bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using a Computing Ontology in Curriculum Development
Authors: Cassel Lillian
Published: February 2025

The computing disciplines have a long history of curriculum recommendations developed and disseminated by the education committees of relevant societies. The process has become unmanageable as the disciplines become more diverse and the field expands. Recent work on an ontology of all computing offers a possibility of a new approach to curriculum development, both at the society level and for individual departments, by providing a comprehensive and objective view of the entire discipline. This chapter presents the motivation for an ontology-driven curriculum process and a preliminary plan for its use.
Knowledge and Information Modeling
Authors: Madsen Maria
Published: February 2025

This chapter gives an educational overview of:
Puzzling radiators – functionality enhancement by means of shared aperture antennas
Authors: Lager Ioan E.  , Simeoni Massimiliano  , Coman Cristian I.  , Trampuz Christian  , Ligthart Leo P.  , van Genderen Piet
Published: February 2025

The present account reports on the shared aperture antenna concept as an instrument aimed at enhancing the functionality of antenna systems. Non-uniform array antennas implementing, in a concurrent manner, different functionalities are deployed on a common physical area. This concept is adopted to assemble multi-frequency, multi-channel and multi-polarization antenna systems. These applications are illustrated by physical implementations. The advantages introduced by the advocated approach and the challenges that it poses are discussed.
Field measurements and preliminary assessment of pipe jacking forces
Authors: Staheli K.  , Frost J.D.
Published: February 2025

Jacking forces are of concern on microtunneling projects to ensure that pipe installation is completed without damage to the pipeline, failure of the shaft, or limitation of the tunnel drive length. Extensive field measurements have revealed a relationship showing that interface friction between the jacking pipe and the soil are directly related to the jacking force required to propel the microtunneling machine and pipeline. Jacking force measurements are evaluated in sections of the tunnel where no lubrication is applied to the outside of the pipeline and in subsequent sections where lubrication is introduced. Results of the evaluation for lubricated and non-lubricated segments are presented.
Linking global interface response to microscale particle-interface behavior
Authors: DeJong Jason T.  , Westgate Zachary J.
Published: February 2025

Traditional investigation of soil-structure interfaces has been limited to global measurements of force and displacement. As a result, interpretation of soil behavior at the particle scale has focused primarily on global response and the assessment of local soil behavior in terms of strain has not been possible. This paper presents a series of monotonic and cyclic tests carried out using a modified direct interface shear device that enables digital imaging of soil behavior within the test specimen throughout shear. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is implemented to analyze the image sequence and quantify the development of volumetric and shear strains within the interface shear zone. Results indicate that initial void ratio and confinement conditions (normal stress and normal stiffness) influence the development of interface shear zone characteristics. Although PIV analysis compared well with global displacement measurements, complex interfacial soil behavior cannot be fully characterized solely with global measurements. The implications of the lack of local response characterization inherent in global measurements are illustrated in a critical state soil mechanics framework modified for soil-structure interfaces.
Preliminary Performance Assessment of Space-based Observations of Hot-spot Events using Microbolometers
Authors: Rahnama Peyman  , Marchese Linda  , Chateauneuf François  , Hackett John  , Lynham Tim  , Wooster Martin
Published: February 2025

Space-based observations of hot-spot events have numerous direct benefits to life on Earth. Such observations would enhance the health and safety of human beings and would protect quality of the natural environment. Hot-spot data can be used for fire detection and fire monitoring, volcanic monitoring, land cover change monitoring as well as studies related to biomass burning, carbon emissions and climate change. This paper discusses a technology development study undertaken by COM DEV Ltd., under a contract by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), related to the space-based observation of hot-spot events using an imager employing CSA/INO's microbolometer technology. The main objective of the study was to demonstrate the concept feasibility of hot-spot observations using microbolometers. This paper presents a conceptual instrument design, instrument design optimizations, trade-off studies and sample performance analysis results. This paper discusses a preliminary performance assessment of space-based observations of hot-spot events using the COM DEV/INO's multi-channel imager. The suitability of microbolometer detector technology for forest fire observations is discussed. Some future plans and the usefulness of the instrument concept and the performance model for future hotspot observation missions are discussed.
Requirements for CO2 Neutral Buildings and Cities from MicroClimate to the Façade
Authors: Schuler Matthias
Published: February 2025

The Future Envelope is not conceivable without a direct and strong contribution to the climate concept of the entire building and the building environment. Climate design is one of the younger disciplines that relate to façade construction. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Matthias Schuler is professor at Harvard, Graduated School of Design, Dep. of Architecture, and principle of his company Transsolar, has been involved in this subject matter for over 15 years. His projects are astonishing examples of how the performance of facades can be tailored to the requirements for energy consumption and comfort. If façade design is the micro level, urban planning is macro. In this paper Matthias Schuler explains why a successful sustainable build environment will have to start here.
Corrugated Glass as Improvement to the Structural Resistance of Glass
Authors: Nijsse Rob
Published: February 2025

