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1.
J Med Imaging Radiat Sci ; 55(2): 203-211, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38431450

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the amount of time saved and the degree of contour difficulty between the two methods of contouring, mouse/keyboard, versus touch screen/stylus in radiotherapy. METHODS: Each of 94 patients consisting of 26 breast cancer cases, 24 lymph nodes cases, 25 rectal cancer cases, and 19 heart cases has been contoured twice. One with a mouse/keyboard, and the next one with the touch screen/stylus. Three radiation oncologists participated in this study. Contouring information including measured time, estimated time spent, volume of contour performed and organ contoured are recorded. To evaluate the differences between the contouring methods, the results regarding target volume and time to completion were analyzed using two-way robust ANOVA. Ease of use and contouring difficulty were compared for differences in distribution of the response choices between the groups using Pearson chi-square test. RESULTS: In this study, 94 clinical cases were studied. The average time required for contouring with the touch screen/stylus method was half the time needed for contouring patients with the mouse/keyboard method. The reduction in the time in breast cancer cases was the highest (48.2%) and the lowest in head and neck cancer cases (32.4%). In comparing the contoured volumes, no significant difference was observed between the two methods. the mean estimated time reported by the radiation oncologist in the mouse/keyboard method was 5.6 minutes longer and, in the touch screen/stylus method, was 3.9 minutes less than the actual measured time. CONCLUSIONS: All the measured and analyzed variables show the superiority of contouring with the touch screen/stylus method and reduced the time required for patient contouring by an average of 50%.


Subject(s)
Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted , Humans , Female , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/methods , Time Factors , Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Breast Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Male
2.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) ; : 17470218241241502, 2024 Apr 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38482583

ABSTRACT

Combined action observation and motor imagery (AO + MI) can improve movement execution (ME) in healthy adults and certain patient populations. However, it is unclear how the specificity of the observation component during AO + MI influences ME. As generalised observation could result in more flexible AO + MI rehabilitation programmes, this study investigated whether observing typing of target words (specific condition) or non-matching words (general condition) during AO + MI would have different effects on keyboard typing in healthy young adults. In Experiment 1, 51 students imagined typing a target word while watching typing videos that were either specific to the target word or general. There were no differences in typing execution between AO + MI conditions, though participants typed more slowly after both AO + MI conditions compared with no observation or imagery. Experiment 2 repeated Experiment 1 in 20 students, but with a faster stimulus speed in the AO + MI conditions and increased cognitive difficulty in the control condition. The results showed that the slowed typing after AO + MI was likely due to a strong influence of task-switching between imagery and execution, as well as an automatic imitation effect. Both experiments demonstrate that general and specific AO + MI comparably affect ME. In addition, slower ME following both AO + MI and a challenging cognitive task provides support for the motor-cognitive model of MI.

3.
J UOEH ; 46(1): 103-112, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38479864

ABSTRACT

Stress is a common part of working life, but knowledge is lacking on how to identify it early and with little effort on the part of the employee. We investigated whether simple stress reports and computer usage data could be useful tools for long-term assessment of stress in real life. 38 experts responded to a baseline questionnaire on need for recovery (NFR) and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire, GHQ12). Their computer usage for work was recorded for 5 months, during which they filled in a 4-month simple diary and a 2-week detailed diary on, for example, stress and productivity. Salivary cortisol and heart rate variability were collected on 3 consecutive days. Generalized estimating equations models were used for the analyses. High NFR and GHQ12 predicted self-reported stress during work, and a decrease in (some) mouse usage features, but not keyboard usage features, over the following months. Some mouse usage features were associated with stress and productivity. The results provide some support for the usefulness of simple stress questions and mouse usage features in assessing long-term stress in real life.


Subject(s)
Computers , Stress, Psychological , Humans , Pilot Projects , Surveys and Questionnaires , Self Report
4.
Biomed Eng Lett ; 14(2): 235-243, 2024 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38374905

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relationship between loneliness levels and daily patterns of mobile keystroke dynamics in healthy individuals. Sixty-six young healthy Koreans participated in the experiment. Over five weeks, the participants used a custom Android keyboard. We divided the participants into four groups based on their level of loneliness (no loneliness, moderate loneliness, severe loneliness, and very severe loneliness). The very severe loneliness group demonstrated significantly higher typing counts during sleep time than the other three groups (one-way ANOVA, F = 3.75, p < 0.05). In addition, the average cosine similarity value of weekday and weekend typing patterns in the very severe loneliness group was higher than that in the no loneliness group (Welch's t-test, t = 2.27, p < 0.05). This meant that the no loneliness group's weekday and weekend typing patterns varied, whereas the very severe loneliness group's weekday and weekend typing patterns did not. Our results indicated that individuals with very high levels of loneliness tended to use mobile keyboards during late-night hours and did not significantly change their smartphone usage behavior between weekdays and weekends. These findings suggest that mobile keystroke dynamics have the potential to be used for the early detection of loneliness and the development of targeted interventions.

