The pandemic could substantially increase research expenses because the execution of surveys is limited by the activity restrictions imposed by the government. Field surveys during the pandemic are no longer flexible because for safety reasons, both the surveyor and the surveyed participant should be negative for Covid-19 by taking PCR tests. This condition could be problematic because research involving household samples is usually characterized by large sample sizes and wide coverage areas. The survey is also usually conducted directly in households to provide better and more accurate results. This article describes an alternative method for obtaining a representative sample of households using an internet-based survey at an affordable cost without ignoring the validity of the survey. This method can be widely implemented in social and economic field studies.  Specifications tableDeveloping a new method in scientific research is useful because the correct method is needed to provide suitable recommendations to policymakers. The demand for a new approach to conducting scientific research increases when specific phenomena, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, occur. The limitations of all activities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic can undoubtedly be an obstacle to the research process, such as physical activity restrictions, long-distance travel, and other research activities involving crowds. All of these restrictions were imposed by the government to minimize the spread of Covid-19.In research involving household subjects, researchers usually employ face-to-face (F2F) interviews or field surveys to obtain high-validity data Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and TypeForm, provide more flexibility than F2F interviews because the respondents can fill out the survey forms independently, anytime and anywhere. The use of internet-based questionnaires, when appropriately utilized, can be very effective To minimize all risks and costs during the pandemic, researchers could alternatively use internet-based household surveys. Specifically, an online survey combined with the quota sampling method can be used to obtain data from households in different areas. Online survey tools, such as Although online surveys can be very efficient, they require certain conditions to ensure data validity. This is because an online survey is usually open to everyone who wants to fill out the questionnaire, and people who do not meet the criteria can do so. In this paper, we provide an overview of an online survey design but with strict criteria to obtain valid respondents. Thus, a representative sampling method, such as probability sampling, is important for the credibility of the results. However, probability sampling in research is difficult and expensive, with large, scattered samples in some areas. Therefore, we propose quota sampling (a part of nonprobability sampling) instead of probability sampling Quota sampling was first introduced by Moser and Stuart in experimental research The next section of this paper describes our process of conducting scientific research on households using internet-based surveys with quota sampling. This survey was carried out on households located on the islands of Java and Sumatra, the two islands with a population that dominates the Indonesian economy 1.Survey ethics2.Defining populations, samples, and categorizations3.Enumerator recruitment4.Technical meeting with enumerators5.Survey implementationThe procedure for conducting a survey consists of several stages:The first stage before starting the survey activity was to ensure that the process of conducting the survey and the survey instrument (questionnaire) did not violate the research ethics. We used Google Forms as the instrument. The ethics that were considered in the implementation of this survey included the transparency of the recruitment process that was carried out through social media, participant awareness of explicit privacy statements in online questionnaires, and protection of data confidentiality. These ethics were applied like other internet-based survey research described in other publications see .The population in this study was households domiciled in Java and Sumatra. The form of household based on the BPS Statistics Indonesia consists of ordinary and special households In using the quota sampling method, the population must first be divided into several groups. The categorization of the household population was divided by the provinces in which the households reside. In this case, the islands of Java and Sumatra have 16 provinces. To obtain sample results that were more representative of the population, we determined the proportion of the sample based on the percentage of total households in each province divided by the total number of households in Java and Sumatra, which was 54,444,434. The proportion results in each province were then multiplied by the target sample. In this study, we used data on the number of households from the BPS Statistics Indonesia to calculate the proportion of samples taken, and we defined the target sample of 1,500 households. Details of the number of samples taken by province are shown in Enumerators are individuals in charge of survey activities that help respondents answer questions and fill out questionnaires In looking for enumerator candidates, we defined the following criteria: (1) active or alumni of an undergraduate degree in any major, (2) domiciled in Java and Sumatra, (3) active and easy to contact, (4) familiar with social media and Google Forms, (5) reliable, responsible, and able to communicate, and (6) having a link with micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) was prioritized.Furthermore, we ensured that the selected enumerators were dispersed in 16 provinces to determine enumerators. In other words, an enumerator will distribute the questionnaire only to households in the same province where they reside. An enumerator should also distribute the questionnaire proportionally according to several criteria, such as the proportion of rural–urban, and formal–informal sectors. The standards we defined were essential for obtaining valid respondents and were relevant to our study. At the end of the recruitment process, we obtained 1,935 applicants and selected 31 enumerators from 16 provinces in Java and Sumatra see . The annThe technical meeting was held online via the Zoom meeting platform. At this stage, there was a discussion regarding the details of the surveys, such as the objectives of the enumerators in this survey, respondent criteria, code and area distributions, and honorarium for the enumerators and respondents. As a rule, the respondents were not allowed to share the survey URL publicly. More specifically, they could share information about this survey publicly, but not the survey URL (Google form). This means that the enumerators had complete control over who their respondents were. In this way, the validity of the respondents can be maintained. The URL was distributed only to prospective respondents who met the criteria. In the end, the enumerator had full control to ensure that the proportion of respondents was in accordance with the proportion of rural-urban and formal-informal sector respondents.In filling out the survey, the enumerators could help interview respondents, or the respondents could fill out the survey themselves (self-administered questionnaire). The enumerator had to instruct the respondents to enter the enumerator's assigned code. The code was required to make it easy to track the progress of the enumerator's work. Finally, the honorarium for each enumerator was wired to them at the end of the survey period after meeting the number of target respondents.Online survey activities were carried out within two weeks, from July 19–31, 2021. In conducting this survey, five additional research assistants were involved; therefore, the total number of survey team members, including enumerators, was 36. The survey area distribution details are shown in The enumerator was responsible for finding respondents with predetermined criteria according to the assigned quota for the number of respondents in each province or region. Then, the enumerator had to make a list of respondents and send it to the person in charge of the survey (a member of the research team). Making a list of incoming respondents serves to double-check the data from Google Forms. After verifying the data, an honorarium was sent to the respondents.After the survey was completed, the next step was to validate the household sample to ensure that the sampled respondents met the required criteria. The first process relates to the selection of enumerator candidates. The quota sampling method is known to be at risk of geographic bias because of the tendency to select respondents to recruit people who live in their neighborhood Next, we checked the list of respondents reported on the Google sheet. The household respondent list report was a database in a Google sheet table stored in Google Drive and shared between the research assistants and the enumerators. The respondent list table for cross-checking contained the serial number, respondent's name, respondent's address (only village or city name), age, area information , occupation, and a description of respondent's relationships . Through the household respondent list report, enumerators and research assistants could check the composition of the respondents. It serves to ensure compliance with sample proportions, such as the ratio of villages to cities and the diversity of respondents’ occupations. The enumerator's work was deemed completed if the quota was completed according to the criteria. We did not check the respondent's identity card, as it is sensitive data for residents. However, we checked the duplication of the respondent's telephone number to ensure that the respondent did not double-fill or as a last measure proof of the validity of the respondent.The source of the bias in quota sampling was the non-representativeness of the sample. This is because the geographical diversity of the respondents was highly dependent on the enumerators. The enumerators usually selected respondents who were easily accessible . HoweverThe bias of the quota sampling method is also minimized by distributing respondents based on regency/city locations on the islands of Java and Sumatera, as can be seen in Conducting a survey with a sample of households often requires a large amount of money, energy, and time to conduct F2F visits (field survey). The direct field survey was previously preferred in household research because it can ensure the validity of the household data and obtain a representative sample of the research area. An internet-based (online) proportional quota sampling survey was carried out as a combination of sampling methods with online instruments, reducing survey costs compared to F2F interviews. It is also more flexible than field surveys, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, because people do not need to meet physically. By carrying out a series of steps, such as the recruitment of enumerators from the area of origin and strict controlled quotas (sample criteria/restrictions), this method is suitable for studies involving large samples and wide-area coverage, with more representative results. The success of this survey is certainly influenced by the excellent collaboration between the enumerators as implementers and the research team and the time and energy devoted to the process.The participant aware of explicit privacy statements in online questionnaires and protection of data confidentiality. These ethics were applied like other internet-based survey research described in other publications. We also confirm that a) informed consent was obtained from participants or that participant data has been fully anonymized, and b) the platforms’ data redistribution policies were complied with the social media platform we use: Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram.This work is part of the research entitled “Digital finance, household consumption, and Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from Indonesia,” funded by Research Grant Bank Indonesia 2021 with grant number 23/18/PKS/BINS/2021. The conclusions, opinions, and views expressed in this paper are the authors’ sole responsibility and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Bank Indonesia.Inas Nurfadia Futri: Validation, Data curation, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft. Tastaftiyan Risfandy: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Mansor H. Ibrahim: Supervision, Validation.The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.


