Simulação social para otimização das políticas de serviços de emergência médica

Frequentemente, as políticas públicas, concebidas apenas, podem ser avaliadas só quando já se encontram implementadas. A simulação à priori dessas políticas apresenta vários benefícios: o design pode ser ajustado aos objectivos dos decisores políticos de forma mais exacta; as políticas podem reflectir melhor as motivações dos indivíduos envolvidos em diversos papéis (utilizadores, médicos, enfermeiros, funcionários públicos, auditores, decisores políticos); as ligações micro-macro e as mediações são representadas explicitamente; a simulação pode permitir a melhoria sucessiva das políticas, de tal forma que as mesmas aquando da sua implementação estejam aperfeiçoadas; os decisores e intervenientes podem conhecer melhor o território de decisão para melhor reagir em situações de contingência. Defendemos a simulação baseada em multi-agentes como forma de orientar a especificação de políticas. Os sistemas multi-agente permitem a representação de agentes racionais heterogéneos e fornecem uma abordagem para criar modelos dinâmicos complexos de fenómenos sociais. Neste artigo, descreve-se como podemos atacar o problema de optimização das políticas de serviços de emergência médica, quando há uma diferença clara entre a concepção dessas políticas e o uso que as pessoas lhes dão. Apresenta-se o cenário e um modelo para a simulação, identificando os actores envolvidos, as ligações e relações entre eles, as medidas necessárias para avaliar os resultados multi-dimensionais da simulação e como se podem afinar as políticas e simulá-las antes da sua implementação no mundo real.Often, public policies that have been issued can only be evaluated after they have been implemented. The prior simulation of these policies has several benefits: the design can be adjusted more accurately to the objectives of the policy makers; the policies can better reflect the motivations of the individuals involved in several roles (users, doctors, nurses, civil servants, auditors, policy makers); the micro-macro connections and the mediations are represented explicitly; the simulation may allow the successive improvement of the policies, in such a way that they are improved upon implementation; the decision makers and stakeholders may know better the territory of decision to better respond in situations of contingency. We support the simulation based on multi-agents as a form of orienting the specification of policies. The multi-agent systems allow for the representation of heterogeneous rational agents and provide an approach to create complex dynamic models of social phenomena. This paper describes how we can tackle the problem of optimization of the policies of emergency medical services, when there is a clear distinction between the design of these policies and the use that people give them. It presents the scenario and a model for the simulation, identifying the actors involved, the connections and relationships between them, the measures needed to evaluate the multi-dimensional results of the simulation and how the policies can fine-tuned and simulated before they are implemented in the real world

Towards privacy protection in pervasive healthcare

Proliferation of small handheld devices and wireless technologies has kindled the phenomenon of pervasive computing. Healthcare, being a prime concern for every society, has been considered as an ideal setting for deployment of this technology. Pervasive healthcare aims to improve patient independent living and quality of life and pay special attention to issues of security, privacy, transparency and ease of use. From its very nature of being open and dynamic, the pervasive environment has been challenged with security and privacy related issues with regards to collaborative information sharing. In this paper, we present some of the privacy challenges that arise when designing pervasive healthcare environments and discuss addressing some of these issues in a home based patient monitoring system. Specifically, we cover privacy violation through individual healthcare information availability and information leakage through context-aware services. Keywords-Privacy violation; Information leakage; Healthcare; Pervasive Computing

Serviço de emergência médica angolano : optimização utilizando sistemas multi-agente

