E-Health business models prototyping by incremental design

User-Driven Healthcare: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides a global discussion on the practice of user-driven learning in healthcare and connected disciplines and its influence on learning through clinical problem solving. This book brings together different perspectives for researchers and practitioners to develop a comprehensive framework of user-driven healthcare.Postprint (published version

A New Distributed Intrusion Detection System Based on Multi-Agent System for Cloud Environment

Cloud computing, like any distributed computing system, is continually exposed to many threats and attacks of various origins. Thus, cloud security is now a very important concern for both providers and users. Intrusion detection systems (IDSs) are used to detect attacks in this environment. The goal of security administrators (for both customers and providers) is to prevent and detect attacks while avoiding disruption of the smooth operation of the cloud. Making IDSs efficient is not an easy task in a distributed environment such as the cloud. This problem remains open, and to our knowledge, there are no satisfactory solutions for the automated evaluation and analysis of cloud security. The features of the multi-agent system paradigm, such as adaptability, collaboration, and distribution, make it possible to handle this evolution of cloud computing in an efficient and controlled manner. As a result, multi-agent systems are well suited to the effective management of cloud security. In this paper, we propose an efficient, reliable and secure distributed IDS (DIDS) based on a multi-agent approach to identify and prevent new and complex malicious attacks in this environment. Moreover, some experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of our model

A model-driven approach for constructing ambient assisted-living multi-agent systems customized for Parkinson patients

The Parkinson disease affects some people, especially in the last years of their lives. Ambient assisted living systems can support them, especially in the middle stages of the disease. However, these systems usually need to be customized for each Parkinson patient. In this context, the current work follows the model-driven engineering principles to achieve this customized development. It represents each patient with a model. This is transformed into an agent-based model, from which a skeleton of programming code is generated. A case study illustrates this approach. Moreover, 24 engineers expert in model-driven engineering, multi-agent systems and/or health experienced the current approach alongside the three most similar works, by implementing actual systems. Some of these systems were tested by Parkinson patients. The results showed that (1) the current approach reduced the development time, (2) the developed system satisfied a higher percentage of the requirements established for certain Parkinson patients, (3) the usability increased, (4) the performance of the systems improved taking response time into account, and (5) the developers considered that the underlying metamodel is more appropriate for the current goal

Effects of critical success factors on maturity level of Hospital information systems

Hospitals are regarded as the most important part of a healthcare system. Generally, hospitals use Hospital Information System (HIS) as an infrastructure for recording, retrieval, and transmission of data, facilitation of decision-making processes, and other healthcare-related functions. An issue in HIS is that the implementation of the system in hospitals has always been associated with a high risk of failure. This study, therefore, aims to first assess the maturity of HIS in Iranian hospitals and then, examine the related Critical Success Factors (CSF) in order to mitigate the implementation risks of HISs to the authorities. Eleven hospitals under the administration of Medical University of Isfahan, Iran, were selected. Data was collected through a checklist designed based on Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) expectations. Questionnaires were distributed to employees of the eleven identified hospitals using stratified sampling method in which 126 completed questionnaires were returned. The results revealed that all of the hospitals have reached to elementary stages of (EMRAM). In addition, 26 CSFs were found to be effective in HIS implementation success in the hospitals but some factors were found to be higher in the level of effectiveness. The findings were then evaluated by 14 experts who are familiar with the selected hospitals, the HIS concept and project implementation. The final results which included a comprehensive picture about the initial maturity status of HIS and also 12 more effective CSFs for successful implementation of HIS in the hospitals can provide guidance for hospital top managers and healthcare policy makers in developing appropriate strategic IT plans and HIS implementation frameworks

Diseño incremental de e-servicios: estudio teórico, propuesta metodológica y casos prácticos.