Colon cancer is the 3rd most common cancer in the world. The diagnosis leads the patient and his relatives into a process of mourning for their health and previous life. The literature highlights the impact of the disease on couples. Cancer can either alter or strengthen the relationship. The disease will directly or indirectly affect both partners. Such impact starts with the diagnosis and lasts long after treatments. No study has analyzed both emotional and sexual interactions between partners throughout the illness so far.This research aims to identify and describe whether congruence within couples tends to improve emotional and sexual adjustment.Thirteen couples took part in this research by answering a set of questionnaires investigating, in particular, dyadic coping strategies, marital and sexual satisfaction. Non-parametric analyses were performed on the quantitative data.Emotional satisfaction is good among the couples in our study. There are important similarities in partners’ emotional adjustment. Patients who are most satisfied with their couple typically have a partner who is also satisfied. This was an expected result based on the literature. Overall, sexual satisfaction is described as average, which is either related to a low frequency of sexual intercourse, or a gap between the ideal and actual frequency of intercourse. In terms of dyadic coping, similarities within couples tend to improve emotional and sexual adjustment. Couples in which communication about stress between the patient and their partner is congruent tend to report good marital satisfaction. We found the same results for delegated coping of both the patient and the partner, and for negative coping of the partner. Sexual adjustment is linked to a similar perception within the couple of a common dyadic coping.Emotional and sexual adjustment is largely linked to the quality of the partner’s support. The congruence of couple support strategies has been identified as an important factor in emotional satisfaction. In addition, the more couples implement joint stress management, the better their sexual satisfaction. Institutions focusing on cancer epidemiology report a particularly high incidence of colon cancer . The mosColon cancer as well as its treatments can have significant physical repercussions: abdominal pain; transit disorder; anemia; rectorrhagia; fatigue; weight loss, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting; bowel obstruction or perforation .In addition, the experience of cancer is subjective and characterized by psychological upheaval . The diaMore specifically, in the case of colon cancer, the symbolism of the affected area has psychological repercussions on patients . Indeed,The impact of both the disease and the treatment reaches beyond the individual patient. The onset of cancer within a family causes both emotional and functional upheavals . SpousesSpouses may experience significant existential stress knowing their partner is ill. The diagnosis of cancer, let alone the mere use of this term, awakens anxieties about death, uncertainty, suffering, loss, and separation . As a keThe psychological and relational adjustment of couples is increasingly studied in the field of cancer. Research focuses on patient and partner distress, support, cohesion, relational satisfaction, and communication within couples , most ofInterdependence can be defined as the mutual influence of two partners, acting as a unit rather than as two independent individuals . The couWhen faced with illness, two distinct patterns of reaction by couples have been described :-“mutual reactivity”: the illness is experienced as a common stressor, affecting both partners. This type of pattern allows for individual and couple developments, strengthens the relationship, increases intimacy;-“avoidance–indifference”: the illness is perceived as an individual stress, referring only to what is experienced by each partner separately, not taking into account the experience of the other. This type of pattern brings little evolution to the couple, it can, however, bring personal evolution.In general, couples who perceive illness as a “couple experience” report better individual and dyadic adjustment to illness and greater relationship satisfaction than those who perceive illness as an individual stressor .Partner interdependence raises the question of congruence in partner responses to adjustment to cancer. This field of research was developed in the 1980s and focuses on the effects of congruence on the emotional adjustment of patients and partners, mostly in breast cancer . A few sCongruence can be assessed by looking at the degree to which partners agree on how they cope as a couple or “perceptual congruence of dyadic coping.” It is an assessment of the recognition of each partner’s efforts, measured at the couple level .A look at the current literature tells us that the congruence effect between partners depends on the variables studied . For exaResults in the field of cancer are heterogeneous and have never been applied to colorectal cancer. Moreover, the evaluation of congruence only concerns individual adjustment or marital satisfaction, without looking at sexual adjustment. Our study thus proposes to pay attention to the congruence in the emotional and sexual adjustment of couples where one of the members has colon cancer.This research aims to identify and describe congruence within couples that may impact emotional and sexual adjustment.In order to meet our objective, we defined specific research questions touching upon the following aspects:-RQ1: Marital and sexual satisfaction of couples in our sample. This research question is exploratory; we wish to observe partner satisfactions. However, we expect to observe rather high levels of satisfaction within the couples, which we will discuss more specifically in the Section “Discussion.”-RQ2: Intra-couple correlations of marital and sexual satisfaction to observe congruence between partners. We expect partners to exhibit a high degree of similarity in marital and sexual satisfaction.-RQ3: Correlation between congruence of dyadic coping strategies and marital and sexual satisfaction. We expect a positive correlation between congruence and satisfaction: the more partners report congruence, the more satisfied they are with their marital and sexual life.This research is a quantitative, cross-sectional study of couples in which one of the partners has colon cancer.The recruitment of patients and their partners took place in the oncology department of the Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph. Participation in this study was open to all patients (men and women) diagnosed with colon cancer, during chemotherapy or in remission.via physical mail sent to their home and telephone contact. After oral acceptance of participation, all the necessary documents for the study were sent to the patients . Through them, the study was proposed to their partner.Patients meeting all study inclusion criteria  were ideWe created a socio-demographic questionnaire including information on gender, role (patient or partner), age, marital status, number of children, socio-professional status. Information about psychological and/or sexological monitoring was also collected. We also obtained relevant medical information for this study from the patients’ medical records .We chose the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) by Non-parametric analyses were performed on the quantitative data. In order to respond to RQ1, descriptive analysis  was conducted on marital and sexual satisfaction of couples; in order to respond to RQ2, Spearman correlations were performed between each partner’s marital and sexual satisfaction within the same couple. Finally, in order to respond to RQ3, we first created a congruence score for each couple (delta between the patient’s and partner’s score). This score was then correlated with marital and sexual satisfaction.The study involving human participants was reviewed and approved by the Conseil d’évaluation éthique pour les recherches en santé (CERES) on September 13, 2016. The delay between the committee’s approval and the actual start of our research (March 2020) was linked to the organization of doctoral work and the setting up of hospital partnerships.We informed the participants of the anonymity of the data provided, as well as of their right to refuse or withdraw from the study, without any consequence on their medical monitoring.All 13 couples in our study were 56 years old on average . They had been in a relationship for 27 years  and had on average 2.75 children per couple. Ten couples were married or in a civil union, while 3 were cohabiting. Finally, the vast majority of couples lived together, with only one couple living separately (the patient’s spouse was working abroad) .A comparison between patients and partners indicates that they differ only in professional status, partners being significantly more active than patients.Finally, all the patients were diagnosed at stage 3 (62%) or 4 (38%), and about half of our sample was undergoing treatment (46.2%). All of them received chemotherapy, 12 of them also underwent surgery and only one received radiotherapy .M = 4, sd = 1.2, on a Lickert scale of up to 5). Just over three-quarters of the participants reported being very or extremely happy. About 10% reported being somewhat or extremely unhappy.Couples described themselves as quite satisfied with their relationship : the less frequent the intercourse, the less satisfied they are. The degree of difference between actual and desired frequency of intercourse is strongly correlated with sexual satisfaction : the greater the difference between actual and desired, the less satisfied the partners are with their sexuality : the more positively the patients evaluated their marital relationship, the more positively their partner evaluated it. There was also a positive and significant correlation between the sexual satisfaction scores of patients and their partners : the more patients evaluated their sexuality in a positive way, the better the evaluation by partners of their own sexuality -Common dyadic coping subscales, coping effectiveness assessment, and total dyadic coping:•Patients and partners rated only their own perception•We created a simple variable to measure the difference between patient and partner scores.r = −0.452, p < 0.05) and partner  communication perceptions, partner negative coping perceptions , and patient  and partner  delegated coping perceptions. Two trends were identified for all other perceptions  is related to marital satisfaction for several of the dyadic coping subscales. Indeed, there are negative and significant correlations with patient . This means that the more the two partners of the same couple differ in their implementation of common strategies, the less satisfied they are with their sexuality. No other correlation was significant  on September 13, 2016. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by both the patient and the spouse.AS contributed to conception and design of the study and the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work, drafted the work, organized the database, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and wrote sections of the manuscript. NF and CF revised the work critically for important intellectual content. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


