Development of a first-contact protocol to guide assessment of adult patients in rehabilitation services networks

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the development of the Protocol for Identification of Problems for Rehabilitation (PLPR), a tool to standardize collection of functional information based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTOCOL: The PLPR was developed for use during the initial contact with adult patients within a public network of rehabilitation services. Steps to develop the protocol included: survey of the ICF codes most used by clinical professionals; compilation of data from functional instruments; development and pilot testing of a preliminary version in the service settings; discussion with professionals and development of the final version. The final version includes: user identification; social and health information; brief functional description (BFD); summary of the BFD; and PLPR results. Further testing of the final version will be conducted. CONCLUSIONS: The protocol standardizes the first contact between the user and the rehabilitation service. Systematic use of the protocol could also help to create a functional database that would allow comparisons between rehabilitation services and countries over time

Environmental Response Management Application

The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC), a partnership between the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and NOAA\u27s Office of Response and Restoration (ORR), is leading an effort to develop a data platform capable of interfacing both static and real-time data sets accessible simultaneously to a command post and assets in the field with an open source internet mapping server. The Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA™) is designed to give responders and decision makers ready access to geographically specific data useful during spill planning/drills, incident response, damage assessment and site restoration. In addition to oil spill and chemical release response, this website can be relevant to other environmental incidents and natural disasters, responses and regional planning efforts. The platform is easy to operate, without the assistance of Information Technology or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists. It allows users to access individual data layer values, overlay relevant data sets, and zoom into segments of interest. The platform prototype is being developed specifically for Portsmouth Harbor and the Great Bay Estuary, NH. The prototype demonstrates the capabilities of an integrated data management platform and serves as the pilot for web-based GIS platforms in other regions

Autonomous dexterous end-effectors for space robotics

The development of a knowledge-based controller is summarized for the Belgrade/USC robot hand, a five-fingered end effector, designed for maximum autonomy. The biological principles of the hand and its architecture are presented. The conceptual and software aspects of the grasp selection system are discussed, including both the effects of the geometry of the target object and the task to be performed. Some current research issues are presented

Design and Implementation of a Secured Census Information Management System

Census in most countries has been faced with various natural and human made barriers. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop a systematic, coordinated, and responsive database which will adequately interact with a web application by harnessing the strengths of computational science and biometrics. The programming language employed in the development of this web-based application was the C#.NET programming language. Microsoft Visual Studio was used as an integrated environment for the development of this tool. Microsoft SQL Server (2005) served as a relational database management application for handling the data used in this research. From the results obtained from this research work, it had shown that with design and implementation of a secured system information countries can make informed decisions for effective policy, planning and management of their ever-increasing populace and economy

Query processing of geometric objects with free form boundarie sin spatial databases

The increasing demand for the use of database systems as an integrating factor in CAD/CAM applications has necessitated the development of database systems with appropriate modelling and retrieval capabilities. One essential problem is the treatment of geometric data which has led to the development of spatial databases. Unfortunately, most proposals only deal with simple geometric objects like multidimensional points and rectangles. On the other hand, there has been a rapid development in the field of representing geometric objects with free form curves or surfaces, initiated by engineering applications such as mechanical engineering, aviation or astronautics. Therefore, we propose a concept for the realization of spatial retrieval operations on geometric objects with free form boundaries, such as B-spline or Bezier curves, which can easily be integrated in a database management system. The key concept is the encapsulation of geometric operations in a so-called query processor. First, this enables the definition of an interface allowing the integration into the data model and the definition of the query language of a database system for complex objects. Second, the approach allows the use of an arbitrary representation of the geometric objects. After a short description of the query processor, we propose some representations for free form objects determined by B-spline or Bezier curves. The goal of efficient query processing in a database environment is achieved using a combination of decomposition techniques and spatial access methods. Finally, we present some experimental results indicating that the performance of decomposition techniques is clearly superior to traditional query processing strategies for geometric objects with free form boundaries

