Due to recent advancements and appealing applications, the purchase rate of smart devices is increasing at a higher rate. Parallely, the security related threats and attacks are also increasing at a greater ratio on these devices. As a result, a considerable number of attacks have been noted in the recent past. To resist these attacks, many password-based authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of these schemes are not screen size independent; whereas, smart devices come in different sizes. Specifically, they are not suitable for miniature smart devices due to the small screen size and/or lack of full sized keyboards. In this paper, we propose a new screen size independent password-based authentication scheme, which also offers an affordable defense against shoulder surfing, brute force, and smudge attacks. In the proposed scheme, the Press Touch (PT)-a.k.a., Force Touch in Apple's MacBook, Apple Watch, ZTE's Axon 7 phone; 3D Touch in iPhone 6 and 7; and so on-is transformed into a new type of code, named Press Touch Code (PTC). We design and implement three variants of it, namely mono-PTC, multi-PTC, and multi-PTC with Grid, on the Android Operating System. An in-lab experiment and a comprehensive survey have been conducted on 105 participants to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Hand hygiene auditing is mandatory for all Malaysian public hospitals; nonetheless, the burden of auditing is impacting the support and sustainability of the program. We report an alternative method to routinely measure hand hygiene compliance with the aim to test whether alcohol-based handrub purchase data could be used as a proxy for usage because human auditing has decreased validity and reliability inherent in the methodology.
Matched MeSH terms: Drug Utilization*; Guideline Adherence/utilization*
Earlier evaluation studies on Health Information Systems (HIS) adoption have highlighted a large number of adoption problems that were attributed to the lack of fit between technology, human and organisation factors. Lessons can be learned from these evaluation studies by identifying the most important factors of HIS adoption. In order to study the adoption issue, a qualitative systematic review has been performed using a recently introduced framework, known as HOT-fit (Human, Organisation and Technology fit). The paper identifies and highlights the following critical adoption factors: technology (ease of use, system usefulness, system flexibility, time efficiency, information accessibility and relevancy); human (user training, user perception, user roles, user skills, clarity of system purpose, user involvement); organisation (leadership and support, clinical process, user involvement, internal communication, inter organisational system, as well as the fit between them. The findings can be used to guide future system development and inform relevant decision making.
Matched MeSH terms: Information Systems/utilization*
The immunization status of children is improved by interventions that increase community demand for compulsory and non-compulsory vaccines, one of the most important interventions related to immunization providers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the activities of immunization providers in terms of activities time and cost, to calculate the immunization doses cost, and to determine the immunization dose errors cost. Time-motion and cost analysis study design was used. Five public health clinics in Mosul-Iraq participated in the study. Fifty (50) vaccine doses were required to estimate activities time and cost. Micro-costing method was used; time and cost data were collected for each immunization-related activity performed by the clinic staff. A stopwatch was used to measure the duration of activity interactions between the parents and clinic staff. The immunization service cost was calculated by multiplying the average salary/min by activity time per minute. 528 immunization cards of Iraqi children were scanned to determine the number and the cost of immunization doses errors (extraimmunization doses and invalid doses). The average time for child registration was 6.7 min per each immunization dose, and the physician spent more than 10 min per dose. Nurses needed more than 5 min to complete child vaccination. The total cost of immunization activities was 1.67 US$ per each immunization dose. Measles vaccine (fifth dose) has a lower price (0.42 US$) than all other immunization doses. The cost of a total of 288 invalid doses was 744.55 US$ and the cost of a total of 195 extra immunization doses was 503.85 US$. The time spent on physicians' activities was longer than that spent on registrars' and nurses' activities. Physician total cost was higher than registrar cost and nurse cost. The total immunization cost will increase by about 13.3% owing to dose errors.
Matched MeSH terms: Drug Utilization/economics*; Drug Utilization/statistics & numerical data*; Immunization/utilization*
Spectrum scarcity is a major challenge in wireless communications systems requiring efficient usage and utilization. Cognitive radio network (CRN) is found as a promising technique to solve this problem of spectrum scarcity. It allows licensed and unlicensed users to share the same licensed spectrum band. Interference resulting from cognitive radios (CRs) has undesirable effects on quality of service (QoS) of both licensed and unlicensed systems where it causes degradation in received signal-to-noise ratio (SIR) of users. Power control is one of the most important techniques that can be used to mitigate interference and guarantee QoS in both systems. In this paper, we develop a new approach of a distributed power control for CRN based on utility and pricing. QoS of CR user is presented as a utility function via pricing and a distributed power control as a non-cooperative game in which users maximize their net utility (utility-price). We define the price as a real function of transmit power to increase pricing charge of the farthest CR users. We prove that the power control game proposed in this study has Nash Equilibrium as well as it is unique. The obtained results show that the proposed power control algorithm based on a new utility function has a significant reduction in transmit power consumption and high improvement in speed of convergence.