The need for a new style of clinical trials, called decentralized clinical trials (DCTs), has been increasing as they do not depend on physical visits to clinical sites. DCTs are expected to provide a new opportunity to patients who cannot participate in a clinical trial due to geographical and time limitations. For the adoption of DCTs, it is essential that medical devices with Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and Internet of Health Things (IoHT) based technologies are developed and commercially adopted. In this study, we aimed to identify the regulatory considerations when IoMT/IoHT-based technologies are used in DCTs or products developed using DCTs.To understand the study and development field of IoMT/IoHT comprehensively and panoramically, relevant papers published in Web of Science were searched online. Subsequently, a citation network was obtained and characterized as a cluster using a text mining method to identify IoMT/IoHT-based technologies expected to be utilized in DCTs or products developed using DCTs.Upon analysis of the top 15 clusters and subsequent 51 sub-clusters, we identified the therapeutic areas  and IoMT/IoHT-based technologies  that are expected to be used in DCTs. We also identified several considerations based on the current regulatory guidance.IoMT/IoHT-based technologies that are expected to be used or products developed using DCTs and key considerations made when they are used in DCTs were identified. The considerations could encourage conducting DCTs using IoMT/IoHT-based technologies. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been increasing interest in decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) that do not rely on visits to clinical sites to conduct clinical trials. There are two types of DCT-style studies. In one DCT-style, visits to clinical sites can be avoided altogether as several components can be implemented remotely, such as remote electronic informed consent and telemedicine. In the other style (hybrid style), not all study visits are decentralized; certain study visits need to be conducted at the clinical site as usual. For pharmaceutical companies, DCTs reduce subjects' inclusion period and the study population's bias by obtaining study participants from across the globe . TherefoThe advancement of information technology has played a key role in improving the implementation of DCTs. Thus, the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) in the medical field, in the form of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and Internet of Health Things (IoHT), through concepts such as telemedicine, ePRO, and data collection by wearable devices, will enable further dissemination and promotion of DCTs. It is also expected that new IoMT/IoHT-based technologies will be developed while using the components of DCTs to be authorized as qualified medical devices by health authorities such as the FDA. However, considering that the field of IoMT/IoHT has been changing rapidly and the new IoMT/IoHT has been developing constantly, it is difficult to proactively identify the suitable IoMT/IoHT to utilize in DCT and the points to notice when the study sponsor wants to implement the IoMT/IoHT in DCTs.Therefore, first, we aimed to identify IoMT/IoHT-based technologies that are expected to be utilized in DCTs or products developed using DCTs by using horizon scanning based on bibliographic citation network analysis and text mining. Horizon scanning is a major topic in the strategic initiatives of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA), which is a voluntary coalition of medicines regulatory authorities. According to the concept notes of ICMRA Strategic Priority on Innovation, horizon scanning is broad-reaching information-gathering and monitoring activities to forecast impending products and technologies and potentially disruptive research methods .There are two main types of methods for collecting the data required to conduct well-programmed horizon scanning : expert-This study aimed to explore novel IoMT/IoHT-based technologies that may be applied in future DCTs using citation network analysis and text mining, both of which are foresight methods used for discovering early signs of emerging products and technologies. In addition, based on the results of citation network analysis and text mining, we aimed to examine the prospects for the utilization of IoMT/IoHT in DCTs and the issues and key considerations that can be assumed to be focused on operational and regulatory perspectives while developing novel IoMT/IoHT-based technologies to contribute to the popularization of IoMT/IoHT in DCTs.We utilized  and  as queries for analyzing papers published in the Web of Science literature database  to identify IoMT/IoHT-based technologies that are expected to be used in DCTs and products developed using DCTs.Aij represents the weight of the edge between i and j, i, ciis the community to which vertex i is assigned, δ-function δ is 1 if u=v and 0 otherwise, and where Labels corresponding to the size of the number of papers included were assigned in the clusters. The characteristics of each cluster were confirmed by extracting a summary of frequently cited academic papers and characteristic keywords in the cluster.i in a given cluster j, is given byFurthermore, we employed term frequency-inverse cluster frequency (TF-ICF) to extract the distinctive keywords of each cluster. TF is a measure of the significance of a term in a particular sentence, whereas ICF is a measure of the general importance of a term. The TC-ICF of a given term where N is the total number of sentences. Each cluster was labeled based on the resulting keywords and sentences.The visualization was converted to assume the relationships among these clusters after clustering the network and a large graph layout (LGL) based on a force-direct layout algorithm was used , 23. ThiRegulatory information for FDA , EMA 2525, MHLW We analyzed 144,977 papers obtained from the WoS database and discovered that 97,305 papers (67.1%) formed a citation network by extracting the largest connected component from all linkage components through direct citation of papers, and divided it into 141 clusters. Among the top 15 clusters listed in Because regulatory matters might be an issue for the utilization of IoMT/IoHT in DCTs, we retrieved relevant regulatory information in the US, EU, and Japan. via the Internet were developed. Both telehealth and remote monitoring are important elements of DCTs, and medical devices and infrastructure with these technologies and functions are expected to contribute to the standardization of DCTs. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine and digital health technologies (such as wearable devices) have been applied in the treatment of the COVID-19 to avoid the risk of further hospital-acquired infection. Based on the result of a rapid literature review by Bokolo Anthony Jnr, some considerations have been identified for applying telehealth and digital care solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic  of the obtained sub-clusters, we identified technologies and specific medical devices that are pivotal in the citation relationships that make up the sub-clusters. We subsequently categorized them according to therapeutic area. Remote monitoring of biological functions  using sensors and telemedicine, which are expected to be utilized not only in specific therapeutic areas, was found to be the most common . This means that IoMT/IoHT-based technologies, including wearable devices, will be available for use in daily life and clinical trials, including DCTs . We discpandemic –46.We focused on VR therapy as an IoMT/IoHT-based technology that is expected to be utilized and developed through DCTs. VR therapy, as the name suggests, involves the use of VR for medical purposes . VR techde novo premarket review pathway, a regulatory pathway for low-to-moderate-risk devices of a new type  . GuidancWe selected WoS as the database for the source of analysis; however, there are other databases, such as PubMed and Scopus, which were excluded. It is necessary to select a database for data source collection that is appropriate for each field of interest. Moreover, there is a time lag between the publication of papers in journals and those reflected in WoS, which causes a time gap in the understanding of the research field. In this study, we focused exclusively on IoMT/IoHT research trends as on the date when the article information was extracted from the database. Additionally, it is necessary to follow the changes in hub papers and other important papers in the research field in chronological order to understand the development of research fields and new technologies. We analyzed the potential IoMT/IoHT-based technologies, disease areas, and purposes of use based on the information in each sub-cluster; however, there is a possibility that subjectivity and bias were incorporated into the evaluation.In this study, we investigated the trends related to the adoption of IoT in the medical and healthcare fields (IoMT/IoHT) using citation network analysis and text mining methods. IoMT/IoHT and research fields that are expected to be utilized in DCTs, such as telemedicine, wearable devices, and VR, were identified. Based on the results, we established key considerations in using IoMT/IoHT in DCTs, such as how sponsors can ensure data quality from the IoMT/IoHT-based technology used in DCTs. To the contrary, considering that the field of IoMT/IoHT is evolving rapidly, some relatively recent studies are not included in the dataset used for citation network analysis; they are therefore not identified as hub papers because of having been published quite recently or having few citations. The findings of this study are expected to help in developing the new IoMT/IoHT using DCTs or in using the IoMT/IoHT in DCTs. For future studies, the works of literature and guidance related to DCTs and IoMT/IoHT will be retrieved and examined for continuous solutions to problems based on the latest information and knowledge.The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.MS contributed to the conception and design of the study. HS organized the database. HI collected data. HI, TT, and TS performed the data analysis. TS drafted the manuscript. HS and MS reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This research was supported by AMED  Under Grant Number 21mk0101217h0001.TS was employed by Astellas Pharma Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Vehicle systems have been one of the fastest-growing fields in recent years. Vehicles are extremely helpful for understanding driver behaviors and have received significant attention from a forensic perspective. Extensive forensic research was previously conducted on on-board vehicle systems, such as an event data recorders, located in the electronic control unit or manufacturer-based infotainment systems. However, unlike previous vehicles that used only manufacturer-based infotainment systems, most vehicles today are equipped with infotainment systems such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. These in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems connect to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The vehicle can periodically communicate with a smartphone and thus a network outside the vehicle. Drivers can use more services in their vehicles than ever before. Accordingly, an increasing number of diverse data are being stored in vehicles, with mobile devices connected to both the vehicle and the cloud. Such data include information that can be of significant help to investigators in solving problems during forensic investigations. Therefore, forensics of IVI systems such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are becoming increasingly important. We analyzed various forensic studies conducted on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Most of the research was mainly focused on mobile devices connected through a wired USB connection. The use of wireless-based IVI systems has recently been increasing. However, the analysis of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay from this point of view is insufficient. Therefore, we proposed a forensic methodology that fully considers such limitations. A forensic analysis was conducted on various IVI systems. We also developed an IVI system forensics tool that works based on the proposed methodology. With the development of various vehicle technologies, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems are rapidly changing. Current IVI systems support connectivity with mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, and provide various services to drivers. The structure of such systems is also changing. Previously, vehicles