Object-oriented querying of existing relational databases

In this paper, we present algorithms which allow an object-oriented querying of existing relational databases. Our goal is to provide an improved query interface for relational systems with better query facilities than SQL. This seems to be very important since, in real world applications, relational systems are most commonly used and their dominance will remain in the near future. To overcome the drawbacks of relational systems, especially the poor query facilities of SQL, we propose a schema transformation and a query translation algorithm. The schema transformation algorithm uses additional semantic information to enhance the relational schema and transform it into a corresponding object-oriented schema. If the additional semantic information can be deducted from an underlying entity-relationship design schema, the schema transformation may be done fully automatically. To query the created object-oriented schema, we use the Structured Object Query Language (SOQL) which provides declarative query facilities on objects. SOQL queries using the created object-oriented schema are much shorter, easier to write and understand and more intuitive than corresponding S Q L queries leading to an enhanced usability and an improved querying of the database. The query translation algorithm automatically translates SOQL queries into equivalent SQL queries for the original relational schema

HepSEQ: International Public Health Repository for Hepatitis B

HepSEQ is a repository for an extensive library of public health and molecular data relating to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection collected from international sources. It is hosted by the Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency (HPA), England, United Kingdom. This repository has been developed as a web-enabled, quality-controlled database to act as a tool for surveillance, HBV case management and for research. The web front-end for the database system can be accessed from . The format of the database system allows for comprehensive molecular, clinical and epidemiological data to be deposited into a functional database, to search and manipulate the stored data and to extract and visualize the information on epidemiological, virological, clinical, nucleotide sequence and mutational aspects of HBV infection through web front-end. Specific tools, built into the database, can be utilized to analyse deposited data and provide information on HBV genotype, identify mutations with known clinical significance (e.g. vaccine escape, precore and antiviral-resistant mutations) and carry out sequence homology searches against other deposited strains. Further mechanisms are also in place to allow specific tailored searches of the database to be undertaken

The Virtual University and Avatar Technology: E-learning Through Future Technology

E-learning gains increasingly importance in academic education. Beyond present distance learning technologies a new opportunity emerges by the use of advanced avatar technology. Virtual robots acting in an environment of a virtual campus offer opportunities of advanced learning experiences. Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bridge time zones and ease professional constraints of mature students. Undergraduate students may use such technology to build up topics of their studies beyond taught lectures. Objectives of the paper are to research the options, extent and limitations of avatar technology for academic studies in under- and postgraduate courses and to discuss students' potential acceptance or rejection of interaction with AI. The research method is a case study based on Sir Tony Dyson's avatar technology iBot2000. Sir Tony is a worldwide acknowledged robot specialist, creator of Star Wars' R2D2, who developed in recent years the iBot2000 technology, intelligent avatars adaptable to different environments with the availability to speak up to eight different languages and capable to provide logic answers to questions asked. This technology underwent many prototypes with the latest specific goal to offer blended E-learning entering the field of the virtual 3-D university extending Web2.0 to Web3.0 (Dyson. 2009). Sir Tony included his vast experiences gained in his personal (teaching) work with children for which he received his knighthood. The data was mainly collected through interviews with Sir Tony Dyson, which helps discover the inventor’s view on why such technology is of advantage for academic studies. Based on interviews with Sir Tony, this research critically analyses the options, richness and restrictions, which avatar (iBot2000) technology may add to academic studies. The conclusion will discuss the opportunities, which avatar technology may be able to bring to learning and teaching activities, and the foreseeable limitations – the amount of resources required and the complexity to build a fully integrated virtual 3-D campus. Key Words: virtual learning, avatar technology, iBot2000, virtual universit

An intelligent energy management system for educational buildings

There is a wide variation in the energy consumption between different educational institutions due to the adoption of different management strategies and different levels of occupants’ environmental understanding. The presence of large amounts of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system causes a major consumption of energy in higher education institution (HEI) buildings. The main objective of this research is to investigate the use of ICT to optimize the energy consumption in HEI buildings and reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission. The first phase of the system has been implemented at King Saud University to measure energy consumption through sensors that read energy consumption of electrical appliances and devices every 10 seconds. The analysis of collected data allows us to develop and employ energy saving strategies that lead to a reduction in total energy consumption. Our preliminary results show that up to 17% of energy consumption can be reduced by simply dealing with standby energy loss of labs’ computers. The novelty of this research comes from the use of a functional database approach to deal with high volume of data and query performance and the incorporation of a timetabling system in energy management system