Prof. Ir. Rob Nijsse is a structural engineer and a pioneer in the field of load-bearing glass structures. His paper shows the latest developments in glass and plastics, and the role of these materials as transparent building materials for architecture.
CROFT – Climate Related Optimized Façade Technologies
Authors: Bilow Marcel
Published: February 2025

Potentially, the first design phases have the biggest influence on the performance of buildings. Fundamental decisions are made during this stage because it is more difficult to introduce new ideas at a later stage of the process. Often, the Central European architectural style is exported to various other climate zones. The result are façades that counteract traditional climate concepts. In the scope of his PhD work Dipl.-Ing. Marcel Bilow develops a tool that explains the relationship between climate zone, façade layout and the technical building concept specifically for the design process.
Mechanics of Materials
Authors: Sharma Prashant K.
Published: February 2025

Mechanics of materials is the science of forces applied on a body and response of the body in terms of deformation. Different type of loadings on bodies with different geometries or made of different material give rise to different deformations. Last but not the least, this science allows to predict the failure of a body under certain loading condition hence makes it possible to optimize the design for that particular condition.
Scaffolds & Surfaces
Authors: Partap Sonia  , Lyons Frank  , O'Brien Fergal J.
Published: February 2025

As the field of regenerative medicine progresses, one of the key challenges is to try to mimic the structure and role of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) more accurately in synthetic substitutes. In particular, the field of biomaterials has played a crucial role in the development of tissue engineered products. Scaffold design is central in the field of biomaterials, and involves investigating and controlling important characteristics such as biocompatibility, degradability, pore architecture and mechanical properties. Undoubtedly, we will move closer towards reducing the number of patients awaiting donor tissues, as more advanced biomaterials continue to be developed in this field. This chapter discusses scaffold requirements for tissue engineering applications and the current state of the art with a specific focus on collagen-based scaffolds.
Patient safety
Authors: Carayon Pascale  , Wood Kenneth E.
Published: February 2025

Patient safety is a global challenge that requires knowledge and skills in multiple areas, including human factors and systems engineering. In this chapter, numerous conceptual approaches and methods for analyzing, preventing and mitigating medical errors are described. Given the complexity of healthcare work systems and processes, we emphasize the need for increasing partnerships between the health sciences and human factors and systems engineering to improve patient safety. Those partnerships will be able to develop and implement the system redesigns that are necessary to improve healthcare work systems and processes for patient safety.
Barriers to change in engineering the system of health care delivery
Authors: Saxton Jonathan F.  , Johns Michael M.E.
Published: February 2025

Significant reform of the health care system sufficient to achieve universal coverage, a value-driven system and administrative simplification faces enormous barriers at the level of our societal ecosystem – barriers as large as any that can be faced in public policy. These barriers exist within the health system itself as a complex adaptive system, and are structured by our economic, legal, cultural and political systems. Because there are so many barriers, significant reform is a relatively rare occurrence. Yet it does happen and there are some important examples of major health care reforms.
Virtual Infrastructures in Future Internet
Authors: Campanella Mauro  , Maglaris Vasilis  , Potts Martin
Published: February 2025

Virtualization in both computer systems and network elements is becoming increasingly part of the Internet. Apart from posing new challenges, virtualization enables new functionalities, and hints at a future Internet architecture, which contains a physical, but polymorphic, substrate on which various parallel infrastructures can be created on demand. This article explores such a new “architecture of virtual infrastructures”. The FEDERICA project and the recent evolution trends in the National Research and Education networks are taken as examples of this new type of network infrastructure, which is an evolution of the classic network.
Arrival Trajectory Optimization concerning Noise Impact on Perimeters of Airports
Authors: Yu H.  , Mulder J.A.
Published: February 2025

The CleanEra project is initialed by the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. Significant reduction of noise impact on communities around airports is considered as one of the major targets of the project. In this paper, an optimization study is carried out in order to find global optimal trajectories for arriving passenger aircraft, in which the number of awakenings is selected as the objective function. Interval-related optimization algorithms are developed to solve such a highly nonlinear dynamic optimization problem. What differs from conventional optimization algorithms is that intervals rather than real numbers are evaluated in the entire course of optimization. Interval analysis is introduced as the core of such optimization algorithms and a flowchart is presented to show how the algorithms operate when solving practical optimization problems. A noise model, a population distribution model and a sleep disturbance model are connected to demonstrate the feasibility of the developed optimization tool for the considered airspace and aircraft. The result of an example shows that the tool is able to reduce the number of awakenings compared with that from a three-degree decelerating approach.
Knowledge-Based Engineering Review: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues
Authors: Verhagen Wim J.C.  , Curran Richard
Published: February 2025

Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) is a developing research field that studies technologies for capture and re-use product and process engineering knowledge to reduce time and cost of product development. KBE has held great promise since its inception, but evolution in the technologies and notions underlying KBE as well as significant challenges towards adoption have so far precluded its main-stream use. The main objective of this paper is to identify the conceptual foundations of KBE and focus on research issues within KBE, pointing out the challenges and pitfalls that currently prohibit a wider adoption of KBE while suggesting possible solutions and avenues for further research. In particular, the case-based ad hoc development of KBE and the ‘black-box’ nature of many KBE applications, subsequent difficulties with knowledge re-use, and insufficient quantification of the benefits of KBE are significant challenges towards a wider adoption of KBE. Methodological and technological advances address some of these issues, and propositions are made to further both qualitative and quantitative analysis and evaluation of KBE applications.
The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition on Excessive Searching Bias: A Case of Finding Romantic Partners Online
Authors: Chiou Wen-Bin  , Yang Mu-Li
Published: February 2025

Using online-dating websites to expand social networks and form close relationships is popular for people in information technology era. Wu and Chiou (2009) demonstrated that more options triggered excessive searching, leading to poorer decision-making and reduced selectivity. They proposed that the more-means-worse effect refers to more searching leads to worse choices by reducing users' cognitive resources, distracting them with irrelevant information and reducing their ability to screen out inferior options. A 2 by 2 experimental study was conducted to investigate the moderating effect of individual differences in need for cognition (NFC) and number of available options on excessive searching and decision quality. A total of 120 undergraduates with experiences of online romantic relationships participated in the experiment. After participants were administrated their need for cognition, they were assigned to review either a small or a large number of options to search for their most desirable romantic partners via a popular online-dating website in Taiwan. Results indicated that high-NFC participants showed more excessive searching than did low-NFC participants. Moreover, the more-means-worse effect was more salient for high-NFC participants than high-NFC participants. The findings suggest that users with high NFC may be more vulnerable to the negative effect of excessive searching.
Indoor Orientation and Mobility for Learners Who are Blind
Authors: Sáenz Mauricio  , Sánchez Jaime
Published: February 2025

This study consisted of designing a mobile technology to identify the position and orientation of people who are blind in closed environments, such as a school, building or home, identifying the necessary infrastructure based on criteria of usability, reliability and accessibility, in order for PocketPC device interface developers to be able to define the technology to be used at an early stage. The technology consisted of using PocketPC devices with a data collecting application and another for the representation of space. We evaluated its usability, accessibility, reliability, efficiency, and availability. The results of the usability evaluation assured us that the interface designed and developed is usable for users who are blind, which is reaffirmed through the accessibility evaluation. The reliability, efficiency and availability evaluations of the system show that a user who is blind can use the system confidently, because it provides correct information for more independent navigation.
Accessible Virtual Reality Therapy Using Portable Media Devices
Authors: Bruck Susan  , Watters Paul A.
Published: February 2025

Simulated immersive environments displayed on large screens are a valuable therapeutic asset in the treatment of a range of psychological disorders. Permanent environments are expensive to build and maintain, require specialized clinician training and technical support and often have limited accessibility for clients. Ideally, virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) could be accessible to the broader community if we could use inexpensive hardware with specifically designed software. This study tested whether watching a handheld non-immersive media device causes nausea and other cybersickness responses. Using a repeated measure design we found that nausea, general discomfort, eyestrain, blurred vision and an increase in salivation significantly increased in response to handheld non-immersive media device exposure.
Harmonizing the Semantics of Technical Terms by the Generic Component Model
Authors: Oemig Frank  , Blobel Bernd
Published: February 2025

Working interoperability not only requires harmonized system's architectures, but also the same interpretation of technical specifications in order to guide the development process. This paper analyzes the commonly used terms to introduce different kinds of coded concepts by an alignment with the Generic Component Model (GCM).
Café seminars in a bottom-up organizational development project at a Danish Radiology Department
Authors: Niss Karsten Ulrik
Published: February 2025

