Browse Topic: Infants

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Methods for Laboratory Replication of Rotary-wing Air Ambulance Vibration Conditions for Neonatal Patient Transport ApplicationsF-0081-2025-00715/20/2025
Neonatal patients in need of specialized care may require transport by rotary-wing air ambulances. These patients are subjected to environmental stressors during transport, including elevated levels of mechanical vibration. Aircraft vibration is transmitted through the transport system and incubator to the patient. The unique vibration profile is dependent on vehicle model and phase of flight. To improve safety for these patients, we aim to evaluate the vibration exposure across this complex system. The purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate the methods used for aircraft data collection and replication of aircraft vibration profiles in a laboratory setting. Our current focus is on neonatal transportation in Ontario, Canada, where Leonardo AW139 helicopters are used for patient transport. AW139 field data were collected and processed to generate excitation profiles for discrete phases of flight. The vehicle data were used to drive a series of laboratory shaker-table experiments, in three axes, to evaluate the response of different configurations of the transport system. We present the methods used to simulate transport conditions, from vehicle data collection to laboratory shaker experimentation, and evaluate the behavior of the test apparatus. The simulated motion has been verified against the aircraft data to identify sources of error in the experimental setup. Some limitations in the shaker and control system present inherent differences in the input and response; however, it was found that the greatest spectral error occurred outside the frequency range of interest (>80 Hz), and that the shaker controller successfully replicates the energy levels recorded in the aircraft. The shaker experiment results, such as the response of the transport system and incubator, will be analysed in future work to identify equipment configurations and/or modifications which can reduce neonatal patient vibration exposure during rotary-wing transportation.
Gibb, Keely, Francis, Navin, Law, Andrew, Gerson, Eleanor, Greenwood, Kim, Ibey, Andrew A. M., Ngoie, Jean, Redpath, Stephanie, Chan, Adrian D. C., Green, James R., Langlois, Robert G., Chen, Eric
Reducing Vibrations Experienced by an Infant During Air TrasportationF-0080-2024-10445/7/2024
Some infants are born prematurely or with medical conditions that require them to stay in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Typically, these infants spend most of their time in an incubator as it provides a safe and controlled environment. At times, these infants will need to be transported via helicopter from one hospital to another, which exposes their already fragile bodies to higher levels of vibration. Helicopters, while advantageous for medical transport, generate substantial vibration due to rotor dynamics. Current models of incubators lack specific design for reducing vibrations. This project proposes a functional vibration damper that can be integrated into existing neonatal incubators, aiming to enhance infant safety during air transport. ANSYS modeling identified low-density polyethylene foam as an effective material for vibration reduction. Flight simulation tests demonstrated the 2" polyethylene mattress reduced vibrations at low amplitudes and frequencies, but challenges arose at higher values. The prototype addresses the critical need for reducing vibrations in neonatal incubators during air transport. While successful in initial tests, further extensive testing is required for potential implementation in the medical industry.
Piatt, Sophia, West, Isaac, Merlos, Hilcia, Young, Sarah, Deemer, Alexander, Piovesan, Davide, Ji, Xiaoxu
Wearable Motion Sensors Measure Fetal HeartbeatTBMG-3545511/1/2019
A technique was developed that could allow expectant parents to hear their baby’s heartbeat continuously at home with a non-invasive and safe device that is potentially more accurate than any fetal heartrate monitor currently available in the market.
Wearable Sensors Could Reduce StillbirthsTBMG-3551111/1/2019
A new technique could allow expectant parents to hear their baby’s heartbeat continuously at home with a noninvasive and safe device that is potentially more accurate than any fetal heart rate monitor currently available on the market.
Q&A: Wearable Motion Sensors Could Save Unborn BabiesTBMG-3527510/1/2019
Negar Tavossolian is Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. She led a project to develop a lightweight, non-invasive sensor to monitor fetal heart rate and motion that could sense abnormalities warning of possible stillbirths.
