Integrating formal methods into medical software development : the ASM approach

Medical devices are safety-critical systems since their malfunctions can seriously compromise human safety. Correct operation of a medical device depends upon the controlling software, whose development should adhere to certification standards. However, these standards provide general descriptions of common software engineering activities without any indication regarding particular methods and techniques to assure safety and reliability. This paper discusses how to integrate the use of a formal approach into the current normative for the medical software development. The rigorous process is based on the Abstract State Machine (ASM) formal method, its refinement principle, and model analysis approaches the method supports. The hemodialysis machine case study is used to show how the ASM-based design process covers most of the engineering activities required by the related standards, and provides rigorous approaches for medical software validation and verification

Correct and Efficient Antichain Algorithms for Refinement Checking

The notion of refinement plays an important role in software engineering. It is the basis of a stepwise development methodology in which the correctness of a system can be established by proving, or computing, that a system refines its specification. Wang et al. describe algorithms based on antichains for efficiently deciding trace refinement, stable failures refinement and failures-divergences refinement. We identify several issues pertaining to the soundness and performance in these algorithms and propose new, correct, antichain-based algorithms. Using a number of experiments we show that our algorithms outperform the original ones in terms of running time and memory usage. Furthermore, we show that additional run time improvements can be obtained by applying divergence-preserving branching bisimulation minimisation

USING ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING THEORY AS A MEANS OF MOBILISING KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES IN THE CONTROL OF INFECTION

This research investigates learning and infection control knowledge within hospitals in the United Kingdom (UK). Fundamental infection control practices are not always carried out by clinical staff caring for patients, as a result infections are transmitted (Pittet et al 2000). Failure to carry out infection control practices may reflect a division between the espoused and actual practice of clinicians (Huzzard and Ostergren 2002). This division may be contributed to by infection control teams and educationalists relying on classroom based, pedagogic teaching and failing to investigate the value of other learning theories (Courtney 1998). This study is based upon an investigation of the utility of situated learning within clinical infection control practice. The situated learning is based upon a combination of underpinning learning theories including community of practice and knowledge creation theory. The investigation consists of a discussion of the background of infection control in UK hospitals followed by a review of the literature concerning individual and organisational learning theory and learning in clinical practice. This review results in the production of a research model which combines learning theories, providing a guide for subsequent empirical research phases. A mixed methods, pluralist research methodology is produced employing qualitative and quantitative research methods. The first empiric phase of the research reveals evidence of a division between espoused and actual infection control practice, of tacit learning in practice, and of existing knowledge structures and relationships that could be further developed to facilitate and guide situated learning in practice. This evidence is used in conjunction with individual and organisational learning theory in the second empiric phase of the research in which an educational intervention employing situated learning in practice takes place. Results of this intervention study reveal improvements in infection control knowledge and practice amongst research participants indicating that situated learning, when harnessed and guided in clinical practice is able to offer a resilient means of contributing to the creation and application of knowledge within challenging learning environments

A specific modeling language for Fuzzy Automatons

El código del proyecto puede ser descargado en https://github.com/mariacaslop/ Environment-of-model-design-based-on-fuzzy-automaton Trabajo de Fin de Máster, Universidad Complutense, Facultad de Informática, Departamento de Sistemas Informáticos y Computación, Curso 2018/2019En la actualidad los avances médicos están ligados a los tecnológicos, pero no por ello los especialistas tienen los conocimientos necesarios para poder explotar las nuevas tecnologías. Uno de los campos en los que es necesario el uso de sistemas que traten y estudien los datos clínicos de manera precisa es la prevención de enfermedades. Los métodos formales ofrecen el rigor y la precisión necesarios para el modelado del proceso de análisis de dichos datos. En particular, los autómatas fuzzy son muy apropiados en este caso, ya que permiten representar la incertidumbre e imprecisión que se han de tener en cuenta en este tipo de análisis. En este trabajo se propone crear una herramienta gráfica que permita a los especialistas médicos, que son los que tienen el conocimiento clínico, el diseño de estos modelos de análisis de una manera sencilla e intuitiva. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es crear un entorno de diseño de modelos basados en autómatas fuzzy a través de un lenguaje de dominio específico y un editor gráfico para facilitar el diagnóstico precoz de enfermedades. El código del proyecto puede ser descargado en https://github.com/mariacaslop/ Environment-of-model-design-based-on-fuzzy-automatonCurrently, it is undeniable that medical advances are linked to technological ones, but that this does not mean that specialists have the necessary knowledge to be able to exploit the new technologies. One of the fields in which it is necessary to use systems that process and study clinical data in a precise way is disease prevention. Formal methods can offer the rigor and precision necessary for the modeling of the process of analysis of said data. In particular, the fuzzy automatons are very suitable in this case, since they allow to represent the uncertainty and inaccuracy which must be taken into account in this type of analysis. In this paper is proposed to create a graphic tool which allows medical specialists with clinical knowledge, the design of these analysis models in a simple and intuitive way. In relation to the main purpose of this paper, it could be stated that it is to create an environment of model design based on fuzzy automaton through a specific domain language and a graphic editor to facilitate the early diagnosis of diseases. The code of this proyect can be downloaded from https://github.com/mariacaslop/ Environment-of-model-design-based-on-fuzzy-automatonDepto. de Sistemas Informáticos y ComputaciónFac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

(Mis)Interpreting Arts and Health: What (Else) Can an Arts Practice Do?

