A decision support tool to identify countermeasures for pedestrian safety

Enhancing pedestrian safety and providing a pedestrian-friendly environment are key goals for urban planning and public works organizations. The primary tasks to be accomplished in enhancing pedestrian safety include identifying high pedestrian risk locations and implementing appropriate countermeasures to minimize the risks. The selection of such countermeasures to address specific pedestrian safety concerns should be done based on factors that influence the risks. A methodology to identify suitable countermeasures for various scenarios is developed in this research. The factors considered for selection are crash contributing factors, roadway functional class, posted speed limits, type of location (intersection/non-intersection), vulnerable age groups of pedestrians, and average daily traffic. A computerized decision support tool that helps the user to identify appropriate pedestrian safety countermeasures is developed. This tool is automated in Microsoft Excel environment using Visual Basic Applications

Development of an online information and support resource for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients considering surgery: perspectives of health care providers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis who are considering spinal surgery face a major decision that requires access to in-depth information and support. Unfortunately, most online resources provide incomplete and inconsistent information and minimal social support. The aim of this study was to develop an online information and support resource for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients considering spinal surgery. Prior to website development, a user-based needs assessment was conducted. The needs assessment involved a total of six focus groups with three stakeholder groups: (1) post-operative AIS patients or surgical candidates (10-18 years) (n = 11), (2) their parents (n = 6) and (3) health care providers (n = 11). This paper reports on the findings from focus groups with health care providers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Focus group methodology was used to invite a range of perspectives and stimulate discussion. During audio-recorded focus groups, an emergent table of website content was presented to participants for assessment of relevance, viability and comprehensiveness in targeting global domains of need. Specifically, effective presentation of content, desired aspects of information and support, and discussions about the value of peer support and the role of health professionals were addressed. Focus group transcripts were then subject to content analysis through a constant comparative review and analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two focus groups were held with health care providers, consisting of 5 and 6 members respectively. Clinicians provided their perceptions of the information and support needs of surgical patients and their families and how this information and support should be delivered using internet technology. Health care providers proposed four key suggestions to consider in the development of this online resource: (1) create the website with the target audience in mind; (2) clearly state the purpose of the website and organize website content to support the user; (3) offer a professionally-moderated interactive support component; and (4) ensure accessibility of website information and support by considering the age, gender, reading level and geographic location of potential users.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Health care providers collectively identified the need for the development of an online information and support resource for adolescents considering surgery for AIS and their families and described the proposed website as a positive and needed adjunct to current clinical care.</p

A multi-agent system to support location based group decision making in mobile teams

This paper describes an agent-based approach for developing a location-based asynchronous group decision-support system for mobile teams. The approach maximises the use of reusable service components (GSCmas — generic service component for multi-agent systems) as the main interaction mechanism between agents to allow flexible support of a new group-decision process. The paper describes the architecture of a GSCmas and provides details of how the GSCmas is integrated within a decision support system. Finally a system (mPower) based on the proposed approach is introduced and applied to a location-based group decision problem

Early evaluation of Unistats: user experiences

This paper sets out the findings of the user evaluation of Unistats.UK Higher Education Funding Bodie

Improving Transportation Construction Project Performance: Development of a Model to Support the Decision-Making Process for Incentive/Disincentive Construction Projects, MTI Report 09-07

This research presents a project time and cost performance simulation model to assist project planners and managers by providing a complete picture during the Incentive/Disincentive (I/D) contracting decision-making process of possible performance outcomes with probabilities based on historical data. This study was performed by collecting transportation construction project data. The collected project data from the Florida Department of Transportation were evaluated using time and cost performance indices and then statistical data analysis was performed to identify important factors that influence construction project time performance. Using Monte Carlo simulation procedures, this study demonstrated a methodology for developing an I/D project time and cost performance prediction model. User-friendly visual interfaces were developed to perform the simulation and report results using Visual Basic Application programming. The developed model was validated using additional cases of transportation construction projects. Based on statistical analysis, this research found that several project factors influence I/D contracting performance. The important factors that had significant impacts on project performance were the effects of contract type, project type, district, project size, project length, maximum incentive amount, and daily I/D amount. In conclusion, the developed model applied to I/D contracting projects will be a useful tool to assist the project planners and managers during the decision-making process and will promote the efficient use of I/D contracting, which will benefit the traveling public by saving their travel time from construction delays. With additional project data, the developed model can be updated easily and the more data used for the model, the better the accuracy of prediction that can be expected

Recording of time-varying back-pain data: A wireless solution

Chronic back pain is a debilitating experience for a considerable proportion of the adult population, with a significant impact on countries’ economies and health systems. While there has been increasing anecdotal evidence to support the fact that for certain categories of patients (such as wheelchair users), the back pain experienced is dynamically varying with time, there is a relative scarcity of data to support and document this observation, with consequential impact upon such patients’ treatment and care. Part of the reason behind this state of affairs is the relative difficulty in gathering pain measurements at precisely defined moments in time. In this paper,we describe a wireless-enabled solution that collects both questionnaire and diagrammatic, visual-based data, via a pain drawing, which overcomes such limitations, enabling seamless data collection and its upload to a hospital server using existing wireless fidelity technology. Results show that it is generally perceived to be an easy-to-use and convenient solution to the challenges of anywhere/anytime data collection

User-centered design of a dynamic-autonomy remote interaction concept for manipulation-capable robots to assist elderly people in the home

In this article, we describe the development of a human-robot interaction concept for service robots to assist elderly people in the home with physical tasks. Our approach is based on the insight that robots are not yet able to handle all tasks autonomously with sufficient reliability in the complex and heterogeneous environments of private homes. We therefore employ remote human operators to assist on tasks a robot cannot handle completely autonomously. Our development methodology was user-centric and iterative, with six user studies carried out at various stages involving a total of 241 participants. The concept is under implementation on the Care-O-bot 3 robotic platform. The main contributions of this article are (1) the results of a survey in form of a ranking of the demands of elderly people and informal caregivers for a range of 25 robot services, (2) the results of an ethnography investigating the suitability of emergency teleassistance and telemedical centers for incorporating robotic teleassistance, and (3) a user-validated human-robot interaction concept with three user roles and corresponding three user interfaces designed as a solution to the problem of engineering reliable service robots for home environments