bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Service Delivering, Improving Quality of Life, Preserving Independence through Assistive Technology
Authors: Annicchiarico Roberta
Published: February 2025

In nowadays aging society, many people require assistance for activity of daily living. In most cases technologies have the potential to improve the quality of life for the older and disabled. We show how the use of a robotic platform with some embedded intelligence, the i-Walker, can help to improve the performance of the post-stroke individuals' rehabilitation.
An ontological Approach to manage and harmonize Document Types
Authors: Oemig Frank  , Blobel Bernd
Published: February 2025

Working interoperability when consuming resources of different document types requires a harmonized understanding of their structures and contents. But sometimes, a specification has not made the underlying model explicit which would enable a coherent understanding. This paper analyses the commonly used structures of different document types and proposes an ontological structure resulting in the so-called Document Type Ontology (DTO). This solution is based on the Generic Component Model (GCM) as an architectural framework and the Communication Standards Ontology (CSO) and Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) presented earlier.
The Future of Biomedical Informatics: A Perspective from Academia
Authors: Shortliffe Edward H.
Published: February 2025

Academic biomedical informatics has achieved great successes through research contributions over several decades, now reflected in a thriving commercial marketplace for electronic health records and other informatics tools. That very success, coupled with changes in the ability of governments to support research at past levels, is forcing a reconsideration of the directions and emphases for faculty members in informatics academic units. This paper discusses those forces and proposes areas of emphasis that will strengthen the academic discipline as it evolves in the years ahead. The focus is on the role of academic informaticians as practitioners of informatics, as researchers, and as educators.
Challenges of the e-Health Curricular Education in Bio-Medical Engineering and in Medicine
Authors: Pinciroli Francesco  , Bonacina Stefano  , Marceglia Sara  , Ferrante Simona  , Mazzola Luca
Published: February 2025

Curricular recommendations coming from highly respectable associations are highly useful. Nevertheless, they show fatigue in keeping the pace of any fast evolution, as in the ICT happens. So we do the attempt to disclose the emerging challenges affecting e-Health curricular education.
Data Definition Ontology for clinical data integration and querying
Authors: Assélé Kama Ariane  , Primadhanty Audi  , Choquet Rémy  , Teodoro Douglas  , Enders Frank  , Duclos Catherine  , Jaulent Marie-Christine
Published: February 2025

This paper describes an approach to build a Data Definition Ontology (DDO) in the context of full domain ontology integration with datasets in order to share and query clinical heterogeneous data repositories. We have adapted an existing semantic web tool (D2RQ) to implement a process that automatically generates the DDO from a database information model, thanks to reverse engineering and schema mapping approaches. This study has been performed in the context of the DebugIT European project (Detecting and Eliminating Bacteria UsinG Information Technology) that aims to control and monitor the bacterial growth via a semantic interoperability platform (IP). The evaluation of the process is based, first, on the accuracy of the produced DDO for different samples of database storage and second, by checking the congruency between the DDO and the D2RQ database mapping file.
Empower the patients with a dialogue-based web application
Authors: Bjørnes Charlotte D.  , Cummings Elizabeth  , Nøhr Christian
Published: February 2025

Based on a clinical intervention study this paper adds to the significance of users involvement in design processes and substantiate the potential of online, flexible health informatics tools as useful components to accommodate organizational changes that short stay treatment demands. A dialogue-based web application was designed and implemented to accommodate patients' information and communication needs in short stay hospital settings. To ensure the system meet the patients' needs, both patients and healthcare professionals were involved in the design process by applying various participatory methods. Contextualization of the new application was also central in all phases to ensure a focus not only on the technology itself, but also the way it is used and in which relations and contexts. In evaluation of the tool, the patients' descriptions as user substantiate that the use of Internet applications can expand the time for dialogue between the individual patient and healthcare professionals. The patients experience being partners in an on going dialogue, and thereby are empowered, e.g. in managing their care even at home, as these dialogues generate individualized information.
OpenEHR-Based Representation of Guideline Compliance Data through the Example of Stroke Clinical Practice Guidelines
Authors: Anani Nadim  , Chen Rong  , Prazeres Moreira Tiago  , Koch Sabine
Published: February 2025

