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An activity-theoretical method for studying user participation in IS design.

OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to present an activity-theoretical method for studying the effects of user participation in IS development. METHODS: This method is developed through a case study of the process of designing a diabetes database. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The method consists of a historical analysis of the design process, an ethnographical study of the use of the database, and researcher-driven interventions into the on-going user-producer interaction. In the historical analysis, we study particularly which user groups of the database have influenced the design work and which perspectives need to be incorporated into the design in the near future. An analytical model consisting of perspectives on local design, particular technology, and societal domain is introduced as a conceptual tool for this analysis. We also introduce the possibility of employing the historical analysis in guiding an ethnographical study of the user sites and researcher-driven interventions, which provide the participants with tools for improving their design process.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

YODA: selecting signature oligonucleotides.

MOTIVATION: Selecting oligonucleotide probes for use in microarray design, and other applications requiring signature sequences, involves identifying sequences which will bind strongly to their intended target, while binding only weakly (or preferably, not at all) to non-target sequences which may be present in the hybridization reaction. While many tools to assist in selection of such sequences exist, all the ones we examined lack important oligo design and software features. RESULTS: YODA is an application for assisting biological researchers in selecting signature sequences. It incorporates a custom sequence similarity search to find potential cross-hybridizing non-target sequences. For this task, most oligo design tools rely on BLAST, which is ill suited for it due to an unacceptable risk of false negatives. YODA supports multiple probe design goals including single-genome, multiple-genome, pathogen-host and species/strain-identification. A graphical interface is provided as well as a command-line interface, both of which support many user-controlled parameters. YODA is easy to install and use and runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. AVAILABILITY: Freely available (LGLP) along with source code and additional documentation at http://pathport.vbi.vt.edu/YODA CONTACT: enordber@vbi.vt.edu.

Algorithms↗

Transforming clinical dictation into structured notes in an ambulatory care practice.

Structured clinical encounter notes offer many advantages compared to free text notes. However, cost and other issues limit their widespread use. At our institution, the electronic medical record (EMR) used by an Internal Medicine practice was designed years ago to utilize structured data. This paper describes a technique to improve the process by which structured notes are dictated and transcribed. We outsourced transcription services and then passed the files through parsing software to structure the data to the granularity required for our database. Software was built to handle all aspects of the process including file validation, parsing, and review. During our pilot project, more than 10,000 notes were parsed, reviewed and uploaded into the EMR.

Ambulatory Care↗

On the design of a generic and scalable multilayer software architecture for data flow management in the intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVES: The current Intensive Care Information Systems (IC-ISs) collect and store monitoring data in on automated way and can replace all paper forms by an electronic equivalent, resulting in a paperless ICU. Future development of IC-ISs will now have to focus on bedside clinical decision support. The current IC-ISs are data-driven systems, with a two-layer software architecture. This software architecture is hardly maintainable and probably not the most optimal architecture to make the transition towards future systems with-decision support. The aim of this research was to address the design of an alternative software architecture based on new paradigms. METHODS: State-of-the art component, middleware and agent technology were deployed to design and implement a software architecture for ICU data flow management. RESULTS: An advanced multi-layer architecture for efficient data flow management in the ICU has been designed. The architecture is both generic and scalable, which means that it neither depends on a particular ICU nor on the deployed monitoring devices. Automatic device detection and Graphical User Interface generation are taken into account. Furthermore, a demonstrator has been developed as a proof that the proposed conceptual software architecture is feasible in practice. The core of the new architecture consists of Bed Decision Agents (BDAs). The introduction of BDAs, who perform specific dedicated tasks, improves the adaptability and maintainability of the future very complex IC-ISs. CONCLUSIONS: A software architecture, based on component, middleware and agent technology, is feasible and offers important advantages over the currently used two-layer software architecture.

Computer Systems↗

Fundamentals of computerised data acquisition in the human performance laboratory.