were installed with only manufacturer-based forms of IVI systems, such as Ford Sync. However, in addition to manufacturer-based IVI systems, Google’s Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, first released in 2015 and 2014, respectively, are also being installed by default as of 2021. These systems work in connection with the driver’s mobile devices. When an Android or iOS device is connected to the vehicle, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay provide a function mirroring the mobile device environment to the vehicle. This allows the driver to use apps installed in the mobile device environment on the in-vehicle display. Such IVI systems are installed in vehicles developed by most manufacturers.The vehicle is now connected to the driver’s mobile devices via the IVI system and communicates with an external network. This differs from the existing system, which only communicates various aspects within the vehicle . IVIs suRecently produced vehicles support a wireless connection between the IVI system and a mobile device, in order to provide convenience for the driver. In the case of a wireless communication environment there is a high risk of being exposed to various vulnerabilities. For example, if a vehicle’s wireless communication does not have a secure element such as authentication or encryption applied, an attacker can easily modify a message and it will be difficult for the devices to detect the modification . TherefoForensic research on vehicles has been conducted from two perspectives: a vehicle on-board system, and an IVI system. Forensic research on the on-board system of a vehicle has mainly been focused on an event data recorder (EDR) existing in the form of a module inside the electronic control unit (ECU) ,4,5. MosWe proposed a methodology for conducting IVI forensics. The proposed methodology consists of four analysis areas: wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device, wireless communication between the IVI and mobile device, internal storage of the mobile device, and internal storage of the IVI system. Excluding internal storage of a mobile device, the other three areas of analysis are newly proposed;Eight IVI systems from various vehicle vendors are used as the case studies. As a result of a forensic analysis, various digital forensic artifacts were obtained in each analysis area. The artifacts we acquired can be used as reference materials in digital forensic investigations of IVI systems;We developed a tool to acquire digital forensic artifacts from an IVI system, which operates based on our proposed forensic methodology. The tool was developed using a web-based application and automates the acquisition of digital forensic artifacts in four areas of forensics.As described above, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay systems work in conjunction with the driver’s mobile device. The connected mobile devices communicate with the vehicle using the protocol provided by the manufacturer of each IVI system. When communication outside the vehicle is required, the network of the mobile device is used ,17. The The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Forensic studies on vehicle data have been researched mainly from two perspectives: on-board and IVI systems. Forensic research of on-board systems has been conducted based on data acquired through the On-Board Diagnostic version II (OBD-II) protocol or data acquisition from storage devices such as hard disk drives (HDDs). Forensic research on IVI systems has been focused on data acquisition from a storage device such as the HDD of the IVI system, or mobile devices connected to the IVI system.Previous studies of on-board systems have shown that vehicles store a variety of information, including the driver’s habits, locations, and driving time. Colin et al. noted the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of existing vehicle technologies and the importance of forensic research . According to a study by Sladović et al., the RAM of an on-board system stores information such as the acceleration and speed during vehicle operation, and the last 5 s are stored in the EDR when a vehicle crash occurs. In addition, OBD-II and ECU/EDR connection are methods used to acquire the stored data. Moreover, Bosch’s Crash Data Retrieval or Berla’s iVe tool can be used for acquiring data stored in an on-board system .Mekki et al. noted that data stored in a vehicle play an important role from a forensic perspective. Therefore, they proposed a neural network model for identifying drivers based on data stored in the vehicle. The data used to train the proposed model are also obtained through the OBD-II protocol . Various studies have been conducted using on-board vehicle systems, the results of which can be fully utilized as a basis for vehicle forensics. However, such studies have not considered the use of an IVI system. An IVI system contains as much information as the on-board system. According to Henry, vehicle on-board systems can determine a point of impact, whereas IVI systems can show the longer-term driving habits of the vehicle’s driver. Henry used Berla’s iVe tool to analyze the Human–Machine Interface module of a 2015 Silverado pickup truck. Through this analysis, the author obtained various driver-related data, including a list of devices connected to the IVI system, phone calls, SMS messages, and certain GPS information . In a study by Le-Khac et al., existing vehicle forensic studies were investigated, and case studies were conducted on multimedia devices of Volkswagen and BMW vehicles . In a stIn a study by Cohen, forensics were also conducted on the third generation of SYNC. In this case, artifacts such as Bluetooth connections and driving and location information were acquired from NAND flash and an HDD . In a study by Moos et al., the applicability of commercial forensic tools was analyzed for an HDD acquired from a BMW IVI system . Ebbers et al. described a forensic study of a manufacturer-based legacy IVI app. They connected with the vehicle through a mobile app provided by the manufacturer and collected personal information stored on a smartphone. Experiments were conducted on a total of 10 manufacturers and their vehicles, and various information such as the vehicle identification numbers, driver data, and recent locations were obtained by analyzing Android and iOS devices . Although various studies have been researched on IVI systems, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay systems, which have recently been installed in most newer vehicles, have not been considered.With the popularization of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay among IVI systems, the importance of forensics in this area has grown, and some forensic studies have been presented. In Hickman’s Android Auto forensic study, data stored on a mobile device connected to Android Auto were acquired and analyzed. Using this method, the vehicle connection time, last location information, and Google Assistance records from Android Auto were acquired . In a study by Edwards et al., a general mobile forensic technique was applied to mobile devices linked with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and artifacts such as the usage history and location information were acquired . Following this study, Mahalik researched Android Auto connections through Bluetooth (BT) on an Android device. In addition, she analyzed various partitions in the mobile device to obtain records related to Android Auto and BT connections . In another forensic study by Hickman, data stored on mobile devices connected to Apple CarPlay were acquired and analyzed, through which the vehicle linkage time and the last Siri usage record were acquired . Various studies have been conducted on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Most such studies have applied mobile devices such as a smartphone and tablet. Modern IVI systems are connected to mobile devices, and thus forensics on mobile devices has gained importance. However, research in this area remains insufficient, and when conducting a forensic analysis of these IVI systems, consideration must be given to how they operate. The IVI system communicates with networks outside the vehicle by connecting to a mobile device. For wireless-based IVI systems, communication between each device is more exposed to the outside world. Communication between devices means that each device stores some of the communication data; however, not all communication data are usually stored on each device. Therefore, a forensic analysis of all communications in the IVI system must also be conducted. In addition, an analysis of the internal storage of IVI systems connected with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay remains insufficient.We propose a forensic methodology for IVI systems using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device;Wireless communication between the IVI and mobile device;Internal storage in the mobile device;Internal storage in the IVI system.The above communication also includes personal information. For example, if the driver is using a navigation app, the communication is likely to include the current location or destination of the vehicle. Considering the characteristics of the IVI environment described above, we divided the forensic methodology into four areas of an IVI system are as follows:IVI systems such as Android Auto or Apple CarPlay are connected to the mobile device, and the network availability of the mobile device is essential to remain online. When the vehicle and mobile device are connected, the IVI environment uses the network of the mobile device to communicate with a cloud server outside the vehicle. This communication, i.e., wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device, contains data directly related to the services used by the driver. Although unrelated to the communication between the vehicle and the mobile device, it has been proven that various artifacts can be obtained by analyzing the communication between the device and cloud . Most of this communication is encrypted through the transport layer security (TLS). To analyze this, it is essential to apply a man-in-the-middle (MitM) by installing a certificate on the mobile device . To analIVI systems such as Android Auto or Apple CarPlay are connected to a mobile device to periodically communicate with each other. As mentioned earlier, this communication includes information related to the vehicle or driver. From previous studies of mobile devices connected with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, it is known that various information regarding the use of these IVI systems is stored in the mobile device. However, there is still insufficient research on acquiring and analyzing such information in the communication between two devices. An analysis of this aspect is also important from a forensic perspective because it can help in gathering a variety of information. Wired and wireless methods are used for connecting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay systems to a mobile device, and this area of analysis focuses on the latter. In our experiments, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay use both BT and Wi-Fi for their wireless connections. Therefore, we collected and analyzed BT and Wi-Fi packets from Android and iOS devices. In addition, the packet analysis results using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are compared with the analysis results of the connected legacy system without the application of the above IVI system. For acquisition and analysis on an Android device, Android’s own featured BT Snoop and Wireshark tools are used. For iOS devices, Xcode’s PacketLogger and Wireshark tools are applied.Previous studies have demonstrated that mobile devices connected to IVI systems such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay store various information related to the driver and vehicle. Therefore, we analyzed the newly added artifacts in slightly more detail using the newer versions of the IVI system applications