bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Updated Architectures for the Integration of Decision Making Support Functionalities
Authors: Forgionne Guisseppi A.
Published: May 2011

Information systems research continues to examine ways to improve support for decision making. The evolution from simple data access and reporting to complex analytical, creative, and artificially intelligent support for decision making persists (Holsapple & Whinston, 1996). In the evolution, existing information systems still, and new intelligent systems have been created to, provide the desired decision making support. By studying the existing, and new, systems’ characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages, researchers and practitioners can better design, develop, and implement robust decision making support systems (Kumar, 1999). The original article facilitated such study by presenting and illustrating the underlying information system architectures for robust decision making support (Forgionne, 2005). This article updates the original by offering additional contributions to the subject. New literature on intelligent decision making support is examined, and the relevant findings are discussed. The title has been modified slightly to reflect the updates.
Usability Evaluation of E-Learning Systems
Authors: Srivastava Shirish C. , Chandra Shalini , Lam Hwee Ming
Published: May 2011

Usability evaluation which refers to a series of activities that are designed to measure the effectiveness of a system as a whole, is an important step for determining the acceptance of system by the users. Usability evaluation is becoming important since both user groups, as well as tasks, are increasing in size and diversity. Users are increasingly becoming more informed and, consequently, have higher expectations from the systems. Moreover “system interface” has become a commodity and, hence, user acceptance plays a major role in the success of the system. Currently, there are various usability evaluation methods in vogue, like cognitive walkthrough, think aloud, claims analysis, heuristic evaluation, and so forth. However, for this study we have chosen heuristic evaluation because it is relatively inexpensive, logistically uncomplicated, and is often used as a discount usability-engineering tool (Nielsen, 1994). Heuristic evaluation is a method for finding usability problems in a user interface design by having a small set of evaluators examine an interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: we first look at the definition of e-learning, followed by concepts of usability, LCD, and heuristics. Subsequently, we introduce a methodology for heuristic usability evaluation (Reeves, Benson, Elliot, Grant, Holschuh, Kim, Kim, Lauber, & Loh, 2002), and then use these heuristics for evaluating an existing e-learning system, GETn2. We offer our recommendations for the system and end with a discussion on the contributions of our chapter.
Using Ontology and User Profile for Web Services Query
Authors: Jong Woo Kim Jong Woo , Ramesh Balasubramaniam
Published: May 2011

Web services have received much attention because of their potential for realizing service oriented architecture (SOA). As the number of Web services increase exponentially, discovering Web services that satisfy user’s specific needs has become a difficult task. In fact, the ability to find relevant Web services has been recognized as a key challenge in the realization of the potential of service oriented architectures. This chapter is organized as follows: In the next section, we discuss related research and various challenges and issues in Web services discovery. Then, we present several types of ontology and user profiles that may be used in the discovery process. Finally, we introduce a system architecture and discuss future trends and conclusions.
Virtual Work, Trust and Rationality
Authors: Murphy Peter
Published: May 2011

Since the development of the Internet—and the emergence of computer networking as a mass medium in the mid-1990s— many organizations and institutions have experimented with Internet protocol (IP)-based communications to coordinate work and activities across geographical distance. This has been in response to growing needs to coordinate business and projects between different offices, firms, regions, and states. Rather than organizations flying people to meet face-to-face, network technology presents opportunities for persons located apart to work together. It offers the potential for cheap and efficient collaborations across distance. Yet, while economic pragmatics drive organizations to adopt virtual work methods, virtual working is difficult to implement. This is because it strains many conventional assumptions about work behaviour and the cognitive and emotional foundations of collaboration.
Web Caching
Authors: Danalis Antonios
Published: May 2011

The popularity of the World Wide Web has led to an exponential increase of the traffic generated by its users for over a decade. Such a growth, over such a long period of time, would have saturated both the content providers and the network links had Web caching not been efficiently deployed. Web caching can improve the overall performance of the World Wide Web in several ways, depending on the decisions made regarding the deployment of the corresponding caches. By placing caches in strategic positions, the core network traffic can be reduced, the load of a content provider can be scaled down, and the quality of service, as the users perceive it, can be improved. In this article we present an overview of the major design and implementation challenges in Web caching, as well as their solutions.
Web-Based Expert Systems
Authors: Duan Yanqing
Published: May 2011

