20
magazinei
innovations
PDA replacement
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 Tablet
is the world’s first fanless 7inWindows
8.1 Pro fully rugged tablet powered
by 4th Generation Intel Core i5 vPro
processor. Designed for mobile workers
of all kinds, the FZ-M1 is the thinnest
and lightest rugged 7in tablet on the
market. Panasonic says it is the ideal
replacement for ageing PDAs in logistics,
transportation, retail, manufacture,
government and emergency services.
Look where you’re walking
Philips and Desso are working together to develop LED
light transmissive carpets that provide information and
directions in offices, hotels and public buildings.
LED lights embedded into carpets in high traffic areas can
be used to guide people around buildings; de-clutter space
by making information available only when needed; and
create an attractive ambience by combining lighting with
design and colour.
Ed Huibers, Philips Lighting marketing and sales director,
said: “Light transmissive carpet technology takes advantage
of people’s tendency to be guided by the floor when moving
through and interacting with space. It brings information,
direction, inspiration and safety via the carpet you walk on.”
Out of hours parcel
collections
InPost UK is extending its parcel
locker network to meet growing
demand for around the clock
automated parcel collection services.
Already the biggest operator of its
kind in the UK, InPost plans to grow its
UK network of lockers from 500 sites to
as many as 2,000 locations by the end
of the year.
InPost’s service enables the secure
collection of parcels weighing up to
20kg, 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. The company’s research shows
that 58% of collections in 2013
occurred outside normal office hours.
The service has proved popular
with consumers who aren’t at home to
collect parcels, as well as e-commerce,
retail and logistics operations.
Handwritten medical observation charts could become a
thing of the past, following the development of a patient
monitoring system that uses tablet technology to record
and evaluate patients’ vital signs and alert medical staff
if intervention is needed.
The system still requires nurses to take regular readings of
a patient’s vital signs, such as heart rate and blood pressure.
But instead of writing the information on an observation
chart, they input it into a tablet computer.
The iPad-based early warning system then calculates and
displays an EarlyWarning Score that nurses can use to help
decide whether any action needs to be taken.
The system was developed by researchers at the
University of Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering
(IBME) and clinical staff from the Oxford University Hospitals
(OUH) NHS Trust, with funding from the Research Council’s
UK Digital Economy Programme, led by the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Project leader Professor Lionel Tarassenko, Professor
of Electrical Engineering, said: “The new system will help
nurses care for patients more efficiently and effectively. The
traditional chart-based method of recording vital-sign data
is susceptible to errors in both recording and analysis of vital
signs. Furthermore, it limits the availability of the data to
the bedside, making its sharing across the hospital difficult.
The new electronic system enables all vital-sign data and
scores to be accessed instantly by all relevant healthcare staff,
wherever in the hospital they may be.”
The system is now being rolled out to all adult wards
in the Trust’s acute hospitals, with a grant of £1.1 million
from the £260 million ‘Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards’ NHS
Technology Fund to improve patient safety.
Hospital takes tablets to
improve patient safety
Juniper handhelds
prove the perfect catch
Rugged handheld computers from
Juniper Systems are being used by
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
(DWR) to help protect native fish
species in the Green River, near the
Dinosaur National Monument.
Researchers involved in DWR’s
invasive fish removal program have
replaced pens and paper with Juniper
handheld devices loaded with custom
fisheries software that allow them to
process the same amount of data in
one tenth of the time.
In a process knows as boat
electrofishing, researchers travel
along the river in a boat fitted with
electrodes that protrude into the water.
The electrodes send out an electrical
current, temporarily stunning the fish,
which subsequently float to the surface,
where they are netted and inspected.
Data is gathered on each fish before
it is either returned to the water, if a
native species, or removed, in the case
of invasive species.
The Utah DWR field crew previously
used a pen and paper to record data
but switched to the Juniper device after
seeing its numerous benefits, including
a full alpha-numeric keyboard for rapid,
accurate data entry; a rugged design;
sunlight-readable display; integrated
GPS; and RFID compatibility.
Joe Skorupski, native aquatics
biologist at the Utah DWR, says the
handheld computers and fisheries
software have enabled his team to be
much more productive.
“The fisheries software greatly
reduced the data entry time to the
point where it has already paid for
itself. Last year with three people, we
took over 200 hours to enter, verify and
manipulate data. This year, it took one
person 20 hours and errors were non-
existent due to the software and new
data collection process,” he said.
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