Introduction
I was born in a household that was mostly managed by my father. While my mother occasionally visited, she had a strained relationship with him due to what I would later learn was opioid addiction. My father is an old-fashioned, masculine man who wanted to raise my brother and me in the same manner as that of his upbringing. As a result, I mostly played with dinosaurs and toy soldiers at home without having access to items that may be considered more feminine. With that said, I was aware that they existed and had no particular interest in playing with them. The other part of my early life is responsible for this knowledge and decision.
Essence
My father believes that children need regular physical activity and social interaction to grow up properly. As such, I would spend much time outdoors with other children, both boys and girls. I saw the latter playing around with dolls that they would bring with them but never had any particular interest in the activity. Instead, I embraced sports, which were also taking place in the playground. I remember playing football, baseball, and soccer, which I found myself favoring more and more often. I had some natural talent for legwork and enjoyed developing it and outplaying others. This preference has continued into the present, and currently, I play college soccer for recreation.
My brother, who is four years older than I am, may have been the source of my initial interest in the other sex. He was attractive and popular with girls and would often bring someone home for a sleepover. Our father knew and accepted this activity, and I saw it as usual due to this acceptance. Around the age of 9, I began seeing girls as attractive, though I would not act on these feelings until later on. Like my brother, I had my first intimate physical contact at 12 and first engaged in sex when I was 13. Since then, I have frequently been dating and having sex regularly.
Throughout my teenage years, I have given earnest consideration to the idea of homosexuality and whether I was attracted to other guys in that way. However, I found that I was not particularly interested in men. I neither admired the male body the same way I did the female nor felt anything similar in their proximity. I do not think that homosexuality is anything noteworthy, either positively or negatively, though the topic raises some technical questions out of curiosity. I have gotten used to seeing same-sex couples occasionally and no longer remark on it as anything unusual. Overall, I respect others’ sexualities and choices, even if I may not understand them or share the same views.
Conclusion
I mentioned above that I am attracted to the female body, but the statement does not mean that it is my sole concern regarding women. I enjoy dating and talking to girls as much as the more physical side of a relationship. I also believe in freedom of choice and do not force my decisions on my partners. They are free to do as they choose, and I will support them as long as I think they will be better off as a result. With that said, I consider physical characteristics significant and prefer looking at someone who I think is attractive. Overall, I am attracted to women both physically and mentally, but, while I do not share the same sentiment for men, I respect those that do.
Intelligent Hospital Pavilion For Intensive Care
Introduction
The development of new technology is constantly transforming modern healthcare, helping to propel the quality of service in different aspects of care to the next level. Apart from that, technology integration is expected to protect and improve patient safety by ensuring the timely reporting of problems. Given the advantages of computerized systems for intensive care units, the latter significantly improve patient outcomes and reduce the adverse impact of human factors on nurses’ work.
The Intelligent ICU and Its Benefits
Today, improving the quality of critical care can be listed among the key priorities in the field of healthcare. Healthcare clients receiving critical care services can be called vulnerable due to their physical condition. With that in mind, they have limited ability to involve in decision-making and keep track of their physical needs. To make critical care more technologically oriented and improve patient outcomes on a global scale, some attempts to create computerized intensive care units have been made.
For instance, four years ago, the Intelligent Health Association presented its smart ICU in Orlando in order to demonstrate the use of technology for patient privacy and the prevention of complications (Intelligent Hospital TV, 2014). The features that make the project different from standard ICUs are numerous since it aims to encompass all aspects of critical care and apply new materials and approaches to room organization.
The first feature of the project being discussed that makes it beneficial to nurses, patients, and even specialists responsible for cleaning is the use of innovative materials such as E-glass or the so-called switchable privacy glass (Halpern, 2014). Nursing specialists benefit from the use of such materials because they reduce the number of time-consuming manipulations in caring for clients in critical condition. The materials similar to E-glass substitute curtains since they can be switched from transparent to white instantly. The benefits of the material for patients are also evident – apart from protecting people’s privacy, they can help reduce noise and improve the patient experience.
Another beneficial feature of the project by the Intelligent Health Association is related to the use of technology for laboratory automation. The Intelligent ICU uses modern pneumatic tube systems that are responsible for the rapid transportation of samples to laboratories for further analysis (Intelligent Hospital TV, 2014). As the results of recent experiments demonstrate, such systems are extremely effective in reducing average turnaround time (Suchsland et al., 2017).
