Performance Studies of Integrated Network Scenarios in a Hospital Environment

Author(s):  
Nurul I. Sarkar ◽  
Anita Xiao-min Kuang ◽  
Kashif Nisar ◽  
Angela Amphawan

Hospital network is evolving towards a more integrated approach by interconnecting wireless technologies into backbone networks. Although various integrated network scenarios have been published in the networking literature, a generic hospital model has not yet been fully explored and it remains a challenging topic in practice. One of the problems encountered by network practitioners is the seamless integration of network components into healthcare delivery. A good understanding of the performance of integrated networks is required for efficient design and deployment of such technologies in hospital environments. This research paper discuss on the modelling and evaluation of integrated network scenarios in hospital environments. The impact of traffic types (e.g. data, voice and video), traffic load, network size and signal strength on network performance is investigated by simulation. Three piloted case studies look at client performance in radiology Accident and Emergency (A & E and Intensive Care Unit (ICU)) scenarios. Each scenario reflects the need for various traffic types that end up distinct network behaviours. In the radiology scenario, email and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) traffic is found to perform well for medium-to-large networks. In the A & E scenario, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) traffic is shown to generate very limited jitter and data loss. The performance is aligned with the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In the ICU scenario, the performance of video conference degrades with network size, thus, a QoS-enabled device is recommended to reduce the packet delay and data loss. IEEE 802.11a suits in hospital environment because it mitigates interference on the 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate.

2015 ◽  
pp. 1398-1425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul I. Sarkar ◽  
Anita Xiao-min Kuang ◽  
Kashif Nisar ◽  
Angela Amphawan

Hospital network is evolving towards a more integrated approach by interconnecting wireless technologies into backbone networks. Although various integrated network scenarios have been published in the networking literature, a generic hospital model has not yet been fully explored and it remains a challenging topic in practice. One of the problems encountered by network practitioners is the seamless integration of network components into healthcare delivery. A good understanding of the performance of integrated networks is required for efficient design and deployment of such technologies in hospital environments. This research paper discuss on the modelling and evaluation of integrated network scenarios in hospital environments. The impact of traffic types (e.g. data, voice and video), traffic load, network size and signal strength on network performance is investigated by simulation. Three piloted case studies look at client performance in radiology Accident and Emergency (A & E and Intensive Care Unit (ICU)) scenarios. Each scenario reflects the need for various traffic types that end up distinct network behaviours. In the radiology scenario, email and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) traffic is found to perform well for medium-to-large networks. In the A & E scenario, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) traffic is shown to generate very limited jitter and data loss. The performance is aligned with the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In the ICU scenario, the performance of video conference degrades with network size, thus, a QoS-enabled device is recommended to reduce the packet delay and data loss. IEEE 802.11a suits in hospital environment because it mitigates interference on the 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate.


Author(s):  
Nurul I. Sarkar ◽  
Anita Xiao-min Kuang ◽  
Kashif Nisar ◽  
Angela Amphawan

For the past ten years, heterogeneous networks wired and wireless had tended to integrate seamlessly, offering effective and reliable service for medical operations. One of the problems encountered by network practitioners is the seamless integration of network components into healthcare delivery. As a multiplexing hospital model, the implementation certainly presents some challenges. The major technical and performance issues involve are as following. The operating parameters should keep aligned to the Quality of Service (QoS) requirement throughout simulation. Bandwidth utilisation of wireless networking is a challenging issue for real-time multimedia transmission. IEEE 802.11 provides relatively lower data rate than wired networks, thus the developer tends to adopt a more compromised solution: either reduce the file size or compress the image packets. Communication performance that varies constantly with the impact of signal strength, traffic load and interference. As stated radio signal senses as a curve and attenuates greatly while metallic object and microwave exist within the active range. To ensure devices do not interfere with other electronic equipments (e.g. heart monitors), assert wireless spectrum has to be managed appropriately. This research paper aims to develop a generic hospital network scenarios using Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) over OPNET Simulation, to evaluate the performance of the integrated network scenario for Intensive Care Units (ICU). This research makes use of computer simulation and discusses various aspects of the network design, so as to discover the performance behaviour pertaining to effect of traffic type, traffic load and network size. In the ICU scenario, the performance of video conference degrades with network size, thus, a QoS-enabled device is recommended to reduce the packet delay and data loss. IEEE 802.11a suits in hospital environment because it mitigates interference on the 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate. Experiment examines the effect of signal strength in WLAN. It is convinced that -88dBm is the best signal strength threshold. Although 802.11a generates slightly lower throughput than 802.11g, this issues can be addressed by placing more APs in the service area. It is convinced that 802.11a suits the hospital environments, because it mitigates interference on the popular 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate. It is important for medical devices which require future upgrade and Bluetooth deployment.