Convergence of technologies in the Internet and the field of expert systems (ES) offer new ways of sharing and distributing knowledge (Sedbrook, 1998). Power (2000) argues that rapid advances in Internet technologies have opened new opportunities for enhancing traditional decision support systems and expert systems. Internet technology can change the way that an expert system is developed and distributed. For the first time, knowledge on any subject can directly be delivered to users anywhere and anytime through a Web-based ES. Because the main function of an ES is to mimic expertise and distribute expert knowledge to nonexperts, these benefits can be greatly enhanced with the emergence of the Internet. The current focus on networked and Internet-based applications demands new architectures for “intelligent” systems as well as creating new possibilities for research and development in this field (Caldwell, Breton, & Holburn, 2003). This article provides an overview of Web-based expert systems with examples. Benefits and challenges are discussed by comparing Web-based ES with traditional standalone ES from both the development and the application perspectives using Turban and Aronson’s knowledge engineering framework.
A Web-Geographical Information System to Support Territorial Data Integration
Authors: De Antonellis V. , Pozzi G. , Schreiber F.A. , Tanca L. , Tosi L.
Published: May 2011

The design of a Web-geographical information system, Web-GIS (Worboys & Duckham, 2004; Zhong Ren & Ming Hsiang, 2003), strongly requires methodological and operational tools for dealing with information distributed in multiple, autonomous and heterogeneous data sources, and a uniform data publishing methodology and policy over Internet Web sites. In this article we describe the experience of the Politecnico di Milano group in the activities of requirement analysis and conceptual design of the DEAFIN Web-GIS (Schreiber et al., 2003), whose objective is to provide a common environment for comparison of information about available vacant industrial sites coming from different regional data sources. Heterogeneity and Web availability requirements have been taken into account in the system architecture design; the system is thus conceived as a federated Web-based information system, apt to manage and provide access to all the regional relevant information in an integrated and complete fashion. Furthermore, since the data available by a given region partner can be both spatial and alphanumeric, a Web-GIS is defined for each regional component system.
Computerization of Primary Care in the United States
Authors: Anderson James G. , Balas E. Andrew
Published: May 2011

The objective of this study was to assess the current level of information technology use by primary care physicians in the U.S. Primary care physicians listed by the American Medical Association were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete a Web-based questionnaire. A total of 2,145 physicians responded. Overall, between 20% and 25% of primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records, e-prescribing, point-of-care decision support tools, and electronic communication with patients. This indicates a slow rate of adoption since 2000. Differences in adoption rates suggest that future surveys need to differentiate primary care and office-based physicians by specialty. An important finding is that one-third of the physicians surveyed expressed no interest in the four IT applications. Overcoming this barrier may require efforts by medical specialty societies to educate their members in the benefits of IT in practice. The majority of physicians perceived benefits of IT, but they cited costs, vendor inability to deliver acceptable products, and concerns about privacy and confidentiality as major barriers to implementation of IT applications. Overcoming the cost barrier may require that payers and the federal government share the costs of implementing these IT applications.
Open Source Software
Authors: Parry David , Parry Emma , Dorj Phurb , Stone Peter
Published: May 2011

The global burden of disease falls most heavily on people in developing countries. Few resources for healthcare, geographical and infrastructure issues, lack of trained staff, language and cultural diversity and political instability all affect the ability of health providers to support effective and efficient healthcare. Health information systems are a key aspect of improving healthcare, but existing systems are often expensive and unsuitable. Open source software appears to be a promising avenue for quickly and cheaply introducing health information systems that are appropriate for developing nations. This article describes some aspects of open source e-health software that are particularly relevant to developing nations, issues and problems that may arise and suggests some future areas for research and action. Suggestions for critical success factors are included. Much of the discussion will be related to a case study of a training and e-health project, currently running in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Building Digital Memories for Augmented Cognition and Situated Support
Authors: Bauer Mathias , Kröner Alexander , Schneider Michael , Basselin Nathalie
Published: May 2011