Apart from that, it is important to note that modern transportation systems ensure timely access to samples and do not have a detrimental impact on their quality (Suchsland et al., 2017). For nurses and other medical specialists, decreased laboratory turnaround times involve more opportunities to provide effective care and reduce mortality rates. When it comes to patients, such innovations directly impact their well-being and increase their chances of avoiding many complications.
Apart from the systems discussed above, the project involves the use of systems that reduce medication mistakes and help conduct organ examinations. Among the devices that are responsible for fulfilling these tasks, there are bedside sonogram machines that replace stethoscopes and infusion pump platforms (Intelligent Hospital TV, 2014). The former systems have numerous advantages for nurses and patients because of their impact on the timeliness of care. Thus, bedside ultrasound devices help reduce the amount of time needed for the identification of internal damages or the causes of pain. The use of infusion pump platforms is aimed at solving a range of problems related to drug administration errors.
The system effectively uses information on medications and prescriptions coming from hospital pharmacies to eliminate any mistakes associated with manual data entries. Therefore, nurses become less responsible for the adverse effects of medications on patients’ conditions. From the perspective of healthcare clients in critical condition, these innovations in drug administration processes can also be considered important. It is because they reduce the impact of human factors such as nurses’ limited knowledge or narrow experience, physical tiredness, and psychological burnout on the process of treatment.
Potential Risks
At first sight, the project designed and implemented by the Intelligent Health Association seems to be associated only with positive outcomes for nurses and patients. However, having analyzed the peculiarities of the used systems, it is possible to single out a few aspects that may be related to problems. To begin with, all systems used for the automatization of intensive care facilities aim to make healthcare providers act as controllers rather than decision-makers.
When it comes to automated drug administration, the possibility of programming mistakes or problems with the connection still exists, and it can have serious consequences both for patients and nurses. In case of technical failures during high-risk situations, nurses should demonstrate proper computer skills to avoid costly mistakes. Similarly, such cases can be extremely dangerous for patients and their health conditions.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the automated ICU involves a vast number of advantages for critical patients and nursing specialists. The innovative decisions used in the project are associated with positive outcomes since they increase the timeliness of medical help and allow focusing on the most critical aspects of care. In addition to that, some devices have the potential to significantly reduce the number of medication administration errors. In spite of that, the risks of technical failures should be taken into account to improve nurse and patient experiences. Nevertheless, it seems logical to support all types of innovative devices presented within the frame of the project due to their proven effectiveness.
References
Halpern, N. A. (2014). Innovative designs for the smart ICU. Chest, 145(3), 646-658.
Intelligent Hospital TV. (2014). The ICU at the 2014 Intelligent Hospital™ Pavilion. Web.
Suchsland, J., Winter, T., Greiser, A., Streichert, T., Otto, B., Mayerle, J.,… Petersmann, A. (2017). Extending laboratory automation to the wards: Effect of an innovative pneumatic tube system on diagnostic samples and transport time. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM), 55(2), 225-230.
Issues With Modern Technology In Airport Security
The threats of terrorism, drug trafficking and violence are forcing governments and businesses to tighten control and security measures in crowded places. Even at concerts or in schools, one can see metal detectors that check visitors to find dangerous items for society. Airports and planes are areas of increased risk, since the number of people in the terminals is constantly equally big, passengers are limited by space during the flights, and any incident can become international.
For this reason, aviation uses various technologies that help to check passengers and their baggage faster and more accurately, which ensures their safety. However, like all new inventions, security technologies have their advantages and disadvantages; hence, governments, operators, and airports must consider their effectiveness, as well as ethical, legal and privacy issues of their application.
Key Features and Benefits of Modern Airport Security Technologies
The technological progress of the twenty-first century is striking in its speed, and inventions become a commercial product or parts of various state systems. Modern aviation security technologies include full-body scanners, biometrics and artificial intelligence. Often they are used in combination, but also airports can apply only one or several of them based on their capabilities and needs. However, all these technologies have their characteristics and perform different functions.
Full-body scanners are a relatively recent invention that allows security to find objects on the human body that a metal detector cannot see. There are two types of scanners: the millimetre wave machine and the backscatter machine (Nugraha and Choi, 2016). The first type sends radio waves that form a three-dimensional image of the human body, and the second one uses x-rays that are deflected from the human body to create a two-dimensional image (Nugraha and Choi, 2016).
Thus, in a few seconds, the security receives a clear picture of the person’s body, and if a passenger is trying to carry something under the clothes, this item is noticeable in the image. The advantage of this technology is the high speed of check, avoiding the need for physical inspection and the ability to see non-metallic objects that may endanger safety.