In light of the lack of integration between electronic health records and decision support, this research explores how semantic electronic health record technology, particularly openEHR, can be used to represent clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). We used the tool Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) to build a graphical representation of the European ischaemic stroke clinical management guidelines. We used openEHR archetypes to conceptually support this process and also to represent clinical concepts in stroke treatment compliance criteria. Our results show that, as an intermediate step in authoring computer-interpretable guidelines, an openEHR-based representation of CPGs and their compliance criteria supports the process of identifying the relevant knowledge and data elements in the care process to be modelled. It further eases the separation of the CPGs into data and logic components and is useful as a communication means for guideline verification by clinicians. Additionally, we retrieved existing and authored new openEHR archetypes for the acute stroke clinical management process. We conclude that openEHR-based guideline and compliance data representations may be a promising first step in building future decision support applications that are well connected to the electronic health record, can be useful in locating discrepancies between different sets of guidelines within the same care context and provide a helpful tool for driving the archetype authoring and review process.
Establishing End-to-End Security in a Nationwide Network for Telecooperation
Authors: Staemmler Martin  , Walz Michael  , Weisser Gerald  , Engelmann Uwe  , Weininger Robert  , Ernstberger Antonio  , Sturm Johannes
Published: February 2025

Telecooperation is used to support care for trauma patients by facilitating a mutual exchange of treatment and image data in use-cases such as emergency consultation, second-opinion, transfer, rehabilitation and out-patient aftertreatment. To comply with data protection legislation a two-factor authentication using ownership and knowledge has been implemented to assure personalized access rights. End-to-end security is achieved by symmetric encryption in combination with external trusted services which provide the symmetric key solely at runtime. Telecooperation partners may be chosen at departmental level but only individuals of that department, as a result of checking the organizational assignments maintained by LDAP services, are granted access. Data protection officers of a federal state have accepted the data protection means. The telecooperation platform is in routine operation and designed to serve for up to 800 trauma centers in Germany, organized in more than 50 trauma networks.
A Statistics-based Approach of Contextualization for Adverse Drug Events Detection and Prevention
Authors: Chazard Emmanuel  , Bernonville Stéphanie  , Ficheur Grégoire  , Beuscart Régis
Published: February 2025

Several papers propose to take contexts into account for adverse drug events (ADE) detection and prevention, notably to decrease over-alerting of clinical decision support systems (CDSS). However, no statistical argument has been published till now. This works demonstrates, based on statistical analysis, that contextualization is necessary for ADE detection and prevention by 3 steps. A database of 115,447 inpatients stays from 6 hospitals, and 236 ADE detection rules are used. Step 1: the patients differ significantly between and within hospitals, regarding their medical background, their medication and several outcomes. Step 2: The estimated ADE rates vary between and within hospitals. Step 3: even when comparable conditions are present, the probability of ADE occurrence may differ between and within hospitals. Those 3 steps demonstrate that contextualization is necessary, and pave the way for a statistics-based method to contextualize ADE prevention (CDSS) and ADE detection tools.
Identifying Types and Causes of Errors in Mortality data in a Clinical Registry using Multiple Information Systems
Authors: Koetsier Antonie  , Peek Niels  , De Keizer Nicolette
Published: February 2025

Errors may occur in the registration of in-hospital mortality, making it less reliable as a quality indicator. We assessed the types of errors made in in-hospital mortality registration in the clinical quality registry National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) by comparing its mortality data to data from a national insurance claims database. Subsequently, we performed site visits at eleven Intensive Care Units (ICUs) to investigate the number, types and causes of errors made in in-hospital mortality registration. A total of 255 errors were found in the NICE registry. Two different types of software malfunction accounted for almost 80% of the errors. The remaining 20% were five types of manual transcription errors and human failures to record outcome data. Clinical registries should be aware of the possible existence of errors in recorded outcome data and understand their causes. In order to prevent errors, we recommend to thoroughly verify the software that is used in the registration process.
Leveraging Social Media for Preventive Care–A Gamification System and Insights
Authors: Lin Raymund J.  , Zhu Xinxin
Published: February 2025

Patient compliance is an important factor in improving health outcomes. However, due to deferred benefits of treatment or lifestyle recommendations, patients often fail to comply with their medication, therapy or simply exercise or diet advice given by care providers until their health conditions deteriorate. As poor adherence remains a significant yet inadequately addressed health issue, it is critical to create effective interventions as part of the solutions. Previous studies indicate that peer supporting and social gaming can be useful for improving compliance. To understand how different motivation factors affect user behavior through social media, a healthcare compliance website with built-in behavior analyses was constructed to conduct experiments. Users' health compliance levels can be reported to the website and shared among consenting social members for discussion or competition. The theoretic models for behavior analyses include Maslow's hierarchy of needs and psychological game theory. The preliminary analysis showed that people using social media for healthcare compliance may be motivated differently and act strategically during their social interactions.
Tracking Changes in Search Behaviour at a Health Web Site
Authors: Eklund Ann-Marie
Published: February 2025

