What works? Toward a new classification system for mental health supported accommodation services : the Simple Taxonomy for Supported Accommodation (STAX-SA)

Inconsistent terminology and variation in service models have made synthesis of the supported accommodation literature challenging. To overcome this, we developed a brief, categorical taxonomy that aimed to capture the defining features of different supported accommodation models: the simple taxonomy for supported accommodation (STAX-SA). Data from a previous review of existing classification systems were used to develop the taxonomy structure. After initial testing and amendments, the STAX-SA and an existing taxonomy were applied to 132 supported accommodation service descriptions drawn from two systematic reviews and their performance compared. To assess external validity, the STAX-SA was distributed to a sample of supported accommodation managers in England and they were asked to use it to classify their services. The final version of the STAX-SA comprised of five supported accommodation "types", based on four domains; Staffing location; Level of support; Emphasis on move-on; and Physical setting. The STAX-SA accurately categorized 71.1% (n = 94) of service descriptions, outperforming the comparison tool, and was not affected by publication date or research design. The STAX-SA effectively discriminated between ‘real world’ service models in England and 53.2% (n = 17) of service managers indicated that the taxonomy was "Very effective" or "Extremely effective" in capturing key characteristics of their service. The STAX-SA is an effective tool for classifying supported accommodation models and represents a promising approach to synthesizing the extant effectiveness literature. The authors recommend the development of reporting guidelines for future supported accommodation publications to facilitate comparison between models

Integrating adaptive user interface capabilities in enterprise applications

Many existing enterprise applications are at a mature stage in their development and are unable to easily benefit from the usability gains offered by adaptive user interfaces (UIs). Therefore, a method is needed for integrating adaptive UI capabilities into these systems without incurring a high cost or significantly disrupting the way they function. This paper presents a method for integrating adaptive UI behavior in enterprise applications based on CEDAR, a model-driven, service-oriented, and tool-supported architecture for devising adaptive enterprise application UIs. The proposed integration method is evaluated with a case study, which includes establishing and applying technical metrics to measure several of the method’s properties using the open-source enterprise application OFBiz as a test-case. The generality and flexibility of the integration method are also evaluated based on an interview and discussions with practitioners about their real-life projects

JointCalc: A web-based personalised patient decision support tool for joint replacement

Background and purpose Health information systems (HIS) are expected to be effective and efficient in improving healthcare services, but empirical observation of HIS reveals that most perform poorly in terms of these metrics. Theoretical factors of HIS performance are widely studied, and solutions to mitigate poor performance have been proposed. In this paper we implement effective methods to eliminate some common drawbacks of HIS design and demonstrate the synergy between the methods. JointCalc, the first comprehensive patient-facing web-based decision support tool for joint replacement, is used as a case study for this purpose. Methods and results User-centred design and thorough end-user involvement are employed throughout the design and development of JointCalc. This is supported by modern software production paradigms, including continuous integration/continuous development, agile and service-oriented architecture. The adopted methods result in a user-approved application delivered well within the scope of project. Conclusion This work supports the claims of high potential efficiency of HIS. The methods identified are shown to be applicable in the production of an effective HIS whilst aiding development efficiency

Easy Development and Use of Dialogue Services

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07596-9_9We present a framework for Dialogue-Based Web Services (DBWS), i.e. services that require several message exchanges during their execution. Service development is simplified with the use of script languages and abstracting the communication layer. Service advertisements are carried out with a semantic Web Service directory with search and reputation capabilities. Execution can be performed from a mobile user interface that includes capabilities for user assistance. Our framework aims at filling the gap between services and non-IT users/experts. An example illustrates our proposal.Work partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project ”AT” (grant CSD2007-0022; CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project iHAS (grant TIN2012-36586-C03-01/02/03).Durán, JJ.; Fernández, A.; Rodríguez, S.; Julian Inglada, VJ.; Billhardt, H. (2014). Easy Development and Use of Dialogue Services. En Ambient Intelligence - Software and Applications. Springer. 81-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07596-9_9S8188Guinard, D., Ion, I., Mayer, S.: In search of an internet of things service architecture: REST or WS-*? A developers’ perspective. In: Puiatti, A., Gu, T. (eds.) MobiQuitous 2011. LNICST, vol. 104, pp. 326–337. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)Pautasso, C., Zimmermann, O., Leymann, F.: Rest- ful web services vs. ”big’” web services: Making the right architectural decision. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on World Wide Web, WWW 2008, pp. 805–814. ACM (2008)Lawton, G.: Developing software online with platform-as-a- service technology. Computer 41(6), 13–15 (2008)Kopel, M., Sobecki, J., Wasilewski, A.: Automatic web-based user interface delivery for soa-based systems. In: Bǎdicǎ, C., Nguyen, N.T., Brezovan, M. (eds.) ICCCI 2013. LNCS, vol. 8083, pp. 110–119. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)Bartolini, C., Bertolino, A., Marchetti, E., Polini, A.: Ws-taxi: A wsdl-based testing tool for web services. In: International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation, ICST 2009, pp. 326–335 (2009)Fernandez, A., Cong, Z., Balta, A.: Bridging the gap between service description models in service matchmaking. Multiagent and Grid Systems 8(1), 83–103 (2012)Hermoso, R., Billhardt, H., Centeno, R., Ossowski, S.: Effective use of organisational abstractions for confidence models. In: O’Hare, G.M.P., Ricci, A., O’Grady, M.J., Dikenelli, O. (eds.) ESAW 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4457, pp. 368–383. Springer, Heidelberg (2007

