency range (20 Hz–20 kHz). Despite cutting off the direct currents completely, this range might be sufficient for working with a variety of sensors. In this presentation we look at the possibilities of making sure that such repurposing by design prevents any potential harm to the learner and to her or his personal equipment. These features seem essential for unsupervised lone experimenting and avoiding damage to expensive devices.

Download Full-text

Healthy, safe and responsible: the modern female traveller

Tropical Diseases Travel Medicine and Vaccines ◽

10.1186/s40794-021-00141-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Irmgard L. Bauer

Keyword(s):

Health Knowledge ◽

Medical Advice ◽

Personal Hygiene ◽

Health Issues ◽

High Quality ◽

Potential Harm ◽

Travel Information ◽

Travel Health ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Potential Risks

AbstractOne-half of all travellers are women; yet, there is a distinct lack of detailed travel health knowledge on topics of unique relevance to women. While there is medical advice relating to stages in the female lifecycle, it neglects women-specific practical aspects despite their ability to harm travellers’ health and cause inconvenience. This paper discusses comprehensively three major aspects of travel as they relate to women. First, it suggests the management of personal hygiene, bodily functions, menstruation and sexual behaviour, and alerts to the limited knowledge on travel mental health issues.Second, apart from travelling in a female body with its specific demands, being a woman requires special attention to safety and security. Within various travel contexts, women have many opportunities for minimising potential risks.Finally, guided by travel medicine’s acknowledgment of its role in the concept of responsible travel, this article goes beyond the usual general statements and broad advice and offers detailed and practical suggestions on how the female traveller can contribute to the overall goal of minimising any potential harm to fellow humans and the natural environment. Recognising the scarcity of women-specific travel information, pathways to better education, and a range of suggestions for urgent research facilitate the provision of high-quality travel health care tailored specifically to women’s needs.

Download Full-text

Combustion synthesis of high-quality diamond film suitable for application in electronic devices

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute ◽

10.1016/j.proci.2006.08.073 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 1831-1838 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Yukihiko Okumura ◽

Kouichi Kanayama ◽

Masaya Tabaru ◽

Satoshi Kawabata

Keyword(s):

Combustion Synthesis ◽

Diamond Film ◽

Electronic Devices ◽

High Quality

Download Full-text

Addendum: “Small-size sonic crystals with strong attenuation bandsin the audible frequency range” [Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 3364 (2004)]

Applied Physics Letters ◽

10.1063/1.1781372 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 85 (6) ◽

pp. 1088-1088 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

M. Hirsekorn

Keyword(s):

Frequency Range ◽

Audible Frequency ◽

Sonic Crystals

Download Full-text

Home Videorecording of "Spells" in Children

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.76.4.612 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 76 (4) ◽

pp. 612-613

Author(s):

ROBERT C. WOODY

Keyword(s):

Hospital Admission ◽

Seizure Activity ◽

Tonic Activity ◽

Partial Seizures ◽

High Quality ◽

Complex Partial Seizures ◽

Permanent Record ◽

First Case ◽

The Family ◽

At Home

The increasing availability of videorecording cameras and cassette recorders now permits the visual documentation of medical events in children at home by parents. On two occasions recently, we asked families to videorecord their children's presumed seizure activity at home. In the first case, a 10-month-old white boy had frequent "spells" which by history appeared to be complex partial seizures. Routine awake and asleep EEG tracings were normal, and the family resisted hospital admission for financial reasons. Anticonvulsant medications were prescribed, and the family suggested that they borrow their parent's videocassette recorder to document their son's spells at home. Their videorecordings produced a high quality, permanent record of definite complex partial symptom activity clearly revealing eye deviation, nystagmus, and associated head and arm tonic activity.

Download Full-text

SBAs in Sport, Exercise, and Musculoskeletal Medicine

10.1093/oso/9780198859444.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Learning Experience ◽

Multiple Choice ◽

Structured Learning ◽

Subject Matter Experts ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

High Quality ◽

Musculoskeletal Medicine ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Exercise Medicine ◽

Mri Scans

‘Multiple Choice Questions in Musculoskeletal, Sport & Exercise Medicine’ is a compilation of 400 multiple choice questions (MCQs), where the format is that of single best answer from a choice of five options. The book closely follows the curriculum of the ‘Membership of Faculty of Sport & Exercise Medicine’ (MFSEM) examination, with some questions being clinically oriented and others being knowledge based. This book is not intended to be a substitute for extensive clinical reading but instead to complement the learning process. Questions in this book have been carefully curated by 92 reputable subject matter experts across ten countries and are intended to provide a structured learning experience. The book is comprised of 46 chapters, where the first 23 ask questions and the next 23 provide answers. The answer to each question has a short explanation with a reference, which is intended to stimulate discussion, research and further learning. There is a total of 33 high quality images (MRI scans, plain radiographs, ECGs, ultrasound scans and photographs), 18 tables and 5 diagrams in the book.

Download Full-text

Do You Need a PDA?

