Ethical issues of smart home-based elderly care: A scoping review.

AIM: To explore current research on the ethics of smart home technologies including artificial intelligence and information technologies for elderly care by conducting a scoping review. BACKGROUND: The development of smart home technologies for care of the older adults provides potential solutions to reduce the caregiver burden within families where they are urgently needed. Building an ethical system to support the application of these technical products should be explored. METHODS: The literature search was performed in seven electronic databases. Relevant studies from January 2015 to February 2021 were selected; screening and analysis were completed independently by two researchers. RESULTS: There were a total of 15 included studies on the ethics of smart home technologies for elderly care, which focused on the following issues: privacy (information privacy and physical privacy), autonomy (independence, informed consent and user-centred control), safety guarantee, fairness and concerns about reduced human contact. CONCLUSIONS: There exist a number of ethical conflicts in the application of smart home technologies for elderly care. Therefore, it is necessary to further investigate the ethical issues with regards to the decision-making process of weighing the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Efforts should be made to establish a corresponding ethical framework to ensure the sustainable development of smart, home-based elderly care. Nurses may play an important role in the design and implementation of these technologies to promote ethical awareness and practice.

Anxiety Associated with Colonoscopy and Flexible Sigmoidoscopy: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVES: Addressing procedure-related anxiety should improve adherence to colorectal cancer screening programs and diagnostic colonoscopy. We performed a systematic review to assess anxiety among individuals undergoing colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS). METHODS: We searched multiple electronic databases for studies evaluating anxiety associated with colonoscopy or FS published from 2005 to 2017. Two reviewers independently identified studies, extracted data, and assessed study quality. The main outcomes were the magnitude of pre-procedure anxiety, types of concerns, predictors of anxiety, and effectiveness of anxiety-lowering interventions in individuals undergoing lower endoscopy. The protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO. RESULTS: Fifty-eight studies (24,490 patients) met the inclusion criteria. Patients undergoing colonoscopy had a higher mean level of anxiety than that previously reported in the general population, with some studies reporting more than 50% of patients having moderate-to-severe anxiety. Areas of anxiety-related concern included bowel preparation, difficulties with the procedure (embarrassment, pain, possible complications, and sedation), and concerns about diagnosis; including fear of being diagnosed with cancer. Female gender, higher baseline anxiety, functional abdominal pain, lower education, and lower income were associated with greater anxiety prior to colonoscopy. Providing higher-quality information before colonoscopy, particularly with a video, shows promise as a way of reducing pre-procedure anxiety but the studies to date are of low quality. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of patients undergoing colonoscopy report anxiety before the procedure. Improvement in pre-procedure information delivery and evaluation of approaches to reduce anxiety is required, especially for those with predictors of pre-procedure anxiety.

Highly efficient and selective Hg(II) adsorbent: ZnS grown on the surface of 4A zeolite and supported on starch aerogels.

In this study, ZnS nanoparticles were loaded on the surface of zeolite NaA and embedded in a carbon aerogel to prepare C@zeolite-ZnS, where zeolite NaA was used in order to adsorb Zn2+ ions released during ion exchange, and the carbon aerogel had good dispersion as a carrier for ZnS to solve the ZnS agglomeration problem. The morphology and structure of C@zeolite-ZnS were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, BET, and XPS. C@zeolite-ZnS showed excellent selectivity and high removal rate for Hg(II) ions with a maximum adsorption capacity of 795.83 mg/g. When the pH, adsorption time, and Hg(II) ion concentration were 6, 30 min, and 25 mg/L at 298 K, the corresponding adsorption and removal rates reached 99.90% and 124.88 mg/g, respectively. Thermodynamic studies have shown that the adsorption process is a spontaneous heat absorption process. Furthermore, after up to 10 cycles of adsorption, the adsorbent still exhibited outstanding stability and high adsorption capacity with removal rates exceeding 99%. In conclusion, C@zeolite-ZnS, which is stable and reusable and has the ability to meet industrial emission standards after adsorption of Hg(II) ions, is very promising for industrial applications.

Efficient mercury(II) removal by corn bract/dopamine@ZnS composites.

In this study, we have utilized corn bract, a green agricultural by-product, as a carrier. It is subsequently modified with zinc sulfide to synthesize an efficient composite material termed as corn bract/polydopamine@zinc sulfide (CB/PDA@ZnS). This novel composite demonstrates significant potential for biomass removal of mercury ions (Hg(II)). The composition, structure, and morphology of CB/PDA@ZnS composites are characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effect of pH value, adsorbent dosage, initial Hg(II) concentration, adsorption time and temperature, and coexistence ions on the adsorption behavior is investigated. The results show that CB/PDA@ZnS can efficiently remove Hg(II) from water with uptake capacities of 333.03 mg/g and removal efficiency of 99.91% under an optimal conditions (pH of 3, the adsorbent dosage of 0.015 g, contact time of 90 min, and initial concentration of 100 mg/L) at room temperature. The fitting analysis of the experimental data reveals that the adsorption process of Hg(II) follows the quasi-secondary adsorption kinetic model as well as the Langmuir isothermal adsorption model, which is a spontaneous heat absorption process. In addition, the composite adsorbent obtained exhibit excellent selectivity for Hg(II) ions and anti-coexisting ion interference performance. After five cycles of adsorption-desorption experiments, the corresponding adsorption capacity is 331.11 mg/g, accounting for 93.33% of the first adsorption capacity, indicating that the adsorbent has excellent regeneration performance. The stability of the adsorbent and the adsorption mechanism of Hg(II) ion are systematically discussed using FT-IR, XRD, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Finally, this adsorbent is tested for the removal of industrial wastewater containing Hg(II), and the adsorption and removal efficiency are 331.67 mg/g and 99.50%, respectively. This study provides a very valuable information for future Hg(II) removal from aqueous solutions.