5.
Sensors (Basel) ; 24(4)2024 Feb 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38400390

ABSTRACT

In computer systems, user authentication technology is required to identify users who use computers. In modern times, various user authentication technologies, including strong security features based on ownership, such as certificates and security cards, have been introduced. Nevertheless, password-based authentication technology is currently mainly used due to its convenience of use and ease of implementation. However, according to Verizon's "2022 Data Breach Investigations Report", among all security incidents, security incidents caused by password exposures accounted for 82%. Hence, the security of password authentication technology is important. Consequently, this article analyzes prior research on keyboard data attacks and defense techniques to draw the fundamental reasons for keyboard data attacks and derive countermeasures. The first prior research is about stealing keyboard data, an attack that uses machine learning to steal keyboard data to overcome the limitations of a C/D bit attack. The second prior research is an attack technique that steals keyboard data more efficiently by expanding the features of machine learning used in the first prior research. In this article, based on previous research findings, we proposed a keyboard data protection technique using GAN, a Generative Adversarial Network, and verified its feasibility. To summarize the results of performance evaluation with previous research, the machine learning-based keyboard data attack based on the prior research exhibited a 96.7% attack success rate, while the study's proposed method significantly decreased the attack success rate by approximately 13%. Notably, in all experiments, the average decrease in the keyboard data classification performance ranged from a minimum of -29% to a maximum of 52%. When evaluating performance based on maximum performance, all performance indicators were found to decrease by more than 50%.

6.
Alzheimers Dement ; 20(1): 173-182, 2024 Jan.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37519032

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Finding low-cost methods to detect early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a research priority for neuroprotective drug development. Presymptomatic Alzheimer's is associated with gait impairment but hand motor tests, which are more accessible, have hardly been investigated. This study evaluated how home-based Tasmanian (TAS) Test keyboard tapping tests predict episodic memory performance. METHODS: 1169 community participants (65.8 ± 7.4 years old; 73% female) without cognitive symptoms completed online single-key and alternate-key tapping tests and episodic memory, working memory, and executive function cognitive tests. RESULTS: All single-key (R2 adj  = 8.8%, ΔAIC = 5.2) and alternate-key (R2 adj  = 9.1%, ΔAIC = 8.8) motor features predicted episodic memory performance relative to demographic and mood confounders only (R2 adj  = 8.1%). No tapping features improved estimation of working memory. DISCUSSION: Brief self-administered online hand movement tests predict asymptomatic episodic memory impairment. This provides a potential low-cost home-based method for stratification of enriched cohorts. HIGHLIGHTS: We devised two brief online keyboard tapping tests to assess hand motor function. 1169 cognitively asymptomatic adults completed motor- and cognitive tests online. Impaired hand motor function predicted reduced episodic memory performance. This brief self-administered test may aid stratification of community cohorts.


Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease , Cognitive Dysfunction , Memory, Episodic , Humans , Female , Aged , Middle Aged , Male , Cross-Sectional Studies , Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology , Memory Disorders/diagnosis , Alzheimer Disease/complications , Neuropsychological Tests
7.
Behav Res Methods ; 56(1): 278-289, 2024 Jan.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36597006

ABSTRACT

The response time-based Concealed Information Test (RT-CIT) is an established memory detection paradigm. Slower RTs to critical information (called 'probes') compared to control items (called 'irrelevants') reveal recognition. Different lines of research indicate that response conflict is a strong contributor to this RT difference. Previous studies used electromyography (EMG) to measure response conflict, but this requires special equipment and trained examiners. The aim of this study was to explore if response conflict can also be measured with an analog gaming keyboard that is sensitive to minimal finger movements. In a preregistered study, participants completed an autobiographical RT-CIT (n = 35) as well as a cued recognition task (modified Sternberg task; n = 33) for validation purposes. Partial errors, partial button presses of the incorrect response key, were more frequent in trials with response conflict than in trials without conflict. Partial errors were rare (CIT: 2.9%; Sternberg: 1.7% of conflict trials), suggesting analogue keyboards have lower sensitivity than EMG. This is the first evidence that analog keyboards can measure partial errors. Although likely less sensitive than EMG measures, potential benefits of analog keyboards include their accessibility, their compatibility with all tasks that use a standard keyboard, that no physical contact with the participant is needed, and ease of data collection (e.g., allowing for group testing).