1001 Computer Words You Need to Know ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195167757.003.0019 ◽

2004 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jerry Pournelle

Keyword(s):

Electronic Devices ◽

Star Trek ◽

Computer Support ◽

Entire System ◽

Universal Serial Bus ◽

Desktop Computer ◽

Software Support ◽

E Mail ◽

At Home

You’ve seen them and they look seductive, those tiny electronic devices that are half appointment book and half Star Trek tricorder. But do you really need one? Do you already have an organizer that works? If you’re committed to your paper planner or to a calendar function on your desktop computer, it may be more trouble than it’s worth to switch to a PDA. Do you travel often? Travelers often find PDAs attractive for two reasons: their small size and the automatic backup of data to a computer at home or work. Losing a paper planner while traveling can be traumatic. Losing a PDA is a little less so, since at least you know that you haven’t lost the information, just the information container. Are you happy with gadgets? If your VCR is unprogrammed and you regularly swear at your desktop computer, a PDA might be more than you want to wrestle with. However, most PDAs have good interfaces and can be learned quickly, even by the most tech-averse of users. What kind of information do you need to access? If you only need a basic calendar, names and phone numbers, and a calculator, there are smaller, less expensive electronic devices that may meet your needs at any office supply store. Check them out before springing for a larger PDA. Will your desktop computer support a PDA? Many older computers may not have the USB (universal serial bus) connectors that modern PDAs require. Adapters are available but are an extra expense and may add to your setup and troubleshooting time.You don’t want to have to upgrade your entire system just to use a PDA. Will your desktop software support a PDA? One of the main advantages to using a PDA is being able to synchronize data from your desktop applications to the PDA. If your company mandates a particular e-mail, meeting coordination, or calendar software, make sure that it will ‘sync’ with your PDA. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time manually entering information, or wishing you had.

Download Full-text

What are essential elements of high-quality palliative care at home? An interview study among patients and relatives faced with advanced cancer

BMC Palliative Care ◽

10.1186/s12904-019-0485-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. G. Oosterveld-Vlug ◽

B. Custers ◽

J. Hofstede ◽

G. A. Donker ◽

P. M. Rijken ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Advanced Cancer ◽

Nursing Staff ◽

Information Transfer ◽

Essential Elements ◽

Community Nursing ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

High Quality ◽

Care At Home ◽

At Home

Abstract Background In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) and community nurses play a central role in the palliative care for home-dwelling patients with advanced cancer and their relatives. To optimize the palliative care provision at home, it is important to have insight in the elements that patients and relatives consider essential for high-quality palliative care, and whether these essentials are present in the actual care they receive. Methods Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with advanced cancer and 14 relatives. The participants discussed their experiences with the care and support they received from the GP and community nurses, and their views on met and unmet needs. Interview data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Results Patients as well as relatives considered it important that their GP and community nursing staff are medically proficient, available, person-focused and proactive. Also, proper information transfer between care professionals and clear procedures when asking for certain resources or services were considered essential for good palliative care at home. Most interviewees indicated that these essential elements were generally present in the care they received. However, the requirements of ‘proper information transfer between professionals’ and ‘clear and rapid procedures’ were mentioned as more difficult to meet in actual practice. Patients and relatives also emphasized that an alert and assertive attitude on their own part was vital in ensuring they received the care they need. They expressed worries about other people who are less vigilant regarding the care they receive, or who have no family to support them in this. Conclusions Medical proficiency, availability, a focus on the person, proper information transfer between professionals, clear procedures and proactivity on the part of GPs and community nursing staff are considered essential for good palliative care at home. Improvements are particularly warranted with regard to collaboration and information transfer between professionals, and current bureaucratic procedures. It is important for care professionals to ensure that the identified essential elements for high-quality palliative care at home are met, particularly for patients and relatives who are not so alert and assertive.

Download Full-text

Pre-selection of the candidate fields for deep imaging of the epoch of reionization with SKA1-low

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa3011 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 499 (3) ◽

pp. 3434-3444

Author(s):

Qian Zheng ◽

Xiang-Ping Wu ◽

Quan Guo ◽

Melanie Johnston-Hollitt ◽

Huanyuan Shan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surface Brightness ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Far Field ◽

Frequency Range ◽

High Quality ◽

Average Surface ◽

Square Kilometre Array ◽

Broad Frequency Range ◽

Deep Imaging ◽

Selection Of

ABSTRACT The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the first low-frequency instrument with the capability to directly image the structures of the epoch of reionization (EoR). Indeed, deep imaging of the EoR over five targeted fields of 20 sq deg each has been selected as the highest priority science objective for SKA1. Aiming at preparing for this highly challenging observation, we perform an extensive pre-selection of the ‘quietest’ and ‘cleanest’ candidate fields in the southern sky to be suited for deep imaging of the EoR using existing catalogues and observations over a broad frequency range. The candidate fields should meet a number of strict criteria to avoid contaminations from foreground structures and sources. The candidate fields should also exhibit both the lowest average surface brightness and smallest variance to ensure uniformity and high-quality deep imaging over the fields. Our selection eventually yields a sample of 7 ‘ideal’ fields of 20 sq deg in the southern sky that could be targeted for deep imaging of the EoR. Finally, these selected fields are convolved with the synthesized beam of SKA1-low stations to ensure that the effect of sidelobes from the far-field bright sources is also weak.

Download Full-text