Monitor Babies in the NICU Without WiresTBMG-345816/1/2019
An interdisciplinary Northwestern University team has developed a pair of soft, flexible wireless sensors that replace the tangle of wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals’ neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and pose a barrier to parent-baby cuddling and physical bonding. The lead researcher was John A. Rogers, a bioelectronics pioneer, who led the technology development. The team recently completed a series of first human studies on premature babies at Prentice Women’s Hospital and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The researchers concluded that the wireless sensors provided data as precise and accurate as that from traditional monitoring systems. The wireless patches also are gentler on a newborn’s fragile skin and allow for more skin-to-skin contact with the parent. Existing sensors must be attached with adhesives that can scar and blister premature newborns’ skin. The study, involved materials scientists, engineers, dermatologists, and pediatricians. It includes initial data from more than 20 babies who wore the wireless sensors alongside traditional monitoring systems, so the researchers could do a side-by-side, quantitative comparison. Since then, the team has conducted successful tests with more than 70 babies in the NICU.
5 Ws of My Skin Track UVTBMG-336782/1/2019
The device can optimize treatment of neonatal jaundice, skin diseases, and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and reduce risk of sunburn and skin cancer.
Nonprofit Pushes Design Limits to Develop Life-Saving Technology for Underprivileged CommunitiesTBMG-285173/1/2018
Nearly four million infants in developing countries die each year within a month of birth due to complications of prematurity, low birth weight, and infection. Design that Matters (DtM), a nonprofit organization, is committed to helping prevent these deaths by providing the medical devices needed to give at-risk newborns a warm and clean environment to help them grow strong.
Using Artificial intelligence to Evaluate Brain Maturity of Preterm InfantsTBMG-2796512/1/2017
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland
Kid: A Telemedicine Solution for Retinopathy of PrematurityTBMG-2784411/1/2017
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disease that affects premature infants. It is the leading cause of childhood blindness. Although effective treatments exist, many infants are still at-risk due to the small window of time for detection. The current standard of care consists of in-person, manual screening by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Unfortunately, the number of infants in need of screening far surpasses the availability of specifically trained ophthalmologists. Consequently, fewer than 30 percent of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) worldwide have fully compliant ROP screening programs.
Illuminated Pajamas Treat NewbornsTBMG-2786610/31/2017
To treat newborns for treat, the babies lie in incubators. Irradiation with blue light in an incubator is necessary because toxic decomposition products of the blood pigment hemoglobin are deposited in the skin in newborns with jaundice. Researchers have significantly improved the not-so-child-friendly procedure by combining the treatment with the needs of the newborns.
Predicted Device-Degradation Failure-Rate2015-01-25559/15/2015
There is a concern that the continuing trend on miniaturization (Moore's law) in IC design and fabrication might have a negative impact on the device reliability. To understand and to possibly quantify the physics underlying this concern and phenomenon, it is natural to proceed from the experimental bathtub curve (BTC) - reliability “passport” of the device. This curve reflects the combined effect of two major irreversible governing processes: statistics-related mass-production process that results in a decreasing failure rate with time, and reliability-physics-related degradation (aging) process that leads to an increasing failure rate. It is the latter process that is of major concern of a device designer and manufacturer. The statistical process can be evaluated theoretically, using a rather simple predictive model. Owing to that and assuming that the two processes of interest are statistically independent one can assess the failure rates associated with the aging process from the BTC data by simply subtracting the predicted ordinates of the statistical failure rates (SFR) from the BTC ordinates. The objective of this analysis is to show how this could be done. The suggested methodology proceeds from the concepts that the actual (“instantaneous”) SFR is a random variable with a known (assumed, established) probability distribution, that the experimental BTC can be represented by its infant mortality and the wear-out portions only (the steady-state portion in this case is simply the boundary between the infant mortality and wear-out portions) and that the two BTC portions considered can be approximated analytically. The cases, when the “instantaneous” SFR is distributed normally and in accordance with the Rayleigh law are used as suitable illustrations of the general concept. The developed methodology can be employed when there is a need to better understand the relative roles of the statistics-related and physics-of-failure-related processes in reliability evaluations of electronic products. The methodology can be used also beyond the field of IC engineering, when there is a need to understand and, hence, to separate the roles of the two irreversible processes in question. One of the major challenges of the future work is to determine the probability distributions of the actual (“instantaneous”) SFRs for particular products and applications.