Artificial intelligence technology has many applications in airport security, and the use of biometric data is one of them. The first option that has already begun to be used at some airports in the world is face recognition and document verification using a computer. For such a check, the system scans the person’s face and his or her documents and then searches for a match in the database and displays at the security’s computer (Mironenko Enerstveld, 2017; Brostoff, 2019).
The main advantage of this technology is the speed of verification, as well as more accurate identification of person and forgery of documents. Another option for checking biometric data is a fingerprint scan, which also makes it possible to identify a passenger or employee quickly (Price and Forrest, 2016). Consequently, the advantages of verifying biometric data are the acceleration of the control procedure and the absence of distracting factor in the verifier.
Another use of artificial intelligence is to scan passengers’ luggage. For example, usually, video equipment, laptops and some other elements must be removed from the carry-on luggage to pass the check. Artificial intelligence can scan and recognise objects inside the bag, which reduces the check time and helps to determine the contents more accurately (Mironenko Enerstveld, 2017). Besides, some security video cameras can recognise weapons that a person holds in his or her hands or even hides under clothes, which helps to prevent terrorist attacks (Nowacki and Paszukow, 2018). Thus, new devices that help to avoid danger and eliminate it in time appears with the development of technology and improves the quality of security services.
The Efficiency of Security Technology
The first feature that one needs to know and evaluate for using security technologies is their effectiveness and usefulness. All devices are designed to provide a more comfortable and high-quality check of passengers and baggage; however, the idea is not always implemented according to the plan. In addition, the use of new technologies reveals shortcomings, which are associated with their imperfection or mistakes of the developers.
The most effective technology today is full-body scanners as they have many advantages over metal detectors. These machines can create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional images, which shows everything that is hidden under clothing. There are even cases when such scanners helped to detect tumour, cyst or hernia in passengers (Rapaport, 2016). However, the same feature is a drawback as a person may undergo an additional internal examination if he or she does not have a medical note from the physician. Nevertheless, full-body scanners do an excellent job if one judges by their effectiveness in terms of security.
However, the effectiveness of various artificial intelligence devices is often debated. If in the case of fingerprints, the probability of error is not so significant, then the face-scanning can cause considerable difficulties. For example, a program may not recognise a person if he or she made some surgery changes. Sometimes, such a situation can happen even without physical modifications of a person, if the database itself is incomplete or an error has occurred in the program.
Today, in this case, the passenger can pass a routine security check; however, if this changes, new difficulties will arise. In addition, such a program may determine the identity incorrectly and confuse a passenger with a person who does not have a visa or even is a criminal. In this case, the inspection by security may take hours, and the passenger will miss the flight. For this reason, operators and airport staff should check the accuracy of the devices, as well as the completeness of the database before investing and applying them.
Privacy Issues
The issue of privacy is also an essential aspect in the use of technology. First of all, passengers are worried that scanning their body can reveal information about them that should remain private. Secondly, today most of the information is stored in electronic databases that can be stolen and used. Therefore, the operator must be sure that the technologies are safe for the private information of passengers to apply and invest in them.
One of the concerns for passengers is the question of what full-body scanners see as they fear for the privacy of their bodies. Any scanners do not see a person naked because only the shape of the figure is displayed on the image (Nugraha and Choi, 2016). However, since the body contours are clearly visible, the scanner can display information that a person prefers to keep secret; for example, transgender features or physical disabilities.
In general, the information is not saved and is not transferred to third parties, but both security guards and passengers nearby can accidentally see the picture. Nevertheless, such a mechanism reduces the need for physical inspection of passengers by employees, which allows them to maintain the privacy of their body. Therefore, operators should consider this aspect when installing scanners and offer more enclosed cabins.
Moreover, the privacy of information is also of concern, since databases with biometric data are stored for some period, and documents are compared with national databases. This fact makes it possible for attackers to steal and use data if the system is not secure enough. Therefore, any device using artificial intelligence should be checked for the presence of a coding and data protection system. In addition, the access to data government agencies have should be checked, as well as whether officials can get it without the permission of the owner or the court.
Ethical and Cultural Issues
Another issue that should be considered is the particular ethical, religious and cultural perception of the population. Some passengers find it unacceptable to scan the body; others do not want to transfer their biometric data into the system. Moreover, in many countries, people can refuse these procedures and pass the usual security check, so the use of new technologies is not always a useful solution.
