Grid simulation services for the medical community

The first part of this paper presents a selection of medical simulation applications, including image reconstruction, near real-time registration for neuro-surgery, enhanced dose distribution calculation for radio-therapy, inhaled drug delivery prediction, plastic surgery planning and cardio-vascular system simulation. The latter two topics are discussed in some detail. In the second part, we show how such services can be made available to the clinical practitioner using Grid technology. We discuss the developments and experience made during the EU project GEMSS, which provides reliable, efficient, secure and lawful medical Grid services

A co-occurrence framework conceptualized for bridging the gap between basic science, clinical research and clinical practices

The intellectual impulsiveness of man to understand the unknown and the continual need of the society to improve healthcare have encouraged extensive investigation on numerous and diverse cause-and-effect relationships. The nature of this endeavor, however, renders the inability of investigator at all levels to escape beyond the narrow conceptual boundary described by an early French philosopher as the vicious cycle. To enjoy the theoretically plausible benefits of refined labor division, data-driven healthcare management, and real-time evidence-based practices, it must first be acknowledged that co-occurrence is better than cause-and-effect in explaining how an observation takes place at a particular time. This paper details a co-occurrence framework, and discusses its implications for the global healthcare system

Data Base Management for Geographic Information Systems

A logical approach to determine the data base 'order of entry' is presented which utilizes management techniques and 'consideration factors'

Strategy Patterns for Evaluating and Improving Usability

Patterns have had significant impact in many disciplines, particularly in software and web engineering, and we believe that they also provide a basis for selecting evaluation strategies via practical tips and tricks that can be easily adopted for evaluation and change projects. In this paper, we propose a holistic quality evaluation approach for usability and user experience (UX), which relies on quality views and strategy patterns. A quality view relates accordingly an entity super-category (e.g., product, system, system in use) with a quality focus (e.g., internal quality, external quality, quality in use). Usability and user experience are higher-level characteristics that should be linked to quality views appropriately. Also quality views support ‘influences’ and ‘depends on’ relationships between them. With a concrete evaluation or change project goal, our approach selects and instantiates a suitable strategy from a set of strategy patterns. Practical use of our approach is demonstrated through the specification and use of a strategy pattern in the evaluation of the Facebook mobile app.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Strategy Patterns for Evaluating and Improving Usability

Patterns have had significant impact in many disciplines, particularly in software and web engineering, and we believe that they also provide a basis for selecting evaluation strategies via practical tips and tricks that can be easily adopted for evaluation and change projects. In this paper, we propose a holistic quality evaluation approach for usability and user experience (UX), which relies on quality views and strategy patterns. A quality view relates accordingly an entity super-category (e.g., product, system, system in use) with a quality focus (e.g., internal quality, external quality, quality in use). Usability and user experience are higher-level characteristics that should be linked to quality views appropriately. Also quality views support ‘influences’ and ‘depends on’ relationships between them. With a concrete evaluation or change project goal, our approach selects and instantiates a suitable strategy from a set of strategy patterns. Practical use of our approach is demonstrated through the specification and use of a strategy pattern in the evaluation of the Facebook mobile app.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Portfolio-Based Writing Assessment: An Investigation of Postsecondary Practices

The primary focus of this study was to identify the commonalities of portfolio-based writing practices as occurs in existing literature; to determine how portfolio assessment is used in postsecondary English programs; to assess whether portfolio-based writing produced improvement in student knowledge and skills; and to determine the impact portfolio-based writing assessment has had on departmental practices. To achieve this end, the researcher designed and administered a questionnaire and conducted follow up telephone interviews with Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) at colleges and universities with established portfolio-based writing assessment programs. Follow up mailings of questionnaires, electronic mailings, and telephone calls were undertaken by the researcher. The data gathering phase included coding, analyzing, and reporting of the findings. As a result, the conclusions of the study are as follows: postsecondary institutions participating in these studies are using portfolios for pre-placement and placement in Freshman English as an exit examination from Freshman English and for assessment of the departmental program. Despite all of the mentioned uses of portfolio-based writing assessment in colleges and universities, the questionnaire revealed that ninety-nine percent (99%) of the respondents were unable to provide a definitive definition of portfolios. Rather, respondents provided two types of descriptions. First, respondents gave detailed descriptions of content, including the number of entries presented for final evaluation. Second, respondents explained how assessment teams used rubrics to certify writing competency. Based on the results of the study, the researcher offers the following recommendations for portfolio development and research: Portfolio Development 1. Formulate, articulate, and publish course objectives, and learning outcomes for freshman composition. 2. Afford students more active involvement in determining standards of performance. 3. Involve faculty members across disciplines to establish program policies to promote collegiality. Portfolio Research 1. Design studies that assess the impact on departmental goals. 2. Plan and implement a series of longitudinal studies at three year intervals to determine the effectiveness of portfolio-based writing assessment. 3. Assess and evaluate results from longitudinal studies to improve portfolio content and process

DroughtScape- Spring 2017

CONTENTS Drought center helps islands reduce drought vulnerability.......... 2 2017 sees above-average precipitation, warmer temps.......... 3 California pulls out of drought............. 4 After tech transfer, training Tunisia launches first drought map............... 6 Drought center releases 2016 annual report.............. 7 Book chapter focuses on drought and health................ 8 U2U wraps up, brings useful tools to farmers...............9 Survey finds drought info leads to better decisions.............. 1

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC REVENUE MANAGEMENT IN MANUFACTURING - A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Manufacturing providers aim not only for a revenu maximizing allocation of their limited production capacity but also for the establishment of long-term customer relations. Du to long-term contracts and strategic reference customers, users of traditional revenu management systems already account for varying worthiness of clients, and intuitively ignore or override booking control suggestions, such as order´s denial or pricing level, in order not to endanger customer relations. So with a view to a holistic approach, the integration of both management concepts, each of decisive competitive impact, is advised. However, an implemented IT-system, that provides the revenu analyst with greater insights, higher accuracy, quality and trust in decision process, is still missing in manufacturing industry. This reflects the common frustration of managers and analysts in practice when dealing with conflicting ideas or theories generated by research community. We believe our prototype is the first to supply analysts with formatted and summarized information to make transparent and comprehensible control decisions, suggesting specific booking control actions based on simulation results and integrated usage of provided data. It also accounts for the strategic dimension of the problem when confronted with these partly diametric objectives of revenu vs. customer relationship management