installed on a mobile device. In general, administrator privilege is basically required to obtain data stored in the internal storage of the mobile device . TherefoPrevious studies have demonstrated that the IVI system stores information related to a connected mobile device, the driver, or the vehicle. However, there remains a lack of forensic studies on the internal storage of IVI systems using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. In this analysis area, the internal storage of the IVI system using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is acquired and analyzed. In general, the internal storage of IVI exists in the form of HDD or flash memory on a printed circuit board (PCB). If the internal storage of the IVI system uses an HDD, the data can be acquired by simply removing the drive from the vehicle. However, if the data are stored in flash memory, they must be accessed through an interface such as a Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) or Joint Test Action Group (JTAG). A chip-off may be applied as a final option if access is impossible owing to the security features of the IVI system manufacturer. As tools for data collection and analysis, HxD, DB Browser for SQLite, FTK Imager, and TSK are used for internal storage in the mobile device.This section describes case studies conducted on actual IVI systems based on the proposed forensic methodology. The IVI system used in the case study can be divided into vehicle systems and navigation systems. We selected 8 IVI systems considering this classification, whether they support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and whether they support wireless connectivity. Two of the eight IVI systems are drivable vehicles and head units acquired from vehicles; the other six are navigation systems that can be purchased online. We tried to generate the same experiment data from the case studies of all IVI systems. After connecting the IVI system and the mobile device, we used the contact synchronization, phone calls, SMS messages, and use of the navigation application.The way a mobile device communicates with the cloud server differs depending on the connection method applied between the IVI system and the mobile device. When Android Auto and a mobile device have a wired connection, the mobile device communicates with the cloud server using Wi-Fi or Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and when connected wirelessly with the mobile device, the mobile device communicates with the cloud server using LTE. Regardless of whether Apple CarPlay and the mobile device are wired or wirelessly connected, the mobile device uses LTE to communicate with the cloud server. However, the MitM-based web proxy tool operates based on the Wi-Fi communication and does not support MitM for LTE communication. Therefore, this experiment can only be conducted using Android Auto. We collected and analyzed the Wi-Fi traffic of an Android device communicating with cloud servers. To apply MitM to Android smartphones, we referred to various previous studies ,30,31,32We collected Wi-Fi traffic before the IVI system and the mobile devices were connected, after they were connected, and until the test data were generated. As a result of the analysis, no traffic types related to contact synchronization, SMS messages, or phone calls were identified. However, when the direction function of the navigation application was executed, we obtained traffic communication with the cloud server of the navigation application, as shown in As a result of the analysis of wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device, four artifacts are acquired from the traffic of the navigation app: origin name, destination name, origin coordinate, and destination coordinates. Detailed artifacts are listed in In this experiment, we conducted a collection and analysis of communication packets sent and received by Android Auto or Apple CarPlay with a mobile device. To collect communication packets between the IVI system and a mobile device, an experiment was conducted in a wirelessly connected environment. When Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connect wirelessly with a mobile device, they communicate using both BT and Wi-Fi channels. Therefore, we collected traffic from BT and Wi-Fi channels. A BMW NBT HU EVO, a Pioneer AVH-Z5050BT, and a BMW X5 45e xLine were used in this experiment. BMW NBT HU EVO only supports Apple CarPlay wireless connection and does not support wireless connections to Android Auto. The Pioneer AVH-Z5050BT does not originally support a wireless connection to Apple CarPlay; however, a wireless connection is available using a CPC200-U2W PLUS adapter from CarLinkit Factory protocols. It was also confirmed that some AT commands are used. As the result of a detailed analysis, details such as the BT address, BT name, pairing pin, encryption key, and related information of the vehicle and mobile device were acquired. In addition, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the mobile device were acquired. Artifacts could also be acquired from Wi-Fi communication; however, the analysis was difficult in most cases because the traffic was encrypted.As a result of analyzing the BT traffic of Android Auto, we obtained artifacts and communication specifications similar to those of Apple CarPlay. Android Auto also uses communication protocols over L2CAP channels such as RFCOMM and audio/video distribution transport protocol (AVDTP). Unlike Apple CarPlay, it uniquely uses the object exchange (OBEX) protocol for synchronizing the contacts. As a result of conducting an analysis on the legacy system, various artifacts and communication specifications were obtained. The same protocol is used for BT communication with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. However, more AT commands are used in the legacy system. As a result of the detailed analysis, in addition to the existing artifacts, details of the phone number of the call recipient and the phone number of the caller were also acquired. Forensic research on mobile devices connected to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay has been actively conducted. According to known studies, the mobile device stores the connected vehicle information, IVI system usage history, and location information ,13,14,15BMW NBT HU EVO, BMW X5 45e xLine, Sony XAV-AX5000, and Pioneer AVH-Z5050BT were used in the experiments. When collecting data stored in the internal storage of a mobile device, the data were divided into cases of wired and wireless connections to the IVI system. For the Android Auto app, we used the latest version of Android 10, 7.1.614573 , on a Galaxy S9. For the Apple CarPlay app, the latest version of iOS, 13.3.1 , was used on an iPhone 7.Analysis of data acquired from the internal storage of a mobile device connected with Android Auto confirmed that most of the artifacts acquired in the previous study were obtainable. However, we also discovered new artifacts added in the latest version of Android Auto. The newly added files are carservicedata.db and carservice.xml, which are placed inside the app directory of Android Auto. Among them, carservicedata.db is a file that originally existed in the com.google.android.gms directory, according to a previous study . This inIn addition, there is a file that already exists in the Android Auto package, although its contents have been changed. A new mirroring start time (pref_projected_activation_date) field has been added to the app_state_shared_preferences.xml file. An analysis of the data acquired from the internal storage of mobile devices connected to Apple CarPlay confirmed the results of previous studies. Detailed artifacts are listed in In order to analyze the internal storage of the IVI system to obtain meaningful results from a forensic point of view, sufficient data must be stored in the target IVI system. Therefore, this experiment was conducted on the IVI system in which sufficient data was stored by applying the previous three case studies. We conducted an analysis on six out of the eight IVI systems. Among the IVI systems we tested, a BMW X5 45e xLine was used for testing the wireless connectivity on Android Auto. Therefore, this IVI system was excluded from the experiment. We also excluded the crankshaft installed on the Raspberry Pi 3B device. Each IVI system was disassembled to check for the existence of an HDD, and if one was present, it was separated from the IVI system. We also analyzed the PCB to find a way to acquire data from flash memory. We minimized the damage when chip-off the flash memory from the PCB by referring to previous studies ,43.As a result, internal storage was obtained from a BMW NBT HU EVO and Belsee Best Aftermarket Auto. In the case of the BMW NBT HU EVO, an HDD is used. Belsee Best Aftermarket Auto has a flash memory capable of a chip-off. For other IVI systems, an analysis was conducted by considering UART and JTAG access; however, there were difficulties owing to the security features of the manufacturer. We analyzed the acquired BMW HDD and the Belsee flash memory. We conducted an Android-based forensic analysis on the internal storage acquired from the Belsee IVI system. A forensic analysis of the Ext filesystem was conducted based on our existing studies ,47, and We conducted experiments on four methods for collecting forensic artifacts from the In-Vehicle Infotainment experimental environment and real vehicles. Based on this, we collected various forensic artifacts. Collected artifacts can be correlated to assist in forensic investigations. In actual forensic investigations, Forensic investigators can examine the driver’s smartphone to determine which apps the driver used in Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Based on this, when performing analysis on infotainment internal storage, it is possible to reduce the time required for forensic investigation by determining the main analysis target in advance;Forensic investigators can examine the driver’s smartphone to determine vehicle information related to usage time. Information that can be identified includes when the driver last used Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, and the connected vehicle’s Bluetooth Name and MAC Address. Afterwards, forensic investigators can perform an analysis on infotainment internal storage to obtain a Bluetooth Log. Based on this, the forensic investigator can determine the vehicle’s Bluetooth Name and MAC Address, as well as information about the smartphone connected to the vehicle. It is possible to specify a suspect by combining artifacts collected from these two sources. This can also be done in reverse order;If a planned investigation is carried out on a specific person, sniffing for wireless communication between vehicle and smartphone such as Bluetooth and LTE may be performed. In this case, the Bluetooth Name and MAC address of the vehicle and smartphone can be identified through the wireless communication section packet. In addition, it is possible to obtain the driver’s call record and a unique identification number such as the IMEI of the smartphone. This information can help specify the driver’s smartphone in a post-forensic investigation and provide a non-repudiation. Also, when a forensic investigator performs an analysis on the Smartphone internal storage, only the last connected time can be obtained. However, based on the packet information collected in advance, the forensic investigator can timeline the time information when the smartphone is connected to the Infotainment System.Before discussing methods for performing cross-validation on collected forensic artifacts, these are just a few of the many examples that can be used for forensic investigations. The forensic artifacts collected using the method proposed in this paper can be utilized in a variety of other ways besides the few examples we mention. We have summarized three methods for performing cross-validation on forensic artifacts collected based on the proposed method: We performed case studies for the actual vehicle environment. Most