Medical Device Security

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are miniaturized computer systems used to monitor and treat various medical conditions. Examples of IMDs include insulin pumps, artificial pacemakers, neuro-stimulators, and implantable cardiac defibrillators. These devices have adopted wireless communication to help facilitate the care they provide for patients by allowing easier transferal of data or remote control of machine operations. However, with such adoption has come exposure to various security risks and issues that must be addressed due to the close relation of patient health and IMD performance. With patient lives on the line, these security risks pose increasingly real problems. This chapter hopes to provide an overview of these security risks, their proposed solutions, and the limitations on IMD systems which make solving these issues nontrivial. Later, the chapter will analyze the security issues and the history of vulnerabilities in pacemakers to illustrate the theoretical topics by considering a specific device.

Device Identity-Based User Authentication on Electronic Payment System for Secure E-Wallet Apps

E-wallets are a modern electronic payment system technology that easily recognize consumer interest, making our transactions very convenient and efficient. E-wallets are intended to substitute the existing physical wallet, which may tell others something about us as a person. That is why using a physical wallet is a unique, personal experience that cannot be duplicated. A solution would be to replace the physical wallet with an e-wallet on an existing mobile device. The personal nature of the e-wallet is that it should be installed on a unique device. One of the fundamental protections against any illegal access to e-wallet application is through authentication. In particular, the fundamental authentication category used in an existing e-wallet is based on knowledge (i.e., what you know), ownership (i.e., what you have), and biometric (i.e., what you are) authentication, which are sometimes prone to security threats such as account takeover, sim swapping, app cloning, or know your customer verification attacks. The design of an e-wallet authentication on mobile device solution must take into consideration the intensity of the security. To address this problem, this study proposes a design of e-wallet apps with an extension security element that focuses on the device identity in the existing user authentication mechanism. This study covers four fundamental categories of authentication: password, one time password, fingerprints, and international mobile equipment identifier. Using IMEI limits an e-wallet to be in one specific device in one time; this brings it into line with the nature of a physical wallet. In addition, it will be ready to handle the mentioned threats above, which will ultimately result in the far more reliable to use of e-wallet apps. The proposed authentication design has two phases, a registration phase and an authentication phase. The proposed method has been developed and implemented based on an Android Studio Firebase real-time database management and PayPal. In addition, the complete design has been evaluated using functional requirement testing to see how closely it meets functionality requirements. The results obtained from functional testing show that the functionalities of the proposed method meet the requirements, and one cannot use a same account on two devices; hence, it is secure from attacks. The result also shows that the proposed method has no errors. Moreover, it has been shown that our proposed method has better security parameters in terms of the existing method.

Linear Lengthening in Iwaidja: An Event-Quantifying Intonation at the Phonology to Semantics/Pragmatics Interface

This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour found in the Northern Australian language Iwaidja called Linear Lengthening Intonation (LLI). Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4,000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e. cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually-determined relative scalar meaning (e.g., a ‘typical duration’ à la (Tatevosov 2008)). Iwaidja differs from other Northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns (see e.g. (Bishop 2002: 2002; Simard 2013)), in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device; not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).

Diabetes Technology Experiences of Young People Living with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and their Parents: Hybrid Theoretical Foundation Guided Analysis

Background. An important strategy to understand young people's needs and preferences regarding technologies for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) management is to examine their day-to-day experiences with these technologies. Objective. This study aimed to describe T1DM youth and their caregivers' experiences and preferences regarding insulin pumps, sensor technologies, and related communication technologies based on a hybrid theoretical foundation, as well as to describe derived ideal device characteristics. Materials and Methods. Sixteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with young people with T1DM and their parents about their diabetes technology use. A combination of data-driven thematic analysis in a first stage, and theory-driven analysis in a second stage was used to incorporate in-depth study analysis and existing theoretical literature. Relevant literature included technology adoption (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology/UTAUT) and value sensitive design (VSD) models. Based on this approach ideal device characteristics for young people with T1DM were summarized. Results. Initial themes derived from the interviews included aspects of diabetes self-management, device use, and specific device-related technological characteristics and feelings associated with the specific device types (continuous glucose monitoring, insulin pump, flash glucose monitoring). The interview data delivered information congruent with all UTAUT and VSD factors except for one (privacy). Discussions around ideal diabetes devices focused on reliability, flexibility, and automated closed loop systems that enabled an independent and normal life for adolescents, and alleviated parental anxiety. However, in line with the previous systematic review, the interview analysis showed that reality deviated from these expectations, with inaccuracy problems reported for continuous glucose monitoring devices, and technical failures occurring in both continuous glucose monitoring devices and insulin pumps. Conclusions. UTAUT and VSD approaches were found useful as a combined foundation for structuring our study findings. Technologies for diabetes self-management require continual advancement to meet the needs and expectations of young people with T1DM and their caregivers. Understanding their experiences, as well as challenges with the devices, enabled us to identify theory-supported ideal device characteristics that can be useful in the designing and developing of improved technologies.