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Engenharia Informática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2015A temática da saúde é uma das que apresenta mais desafios em Angola. Os desafios são não só intrínsecos à própria área, mas resultam também de condicionantes externas. Uma das áreas mais problemáticas, dada a sua natureza complexa e multidisciplinar, é a dos serviços de emergências hospitalares. Visando um aumento de eficiência desses serviços, podem estudar e ensaiar-se várias políticas públicas, mas que, frequentemente, apenas podem ser avaliadas quando já se encontram implementadas. A simulação à priori dessas políticas apresenta vários benefícios: o design pode ser ajustado aos objectivos dos decisores políticos de forma mais exacta; as políticas podem reflectir melhor as motivações dos indivíduos envolvidos em diversos papéis (utilizadores, médicos, enfermeiros, funcionários públicos, auditores, decisores políticos); as ligações micro-macro e as mediações são representadas explicitamente; a simulação permite a melhoria sucessiva das políticas, de tal forma que as mesmas aquando da sua implementação estejam aperfeiçoadas; os decisores e intervenientes podem conhecer melhor o território de decisão tendo em vista uma economia de custos, um aumento da eficiência dos serviços, uma maior satisfação dos utentes e uma acção mais adequada em situações de contingência. Defendemos a simulação baseada em multi-agente como forma de orientar a especificação de políticas. Os sistemas multi-agente (SMA) permitem a representação de agentes racionais heterogéneos e fornecem uma abordagem para criar modelos dinâmicos complexos de fenómenos sociais. Ao longo dos últimos anos assistiu-se a um crescente interesse pela utilização dos SMA na área da prestação de cuidados de saúde. O potencial de flexibilidade, adaptabilidade e robustez dos SMA é amplamente considerado como uma mais-valia para a área da saúde em tópicos como o apoio à decisão médica, diagnóstico e monitorização de pacientes, prestação de cuidados remotos, gestão e coordenação de recursos ou aprendizagem e treino médicos. Nesta dissertação descreve-se como podemos atacar o problema de optimização das políticas de serviços de emergência médica, quando há uma diferença clara entre a concepção dessas políticas e o uso que as pessoas lhes dão. Apresenta-se o cenário e um modelo para a simulação, identificando os actores envolvidos, as medidas necessárias para avaliar os resultados multidimensionais da simulação e como se podem afinar as políticas e simulá-las antes da sua implementação no mundo real. Motivado pelo cenário mais eficiente resultante da simulação e por forma a validá-lo, implementou-se o protótipo SIEMA (Sistema Integrado de Emergências Médicas Angolanas) com a finalidade de apoiar a gestão de emergências médicas em Angola.Healthcare presents major challenges in Angola. These challenges are not only intrinsic to the area itself, but are also a consequence of external constraints. Medical emergency services, on account of their complex and multidisciplinary nature, are one of the most problematic areas. Aiming at an increase of efficiency of these services, various public policies can be studied and tested, but their results often can only be assessed when policies are already implemented. The simulation of these policies has several benefits: the design can be adjusted to the objectives of policy makers more accurately; policies can better reflect the motivations of the individuals involved in various roles (patients, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, auditors, policy makers); micro-macro links and mediations are represented explicitly. Simulation allows successive improvement of policies before their implementation; decision-makers and stakeholders can better understand the decision territory, namely concerning cost savings, increased service efficiency, greater user satisfaction and a more adequate action in contingency situations. We defend multi-agent based simulation as a way to guide the policy specification. Multi-agent systems (MAS) allow the representation of heterogeneous agents and provide a rational approach to create complex social phenomena dynamic models. The past few years have witnessed a growing interest in the use of MAS in health. The potential for flexibility, adaptability and robustness of MAS is widely regarded as an asset for healthcare on topics such as medical decision support, diagnosis and monitoring of patients, remote care, management and coordination of resources or learning and medical training. This thesis describes how we tackle the optimization of medical emergency services policies when there is a clear distance between the conception of policies and the use that people give them. We present the scenario and a model for the simulation, identify involved actors and fine-tuned and simulate policies before implementation in the real world. Motivated by the most efficient scenario resulting from the simulation and in order to validate it, we implemented a prototype (SIEMA) to support the management of medical emergencies in Angola

Privacy in Cooperative Distributed Systems: Modeling and Protection Framework

A new form of computation is emerging rapidly with cloud computing, mobile computing, wearable computing and the Internet-of-Things. All can be characterized as a class of “Cooperative Distributed Systems” (CDS) in open environment. A major driver of the growth is the exponential adoption by people and organizations within all aspects of their day-to-day matters. In this context, users’ requirements for privacy protection are becoming essential and complex beyond the traditional approaches. This requires a formal treatment of “privacy” as a fundamental computation concept in CDS paradigm. The objective is to develop a comprehensive formal model for “privacy” as base to build a CDS based framework and platform in which various applications allow users to enjoy the comprehensive services in open environments while protecting their privacy seamlessly. To this end, this thesis presents a novel way of understudying, modeling and analyzing privacy concerns in CDS. A formal foundations and model of privacy is developed within the context of information management. This served as a base for developing a privacy protection management framework for CDS. It includes a privacy-aware agent model for CDS platform with the ability to support interaction-based privacy protection. The feasibility of the proposed models has been demonstrated by developing an agent-based CDS platform using JIAC framework and a privacy-based Contract Net Protocol. It also included the application scenarios for the framework for privacy protection is Internet-of-Tings, cloud-based resource scheduling and personal assistance

Empirical Assessment of the Role of Technology-Related Factors and Organization-Related Factors in Electronic Medical Records Implementation Success