Researchers of the future will depend upon computer technology to address questions that previously could not be answered using traditional methods of data acquisition. Recent advances in computer design and software availability have eliminated many of the limitations previously associated with computer use in the laboratory setting. Although computerisation facilitates the acquisition of laboratory data, identification of errors introduced into the measurement is often more difficult. The laboratory computer is only one component of an automated data acquisition system. A system designed to collect physiological data comprises several primary components, including: (a) sensing element; (b) signal amplification/conditioning circuits; (c) analogue display; (d) computer interface; (e) laboratory computer; and (f) acquisition software. The acquisition and conditioning of analogue signals is accomplished using traditional laboratory procedures familiar to the researcher. Converting this analogue signal into a digital format used by the computer, however, represents new techniques. Fundamentals of computerised data acquisition are discussed. An understanding of how an automated data acquisition system is configured and the techniques used to transform the values will assist the user in identifying sources of error introduced into the measurement. Additionally, familiarization with the methods of computerisation will provide insight into future applications of computer technology in the human performance laboratory.

Analog-Digital Conversion↗

NEOANEMIA: a knowledge-based system emulating diagnostic reasoning.

Medical diagnosis can be modeled in terms of the classical notions of abduction, deduction, and induction. Abduction is making a preliminary guess that allows one to establish a set of plausible diagnostic hypotheses, followed by deduction for exploring their consequences and induction for testing the hypotheses with available patient data or for planning the acquisition of new data. Such a description of diagnostic reasoning at a knowledge level helps the construction of an expert system by fashioning the adopted expert system building tool to reflect the structure of the problem rather than by fitting the problem to the tool. To this aim, reasoning strategies need to be represented abstractly, separate from medical facts and relations, to make the design more transparent and explainable.

Anemia↗

Participatory design of information systems in health care.

AIM: To study the objectives, processes, and ideologies expressed during participatory design of information systems (PDIS) in health care. DESIGN: Longitudinal documentation of project meetings by video recording. Grounded theory development in three steps. SETTING: Systems development project in primary care. RESULTS: The developing system was discussed mainly from a clinical and practical, as opposed to a technical, viewpoint. The design decisions were related to societal-level participants and institutions. This external influence on design decisions was mediated by design voices in discussions, each having its own scope. CONCLUSIONS: The social environment has to be considered when applying PDIS in health care. Instructions for nondesigners can be used to introduce them to the design objectives, processes, and ideologies on which PDIS is based and to support them when relating clinical and practical design questions to the existing social constraints and norms.

Group Processes↗

[The design of near infrared mammography computer-aided diagnosis system].

Near infrared mammography is a new method for breast imaging for popular examination. Its merits are no radiation, without the necessaries of darkroom, etc. Based on the digital image processing and analysis system, the doctor can get informations more conveniently and with higher diagnosis reliability. In this paper, the near infrared image acquisition, processing and analysis system and its implementation are presented.

Algorithms↗

Positioning the patient: normative analysis of electronic patient records.

OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to take the current ethical research on electronic patient records beyond the ethical-legal issues of privacy to include contemporary issues of the 'politics of technology' and 'value sensitive design'. METHODS: The paper employs an interpretive approach to analyze research on electronic patient records with concepts of the politics of technology and value sensitive design. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The broad development towards computerization of patient records lacks needed attention to the potential effects of such systems on the patients. This paper argues for a broader understanding of the normative aspects involved in the design and implementation of electronic patient records (EPRs). It suggests three supplemental dimensions for normative analysis of EPR design relevant to the position of the patient: presence, agency, and identity. These dimension are discussed and illustrated as concepts connecting ethical dimensions of patienthood with design features of EPRs.

Humans↗

Design and validation of an automated hydrostatic weighing system.

The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate the validity of an automated technique to assess body density using a computerized hydrostatic weighing system. An existing hydrostatic tank was modified and interfaced with a microcomputer equipped with an analog-to-digital converter. Software was designed to input variables, control the collection of data, calculate selected measurements, and provide a summary of the results of each session. Validity of the data obtained utilizing the automated hydrostatic weighing system was estimated by: evaluating the reliability of the transducer/computer interface to measure objects of known underwater weight; comparing the data against a criterion measure; and determining inter-session subject reliability. Values obtained from the automated system were found to be highly correlated with known underwater weights (r = 0.99, SEE = 0.0060 kg). Data concurrently obtained utilizing the automated system and a manual chart recorder were also found to be highly correlated (r = 0.99, SEE = 0.0606 kg). Inter-session subject reliability was determined utilizing data collected on subjects (N = 16) tested on two occasions approximately 24 h apart. Correlations revealed high relationships between measures of underwater weight (r = 0.99, SEE = 0.1399 kg) and body density (r = 0.98, SEE = 0.00244 g X cm-1). Results indicate that a computerized hydrostatic weighing system is a valid and reliable method for determining underwater weight.