Experiences modelling and using object-oriented telecommunication service frameworks in SDL

This paper describes experiences in using SDL and its associated tools to create telecommunication services by producing and specialising object-oriented frameworks. The chosen approach recognises the need for the rapid creation of validated telecommunication services. It introduces two stages to service creation. Firstly a software expert produces a service framework, and secondly a telecommunications ‘business consultant' specialises the framework by means of graphical tools to rapidly produce services. Here the focus is given to the underlying technology required. In particular, the advantages and disadvantages of SDL and tools for this purpose are highlighted

A Framework for Evaluating Model-Driven Self-adaptive Software Systems

In the last few years, Model Driven Development (MDD), Component-based Software Development (CBSD), and context-oriented software have become interesting alternatives for the design and construction of self-adaptive software systems. In general, the ultimate goal of these technologies is to be able to reduce development costs and effort, while improving the modularity, flexibility, adaptability, and reliability of software systems. An analysis of these technologies shows them all to include the principle of the separation of concerns, and their further integration is a key factor to obtaining high-quality and self-adaptable software systems. Each technology identifies different concerns and deals with them separately in order to specify the design of the self-adaptive applications, and, at the same time, support software with adaptability and context-awareness. This research studies the development methodologies that employ the principles of model-driven development in building self-adaptive software systems. To this aim, this article proposes an evaluation framework for analysing and evaluating the features of model-driven approaches and their ability to support software with self-adaptability and dependability in highly dynamic contextual environment. Such evaluation framework can facilitate the software developers on selecting a development methodology that suits their software requirements and reduces the development effort of building self-adaptive software systems. This study highlights the major drawbacks of the propped model-driven approaches in the related works, and emphasise on considering the volatile aspects of self-adaptive software in the analysis, design and implementation phases of the development methodologies. In addition, we argue that the development methodologies should leave the selection of modelling languages and modelling tools to the software developers.Comment: model-driven architecture, COP, AOP, component composition, self-adaptive application, context oriented software developmen

Semi-automated creation of converged iTV services: From macromedia director simulations to services ready for broadcast

While sound and video may capture viewers’ attention, interaction can captivate them. This has not been available prior to the advent of Digital Television. In fact, what lies at the heart of the Digital Television revolution is this new type of interactive content, offered in the form of interactive Television (iTV) services. On top of that, the new world of converged networks has created a demand for a new type of converged services on a range of mobile terminals (Tablet PCs, PDAs and mobile phones). This paper aims at presenting a new approach to service creation that allows for the semi-automatic translation of simulations and rapid prototypes created in the accessible desktop multimedia authoring package Macromedia Director into services ready for broadcast. This is achieved by a series of tools that de-skill and speed-up the process of creating digital TV user interfaces (UI) and applications for mobile terminals. The benefits of rapid prototyping are essential for the production of these new types of services, and are therefore discussed in the first section of this paper. In the following sections, an overview of the operation of content, service, creation and management sub-systems is presented, which illustrates why these tools compose an important and integral part of a system responsible of creating, delivering and managing converged broadcast and telecommunications services. The next section examines a number of metadata languages candidates for describing the iTV services user interface and the schema language adopted in this project. A detailed description of the operation of the two tools is provided to offer an insight of how they can be used to de-skill and speed-up the process of creating digital TV user interfaces and applications for mobile terminals. Finally, representative broadcast oriented and telecommunication oriented converged service components are also introduced, demonstrating how these tools have been used to generate different types of services