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Advancement in the mobile health market presents patients new opportunities to leverage technology to monitor their own health. In the technical research, the Capstone team studied methods of sampling mobile sensing data from smartphones in conjunction with ongoing research to develop a mobile health application that can passively monitor and predict user health status. The STS research paper investigated the implementation of additional data privacy policy in response to increasing concerns about the protection of health information in electronic Personal Health Record systems not covered by the current data privacy regulations in the United States. The technical and STS research papers both investigate the use of advanced technology in the health industry. The two topics are loosely coupled because the technical research focuses on the collection of mobile sensing data to predict user health, while the STS research focuses on the security of patient data in electronic Personal Health Record systems. The technical team investigated multiple data sampling methods to determine which one most efficiently collected mobile sensing data capable of identifying user context. To do this, the team used a mobile crowdsensing application to collect data from smartphone sensors in three sensing strategies that differed in their sampling frequencies. The strategies also administered surveys to serve as ground truth data for context information such as user activity, user location, physical state, and phone position. The team created context models from the data collected in each strategy to understand the utility of the data. The Capstone team found that the dynamic adaptive sensing strategy was the most efficient method of data collection. The dynamic adaptive sensing strategy had the best balance of reducing battery consumption while maintaining data quality by smartly turning the smartphone sensors on and off based on the phone’s use. Additionally, the data collected in the dynamic adaptive sensing strategy generated better performing context models than the data collected in the other sensing strategies. The dynamic adaptive sensing strategy will be implemented for future development of the mobile health application. Electronic Personal Health Record systems provide patients the ability to manage their own health on personal computers or smartphones. However, some private companies creating these platforms are not under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, leaving sensitive information unprotected from being shared or misused. The gap in regulation led to researching how the United States can protect sensitive health information in these platforms. The STS research identified gaps in regulation using government articles outlining the current health data privacy regulation, news articles exposing misuse of health information in these platforms, and employing Actor Network Theory to determine the relevant actors and actants involved in the development of the platforms. Additionally, a global review of data privacy regulations served to compare current regulations in countries around the world. The research concluded that the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation is the most comprehensive data privacy policy upholding the necessary standards to protect personal health information. These standards include important features such as a minimum standard, informed consent, documentation, and rules for sharing data. Implementation of a data privacy regulation the United States modeled after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation would establish appropriate protection of personal health data not protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, allowing patients to reap the benefits of an electronic Personal Health Record system without compromising their privacy. Implementation of technology in the health industry has the potential to significantly improve patient health outcomes. However, there are still developments that need to be made in the technical and privacy aspects for this technology to be widely accepted. Once these advancements are made, patients will be able to safely and efficiently monitor their health from their personal devices.

Physical rehabilitation is an important aspect of healthcare that affects the way people live their lives. For the technical research project, I worked on the Power of Difference Assessment for The Sum, a non-profit organization located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The reason for undertaking the project was due to my fascination with translating data values from participants who took the assessment into numerical categories that displayed the inherent demographical views of a person. Meanwhile, the STS research paper focuses on the impact of augmented reality for physical rehabilitative services. The purpose of the research is to investigate the benefits of implementing augmented reality for physical rehabilitation. Since the STS and technical projects have little overlap, the two are loosely coupled. In order to work towards an effective implementation of the Power of Difference Assessment, many smaller requirements needed to be performed. Security features had to be created in order to avoid URL manipulation of the website. Many tasks in the existing product also involved manual labor which was time-consuming. A method to approach this problem was to try and make all processes be performed automatically, including score calculation, report generation, and the sending of emails by the system. The data that was generated by the report was also stored locally on the client’s computer previously. To solve that problem, new administrative access was built into the website to allow for better storage and accessibility. The various methods implemented created a satisfactory result in the end product. The speed that user scores are calculated and sent via email occurs in under a minute. The administrative site has access to all data with easy search and organization functionality along with other features to delegate data viewing to other employees within The Sum. The assessment now supports concurrent users taking it and is scaled to support many users of the system through the use of Amazon Web Services. The end result of the technical project is an improved version of the Power of Difference Assessment system that contains added functionality, easier accessibility, and stronger security protocols. The research question my STS topic focused on was: How does the implementation of augmented reality benefit patients’ health and motivation when undergoing physical rehabilitation? The thesis seeks to explore the impacts of augmented reality in physical rehabilitation and the effects it has on the industry and other societal factors. The sources that were used to provide evidence included articles, published papers, and case studies. The sources were used to help provide factual data in order to support the thesis statement while also looking at its limitations. The evidence gathered were used to make counterarguments and showcase viable solutions of implementation of augmented reality that would widely benefit people during physical rehabilitation. A major point in the STS thesis is the parallel drawn between augmented reality technology and CAT scans to support a viable cost option for future widespread usage of augmented reality. Another major point includes data percentages of user satisfaction to support positive correlation with increased business. The evidence is necessary to provide a valid reason for healthcare industries to commercially support the use of augmented reality. One key point stems from the gamification of physical rehabilitation, which connects to increased levels of user satisfaction and is the major evidence for providing a solution to the problems that patients face during rehabilitation. The conclusion drawn from the research supports the idea that augmented reality will provide health benefits to patients while providing positive commercial effects in society. The broad conclusion that can be drawn from the research projects is to give things a chance. The STS research project currently has limited data pertaining to the topic and is reliant on future work to provide conclusive results based on the conclusions drawn from the research here. The technical is the same as people need to attempt the assessment in order to realize their hidden biases and views and use those to grow as individuals. This broad conclusion brings the two topics together despite their loose coupling.