Limitation of the human memory is a well-known issue that anybody has experienced. This chapter discusses typical components and processes involved in the building and the exploitation of augmented memories. SPECTER, an adaptive, self-learning system supports the user in everyday activities by interpreting sensor information captured in the environment and deriving adequate suggestions for actions to be taken in the current situation. A particular form of introspection allows the user to reflect on the digital memory’s contents and the system behavior, thus leaving the user in control. An empirical study in a shopping scenario evaluates the benefits and limitations of the approach taken
Technical Solutions for Privacy- Enhanced Personalization
Authors: Wang Yang
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents a first-of-its-kind survey that systematically analyzes existing privacy-enhanced personalization (PEP) solutions and their underlying privacy protection techniques. The evaluation is based on an analytical framework of privacy-enhancing technologies, an earlier work of the authors. More specifically, we critically examine whether each PEP solution satisfies the privacy principles and addresses the privacy concerns that have been uncovered in the context of personalization. The chapter aims at helping researchers better understand the technical underpinnings, practical efficacies and limitations of existing PEP solutions, and at inspiring and developing future PEP solutions by outlining several promising research directions based on our findings.
Knowledge Management and Interaction in Virtual Communities
Authors: Chiara Caschera Maria , D’Ulizia Arianna , Ferri Fernando , Grifoni Patrizia
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a classification of virtual communities of practice according to methods and tools offered to virtual community members for the knowledge management and the interaction process. It underlines how these methods and tools support users during the exchange of knowledge, enable learning, and increase the user ability to achieve individual and collective goals. In this chapter virtual communities are classified in virtual knowledge-sharing communities of practice and virtual learning communities of practice according to the collaboration strategy. A further classification defines three kinds of virtual communities according to the knowledge structure: ontology-based VCoP; digital library-based VCoP; and knowledge map-based VCoP. This chapter also describes strategies of interaction used to improve the knowledge sharing and learning in groups and organizations. It shows how agent-based method supports interaction among community members, improves the achievement of knowledge, and encourages the level of user participation. Finally, this chapter presents the system’s functionalities that support browsing and searching processes in collaborative knowledge environments.
Information Security Culture as a Social System
Authors: Kuusisto Rauno , Kuusisto Tuija
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to increase understanding of the complex nature of information security culture in a networked working environment. Viewpoint is comprehensive information exchange in a social system. The aim of this chapter is to raise discussion about information security culture development challenges when acting in a multicultural environment. This chapter does not introduce a method to handle complex cultural situation, but gives some notes to gain understanding, what might be behind this complexity. Understanding the nature of this complex cultural environment is essential to form evolving and proactive security practices. Direct answers to formulate practices are not offered in this chapter, but certain general phenomena of the activity of a social system are pointed out. This will help readers to apply these ideas to their own solutions.
Security Configuration for Non-Experts
Authors: Kuo Cynthia , Perrig Adrian , Walker Jesse
Published: May 2011

End users often find that security configuration interfaces are difficult to use. In this chapter, we explore how application designers can improve the design and evaluation of security configuration interfaces. We use IEEE 802.11 network configuration as a case study. First, we design and implement a configuration interface that guides users through secure network configuration. The key insight is that users have a difficult time translating their security goals into specific feature configurations. Our interface automates the translation from users’ high-level goals to low-level feature configurations. Second, we develop and conduct a user study to compare our interface design with commercially available products. We adapt existing user research methods to sidestep common difficulties in evaluating security applications. Using our configuration interface, non-expert users are able to secure their networks as well as expert users. In general, our research addresses prevalent issues in the design and evaluation of consumer-configured security applications.
CAPTCHAs
Authors: Misra Deapesh
Published: May 2011

The Internet has established firm deep roots in our day to day life. It has brought many revolutionary changes in the way we do things. One important consequence has been the way it has replaced human to human contact. This has also presented us with a new issue which is the requirement for differentiating between real humans and automated programs on the Internet. Such automated programs are usually written with a malicious intent. CAPTCHAs play an important role in solving this problem by presenting users with tests which only humans can solve. This chapter looks into the need, the history, and the different kinds of CAPTCHAs that researchers have come up with to deal with the security implications of automated bots pretending to be humans. Various schemes are compared and contrasted with each other, the impact of CAPTCHAs on Internet users is discussed, and to conclude, the various possible attacks are discussed. The author hopes that the chapter will not only introduce this interesting field to the reader in its entirety, but also simulate thought on new schemes.
The Challenge of Transdisciplinarity in Information Systems Research
Authors: Porto de Albuquerque João , Simon Edouard J. , Wahoff Jan-Hendrik , Rolf Arno
Published: May 2011

Research in the Information Systems (IS) field has been characterised by the use of a variety of methods and theoretical underpinnings. This fact recently raised concerns about the rigour of scientific results of IS research and about the legitimacy of the IS academic field. On the other hand, a number of IS researchers have argued for a view that values diversity as a strength of the IS field. This chapter supports this viewpoint and analyzes the relation between IS research and concepts originating from theoretical debates around transdisciplinarity. We present results from a group of researchers of various disciplinary backgrounds towards an integrative platform for the orientation of transdisciplinary IS research. The Mikropolis platform provides researchers with a common language, allowing the integration of different perspectives through exchange of experiences and mutual understanding. We also discuss some practical issues that arise from the transdisciplinary cooperation in IS research.
Empirical Investigation of Critical Success Factors for Implementing Business Intelligence Systems in Multiple Engineering Asset Management Organisations
Authors: Yeoh William
Published: May 2011