of the forensic studies on IVI systems that have been conducted are indirect forensic artifact collection studies limited to mobile devices. Accordingly, we conducted a forensic analysis of the internal storage of smartphones along with three new forensic analysis sections. As a result, we were able to acquire a variety of artifacts, including those acquired by existing studies. The acquired artifacts are summarized in As a result of the analysis of Wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device, four artifacts related to the origin and destination were derived from the traffic of the navigation app. The derived artifacts are summarized in As a result of our analysis of Wireless communication between the IVI and mobile devices, we obtained over 10 artifacts related to vehicles and smartphones. The acquired artifacts are summarized in As a result of the analysis of Internal storage in the mobile device, five artifacts were derived from Samsung Galaxy S9+ devices, and four artifacts were derived from Apple iPhone 7 devices. We derived only artifacts that are directly related to the use of IVI systems, excluding information stored due to the use of a typical smartphone. The artifacts are summarized in Analysis of the Internal storage in the IVI system revealed four artifacts from Belsee Best Aftermarket Auto. These are summarized in We developed a forensic tool that operates based on the four areas of the proposed forensic methodology. Therefore, our forensic tools provide a total of four functions: First, the analysis of traffic between mobile devices and the cloud is automated. Packets from mobile devices and the cloud are ingested through the Charles Proxy tool. The tool analyzes the collected packets to obtain information such as the origin and destination of the navigation app. Second, it automates the analysis of BT packets between the mobile device and the vehicle. When a BT packet between a mobile device and a vehicle is input into the tool, the tool parses the packet file to obtain the artifacts derived through the analysis. Third, it automates the analysis of the internal storage of the mobile device. Raw images obtained from the internal storage in the mobile device are imported into the tool, and the tool acquires the derived artifacts. In addition, it can organize the acquired artifacts based on the timeline. Fourth, it automates the analysis of the internal storage of the IVI system. In this case, because the analysis was conducted only on Belsee Best Aftermarket Auto devices, it only works on an Android-based IVI. When the tool applies a raw image from the internal storage of the IVI, the tool acquires the derived artifacts. In addition, it can also organize the acquired artifacts based on the timeline. Select analysis target  or BT packet(3));2.1After connecting the smartphone, select the operating system to be analyzed2.2The analytics tool performs the process of collecting data from a specific location on the smartphone’s internal storage2.3Analyze the collected data to derive forensic artifacts and output them as results;Analysis of Smartphone’s Internal Storage3.1After entering the packet file, select the IVI system to be analyzed3.2Parsing and analyzing the contents of the packet file to derive forensic artifacts and output them as results.Analysis of BT packetAlthough forensic studies of the Android Auto and Apple CarPlay IVI systems have been conducted, the operation method of the IVI system was not taken into account in the forensic analysis. For this reason, there are limitations in the field of IVI system forensics that have made it difficult to collect forensic artifacts in some areas of analysis. To overcome these limitations, we proposed a forensic methodology that considers the operation of an IVI system and analyzed several different systems. Our findings show that a forensic analysis of wireless communication in an IVI system is meaningful. In addition, we found important information that is meaningful from a forensic perspective in the storage of a mobile device and the storage of an IVI system. We have overcome the limitations of IVI system forensics to a certain extent by applying the proposed forensic technique.There are certain limitations to our case studies. The analysis of the wireless communication between the cloud and mobile device could only be conducted using Android Auto, because Apple CarPlay applies LTE for communication between the cloud and mobile devices. In the analysis of the wireless communication between the IVI and a mobile device, we compared the analysis results of the legacy system using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The results show that most of the actual usage data for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay were transmitted over the Wi-Fi channel. However, we could not analyze the Wi-Fi channel owing to encryption or the communication standards of the manufacturer. Nevertheless, forensic analysis results show the need for a wireless communication analysis in IVI systems. A detailed analysis of the internal storage in the IVI system could not proceed owing to encryption of the HDD of the BMW NBT HU EVO. Despite the above limitations in our case studies, we obtained sufficiently diverse forensic artifacts in the IVI environment. In particular, newly added artifacts were discovered in the analysis of the internal storage of the mobile device connected with Android Auto. These artifacts can be used as important evidence in conducting a forensic investigation because they contain timestamps that are connected to or disconnected from the vehicle. In addition, we analyzed the internal storage used in the IVI system based on the Android platform. Because the share of Android Automotive OS has been gradually increasing in recent years, the analysis results are also sufficiently meaningful.Forensic studies of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay systems have only been conducted on the internal storage of mobile devices. However, there are also IVI systems that make up the IVI system environment. Therefore, analysis must also be performed on the data stored inside the IVI system, and since the IVI system and the mobile device are connected, the resulting communication section is also subject to analysis. Therefore, we have proposed a forensic methodology and conducted various case studies to address the shortcomings in the field of IVI system forensics research. The analysis results showed that the proposed methodology can solve the above constraint. In addition, the forensic artifacts acquired in each analysis area show that the forensic artifacts obtainable in IVI systems using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are not limited to the internal storage in a mobile device. As such, a digital forensic examination of various elements constituting the IVI system is a useful addition to vehicle forensics. An increasing number of people are using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and more vehicles and manufacturers are sup-porting these systems. The proposed forensic methodology and the acquired artifacts can be applied as an important basis for future vehicle crime investigations.As IVI technology advances, mobile devices and IVI systems are increasingly making use of driver-related information. In the near future, IVI systems will become an important source of evidence in digital forensic investigations, just like today’s smartphones. In our study, although the analysis of various sections constituting the IVI system environment was performed, there are still shortcomings. By performing decompilation analysis on IVI applications with future work, communication structure analysis studies on Wi-Fi communication channels of IVI systems can be performed. This allows you to perform a complete analysis of the communication between the IVI system and your mobile device. In addition, most of the IVI systems used for analysis in our study were chip-off resistant systems. Therefore, it is possible to conduct research on data acquisition methods using hardware debugging interfaces such as UART and JTAG for IVI systems that cannot be chip-off with future work.


Convolutional neural networks in the field of artificial intelligence show great potential in image recognition. It assisted endoscopy to improve the detection rate of early gastric cancer. The 5-year survival rate for advanced gastric cancer is less than 30%, while the 5-year survival rate for early gastric cancer is more than 90%. Therefore, earlier screening for gastric cancer can lead to a better prognosis. However, the detection rate of early gastric cancer in China has been extremely low due to many factors, such as the presence of gastric cancer without obvious symptoms, difficulty identifying lesions by the naked eye, and a lack of experience among endoscopists. The introduction of artificial intelligence can help mitigate these shortcomings and greatly improve the accuracy of screening. According to relevant reports, the sensitivity and accuracy of artificial intelligence trained on deep cirrocumulus neural networks are better than those of endoscopists, and evaluations also take less time, which can greatly reduce the burden on endoscopists. In addition, artificial intelligence can also perform real-time detection and feedback on the inspection process of the endoscopist to standardize the operation of the endoscopist. AI has also shown great potential in training novice endoscopists. With the maturity of AI technology, AI has the ability to improve the detection rate of early gastric cancer in China and reduce the death rate of gastric cancer related diseases in China. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth-most common malignant tumor and the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the world , 2. GastThe diagnosis of EGC is related to the ability of endoscopists to adequately analyze endoscopic images, a skill cultivated through extensive training over a long period . While tWith the rapid development of computer science and technology, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is maturing, allowing it to be used to improve accuracy in a variety of medical situations . The numAmong AI technologies, neural networks, represented by cirrocumulus neural networks, have demonstrated remarkable progress, achieving feats comparable to or even surpassing human beings in the field of image recognition. AI is not affected by subjectivity, fatigue, experience, or other factors. It performs medical image-assisted diagnoses well and has a high focus recognition rate. In addition, its learning ability is continuous and improves with increasing exposure to training data. AI has shown great potential in endoscopy, including in screening for EGC .We analyze current research trends in AI, EGC, and endoscopy by searching relevant topics in the Web of Science core database. The analysis results are presented with citeSpace drawings. In our search concerning endoscopy and EGC, we found 1,664 related articles, and 1,625 were used in the final analysis. In our search concerning endoscopy and AI, we found 392 related articles, and 354 were used in the final analysis. In our search concerning AI and EGC, we found 67 relevant articles, and 58 were used in the final analysis. We then combined these three search terms to perform retrieval again and found 55 relevant articles, and 40 were used in the final analysis. We analyzed the topics related to endoscopy and EGC, obtaining three figures –3. On anWe next analyzed the literature on endoscopy and AI and obtained two similar figures , 5. By cThis review will focus on these three aspects: convolutional neural networks, the dilemmas associated with EGC screening, and the feasibility of applying AI to GC screening.Machine learning and deep learning are considered two sub-technologies of AI . Deep leAn artificial neural network (ANN) is a monitoring model whose model structure is very similar to that of neurons in the human central nervous system , 18. NeuTo meet the need for increased performance, more and more