This research project concerns arts practices in healthcare settings and the encounter between artist, researcher, healthcare professional and institution. Rather than understanding arts practices as either therapeutic or recreational services, this research asks instead, what (else) can an arts practice do? This is accomplished by connecting two previously separate bodies of scholarship; health sociology and an art criticism of expanded arts practices. By connecting these bodies of scholarship, this inquiry offers a new conceptual language and orientation for arts and health practitioners distinct from the evidence-based practice model most prevalent in academic and professional discourses and consequently establishes a transdisciplinary trajectory for artistic and research practices. Navigating between polemical art critical discourses and appropriating health discourses the research seeks to follow a generative path, to create a position of affirmation, where art encounters can be understood in the way they produce affects, defined by how they connect and transform, by what they do. Such an approach addresses a lacuna in scholarship created by the almost exclusive academic interest in impact studies and the sparseness of associated critical writing. The research inquiry then makes a contribution to knowledge of relevance to artists, researchers, healthcare professionals and institutions because it offers an expanded conceptual vocabulary and scope for art practices in healthcare settings

INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA-OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROMETRY FOR FORENSIC ANALYSIS

The fundamental characteristics and applications of inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for forensic science purposes have been evaluated. Optimisation of ICP-OES for single elements using simplex techniques identified an ICP torch fitted with a wide bore injector tube as most suitable for multielement analysis because of a compact analytical region in the plasma. A suitable objective function has been proposed for multielement simplex optimisation of ICP-OES and its effectiveness has been demonstrated. The effects of easily ionisable element (EIE) interferences have been studied and an interference minimisation simplex optimisation shown to be appropriate for the location of an interference free zone. Routine, interference free determinations (<2% for 0.5% Na) have been shown to be critically dependant on the stability of the injector gas flowrate and nebuliser derived pressure pulses. Discrete nebulisation has been investigated for the analysis of small fragments of a variety of metal alloys which could be encountered in casework investigations. External contamination together with alloy inhomogeneity have been shown to present some problems in the interpretation of the data. A compact, corrosion resistant recirculating nebuliser has been constructed and evaluated for the analysis of small fragments of shotgun steels. The stable aerosol production from this nebuliser allowed a set of element lines, free from iron interferences, to be monitored with a scanning monochromator. The analysis, classification and discrimination of casework sized fragments of brasses and sheet glasses have been performed and a method has been proposed for the analysis of white household gloss paints. The determination of metal traces on hands following the handling of a variety of metal alloys has been reported. The significance of the results from these evidential materials has been assessed for forensic science purposes

The Barretstown experience

The thesis was prompted by a simple clinical observation. Seriously ill children returning from Barretstown Holiday Camp appeared changed. Barretstown ‘magic’ confuses the issue but indicates real and clinically evident transformations. The project sought to understand the experience and place it in a recognisable framework. The data was collected by interviews, observations as camp Paediatrician, memberships of the Child Advisory Committee and the Association’s criteria assessment team, participation in volunteer training and visits to international camps. The research presents evidence that the concepts of rite of passage, graceful mimesis and salutogenesis clarify operative social processes. The passage stages of separation, transition and reaggregation can be identified. Passage rites reorder personal and social upsets to fresh arrangements that facilitate change. Interviews confirm the reordering impact of achievements in play activities. These are challenging experiences closely guided by their Masters of Ceremonies – the Caras. The Cara/camper relationship is crucial and compatible with Girard’s theory of external mimesis. Visits to four camps confirm an inspirational process in contrast to a reported camp with a predetermined formative influence. Charismatic Caras/Councillors inspire playful mimesis and salutogenic transformations. Health is more than correction of pathogenic deficits and restoration of homeostasis. Salutogenic health promotes heterostasis – a desire for optimal experiences underpinned by a sense of coherence and adequate resources. Some evidence is presented that children have an improved sense of coherence after camp, which enables them to cope better with the demands of ill health. The camps enable sick children to up regulate risk taking towards more heterostatic experiences rather than down regulate their expectations. The heterostatic impulse can explain the disability paradox of good quality of life in the presence of severe disability. The salutogenic power of Barretstown can trump the pathogenic effects of childhood cancer and other serious illnesses