Nowadays, the internet is used as a means to provide the public with official information on many different topics, including health related matters and care providers. In this work we have studied a search log from the official Swedish health web site 1177.se for patterns of search behaviour over time. To improve the analysis, we mapped the queries to UMLS semantic types and MeSH categories. Our analysis shows that, as expected, diseases and health care activities are the ones of most interest, but also a clear increased interest in geographical locations in the setting of health care providers. We also note a change over time in which kinds of diseases are of interest. Finally, we conclude that this type of analysis may be useful in studies of what health related topics matter to the public, but also for design and follow-up of public information campaigns.
Trustworthiness and Relevance in Web-based Clinical Question Answering
Authors: Cruchet Sarah  , Boyer Célia  , van der Plas Lonneke
Published: February 2025

Question answering systems try to give precise answers to a user's question posed in natural language. It is of utmost importance that the answers returned are relevant to the user's question. For clinical QA, the trustworthiness of answers is another important issue. Limiting the document collection to certified websites helps to improve the trustworthiness of answers. On the other hand, limited document collections are known to harm the relevancy of answers. We show, however, in a comparative evaluation, that promoting trustworthiness has no negative effect on the relevance of the retrieved answers in our clinical QA system. On the contrary, the answers found are in general more relevant.
How Should We Define eHealth, and Does the Definition Matter?
Authors: Showell Chris  , Nøhr Christian
Published: February 2025

There is no useful definition for eHealth; we would like to find one. This study will provide a contribution to clarify the discussion on eHealth as a concept to enhance the understanding of the range of meanings which have been ascribed to the term ehealth.
Design of an original interface that facilitates the use of clinical practice guidelines of infection by physicians in primary care
Authors: Tsopra Rosy  , Lamy Jean-Baptiste  , Venot Alain  , Duclos Catherine
Published: February 2025

Increasing physician adherence to the clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for infections should improve antibiotic prescription practices. The aim of this study was to present the decision elements of these CPG in an original interface to be implemented in the website “Antibiocarte”. We manually analyzed all CPG available for ambulatory treatment of infections. We extracted all terms related to the antibiotic therapy decisions and grouped them into decision or action variables. We then modeled the antibiotic therapy decision process and designed an interface according to ergonomic principles. The interface consists of five fixed parts: a decision table, two information zones, a zone with the reasons for hospitalization, and a zone with situations not concerned by the CPG. All CPG could be implemented according to this model. The usability of the new interface was evaluated by ten general practitioners using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and found to be satisfactory and appropriate for clinical use.
Analyzing Primary Care Data to Characterize Inappropriate Emergency Room Use
Authors: St-Maurice Justin  , Kuo M.H.
Published: February 2025

Primary care data represents the complete biopsychosocial profile of the patient and has recently become available for secondary analysis in Ontario. This study involved extracting de-identified primary care data and analyzing it with natural language processing to extract UMLS codes. These codes were used to statistically relate inappropriate emergency room use to biopsychosocial concepts with logistic regression. The concepts of pain and mental health were statistically significant. This technique demonstrates a creative use of primary care data. It could be used to analyze system use in other health care settings.
A Multi-sensor Switching Scheme with Tolerance to Delay and Packet Loss
Authors: Stanković Nikola  , Olaru Sorin  , Niculescu Silviu-Iulian
Published: February 2025

The present work deals with the reference tracking problem for processes with linear dynamics and multi-sensor information which is subjected to delays or communication packets missing. It is shown that fault tolerance can be achieved through the separation between the invariant sets characterizing the closed-loop system with the communication channels with or without defect. For this purpose, a reference governor scheme is designed using a receding horizon technique in order to provide fault detection and isolation (FDI)-compliant reference signals to practically guarantee the sufficient detection conditions in real time.
Effective Extraction Method of Loss Aversion Utterances based on the Expected Utility
Authors: Suzuki Nobuo  , Fujita Yoshikatsu  , Tsuda Kazuhiko
Published: February 2025

Many studies of the human behavior understanding are forwarding by using sensors and huge data on the Internet in recent years. On the other hand, the research of the behavioral modification is also preceded continuously. These make users to change their behavior and realize better society which is represented by prohibition of smoking and a route guidance of a car navigation system. This research aims to construct the model of the behavioral modification by the information technology. This paper examines the technique of extracting the knowledge about the behavioral modification from the question-answering sites on the Internet in which user’s problems and opinions often appear. Specifically, the extraction of the utterances expressing the loss aversion is carried out from a series of question-answering text sentences. The loss aversion means that men strongly tendency to select to avoid a loss rather than get a profit. Therefore, it is possible to build a system which presents users a series of actions of maximizing a profit by investigating what kind of loss aversion actions men perform. This paper shows examples of the loss aversion utterances in question-answering text sentences and tries to classify loss aversion utterances on the basis of the expected utility index that is computed only from the text sentences.
Auditory-Visual Integration of Emotional Signals in a Virtual Environment for Cynophobia
Authors: Taffou Marine  , Chapoulie Emmanuelle  , David Adrien  , Guerchouche Rachid  , Drettakis George  , Viaud-Delmon Isabelle
Published: February 2025

