A very low-profile CPW based conformal antenna for wearable/implantable applications

BACKGROUND

In wireless communication standard 4G and 5G, the body centric network plays an important role for the wireless communication between various devices.

OBJECTIVE

This research relates to a wide-band conformal co-planar waveguide (CPW) antenna for wearable applications.

METHODS

The proposed CPW antenna is printed on 0.1 mm thick bio-compatible polymide substrate whose dielectric constant and permittivity are 3.5 and 0.02 respectively. The total area of the antenna is around 17.5 × 15 mm2 which is significantly smaller than the wearable antennas proposed in literature. The proposed antenna is designed to operate in new ISM band 5.8 GHz with the bandwidth of 5.3-6.3 GHz with 2:1 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR). The antenna is printed on the flexible substrate and hence robustness of device is evaluated by bending analysis. It reveals the superior performance of the designed CPW antenna over the desired spectrum of operation.

RESULTS

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is calculated after placing the antenna at various places of human phantom model and showed that SAR values are below 1.6 W/Kg which is the maximum margin recommended by Federal Communication Commission (FCC), i.e when tested with 1 g and 10 g of human tissue of phantom model, for the test frequency range of 5.5-6.1 GHz, SAR value falls between 0.9987 and 0.921 W/Kg respectively. The antenna also shows the radiation efficiency around 92% with overall realized gain 5.2 dBi which are substantial values for wearable applications.

CONCLUSION

The outcomes of this research revealed the feasibility of the recommended antenna becoming a major contender of future Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Learning Landscape in Gamification: The Need for a Methodological Protocol in Research Applications

In education, the term "gamification" refers to of the use of game-design elements and gaming experiences in the learning processes to enhance learners' motivation and engagement. Despite researchers' efforts to evaluate the impact of gamification in educational settings, several methodological drawbacks are still present. Indeed, the number of studies with high methodological rigor is reduced and, consequently, so are the reliability of results. In this work, we identified the key concepts explaining the methodological issues in the use of gamification in learning and education, and we exploited the controverses identified in the extant literature. Our final goal was to set up a checklist protocol that will facilitate the design of more rigorous studies in the gamified-learning framework. The checklist suggests potential moderators explaining the link between gamification, learning, and education identified by recent reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses: study design, theory foundations, personalization, motivation and engagement, game elements, game design, and learning outcomes.

Is ChatGPT-4 Accurate in Proofread a Manuscript in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery?

ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence-powered language model of chatbot able to help otolaryngologists in clinical practice and research. We investigated the ability of ChatGPT-4 in the editing of a manuscript in otolaryngology. Four papers were written by a nonnative English otolaryngologist and edited by a professional editing service. ChatGPT-4 was used to detect and correct errors in manuscripts. From the 171 errors in the manuscripts, ChatGPT-4 detected 86 errors (50.3%) including vocabulary (N = 36), determiner (N = 27), preposition (N = 24), capitalization (N = 20), and number (N = 11). ChatGPT-4 proposed appropriate corrections for 72 (83.7%) errors, while some errors were poorly detected (eg, capitalization [5%] and vocabulary [44.4%] errors. ChatGPT-4 claimed to change something that was already there in 82 cases. ChatGPT demonstrated usefulness in identifying some types of errors but not all. Nonnative English researchers should be aware of the current limits of ChatGPT-4 in the proofreading of manuscripts.

An Ethics and Social-Justice Approach to Collecting and Using Demographic Data for Psychological Researchers

The collection and use of demographic data in psychological sciences has the potential to aid in transforming inequities brought about by unjust social conditions toward equity. However, many current methods surrounding demographic data do not achieve this goal. Some methods function to reduce, but not eliminate, inequities, whereas others may perpetuate harmful stereotypes, invalidate minoritized identities, and exclude key groups from research participation or access to disseminated findings. In this article, we aim to (a) review key ethical and social-justice dilemmas inherent to working with demographic data in psychological research and (b) introduce a framework positioned in ethics and social justice to help psychologists and researchers in social-science fields make thoughtful decisions about the collection and use of demographic data. Although demographic data methods vary across subdisciplines and research topics, we assert that these core issues-and solutions-are relevant to all research within the psychological sciences, including basic and applied research. Our overarching aim is to support key stakeholders in psychology (e.g., researchers, funding agencies, journal editors, peer reviewers) in making ethical and socially-just decisions about the collection, analysis, reporting, interpretation, and dissemination of demographic data.

A Simulation Study of Triband Low SAR Wearable Antenna

The proposed paper presents a flexible antenna that is capable of operating in several frequency bands, namely 2.45 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and 8 GHz. The first two frequency bands are frequently utilized in industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) as well as wireless local area network (WLAN) applications, whereas the third frequency band is associated with X-band applications. The antenna, with dimensions of 52 mm × 40 mm (0.79 λ × 0.61 λ), was designed using a 1.8 mm thick flexible kapton polyimide substrate with a permittivity of 3.5. Using CST Studio Suite, full-wave electromagnetic simulations were conducted, and the proposed design achieved a reflection coefficient below -10 dB for the intended frequency bands. Additionally, the proposed antenna achieves an efficiency value of up to 83% and appropriate values of gain in the desired frequency bands. In order to quantify the specific absorption rate (SAR), simulations were conducted by mounting the proposed antenna on a three-layered phantom. The SAR_1g values recorded for the frequency bands of 2.45 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and 8 GHz were 0.34, 1.45, and 1.57 W/Kg respectively. These SAR values were observed to be significantly lower than the 1.6 W/Kg threshold set by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Moreover, the performance of the antenna was evaluated by simulating various deformation tests.

