Exploiting the potential of large databases of electronic health records for research using rapid search algorithms and an intuitive query interface.

Objective: UK primary care databases, which contain diagnostic, demographic and prescribing information for millions of patients geographically representative of the UK, represent a significant resource for health services and clinical research. They can be used to identify patients with a specified disease or condition (phenotyping) and to investigate patterns of diagnosis and symptoms. Currently, extracting such information manually is time-consuming and requires considerable expertise. In order to exploit more fully the potential of these large and complex databases, our interdisciplinary team developed generic methods allowing access to different types of user. Materials and methods: Using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database, we have developed an online user-focused system (TrialViz), which enables users interactively to select suitable medical general practices based on two criteria: suitability of the patient base for the intended study (phenotyping) and measures of data quality. Results: An end-to-end system, underpinned by an innovative search algorithm, allows the user to extract information in near real-time via an intuitive query interface and to explore this information using interactive visualization tools. A usability evaluation of this system produced positive results. Discussion: We present the challenges and results in the development of TrialViz and our plans for its extension for wider applications of clinical research. Conclusions: Our fast search algorithms and simple query algorithms represent a significant advance for users of clinical research databases

Architectural Design and Prototyping of Co-PPGIS: A Groupware-Based Online Synchronous Collaborative PPGIS to Support Municipality Development and Planning Management Workflows

Co-PPGIS has a wide variety of applications like municipal planning, emergency response, public health and security, etc. The main focus of this chapter is on the development and design of a Web Collaborative PPGIS (Co-PPGIS) infrastructure. As part of municipality’s planning and management services, Co-PPGIS is developed for real-time map sharing application system. Co-PPGIS is an effective and essential online meeting system for supporting group collaborations on geographic information such as maps and imageries, and capturing and sharing of local/domain knowledge in real time. Co-PPGIS permits amalgamation of geospatial data and collaborator’s input in the form of geo-referenced notations. It incorporates coherent components as map sharing, real-time chat, video conferencing, geo-referenced textual and graphical notations. The study aims to focus on public participation and geo-collaboration facilitated with information sharing, interactive geo-conferencing, real-time map, and data sharing with tools to draw features or add annotation to the map while discussions, uploading documents, and live communication. Co-PPGIS provides an efficient and reliable platform that will significantly reduce the time to acquire, process, and analyze data. The significance of this study is to contribute to existing public participation practices, to municipal planning, to decision-making, or to geographic information science

Collaborative Public Participatory Web Geographic Information System: A Groupware-Based Online Synchronous Collaboration to Support Municipal Planning

Co-PPGIS has a wide variety of applications like municipal planning, emergency response, public health and security, etc. The main focus of this paper is on the development and design of a web collaborative PPGIS (Co-PPGIS) infrastructure. As part of municipality’s planning and management services, Co-PPGIS is developed for real-time map sharing application system. Co-PPGIS is an effective and essential online meeting system for supporting group collaborations on geographic information such as maps and imageries and capturing and sharing of local/domain knowledge in real time. Co-PPGIS permits amalgamation of geospatial data and collaborator’s input in the form of geo-referenced notations. It incorporates coherent components such as map sharing, real-time chat, video conferencing, and geo-referenced textual and graphical notations. The study aims to focus on public participation and geo-collaboration facilitated with information sharing, interactive geo-conferencing, real-time map, and data sharing with tools to draw features or add annotation to the map while discussions, uploading documents, and live communication. Co-PPGIS provides an efficient and reliable platform that will significantly reduce the time to acquire, process, and analyze data. The significance of this study is to contribute to existing public participation practices, to municipal planning, to decision-making, or to geographic information science

Synchronizing Keyframe Facial Animation to Multiple Text-to-Speech Engines and Natural Voice with Fast Response Time

This thesis aims to create an automated lip-synchronization system for real-time applications. Specifically, the system is required to be fast, consist of a limited number of keyframes with small memory requirements, and create fluid and believable animations that synchronize with text-to-speech engines as well as raw voice data. The algorithms utilize traditional keyframe animation and a novel method of keyframe selection. Additionally, phoneme-to-keyframe mapping, synchronization, and simple blending rules are employed. The algorithms provide blending between keyframe images, borrow information from neighboring phonemes, accentuate phonemes b, p and m, differentiate between keyframes for phonemes with allophonic variations, and provide prosodromic variation by including emotion while speaking. The lip-sync animation synchronizes with multiple synthesized voices and human speech. A fast and versatile online real-time java chat interface is created to exhibit vivid facial animation. Results show that the animation algorithms are fast and show accurate lip-synchronization. Additionally, surveys showed that the animations are visually pleasing and improve speech understandability 96% of the time. Applications for this project include internet chat capabilities, interactive teaching of foreign languages, animated news broadcasting, enhanced game technology, and cell phone messaging