The objective of this research was to investigate if certain technology-related and organization-related factors that have most often been associated with successful IT/MIS implementations in other information technology and information science domains are also associated with successful Electronic Medical Records (EMR) implementations. This research uncovered a unique set of technology-related factors and organization-related factors associated with successful EMR implementations from the perspective of healthcare enablers and healthcare providers. Specific technology-related factors considered in this research were the innovativeness of EMR (measured with respect to the relative advantage, compatibility and complexity of EMR), privacy and security attributes of EMR, and usefulness of EMR. Specific organization-related factors considered were the readiness of the organization for change and the !eve! of product/process innovation in the organization where the EMR was implemented

ENHANCING PRIVACY IN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS

La pérdida de privacidad se está convirtiendo en uno de los mayores problemas en el mundo de la informática. De hecho, la mayoría de los usuarios de Internet (que hoy en día alcanzan la cantidad de 2 billones de usuarios en todo el mundo) están preocupados por su privacidad. Estas preocupaciones también se trasladan a las nuevas ramas de la informática que están emergiendo en los ultimos años. En concreto, en esta tesis nos centramos en la privacidad en los Sistemas Multiagente. En estos sistemas, varios agentes (que pueden ser inteligentes y/o autónomos) interactúan para resolver problemas. Estos agentes suelen encapsular información personal de los usuarios a los que representan (nombres, preferencias, tarjetas de crédito, roles, etc.). Además, estos agentes suelen intercambiar dicha información cuando interactúan entre ellos. Todo esto puede resultar en pérdida de privacidad para los usuarios, y por tanto, provocar que los usuarios se muestren adversos a utilizar estas tecnologías. En esta tesis nos centramos en evitar la colección y el procesado de información personal en Sistemas Multiagente. Para evitar la colección de información, proponemos un modelo para que un agente sea capaz de decidir qué atributos (de la información personal que tiene sobre el usuario al que representa) revelar a otros agentes. Además, proporcionamos una infraestructura de agentes segura, para que una vez que un agente decide revelar un atributo a otro, sólo este último sea capaz de tener acceso a ese atributo, evitando que terceras partes puedan acceder a dicho atributo. Para evitar el procesado de información personal proponemos un modelo de gestión de las identidades de los agentes. Este modelo permite a los agentes la utilización de diferentes identidades para reducir el riesgo del procesado de información. Además, también describimos en esta tesis la implementación de dicho modelo en una plataforma de agentes.Such Aparicio, JM. (2011). ENHANCING PRIVACY IN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/13023Palanci

Privacy-Protection in Cooperative Distributed Systems

The new form of digital computational capabilities and internet connectivity are promptly grow. This introduced a new form of computation that is emerging rapidly with cloud computing, mobile computing, wearable computing and the Internet-of-Things. All can be characterized as a class of “Cooperative Distributed Systems” (CDS) in open environment. A major drive of the growth involves massive number of people and organization, that has been engaged within their all daily life aspects and businesses activities. In this context, users’ privacy protection for a becoming crucial and essential requirement beyond the traditional approaches. This requires a formal treatment of “privacy concern” as a fundamental computation concept in CDS paradigm. The objective is to develop a model for “privacy protection” as base to build a CDS based framework and platform in which various applications allow users to enjoy the comprehensive services in open environments while protecting their privacy seamlessly. The practicality aspects of the framework have been measured from two main aspects, which are the Efficacy aspect and Feasibility. To this end, formal foundations and model of privacy concern have been treated in the context of information management. This served as a base for a practical privacy protection management framework for CDS. It includes a privacy-aware agent model and privacy-based platform for CDS with the ability to support interaction-based privacy protection. The practical aspects of the proposed models have been demonstrated by developing an Interaction-based CDS platform

Context-awareness for adaptive information retrieval systems

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis research study investigates optimization of IRS to individual information needs in order of relevance. The research addressed development of algorithms that optimize the ranking of documents retrieved from IRS. In this thesis, we present two aspects of context-awareness in IR. Firstly, the design of context of information. The context of a query determines retrieved information relevance. Thus, executing the same query in diverse contexts often leads to diverse result rankings. Secondly, the relevant context aspects should be incorporated in a way that supports the knowledge domain representing users’ interests. In this thesis, the use of evolutionary algorithms is incorporated to improve the effectiveness of IRS. A context-based information retrieval system is developed whose retrieval effectiveness is evaluated using precision and recall metrics. The results demonstrate how to use attributes from user interaction behaviour to improve the IR effectivenes