Suhir, Ephraim, Bensoussan, Alain, Nicolics, Johann
Detecting Newborn Jaundice with a SmartphoneTBMG-2091311/1/2014
Newborn jaundice is a common condition in babies. While yellowing of the skin is a primary indicator, that discoloration may be hard to see and, if left untreated, can harm a baby. University of Washington, Seattle, engineers and physicians have developed a smartphone app that can check for jaundice and can deliver results to parents and pediatricians within minutes.
Medical Device Uses Musical Lullabies to Help Premature BabiesTBMG-144378/1/2012
Research has shown that music has a profound effect on the human body and psyche. The practice of music therapy is based on well-researched clinical and empirical evidence. There is evidence-based proof that music can aid in many different areas, such as pain management, depression, and anxiety. Scientific studies show that music can actually stimulate the activity of the brain and that lullabies are soothing, rhythmic stimuli that help with the organization of the brain. Music has been shown to produce a calming experience for infants in the NICU, allowing them to return to quiet sleep more quickly following stressful medical procedures.
Cryogenic Quenching Process for Electronic Part ScreeningTBMG-1187311/1/2011
The use of electronic parts at cryogenic temperatures (
Ionic Liquids to Replace HydrazineTBMG-94443/1/2011
A method for developing safe, easy-to-handle propellants has been developed based upon ionic liquids (ILs) or their eutectic mixtures. An IL is a binary combination of a typically organic cation and anion, which generally produces an ionic salt with a melting point below 100 °C. Many ILs have melting points near, or even below, room temperature (room temperature ionic liquids, RTILs). More importantly, a number of ILs have a positive enthalpy of formation. This means the thermal energy released during decomposition reactions makes energetic ILs ideal for use as propellants. Unlike traditional, storable propellants like hydrazine, ILs also exhibit near-zero vapor pressure. This makes them safer to handle because it eliminates hazardous inhalation — the primary pathway — as a route for toxicity in humans. Thus, ILs are ideal candidates for replacing hydrazine, which is expensive and dangerous, and poses significant handling difficulties.
Crash Protection for Infants Transported in Incubators2009-01-283210/6/2009
This paper reports the findings from an investigation of an ambulance crash during which an infant, occupying a transport incubator, was seriously injured. In addition, it reports on the results from the development and testing of a methodology for restraining infants being transported by an ambulance while occupying a transport incubator. During the crash, the incubator detached from the ambulance attachment system. The infant was ejected from the incubator and sustained critical head injuries. Sled testing of a similar incubator system, incorporating exemplar hook-and-pile straps (one common trade name is Velcro®) to secure the infant, demonstrated the inadequacy of this restraint for occupant crash protection as used. Additional sled testing with a five-point restraint harness, increased incubator stability, and improved incubator to ambulance attachment demonstrated the feasibility of effectively restraining an infant while being transported in an incubator during a crash. During the simulated frontal crash tests, the alternate restraint prevented ejection of the infant dummy from the incubator and impact of the infant dummy with the incubator or ambulance interior and applied the restraining loads over a wide area of the body to the strong structural skeletal portions.
Whitman, Gary R., Gushue, David L., Sicher, Larry, Bull, Marilyn J.
A Computational Study of Rear-Facing and Forward-Facing Child Restraints2008-01-12334/14/2008
A recent study of U.S. crash data has shown that children 0-23 months of age in forward-facing child restraint systems (FFCRS) are 76% more likely to be seriously injured in comparison to children in rear-facing child restraint systems (RFCRS). Motivated by the epidemiological data, seven sled tests of dummies in child seats were performed at the University of Virginia using a crash pulse similar to FMVSS 213 test conditions. The tests showed an advantage for RFCRS; however, real-world crashes include a great deal of variability among factors that may affect the relative performance of FFCRS and RFCRS. Therefore, this research developed MADYMO computational models of these tests and varied several real-world parameters. These models used ellipsoid models of Q-series child dummies and facet surface models of American- and Swedish- style convertible child restraints (CRS). The dummy-seat models in FFCRS and RFCRS orientations have been validated against sled test data, and then used to simulate several real-world conditions. These simulations show that the advantage of RFCRS was maintained under conditions of oblique collisions, pre-impact braking, and loose internal belts, but not for an out-of-position case with a gap between the child's back and child restraint. In general, this research indicates that children can benefit from being seated in rear facing restraints past the age of one, and that larger child restraints should be made available in the US to accommodate these larger children. The result also indicates that further improvements in RFCRS should address the out-of-position situation to realize further reductions in injury.
Kendall, Robert G., Sherwood, Christopher P., Crandall, Jeff R.
Advanced Infant Car Seat Would Increase Highway SafetyTBMG-38811/1/2004
An advanced infant car seat has been proposed to increase highway safety by reducing the incidence of crying, fussy behavior, and other child-related distractions that divert an adult driver's attention from driving. In addition to a conventional infant car seat with safety restraints, the proposed advanced infant car seat would include a number of components and subsystems that would function together as a comprehensive infant-care system that would keep its occupant safe, comfortable, and entertained, and would enable the driver to monitor the baby without having to either stop the car or turn around to face the infant during driving.
Restraint Device for InfantsARP1469 (Current)12/16/2002
S-9B Cabin Interiors and Furnishings Committee
Aerospace Engineering 2001-03-01AEROMAR013/1/2001
Introducing Neil Schilke, SAE President for 2001 General Motors' former top engineer brings a systems engineering mentality, along with high expectations, to the SAE presidency. ISS beginning to shape up Since the addition of the Zvezda Service Module, assembly activities on the International Space Station have been ramped up to meet the program's completion goal of 2006. Maintaining the space station International Space Station partners will face many challenges once assembly is complete- one of which is the maintenance and upkeep of this new satellite. E-commerce taking off Still in its infancy, e-commerce is expected to have a major impact on aviation companies from all segments of the supply chain.
Classification and Analysis of Weibull Mixtures1999-01-00553/1/1999
A bathtub equation can be used to model data that exhibits infant mortality, chance failures, and wear out. This technique allows for the simultaneous solution of equation parameters affecting the product’s life. The bathtub equation treats a portion of the population as a competing risk mixture. This allows total failure of the infant mortality population without causing complete failure of the entire population. Chance and wear out failures are included by using a compound competing risk mixture.
Tarum, Carl D.
Low Cost Thick-Film Pressure Sensor8000232/1/1980
Pressure sensors in automobiles are used in connexion with electronic systems intended to control carburation. The pressure range to be measured is around the atmospheric pressure, a tolerance in the order of ±2% is required in the temperature range from 0 to 80°C good reproducibility and reliability, especially as for low infant mortality, together with low prices are mandatory. A new type of pressure sensor aiming to fit the above mentioned characteristics has been developed taking advantage from the piezoresistive effect of thick-film resistors screened-and-fired on ceramic diaphragms. The device consists of a ceramic diagphram bound around the edge, where in proper positions four resistors electrically connected according to Weathstone bridge configuration are screened-and-fired. The deformation of the diaphragm because of an applied pressure causes bridge unbalancing and output signal proportional to the pressure itself.
Cattaneo, A., Dell’Acqua, R., Forlani, F., Pirozzi, L.
Infant and child anthropometry1974-13-00139/17/1974
Although over 800 references to child and infant anthropometry are in the literature, most have limited validity and application to current populations. Functional measures required by industry and government for federal safety standards for design of dummies, child products, furniture, or protective devices such as restraint systems have either been incomplete, inadequate, or nonexistent. Some of the limitations influencing validity of existing data have been outlined for the potential user. As a start toward obtaining necessary functional anthropometric data, The University of Michigan is currently conducting a study sponsored by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to obtain valid nationwide measurements on a representative U.S. population from birth to age 12 years. In this study some 41 measurements, including many functional measures, as well as seated and supine whole-body centers of gravity, are being taken utilizing a new automated anthropometric minicomputer system. A number of specialized infant and child measurement devices have been designed and used with pressure transducers providing a new basis for more accurate and precise measurement of body dimensions than has been possible with previous standard anthropometric instruments. This information has already provided a basis for an improved federal safety standard for infant crib slat width.
Snyder, R. G., Spencer, M. L., Schneider, L. W., Owings, C. L.
WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ENGINEERING GRADUATES AFTER COMMENCEMENT?5302821/1/1953
WILLIAMS, DOUGLAS C.
TRACTOR SERVICE FROM THREE VIEWPOINTS1700351/1/1917
STEELE, FRED P.
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