complex neural networks are developed, resulting in the concept of deep learning. Deep learning works by progressively extracting higher-level features from raw input using multi-level structures . A deep At present, the most widely used and effective network is the convolutional neural network (CNN). It has shown great potential in many fields, such as pathological analyses, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging analyses –28. A CNIf AI can be successfully combined with various clinical examinations, it will greatly improve clinical practice. However, at present this is a brand-new field, so further exploration and experimentation are necessary. In recent years, there have been numerous attempts to integrate AI into various medical fields, including endoscopy. The potential utility of this approach in GC screening is discussed below.Early gastric cancer is difficult to detect, as the early symptoms of GC are not obvious, and some patients do not actually show any early symptoms, while elderly people tend to avoid visiting the hospital for regular examinations . PatientAt present, only two nations have government-funded GC screening programs: Japan and South Korea . DespiteHowever, despite the country’s relatively high incidence of GC, China still lacks a countrywide screening program and the only way to identify EGC is through opportunistic screening . A domesEndoscopy is the most effective diagnostic method for gastric cancer and can improve the detection rate of EGC . DespiteSome studies have shown that the sensitivity of GC detection can be increased by training endoscopists to improve their operational skills and ability to identify lesions . In addiBecause of the uneven distribution of population and medical resources in China, the situation of endoscopy in China is more serious than that in some developed countries. The huge workload may result in our missed diagnosis rate being significantly higher than theirs. According to the census results of the number of practitioners of digestive endoscopy conducted in China in 2013, there is a huge gap in the number of endoscopists in China. Moreover, their technical level is not equal, and the doctors in economically developed cities have more medical resources and opportunities for intensive training than those in less developed cities. According to the census data, the number of digestive endoscopy physicians per million people in 20 provinces and cities is lower than the national average of 19. There are now only 30,000 endoscopists in China, despite a demand for endoscopy in the hundreds of millions. Such a big gap has left endoscopists in China with a huge workload, forcing them to reduce the examination time per patient in order to improve efficiency and relieve the pressure of work caused by a labor shortage. Studies have shown that the duration set aside for endoscopy and the rate of disease detection are positively correlated . ShorterIn addition, compared with other developed countries, the development rates of digestive endoscopy diagnoses and treatment technology in China are still quite low, and standardized training of endoscopists has not yet matured, resulting in a disparity of technical skills among endoscopists across the country. Operator factors significantly influence the outcome of endoscopy. Compared to other nations, China’s current condition has rendered the stability and sensitivity of endoscopy unreliable. In general, there are three dilemmas facing GC screening in China: (1) there is still a big gap between the development of digestive endoscopy technology in China and that of foreign countries and a systematic and standardized training system has not been implemented; (2) there is a serious shortage of endoscopists in China that is unable to meet the current demand for endoscopy in China; and (3) the accuracy of endoscopy cannot be guaranteed.Endoscopy screening for EGC is a difficult and time-consuming procedure, but it should not be taken lightly, as each missed diagnosis may cause patients to lose out on the most effective therapy option. Early identification and therapy are still the most effective treatments for GC. Endoscopists must therefore thoroughly examine each patient. However, humans are not machines, and long-term endoscopic operation can impair endoscopists’ discriminating capacity and impact the examination quality. The involvement of nurses can increase the rate of lesion identification and the quality of endoscopy by acting as a second observer during the procedure . As AI tFurthermore, an increasing number of studies have proven that trained CNNs can swiftly identify lesions with an accuracy equivalent to that of endoscopists. A research team from Japan created a model of a CNN-based system using a training model of 13,584 gastroscopic images of GC. The total sensitivity of the model reached 92.2%, and it only took 47 s to examine 2,296 detection images . CNN canThe Japan Cancer Research Foundation conducted a study comparing the speed and accuracy of endoscopic image recognition by artificial intelligence and endoscopists. Researchers trained a CNN-based model with 13,584 endoscopy images to work with 67 endoscopists to identify 2,940 images from 140 instances . The AI A similar experiment was carried out in the Department of Gastroenterology at the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University in China. They used an AI system designed by themselves to validate the results using 200 endoscopic pictures. Its accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for identifying EGC were 92.5, 94, and 91%, respectively, compared to 89.7, 93.9, and 87.3% for experienced endoscopists . The DepDespite the limitations, that experiment and each of the others described above had their own innovations. At the same time, there are many similar retrospective experiments, all of which have verified the utility of AI in lesion identification and demonstrated the great potential of AI in endoscopy. Based on the above findings, we believe that AI can quickly identify lesions with accuracy, greatly reducing the current burden on endoscopists.Furthermore, there are many other aspects to AI that bear highlighting. For example, the AI system developed by the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University was able to divide gastroscopic images into 26 anatomical areas with an accuracy of 65.9%, which was comparable to the rate of 63.8% for experienced endoscopists, and reduced the rate of image sites missing by 15% in a comprehensive randomized controlled trial . In addiA successful case of applying AI to clinical practice was recently reported in the “EndoAngel.” This is an AI quality control auxiliary diagnosis system of digestive endoscopy based on a CNN model that can effectively monitor the blind area on GI imaging, assist in the detection of suspicious lesions in real time, improve the quality of endoscopy and improve the detection rate of GI tumor lesions; in addition, it is also equipped with a scoring training system for upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy. It is a fully functional AI product integrating quality control and auxiliary diagnostic functions. The People’s Hospital of Wuhan University has cooperated with 13 other hospitals to conduct a functional verification study of the EndoAngel for the early diagnosis of GC. The EndoAngel has a 92% diagnostic accuracy in EGC, and its main working mode is shown in The technological skill level of endoscopic physicians is disparate at present, and the operation is not sufficiently standardized, affecting the endoscope quality. The ADM system, based on a CNN and developed by the People’s Hospital of Wuhan University is intended to provide the following statistical quality indicators: colonoscopy time, cecal endoscopy intubation rate (CIR), adequate bowel preparation rate, polyp detection rate (PDR), adenoma detection rate (ADR), gastroscopy time, and gastric precancerous condition (GPC) detection rate. The system may also simultaneously analyze the quality of each endoscope and provide rapid feedback to the operator. Controlled experiments verified that the detection rate of precancerous lesions increased in the endoscopic group with AI feedback (3–7%) as well as in the control group (3.5–3.9%) . These fExtensive endoscopy cannot be performed in China at present. One reason for this is a lack of corresponding equipment in community hospitals, and another is the scarcity of endoscopists, with this latter reason being the main issue. Endoscopists are in short supply in China, being mostly centered in major hospitals; this means that even if rural hospitals have similar technology, no one is available to operate them. The advent of AI appears to be a game-changer. In terms of the sensitivity and accuracy of inspections, the present AI model based on a CNN appears to have the equivalent skill to professional endoscopists . If AI wThus far, retrospective trials of AI screening for early stomach cancer have yielded promising results. The precision and accuracy with which lesions are identified are equivalent to those of endoscopists. If AI were to be employed in the early stomach cancer screening process, it would significantly improve the poor detection rate of EGC in China . FurtherAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the study, and approved it for publication.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Our proposed model includes a plea for the publication of all submitted grant applications; open sharing of review reports, argumentations for funding decisions and project evaluation reports; and the disclosure of reviewers' and decision committee members' identities. In line with previous calls for transparency and the available evidence about these measures' effectiveness, we argue that open applications could lead to more diverse collaboration, recognition of research ideas, fairer procedures for grant allocation, more research on funding practices and increased trust in the funding allocation process.Transparency is increasingly becoming the new norm and modus operandi of the global research enterprise. In this mini-review, we summarize ongoing initiatives to increase transparency in science and funding in particular. Based on this, we make a plea for the next step in funders' compliance with the principles of Open Science, suggesting the adoption of  Conseopen applications. Subsequently, we embed this proposal in the academic literature by summarizing ongoing discussions and efforts with the aim to increase transparency in academic funding. Our proposed next step entails transparency about all grant applications—publishing both funded and unfunded applications—the assessment of their relevance and quality, and the decision and monitoring process. In this review, we take stock of earlier initiatives and discuss the arguments in favour of and against their implementation and extension.In this mini-review, we make a plea for the next step in funders' compliance with the principles of Open Science, suggesting the adoption of . 