The radiology department at a Danish regional university hospital implemented integrated RIS/PACS. In the process, it became clear that some aspects of the changes had been ignored and that the impact on the organization would be substantial. With that in mind this study was planned, and an interdisciplinary working group was appointed and tasked with implementing activities to improve the organizational environment and atmosphere in the department. One activity aimed at formulating a vision/activity plan by using café seminars to involve all employees. The plan for implementation included 35 activities to support the realization of the vision. Bottom-up organizational development does work – provided that responsibility for the process is delegated.
Gait in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Kinematics, electromyographic and energy cost analysis
Authors: Mahaudens P.  , Mousny M.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) can affect spine mobility and gait mechanisms. Nowadays little is known about the effects of scoliosis on gait. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of untreated scoliosis on gait. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four females (13 healthy girls and 41 AIS with thoracolumbar/lumbar curve) were assessed by gait analysis. Xrays allowed classifying AIS patients into three groups, depending on the scoliosis severity. Gait analysis included synchronous bilateral kinematic and electromyographic (EMG) measurements, assessment of external (Wext), internal (Wint), total mechanical work (Wtot), oxygen consumption (V& O2), energy cost (C) and muscular efficiency (Wtot/C). Results: Shoulder, pelvis and hip motions were significantly reduced in all AIS patients. The reduced motion correlated with decreased Wtot. V& O2 and C were increased by 30 %. Muscle efficiency was decreased by 29 %. Increased C correlated with prolonged timing activity of lumbo-pelvic muscles (LPMTA). Discussion: Reduction of Wtot can be explained by decrease of external work. Increase of V& O2 and energy cost could be due to bilateral increase of LPMTA. Conclusion: Similar gait alterations were observed in all AIS patients, whatever the severity of the scoliosis. The observed alterations may be considered as the manifestation of an underlying neuromuscular disease or as a consequence of the stiffening effect of scoliosis. The observed “careful walking” strategy could also be a compensatory mechanism to minimize energy expenditure.
The Role of Transcription Factor Pitx1 in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
Authors: Survanan Lakshmi  , Karam Nancy  , Picard Cynthia  , Wang DaShen  , Taheri Maryam  , St-Jacques Benoit  , Moreau Alain
Published: February 2025

Introduction: AIS is characterized by severe spinal deformity with an unknown cause. Studies in Pitx1+/- mice reveal a similar phenotype, which prompted us to study the role of Pitx1 and its regulation in AIS. Hypoxia down-regulates Pitx1 expression in certain cell types, which lead us to investigate its role in the regulation of Pitx1 in AIS.
Abnormal Expression of Runx2, RANKL and Osteoprotegerin in Osteoblasts from Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
Authors: Sun Chao  , Yin Gang  , Yeung Hiu-yan  , Tang Nelson L.S.  , Cheng Jack C.Y.  , Qiu Yong
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Generalized osteopenia has been well reported in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Runx2 is an important transcription factor in regulating osteoblast differentiation and maturation. It was also known that osteoblasts synthesized receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) are key factors in regulating osteoclasts activity. Abnormal expressions of Runx2, RANKL and OPG have been reported in bone mesenchymal stem cells from AIS. Significant higher serum RANKL/OPG ratio was also reported in AIS.
Promoter Polymorphism of Neurotrophin 3 is Associated with Curve Progression of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Case-control Study in a Chinese Han Population
Authors: Mao Sai-hu  , Qian Bang-ping  , Liu Zhen  , Jiang Jun  , Ma Wei-wei  , Zhao Qing-hua  , Tang Nelson L.S.  , Cheng Jack C.Y.  , Qiu Yong
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Scoliosis was found to develop in mice with neurotrophin 3 (NTF3) deficiency. Increased expression of NTF3 mRNA was detected in the paravertebral muscle in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Moreover, linkage study has defined a novel AIS locus on chromosome 12p and NTF3 gene located in this interval.
Quantitative Estimation of Bone Morphology from the Multi-Scale Analysis of Computed Tomography Images
Authors: Levasseur A.  , Touzin M.  , Simard P.  , Gloaguen E.  , Ploeg H.-L.  , Petit Y.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Patient-specific evaluation of bone mechanical properties usually relies on the apparent density using clinical Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT). However, evidence has been reported that bone microarchitecture has an important effect on its mechanical properties.
Does Intraoperative Electromyography Monitoring Result in Lower Misplacement Rates in Pediatric Spinal Deformity Surgery?
Authors: Vitale Michael G.  , Jameel Omar F.  , Roye Benjamin D.  , Matsumoto Hiroko  , Gomez Jaime A.  , Poon Selina C.  , Hyman Joshua E.  , Roye David P.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Electromyography (EMG) monitoring has been used to assess pedicle screw misplacement, its ability to reduce misplacement rates has been not well documented in pediatric spinal deformity surgery.
A Meta-analysis of the Clinical Effectiveness of School Scoliosis Screening
Authors: Fong Daniel Y. T.  , Lee C. F.  , Cheung Kenneth M. C.  , Cheng Jack C. Y.  , Ng Bobby K. W.  , Lam T. P.  , Mak K. H.  , Yip Paul S. F.  , Luk Keith D. K.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: The use of school scoliosis screening is controversial, and its clinical effectiveness has been diversely reported.
Using Graphics Processors to Accelerate Protein Docking Calculations
Authors: Ritchie David W.  , Venkatraman Vishwesh  , Mavridis Lazaros
Published: February 2025

