27 research outputs found

    Advances in Grid Computing

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    This book approaches the grid computing with a perspective on the latest achievements in the field, providing an insight into the current research trends and advances, and presenting a large range of innovative research papers. The topics covered in this book include resource and data management, grid architectures and development, and grid-enabled applications. New ideas employing heuristic methods from swarm intelligence or genetic algorithm and quantum encryption are considered in order to explain two main aspects of grid computing: resource management and data management. The book addresses also some aspects of grid computing that regard architecture and development, and includes a diverse range of applications for grid computing, including possible human grid computing system, simulation of the fusion reaction, ubiquitous healthcare service provisioning and complex water systems

    Generierung individueller, bedarfsgerechter Sichten auf die Daten einer elektronischen Gesundheitsakte

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    Eine starke interdisziplinäre und berufsgruppenübergreifende Zusammenarbeit bei der Versorgung von Patienten ist inzwischen unerlässlich. Den dazu notwendigen Informationsaustausch kann eine Elektronische Gesundheitsakte (EGA) unterstützen, indem sie verteilt anfallende und vom Akteneigentümer selbst dokumentierte, gesundheitsrelevante Daten eines Menschen zentral speichert. Die Bereitstellung dieser umfassenden Informationen verspricht die Ermöglichung einer kontinuierlichen, effizienten, wirtschaftlichen und qualitativ hochwertigen Gesundheitsversorgung sowie eine Stärkung der Patientenmitverantwortung. Die potenziell große Menge an verfügbaren Informationen birgt allerdings auch die Gefahr einer Informationsüberflutung. Zudem soll eine EGA von vielen unterschiedlichen Nutzern verwendet werden. Das macht die Entwicklung von neuen Strategien zur Bewahrung von Gebrauchstauglichkeit und Nutzerfreundlichkeit notwendig. In dieser Arbeit wurde zunächst durch problemzentrierte Leitfadeninterviews, welche sich bereits in anderen Studien als geeignet für die Erhebung von Informationsbedürfnissen gezeigt haben, mit 15 ausgewählten Vertretern verschiedener Nutzergruppen untersucht, ob potenzielle Nutzer von EGA-Anwendungssystemen unterschiedliche Informationsbedürfnisse und Anforderungen an ein solches System haben. Aus dem Material wurden durch Methoden der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse, einem etablierten Konzept der empirischen Sozialforschung, 147 Paraphrasen extrahiert. Zur Steigerung der Reliabilität wurden diese Schritte zweimal und zur Steigerung der Validität wurde eine kommunikative Validierung durchgeführt. Eine Häufigkeitsanalyse der, in 228 einzeln geäußerte Anforderungen aufgespaltenen Paraphrasen, ergab, dass lediglich Informationen zu den Diagnosen, zu den Medikamenten und zu deren Dosierung von über 50 % der Befragten gefordert wurden. Im Gegensatz dazu wurden fast 75 % der Anforderungen von drei oder weniger Befragten geäußert. Auch wenn die Befragten dieselbe Rolle als potenzielle EGA-Nutzer einnehmen, unterscheiden sich die Anforderungen deutlich. Dieses Ergebnis lässt den Schluss zu, dass die Generierung individueller, bedarfsgerechter Sichten auf die Daten einer EGA eine Steigerung von Gebrauchstauglichkeit und Nutzerfreundlichkeit verspricht und ein rollenbasiertes Konzept nicht ausreicht. Als Nächstes wurde in dieser Arbeit ein Modell zur Generierung solcher Sichten erarbeitet. Dieses Sichten- Modell wurde in drei Schritten