High-efficiency Hg(II) adsorbent: FeS loaded on a carbon black from pyrolysis of waste tires and sequential reutilization as a photocatalyst.

Iron-sulfur nano compounds have been proven to be effective in mercury removal, but the agglomeration, poor dispersion and mobility, and easy oxidation challenges limit their application. Herein, carbon black originating from pyrolysis of waste tires was used as a carrier of nano-FeS to obtain an efficient adsorbent (C@PDA-FeS). It is found that the C@PDA-FeS shows outstanding adsorption ability, excellent selectivity, and high removal rate. A maximum adsorption capacity of 1754 mg/g is obtained, and the residual Hg(II) ion concentration is as low as 3.2 µg/L in the simulated industrial wastewater, which meets the industrial discharge standard under the optimal conditions. Meanwhile, the removal rate of Hg(II) ion can reach 99.8% after up to 10 cycles. More importantly, the C@PDA-FeS still shows good adsorption efficiency, and the removal rate of Hg(II) ion is over 99% (25 mg/L Hg(II) concentration) after 90 days of storage, demonstrating the long-term stability and promising future of the adsorbent. In addition, the waste adsorbent (C@PDA-FeS/HgS) is reused as a photocatalyst to degrade methylene blue, and the corresponding degradation rate is 92.9% (10 mg/L).

Highly effective removal of Hg(ii) solution using corn bract@MoS2 as a new biomass adsorbent.

As known, mercury contamination is one of the current environmental issues due to the high toxicity of mercury. Corn bract (CB) is an agricultural by-product, and its final treatment is generally incineration that causes air pollution. In this study, a new type of high-efficiency biomass adsorbent (CB@MoS2) for adsorption of Hg(ii) was obtained, and its morphology and structure were characterized with FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TEM. The results showed that when the pH value, Hg(ii) ion concentration and adsorption time were 4, 100 mg L-1 and 120 min, the adsorption capacity and removal rate could reach 332.50 mg g-1 and 99.75%. In addition, CB@MoS2 had a good selectivity for Hg(ii) ions. The adsorption behavior followed pseudo-second-order kinetics, indicating that the adsorption of Hg(ii) ions by CB@MoS2 was a chemical adsorption. After five adsorption-desorption experiments, it still possessed good adsorption performance and effective regeneration. In short, CB@MoS2 has high efficiency and good reusability, and will become a candidate material for the treatment of mercury-containing industrial wastewater.

Rapid and high selective removal of Hg(II) ions using tannic acid cross-linking cellulose/polyethyleneimine functionalized magnetic composite.

In this study, a new tannic acid cross-linking cellulose/polyethyleneimine functionalized magnetic composite (MCP) as a biomass adsorbent of Hg(II) ions was prepared. The morphology and structure of MCP were characterized with FT-IR, TG, XRD, SEM and TEM. The effect of the different factors such as pH, contact time, initial Hg(II) ion concentration, and adsorption temperature on the adsorption behavior was investigated. The results showed that MCP exhibited an excellent selectivity and reutilization, fast removal rate, and very high adsorption capacity. The corresponding adsorption capacity and removal rate of could reach 99.00% and 247.51 mg/g when the pH value, adsorption time, Hg(II) ion concentration were 5, 180 min and 100 mg/L at 293 K. The kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order, which indicated that the adsorption behavior of MCP for Hg(II) ion belonged to the chemical adsorption process and external diffusion. The thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption process was a spontaneous and exothermic process. After the fifth adsorption-desorption experiment, it still had better adsorption performance and reutilization. All in all, MCP with highly stable and efficient, as well as excellent reusability will be a candidate for industry-level applications from wastewater with Hg(II) ions.

Information experiences, needs, and preferences of colonoscopy patients: A pre-colonoscopy survey.

Better pre-colonoscopy education may lead to improved bowel preparation, decreased anxiety, and a willingness to go direct-to-colonoscopy. We assessed information experiences, needs, and preferences of patients undergoing colonoscopy.A self-administered survey was distributed between 08/2015 and 06/2016 to patients in Winnipeg, Canada when they attended an outpatient colonoscopy. The amount, type, helpfulness, and satisfaction with information provided were analyzed. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used to assess predictors of satisfaction with various aspects of the information received, as well as overall satisfaction with the provided information.Although the majority of the 1580 respondents were satisfied with the information they received, only 68% of respondents coming for a repeat colonoscopy and 59% of those coming for first colonoscopy perceived receiving just the right amount of information from their endoscopy doctor. One quarter or less of the respondents indicated they received just the right amount of information from any source other than their colonoscopy doctor. 38% coming for a first colonoscopy and 44% coming for a repeat colonoscopy indicated they received no information from their family physician. Those coming for their first colonoscopy had a lower average score (9.7 vs 11.1; P < .001) for amount of information received (scale 0-15), were less satisfied with the information they received (P = .005) and found the information to be less clear (P = .004).Many patients going for colonoscopy in a large urban practice are inadequately informed about the various aspects of the procedure and it is worse for those going for first rather than repeat colonoscopy.

Edge-view photodetector for optical interconnects.

A new semiconductor photodetector design is reported. The PIN active area of the photodetector is fabricated on a sloping sidewall of a mesa structure. The photodetector is referred to as an edge-view photodetector (EVPD) and simplifies the integration of optical circuits by direct end coupling, eliminating the need for 45 degrees mirrors. The EVPD geometry can reduce the cost of optical interconnects by simplifying the fabrication process and making possible automatic alignment between photodetectors and waveguides or optical fibers. The EVPD fabrication process and initial measurement results are presented. The main processing steps include deep anisotropic chemical etching, material growth, and lithography on a 3-D surface.