Subject(s)
Deception , Video Games , Humans , Recognition, Psychology/physiology , Reaction Time/physiology , Fingers
8.
Artif Intell Med ; 146: 102713, 2023 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38042600

ABSTRACT

Multi-armed bandits are very simple and powerful methods to determine actions to maximize a reward in a limited number of trials. An early phase in dose-finding clinical trials needs to identify the maximum tolerated dose among multiple doses by repeating the dose-assignment. We consider applying the superior selection performance of multi-armed bandits to dose-finding clinical designs. Among the multi-armed bandits, we first consider the use of Thompson sampling which determines actions based on random samples from a posterior distribution. In the small sample size, as shown in dose-finding trials, because the tails of posterior distribution are heavier and random samples are too much variability, we also consider an application of regularized Thompson sampling and greedy algorithm. The greedy algorithm determines a dose based on a posterior mean. In addition, we also propose a method to determine a dose based on a posterior mode. We evaluate the performance of our proposed designs for nine scenarios via simulation studies.


Subject(s)
Algorithms , Research Design , Bayes Theorem , Computer Simulation , Maximum Tolerated Dose
9.
J Eye Mov Res ; 16(2)2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38059073

ABSTRACT

This study examines short-term improvement of music performances and oculomotor behaviour during four successive executions of a brief musical piece composed by Bartók, "Slovak Boys' Dance". Pianists (n=22) were allowed to practice for two minutes between each trial. Eye-tracking data were collected as well as MIDI information from pianists' performances. Cognitive skills were assessed by a spatial memory test and a reading span test. Principal component analysis (PCA) enabled us to distinguish two axes, one associated with anticipation and the other with dependence/independence on written code. The effect of musical structure, determined by the emergence of different sections in the score, was observed in all the dependent variables selected from the PCA; we also observed the effect of practice on the number of fixations, the number of glances at the keyboard (GAK) and the awareness span. Pianist expertise was associated with fewer fixations and GAK, better anticipation capacities and more effective strategies for visual monitoring of motor movements. The significant correlations observed between the reading span test and GAK duration highlight the challenge of working memory involvement during music reading.

10.
Sensors (Basel) ; 23(15)2023 Jul 26.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37571467

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses issues concerning secure authentication in computer systems. We focus on multi-factor authentication methods using two or more independent mechanisms to identify a user. User-specific behavioral biometrics is widely used to increase login security. The usage of behavioral biometrics can support verification without bothering the user with a requirement of an additional interaction. Our research aimed to check whether using information about how partial passwords are typed is possible to strengthen user authentication security. The partial password is a query of a subset of characters from a full password. The use of partial passwords makes it difficult for attackers who can observe password entry to acquire sensitive information. In this paper, we use a Siamese neural network and n-shot classification using past recent logins to verify user identity based on keystroke dynamics obtained from the static text. The experimental results on real data demonstrate that keystroke dynamics authentication can be successfully used for partial password typing patterns. Our method can support the basic authentication process and increase users' confidence.

11.
Brain Behav ; 13(11): e3226, 2023 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37605367

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Prior research has shown that memory for action sentences is stronger when stimuli are enacted during encoding than simply listened to: the so-called enactment effect. The goal of the present study was to explore how writing during encoding-through handwriting and through keyboarding-fares compared with enacting, in supporting memory recall. METHODS: One hundred Norwegian high school students (64 girls, 36 boys) aged 16-21 years (M = 17.1) participated in the study. Four lists of verb-noun sentences with 12 sentences in each list were presented in four encoding conditions: (i) motor enactment, (ii) verbal listening, (iii) handwriting, and (iv) keyboarding. RESULTS: Results revealed a significant main effect of encoding condition, with the best memory gained in the enactment condition. Regarding writing, results showed that handwriting and keyboarding during encoding produced the lowest recall in comparison with the enactment and verbal listening conditions. CONCLUSION: These results thus provide additional support for the enactment effect. While there has been much discussion on the relative benefits of handwriting versus keyboarding on student performance, both seemed to be equally poor strategies for the particular learning task explored here, potentially through increased cognitive load.