Matched MeSH terms: Computer Communication Networks/utilization; Wireless Technology/utilization
A cross-sectional study of medical students using a self-administered questionnaire was carried out in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia from December 2000 to January 2001 to determine IT usage, perceptions and literacy of medical students. 366 of 653 (56.0%) students reported owning some type of personal computer. Students mainly used the computer to get onto the Internet, do word-processing and make presentations. Junior (Year One and Two) students and those who had used computers before entering university were more likely to use the Internet. Those who own computers were more likely to feel comfortable with software (OR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.38). Students who use the Internet were more likely to perceive that IT facilitated their studies (OR 4.61, 95% CI: 2.35, 9.05). The highest self-reported IT skill was e-mailing followed by surfing the World Wide Web and word-processing. Male students and junior students had significantly higher self-reported IT literacy scores compared to female students and senior students. Significant predictors for an IT identifier score after adjusting for other variables were self-reported rating of computer knowledge, number of siblings, parents' income and gender.
Matched MeSH terms: Microcomputers/utilization*; Word Processing/utilization
The use and reasons for use of Complementary Medicine (CM) amongst hypertensive patients attending the Hypertension/ Diabetes/ Asthma Clinic in Greentown Health Clinic, Ipoh was assessed. One hundred and twenty patients were selected by systematic random sampling (1:5) over a 2-week period commencing 26/04/04. Data was obtained from interviews, questionnaires and medical records. Twenty seven percent were on CM. Most commonly used CM was herbal medicine. Majority of those using CM for BP control were Malays. The Chinese and Indians were using CM mainly for other health problems. Ninety six percent were using both CM and conventional therapy concurrently. Therefore doctors should enquire about CM usage during patient assessment to prevent possible drug interactions.
Matched MeSH terms: Complementary Therapies/utilization*; Community Health Centers/utilization*; Phytotherapy/utilization; Primary Health Care/utilization*; Dietary Supplements/utilization
One hundred and twenty specialists from the Ministry of Health, the Universities and the private sector provided information on 4,802 patients seen over a total of two hundred and forty working days. This information was used to classify the patients into four categories based on a disease complexity classification. Each specialist's perception on the appropriateness of utilisation of his expertise was obtained. Complex cases requiring specialist expertise in management made up 69.8%, 73.5% and 19.1% of the cases of the Ministry of Health, University and private sector specialists respectively. Underutilisation was most marked with paediatricians and obstetricians in the private sector. The Specialist Register, the Programme for Accreditation of Hospitals and a National Health Financing Plan can be used to influence positively the case-mix of specialists.
This study aimed to determine the availability and usage of printed and electronic references and Patient Medication Record in community pharmacy. It was conducted for over 3 months from 15 January to 30 April 2007. Ninety-three pharmacies participated. Structured questionnaires were mailed to community pharmacies. Six weeks later a reminder was sent to all non responders, who were given another six weeks to return the completed questionnaire. Outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test of independence. Almost all the pharmacies (96.8%) have at least Monthly Index of Medical Specialties (MIMS) while 78.5% have at least MIMS ANNUAL in their stores. Only about a third (31.2%) of the pharmacies were equipped with online facilities of which the majority referred to medical websites (88.9%) with only a minority (11.1%) referring to electronic journals. More than half (59.1%) of the pharmacists kept Patient Medication Record profiles with 49.1% storing it in paper, 41.8% electronically and 9.1% in both printed and electronic versions. In general, prevalence and usage of electronic references in community pharmacies were rather low. Efforts should be increased to encourage wider usage of electronic references and Patient Medication Records in community pharmacies to facilitate pharmaceutical care.
Matched MeSH terms: Pharmacies/utilization*; Pharmacists/utilization*; Electronic Health Records/utilization*
This study was carried out to determine the associated factors and the reasons for inappropriate utilisation of Emergency Department (ED) services at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital. A case-control study was conducted with 170 cases from ED and 170 controls from the Outpatient Department (OPD). A self-administered questionnaire was designed and used to obtain sociodemographic data, knowledge on the functions of ED and OPD, health seeking attitude and behaviour, and reasons for seeking treatment at ED. The study found that gender, marital status, family size, shift work, perceived illness, and knowledge on the role and functions of ED and OPD were significant associated factors. The three most common reasons for inappropriate utilisation of ED were as follows: "due to severity of illness" (85%), "can't go to OPD during office hours" (42%), and "ED near my house" (27%).
Study site: Emergency department, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM)
This paper evaluates the practice of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, and analyses its usage by the various clinical departments. The aim of this study is to identify where it is inappropriately used and the clinical indications in which such misuse is common. A retrospective analysis of the blood bank request forms and work sheets during a 6-month period between January 1998 and June 1998 formed the basis of this study. Overall, 40% of 2665 units transfused were considered appropriate. However, out of the 931 episodes of FFP transfusions only 31% were for appropriate indications. The average FFP requirement when used for appropriate indication was about 4 units per episode, whereas for inappropriate indication it was 2.5 units per episode. Inappropriate use in terms of the number of units was highest by the surgical services (68%) and Orthopaedics (64%), while the Department of Paediatrics had the lowest incidence of inappropriate use (40%). When Paediatrics was used as the benchmark, the incidence of inappropriate use by other departments was significantly higher (p < 0.01). As for FFP usage in common clinical indications, there was a high incidence of inappropriate use in burns (82%), perioperative period (73%), cardiac surgery (68%), massive bleeding (62%) and trauma (60%). The findings in this study, specifically the use of FFP for volume support in trauma, massive bleeding and burns, routine requests without identified indication in cardiac bypass surgery, and prophylactic use in the perioperative period can be the basis for recommendations to minimize the inappropriate use of FFP in the future.