Engineering asset management organisations (EAMOs) are increasingly motivated to implement business intelligence (BI) systems in response to dispersed information environments and compliance requirements. However, the implementation of a business intelligence (BI) system is a complex undertaking requiring considerable resources. Yet, so far, there are few defined critical success factors (CSFs) to which management can refer. Drawing on the CSFs framework derived from a previous Delphi study, a multiple-case design was used to examine how these CSFs could be implemented by five EAMOs. The case studies substantiate the construct and applicability of the CSFs framework. These CSFs are: committed management support and sponsorship, a clear vision and well-established business case, business-centric championship and balanced team composition, a business-driven and iterative develop ment approach, user-oriented change management, a business-driven, scalable and flexible technical framework, and sustainable data quality and integrity. More significantly, the study further reveals that those organisations which address the CSFs from a business orientation approach will be more likely to achieve better results.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Adoption
Authors: Li Ping , Mula Joseph M.
Published: May 2011

A review of the literature showed that there appears to be very little research undertaken on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) adoption by small to medium sized business (SMEs) particularly in Singapore. This study is a preliminary attempt to quantify this area. Using a survey-based methodology, the research examined EDI adoption. Results indicate that Singapore SMEs confirm findings by some researchers that EDI adoption is significantly associated with a firm’s annual sales but is not significantly associated with employee size as other studies have shown (Rogers, Daugherty, & Stank, 1992). This study is at odds with previous single-dimension EDI adoption studies indicating a significant relationship between firm size (annual sales) and EDI depth (Williams, Magee, & Suzuki, 1998). Organization size showed a significant relationship with the volume and diversity of EDI use but not with the depth and breadth. The most important reason for Singaporean SMEs to adopt EDI was pressure from their EDI-capable trading partners, treating pressure from their competitors as the least important.
Context-Aware Capture and Sharing of Mobile Videos
Authors: Lahti Janne
Published: May 2011

Video management research has been neglecting the increased attractiveness of using camera-equipped mobile phones for the production of short personal video clips. But specific capabilities of modern phones—especially the availability of rich context data—open up new approaches to traditional video management problems, such as the notorious lack of annotated metadata for personal video content. In this chapter, we present MobiCon, a mobile, context-aware personal video production and sharing tool. MobiCon allows users to capture video clips with their camera phones, to semi-automatically create MPEG-7-conformant annotations by exploiting available context data at capture time, to upload both clips and annotations to the users’ video collections, and to share these clips with friends. Thereby, MobiCon enables mobile users to effortlessly create richly annotated home video clips with their camera phones, paving the way to a more effective organization of their personal video collections.
Quality of Service of Data Broadcasting Algorithms on Erroneous Wireless Channels
Authors: Barsocchi Paolo , Bertossi Alan A. , Pinotti M. Cristina , Potortì Francesco
Published: May 2011

Broadcasting is an efficient and scalable way of transmitting data over wireless channels to an unlimited number of clients. In this chapter the problem of allocating data to multiple channels is studied, assuming flat data scheduling per channel and the presence of unrecoverable channel transmission errors. The behavior of wireless channels is described by the Bernoulli model, in which each packet transmission has the same probability to fail and each transmission error is independent from the others. The objective is that of minimizing the average expected delay experienced by the clients. Optimal solutions can be found in polynomial time when all data items have unit lengths, while heuristics are presented when data items have non-unit lengths. Extensive simulations, performed on benchmarks whose item popularities follow Zipf distributions, show that good sub-optimal solutions are found.
Traitor Tracing in Mobile Multimedia Communication
Authors: Lian Shiguo
Published: May 2011