Protein docking is the computationally intensive task of calculating the three-dimensional structure of a protein complex starting from the individual structures of the constituent proteins. In order to make the calculation tractable, most docking algorithms begin by assuming that the structures to be docked are rigid. This article describes some recent developments we have made to adapt our FFT-based “Hex” rigid-body docking algorithm to exploit the computational power of modern graphics processors (GPUs). The Hex algorithm is very efficient on conventional central processor units (CPUs), yet significant further speed-ups have been obtained by using GPUs. Thus, FFT-based docking calculations which formerly took many hours to complete using CPUs may now be carried out in a matter of seconds using GPUs. The Hex docking program and access to a server version of Hex on a GPU-based compute cluster are both available for public use.
Parallel High-Performance Grid Computing: Capabilities and Opportunities of a Novel Demanding Service and Business Class Allowing Highest Resource Efficiency
Authors: Kepper Nick  , Ettig Ramona  , Dickmann Frank  , Stehr Rene  , Grosveld Frank G.  , Wedemann Gero  , Knoch Tobias A.
Published: February 2025

Especially in the life-science and the health-care sectors the huge IT requirements are imminent due to the large and complex systems to be analysed and simulated. Grid infrastructures play here a rapidly increasing role for research, diagnostics, and treatment, since they provide the necessary large-scale resources efficiently. Whereas grids were first used for huge number crunching of trivially parallelizable problems, increasingly parallel high-performance computing is required. Here, we show for the prime example of molecular dynamic simulations how the presence of large grid clusters including very fast network interconnects within grid infrastructures allows now parallel high-performance grid computing efficiently and thus combines the benefits of dedicated super-computing centres and grid infrastructures. The demands for this service class are the highest since the user group has very heterogeneous requirements: i) two to many thousands of CPUs, ii) different memory architectures, iii) huge storage capabilities, and iv) fast communication via network interconnects, are all needed in different combinations and must be considered in a highly dedicated manner to reach highest performance efficiency. Beyond, advanced and dedicated i) interaction with users, ii) the management of jobs, iii) accounting, and iv) billing, not only combines classic with parallel high-performance grid usage, but more importantly is also able to increase the efficiency of IT resource providers. Consequently, the mere “yes-we-can” becomes a huge opportunity like e.g. the life-science and health-care sectors as well as grid infrastructures by reaching higher level of resource efficiency.
On Transferring the Grid Technology to the Biomedical Community
Authors: Mohammed Yassene  , Sax Ulrich  , Dickmann Frank  , Lippert Joerg  , Solodenko Juri  , von Voigt Gabriele  , Smith Matthew  , Rienhoff Otto
Published: February 2025

Natural scientists such as physicists pioneered the sharing of computing resources, which resulted in the Grid. The inter domain transfer process of this technology has been an intuitive process. Some difficulties facing the life science community can be understood using the Bozeman's “Effectiveness Model of Technology Transfer”. Bozeman's and classical technology transfer approaches deal with technologies that have achieved certain stability. Grid and Cloud solutions are technologies that are still in flux. We illustrate how Grid computing creates new difficulties for the technology transfer process that are not considered in Bozeman's model. We show why the success of health Grids should be measured by the qualified scientific human capital and opportunities created, and not primarily by the market impact. With two examples we show how the Grid technology transfer theory corresponds to the reality. We conclude with recommendations that can help improve the adoption of Grid solutions into the biomedical community. These results give a more concise explanation of the difficulties most life science IT projects are facing in the late funding periods, and show some leveraging steps which can help to overcome the “vale of tears”.
Effective Section Calculating of Aluminium Plate Assembly under uniform Compression considering Interactive Local Buckling
Authors: Qilin Zhang  , Hailin Tang  , Yage Wu
Published: February 2025

In this paper, elastic interactive local buckling formulas of box section and channel section are established according to classic differential equation of plate stability. Formulas calculating restraint coefficient of adjacent plate parts are also derived. Based on the effective thickness method adopted by current code of various countries treating stiffened plate and non-stiffened plate, the restraint coefficient is then introduced to account for the restraining action exerted by adjacent plate element and its effect on the bearing capacity of cross section. Finally, non-linear finite element analyses are employed to predict the ultimate strengths of box section and channel section under uniform compression, and the results are compared with the approximate approach developed in this paper. It is found that the plate assembly effect does exist when local buckling takes place, and the results given by the approach in this paper are inclined to be safe in most cases.
Laser Welding and Hybrid Welding of Aluminium Alloys
Authors: Katayama Seiji  , Kawahito Yousuke  , Mizutani Masami
Published: February 2025

Laser welding of aluminium alloys was performed with high power YAG, fiber or disk laser. Interaction between laser and plume, laser absorption, welding phenomena and weldability were investigated by using such lasers. The absorption of a focused fiber laser in aluminum alloy was found to be higher at high powers and low welding speeds than that in stainless steel.
Process-Aware EHR BPM Systems: Two Prototypes and a Conceptual Framework
Authors: Webster Charles  , Copenhaver Mark
Published: February 2025

