Data driven methods for analysis and improvement of academic English writing exercises

Technology assisted learning and teaching has become an integral part of university education. Online learning systems are especially useful for language learning as they allow students to better practice the material and study at their own pace. These systems enable teachers to reach more students and reduce workload needed to correct student work. They become particularly helpful in the case of writing exercises. This thesis presents the process of improving an online learning content distribution system, the Acos server, from both student and teacher perspectives with the help of data driven methods. The work is focused on a concrete exercise type provided by the system, short answer question type, in the context of learning academic English. The thesis is divided into two parts: implementation of new user interface features of the system and log data analysis of past student activity using the Acos server. The newly implemented system features include a spellchecker, detailed feedback functionality and hint button functionality. The features led to improvement of student performance in solving the questions and decreased the difficulty level of the exercises. The proposed clustering approach for students' answers analysis aims to discover certain patterns in student behaviour and better identify their mistakes. The clustering is visualized using an interactive interface. Different feature extraction methods are compared based on both sentence syntactic and semantic structure. Constituency and Wordnet based features yield the best results for syntax based and semantics based clustering of student answers, respectively

Health Information Technology in the United States: Driving Toward Delivery System Change, 2012

Examines progress on electronic health record adoption, health information exchange under the HITECH Act, and models for meaningful delivery system reform through health information technology. Includes interview with former national HIT coordinator

Toward a conceptual framework for designing sustainable cyber-physical system architectures: A systematic mapping study

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) represent devices whose components enable interaction between machines and processes. One of the biggest challenges of these systems today is the ability to adjust to changes at the time of execution as they are implemented in environments with a multidimensional complexity, this challenge is currently addressed from the design of the systems themselves by integrating sustainability. With this problem in mind, the present document describes a systematic mapping study of the literature with the goal of demonstrating the current panorama of the frameworks, designs, and/or models used at the time of initiating the development of a cyber-physical system. As a result, it has been concluded that there is a lack of guidelines to construct sustainable, and evolvable cyber-physical systems. To address these issues, a framework for designing sustainable CPS architectures is outlined

From Data to Decision: An Implementation Model for the Use of Evidence-based Medicine, Data Analytics, and Education in Transfusion Medicine Practice

Healthcare in the United States is underperforming despite record increases in spending. The causes are as myriad and complex as the suggested solutions. It is increasingly important to carefully assess the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of treatments especially the most resource-consuming clinical interventions. Healthcare reimbursement models are evolving from fee-for-service to outcome-based payment. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has added new incentives to address some of the cost, quality, and access issues related to healthcare, making the use of healthcare data and evidence-based decision-making essential strategies. However, despite the great promise of these strategies, the transition to data-driven, evidence-based medical practice is complex and faces many challenges. This study aims to bridge the gaps that exist between data, knowledge, and practice in a healthcare setting through the use of a comprehensive framework to address the administrative, cultural, clinical, and technical issues that make the implementation and sustainability of an evidence-based program and utilization of healthcare data so challenging. The study focuses on promoting evidence-based medical practice by leveraging a performance management system, targeted education, and data analytics to improve outcomes and control costs. The framework was implemented and validated in transfusion medicine practice. Transfusion is one of the top ten coded hospital procedures in the United States. Unfortunately, the costs of transfusion are underestimated and the benefits to patients are overestimated. The particular aim of this study was to reduce practice inconsistencies in red blood cell transfusion among hospitalists in a large urban hospital using evidence-based guidelines, a performance management system, recurrent reporting of practice-specific information, focused education, and data analytics in a continuous feedback mechanism to drive appropriate decision-making prior to the decision to transfuse and prior to issuing the blood component. The research in this dissertation provides the foundation for implementation of an integrated framework that proved to be effective in encouraging evidence-based best practices among hospitalists to improve quality and lower costs of care. What follows is a discussion of the essential components of the framework, the results that were achieved and observations relative to next steps a learning healthcare organization would consider