Digital fingerprinting is reported and used in copy tracing. It embeds different information, for example, Customer ID, into multimedia content, produces a different copy, and sends the copy to the corresponding customer. If a copy is spread to unauthorized customers, the unique information in the copy can be detected and used to trace the illegal distributors. In this chapter, we introduce some digital fingerprinting algorithms, review the existing traitor tracing schemes, analyze the performances of some typical algorithms through comparison, and propose the future trends and some open issues in this field. It is expected to provide some valuable information to researchers or engineers working in mobile multimedia security.
Practical Experience with New Services and Applications Supported by NGN
Authors: Podhradský Pavol , Mikóczy Eugen , Matejka Juraj  , Lábaj Ondrej , Tomek Róbert
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents results of practical experience with NGN and mainly its application layer. The presented university laboratory based mainly on the open source software follows the evolution strategy of NGN. This evolution includes a way from using SIP-based VoIP architecture to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) implementation of standardized NGN. The background of the standardization process is briefly presented as well. Our focus on application layer is motivated by its existence and similarity in various NGN implementations. In this chapter, we also discuss in detail three applications and services: multimedia streaming, security, and AAA service. This chapter shows the ability to build an NGN network for testing purposes. However, we prove that application layer, unified application access, and consequently convergence are main foundations of NGN.
Context-Aware Urban Exploration
Authors: Paulini Mercedes
Published: May 2011

Mobile computing provides a new dimension in communication and access to data resources that is transforming the way people use information and interact in physical space. The rapid acceptance of these technologies by the public presents researchers with opportunities to develop systems that support social interaction and spatial navigation in unprecedented ways. This research presents a paradigm for negotiating physical space as influenced and supported by information from the virtual. It is proposed that the system allows users to traverse their environments in a more spontaneous and serendipitous manner than possible with existing navigational systems.
Location-Based Network Resource Management
Authors: Priggouris Ioannis , Zervas Evangelos , Hadjiefthymiades Stathes
Published: May 2011

The vision that wireless technology in the near future will provide mobile users with at least similar multimedia services as those available to the fixed hosts is quite established today. Towards this direction, extensive research efforts are underway to guarantee Quality-of-service (QoS) in mobile environments. An important factor that affects the provisioning of resources in such environments is the variability of the environment itself. From the user’s perspective, this variability is a direct consequence of the user’s movement and, at any given time, a function of his position. Exploiting the user’s location to optimally manage and provision the resources of the mobile network is likely to enhance both the capacity of the network and the offered quality of service. In this chapter, we aim to provide a general introduction to the emerging research area of mobile communications, which is generally known as location-based network resource management.
Interactive Information Retrieval as a Step Towards Effective Knowledge Management in Healthcare
Authors: Ontrup Jörg
Published: May 2011

The chapter shows how modern information retrieval methodologies can open up new possibilities to support knowledge management in healthcare. Recent advances in hospital information systems lead to the acquisition of huge quantities of data, often characterized by a high proportion of free narrative text embedded in the electronic health record. We point out how text mining techniques augmented by novel algorithms that combine artificial neural networks for the semantic organization of non-crisp data and hyperbolic geometry for an intuitive navigation in huge data sets can offer efficient tools to make medical knowledge in such data collections more accessible to the medical expert by providing context information and links to knowledge buried in medical literature databases.
Design of an Enhanced 3G-Based Mobile Healthcare System
Authors: Ruiz Mas José , Viruete Navarro Eduardo Antonio , Hernández Ramos Carolina , Alesanco Iglesias Álvaro , Fernández Navajas Julián , Valdovinos Bardají Antonio , Istepanian Robert S.H.
Published: May 2011

An enhanced mobile healthcare multi-collaborative system operating over Third Generation (3G) mobile networks is presented. This chapter describes the design and use of this system in different medical and critical emergency scenarios provided with universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) accesses. In these environments, it is designed to communicate healthcare personnel with medical specialists in a remote hospital. The system architecture is based on advanced signalling protocols that allow multimedia multi-collaborative conferences in IPv4/IPv6 3G scenarios. The system offers real-time transmission of medical data and videoconference, together with other non real-time services. It has been optimized specifically to operate over 3G mobile networks using the most appropriate codecs. Evaluation results show a reliable performance over IPv4 UMTS accesses (64 Kbps in the uplink). In the future, advances in m-Health systems will make easier for mobile patients to interactively get the medical attention and advice they need.
BACIIS
Authors: Miled Zina Ben
Published: May 2011

Life science Web databases are becoming increasingly essential in conducting everyday biological research. With more than 300 life science Web databases and the growing size of the life science data, searching and managing these complex data requires technology beyond that of traditional database systems. The open research issues include the interoperability of geographically distributed autonomous databases, which are generally only Web-accessible, and the seamless semantic-based integration of these databases with total transparency to the user. In this paper, the implementation of a Biological and Chemical Information Integration System (BACIIS) is presented. BACIIS supports the integration of multiple heterogeneous life science Web databases and allows the execution of global applications that extend beyond the boundaries of individual databases. This paper discusses the architecture of BACIIS. It also discusses the techniques used to extract and integrate data from the various life science Web databases.
Nurses' Perceptions of Using a Pocket PC for Shift Reports and Patient Care
Authors: Chang Karen
Published: May 2011