Subject(s)
Memory , Mental Recall , Male , Female , Humans , Adolescent , Handwriting , Students , Language
12.
J Parkinsons Dis ; 13(6): 975-988, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37574743

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Impaired dexterity is an early motor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) that significantly impacts the daily activity of patients; however, what constitutes complex dexterous movements remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of finger dexterity in mild-to-moderate stage PD. METHODS: We quantitatively assessed finger dexterity in 48 mild-to-moderate stage PD patients and 49 age-matched controls using a simple alternating two-finger typing test for 15 seconds. Time-series analyses of various kinematic parameters with machine learning were compared between sides and groups. RESULTS: Both the more and less affected hands of patients with PD had significantly lower typing frequency and slower typing velocity than the non-dominant and the dominant hands of controls (p = 0.019, p = 0.016, p < 0.001, p < 0.001). The slope of the typing velocity decreased with time, indicating a sequence effect in the PD group. A typing duration of 6 seconds was determined sufficient to discriminate PD patients from controls. Typing error, repetition, and repetition rate were significantly higher in the more affected hands of patients with PD than in the non-dominant hand of controls (p < 0.001, p = 0.03, p < 0.001). The error rate was constant, whereas the repetition rate was steep during the initiation of typing. A predictive model of the more affected hand demonstrated an accuracy of 70% in differentiating PD patients from controls. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated complex components of impaired finger dexterity in mild-to-moderate stage PD, namely bradykinesia with sequence effects, error, and repetition at the initiation of movement, suggesting that multiple neural networks may be involved in dexterity deficits in PD.


Subject(s)
Fingers , Parkinson Disease , Humans , Parkinson Disease/complications , Motor Skills , Hand , Movement
13.
Heliyon ; 9(7): e17877, 2023 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37501960

ABSTRACT

Music is a universal human phenomenon, and can be studied for itself or as a window into the understanding of the brain. Few neuroimaging studies investigate actual playing in the MRI scanner, likely because of the lack of available experimental hardware and analysis tools. Here, we offer an innovative paradigm that addresses this issue in neuromusicology using naturalistic, polyphonic musical stimuli, presents a commercially available MRI-compatible piano, and a flexible approach to quantify participant's performance. We show how making errors while playing can be investigated using an altered auditory feedback paradigm. In the spirit of open science, we make our experimental paradigms and analysis tools available to other researchers studying pianists in MRI. Altogether, we present a proof-of-concept study which shows the feasibility of playing the novel piano in MRI, and a step towards using more naturalistic stimuli.

14.
Appl Ergon ; 113: 104013, 2023 Nov.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37422987

ABSTRACT

The curved design is ubiquitous, with a vast user base due to its similarity with in shape to human physiological structure. The curved QWERTY keyboard layout was proposed for one-handed usage on smartphones with ambiguous effects. This study evaluated whether the curved QWERTY could optimize the user experience and input performance on large smartphones better than the traditional straight QWERTY layout. Eight measurements were used to evaluate the usability of each design, six suggesting curved QWERTY failed to achieve outstanding typing performance or subjective user experience, while the other two indicators showed that curved QWERTY had advantages in touch dispersion and touching offset, indicating the possible higher usability it could reach. The results also investigated the potential application of curved designs and provided insights into the optimization methods.


Subject(s)
Smartphone , Upper Extremity , Humans , Equipment Design , Upper Extremity/physiology , Hand , Touch
15.
J Environ Manage ; 345: 118655, 2023 Nov 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37517092

ABSTRACT

E-waste comprising plastics causes serious ecological problems due to low degradability, but it is capable of producing a high amount of energy by thermochemical conversion. Therefore, the current study focuses on generating clean syngas through plasma gasification of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) based computer keyboard plastic waste (CKPW) using CO2 as a gasifying agent. The effect of feed rate, gas flow rate and plasma power on the syngas composition was studied. In addition, a comprehensive investigation of energy, exergy, economic and environmental analyses along with characterization of the obtained products was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system. Based on the experimental results, the optimum process parameters for producing syngas possessing a higher calorific value (15.80 MJ/m3) with a higher percentage of H2 (30.16 vol%) and CO (46.09 vol%) were estimated. The optimum feed flow rates of solid fuel and CO2 gas and torch power were estimated as 40 g/10 min, 0.5 lpm and 1.12 kW, respectively. At these conditions, the system could achieve a maximum energy and exergy efficiency of 46.06% and 44.34%, respectively, while the levelized cost of syngas (LCOSover) was estimated as 25.45 INR/kWh, including the social cost. Likewise, the lower values of the estimated global warming potential (370.19 gCO2eq/h) illustrate the better sustainability of the process. The obtained oil with the estimated LHV of 39.13 MJ/kg could be an alternative fuel for diesel and the residue containing a higher proportion of TiO2 has medical applications upon further enrichment. The reaction mechanism of ABS conversion to syngas under plasma gasification conditions is proposed.