definiert: Den ersten Schritt bildete die Definition eines Nutzer-Modells durch Merkmalsarten die einen individuellen Nutzer beschreiben und die einen Einfluss auf die Gebrauchstauglichkeit eines EGA-Anwendungssystems haben. Diese Merkmalsarten wurden durch Analyse von 18 erstellte Personas und Interaktionsszenarien ermittelt. Personas werden als Methode des Software-Engineering empfohlen, um die Vielfältigkeit von Nutzern zu untersuchen, und erwiesen sich auch im Gesundheitsbereich bereits als geeignet. Die Erstellung der Personas zusammen mit realen Personen, die die Rolle der Persona tatsächlich einnehmen, führte zu detailreichen und realistischen Ergebnissen und gewährleistete die Unabhängigkeit von Erstellung und Analyse. Zudem eignen sich die erstellten Personas zur Wiederverwendung während der Entwicklung von EGA-Anwendungssystemen. Den zweiten Schritt bildete die Definition eines User Interface (UI)-Modells durch Parameter von Benutzerschnittstellen, durch deren Initialisierung mit unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen unterschiedliche Sichten erzeugt werden können. Diese Parameter wurden durch die Analyse der Benutzerschnittstellen von sechs existierenden EGA-Anwendungssystemen hinsichtlich der Unterschiede ermittelt. Zur Überprüfung der Ergebnisse auf Vollständigkeit wurden bei Benutzerschnittstellen untersuchter Systeme die ermittelten Parameter auf eine beliebige, aber feste Ausprägung reguliert und die entstandenen Sichten verglichen. Den dritten Schritt bildete die Zuordnung der sieben Merkmalsarten des Nutzer Modells ’Einschränkungen’, ’medizinische Kompetenz’, ’Nutzungskontext’, ’Rolle’, ’Technikaffinität’, ’Vorlieben’ und ’Zeit’ zu den sechs Parametern des UI-Modells ’Daten’, ’Funktionen’, ’Informationsdesign’, ’Interaktionsdesign’, ’Schnittstellendesign’ und ’Sprache’. Mit dem dritten Ziel dieser Arbeit wurden Anforderungen an ein EGA-Anwendungssystem, welches das entwickelte Modell implementiert, durch Formulierung von sieben Anwendungsfällen (auch: Use Cases) spezifiziert. Die dazu verwendete Modellierungssprache Unified Modeling Language (UML) ist ein bewährtes Instrument der Software Entwicklung. Eine Systemarchitektur nach dem etablierten ’Model- View-Controller’-Muster wurde unter Verwendung von openEHR-Technologien erstellt. openEHR gilt als ’Quasi-Standard’ für EGAs und gewährleistet Flexibilität, Interoperabilität und Wiederverwendbarkeit. Zur Erstellung und Speicherung von Nutzerprofilen mit den Merkmalen des Nutzer-Modells wurde ein neuer demographischer Archetyp definiert. Vorhandene klinische Archetypen konnten um ein weiteres Sprachniveau ergänzt und zur Speicherung von Gesundheitsdaten genutzt werden. Zur Zusammenstellung von Daten konnten Templates definiert werden. Diese und weitere, bereitgestellte Lösungen halten die Trennung von Information und Wissen ein und machen das modellierte EGA-Anwendungssystem damit generisch und flexibel. Für einen ’Proof of Concept’ wurden die generisch implementierten Komponenten in einen Prototypen eingebettet. Durch das entwickelte Sichten-Modell, den Entwurf und die Implementierung von Komponenten wurde eine Möglichkeit geschaffen, Benutzerschnittstellen von EGA-Anwendungssystemen individuell auf die Anforderungen und Bedürfnisse des Benutzers abgestimmt, dynamisch und flexibel zu generieren. Dieser Ansatz geht dabei weit über das bisherige Verständnis von Sichten hinaus. ZurWeiterführung der Forschung wäre eine Validierung und Präzisierung des Sichten-Modells interessant. Auch sollte untersucht werden, ob die beabsichtigten Effekte tatsächlich eintreten und sich das Modell dazu eignet, der Informationsüberflutung entgegenzuwirken

