Factors associated with direct use of laptop on the lap among male university undergraduates in Southwestern Nigeria.

Laptop use comes with potential reproductive health risks for men. This study assessed the knowledge of reproductive health hazards and factors associated with direct use of laptop on the lap among male undergraduates of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study conducted among 444 male undergraduates using multi-stage sampling and data collected through a validated questionnaire. Mean age was 21.0 years ± 2.6. Knowledge and perception of reproductive health hazards associated with direct laptop use were fairly good but practice was high. The knowledge of reproductive health hazards associated with direct laptop use on the lap was not associated with use (p = 0.08) and factors influencing use include; influence by colleagues (67.6%), non-availability of laptop cooling pads (42.6%), high cost of cooling pads (39.9%), perception of convenience (41.7%). Interventions on laptop ergonomics awareness and provision of affordable laptop ergonomic products for university students are recommended.

A study on the effect of human laterality, type of computer and noise on operators' performance of a data entry task.

Effects of human laterality, type of computer and noise on computer operators' performance of a data entry task were investigated. Seven right- and 7 left-motorsided male subjects performed the task on desktop and laptop computers in a sitting posture under varying noise levels. The mean number of characters entered per minute was statistically analysed. The right-motorsided operators entered more data than left-motorsided ones at each noise level. Operators performed better on desktop computers. Operators' performance decreased when noise level increased from 82 to 92 dB(A) but it improved at 102 dB(A). Effects of laterality, type of computer and noise, and the interaction between laterality and noise were statistically significant. The interactions between laterality and type of computer, and type of computer and noise were statistically insignificant. Laterality was statistically significant at all noise levels and noise was statistically significant for right motor-sided operators only.

The effect of using a laptopstation compared to using a standard laptop PC on the cervical spine torque, perceived strain and productivity.

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of using a laptopstation and a laptop PC and how this difference in work set-up affected the mechanical load on the neck (C7-Th1 segment), the subjective evaluation of strain on the neck and productivity. Ten healthy male students at Umeå University, Sweden with an average of 10 years of PC work experience and an average of 18 months of laptop PC work experience participated in the study. For each research subject measurements were divided into two parts; sitting working at the ErgoQ laptopstation in test situation A, and sitting working at a conventional laptop PC, test situation B. Each part took 4h and was scheduled on two consecutive days. Photography and biomechanical analysis was used to calculate the torque at the neck. To examine perceived strain the Borg Scale was used and to assess performance a productivity score was calculated. The results in the study demonstrated a significant (p<0.05) difference with the use of the laptopstation resulting in decreased torque at the C7-Th1 segment, less perceived strain at the neck and a higher productivity score. In conclusion, the results of the study confirm the importance of adjustable work tools that recognize anthropometric differences and biomechanics to meet the needs of individual customers during continuous visual display terminal work.

What the health care administrator needs to consider when purchasing personal computers.

With personal computer (PC) sales expected to grow by 10.3% in the upcoming year, health care administrators, concerned with keeping their facilities equipped with the latest technology while maintaining the bottom line, will need to be aware of the components that are designed for today's personal computer. This knowledge will enable them to match the functionality needed by end-users with the technology afforded by available PCs, thereby ensuring that costly computers that exceed the users' needs and expectations are not purchased. This article provides health care administrators the requisite specifications and guidelines to make informed choices.

Web-based viewing of picture archiving and communications systems images--Part I: Optimal personal computer configuration.

Now that picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) has matured, our challenge is to make the images available to the referring physician and, in a teaching institution, to make these images available for conferences and rounding. One solution is the distribution of the images using web-based technology. We investigated a web-based add-on to our PACS to determine the characteristics of the personal computer that will make this technology useful and affordable. We found that images can be viewed easily through a web-based system. We found that the optimal system to view these images at a reasonable speed and a reasonable cost is on with a medium-range processor (200 to 300 MHz) and a large amount of inexpensive RAM, at least 64 Mb.

A database schema for public-domain medical software.

The quantity of public-domain medical software available is huge, and a classification schema may be therefore helpful. We developed a schema that includes identification data (name of the software, author, etc.), description (hardware and software requirements), classification (software category, application domain, etc.) and evaluation data (external quality and internal quality factors). The schema was tested on the public-domain software available at the SCAMC meetings (about 36 Mb). We also classified the software by employing students from a master course in computer science and medical informatics. We stored the high quantity of information collected in a database we developed using Paradox.

Current issues in choosing personal computers.

This paper offers a discussion of the main considerations that nurse educators need to make when choosing a personal computer for their own use. Whilst the issues under discussion are targeted at the home user, those same issues are also relevant to the corporate buyer or the manager who is budgeting for a department or college. The paper highlights issues concerning Central Processing Units (CPUs), keyboards and monitors and identifies some of the software applications that are available.