Subject(s)
Acrylonitrile , Refuse Disposal , Refuse Disposal/methods , Gases/analysis , Carbon Dioxide , Butadienes , Plastics , Styrenes
16.
Sensors (Basel) ; 23(7)2023 Mar 27.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37050562

ABSTRACT

Online security threats have arisen through Internet banking hacking cases, and highly sensitive user information such as the ID, password, account number, and account password that is used for online payments has become vulnerable. Many security companies have therefore researched protection methods regarding keyboard-entered data for the introduction of defense techniques. Recently, keyboard security issues have arisen due to the production of new malicious codes by attackers who have combined the existing attack techniques with new attack techniques; however, a keyboard security assessment is insufficient here. The research motivation is to serve more secure user authentication methods by evaluating the security of information input from the keyboard device for the user authentication, including Internet banking service. If the authentication information input from the keyboard device is exposed during user authentication, attackers can attempt to illegal login or, worst, steal the victim's money. Accordingly, in this paper, the existing and the new keyboard-attack techniques that are known are surveyed, and the results are used as the basis for the implementation of sample malicious codes to verify both a security analysis and an assessment of secure keyboard software. As a result of the experiment, if the resend command utilization attack technique is used, 7 out of 10 companies' products expose keyboard information, and only 1 company's products detect it. The fundamental reason for these vulnerabilities is that the hardware chip related to the PS/2 interface keyboard does not provide security facilities. Therefore, since keyboard data exposure does not be prevented only by software, it is required to develop a hardware chip that provides security facilities.

17.
J Med Internet Res ; 25: e38066, 2023 04 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37027202

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sleep is an important determinant of individuals' health and behavior during the wake phase. Novel research methods for field assessments are required to enable the monitoring of sleep over a prolonged period and across a large number of people. The ubiquity of smartphones offers new avenues for detecting rest-activity patterns in everyday life in a noninvasive an inexpensive manner and on a large scale. Recent studies provided evidence for the potential of smartphone interaction monitoring as a novel tracking method to approximate rest-activity patterns based on the timing of smartphone activity and inactivity throughout the 24-hour day. These findings require further replication and more detailed insights into interindividual variations in the associations and deviations with commonly used metrics for monitoring rest-activity patterns in everyday life. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to replicate and expand on earlier findings regarding the associations and deviations between smartphone keyboard-derived and self-reported estimates of the timing of the onset of the rest and active periods and the duration of the rest period. Moreover, we aimed to quantify interindividual variations in the associations and time differences between the 2 assessment modalities and to investigate to what extent general sleep quality, chronotype, and trait self-control moderate these associations and deviations. METHODS: Students were recruited to participate in a 7-day experience sampling study with parallel smartphone keyboard interaction monitoring. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: In total, 157 students participated in the study, with an overall response rate of 88.9% for the diaries. The results revealed moderate to strong relationships between the keyboard-derived and self-reported estimates, with stronger associations for the timing-related estimates (ß ranging from .61 to .78) than for the duration-related estimates (ß=.51 and ß=.52). The relational strength between the time-related estimates was lower, but did not substantially differ for the duration-related estimates, among students experiencing more disturbances in their general sleep quality. Time differences between the keyboard-derived and self-reported estimates were, on average, small (<0.5 hours); however, large discrepancies were also registered for quite some nights. The time differences between the 2 assessment modalities were larger for both timing-related and rest duration-related estimates among students who reported more disturbances in their general sleep quality. Chronotype and trait self-control did not significantly moderate the associations and deviations between the 2 assessment modalities. CONCLUSIONS: We replicated the positive potential of smartphone keyboard interaction monitoring for estimating rest-activity patterns among populations of regular smartphone users. Chronotype and trait self-control did not significantly influence the metrics' accuracy, whereas general sleep quality did: the behavioral proxies obtained from smartphone interactions appeared to be less powerful among students who experienced lower general sleep quality. The generalization and underlying process of these findings require further investigation.