This thesis presents the development and results of a research work that proposes a method of designing incremental services that works for knowledge management environments via Internet, called e-services. This method is based on the principles of collaborative design-by which all organizational profiles provide specific design tasks, and the idea of incremental progression of projects, increasing at each stage of production the formal features and functionality artifact. The thesis begins with a theoretical study in which we present the main concepts and features three main areas: 1) new business models and scenarios that emerge from them, as so-called "open innovation" and "living labs"; 2) The research in the design field, which involved paradigms as "collaborative design" that governs the development of this doctoral research; 3) Theory of distributed cognition, studying the characteristics of cognitive development of subjects in different environments using different types of artifacts. A second part of the thesis presents the results of empirical exploration based on the concepts, features and phases of action research method. This chapter presents the incremental design method -main contribution of the thesis- and explains how it has been tested on two projects undertaken by the organization in which research is conducted. These projects make contributions in two different environments in knowledge management area. The projects are the development (following the proposed method) of e-health service to support the treatment of the disease of dysphagia; and systematization of incremental design method by implementing a workflow tool that is useful in everyday activity of the collective multidisciplinary research that develops the thesis. From empirical exploration emerge qualitative and quantitative results that are intended to validate the proposed methodology and are exposed in the thesis document. Finally, the last chapter presents general conclusions and specific work and contributions this makes to the scientific community, as well as suggesting some future research that may follow the experience presented here.El presente documento presenta la evolución y resultados del trabajo de investigación que tiene como objetivo proponer un método incremental de diseño de servicios concebidos para entornos de gestión del conocimiento a través de Internet, denominados e-services. Dicho método se basa en los principios del diseño colaborativo -según los cuales todos los perfiles de la organización aportan tareas de diseño específicas- y en la idea de la progresión incremental de los proyectos, aumentando en cada fase de producción las funcionalidades y características formales del artefacto. El método propuesto ha sido puesto en práctica por un grupo de investigación multidisciplinario dedicado a la realización de diversos proyectos en el ámbito de la gestión del conocimiento.Postprint (published version

Um modelo baseado em agentes para simular políticas de ordenamento de áreas de acolhimento empresarial: o caso da rede do Quadrilátero Urbano