Cynophobia (dog phobia) has both visual and auditory relevant components. In order to investigate the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) exposure-based treatment for cynophobia, we studied the efficiency of auditory-visual environments in generating presence and emotion. We conducted an evaluation test with healthy participants sensitive to cynophobia in order to assess the capacity of auditory-visual virtual environments (VE) to generate fear reactions. Our application involves both high fidelity visual stimulation displayed in an immersive space and 3D sound. This specificity enables us to present and spatially manipulate fearful stimuli in the auditory modality, the visual modality and both.
Virtual Reality in the Treatment of Body Image Disturbances after Bariatric Surgery: A Clinical Case
Authors: Riva Giuseppe  , Cárdenas-López Georgina  , Duran Ximena  , Torres-Villalobos Gonzalo M.  , Gaggioli Andrea
Published: February 2025

Bariatric surgery is an operation on the stomach and/or intestines that helps patients with extreme obesity to lose weight. Even if bariatric surgery, compared with traditional obesity treatment, is more effective in reducing BMI, this approach does not achieve equal results in every patient. More, following bariatric surgery common problems are body image dissatisfaction and body disparagement: there is a significant difference between the weight loss clinicians consider successful (50% of excess weight) and the weight loss potential patients expect to achieve (at least 67% of the excess weight). The paper discusses the possible role of virtual reality (VR) in addressing this problem within an integrated treatment approach. More, the clinical case of a female bariatric patient who experienced body dissatisfaction even after a 30% body weight loss and a 62% excess body weight loss, is presented and discussed.
Adapting Computerized Treatments Into Traditional Psychotherapy For Depression
Authors: Overholser James
Published: February 2025

Recent developments in technology have helped to improve the process of psychotherapy. Unfortunately, many therapists lack the computer skills or financial resources needed for the newest technology. Nonetheless, even basic advances in technology may help to improve the treatment of depression.
Innovative ICT Solutions to Improve Treatment Outcomes for Depression: The ICT4Depression Project
Authors: Warmerdam Lisanne  , Riper Heleen  , Klein Michel  , van den Ven Pepijn  , Rocha Artur  , Ricardo Henriques Mario  , Tousset Eric  , Silva Hugo  , Andersson Gerhard  , Cuijpers Pim
Published: February 2025

Depression is expected to be the disorder with the highest disease burden in high-income countries by the year 2030. ICT4Depression (ICT4D) is a European FP7 project, which aims to contribute to the alleviation of this burden by making use of depression treatment and ICT innovations. In this project we developed an ICT-based system for use in primary care that aims to improve access as well as actual care delivery for depressed adults. Innovative technologies within the ICT4D system include 1) flexible self-help treatments for depression, 2) automatic assessment of the patient using mobile phone and web-based communication 3) wearable biomedical sensor devices for monitoring activities and electrophysiological indicators, 4) computational methods for reasoning about the state of a patient and the risk of relapse (reasoning engine) and 5) a flexible system architecture for monitoring and supporting people using continuous observations and feedback via mobile phone and the web. The general objective of the ICT4D project is to test the feasibility and acceptability of the ICT4D system within a pilot study in the Netherlands and in Sweden during 2012 and 2013.
Promotion of Emotional Wellbeing in Oncology Inpatients Using VR
Authors: Espinoza Macarena  , Baños Rosa M.  , García-Palacios Azucena  , Cervera José M.  , Esquerdo Gaspar  , Barrajón Enrique  , Botella Cristina
Published: February 2025

Introduction. In Psycho-oncology, VR has been utilized mainly to manage pain and distress associated to medical procedures and chemotherapy, with very few applications aimed at promotion of wellbeing in hospitalized patients. Considering this, it was implemented a psychological intervention that uses VR to induce positive emotions on adult oncology inpatients with the purpose of evaluating its utility to improve emotional wellbeing in this population.
Personality Estimation Application for Social Media
Authors: Minamikawa Atsunori  , Fujita Hamido  , Hakura Jun  , Kurematsu Masaki
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we propose a personality estimation application for Twitter client in smartphone. This application enables user to know the personality of other Twitter accounts. In this application personality estimation is performed by the text classification method from tweet data. In the demonstration experiment with 44 subjects, our proposed application proves its effectiveness especially for the users in their 20s or Twitter experienced users in entertainment use. Both subjective and objective evaluations show that the personality information in social media makes some contribution to build a new connection and to stimulate the social media use.
Optimization of a Condition Based Maintenance based on costs and safety in a production line
Authors: Gallo Mosè  , Montella Daniela Rita  , Santillo Liberatina Carmela  , Silenzi Emidio
Published: February 2025

The aim of this study is to compare, in terms of cost and safety, two of the most important maintenance policies: Incidental Maintenance and Condition Based Maintenance. This has been accomplished through a simulation based approach. An optimization process has also been carried out in order to choose the optimal maintenance policy. A scenario analysis for the model's key parameters has been carried out finding significant results for several production contexts.
Argument Analysis with Factor Annotation Tool
Authors: Kubosawa Shumpei  , Lu Youwei  , Okada Shogo  , Nitta Katsumi
Published: February 2025

This paper introduces an argumentation support tool based on Toulmin Diagram. It consists of a factor-tagging editor, a semantics calculation module based on Argumentation Framework and an automated factor extractor. When we input an argumentation record, this system generates a tagged argumentation record and a set of arguments that belong to credulous or skeptical extensions. The automated factor extractor supports to extract factors from an argumentation record by using a machine learning method.
An argumentation model of evidential reasoning with variable degrees of justification
Authors: Liang QingYin  , Wei Bin
Published: February 2025

This paper presents a gradual argumentation model of evidential reasoning, which is based on a revised semantic of John L. Pollock's critical link semantics. This model is proposed as a new argument graph, which consists of two kinds of links, incorporated in the ASPIC+framework with variable degrees of justification. This model aims to provide a revised computation of justification in argument graphs and to generate a new formalization of standards of proof. This model is thus given as a gradual semantic beyond Dungean semantics, which offers a system for regarding arguments as justified to variable degrees in evidential reasoning.
Selection of parameters and modelling: General report
Authors: Toll D.G.
Published: February 2025

This General Report reviews the topic of Selection of Parameters, Modelling and Unsaturated Hard Soils – Weak Rocks based on the papers submitted to the 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Athens, Greece. The papers provide a useful snapshot of the current state-of-the-art. The international geotechnical community is making good progress in addressing parameter selection, from in situ testing, laboratory testing and microscopy, but there is still much work to be done before we can provide robust parameter sets. Numerical model development is progressing well and cemented soil/rock models in particular show real promise in capturing the behaviour of structured soils. While unsaturated behaviour of hard soils – soft rocks is now starting to be considered, it is still not the commonplace and needs to be recognised more widely.
Interaction of soil reinforcement as key issue for ground reinforcement
Authors: Ziegler M.
Published: February 2025

Earthworks can be reinforced for various purposes and in various ways. Apart from reinforcing substratum layers, soil reinforcement is mainly used in stabilising steep embankments with classic reinforced earth, soil nailing and above all reinforcing with geosynthetic materials. We know very well that steep embankment structures are much more stable than determined by calculations and always display lower deformations than expected. This is due to the special bonding behaviour of the soil and reinforcing element, which is very different to that of reinforced concrete, for example, on account of the different rigidity relation-ships. But up to now there have been no generally accepted calculation methods to show the special bonding behaviour of the soil and reinforcing element in more detail. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the load-bearing characteristics of reinforced bodies of soil. It shows that tensile forces introduced into the reinforcing elements by the soil lead to deformation constraints in the body of soil, which transform the very differing stress state under load into a more isotropic stress state. This is accompanied by a significant increase in strength and simultaneously a lower deformation. In large scale biaxial tests with geogrids inserted into the soil, this effect, which up to no now has only been known in terms of quality, can now be impressively visualised too using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method.
Information Accountability and Usability: Are There Any Connections?
Authors: Sahama Tony  , Kushniruk Andre  , Kuwata Shigeki
Published: February 2025

Availability of health information is rapidly increasing and the expansion and proliferation of health information is inevitable. The Electronic Healthcare Record, Electronic Medical Record and Personal Health Record are at the core of this trend and are required for appropriate and practicable exchange and sharing of health information. However, it is becoming increasingly recognized that it is essential to preserve patient privacy and information security when utilising sensitive information for clinical, management and administrative processes. Furthermore, the usability of emerging healthcare applications is also becoming a growing concern. This paper proposes a novel approach for integrating consideration of information accountability with a perspective from usability engineering that can be applied when developing healthcare information technology applications. A social networking user case in the healthcare information exchange will be presented in the context of our approach.
Issues and Considerations for Healthcare Consumers Using Mobile Applications
Authors: Cummings Elizabeth  , Borycki Elizabeth Marie  , Roehrer Erin
Published: February 2025

There is a large and ever increasing number of mobile phone health, wellness, and medical applications on the market. However, there is little guidance or quality assurance available for consumers. This paper provides a health consumer focused framework for considering a range of issues associated with selecting and using mobile phone applications downloaded from the Internet.
A User-centred Methodology for Designing an Online Social Network to Motivate Health Behaviour Change
Authors: Kamal Noreen  , Fels Sidney
Published: February 2025

