Holistic System Design for Distributed National eHealth Services

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A Task-based Support Architecture for Developing Point-of-care Clinical Decision Support Systems for the Emergency Department

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to create a task-based support architecture for developing clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) that assist physicians in making decisions at the point-of-care in the emergency department (ED). The backbone of the proposed architecture was established by a task-based emergency workflow model for a patient-physician encounter. Methods: The architecture was designed according to an agent-oriented paradigm. Specifically, we used the O-MaSE (Organization-based Multi-agent System Engineering) method that allows for iterative translation of functional requirements into architectural components (e.g., agents). The agent-oriented paradigm was extended with ontology-driven design to implement ontological models representing knowledge required by specific agents to operate. Results: The task-based architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that is aligned with the task-based emergency workflow model. It facilitates decoupling of executable components (agents) from embedded domain knowledge (ontological models), thus supporting their interoperability, sharing, and reuse. The generic architecture was implemented as a pilot system, MET3-AE – a CDSS to help with the management of pediatric asthma exacerbation in the ED. The system was evaluated in a hospital ED. Conclusions: The architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that integrates support for all tasks from the task-based emergency workflow model, and interacts with hospital information systems. Proposed architecture also allows for reusing and sharing system components and knowledge across disease-specific CDSSs

Using mobile computing for construction site information management

PhD ThesisIn recent years, construction information management has greatly benefited from advancesin Information and Communication Technology (ICT) increasing the speed of information flow, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of information communication, and reducing the cost of information transfer. Current ICT support has been extended to construction site offices. However, construction projects typically take place in the field where construction personnel have difficulty in gaining access to conventional information systems for their information requirements. The advances in affordable mobile devices, increases in wireless network transfer speeds and enhancements in mobile application performance, give mobile computing a powerful potential to improve on-site construction information management. This research project aims to explore how mobile computing can be implemented to manage information on construction sites through the development of a framework. Various research methods and strategies were adopted to achieve the defined aim of this research. These methods include an extensive literature review in both areas of construction information management and mobile computing; case studies that investigate construction information management on construction sites; a web-based survey for the investigation of the existing mechanism for on-site information retrieval and transfer; and a case study of the validation of the framework. Based on the results obtained from the literature review, case studies and the survey,the developed framework identifies the primary factors that influence the implementation of mobile computing in construction site information management, and the inter relationships between those factors. Each of these primary factors is further divided into sub-factors that describe the detailed features of relevant primary factors. In order to explore links between sub-factors, the top-level framework is broken down into different sub-frameworks, each of which presents the specific links between two primary factors. One of the applications for the developed framework is the selection of a mobile computing strategy for managing on-site construction information. The overall selection procedure has three major steps: the definition of on-site information management objectives; the identification of mobile computing strategy; and the selection of appropriate mobile computing technologies. The evaluation and validity of the selection procedure is demonstrated through an illustrative constructions cenario

Information security concerns around enterprise bring your own device adoption in South African higher education institutions

The research carried out in this thesis is an investigation into the information security concerns around the use of personally-owned mobile devices within South African universities. This concept, which is more commonly known as Bring Your Own Device or BYOD has raised many data loss concerns for organizational IT Departments across various industries worldwide. Universities as institutions are designed to facilitate research and learning and as such, have a strong culture toward the sharing of information which complicates management of these data loss concerns even further. As such, the objectives of the research were to determine the acceptance levels of BYOD within South African universities in relation to the perceived security risks. Thereafter, an investigation into which security practices, if any, that South African universities are using to minimize the information security concerns was carried out by means of a targeted online questionnaire. An extensive literature review was first carried out to evaluate the motivation for the research and to assess advantages of using Smartphone and Tablet PC’s for work related purposes. Thereafter, to determine security concerns, other surveys and related work was consulted to determine the relevant questions needed by the online questionnaire. The quantity of comprehensive academic studies concerning the security aspects of BYOD within organizations was very limited and because of this reason, the research took on a highly exploratory design. Finally, the research deliberated on the results of the online questionnaire and concluded with a strategy for the implementation of a mobile device security strategy for using personally-owned devices in a work-related environment

A Utility Framework for Selecting Immersive Interactive Capability and Technology for Virtual Laboratories

There has been an increase in the use of virtual reality (VR) technology in the education community since VR is emerging as a potent educational tool that offers students with a rich source of educational material and makes learning exciting and interactive. With a rise of popularity and market expansion in VR technology in the past few years, a variety of consumer VR electronics have boosted educators and researchers’ interest in using these devices for practicing engineering and science laboratory experiments. However, little is known about how such devices may be well-suited for active learning in a laboratory environment. This research aims to address this gap by formulating a utility framework to help educators and decision-makers efficiently select a type of VR device that matches with their design and capability requirements for their virtual laboratory blueprint. Furthermore, a framework use case is demonstrated by not only surveying five types of VR devices ranging from low-immersive to full-immersive along with their capabilities (i.e., hardware specifications, cost, and availability) but also considering the interaction techniques in each VR device based on the desired laboratory task. To validate the framework, a research study is carried out to compare these five VR devices and investigate which device can provide an overall best-fit for a 3D virtual laboratory content that we implemented based on the interaction level, usability and performance effectiveness