2015 ◽  
pp. 789-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul I. Sarkar ◽  
Anita Xiao-min Kuang ◽  
Kashif Nisar ◽  
Angela Amphawan

For the past ten years, heterogeneous networks wired and wireless had tended to integrate seamlessly, offering effective and reliable service for medical operations. One of the problems encountered by network practitioners is the seamless integration of network components into healthcare delivery. As a multiplexing hospital model, the implementation certainly presents some challenges. The major technical and performance issues involve are as following. The operating parameters should keep aligned to the Quality of Service (QoS) requirement throughout simulation. Bandwidth utilisation of wireless networking is a challenging issue for real-time multimedia transmission. IEEE 802.11 provides relatively lower data rate than wired networks, thus the developer tends to adopt a more compromised solution: either reduce the file size or compress the image packets. Communication performance that varies constantly with the impact of signal strength, traffic load and interference. As stated radio signal senses as a curve and attenuates greatly while metallic object and microwave exist within the active range. To ensure devices do not interfere with other electronic equipments (e.g. heart monitors), assert wireless spectrum has to be managed appropriately. This research paper aims to develop a generic hospital network scenarios using Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) over OPNET Simulation, to evaluate the performance of the integrated network scenario for Intensive Care Units (ICU). This research makes use of computer simulation and discusses various aspects of the network design, so as to discover the performance behaviour pertaining to effect of traffic type, traffic load and network size. In the ICU scenario, the performance of video conference degrades with network size, thus, a QoS-enabled device is recommended to reduce the packet delay and data loss. IEEE 802.11a suits in hospital environment because it mitigates interference on the 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate. Experiment examines the effect of signal strength in WLAN. It is convinced that -88dBm is the best signal strength threshold. Although 802.11a generates slightly lower throughput than 802.11g, this issues can be addressed by placing more APs in the service area. It is convinced that 802.11a suits the hospital environments, because it mitigates interference on the popular 2.4GHz band where most wireless devices operate. It is important for medical devices which require future upgrade and Bluetooth deployment.


Author(s):  
Asrani Lit ◽  
M. S. Rusli ◽  
M. N. Marsono

Wireless Network-on-Chip or WiNoC is an alternative to traditional planar on-chip networks. On-chip wireless links are utilized to reduce latency between distant nodes due to its capability to communicate with far-away node within a single hop. This paper analyzes the impact of various routing schemes and the effect of WiNoC sizes on network traffic distributions compared to conventional mesh NoC. Radio hubs (4×4) are evenly placed on WiNoC to analyze global average delay, throughput, energy consumption and wireless utilization. For validation, three various network sizes (8×8,   16×16 and 32×32) of mesh NoC and WiNoC architectures are simulated on cycle-accurate Noxim simulator under numerous traffic load distributions. Simulation results show that WiNoC architecture with the 16×16 network size has better average speedup (∼1.2×) and improved network throughputs by 6.36% in non-uniform transpose traffic distribution. As the trade-off, WiNoC requires 63% higher energy consumption compared to the classical wired NoC mesh.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147451512095197
Author(s):  
Rachel Knight Lozano ◽  
Stephen May ◽  
Carl Clarkson ◽  
Rebecca Sarjeant

Background: Advances in paediatric care have contributed to an increasing survival of children with complex heart disease. Yet, life-saving management demands prolonged inpatient admissions, which contribute to emotional and psychological distress for parents and other caregivers in a role of main custody. Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify, appraise and synthesise qualitative studies exploring caregivers’ experiences of paediatric inpatient cardiac services, generating an understanding of their needs in hospital and informing priorities for change in healthcare delivery. Methods: Searches were conducted in Medline, Allied and Complimentary Medicine Database, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMCARE, Scopus, PsychINFO, Proquest, OpenGrey and ETHOs from 2008–2019, reflecting recent advances in cardiac healthcare. Articles were selected using predetermined eligibility criteria dictating qualitative inquiry into caregiver perspectives whilst their child received hospital-based interventions for heart disease. All eligible studies underwent quality appraisal. Framework synthesis was used to analyse and summarise findings. Results: Twenty-seven studies involving 689 caregivers from 11 countries were included. Three overarching themes were identified: ‘emotional capacity to care’, ‘practicalities of caring’, and ‘the bigger picture of caring’. Conclusions: Through analysis and summary of qualitative primary research, this review captures the emotional challenges that caregivers face and practicalities of undertaking a caregiver role, whilst looking after their child with heart disease in hospital. The results widen the context of the caregiver role, encompassing the whole family unit beyond the hospital environment. This review exposes the impact of these challenges on caregiver competence, wellbeing and attachment to their unwell child, informing priorities for development of family-centred paediatric inpatient cardiac services.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Amirul Amin Ismail ◽  
Ismail Samsuddin ◽  
Azman Zainonabidin ◽  
Harlina Mohd Ali

By the year 2030, Malaysian population will experience the after effects of the rapid growth of ageing society. This paper investigates the impact of seamless integration of horticultural activity in the new residential typology of retirement community. It is believed that horticultural therapy is not only beneficial for physical and psychological but also promotes socialisation opportunities among the elderly. Comparative analysis method on selected precedent studies has been carried out and analysed in accordance with Malaysian context. Initial findings indicate that a retirement community with horticultural activity gives therapy for healthier well-being. This therapeutic activity can be apositive change in elderly lifestyle and essential towards the establishment of retirement community in Malaysia. 


Author(s):  
Dileep Reddy Bolla ◽  
Jijesh J J ◽  
Mahaveer Penna ◽  
Shiva Shankar

Back Ground/ Aims:: Now-a-days in the Wireless Communications some of the spectrum bands are underutilized or unutilized; the spectrum can be utilized properly by using the Cognitive Radio Techniques using the Spectrum Sensing mechanisms. Objectives:: The prime objective of the research work carried out is to achieve the energy efficiency and to use the spectrum effectively by using the spectrum management concept and achieve better throughput, end to end delay etc., Methods:: The detection of the spectrum hole plays a vital role in the routing of Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs). While detecting the spectrum holes and the routing, sensing is impacted by the hidden node issues and exposed node issues. The impact of sensing is improved by incorporating the Cooperative Spectrum Sensing (CSS) techniques. Along with these issues the spectrum resources changes time to time in the routing. Results:: All the issues are addressed with An Energy Efficient Spectrum aware Routing (EESR) protocol which improves the timeslot and the routing schemes. The overall network life time is improved with the aid of residual energy concepts and the overall network performance is improved. Conclusion:: The proposed protocol (EESR) is an integrated system with spectrum management and the routing is successfully established to communication in the network and further traffic load is observed to be balanced in the protocol based on the residual energy in a node and further it improves the Network Lifetime of the Overall Network and the Individual CR user, along with this the performance of the proposed protocol outperforms the conventional state of art routing protocols.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjsrh-2020-200962
Author(s):  
Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson ◽  
Ali Kubba ◽  
Cecilia Caetano ◽  
Thomas Faustmann ◽  
Eeva Lukkari-Lax ◽  
...  

Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services is essential to facilitate the empowerment of women and achievement of gender equality. Increasing access to modern methods of contraception can reduce the incidence of unplanned pregnancy and decrease maternal mortality. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) offer high contraceptive efficacy as well as cost-efficacy, providing benefits for both women and healthcare systems. The levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) first became available in 1990 with the introduction of Mirena (LNG-IUS 20), a highly effective contraceptive which can reduce menstrual blood loss and provide other therapeutic benefits. The impact of the LNG-IUS on society has been wide ranging, including decreasing the need for abortion, reducing the number of surgical sterilisation procedures performed, as well as reducing the number of hysterectomies carried out for issues such as heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirena can provide a treatment option for women with gynaecological issues such as HMB without organic pathology, minimising exposure to the hospital environment and reducing waiting times for surgical appointments. Looking to the future, research and development in the field of the LNG-IUS continues to expand our understanding of these contraceptives in clinical practice and offers the potential to further expand the choices available to women, allowing them to select the option that best meets their needs.


Author(s):  
Elise Henry ◽  
Angelo Furno ◽  
Nour-Eddin El Faouzi

Transport networks are essential for societies. Their proper operation has to be preserved to face any perturbation or disruption. It is therefore of paramount importance that the modeling and quantification of the resilience of such networks are addressed to ensure an acceptable level of service even in the presence of disruptions. The paper aims at characterizing network resilience through weighted degree centrality. To do so, a real dataset issued from probe vehicle data is used to weight the graph by the traffic load. In particular, a set of disrupted situations retrieved from the study dataset is analyzed to quantify the impact on network operations. Results demonstrate the ability of the proposed metrics to capture traffic dynamics as well as their utility for quantifying the resilience of the network. The proposed methodology combines different metrics from the complex networks theory (i.e., heterogeneity, density, and symmetry) computed on temporal and weighted graphs. Time-varying traffic conditions and disruptions are analyzed by providing relevant insights on the network states via three-dimensional maps.


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