2A more open system of grant application should address multiple aspects. Firstly, it should encompass open sharing of applications—both funded and unfunded ones—either directly after the submission deadline, after grant decisions were made or at some later stage. Secondly, it should include open sharing of review reports and of the argumentation that led to the funding decision, potentially later followed by monitoring and evaluation reports of funded projects. Thirdly, we suggest the open sharing of reviewers' and decision committee members' identities.While the evidence on the effects of the last aspect, the sharing of identities, is still inconclusive ,7, we arThe second suggestion, open sharing of review reports, decision argumentations, and later monitoring and evaluation reports, will provide opportunities for learning and can ultimately support the development and improvement of future proposals by the same applicant or others. The level of transparency will ideally not only make funding decisions more understandable and more acceptable, but also enable a check whether the procedures specified in the call for applications were followed and the review process was fair. This improved level of transparency will likely increase trustworthiness of the way proposals are handled and of the grant allocation system in general. In addition, a system of open applications will stimulate and enable research on research funding practices, allowing better understanding of, and ultimately improving, this essential step in the process of knowledge production. In order to facilitate sharing and improve the findability of published proposals and related documents, we advocate funders sharing them on public repositories, rather than their own webpages. Several currently existing repositories already have the infrastructure in place to implement this.Obviously, the open sharing of grant applications can also be achieved independent of funders' support as applicants themselves can provide access to their proposals. Some initiatives to facilitate this have recently emerged, including the Open Grants platform . Neverth. 3Of course, some obvious objections can be, and have been , raised However, we would actually argue the opposite. If applications are published even if they are not funded, this provides a time stamp to the work, settling potential priority conflicts and providing ‘proof' of being first. In addition, having non-funded proposals out in the open increases opportunities for collaboration and usage of project ideas by others or in other contexts—with or without the initiator being involved—thereby adding value to the work put in the grant application. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) argues similarly in their rationale for publishing grant applications in the Open Science Fund . If non-communism and universalism—i.e. any efforts made by science should come to the benefit of the community and only the content of knowledge claims matters, not the one who made them [In addition, we argue that, from a normative perspective, the fear of being ‘scooped' is not a valid reason not to engage in sharing funding applications. Based on the combination of the Mertonian norms of ade them —one shouA second set of commonly voiced objections are those addressing the open sharing of reviewer and decision committee member identities, review reports, and argumentations leading to funding decisions, which could lead reviewers and committee members to being less critical out of fear of repercussions. Especially, junior reviewers may worry about the consequences of being critical about grant applications by influential senior colleagues . While t. 4Our plea for more openness in research funding processes is not new. In 2015, Mietchen  that demet al. [Since these publications, some progress has been made, but given the time span of nearly a decade, one could easily argue that it has been minimal. Our informal survey of the websites of all funders not publishing abstracts of successful applications by the time of data collection by Gurwitz et al.   out of the total of 167 that were evaluated . A similWe understand that funders might be reluctant to change their procedures without clear evidence of the benefits or solid understanding of the implications. Hence, we encourage them to pilot some of the proposed changes described above and evaluate the findings. Needless to say, all such experimentation should be done in the utmost transparent way to allow different organizations to optimally learn from each others' efforts. Such experimentation could study different degrees of openness, exploring in more detail their practical implications, pros and cons of different options of timings, degrees of release of reports, inclusion of author or reviewer identities, or other aspects outlined above. These experiments could evaluate stakeholder experiences, gain insights into potential unintended consequences, and assess levels of uptake and reuse of openly shared material. In addition, it could map collaborative networks and evaluate the extent to which open applications indeed lead to increased or more diverse collaboration.. 5In summary, we believe that research funders' central position in the research ecosystem provides them with unique opportunities to optimize knowledge production. The responsibility for the relevance, quality, transparency and trustworthiness of research rests on the shoulders of researchers, research institutes, scholarly journals and research funders alike, with none of them having absolute power . Especia


Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing (KJWHN) received notice from the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) on April 13, 2021, that the journal will be included in the Scopus database.I am delighted to announce that the This recognition from Scopus builds on the dedication and tireless work of prior editors-in-chief and editorial board members and signals the continuous work needed for KJWHN to continue its growth while striving for international connectivity.Journal of Korean Women's Health Nursing Academic Society, publishing eight articles in the first issue. Till June 2012 the journal has been published under the current title. Throughout the past 25 years, KJWHN has been “The” scholarly platform for sharing among Korean nurses in maternal and women’s health for nurses in clinical practice, nurse researchers, and students alike. KJWHN was an early pioneer among Korean nursing journals in terms of offering open access since 2008 and being included in CINAHL in 2009, as well as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) in 2013.The journal was launched in March 1995 under its previous title, the The following timeline illustrates our path of seeking and achieving Scopus status, which may help other journals: In 2013, the first application to Scopus was submitted. A few months later, the editorial office received notice of rejection with the following comments: “Citedness is below expectations. There is no international diversity among authors. Some part of reference listing is inconsistent with the author instructions.”Acting on these comments, the editorial board was expanded and editors’ efforts to advertise the journal and encourage international authors resulted in a manuscript submission from Turkey, which was eventually published.In August 2015, the second application was submitted, and another letter was received in November 2016, citing the following rejection reasons: “Some part of reference listing is inconsistent with the author instructions. There is no international diversity among editors and low citation activity on editorial board level.”Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing version 3 [https://submit.kjwhn.org). Our new English-based website continues to support full open access (https://kjwhn.org), in addition to translations powered by Google in 80 languages and metrics information. Information on funding sources was made available from 2020.In response, the editorial board worked over the past 4 years to overcome the shortcomings before reapplying in January 2021. It adopted an internal system to screen for inconsistencies with author instructions, including the reference list and conducted regular training of editorial board members. Furthermore, since 2020, KJWHN has invited a professional manuscript editor to ensure consistency with author instructions. Regarding the second limitation, the editorial board and international advisory board were restructured and expanded. While KJWHN had six international advisory board members from three countries in 2016, this was expanded to nine international members from five countries across three continents as of January 2021. These international members are active professionals in their field, and are contributing to the journal via peer-review as well as writing invited papers for the journal. Finally, for citation activity, editorial board members’ academic activity was made available on our website via Scopus Author ID and ORCID links. In addition to addressing the specific comments, editors have worked diligently to improve the journal according to international standards. The journal went through three rounds of revising author guidelines for clarity since 2020, created a statement on After implementing these changes, in January 2021, the third application to Scopus was submitted. The acceptance letter from CSAB, received on April 13, 2021, included the following comments: “The previous and current editorial teams are to be commended on the development which has led to extended citations in international research journals. Many papers have been cited. The development of the ethical standards throughout is very clear and in keeping with both COPE and Scopus guidance. The use of the COPE et al.’s 2018 Principles of Transparency guidance was especially of value and demonstrates an ongoing attention to publishing practice and ethical content of the journal.”While I am delighted the journal is now accepted into the Scopus database, I realize this is a timely opportunity and significant time of reflection for KJWHN to consider how to potentiate its value for authors and reach a wider international readership in the coming future. In this line, I want to add a few notes on how the journal seeks to further improve itself over the next few months.Citations are a constant challenge for all journals. While the adage for academia is ‘publish or perish,’ for journals this seems to have become what I shall term ‘be cited to survive and thrive.’ The total cites in the Scopus database have increased annually as follows: 71 in 2017, 96 in 2018, 123 in 2019, and 125 in 2020. The majority of citations, however, are from Korean journals in Scopus, both nursing and others . Also, mhttps://dataverse.harvard.edu) for authors who wish to share data for transparency and replicability. Also, ascribing to internationally accepted reporting guidelines, e.g., those suggested by the Equator network (https://www.equator-network.org/), is being applied. In addition to these updates to the author guidelines, the following will be applied from the 2021 September issue: Manuscript types for submission have been expanded and requirements for each type have been clarified  and more recently, Child Health Nursing Research, a domestic nursing journal. In the case of APS, since switching to English-only manuscripts in 2012, publication metrics improved and it was accepted for the Scopus database in 2013 and included in the Web of Science Core Collection in 2016 [Readers may notice that the majority of articles are in English in this issue. Some Korean journals have chosen to switch to publishing fully in English, such as the  in 2016 , and the in 2016 , perhaps in 2016 ,8, as a Nevertheless, an analysis of natural science journals from several countries publishing in English or other languages, reported that English publications had a higher number of citations than those published in other languages, even when controlling for the effect of the journal, year of publication, and paper length . It is wThe success of our efforts will largely depend on a solid number of submissions. I invite authors to submit their work, especially systematic review and meta-analysis papers, experimental design studies, exploratory qualitative research, and methodology manuscripts. For descriptive and correlational research design manuscripts, I encourage authors to include a description of the theoretical or conceptual framework used to ground their quantitative research, which has been emphasized as good practice .The present achievements of KJWHN have been possible through the support and cooperation of society members and readers worldwide. I truly appreciate all of them for their contribution. To promote the journal to an internationally top-ranking one, the continuous attention of nursing scholars in Korea and worldwide are essential. The journal will continue to promote maternal and women’s health nursing by following international publishing standards and thoroughly editing and publishing manuscripts.