Tools and Environments

Teaching and learning how to build software are central aspects of computing education, and the tools which we use to support this are themselves a focus of research and innovation. This chapter considers tools designed or predominately used for education; from software development environments to automatic assessment tools, visualization, and educational games platforms. It looks at not just the history and state-of-the-art of these tools, but also at the challenges and opportunities in researching with and about them

Interoperability-based optimisation of architectural design

As a major contributor to the planetary greenhouse effect, construction industry needs to adopt sustainability at the core of its activities - to reverse or slow down the impacts of climate change. Increased collaboration among stakeholders along with analysis/performance based decision making is the way forward for enhanced sustainability. Emphasis is placed on the process of shared creation through multi-disciplinary collaboration, enabled by the implementation of IT (Information Technology) that acts as a platform to augment our ability to communicate. Developments in the Construction IT have been product oriented and aimed at solving particular domain problems usually with a narrow focus - further reducing the accessibility and interoperability of information over the lifecycle stages. Advances in the semantics based interoperable data standards, such as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) offer significant advantage in removing such barriers to successful vertical and horizontal integration of software tools and process. The use of building simulation in architectural design requires specialist knowledge and a rich set of information about the proposed building which are not available to the design team at early stages. Standards based mapping of information for input processing of the simulation engines can act as an alternative to simplified tools supporting the exploratory nature of design. Detailed based input processing also restricts the use of simulation to occasional validation of solutions - even during detailed design stages. For a directed exploration of the solution space, numerical optimisation methods can be applied to enhance simulation assisted design. Successful application of optimisation methods pivots on the ability of the analysis and decision making components of the software to communicate with each other without the loss of data semantics. To realise this potential, a process-oriented integrated framework based on the interoperability of information and software tools have been developed and implemented in this thesis. For horizontal integration of domain specific tools through intra-software messaging, ardML - an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based schema has been developed which attempts to connect non-interoperable software tools. Multi-disciplinary environmental design of buildings has been chosen as the domain of discourse. The framework currently employs industry standard zonal building simulation as an analysis tool and gradient-based mathematical optimisation methods for informed decision making. Interoperability among tools, processes and information has been achieved through the implementation of IFC based data model. The modular nature of the object-oriented framework allows incorporation of existing and future tools. The applicability of the framework has been investigated in the early stages of architectural design, in particular the selection of form and orientation - considering the environmental aspects. The implementation of the framework at an ambiguous and exploratory stage of design reinforces its applicability in a wider industry context

From programme theory to logic models for multispecialty community providers: a realist evidence synthesis

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Background: The NHS policy of constructing multispecialty community providers (MCPs) rests on a complex set of assumptions about how health systems can replace hospital use with enhanced primary care for people with complex, chronic or multiple health problems, while contributing savings to health-care budgets. Objectives: To use policy-makers’ assumptions to elicit an initial programme theory (IPT) of how MCPs can achieve their outcomes and to compare this with published secondary evidence and revise the programme theory accordingly. Design: Realist synthesis with a three-stage method: (1) for policy documents, elicit the IPT underlying the MCP policy, (2) review and synthesise secondary evidence relevant to those assumptions and (3) compare the programme theory with the secondary evidence and, when necessary, reformulate the programme theory in a more evidence-based way. Data sources: Systematic searches and data extraction using (1) the Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) database for policy statements and (2) topically appropriate databases, including MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, PsycINFO, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA). A total of 1319 titles and abstracts were reviewed in two rounds and 116 were selected for full-text data extraction. We extracted data using a formal data extraction tool and synthesised them using a framework reflecting the main policy assumptions. Results: The IPT of MCPs contained 28 interconnected context–mechanism–outcome relationships. Few policy statements specified what contexts the policy mechanisms required. We found strong evidence supporting the IPT assumptions concerning organisational culture, interorganisational network management, multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), the uses and effects of health information technology (HIT) in MCP-like settings, planned referral networks, care planning for individual patients and the diversion of patients from inpatient to primary care. The evidence was weaker, or mixed (supporting some of the constituent assumptions but not others), concerning voluntary sector involvement, the effects of preventative care on hospital admissions and patient experience, planned referral networks and demand management systems. The evidence about the effects of referral reductions on costs was equivocal. We found no studies confirming that the development of preventative care would reduce demands on inpatient services. The IPT had overlooked certain mechanisms relevant to MCPs, mostly concerning MDTs and the uses of HITs. Limitations: The studies reviewed were limited to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and, because of the large amount of published material, the period 2014–16, assuming that later studies, especially systematic reviews, already include important earlier findings. No empirical studies of MCPs yet existed. Conclusions: Multidisciplinary teams are a central mechanism by which MCPs (and equivalent networks and organisations) work, provided that the teams include the relevant professions (hence, organisations) and, for care planning, individual patients. Further primary research would be required to test elements of the revised logic model, in particular about (1) how MDTs and enhanced general practice compare and interact, or can be combined, in managing referral networks and (2) under what circumstances diverting patients from in-patient to primary care reduces NHS costs and improves the quality of patient experience.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR

From programme theory to logic models for multispecialty community providers: a realist evidence synthesis

BackgroundThe NHS policy of constructing multispecialty community providers (MCPs) rests on a complex set of assumptions about how health systems can replace hospital use with enhanced primary care for people with complex, chronic or multiple health problems, while contributing savings to health-care budgets.ObjectivesTo use policy-makers’ assumptions to elicit an initial programme theory (IPT) of how MCPs can achieve their outcomes and to compare this with published secondary evidence and revise the programme theory accordingly.DesignRealist synthesis with a three-stage method: (1) for policy documents, elicit the IPT underlying the MCP policy, (2) review and synthesise secondary evidence relevant to those assumptions and (3) compare the programme theory with the secondary evidence and, when necessary, reformulate the programme theory in a more evidence-based way.Data sourcesSystematic searches and data extraction using (1) the Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) database for policy statements and (2) topically appropriate databases, including MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, PsycINFO, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA). A total of 1319 titles and abstracts were reviewed in two rounds and 116 were selected for full-text data extraction. We extracted data using a formal data extraction tool and synthesised them using a framework reflecting the main policy assumptions.ResultsThe IPT of MCPs contained 28 interconnected context–mechanism–outcome relationships. Few policy statements specified what contexts the policy mechanisms required. We found strong evidence supporting the IPT assumptions concerning organisational culture, interorganisational network management, multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), the uses and effects of health information technology (HIT) in MCP-like settings, planned referral networks, care planning for individual patients and the diversion of patients from inpatient to primary care. The evidence was weaker, or mixed (supporting some of the constituent assumptions but not others), concerning voluntary sector involvement, the effects of preventative care on hospital admissions and patient experience, planned referral networks and demand management systems. The evidence about the effects of referral reductions on costs was equivocal. We found no studies confirming that the development of preventative care would reduce demands on inpatient services. The IPT had overlooked certain mechanisms relevant to MCPs, mostly concerning MDTs and the uses of HITs.LimitationsThe studies reviewed were limited to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and, because of the large amount of published material, the period 2014–16, assuming that later studies, especially systematic reviews, already include important earlier findings. No empirical studies of MCPs yet existed.ConclusionsMultidisciplinary teams are a central mechanism by which MCPs (and equivalent networks and organisations) work, provided that the teams include the relevant professions (hence, organisations) and, for care planning, individual patients. Further primary research would be required to test elements of the revised logic model, in particular about (1) how MDTs and enhanced general practice compare and interact, or can be combined, in managing referral networks and (2) under what circumstances diverting patients from in-patient to primary care reduces NHS costs and improves the quality of patient experience.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42016038900.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula