A Concern for Intraoperative Distractions and Interference: An Observational Study Identifying, Measuring, and Quantifying Both within the Operating Theatre

Background. Modern surgical research has broadened to include an interest into the investigation of surgical workflow. Rigorous analysis of the surgical process has a particular focus on distractions. Operating theatres are inherently full of distractions, many not pertinent to the surgical process. Distractions have the potential to increase surgeon stress, operative time, and complications. Our study aims to objectively identify, classify, and quantify distractions during the surgical process. Methods. 46 general surgical procedures were observed within a tertiary Irish hospital between June 2019 and October 2019. An established observational tool was used to apply a structured observation to all operations. Additionally, a nine-point ordinal behaviourally anchor scoring scale was used to assign an interference level to each distraction. Results. The total operative observation time was 4605 minutes (mean = 100.11 minutes, std. deviation: 45.6 minutes). Overall, 855 intraoperative distractions were coded. On average, 18.58 distractions were coded per operation (std. deviation: 6.649; range: 5–34), with 11.14 distractions occurring per hour. Entering/exiting (n = 380, 42.88%) and case irrelevant communication (n = 251, 28.32%) occurred most frequently. Disruption rate was highest within the first (n = 275, 32%) and fourth operative quartiles (n = 342, 41%). Highest interference rates were observed from equipment issue and procedural interruptions. Anaesthetists initiated CIC more frequently (2.72 per operation), compared to nurses (1.57) and surgeons (1.17). Conclusion. Our results confirm that distractions are prevalent within the operating theatre. Distractions contribute to significant interferences of surgical workflow. Steps can be taken to reduce overall prevalence and interference level by drawing upon a systems-based perspective. However, due to the ubiquitous nature of distractions, surgeons may need to develop skills to help them resume interrupted primary tasks so as to negate the effects distraction has on surgical outcomes. Data for the above have been presented as conference abstract in 28th International Congress of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) Virtual Congress, 23–26 June 2020.

Massive distributed IRS aided wireless communication with ON/OFF selection

The mobile communication system beyond fifth-generation (beyond 5G) is required to maintain higher transmission capacity and reliability than existing 5G systems. To meet these requirements, one promising solution is to incorporate an Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS). The IRS involves reconfiguring the wireless propagation environment and exploiting the radio resources, not only in the conventional frequency and time domains but also in the spatial domain by controlling the reflection amplitude and phase of the incident electromagnetic signal. However, increased deployment of IRSs brings about interference and greater complexity. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an ON/OFF IRS selection method on massive IRS aided wireless communications that can simultaneously achieve interference suppression and capacity improvement. In addition, the proposed method reduces operational complexity using a simple 1-bit control. The results of computer simulation and experiment show that the proposed method can improve the desired channel capacity beyond directly Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) communication without IRS while maintaining the interference level of an interfered receiver below a certain threshold.

Functionality Investigation of the UAV Arranged FMCW Solid-State Marine Radar

Some models of marine radars are light-weight enough and thus are attractive for potential applications when arranged on UAVs. Elevating a marine radar to high altitudes provides a much wider field of view, however, this could lead to a higher radio interference level. The practical estimation of the radio interferences affecting the solid-state FMCW marine radar at altitudes up to 120 m was the main objective of this contribution. A rotary-wing octocopter UAV was developed and built for the experiments. Two different kinds of interferences were observed at higher altitudes. Ray-like interferences were caused by signals, which are received by the radar’s antenna. Circle-like interferences appear due to the low frequency interfering signal directly penetrating the detector due to insufficient receiver screening.

Using noise control principles when evaluating the acoustic impacts of face coverings during the coronavirus pandemic

Several different combinations of face masks and shields are evaluated for their acoustic performance using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The HATS is used as a controlled and repeatable artificial sound source using white noise in a classroom environment. Sound pressure levels at octave band frequencies due to the face coverings are evaluated at a location of 2.0 meters from the HATS which is within the direct field to reduce the room acoustical effects. The problem is modeled as a barrier separating a source and receiver using fundamental noise control principles. Fabric material properties are used such as thickness, density, stiffness, and damping. The results are compared with experimental tests. The face shield with clear plastic barrier produces a resonance in the 1000 Hz octave band. Analytical models of cavity resonances, standing wave resonances, or plate resonances are calculated and compared with the experimental resonance. The speech interference level is used to determine the frequency content that is most likely to cause hearing difficulties and compared with A-weighted differences between the unmasked condition and masked.

Simulation of Interference Effects of UWB Pulse Signal to the GPS Receiver

Ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse signal has an extremely narrow pulse width and wide frequency bandwidth, which overlaps with the operating frequency band of Global Position System (GPS) receivers, posing a potential threat to their performance. In response to this problem, through mathematical analysis and software simulation, the effects of UWB pulse signal under time-hopping-pulse position modulation (TH-PPM) on the performance of GPS receivers were studied. First, the expression and waveform of the UWB pulse signal were analyzed in the time-frequency domain, and it is concluded that the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) mainly affects the discrete spectrum of the UWB signal and the TH code period mainly affects the continuous spectrum. On this basis, the simulation on the power spectral density (PSD) of GPS signal and UWB signal under different pulse parameters was represented, from which a conclusion can be drawn that the PRF is the main factor impacting the PSD of the GPS signal. Furthermore, this paper analyzed the degradation of GPS receiver equivalent carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N0) and C/A code demodulation bit error rate (BER) under UWB interference, which are the crucial evaluating indicators of GPS signal quality. Eventually, we theoretically calculated the minimum interference level of the UWB interference signal to the GPS receiver, providing a theoretical reference for reducing the interference effects of UWB pulse signal on the performance of GPS receivers.

High-energy EFT probes with fully differential Drell-Yan measurements

We study the potential of fully-differential measurements of high-energy dilepton cross-sections at the LHC to probe heavy new physics encapsulated in dimension-6 interaction operators. The assessment is performed in the seven-dimensional parameter space of operators that induce energy-growing corrections to the Standard Model partonic cross-sections at the interference level, and in the two-dimensional subspace associated with the W and Y parameters. A considerable sensitivity improvement is found relative to single-differential measurements, owing to the possibility of probing at the interference level more directions in the seven-dimensional parameter space. The reduction of parton distribution function uncertainties in the fully-differential fit is also found to play a significant role. The results are interpreted in the minimal Z′ new-physics model, providing a concrete illustration of the advantages of the fully-differential analysis. We find that high-energy dilepton measurements can extend the Z′ exclusion and discovery potential well beyond the reach of direct searches in a large region of the parameter space.

Exploring UAV's multi-domain joint anti-jamming intelligent decision algorithm

To understand the complex communication environment of a UAV in battlefield, its unknown channel statistics information and poor intelligent jamming and anti-jamming capability, the multi-domain anti-jamming problem is studied, and a multi-domain joint anti-jamming intelligent decision algorithm is proposed. First, the channel selection method is adopted to deal with jamming in the frequency domain. A multi-arm slot machine's channel selection model is established, and the channel interference level is judged. Secondly, the moderate interference channel is suppressed in the power domain, and the model of its Stackelberg game is established. The game equalization is solved to obtain the best transmission power and reduce the overhead caused by channel switching. The simulation results show that the long-term rewards of the intelligent decision algorithm are significantly higher than those of the traditional multi-arm slot machine's algorithm and the random selection algorithm and that the average throughput of the communication system of the UAV is improved, thus proving the superiority of the intelligent decision algorithm.