Positive health behaviour is critical to preventing illness and managing chronic conditions. A user-centred methodology was employed to design an online social network to motivate health behaviour change. The methodology was augmented by utilizing the Appeal, Belonging, Commitment (ABC) Framework, which is based on theoretical models for health behaviour change and use of online social networks. The user-centred methodology included four phases: 1) initial user inquiry on health behaviour and use of online social networks; 2) interview feedback on paper prototypes; 2) laboratory study on medium fidelity prototype; and 4) a field study on the high fidelity prototype. The points of inquiry through these phases were based on the ABC Framework. This yielded an online social network system that linked to external third party databases to deploy to users via an interactive website.
Taming Mental–Health-Focused Popular Literature: A Crazy Idea?
Authors: Zozus Jr. Robert T.  , Bricker Audrey  , Lunblad Rob  , Elias Dennis  , Nahm Meredith
Published: February 2025

Providing tailored and easily accessible health information for mental health clinicians and patients can be enabled through Information Technology and Communications (ITC). The literature is mixed regarding the quality, utility and accessibility of health information in the popular press for this purpose. However, there is consensus that mental health information in the popular press is readily available, easily comprehended by patients, and is continually updated. We report the process by which mental–health-focused articles in the popular press are identified, screened, and disseminated to a large network of doctoral level psychologists (the PsyUSA network). We analyze 4-year article distribution and access data, and conclude that the distribution of mental–health-related popular press articles prompted article access. We leverage this experience to formulate a model for direct access to clinician-vetted mental–health-related popular press through a curated web based archive.
Considerations for Personal Health Record Procurement
Authors: Monkman Helen  , Kushniruk Andre
Published: February 2025

Patients with chronic illnesses require tools and resources to facilitate self-management. Personal Health Records (PHRs) are a promising option for delivering these tools and resources to patients with chronic illnesses. As such, many organizations are becoming interested in PHR procurement. However, traditional procurement methods may not ensure the system success and adoption. In this study a group of subject matter experts discussed the possibility of converting a paper-based PHR into an electronic tool. These discussions resulted in generation of several important criteria for assessing commercially available PHR solutions and other considerations related to PHR procurement. These considerations should be contemplated and discussed with stakeholders prior to PHR procurement. In order to realize the benefits PHRs, it is imperative that the appropriate selection is made. Prior to purchase commitment, a trial period can prove extremely useful for performing usability analyses and ensuring interoperability. Supplementing traditional procurement methods with these preliminary user evaluations will increase the likelihood that the selected system best matches the needs of users and purchasers. Moreover, the risk of system failure and the risk of limited adoption of the PHR by the public will be reduced as a result of adopting these methods.
Developing National Level Informatics Competencies for Undergraduate Nurses: Methodological Approaches from Australia and Canada
Authors: Borycki Elizabeth M.  , Foster Joanne  , Sahama Tony  , Frisch Noreen  , Kushniruk Andre W.
Published: February 2025

Health information systems are being implemented in countries by governments and regional health authorities in an effort to modernize healthcare. With these changes, there has emerged a demand by healthcare organizations for nurses graduating from college and university programs to have acquired nursing informatics competencies that would allow them to work in clinical practice settings (e.g. hospitals, clinics, home care etc). In this paper we examine the methods employed by two different countries in developing national level nursing informatics competencies expected of undergraduate nurses prior to graduation (i.e. Australia, Canada). This work contributes to the literature by describing the science and methods of nursing informatics competency development at a national level.
Application of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework in Integrating an Educational EMR into Health Informatics Education
Authors: Bassi Jesdeep  , Kushniruk Andre W.  , Borycki Elizabeth M.
Published: February 2025

The discipline of health informatics is highly immersed in information technology, specifically health information systems. Students graduating from Bachelor degree programs in health informatics are expected to be familiar with a variety of systems upon entering the workforce. The adoption of systems like electronic medical records is on the rise across Canada, therefore it would be highly beneficial for students to have exposure to such systems in their coursework. While some individual instructors have done this to some extent on an ad hoc basis, formal strategies for EMR integration do not exist. A prominent framework for technology integration in learning that has been applied in many scientific disciplines is the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) framework. This paper describes how TPCK was used and applied as the guiding conceptual framework for exploring the integration of an educational EMR into undergraduate health informatics education.
Designing the Community Multi-user Health Kiosk
Authors: McMillan Julie M.  , Courtney Karen L.  , Matthews Judith T.  , Smailagic Asim  , Siewiorek Daniel
Published: February 2025