Subject(s)
Ecological Momentary Assessment , Smartphone , Humans , Sleep/physiology , Self Report
18.
Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol ; : 1-12, 2023 Apr 25.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37098085

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Nowadays, typing is considered as one of the highly important aspects of accessibility that the visually impaired and blinds struggle with the most as existing virtual keyboards are complex and slow. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This paper proposes a new text entry method named SwingBoard for visually impaired and blind smartphone users to solve their accessibility problem. It supports a-z, 0-9, 7 punctuations, 12 symbols, and eight keyboard functionalities that are arranged in 8 zones (specific range of angles), four segments, two modes, and different gestures. The proposed keyboard is suitable for the either single-handed or both-handed operation that tracks swipe angle and length to trigger any of the 66 key events. The key triggering process is based on only swiping the finger at different angles with different lengths. Typing speed of SwingBoard is increased by including some effective features such as the quick alphabet and number mode shifting, haptic feedback feature, talkback on swipe to learn the map quickly, and customizable swipe length feature. RESULTS: At the end of 150 one-minute tests, seven blind participants reached an average of 19.89 words per minute (WPM) with an 88% accuracy rate which is one of the fastest-ever recorded average typing speeds for the blind. CONCLUSION: Almost all users found SwingBoard effective, easy to learn and want to keep using it. SwingBoard is a handy virtual keyboard for visually impaired people with amazing typing speed and accuracy.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONRehabilitation would be easier for a visually impaired/disabled person who can adapt the current technology-oriented world and use communication tools easily.As visually impaired and blind people faced a lot of problems in their regular life because of their inability to see things, coping with the evolving world's demands from a person to do a certain task using smart devices would be easier for them with the proposed virtual keyboard topology.As the number of visually impaired and blind users of smartphones rises, faster typing becomes a vital aspect of the smartphone experience.Deaf-blind communities are expanding but solutions for them are not increasing at the same pace because of the limitation of implication. Research on a virtual keyboard with the proposed eyes-free swipe-based typing operation and ears-free reliability on haptic feedback would enable others to create new solutions.

19.
Stat Methods Med Res ; 32(4): 820-828, 2023 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36775992

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Model-assisted designs for drug combination trials have been proposed as novel designs with simple and superior performance. However, model-assisted designs have the disadvantage that the sample size must be set in advance, and trials cannot be completed until the number of patients treated reaches the pre-set sample size. Model-assisted designs have a stopping rule that can be used to terminate the trial if the number of patients treated exceeds the predetermined number, there is no statistical basis for the predetermined number. Here, I propose two methods for data-dependent early completion of dose-finding trials for drug combination: (1) an early completion method based on dose retainment probability, and (2) an early completion method in which the dose retainment probability is adjusted by a bivariate isotonic regression. METHODS: Early completion is determined when the dose retainment probability using both trial data and the number of remaining patients is high. Early completion of a virtual trial was demonstrated. The performances of the early completion methods were evaluated by simulation studies with 12 scenarios. RESULTS: The simulation studies showed that the percentage of early completion was an average of approximately 70%, and the number of patients treated was 25% less than the planned sample size. The percentage of correct maximum tolerated dose combination selection for the early completion methods was similar to that of non-early completion methods with an average difference of approximately 3%. CONCLUSION: The performance of the proposed early completion methods was similar to that of the non-early completion methods. Furthermore, the number of patients for determining early completion before the trial starts was determined and a program code for calculating the dose retainment probability was proposed.


Subject(s)
Research Design , Humans , Bayes Theorem , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Computer Simulation , Drug Combinations
20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36834392

ABSTRACT

Many older people have restricted activities or movements because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which causes concerns about secondary health problems. This study aimed to investigate how frailty-prevention activities implemented by local governments have changed the health of community-dwelling older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this observational study, the participants were 23 older Japanese people who took part in keyboard harmonica or exercise classes in 2021. Oral function examination and physical function tests were conducted at baseline and after 10 months of follow-up. In each class, the participants met 15 times and worked on assignments at home. The results showed that oral diadochokinesis/pa/, which represents lip dexterity, improved during 10 months (from 6.6 to 6.8 times/s, p < 0.046); however, grip strength (p < 0.005) and total skeletal muscle mass (p < 0.017) decreased in the keyboard harmonica group. In the exercise group, a statistically significant difference was found only in grip strength, which decreased (p < 0.003). The oral and physical functions of older people who participated in frailty-prevention activities implemented by local governments characteristically changed. Moreover, activity restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused decreased grip strength.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Frailty , Humans , Aged , Pandemics , East Asian People , Independent Living
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