Amplifiers in Biomedical Engineering: A Review from Application Perspectives

Continuous monitoring and treatment of various diseases with biomedical technologies and wearable electronics has become significantly important. The healthcare area is an important, evolving field that, among other things, requires electronic and micro-electromechanical technologies. Designed circuits and smart devices can lead to reduced hospitalization time and hospitals equipped with high-quality equipment. Some of these devices can also be implanted inside the body. Recently, various implanted electronic devices for monitoring and diagnosing diseases have been presented. These instruments require communication links through wireless technologies. In the transmitters of these devices, power amplifiers are the most important components and their performance plays important roles. This paper is devoted to collecting and providing a comprehensive review on the various designed implanted amplifiers for advanced biomedical applications. The reported amplifiers vary with respect to the class/type of amplifier, implemented CMOS technology, frequency band, output power, and the overall efficiency of the designs. The purpose of the authors is to provide a general view of the available solutions, and any researcher can obtain suitable circuit designs that can be selected for their problem by reading this survey.

Truth and Advocacy: Reducing Bias in Policy-Related Research

Critics have suggested that psychological research is characterized by a pervasive liberal bias, and this problem may be particularly acute in research on issues related to public policy. In this article, I consider the sources of bias in basic and applied research in the evaluation, conduct, and communication of research. Techniques are suggested for counteracting bias at each of these stages.

Clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges of putting scientific and ethical principles into practice

Global pandemic of COVID-19 is a serious unmet medical need requiring clinical research into effective therapies. Clinical trials during pandemics of infections face complex challenges of putting scientific and ethical principles into practice. Some of these issues – selection of investigational product and participants, study design, assessment of efficacy and safety, ethics review, informed consent and publication, sample size, and publications – require in-depth consideration in planning and implementation of clinical trials during pandemics.

… and the Wisdom to Know the Difference: Scholarly Success From a Wisdom Perspective

What makes a researcher wise? At least for the field of psychology, I argue that the two main characteristics of scholarly wisdom are a desire to understand, rather than to be right, and an orientation toward ethical values. These characteristics do not necessarily produce the highest levels of academic success. Because wisdom is partly context dependent, the actual wisdom of our scientific output could be increased by making some changes to our publication and evaluation culture-changes that might benefit our field and even the world around us.

A citation-based, author- and age-normalized, logarithmic index for evaluation of individual researchers independently of publication counts

The use of citation metrics for evaluation of individual researchers has dramatically increased over the last decade. However, currently existing indices either are based on misleading premises or are cumbersome to implement. This leads to poor assessment of researchers and creates dangerous trends in science, such as overproduction of low quality articles. Here we propose an index (namely, the L-index) that does not depend on the number of publications, accounts for different co-author contributions and age of publications, and scales from 0.0 to 9.9. Moreover, it can be calculated with the help of freely available software.

How to write an introduction section of a scientific article?

An article primarily includes the following sections: introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Before writing the introduction, the main steps, the heading and the familiarity level of the readers should be considered. Writing should begin when the experimental system and the equipment are available. The introduction section comprises the first portion of the manuscript, and it should be written using the simple present tense. Additionally, abbreviations and explanations are included in this section. The main goal of the introduction is to convey basic information to the readers without obligating them to investigate previous publications and to provide clues as to the results of the present study. To do this, the subject of the article should be thoroughly reviewed, and the aim of the study should be clearly stated immediately after discussing the basic references. In this review, we aim to convey the principles of writing the introduction section of a manuscript to residents and young investigators who have just begun to write a manuscript.

The Consequences of Predicting Scientific Impact in Psychology Using Journal Impact Factors

An academic journal's impact factor (hereafter JIF) is an average measure of the citation count of individual articles published in that journal. JIF is used to assess merit, predict impact, and allocate resources, but the actual number of citations to individual articles is only modestly correlated with the JIFs of the journals in which they are published. We counted PsycInfo citations to 1,133 articles published in nine leading psychology journals (1996-2005). Both article length (r =.31) and reference list length (r = .41) predicted log-transformed citation counts better than JIF (r = .27). Articles with fewer graphs and more structural equation models were more frequently cited. Citation count was better predicted by a model based on article length and citation count rather than JIF. When JIF was used to predict citation count, the impact of women authors and social science research was underestimated. These findings distinguish impact in science, as measured by JIF, from actual impact in psychology, and they show the unintended consequences of using a measure of the former to predict the latter.

The science and social necessity of deceased organ donation

Successful deceased organ donation requires a reproducible - consistent (scientific) system that evaluates the potential for organ donation and determines objectively whether the national system is achieving its goals. The science of organ donation also pertains to the determination of death. We are a common humanity that dies similarly - a humanity whose ultimate criterion of life resides in the function of the human brain. The recent brain death law of Israel encouragingly enables a determination of death by the loss of neurologic function, but it has become complicated by a practice that may perpetuate societal misperceptions. As a result opportunities for deceased organ donation - to provide for Israelis in need of organ transplants - are being lost. A statured task force of society could be assembled to convey its support for deceased donation to influence society and resolve these misperceptions. The World Health Organization is now calling for each member state to achieve a self-sufficiency in organ donation and transplantation "equitably meeting the transplantation needs of a given population using resources from within that population". Patients should not be compelled to go to foreign countries for their organs. Israel has been a leader in the development of a model program intended to address transplant tourism. Insurance companies are no longer permitted to provide resources for Israelis to undergo illegal transplants in foreign destinations. The social necessity of a scientifically and medically applied system of deceased organ donation is now evident so that a sufficient number of organs can be available for patients from within the country where they reside.