Nurses working in hospitals with paper-based systems often face the challenge of inefficiency in providing quality nursing care. Two areas of inefficiency are shift-to-shift communication among nurses and access to information related to patient care. An integrated IT system, consisting of Pocket PCs and a desktop PC interfaced to a hospital’s mainframe system, was developed. The goal was to use mobile IT to give nurses easier access to patient information. This paper describes the development of this system and reports the results of a pilot study: a comparison of time spent in taking and giving shift reports before and after the study and nurses’ perceptions of the mobile IT system. Results showed significant difference in taking shift reports and no significant difference in giving shift reports. Nurses stated that quick and easy access to updated patient information in the Pocket PC was very helpful, especially during mainframe downtime.
A Preliminary Study Toward Wireless Integration of Patient Information System
Authors: Al-Ali Abdul-Rahman
Published: May 2011

This paper presents the results of a study toward generating a wireless environment to provide real-time mobile accessibility to patient information system. A trial system is set up where database, Internet, and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are integrated in such a way that the medical professionals like physicians, nurses, and lab assistants can create, access, and update medical records using wireless PDAs from any location in the hospital, which is covered by wireless LAN. The same services, which can be carried out via fixed terminals with Internet connectivity, can be carried out using wireless PDAs. The implementation has used and integrated many technologies like active server pages (ASP), Visual Basic®, structured query language (SQL) server, ActiveSync®, IEEE802.11 wireless locala area network (WLAN) technology and wireless security concepts. The paper details the architectural aspects of technology integration and the methodology used for setting up the end-to-end system. The proposed architecture, its performance data, and the common implementation barriers are reported.
Choosing Technologies for Handheld and Ubiquitous Decision Support
Authors: Woollatt Darren , Koop Paul , Jones Sara , Warren Jim
Published: May 2011

Wireless, handheld devices are becoming increasingly popular in health care settings, but the full potential of their role in patient-specific decision support remains to be achieved. This article presents a multicriteria framework for choosing technologies apropos to handheld and ubiquitous decision support architecture. This framework is illustrated through architectural middleware choices made in the context of a podiatry and diabetes care network. Performance issues are found to be very important in the handheld space, and minor aspects of connectivity and other constraints drive significant changes in choices of architectural approach. The resulting architecture employs layers, including serialized objects, XML payloads, event notification, Web services, and dynamic class loading, with the mix varying among the system interfaces. The overall recommendation is that organizations wishing to fully exploit mobile technology must use a flexible policy and pursue a process of technology choice that is scenario-based and iterative to take into account discoveries from prototyping and fieldtest experience.
Three Dimensional Medical Images
Authors: Poravas Efstratios
Published: May 2011

The revolution of technology has lead to a change; from the analogic to the digital function of medical devices. Some of them were produced in the last years to improve the quality of images. Although the procedure of acquiring and using the devices has been very complicated, the analysis of the images is so dependable that a big amount of the annual budget is spent for their acquisition.
Assessing Physician and Nurse Satisfaction with an Ambulatory Care EMR
Authors: Wager Karen A.
Published: May 2011

Evaluating clinician satisfaction with an electronic medical record (EMR) system is an important dimension to overall acceptance and use, yet project managers often lack the time and resources to formally assess user satisfaction and solicit feedback. This article describes the methods used to assess clinician satisfaction with an EMR and identify opportunities for improving its use at a 300-physician academic practice setting. We administered an online survey to physicians and nurses; 244 (44%) responded. We compared physician and nurse mean ratings across 5 domains, and found physicians’ satisfactions scores were statistically lower than nurses in several areas (p
Factors Motivating the Acceptance of New Information and Communication Technologies in UK Healthcare
Authors: Osbourne Janice A.
Published: May 2011

This paper discusses the use of three published models, the Technology acceptance model (TAM), Rogers diffusion of Innovation theory (IDT), and the Triandis theory of interpersonal behaviour (TIB), and attempts to bring them together in an integrated model to better predict the adoption of new information and communication technologies by a cohort of health professionals within UK primary care in an attempt to aid implementers in bringing technology in at an organizational level.
Gender Differences in Adoption and Use of a Healthcare IT Application
Authors: Zheng Kai , Padman Rema , Johnson Michael P. , Diamond Herbert S.
Published: May 2011