    Semantic privacy-preserving framework for electronic health record linkage

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    The combination of digitized health information and web-based technologies offers many possibilities for data analysis and business intelligence. In the healthcare and biomedical research domain, applications depending on electronic health records (EHRs) identify privacy preservation as a major concern. Existing solutions cannot always satisfy the evolving research demands such as linking patient records across organizational boundaries due to the potential for patient re-identification. In this work, we show how semantic methods can be applied to support the formulation and enforcement of access control policy whilst ensuring that privacy leakage can be detected and prevented. The work is illustrated through a case study associated with the Australasian Diabetes Data Network (ADDN – www.addn.org.au), the national paediatric type-1 diabetes data registry, and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN – www.aurin.org.au) platform that supports Australia-wide access to urban and built environment data sets. We demonstrate that through extending the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) with semantic capabilities, finer-grained access control encompassing data risk disclosure mechanisms can be supported. We discuss the contributions that can be made using this approach to socio-economic development and political management within business systems, and especially those situations where secure data access and data linkage is required

    The evaluation and harmonisation of disparate information metamodels in support of epidemiological and public health research

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    BACKGROUND: Descriptions of data, metadata, provide researchers with the contextual information they need to achieve research goals. Metadata enable data discovery, sharing and reuse, and are fundamental to managing data across the research data lifecycle. However, challenges associated with data discoverability negatively impact on the extent to which these data are known by the wider research community. This, when combined with a lack of quality assessment frameworks and limited awareness of the implications associated with poor quality metadata, are hampering the way in which epidemiological and public health research data are documented and repurposed. Furthermore, the absence of enduring metadata management models to capture consent for record linkage metadata in longitudinal studies can hinder researchers from establishing standardised descriptions of consent. AIM: To examine how metadata management models can be applied to ameliorate the use of research data within the context of epidemiological and public health research. METHODS: A combination of systematic literature reviews, online surveys and qualitative data analyses were used to investigate the current state of the art, identify current perceived challenges and inform creation and evaluation of the models. RESULTS: There are three components to this thesis: a) enhancing data discoverability; b) improving metadata quality assessment; and c) improving the capture of consent for record linkage metadata. First, three models were examined to enhance research data discoverability: data publications, linked data on the World Wide Web and development of an online public health portal. Second, a novel framework to assess epidemiological and public health metadata quality framework was created and evaluated. Third, a novel metadata management model to improve capture of consent for record linkage metadata was created and evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from these studies have contributed to a set of recommendations for change in research data management policy and practice to enhance stakeholders’ research environment

    An ontology roadmap for crowdsourcing innovation intermediaries

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    Ontologies have proliferated in the last years, essentially justified by the need of achieving a consensus in the multiple representations of reality inside computers, and therefore the accomplishment of interoperability between machines and systems. Ontologies provide an explicit conceptualization that describes the semantics of the data. Crowdsourcing innovation intermediaries are organizations that mediate the communication and relationship between companies that aspire to solve some problem or to take advantage of any business opportunity with a crowd that is prone to give ideas based on their knowledge, experience and wisdom, taking advantage of web 2.0 tools. Various ontologies have emerged, but at the best of our knowledge, there isn’t any ontology that represents the entire process of intermediation of crowdsourcing innovation. In this paper we present an ontology roadmap for developing crowdsourcing innovation ontology of the intermediation process. Over the years, several authors have proposed some distinct methodologies, by different proposals of combining practices, activities, languages, according to the project they were involved in. We start making a literature review on ontology building, and analyse and compare ontologies that propose the development from scratch with the ones that propose reusing other ontologies. We also review enterprise and innovation ontologies known in literature. Finally, are presented the criteria for selecting the methodology and the roadmap for building crowdsourcing innovation intermediary ontology.(undefined