Systematic methods to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of electronic health record-mediated processes will be key to EHRs playing an important role in the positive transformation of healthcare. Business process management (BPM) systematically optimizes process effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility. Therefore BPM offers relevant ideas and technologies. We provide a conceptual model based on EHR productivity and negative feedback control that links EHR and BPM domains, describe two EHR BPM prototype modules, and close with the argument that typical EHRs must become more process-aware if they are to take full advantage of BPM ideas and technology. A prediction: Future extensible clinical groupware will coordinate delivery of EHR functionality to teams of users by combining modular components with executable process models whose usability (effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction) will be systematically improved using business process management techniques.
Achieving interoperability for metadata registries using comparative object modeling
Authors: Park Yu Rang  , Ju Han Kim
Published: February 2025

Achieving data interoperability between organizations relies upon agreed meaning and representation (metadata) of data. For managing and registering metadata, many organizations have built metadata registries (MDRs) in various domains based on international standard for MDR framework, ISO/IEC 11179. Following this trend, two pubic MDRs in biomedical domain have been created, United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK) and cancer Data Standards Registry and Repository (caDSR), from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and National Cancer Institute (NCI), respectively. Most MDRs are implemented with indiscriminate extending for satisfying organization-specific needs and solving semantic and structural limitation of ISO/IEC 11179. As a result it is difficult to address interoperability among multiple MDRs. In this paper, we propose an integrated metadata object model for achieving interoperability among multiple MDRs. To evaluate this model, we developed an XML Schema Definition (XSD)-based metadata exchange format. We created an XSD-based metadata exporter, supporting both the integrated metadata object model and organization-specific MDR formats.
Towards a National Health Information System Evaluation
Authors: Hyppönen Hannele  , Doupi Persephone  , Hämäläinen Päivi  , Komulainen Jorma  , Nykänen Pirkko  , Suomi Reima
Published: February 2025

Most EU Member States have a documented policy on eHealth. Documented follow-up and evaluation strategies for assessing whether national level systems have reached their set aims and outcomes are, however, rare. Methodologies for large scale information system assessment and evaluation are poorly established. This article describes the approach used to generate the Finnish National Health Information System (NHIS) evaluation plan. The core elements of the plan are illustrated, discussing also challenges and solutions in implementation. The article is based on NHIS evaluation planning project [15] and its presentation in the MIE workshop in Sarajevo in 2009 [16], where core issues and challenges of large-scale evaluations were discussed using the Finnish NHIS evaluation plan as a frame of reference.The Finnish plan offers other countries tools with which to assess their own plans and generate national methodologies for NHIS evaluation.
Barriers and facilitators that affect public engagement with eHealth services
Authors: Hardiker Nicholas R.  , Grant Maria J.
Published: February 2025

It is commonly accepted that public engagement with eHealth is beneficial. However, engagement is also variable. This article presents the findings of a review of published evaluation studies around eHealth services. A targeted search of MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE returned 2622 unique abstracts. 50 articles met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to further analysis. 6 review articles were used for post hoc validation. Four main types of eHealth service or resource were identified: health information on the Internet; custom-built online health information; online support; and telehealth. 5 key themes emerged in terms of facilitators or barriers to engagement: characteristics of users; technological issues; characteristics of eHealth services; content issues; social aspects of use; and eHealth services in use. Recommendations arising from the review include: targeting efforts to engage those underserved by eHealth; maximizing exposure to eHealth across all sections of society; improving access to computers and the internet; appropriate design and delivery; ensuring content is relevant to different audiences; capitalizing on the interest in social computing; and clarifying the role of health workers in the delivery of eHealth.
TEDIS: an Information System Dedicated to Patients with Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Authors: Ben Saïd Mohamed  , Robel Laurence  , Vion Erwan  , Golse Bernard  , Jais Jean Philippe  , Landais Paul
Published: February 2025

Pervasive Development Disorders (PDD) represent a life disorder which significantly affects individuals and families. It requires long term specialized institutions health care, education and social accompaniment. In France, 350,000 to 600,000 patients are estimated to be affected and 5,000 to 8,000 newborns will develop the disorder every year. In 2005, Autism Resource Centres were created in each of the 23 regions in France, to support the PDD hospital reference centres in providing formal clinical assessment for each patient. Such assessments will support the prescription of health care measures, educative and intuitional orientation and accompaniment. An information system called TEDIS was designed to assist the psychiatrists and multidisciplinary medical experts at Necker child-psychiatry hospital, in organizing PDD patient's information and providing ground for improving knowledge about the disorder, its epidemiology and underlying biological mechanisms. The professionals' involvement from the beginning in the development process facilitated TEDIS design and implementation. The results of first experimentations are encouraging. They are described as well as the short term and mid-term deployment planning.
Goal-based design pattern for delegation of work in health care teams
Authors: Grando Adela  , Peleg Mor  , Glasspool David
Published: February 2025