Information technology (IT) adoption and diffusion is a central concern of information systems research and practice. The most widely-accepted method in IT adoption and diffusion research, the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis 1989), posits that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are fundamental determinants of user acceptance. However, TAM and its subsequent research makes little or no reference to gender effects (Adams, Nelson, & Todd, 1992; Chin & Gopal, 1995; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), despite the fact that researchers have shown that sociocultural factors, such as gender and ethnic differences, influence human perceptions and behaviors (Hofstede, 1980). These socio-cultural factors can result in differences in user responses to technology innovations (Gefen & Straub, 1997). Aiming to provide theoretical extensions to the TAM model, researchers have shown that gender differences may relate to beliefs and use of IT. For instance, males and females are found to demonstrate distinct adoption behavior in use of a wide spectrum of IT applications, such as e-mail (Gefen & Straub, 1997), mobile telephony (Ling, 2000) and Internet (Kraut, Scherlis, Mukhopadhyay, Manning, & Kiesler, 1996). Nevertheless, the exact gender effect remains a controversy. Some researchers believe that females are less technology inclined, less motivated and, therefore, less competent in masculine computer and technology culture (Wilder, Mackie, & Cooper, 1985; Qureshi & Hoppel, 1995). Others, in contrast, argue that females have the ability to be proficient in adopting new technologies (Turkle, 1995). Some research results indicate that females tend to favor some technology innovations and use them more effectively than males, such as computer-mediated communication (Kraut et al., 1996; Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 1997). In health care, influence of physician gender has long been noted in resident education and many practice areas. Researchers find the procedural and obstetrical care pattern of practice differs between male and female residents (Chaytors, Szafran, & Crutcher, 2001), and physician gender significantly affects treatments in adult primary care practice (Boulis & Long, 2004). An understanding of these socio-cultural issues is also of vital importance towards success of health care IT applications. This study is thereby designed to assess medical residents’ acceptance and adoption of a Clinical Reminder System (CRS), by examining several key user characteristics that may relate to adoption and use of the system.
Entrepreneurial IT Governance
Authors: Wiggins Carla
Published: May 2011

Governance is traditionally viewed as a formal authority structure. Information Technology (IT) governance parallels this in that it refers to the patterns of authority over IT. However, traditional control theories of governance, particularly those applied to IT, may not apply in rural healthcare settings. Healthcare has significantly underinvested in IT. Even today, the vast majority of healthcare transactions occur via telephone, fax, paper, and EDI; much data is not captured, is captured incorrectly or inefficiently, and is difficult to retrieve and use. Employing an established IT governance framework, and working from the fundamental assumption that IT is a vital tool in the capture and use of healthcare data, the authors explore the appropriateness of the traditional IT governance framework within a rural healthcare setting. We present an innovative, non-authoritative, relationship-oriented approach for those seeking successful adoption of IT as a means of improving healthcare in rural settings.
Information Assurance in E-Healthcare
Authors: Cannoy Sherrie D.
Published: May 2011

There is growing concern that the healthcare industry has not adopted IT systems as widely and effectively as other industries. Healthcare technological advances generally emerge from the clinical and medical areas rather than clerical and administrative. The healthcare industry is perceived to be 10 to 15 years behind other industries in its use of information technology (Raghupathi & Tan, 1997). Incorporating new technology into the healthcare organization’s processes is risky because of the potential for patient information being disclosed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the information assurance factors involved with security regulations and electronic medical record initiatives—a first necessary step in making the healthcare industry more efficient. Noncompliance of a healthcare organization’s employees with security and privacy policies (i.e., information assurance) can result in legal and financial difficulties, as well as irreparable damage to an organization’s reputation. To implement electronic medical initiatives, it is vital that an organization has compliance with security and privacy policies. E-health technology is a relatively current phenomenon. There are two types of distance-related healthcare that are technology driven. Telehealth is known for involving telemedicine—medicine practiced over a distance, with the impetus of control being in the physician’s hands (Maheu, 2000). E-health involves the patient or physician actively searching for information or a service, usually via the Internet (Maheu). Electronic medical records fall into the e-health category because the physician, healthcare partners, and patient would be able to access the information through an Internet connection.
Strategic Maneuvering in Healthcare Technology Markets
Authors: Yurov Kirill M.
Published: May 2011