Mixed Reality Applications for Safety Trainings in Wind Energy Sector: A Case Study

The international renewable energy agency (IRENA) forecast that the wind industry will grow at an exponential rate in the coming decades. This enormous growth has created the need and demand for qualified workforce which includes engineers, technicians, and managers in the wind energy sector. Thus, the wind energy training sector needs to implement some innovative technologies in both safety and technical trainings to meet the growing industry demands and to create a qualified workforce. However, before finalizing on any innovative solution for safety training, the challenges that the wind energy training sector faces need to be analyzed. The biggest challenges for the wind energy training sector is to train the workers to work safely with large scale wind turbine structure and its components, working safely with high voltage and working in harsh marine environments. Wind power workers are often exposed to hazards that can result in fatalities or serious injuries due to these challenges. Therefore, the implemented innovative technology must ensure safety and improve efficiency of operations by being aware of the risks associated. However, the wind energy training sector is searching for cost effective solution especially related to remote training, when the technician is not able to attend the training physically. Moreover, the wind energy training sector is also looking for technology that can reduce human error and also reduce cognitive workload. Therefore, the use of innovative technology like mixed reality (MR) might provide potential benefits.MR includes the use of both the virtual reality (VR) which is a simulated immersive experience and the use of augmented reality (AR) which allows the person to see the real world, additionally overlaid with digital graphics and information in real time. However, there is a lack of clarity on how to effectively design mixed reality technologies in safety training of wind sector. There are technical challenges and gaps to identify the suitable hardware platform, suitable software platform and the associated tracking techniques. The purpose of this thesis is to develop: (1) the workflow, (2) the framework which will help to design mixed reality technologies in safety training of wind sector. Also to develop, (3) flowchart and (4) worksheet which will help to identify the critical training modules/scenarios and to identify the suitable type of technology (AR/VR/MR) needed for a particular scenario along with the suitable hardware platform, suitable software platform and associated tracking technique. Finally, to develop (5) demo MR model to demonstrate and validate the developed workflow and to understand the associated practical challenges like complexity of such mixed reality technologies and user familiarity. In order to achieve the purpose of this thesis, a six-step methodology was applied which includes: (1) system analysis, (2) use case analysis, (3) conceptualize, (4) computerize, (5) construct and (6) verify, validate and visualize. The case study started with system analysis which mainly deals with extracting the industrial needs and requirements. The system analysis includes two sub steps. First, is to perform a detailed systematic literature review (SLR) to understand the state of art in VR/AR/MR in the wind industry and other relevant industry. Second, an empirical exploration were the author attended a 5day GWO wind safety training at the Eigersund energy hub to personally experience and understand the training scenarios which will be crucial and beneficial to have a mixed reality application from both technician and company perspective. The use case analysis deals with the creation of the case context which includes selecting the critical training module based on accident data from literature review and to identify one similar framework in other engineering industry. The conceptualize step involves in classifying the selected critical module into training tasks and to identity the risk associated with each training tasks. It also involves in performing the concept study before building the MR model and to develop the scenario modelling chart. The computerize step involves in developing the actual 3D model and the demo MR model. The construct step involves the creation of the flowchart, worksheet, workflow and the framework and the sixth step is to validate and verify the research outputs. Consequently, as the result of the six-step methodology this thesis has provided new knowledge regarding four concepts: (1) sequence or workflow (2) the need for continuous and iterative process to design mixed reality (3) the logic and the rules for the selection of technical specifications (4) worksheet to classify the scenarios and to define training complexity. The thesis concludes that the safety training provider needs to rigorously follow the developed (1) mixed reality analysis (MRA) workflow, (2) mixed reality analysis (MRA) framework, (3) mixed reality technical specification (MRTS) flowchart and the (4) mixed reality technical specification (MRTS) worksheet. The MRA workflow provides the sequence that can enable the industrial practitioner to design MR application in a cost-effective and fit for purpose manner which includes screening out low risk scenarios. The MRA framework clearly indicates that the design to implement MR is an iterative process based on user needs and user level of familiarity. The MRTS flowchart provides the logic to identify the suitable type of technology for a particular scenario, along with the suitable hardware platform, suitable software platform and associated tracking technique. The MRTS flowchart must be used along with the MRTS worksheet which can help to identify the critical training modules/scenarios and further classify them to check if implementation of mixed realities is needed or not. In future, the complexity associated with such technologies must be studied after implementing in real-time. Based on the case study AR/VR should be designed to make work simpler and error free. However, in some cases if using the technology is creating unintended consequences and complexity, then the technology might not be used in such cases