Objective: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an auscultation learning system we developed.

Method: The educational material evaluated in this study was a web-based learning system using a stethoscope equipped with earphones with Bluetooth® function and a tablet device. The most distinctive feature of the learning material was that the system successfully simulates sounds of abnormality in the body of healthy student participants by replicating sounds inside the human body from various combinations of a maximum of three types of sounds. A total of ten students tested the learning material, and the validity analysis of the replicated sounds and the system evaluation using the web usability evaluation scale was conducted in this study.

Results: All participants could hear the normal bronchial sound, and more than 80% of participants could hear continuous high- and low-pitched wheezes in the breathing sound auscultation tests. However, the rate of those who could correctly hear the interrupted wheezes remained at 20 to 50%. In the tests using the combination of heart and breathing sounds, 70 to 80% of participants could correctly measure the heart rate. In contrast, the percentage of those who could precisely identify breathing and wheezing sounds remained at 20 to 40%. Results of web usability evaluation were high in the points of "user-friendly operation" and "simple system structure" but low in the points of "benefit of the system" and "user-friendly system appearance."

Conclusion: Though several features need improvement, the results exhibited well-balanced evaluations of relevant factors, suggesting that the system was an effective web-based educational material.

Basal body temperature is measured at rest for 5 minutes after waking up with a thermometer inserted under the tongue. Many women perceive this as a morning routine burden; this may lead to missing data, because they forget to take measurements, or data errors from falling asleep during the measurments. To overcome this, a wararable device called Ran's night were developed to automatically measures abdominal skin temperature during sleep. In this study, we examined the diagnostic accuracy of abdominal skin temperature in detecting ovulation compared to basal body temperature. Abdominal skin temperatures were automatically measured for six hours during sleep by placing a wearable in-clothes thermometer between underwear. BBT were also measured upon waking each morning. If the body temperature on three consecutive days is higher than the last six days before, it is assumed that ovulation has occurred. The ovulation reference date was detected by LH urinalysis. For 202 cycles obtained from 45 healthy women, the sensitivity in detecting one temperature shift per cycle were 85.9% and 80.1% for basal body temperature and abdominal skin temperatures, respectively. The deviation from the ovulation reference date was 0.2±2.5 days for sublingual temperature and 0.4±2.7 days for abdominal skin temperature, with no significant difference. In addition, a strong correlation (0.703) was obtained for the difference between the two corresponding to the same period. These results indicate that abdominal skin temperature can be used to estimate the date of ovulation with the same accuracy as basal body temeperature.

Due to Covid-19, indoor air quality (IAQ) in rooms where many people gather together becomes more important than ever, but the data base is scarce. In this study, IAQ was measured twice in the seminar venue to verify effect of circulation on IAQ. Although the ventilation system was operated at the first seminar, two circulators were operated with the ventilation system at the second seminar. IAQ was continuously measured near the lectern and reception desks using a device which can detect various factors on IAQ. The results indicated that the CO₂ concentration was higher than the standard value during the first seminar but all the IAQ factors were lower than the standard values. Thus, the results suggested that promoting air flow using circulators may improve IAQ.

Background: In recent years, HCD (Human Centered Design) has been attracting attention and has been established as ISO-9241-210, based on the awareness of the issue that the convenience of the system provider may have been prioritized in conventional software development. However, there are not enough examples of development based on the concept of HCD in medical software.

Objectives: Utilizing the experience of business process reengineering in ambulatory care operations, we will develop a task-shifting application using a prototyping method based on the concept of HCD.

Methods: Requirements definition was conducted based on business reform through task shifting in outpatient operations. We built a development environment on the Web and developed the application step by step using the prototyping method.

Results: From the work organization, we clarified items that can be task-shifted, such as test explanations, acquisition of various information related to patient support, and management of referrals and consultations. Based on this, we developed software to promote task shifting by visualizing the status of physician's instructions using the instruction manual and linking the manual with medical forms.

Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the concept of HCD, it is important to go through the cycle of clarifying the usage situation, clarifying the requirements of users and the organization, creating a solution by design, and evaluating the design for the requirements. Business process reengineering and prototyping development make it easier to put HCD into practice.