Healthcare technology markets have been recently identified as potential investment targets. Having survived a major environmental shock, the dot. com bust, firms in the healthcare technology industry are presently experiencing an impressive revenue growth. In this study, we investigate the strategies of Emdeon Corporation, a healthcare technology firm whose e-business model provides clues for achieving a sustained revenue growth and profitability. We trace the current sustainability of Emdeon’s e-business model to a related diversification strategy that the firm’s upper management has pursued via mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We also address the motivation behind current restructuring of Emdeon’s e-business model. We argue that maturation of diversified e-business models leads to the transformation of individual segments into distinct entities focusing on specific technology markets.
Healthcare Network Centric Operations
Authors: Von Lubitz Dag , Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: May 2011

Healthcare has yet to realize the true potential afforded by e-health. To date, technology-based healthcare operations are conducted chaotically, at a wide variety of nonintegrated fronts, with little or no long-term strategy, and at a tremendous and ever increasing cost. This chapter proposes that in order for healthcare to ever reap the full benefits from e-health, it is imperative for the development of a doctrine of healthcare network centric operations. Otherwise, millions if not billions of dollars will be spent on a futile chase of the definitions of how and when the computer, healthcare provider, and healthcare administrator interact most efficiently and at least expense. The concept of a doctrine, “conceptual platform,” that outlines the consequent, goal-oriented way forward, and integrates all constituent elements into a smoothly operating whole, is utilized to great effect in the military. Drawing upon the strategies and techniques employed by the military to develop a network centric doctrine, the chapter outlines the essential components necessary for the establishment of the doctrine for healthcare network centric operations (HNCO), and in so doing not only highlights the integral role played by information computer and communication technologies (IC2T) but also the pivotal role of policy makers and governments. In fact, HNCO underscores the important yet rarely acknowledged confluence of e-health and e-government.
Securing Mobile Data Computing in Healthcare
Authors: Susilo Willy
Published: May 2011

Access to mobile data and messages is essential in healthcare environment as patients and healthcare providers are mobile. This is inline with the need of ubiquitous computing in everyday life. Mobile and wireless devices can assist in ensuring patient’s safety by providing easy availability of the data at the point of care. Portability and accessibility of these devices enhances use of them in healthcare environment. However, data integrity and confidentiality of information in them need to be ensured to provide safe, effective and efficient healthcare. Mobile healthcare involves conducting healthcare related activities through using mobile devices such as a smart phone, Personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless enabled computer, iPod and so on. Mobile computing is suitable for healthcare as healthcare providers are mobile. These would be suitable for conducting patient’s healthcare activities in emergencies, ward rounds, homecare, chronic disease management, conducting clinical trials, and so on. There are various projects using mobile devices to enhance patient’s care. With the advancement of medical informatics, telemedicine and information technology, mobile data devices play an enormous role in healthcare system. In this chapter, we outline the need of mobile devices in healthcare, usage of these devices, underlying technology and applications, importance of security of these devices, securing mobile data communication in healthcare through different security models and case examples of applications that we have developed, in particular (1) iPathology tool on iPod, (2) securing healthcare information using Pocket PC 2003, and (3) securing information on handheld devices. There were several incidents in the past due to the insecurity of mobile devices that can leak information to anyone who does not have access to the information. In this chapter, we will illustrate several techniques that we have developed to protect these malicious activities and how these are applicable for securing mobile data computing in healthcare.
A Trusted System for Sharing Patient Electronic Medical Records in Autonomous Distributed Health Care Systems
Authors: Nepal Surya
Published: May 2011

The problem of assuring secure and confidential access and transfer of medical records in healthcare facilities can be partitioned into (a) secure storage and access of electronic records within a facility and (b) secure transfer of electronic records between facilities. To address the first issue, we propose a new tag-based data model for representation of electronic medical records along with patients’ policy statements. This model helps to categorize the patient information as well as express patients’ consent for a variety of domains, such as individual practitioner and facility. To address the second issue, this paper proposes a way of establishing a trust relationship between two interacting parties based on emerging trusted computing technologies, and describes its application and implementation in an electronic healthcare system. Our proposed solutions have been demonstrated by developing a prototype system utilizing trusted computing components.
Ontology-Based Spelling Correction for Searching Medical Information
Authors: Moon Jane
Published: May 2011

There has been a paradigm shift in medical practice. More and more consumers are using the Internet as a source for medical information even before seeing a doctor. The well known fact is that medical terms are often hard to spell. Despite advances in technology, the Internet is still producing futile searches when the search terms are misspelled. Often consumers are frustrated with irrelevant information they retrieve as a result of misspelling. An ontology-based search is one way of assisting users in correcting their spelling errors when searching for medical information. This chapter reviews the types of spelling errors that adults make and identifies current technology available to overcome the problem.