We show how a domain and language independent design pattern, defined as networks of tasks and goals, can be used to formally specify the transfer of responsibility and accountability when tasks are delegated in healthcare teams. The pattern is general enough to be applied unchanged across a broad range of different healthcare situations.
eHealth Vision towards Cooperative Patient Care – Domain Fields and Architectural Challenges of Regional Health Care Networks
Authors: Gusew Nathalie  , Gerlach Annekatrin  , Bartkiewicz Thomas  , Goldapp Michael  , Haux Reinhold  , Heller Ulrich  , Hellrung Nils  , Kierdorf Horst-P.  , Kleinschmidt Thorsten  , Markurth Ulrich  , Marschollek Michael  , Plischke Maik  , Schubert Rainer  , Seidel Christoph  , Wiegmann Holger
Published: February 2025

Numerous eHealth projects and efforts to establish inter-organizational communication and to build up regional health care networks could be observed in the last ten years. Nevertheless the success of such efforts is profoundly different. The aim of this paper is to introduce the lately started regional initiative eHealth.Brauns compounding of the major health care players (hospitals, physician offices, nursing services and nursing homes) in the region of Braunschweigl, participants from research institutions and industry. We propose in this paper the main goals of the regional initiative eHealth.Braunschweig, its constitution and major approaches. Based on respective literature and our former projects as well as experiences in this field we discuss our vision of a patient-oriented cooperative health care by depicting regional distinctions, identifying the major domain fields in this context and discussing the architectural challenges for the regional health care network eHealth.Braunschweig. In our view this work can be considered as a systematical approach to the establishment of regional health care networks with lasting and sustainable effects on patient-centered health care in a region.
Training Software Developers for Electronic Medical Records in Rwanda
Authors: Seymour Rowan P.  , Tang Amy  , DeRiggi John  , Munyaburanga Christian  , Cuckovitch Rita  , Nyirishema Patrick  , Fraser Hamish S.F.
Published: February 2025

In many developing countries, electronic medical record (EMR) systems are being implemented in resource-poor settings. Essential to such implementations are software developers with a high technical capacity, a good understanding of medical informatics and an awareness of local clinical needs. This paper describes a training program which has been run in Rwanda to enable local computer science graduates to play a significant role in that country's forthcoming implementation of a national EMR system. Such a training program is unique in that region of Africa and we discuss the challenges inherent in such an undertaking. We describe the development of the curriculum and the evolution of the teaching methodologies over the course of the year and discuss its potential integration with academic institutions in Rwanda. Finally we propose that training programs of this nature which produce local software developers who are familiar with medical informatics are a requirement for successful and sustainable eHealth implementations in the developing world.
An approach to simulate and visualize intraoperative scattered radiation exposure to improve radiation protection training
Authors: Wagner Markus  , Duwenkamp Christopher  , Ludwig Wolfram  , Dresing Klaus  , Bott Oliver Johannes
Published: February 2025

Intraoperative radiography based on mobile image intensifier systems (C-arms) is widely used during the treatment of trauma and emergency patients. These devices produce scattered radiation, potential hazardous for surgeon and operation room personal (ORP). The propagation and intensity of scattered radiation is not intuitive, is not perceivable by human senses and depends on many variables. At courses on radiation protection the knowledge of the behavior of scattered radiation and the modus operandi to minimize the radiation exposure should be taught to ORP and surgeons. Currently this can only be done theoretically using fixed pictures and precalculated videos. This paper presents an approach to interactively simulate and visualize scattered radiation with a computer based training system for mobile image intensifier systems. The simulation depicts radiation propagation and intensity for arbitrary C-arm adjustments and different irradiated materials. This teaching component focuses on improving the current radiation protection training with interactive visual and practical aspects.
The Trajectory of Scientific Discovery: Concept Co-Occurrence and Converging Semantic Distance
Authors: Cohen Trevor  , Schvaneveldt Roger W.
Published: February 2025

The paradigm of literature-based knowledge discovery originated by Swanson involves finding meaningful associations between terms or concepts that have not occurred together in any previously published document. While several automated approaches have been applied to this problem, these generally evaluate the literature at a point in time, and do not evaluate the role of change over time in distributional statistics as an indicator of meaningful implicit associations. To address this issue, we develop and evaluate Symmetric Random Indexing (SRI), a novel variant of the Random Indexing (RI) approach that is able to measure implicit association over time. SRI is found to compare favorably to existing RI variants in the prediction of future direct co-occurrence. Summary statistics over several experiments suggest a trend of converging semantic distance prior to the co-occurrence of key terms for two seminal historical literature-based discoveries.
SeReM
Authors: Hoerbst Alexander  , Hackl Werner  , Ammenwerth Elske
Published: February 2025

