Supporting Special-Purpose Health Care Models via Web Interfaces

The potential of the Web, via both the Internet and intranets, to facilitate development of clinical information systems has been evident for some time. Most Web-based clinical workstations interfaces, however, provide merely a loose collection of access channels. There are numerous examples of systems for access to either patient data or clinical guidelines, but only isolated cases where clinical decision support is presented integrally with the process of patient care, in particular, in the form of active alerts and reminders based on patient data. Moreover, pressures in the health industry are increasing the need for doctors to practice in accordance with ¿best practice¿ guidelines and often to operate under novel health-care arrangements. We present the Care Plan On-Line (CPOL) system, which provides intranet-based support for the SA HealthPlus Coordinated Care model for chronic disease management. We describe the interface design rationale of CPOL and its implementation framework, which is flexible and broadly applicable to support new health care models over intranets or the Internet

Derivation of the required elements for a definition of the term middleware

Thirteen contemporary definitions of Middleware were analyzed. The definitions agree that any software that can do the following should be classified as Middleware (1) provide service that provides transparent application-to-application interaction across the network, (2) act as a service provider for distributed applications, and (3) provide services that are primarily used by distributed applications (e.g., RPCs, ORBs, Directories, name-resolution services, etc.) Most definitions agree that Middleware is that level of software required to achieve platform, location, and network transparency. There is some discrepancy about the OSI levels at which middleware operates. The majority of definitions limit it to levels 5, 6, and 7. Additionally, almost half of the definitions do not include database transparency as something achieved by Middleware, perhaps due to the ambiguous classification of ODBC and JDBC as software. Assuming that the number of times a service is mentioned, the majority of the definitions rank services associated with legal access to an application as core to Middleware, along with valid, standardized APIs for application development as core to the definition of middleware

Geoscience after IT: Part L. Adjusting the emerging information system to new technology

Coherent development depends on following widely used standards that respect our vast legacy of existing entries in the geoscience record. Middleware ensures that we see a coherent view from our desktops of diverse sources of information. Developments specific to managing the written word, map content, and structured data come together in shared metadata linking topics and information types

Inherited disorder phenotypes: controlled annotation and statistical analysis for knowledge mining from gene lists

BACKGROUND: Analysis of inherited diseases and their associated phenotypes is of great importance to gain knowledge of underlying genetic interactions and could ultimately give clinically useful insights into disease processes, including complex diseases influenced by multiple genetic loci. Nevertheless, to date few computational contributions have been proposed for this purpose, mainly due to lack of controlled clinical information easily accessible and structured for computational genome-wise analyses. To allow performing phenotype analyses of inherited disorder related genes we implemented new original modules within GFINDer , a Web system we previously developed that dynamically aggregates functional annotations of user uploaded gene lists and allows performing their statistical analysis and mining. RESULTS: New GFINDer modules allow annotating large numbers of user classified biomolecular sequence identifiers with morbidity and clinical information, classifying them according to genetic disease phenotypes and their locations of occurrence, and statistically analyzing the obtained classifications. To achieve this we exploited, normalized and structured the information present in textual form in the Clinical Synopsis sections of the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) databank. Such valuable information delineates numerous signs and symptoms accompanying many genetic diseases and it is divided into phenotype location categories, either by organ system or type of finding. CONCLUSION: Supporting phenotype analyses of inherited diseases and biomolecular functional evaluations, GFINDer facilitates a genomic approach to the understanding of fundamental biological processes and complex cellular mechanisms underlying patho-physiological phenotypes

XGIS Flex : um framework livre para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de informações geográficas para a WEB

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Geociências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geociências, 2013.Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta dois estudos de caso relacionados a arquiteturas de implantação de sistemas de informações geográficas (SIG) em ambiente web que culminaram no desenvolvimento de um framework composto por um conjunto de componentes de apoio à construção de novos softwares de SIG para web. O primeiro estudo foi realizado com foco na interoperabilidade de serviços de mapas na web, contemplando principalmente as funções de consulta e disponibilização de dados em formatos diversos. Para viabilizar a troca e integração de informações espacializadas, foi necessário o desenvolvimento de alguns componentes que foram escritos sobre tecnologias proprietárias tais como Esri Flex API. Entendidas as limitações que um motor central de código fechado poderia trazer ao objeto principal do estudo, isto é, o desenvolvimento de uma arquitetura de intercâmbio de informações geográficas, surgiu a idéia de construir um conjunto de software que contornassem tais dificuldades. O segundo estudo foi realizado com foco na elaboração de um framework livre para desenvolvimento de SIG em ambiente web de padrão Rich Internet Application (RIA) e que seguisse conceitos da Web 2.0, possibilitando a indexação e visualização de dados provenientes de diferentes tipos de mídia (fotografias, vídeos, documentos) que fossem aderentes aos padrões da Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), mas que, ainda assim, fossem possíveis de serem compartilhadas com outros formatos de dados. Este último estudo buscou ainda reduzir a complexidade e custos de implantação de projetos dessa natureza e facilitar a customização por parte de usuários finais. Ao conjunto de códigos desenvolvidos e sua arquitetura, foi dado o nome de XGIS Flex Framework. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis MSc. Thesis presents two study cases related to the architectures of implementation of geographical information systems (GIS) in web environment that ended in the development of a framework composed by a set of components supporting the preparation of new web GIS software packages. The first study was conducted focused on the interoperability of map services in the web, mainly covering the functions of consultation and release of data at varying formats. In order to enable exchange and integration of spatial information, it was necessary to develop components based on proprietary technologies like ESRI Flex API. After understanding the limitations that a central engine of closed source code could bring to the main object of study, that is, the development of an architecture for the exchange of geographic information, we came out with the idea of building a set of software that would circumvent such difficulties. The second study was conducted focusing on the preparation of a free framework for development of GIS in an environment of Rich Internet Application (RIA) and Web 2.0 concepts. The purpose here was to enable indexing and visualization of data from different types of media (photos, videos, documents) that were adherent not only to the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), but also to other data formats. The latter study also sought to reduce the complexity and costs of implementation of such projects and to facilitate customization by end users. This set of developed softwares and its architecture was named XGIS Flex Framework