This paper discusses the design and development of a multi-user health kiosk intended for independent use by underserved populations. The modular integration of physiological sensors and psycho-social assessments provides an extensible, customizable platform for research. We present the development of the kiosk's feature set and user interaction mechanisms through iterative user testing, in addition to some technical challenges and solutions resulting from our design choices.
The Use of Rotational Optical Encoders for Dial Sensing in the VirtualTranslumenal Endoscopic Surgical Trainer (VTEST
Authors: Dargar Saurabh  , Sankaranarayanan Ganesh  , De Suvranu
Published: February 2025

Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a minimally invasive procedure, known for its scar-less nature and short post operative recovery periods. A critical skill necessary for a NOTES procedure is the surgeon's ability to navigate and gain visualization of the target organ, which is done by moving the endoscope tip using the dials on the handle. We have developed an accurate and high resolution optical encoder based system to measure that dial manipulations, as part of a larger project to develop a VR-NOTES surgical simulator.
Kinect-Based Posture Tracking for Correcting Positions during Exercise
Authors: Guerrero Cesar  , Uribe-Quevedo Alvaro
Published: February 2025

The Kinect sensor has opened the path for developing numerous applications in several different areas. Medical and health applications are benefiting from the Kinect as it allows non-invasive body motion capture that can be used in motor rehabilitation and phobia treatment. A major advantage of the Kinect is that allows developing solutions that can be used at home or even the office thus, expanding the user freedom for interacting with complementary solutions to its physical activities without requiring any traveling. This paper present a Kinect-based posture tracking software for assisting the user in successfully match postures required in some exercises for strengthen body muscles. Unlike several videogames available, this tool offers a user interface for customizing posture parameters, so it can be enhanced by healthcare professionals or by their guidance through the user.
Deformation-based Augmented Reality for Hepatic Surgery
Authors: Haouchine Nazim  , Dequidt Jérémie  , Berger Marie-Odile  , Cotin Stéphane
Published: February 2025

In this paper we introduce a method for augmenting the laparoscopic view during hepatic tumor resection. Using augmented reality techniques, vessels, tumors and cutting planes computed from pre-operative data can be overlaid onto the laparoscopic video. Compared to current techniques, which are limited to a rigid registration of the pre-operative liver anatomy with the intra-operative image, we propose a real-time, physics-based, non-rigid registration. The main strength of our approach is that the deformable model can also be used to regularize the data extracted from the computer vision algorithms. We show preliminary results on a video sequence which clearly hilights the interest of using physics-based model for elastic registration.
Toward Modeling of Radio-frequency Ablation Lesions for Image-guided Left Atrial Fibrillation Therapy: Model Formulation and Preliminary Evaluation
Authors: Linte Cristian A.  , Camp Jon J.  , Holmes III David R.  , Rettmann Maryam E.  , Packer Douglas L.  , Robb Richard A.
Published: February 2025

In the context of image-guided left atrial fibrillation therapy, relatively very little work has been done to consider the changes that occur in the tissue during ablation in order to monitor therapy delivery. Here we describe a technique to predict the lesion progression and monitor the radio-frequency energy delivery via a thermal ablation model that uses heat transfer principles to estimate the tissue temperature distribution and resulting lesion. A preliminary evaluation of the model was conducted in ex vivo skeletal beef muscle tissue while emulating a clinically relevant tissue ablation protocol. The predicted temperature distribution within the tissue was assessed against that measured directly using fiberoptic temperature probes and showed agreement within 5°C between the model-predicted and experimentally measured tissue temperatures at prescribed locations. We believe this technique is capable of providing reasonably accurate representations of the tissue response to radio-frequency energy delivery.
Surgical Navigation with a Head-Mounted Tracking System and Display
Authors: Sadda Praneeth  , Azimi Ehsan  , Jallo George  , Doswell Jayfus  , Kazanzides Peter
Published: February 2025

We present the design of a self-contained head-mounted surgical navigation system, which consists of an optical tracking system and an optical see-through head-mounted display (HMD). While the current prototype is bulky, we envision a more compact solution via the eventual integration of the tracking camera(s) into the HMD goggles. Rather than attempting to accurately overlay preoperative models onto the field of view, we adopted a simpler approach of displaying a small “picture-in-picture” virtual view in the HMD. We believe this approach will provide suitable assistance for some image-guided procedures, such as tumor resection, while improving the ergonomics by reducing the need for the surgeon to look away from the patient to view an external monitor. We report the results of initial experiments performed with this system, while preparing for a more clinically realistic study.
Wave analysis of Airy beams and Airy Pulsed Beams
Authors: Kaganovsky Yan  , Heyman Ehud
Published: February 2025