Quality assurance is a major task with regard to Electronic Health Records (EHR). Currently there are only a few approaches explicitly dealing with the quality of EHR services as a whole. The objective of this paper is to introduce a new Meta-Model to structure and describe quality requirements of EHRs. This approach should support the transnational quality certification of EHR services. The Model was developed based on interviews with 24 experts and a systematic literature search and comprises a service and requirements model. The service model represents the structure of a service whereas the requirements model can be used to assign specific predefined aims and requirements to a service. The new model differs from existing approaches as it accounts for modern software architectures and the special attributes of EHRs.
A Scheme for Assuring Lifelong Readability in Computer Based Medical Records
Authors: Matsumura Yasushi  , Kurabayashi Noriyuki  , Iwasaki Tetsuya  , Sugaya Shuichi  , Ueda Kanayo  , Mineno Takahiro  , Takeda Hiroshi
Published: February 2025

Medical records must be kept over an extended period of time, meanwhile computer based medical records are renewed every 5–6 years. Readability of medical records must be assured even though the systems are renewed by different vendors. To achieve this, we proposed a method called DACS, in which a medical record is considered as an aggregation of documents. A Document generated by a system is transformed to a format read by free software such as PDF, which is transferred with the document meta-information and important data written on the XML to the Document Deliverer. It stores these data into the Document Archiver, the Document Sharing Server and the Data Warehouse (DWH). We developed the Matrix View which shows documents in chronological order, and the Tree View showing documents in class tree structure. By this method all the documents can be integrated and be viewed by a single viewer. This helps users figure out patient history and find a document being sought. In addition, documents' data can be shared among systems and analyzed by DWH. Most importantly DACS can assure the lifelong readability of medical records.
Experience Implementing a Point-of-Care Electronic Medical Record System for Primary Care in Malawi
Authors: Waters Evan  , Rafter Jeff  , Douglas Gerald P.  , Bwanali Mwatha  , Jazayeri Darius  , Fraser Hamish S.F.
Published: February 2025

Due to the fact that health care professionals in Malawi are often overstretched, the use and quality of health data can be compromised. The Malawi Health Management Information System (HMIS) has streamlined data collection and reporting and increased the use of data to improve care. Obstacles remain, including incomplete reporting and low staff morale. With the Baobab Health Trust and the Malawi Ministry of Health, Partners In Health piloted an innovative point-of-care data system for primary care that functions alongside OpenMRS, an open source medical record platform. The system has given access to a patient-level primary care dataset in real time. Initial results highlight some of the benefits of a point-of-care system such as improved data quality, emphasize the importance of sharing data with clinical practitioners, and shed light on how this approach could strengthen HMIS.
The Administration of Migration in the United States, 1800–2000
Authors: Arnold Peri E.
Published: February 2025

Four policy and administrative eras comprise the administrative history of migration in the United States. Each period is assessed as a distinct “regime” of laws and administrative organization. These regimes are also described in terms of the historical political contexts in that created them.
Emigration and Immigration in Greece: Past and Present
Authors: Denis Moschopoulos
Published: February 2025

This study examines the migratory phenomenon in Greece from the establishment of the State (1833) until today. Two different kinds of migration are discerned: emigration and immigration. The study begins by examining those parameters linked to the emigration phenomenon, such as the tradition of the Greeks involved in the Diaspora, economic crises and problems involved in the slow industrialisation of the country. At the same time, the study delimits such concepts as “refugee” and “emigrant”, terms that are not always clearly distinguished. It sets out the procedure followed concerning the sending of Greek immigrants to a foreign country and the changes initiated with regard to countries of settlement (United States, Europe). It analyses the causes of emigration, provides quantitative data, draws attention to diverse administrative aspects of the migratory policy (monitoring of the country, limitations on the right of emigration, repatriation), and refers to the competent administrative bodies. In addition, the study sketches the developments in political debates concerning the migratory phenomenon (role of the “American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association” (AHEPA), opinions concerning the industrialisation of the country, the participation of immigrants in national elections). With regard to the phenomenon of immigration, two kinds of immigration (ethnic and economic) as well as their respective characteristics are noted. In the case of ethnic immigration, attention is drawn to international and bilateral treaties that regulated the massive arrival of refugees whose origins were Greek. Attention is also drawn to the competent administrative bodies which took charge of the settlement and reparation of refugees. In the case of economic immigration, the massive arrival of immigrants (of foreign and Greek origin) in the country during the 1990s is described, as well as the development of both the modern migratory policy and competent administrative bodies.