Trends on interactive platforms for social media through Web2.0

With the rapid development of the Internet, social networking on Web2.0 becomes a novel social media for mass communication. It relies on new online technologies and practices to enable ordinary people to share opinions, insights, expertise, experiences, and interests with each other and further reduce the barriers to collaboration, skill-building and discovery. Web2.0 as the next generation of networking services emphasizes social interaction and share of user-generated content in a collaborative environment. It has evolved and transferred the Internet into a platform by supporting rich digital media technology for the development of innovative business, educational, and cultural applications. In conjunction with Web 3D technology, social networking has already begun to foster an intuitive and immersive system that allows effective visual communication and delivers real time natural interactive experience for enhancing user motivation and engagement compared with the traditional static and text-oriented online information systems and content management systems

Virtual Neurorobotics (VNR) to Accelerate Development of Plausible Neuromorphic Brain Architectures

Traditional research in artificial intelligence and machine learning has viewed the brain as a specially adapted information-processing system. More recently the field of social robotics has been advanced to capture the important dynamics of human cognition and interaction. An overarching societal goal of this research is to incorporate the resultant knowledge about intelligence into technology for prosthetic, assistive, security, and decision support applications. However, despite many decades of investment in learning and classification systems, this paradigm has yet to yield truly “intelligent” systems. For this reason, many investigators are now attempting to incorporate more realistic neuromorphic properties into machine learning systems, encouraged by over two decades of neuroscience research that has provided parameters that characterize the brain's interdependent genomic, proteomic, metabolomic, anatomic, and electrophysiological networks. Given the complexity of neural systems, developing tenable models to capture the essence of natural intelligence for real-time application requires that we discriminate features underlying information processing and intrinsic motivation from those reflecting biological constraints (such as maintaining structural integrity and transporting metabolic products). We propose herein a conceptual framework and an iterative method of virtual neurorobotics (VNR) intended to rapidly forward-engineer and test progressively more complex putative neuromorphic brain prototypes for their ability to support intrinsically intelligent, intentional interaction with humans. The VNR system is based on the viewpoint that a truly intelligent system must be driven by emotion rather than programmed tasking, incorporating intrinsic motivation and intentionality. We report pilot results of a closed-loop, real-time interactive VNR system with a spiking neural brain, and provide a video demonstration as online supplemental material

Transformational of conventional wafer defect disposition system info web base application to improve manufacturing performance

Material flow in complex manufacturing environment which consist of few hundred steps is highly dependent on effective information flow. Information flow interruption may impact business operations efficiency that caused higher product lead time and poor product quality performance. High dependence of human intervention to process and transfer the data will lead to late detections of the issues and high product lead time due to inefficient of response process. The objective of the study is to develop an interactive and systematic web based applications which transformed from complex and tedious desktop application system. Web base Information System through integrating data mining with knowledgebase approach is proposed for the automation purpose. The research will be carried out at CDSEM OFF-LINE Station at Penang Seagate Slider Factory. The system will be developed using online Penang Seagate Factory Information System facilities (FIS) with the ORACLE Data Mining and Knowledgebase principles. Experimental approach is developed based on Pre-Test and Post-Test principle to investigate its relative gain to the organization. The result had shown a significant impact with 50% reduction in disposition cycle time, real-time data update and 60% improvement in resources efficiency. Further improvement should be focused to improve the web based features to make the system more efficient in terms of data analysis user friendly functions by expanding the query functions. Integration of the system with the Quality Containment Web system should further evaluated to eliminate human intervention to ensure early containment

Augmented Reality in Astrophysics

Augmented Reality consists of merging live images with virtual layers of information. The rapid growth in the popularity of smartphones and tablets over recent years has provided a large base of potential users of Augmented Reality technology, and virtual layers of information can now be attached to a wide variety of physical objects. In this article, we explore the potential of Augmented Reality for astrophysical research with two distinct experiments: (1) Augmented Posters and (2) Augmented Articles. We demonstrate that the emerging technology of Augmented Reality can already be used and implemented without expert knowledge using currently available apps. Our experiments highlight the potential of Augmented Reality to improve the communication of scientific results in the field of astrophysics. We also present feedback gathered from the Australian astrophysics community that reveals evidence of some interest in this technology by astronomers who experimented with Augmented Posters. In addition, we discuss possible future trends for Augmented Reality applications in astrophysics, and explore the current limitations associated with the technology. This Augmented Article, the first of its kind, is designed to allow the reader to directly experiment with this technology.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap&SS. The final publication will be available at link.springer.co