Ultrasound-driven Curveball in Table Tennis

Augmented Human (AH) is a research field enhancing human physical abilities or supporting human activity using advanced technologies. As one of the AH approaches, previous studies have attached an actuator to a human body or tools used for an activity. The attached actuators are used to control their movements to support an activity. In this study, instead of attaching actuators, we propose to directly apply noncontact ultrasound force to a lightweight tool to manipulate it. The advantage of using noncontact force is that users do not need to wear a specific device and to process tools used for the activity. As a proof-of-concept system, we developed an ultrasound-based curveball system by which table tennis players can shoot a curveball regardless of their physical ability. In the system, a moving ping-pong ball (PPB) is a target tool for remote manipulation. The system curves the trajectory of a moving PPB by continuously focusing ultrasound on it. Users can control the curve timing and the curve direction (left or right) using a racket-shaped controller. In the user study, we conducted an actual table tennis match using the curveball system and qualitatively confirmed that the player using the system had the upper hand. Another user study using a ball dispenser quantitatively showed that the ultrasound-driven curveball increased the number of mistakes of the opponent player 2.95 times. These results indicate that the proposed concept is feasible.

Multibody system simulation as a predictive tool for possible estimation of negative effects caused by vibrations of FDM device

The design of fused deposition modeling (FDM) devices in their current form is associated with many negative effects, which result mainly from their construction deficiency. Due to the constant effort to increase the accuracy and speed of these devices, we often encounter the emergence of various negative factors. One of the most significant factors is the presence of negative vibrations of the frame and individual components. These are directly linked to several shortcomings that FDM devices come with. Efforts to make the structures as simple as possible, their low weight or the use of filament extruders placed directly on the printheads and axis travels, are perceived as well-known shortcomings. These negative phenomena are subsequently manifested by the emergence of specific defects visible on the surface of the manufactured models. The article presents the possibility of predicting the occurrence of these negative phenomena, with the use of multibody simulation. This simulation analyzes the movements of a specific device at different print speeds. The article then presents the results of these simulations and analysis of the transmission of negative oscillations at specific critical points of the FDM device. Finally, the article examines the influence of possible regulation of devices acceleration rates caused by electrical motors in individual axes and their influence on the final surface quality of the manufactured model. The article points out the possibilities of using this type of simulation processes and analysis in the design process of new types of frames and translation mechanisms for FDM devices.

A Method for Selection of Power MOSFETs to Minimize Power Dissipation

A balance between static and dynamic losses of a power MOSFET is always desirable for accomplishing the maximum efficiency for a specific power converter. The standard semiconductor theory suggests that a minimum power dissipation in a MOSFET can be achieved by selecting a specific device active area. However, for power circuit designers, the active device area is unknown given that only datasheet parameters are available. Hence, in this paper, we propose a simple method, based on semiconductor theory, to select optimum power MOSFET from a family of MOSFETs using only datasheet parameters. By applying this optimization method to the specific power supply circuit under development, power engineers can select the best transistors to yield lowest power losses for the systems under development.

Study of the Magnetic Fields of Residential Buildings and their Impact on Human Health

With the prosperity of civilization people are more often put to the vibrations of the Earth’s magnetic field, which they are affecting by themselves in various ways. Settlements and residential areas, distant and electrical conductors, with its constantly changing electromagnetic field create strong deformations and weaken the Earth’s magnetic field. Is it possible that the reduction of the magnetic fields, in such buildings, to lead to illness and discomfort of the people living there. Is it possible that chronic discomfort and illness of the humans who inhabit those buildings don’t suffer from conditions, we usually connect with junk food, polluted air and the our stressful lifestyle, but are actually a result of the greatly reduced and changing magnetic field in the populated areas. With the research project developed by Tereza Stefanova with the help of students from the school, we tried to answer these questions. The purpose of our research is to: 1. Measure the magnetic field in buildings in our city, which differ by their construction and height and also to measure outside the city. 2. Determine if the change of the magnetic field and possible magnetic anomalies affect our health condition. The tasks we had to do to achieve our goal is to do take the measurements with a specific device.