The Airy beam (AiB) has attracted a lot of attention recently because of its intriguing features. We have previously provided a cogent physical explanation for these properties by showing that the AiB is, in fact, a caustic of rays that radiate from the tail of the Airy function aperture distribution. We have also introduced a class of ultra wide band (UWB) Airy pulsed beams (AiPB), where a key step has been the use of a proper frequency scaling of the initial aperture field that ensures that all the frequency components propagate along the same curved trajectory so that the wavepacket of the AiPB does not disperse. An exact closed form solution for the AiPB has been derived using the spectral theory of transients (STT) which is an extension of the well know Cagniard–de Hoop (CdH) method. In this paper we discuss the properties of the AiB and AiPB, and use the present problem to discuss the relation between the CdH method and the STT.
Diagnostic Decision Support of Heart Rate Turbulence in Sleep Apnea Syndrome
Authors: D'Addio Giovanni  , De Felice Alberto  , Balzano Giovanni  , Zotti Rita  , Iannotti Pellegrino  , Bifulco Paolo  , Cesarelli Mario
Published: February 2025

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is characterized by repeated upper-airway obstruction during sleep. It is diagnosed by polysomnographic studies, scoring OSAS severity by an apneas/hypopneas index associated to worse prognosis, mainly for an increased cardiovascular morbidity. Cardiac autonomic impairments involved in the development of cardiovascular disease in OSAS can be assessed by heart rate turbulence (HRT) analysis and aim of the paper is to show the increased medical decision support by HRT evaluation in OSAS patients. HRT has been assessed in 274 polysomnographic recordings of mild-to-severe OSAS patients and an overall cardiorespiratory risk scoring (CRRIS) index has been proposed on the base of both OSAS severity and HRT assessment. Results showed that, while the only polysomnografic analysis would have equally ranked OSAS patients within their mild-to-severe classification, CRRIS index allows to identify a 19% of severe-OSAS patients at very high risk of sudden cardiac death, a 13% of moderate-OSAS patients with a risk level comparable to those of severe, and a 17% of mild-OSAS patients with evidence of an autonomic impairment. CRRIS index, detecting patients at greater probability of worsening could give to the physician a very useful medical decision support in the follow up of this particular chronic disease.
Utilization of Ontology Look-Up Services in Information Retrieval for Biomedical Literature
Authors: Vishnyakova Dina  , Pasche Emilie  , Lovis Christian  , Ruch Patrick
Published: February 2025

With the vast amount of biomedical data we face the necessity to improve information retrieval processes in biomedical domain. The use of biomedical ontologies facilitated the combination of various data sources (e.g. scientific literature, clinical data repository) by increasing the quality of information retrieval and reducing the maintenance efforts. In this context, we developed Ontology Look-up services (OLS), based on NEWT and MeSH vocabularies. Our services were involved in some information retrieval tasks such as gene/disease normalization. The implementation of OLS services significantly accelerated the extraction of particular biomedical facts by structuring and enriching the data context. The results of precision in normalization tasks were boosted on about 20%.
Advanced engineering design as practiced today from the view point of the CERN Industrial Liaison Officer
Authors: Barone M. (Michele)
Published: February 2025

After an introduction about CERN, a brief description of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) it is reviewed. Pros and cons of a few advanced engineering design cases are taken in consideration together with the involvement of the European Industry. The conclusion is that the LHC project has been an important driving force for Innovation in European Industry.
Mathematical Model of Hit Phenomena as a theory for collective motion of human mind in societies
Authors: Ishii Akira  , Furuta Kouichi  , Oka Tomoaki  , Koguchi Hidehiko  , Uchiyama Koki
Published: February 2025

A mathematical model for the hit phenomenon in entertainment within a society is presented as a stochastic process of interactions of human dynamics. The model uses only the time distribution of advertisement budget as an input, and word-of-mouth (WOM) represented by posts on social network systems is used as data to compare with the calculated results. The unit of time is a day. The calculations for the Japanese motion picture market based on to the mathematical model agree very well with the actual residue distribution in time. The model is applied also to weekly TV drama and electronic consumer goods market.
An evaluation of clinician's view on electronic pathology reporting sign off and patient safety
Authors: Yee Kwang Chien
Published: February 2025

Pathology services form an important part of modern medical care. Clinicians often request for pathology services and utilise the results to make a diagnosis and to derive a management plan for patients. The rapid availability and acknowledgement of pathology results are essential for safe patient care. This paper describes the evaluation of clinician's view on electronic pathology sign off system. The research found that clinicians were willing to use electronic pathology sign off system. The utilisation of online demonstration as the educational tool was adequate for clinicians to feel comfortable using the system. The electronic pathology sign off system, however, created significant workflow challenges. This was mainly due to clinician's trust and reliant of the healthcare system to follow up pathology results. Electronic pathology sign off system has the potential to ensure better personal responsibility and accountability towards utilisation of pathology service. This could lead to safer patient care.