As technology improves within the healthcare industry, new diagnosis and treatment methods provide an opportunity to enhance the patient experience. The technical project focuses on new diagnostic methods such as the Medtronic CardioInsight Vest can be used on patients to diagnose the second most common atrial arrhythmia, otherwise known as atrial flutter. The vest provides a noninvasive way of diagnosing arrhythmias, leading to a more comfortable and less risky way of identifying electrical abnormalities in the heart. The STS topic focuses on improving the treatment method of patients, especially for patients who have rare diseases like Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCPD). LCPD is a rare orthopedic disease that presents in young children, and presents much controversy when deciding what surgical or nonsurgical methods to employ when treating the patient. While these topics are loosely coupled, both emphasize the importance of improving overall care for a patient. When diagnosing a heart arrhythmia, most patients must undergo an electrophysiology study. This study requires catheters to be intravenously placed into the heart, where pacing maneuvers will be performed to capture the arrhythmia. The Medtronic CardioInsight Vest used for the technical project provides an optimal, noninvasive technique to diagnose heart arrhythmias without the use of intracardiac catheters. This method has proven useful in diagnosing arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and premature ventricular complexes, and has the potential to diagnose atrial flutter as well. Through 252 electrodes sending signals to the vest, 3-dimensional atrial maps are created that display the electrical activity of the heart. From these maps, conclusions can be drawn about types of atrial flutter and where they are located. Two types of maps were used for the project, propagation maps and phase maps. Propagation maps provide information on the directionality of the electrical circuit and how signal conducts across the atria. These maps were used to compare the directionalities between different types of flutter to determine if the vest accurately captured the conduction signals. Phase maps were then used to display false hinge points, which can be used as pattern identifiers for certain types of flutter. Both of these maps appeared to have patterns that allow the electrophysiologist to approximate what type of flutter is present and where it originates from. The STS project focuses on the variables that affect what treatment options are presented to pediatric patients. The research question pertaining to the topic concerns what is the best treatment option for children diagnosed with LCPD. This question is examined using Callon and Law’s Actor Network Theory, where factors such as long-term outcomes from treatment methods, what classification system was used to diagnose the hip, and why surgeons are more likely to promote certain treatment options over others. All of these factors are crucial when treating Perthes patients, especially when considering most of them will need a hip replacement much earlier in life. To closely examine the options available to Perthes patients, research was completed with papers that detailed long-term outcomes for eight of the most common treatment methods. The outcomes were evaluated to determine the lifespan of the hip joint post treatment, and whether the patient still experienced significant pain. In addition, surgeon bias was examined to determine why orthopedic surgeons may be more or less likely to perform complex osteotomies on pediatric patients. After close examination of the treatment options, one option presented itself as the optimal one for treating Perthes disease. While it is beneficial to have one option that stands out, it appears as though surgeons are less likely to offer complex surgeries to young children. This can be attributed to age, especially since the patients have not reached skeletal maturity, as well as location. Hospitals located in rural areas are less likely to have surgeons capable of performing difficult procedures on small patients, and are therefore less likely to offer the surgery as a treatment option. In addition, surgeons are more comfortable with some procedures than others, and prefer to not deviate from typical surgical procedures that they perform. From these points, it can be concluded that Perthes is a complicated disease to treat, and may not result in an optimal outcome due to the ambiguity of treatment. These projects aim to provide patients additional information about devices that diagnose common heart arrhythmias, as well as treatments available for patients with a rare hip disease. Doctors should aim to provide the best care possible for their patients through the integration of new diagnosis and treatment methods available to them.