Adult↗

A new design of stochastic partnership models for epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases with stages.

A problem of importance in modelling epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases is the development of mathematical structures accommodating sexual and other contacts among members of a population. Because these models may be complex, it is often necessary to use computer intensive methods in their analysis, which raises questions on the design of computer models. In this paper a new approach to designing models sexual contacts is presented within the context of a stochastic model accommodating the formation and dissolution of partnerships in heterosexual populations. Emphasis will be placed on the development of algorithms with a view towards developing software to implement computer intensive methods. Unlike previous formulations, rather than using rejection methods in Monte Carlo simulations to impose necessary constraints on random functions describing partnership formation, in the new formulation all constraints are satisfied with probability one.

Algorithms↗

Ability of a computerized geriatric assessment to predict need for change in living status among elderly living at home.

The objective of this study was to determine the ability of a software program used in a primary care physician's office to predict the need for alternate living arrangement in a cohort of community-dwelling elderly. An analysis was conducted involving 124 consecutive patients between February 10, 1990, and December 20, 1991, in my private medical practice. These patients, all older than 65 years, underwent a computer-assisted geriatric assessment. Two scales--the Geriatric Functional Rating Scale (GFRS) and the Functional Assessment Screening Questionnaire (FASQ)--were compared for their accuracy at predicting change in living status during the 12- to 24-month period following the assessment. Similar analysis of the Tinetti gait and balance test was also performed. Ten and one-half percent of subjects (n = 13) required a change in living status during the study period. Ten went to nursing homes and three joined relatives' households. The GFRS was 62% accurate (8/13) and the FASQ was 54% (7/13) accurate in predicting this change. Abnormality in both gait and balance was predictive 77% (10/13) of the time. Combining all three parameters raised the successful prediction rate to 85% (11/13). Neither GFRS, FASQ, nor gait/balance testing was predictive of death. A computer software program designed to facilitate performance of geriatric assessments in primary care physicians' offices has a high rate of predictive capability relative to future need for change in living status among community-dwelling elderly. Further studies comparing this software program with traditional geriatric assessment protocols are suggested.

Activities of Daily Living↗

[Medical informatics on the eve of the 21st century and the tasks of the dental service in Russia].

The problems and tasks of information provision of dental service in Russia for all levels, from federal to regional health center are discussed as well as the concept of development and program of information provision in dentistry, software for automated working places of dentists, local network for dental centers and dentistry departments, software for differential diagnosis and treatment of the main dental diseases, such as caries, pulpitis, periodontitis, diseases of the periodontium and buccal mucosa, benign tumors, etc., for rapid screening of dental patients for AIDS and other diseases, design and software for computers intended for computer training of students and dentists, stomatology search and reference information system, etc.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

The design of a computer-assisted education system using a CT scanner computer.

The minicomputer that is part of a commercial CT scanner has been used to develop a general purpose computer-assisted education system. This allows instruction in radiology using the CT computer already installed in the radiology department. The computer software was designed as a course interpreter, allowing the courses themselves to be written in English. Images and educational text are stored on separate disk files and displayed by the interpreter.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

Dynamic performance of horizontal flexible anchor lines during fall arrest--a numerical method of simulation.

Designing fall arrest systems, which contain horizontal flexible anchor lines is an important technical problem related to the safety of people who work at a height and need horizontal freedom of movement. The article presents a numerical simulation of the dynamic performance of horizontal flexible anchor lines during fall arrest. The model of a 2-component system a horizontal flexible anchor line and a falling rigid mass, described with a second order non-linear differential equation is the main element of this method. This method of simulation is realised by a computer program, which allows obtaining the most important data characterising a fall arrest. The article shows laboratory tests used for the verification of this method, which turned out to be a valuable source of information and which can be used for designing fall arrest systems.

Accidental Falls↗