    Uma rede telemática para a prestação regional de cuidados de saúde

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    Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaAs tecnologias de informação e comunicação na área da saúde não são só um instrumento para a boa gestão de informação, mas antes um fator estratégico para uma prestação de cuidados mais eficiente e segura. As tecnologias de informação são um pilar para que os sistemas de saúde evoluam em direção a um modelo centrado no cidadão, no qual um conjunto abrangente de informação do doente deve estar automaticamente disponível para as equipas que lhe prestam cuidados, independentemente de onde foi gerada (local geográfico ou sistema). Este tipo de utilização segura e agregada da informação clínica é posta em causa pela fragmentação generalizada das implementações de sistemas de informação em saúde. Várias aproximações têm sido propostas para colmatar as limitações decorrentes das chamadas “ilhas de informação” na saúde, desde a centralização total (um sistema único), à utilização de redes descentralizadas de troca de mensagens clínicas. Neste trabalho, propomos a utilização de uma camada de unificação baseada em serviços, através da federação de fontes de informação heterogéneas. Este agregador de informação clínica fornece a base necessária para desenvolver aplicações com uma lógica regional, que demostrámos com a implementação de um sistema de registo de saúde eletrónico virtual. Ao contrário dos métodos baseados em mensagens clínicas ponto-a-ponto, populares na integração de sistemas em saúde, desenvolvemos um middleware segundo os padrões de arquitetura J2EE, no qual a informação federada é expressa como um modelo de objetos, acessível através de interfaces de programação. A arquitetura proposta foi instanciada na Rede Telemática de Saúde, uma plataforma instalada na região de Aveiro que liga oito instituições parceiras (dois hospitais e seis centros de saúde), cobrindo ~350.000 cidadãos, utilizada por ~350 profissionais registados e que permite acesso a mais de 19.000.000 de episódios. Para além da plataforma colaborativa regional para a saúde (RTSys), introduzimos uma segunda linha de investigação, procurando fazer a ponte entre as redes para a prestação de cuidados e as redes para a computação científica. Neste segundo cenário, propomos a utilização dos modelos de computação Grid para viabilizar a utilização e integração massiva de informação biomédica. A arquitetura proposta (não implementada) permite o acesso a infraestruturas de e-Ciência existentes para criar repositórios de informação clínica para aplicações em saúde.Modern health information technology is not just a supporting instrument to good information management but a strategic requirement to provide more efficient and safer health care. Health information technology is a cornerstone to build the future patient-centric health care systems in which a comprehensive set of patient data will be available to the relevant care teams, in spite of where (system or service point) it was generated. Such secure and efficient use of clinical data is challenged by the existing fragmentation of health information systems implementation. Several approaches have been proposed to address the limitations of the so called “information silos” in healthcare, ranging from full centralization (a single system) to full-decentralized clinical message exchange networks. In this work we advocate the use of a service-based unification layer, by federating distributed heterogeneous information sources. This clinical information hub provides the basis to build regional-level applications, which we have demonstrated by implementing a virtual Electronic Health Record system. Unlike the message-driven, point-to-point approaches popular in health care systems integration, we developed a middleware layer, using J2EE architectural patterns, in which the common information is represented as an object model, accessible through programming interfaces. The proposed architecture was instantiated in the Rede Telemática da Saúde network, a platform deployed in the region of Aveiro connecting eight partner institutions (two hospitals and six primary care units), covering ~ 350,000 citizens, indexing information on more than 19,000,000 episodes of care and used by ~350 registered professionals. In addition to the regional health information collaborative platform (RTSys), we introduce a second line of research towards bridging the care networks and the science networks. In the later scenario, we propose the use of Grid computing to enable the massive use and integration of biomedical information. The proposed architecture (not implemented) enables to access existing e-Science infrastructures to create clinical information repositories for health applications

    A model-driven privacy compliance decision support for medical data sharing in Europe

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    Objectives: Clinical practitioners and medical researchers often have to share health data with other colleagues across Europe. Privacy compliance in this context is very important but challenging. Automated privacy guidelines are a practical way of increasing users' awareness of privacy obligations and help eliminating unintentional breaches of privacy. In this paper we present an ontology-plus-rules based approach to privacy decision support for the sharing of patient data across European platforms. Methods: We use ontologies to model the required domain and context information about data sharing and privacy requirements. In addition, we use a set of Semantic Web Rule Language rules to reason about legal privacy requirements that are applicable to a specific context of data disclosure. We make the complete set invocable through the use of a semantic web application acting as an interactive privacy guideline system can then invoke the full model in order to provide decision support. Results: When asked, the system will generate privacy reports applicable to a specific case of data disclosure described by the user. Also reports showing guidelines per Member State may be obtained. Conclusion: The advantage of this approach lies in the expressiveness and extensibility of the modelling and inference languages adopted and the ability they confer to reason with complex requirements interpreted from high level regulations. However, the system cannot at this stage fully simulate the role of an ethics committee or review board. © Schattauer 2011

    Knowledge repository framework for crowdsourcing innovation intermediary: a proposal

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    A crowdsourcing innovation intermediary performs mediation activities between companies that have a problem to solve or that seek a business opportunity, and a group of people motivated to present ideas based on their knowledge. experience and wisdom, taking advantage of technology sharing and collaboration emerging from Web2.0. As far as we know, most of the present intermediaries don't have, yet. an integrated vision that combines the creation of value through community development, brokering and technology transfer. In this paper we present a proposal of a knowledge repository framework for crowdsourcing innovation that enables effective support and integration of the activities developed in the process of value creation (community building. brokering and technology transfer). modeled using ontology engineering methods.To the Foundation for Science and Technology and the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto for financial support (SFRH/BD/49263/2008) of this research project
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