Tese de doutoramento em Engenharia CivilA distribuição espacial das atividades económicas e, em particular das empresas, é um tema que tem estado no topo das preocupações do planeamento do território pelas suas fortes implicações económicas e sociais. Por isso, as entidades que gerem o território têm-se esforçado por atrair empresas através da disponibilização de espaços qualificados para o efeito - as áreas de acolhimento empresarial (AAE’s), que encerram objetivos de natureza económica, territorial e ambiental. Um planeamento adequado é uma condição fundamental para que um espaço empresarial registe uma elevada taxa de ocupação de empresas. Um mau planeamento, por seu lado, repele as empresas e obriga a esforços/custos adicionais para tornar estes espaços atrativos. Estas questões tornam-se ainda mais pertinentes quando estão em causa políticas públicas que têm contribuído para aumentar a oferta de AAE’s. Esse foi o caso do que aconteceu em Portugal ao longo das últimas décadas, o que torna esse contexto particularmente interessante para o estudo em questão. O objetivo da investigação foi o de desenvolver um modelo baseado em agentes para testar o impacto que diferentes políticas podem ter na melhoria da atratividade das AAE’s do Quadrilátero Urbano, designação dada a uma rede constituída pelos municípios de Barcelos, Braga, Guimarães e Vila Nova de Famalicão. O estudo identificou 79 AAE’s com condições de atratividade muito diversas, integrando-se a maior parte delas na tipologia de parques industriais. As políticas simuladas, através da plataforma NetLogo, diferem no nível de qualificação e de coordenação com que são aplicadas nas AAE’s. Os impactos das políticas foram avaliados através da simulação de cinco cenários: 1) contexto de baixa qualificação das AAE’s; 2) qualificação seletiva das AAE’s; 3) qualificação geral das AAE’s; 4) implementação das estratégias previstas pelos municípios; 5) simulação dinâmica com todas as empresas. Além disso, com o modelo procurou-se validar um conjunto de hipóteses sobre a implicação das políticas nas AAE’s. As hipóteses consideradas foram: 1) a coordenação supramunicipal das políticas provoca um aumento da atratividade de todas as AAE’s; 2) a coordenação supramunicipal das políticas conduz a um ritmo de ocupação igual das AAE’s nos municípios; 3) a coordenação supramunicipal das políticas gera uma diminuição da dispersão das empresas de igual forma nos quatro municípios; 4) as políticas de qualificação das AAE’s provocam um aumento da taxa de ocupação de todas as AAE’s; 5) as políticas de promoção de espaços empresariais desqualificados e dispersos são ineficazes na atração de empresas. Os resultados obtidos mostram que uma política de (re)qualificação se traduz num aumento do número de AAE’s atrativas, do número de empresas instaladas e do número de lotes/pavilhões ocupados pelas empresas. Estes benefícios aplicam-se tanto no caso da requalificação das AAE’s já instaladas, como no caso dos espaços previstos para o futuro. Além disso, se as políticas de (re)qualificação das AAE’s forem implementadas de uma forma coordenada, os impactos serão mais positivos do que se os municípios prosseguirem com políticas individuais. A coordenação é, portanto, fundamental para reforçar a competitividade dos territórios que pretendem afirmar-se em rede. No entanto, a conclusão mais importante revela que uma política integrada de qualificação poderá ter impactos diferenciados à escala local, pois nem todas as AAE’s se tornam atrativas para as empresas. A simulação demonstrou que os espaços com má localização e com baixos níveis de qualificação são repulsivos para as empresas, mesmo se forem sujeitos a um conjunto de melhorias ao nível das infraestruturas e das amenidades. Neste caso, os resultados mostram que a política de promoção de AAE’s dispersas e com baixos níveis de qualificação é ineficiente na atração de empresas. Estas ilações poderão, assim, ser um contributo importante para nortear as políticas de ordenamento preconizadas para as AAE’s, com o objetivo de reforçar a competitividade dos territórios e das empresas.The spatial distribution of economic activities and, in particular, of firms is a topic widely studied in territory planning for its strong economic and social implications. For that reason, the entities that manage the territory have made significant efforts to attract firms by offering specific areas for this purpose - the industrial estates, which encompass economic, territorial and environmental goals. Appropriate planning is an essential condition for the success of an industrial estate, towards assuring a high level of occupancy. On the other hand, inadequate planning can make these spaces unattractive to firms, requiring additional costs and efforts in order to improve its competitiveness. These issues are even more critical as public policies have contributed to increase the offer of industrial estates. This is the case of Portugal in recent decades, hence this issue is particularly interesting in the scope of the current study. The goal of this research is the development of an agent-based model to assess the impact of different policies in the attractiveness of the industrial estates located in the Quadrilátero Urbano, designation given to a network composed by the Portuguese municipalities of Barcelos, Braga, Guimarães and Vila Nova de Famalicão. The study identified 79 industrial estates with different attractiveness conditions, the majority of which are classified as industrial parks. The policies were simulated through the NetLogo toolkit and can be distinguished by the level of qualification and coordination implemented by the municipalities. The impact of these policies were evaluated through the simulation of the five following scenarios: 1) low level of qualification of the industrial estates; 2) selective qualification of the industrial estates; 3) general qualification of all industrial estates; 4) implementation of the strategies defined by the municipalities; 5) dynamic simulation with all the firms. Furthermore, the model was developed to validate a set of five hypotheses in the implication of the policies adopted in the industrial estates. The following hypotheses were considered: 1) the supramunicipal coordination of the policies increases the attractiveness of all industrial estates; 2) the supramunicipal coordination of the policies leads to a similar occupancy pattern of the estates in all municipalities; 3) the supramunicipal coordination of the policies generates an even reduction of the sprawl of firms in the four municipalities; 4) the qualification policies increase the occupancy rate in all estates; 5) the policies of promotion of diffused estates with low levels of qualification are inefficient tools to attract firms. Results show that the adoption of a qualification policy has a positive impact in the performance of the industrial estates, improving the number of attractive estates, the number of relocated firms and the number of plots occupied by firms. These benefits encompass both the existing estates, as well as the predicted new sites. In addition, the model demonstrated that if these policies are implemented in a coordinated manner, the impact will be greater than if municipalities individually pursue their initiatives. Thus, the coordination and the adoption of supramunicipal planning principles are essential to strengthen the competitiveness of territories that aim to grow as a network. However, the most important outcome shows that the adoption of a coordinated qualification policy can produce different impacts at a local/municipal scale, as some industrial estates remain unattractive to firms. The simulation demonstrated that the estates with worst location and with low coverage of facilities and amenities remain repulsive to firms even if subjected to an upgrade. In this case, the model clearly validated the hypothesis that the promotion of dispersed industrial estates with low levels of qualification is an inefficient policy to attract firms. These conclusions can provide an important contribution to guide planning policies directed to industrial estates with the aim of enhancing its territorial and entrepreneurial competitiveness