The unwillingness of people to go through a particular check-in procedure at the airport can exist because of cultural and religious preferences, personal factors and beliefs. For example, in Munich, a Muslim woman refused to scan for religious reasons and was denied boarding (Nugraha and Choi, 2016). People also may refuse to enter biometric data and face recognition as they believe that in this way, they are being monitored.
Ethical issues are also related to identifying the physical characteristics of a person during a scan, which were mentioned earlier. It can be morally uncomfortable for a passenger that strangers, even if they are authorised to check, will study his or her body. Besides, during the scan, a person can receive a dose of radiation, and although some of the data indicate that it is not dangerous, many people fear for their health (Zhang, 2019).
Moreover, scanning for children poses a more significant threat than for adults and also raises the question of the need for its use. There may be dozens of reasons for the refusal to use technology by passengers, but depending on the country, they can significantly affect the efficiency of technology use, or have only occasional cases. However, it is necessary to pay attention primarily on the cultural and religious characteristics of the country in which new technologies will be used.
Legal Issues
The use of security technologies has two different effects related to legal issues of personal privacy and health security. On the one hand, full-body scanners reduce the need for physical inspection if the inspector has suspicions, but they turn out to be false. On the other hand, scanners often display objects that do not pose a threat but may appear suspicious to the security, which leads to unnecessary physical inspection. However, according to the law of many countries, a person can be searched only due to valid reasons, but the measures for their validation do not exist (Kyriazanos, Thanos, and Thomopoulos, 2019).
In addition, scanners reveal details of the passenger’s physical condition, which may be unacceptable for some people, and at some airports, the images are stored in the database, which is also a violation of confidentiality (Mironenko Enerstveld, 2017). Therefore, investors should consider the legal characteristics of the country before applying technology.
Moreover, radiation and wave radiation from scanners can damage human health. A serviceable and properly designed scanner emits a small and safe dose of radiation or waves; nevertheless, in case of improper operation, a person may be injured. Smith and Brooks (2017) also note that the biometric system could be dangerous for people, and the government should ensure the safety of any devices.
The complexity of this situation lies in the fact that it is difficult for a person to prove that he or she was injured by screening. However, it is also difficult for the producer of scanner to prove the opposite fact. Therefore, the operator or the government must take into account all legal issues related to the use of security technologies to avoid possible difficulties and claims in the future, as well as to guarantee the rights of citizens.
Conclusion
Modern airport security technologies have many advantages; however, they bring many issues that must be considered before their application. The main ones are legal, private and ethical issues, as well as the efficiency of the devices. Privacy is a special category, although it can also be included in ethical and legal issues, since it affects both existing laws and the moral principles of people. Legal aspects also refer to the safety of passengers’ health and responsibility for the violation of human rights. Ethical representations include cultural and religious characteristics of the population, which may interfere with the use of modern technology.
However, one of the most critical issues is the effectiveness of security technologies as the imperfection of artificial intelligence devices or scanners can bring even more inconvenience to airport workers and passengers. Therefore, governments and operators should consider all these aspects and prioritise them to determine the benefits of investing in new airport security technologies and their application.
Reference List
Brostoff, G. (2019) ‘How AI and biometrics are driving next-generation authentication’, Biometric Technology Today, 2019(6), pp. 7-9.
Kyriazanos, D. M., Thanos, K. G. & Thomopoulos, S. C. (2019) ‘Automated decision making in airport checkpoints: bias detection toward smarter security and fairness’, IEEE Security & Privacy, 17(2), pp. 8-16.
Mironenko Enerstvedt O. (2017) Aviation security, privacy, data Protection and other human rights: technologies and legal principles. Berlin: Springer.
Nowacki, G. and Paszukow, B. (2018) ‘Security requirements for new threats at international airports’, TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, 12(3), pp. 187-192.
Nugraha R. and Choi J. (2016) ‘Body scanners within airport security systems: security or privacy issue?’, The Aviation & Space Journal, 15(3), pp.11-24.
Price J. and Forrest J. (2016) Practical aviation security: predicting and preventing future threats. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Rapaport L. (2016) ‘When an airport scanner sees a cyst as a security threat’, Reuters. Web.
Smith C. and Brooks D. (2017) Security science: the theory and practice of security. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Zhang Z. (2019) ‘Technologies raise the effectiveness of airport security control’, 2019 IEEE 1st International Conference on Civil Aviation Safety and Information Technology (ICCASIT) conference proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Kunming, China. IEEE, p. 431-434.