Jungchae Kim

Integrated Solution for Physical Activity Monitoring Based on Mobile Phone and PC.

Objectives This study is part of the ongoing development of treatment methods for metabolic syndrome (MS) project, which involves monitoring daily physical activity. In this study, we have focused on detecting walking activity from subjects which includes many other physical activities such as standing, sitting, lying, walking, running, and falling. Specially, we implemented an integrated solution for various physical activities monitoring using a mobile phone and PC. Methods We put the iPod touch has built in a tri-axial accelerometer on the waist of the subjects, and measured change in acceleration signal according to change in ambulatory movement and physical activities. First, we developed of programs that are aware of step counts, velocity of walking, energy consumptions, and metabolic equivalents based on iPod. Second, we have developed the activity recognition program based on PC. iPod synchronization with PC to transmit measured data using iPhoneBrowser program. Using the implemented system, we analyzed change in acceleration signal according to the change of six activity patterns. Results We compared results of the step counting algorithm with different positions. The mean accuracy across these tests was 99.6 ± 0.61%, 99.1 ± 0.87% (right waist location, right pants pocket). Moreover, six activities recognition was performed using Fuzzy c means classification algorithm recognized over 98% accuracy. In addition we developed of programs that synchronization of data between PC and iPod for long-term physical activity monitoring. Conclusions This study will provide evidence on using mobile phone and PC for monitoring various activities in everyday life. The next step in our system will be addition of a standard value of various physical activities in everyday life such as household duties and a health guideline how to select and plan exercise considering ones physical characteristics and condition.

A portable dental image viewer using a mobile network to provide a tele-dental service

We tested three imaging devices for suitability in emergency dental situations for telemedicine. The three devices were a special-purpose oral camera, a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, and the built-in camera of a mobile phone. A total of 20 subjects volunteered to take part in the study. We simulated five different conditions which could affect the quality of the image and measured image transmission times across two widely available mobile networks (a CDMA-based 3G network and a Wireless Broadband Network, WiBRO). The DSLR produced the best quality images, although it was a relatively large device and not easy to use. The oral camera failed to give satisfactory images under certain conditions (i.e. without extra lighting, out of focus and head motion). In contrast, the mobile phone based camera was very easy to use and to handle, and it gave good information for initial diagnosis, even at high compression ratios. If the image acquisition conditions are carefully set up, this device might be the best for emergency dental trauma situations.

Review of Daily Physical Activity Monitoring System Based on Single Triaxial Accelerometer and Portable Data Measurement Unit

Main objective of this pilot study was to present a method to convenient monitoring of detailed ambulatory movements in daily life, by use of a portable measurement device employing single tri-axial accelerometer. In addition, the purpose of this review article is to provide researchers with a guide to understanding some commonly-used accelerometers in physical activity assessment. Specially, we implemented a small-size wearable data storing system in real time that we used Micro SD-Memory card for convenient and long period habitual physical activity monitoring during daily life. Activity recognition on these features was performed using Fuzzy c means classification algorithm recognized standing, sitting, lying, walking and running with 99.5% accuracy. This study was pilot test for our developed system’s feasibilities. Further application of the present technique may be helpful in the health promotion of both young and elderly.

Portable emergency telemedicine system over wireless broadband and 3G networks

The telemedicine system aims at monitoring patients remotely without limit in time and space. However the existing telemedicine systems exchange medical information simply in a specified location. Due to increasing speed in processing data and expanding bandwidth of wireless networks, it is possible to perform telemedicine services on personal digital assistants (PDA). In this paper, a telemedicine system on PDA was developed using wideband mobile networks such as Wi-Fi, HSDPA, and WiBro for high speed bandwidths. This system enables to utilize and exchange variety and reliable patient information of video, biosignals, chatting messages, and triage data. By measuring bandwidths of individual data of the system over wireless networks, and evaluating the performance of this system using PDA, we demonstrated the feasibility of the designed portable emergency telemedicine system.

Design of real-time encryption module for secure data protection of wearable healthcare devices

Wearable devices for biomedical instrumentation could generate the medical data and transmit to a repository on cloud service through wireless networks. In this process, the private medical data will be disclosed by man in the middle attack. Thus, the archived data for healthcare services would be protected by non-standardized security policy by healthcare service provider (HSP) because HIPAA only defines the security rules. In this paper, we adopted the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for security framework on wearable devices, so healthcare applications using this framework could support the confidentiality easily. The framework developed as dynamic loadable module targeted for lightweight microcontroller such as msp430 within embedded operating system. The performance was shown that the module can support the real-time encryption using electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram. In this regard, the processing load for enabling security is distributed to wearable devices, and the customized data protection method could be composed by HSP for a trusted healthcare service.

A pilot study of the Tele-Airway Management System in a hospital emergency department.

We developed a telemedicine system for remote guidance of emergency airway management called the Tele-Airway Management System (TAMS). In a pilot study we examined the usefulness of the TAMS for intubations of actual patients in a hospital emergency department. Twenty-five patients were allocated randomly either to a TAMS group or to an on-scene directed (OSD) group. A total of 12 were intubated using the TAMS. The mean time to intubation (TAMS 62 s vs. OSD 56 s) and the success rate was not different between the two groups (P > 0.05). There were two oesophageal intubations in the TAMS group and four in the OSD group, but this was not significantly different (P = 0.36). There were no mechanical or technical errors such as disconnection during use of the TAMS. The pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of the TAMS as an alternative to OSD. However, a larger study will be required to determine non-superiority or equivalence.

Development of Mobile Ad Hoc Network for Emergency Telemedicine Service in Disaster Areas

Emergency Telemedicine Service (ETS) is used efficiently for treatment to the wound patient in disaster areas. However, ETS cannot be used if the primary network channel is unavailable due to unexpected damages on the communication infrastructures, and increased network traffics. We established the Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) based on Wireless LAN (WLAN), and developed software program implemented with the Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing Algorithm. The results of experiment are shown that a Mobile Node (MN) in disaster areas provided the sufficient network bandwidth for ETS using MANET. Therefore, MANET is able to provide the ETS by supple configuring the secondary channel in disaster areas where the primary network channel is unavailable.

Performance evaluation of the electrode configuration in bioelectrical impedance analysis for visceral fat measurement

Excessive amount of visceral fat is considered as a crucial indicator for the metabolic syndrome (MS). Visceral fat area (VFA) at the umbilicus level measured by CT is adopted as the gold standard, but it has many limitations. Recently, Application of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for measuring VFA is widely used. However, the correlation between impedance and VFA is highly dependent on the measurement conditions. Therefore, we evaluate its measurement conditions here. In our experiment, we choose 5 different electrode configurations with changes of current and its frequency for evaluating its performance to distinguish fat and thin group with impedance. Our results indicated that electrode arrangement with fixed waist ratio is better in its performance than fixed distance electrode arrangement. Current electrode on each flank side is better than on the front and rear side. Shorter distance between current electrode and voltage electrode is better than longer distance in its performance. Our experiment results are presented.

Real-time Ambulance Location Monitoring using GPS and Maps Open API

The term “Open API” has been recently in use by recent trends in social media and web 2.0. It is currently a heavily sought after solution to interconnect Web sites in a more fluid user-friendly manner. We could have benefits easily development and high efficiency.

Utilization of an alternative Communication Device using the Anal Sphincter (CDAS)

The purpose of this study was to invent a new communication system for terminal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients who are in a state of complete motor paralysis with intact sensory and cognitive functions whose speech are disrupted due to the weakness of muscles involved in speaking and/or to tracheostomy and ventilator dependence