Pervasive and intelligent decision support in Intensive Medicine – the complete picture

Series : Lecture notes in computer science (LNCS), vol. 8649In the Intensive Care Units (ICU) it is notorious the high number of data sources available. This situation brings more complexity to the way of how a professional makes a decision based on information provided by those data sources. Normally, the decisions are based on empirical knowledge and common sense. Often, they don’t make use of the information provided by the ICU data sources, due to the difficulty in understanding them. To overcome these constraints an integrated and pervasive system called INTCare has been deployed. This paper is focused in presenting the system architecture and the knowledge obtained by each one of the decision modules: Patient Vital Signs, Critical Events, ICU Medical Scores and Ensemble Data Mining. This system is able to make hourly predictions in terms of organ failure and outcome. High values of sensitivity where reached, e.g. 97.95% for the cardiovascular system, 99.77% for the outcome. In addition, the system is prepared for tracking patients’ critical events and for evaluating medical scores automatically and in real-time.(undefined

Virtual agents for professional social skills training: An overview of the state-of-the-art

Training of interpersonal communication skills is typically done using role play, by practising relevant scenarios with the help of professional actors. However, as a result of the rapid developments in human-computer interaction, there has been an increasing interest in the use of computers for training of social and communicative skills. This type of training offers opportunities to complement traditional training methods with a novel paradigm that is more scalable and cost-effective. The main idea of such applications is that of a simulated conversation between a human trainee and a virtual agent. By developing the system in such a way that the communicative behaviour of the human has a direct impact on the behaviour of the virtual agent, an interactive learning experience is created. In this article, we review the current state-of-the-art in virtual agents for social skills training. We provide an overview of existing applications, and discuss various properties of these applications

Intelligent systems for monitoring and prevention in healthcare information systems

Nowadays the interoperability in Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) is a fundamental requirement. The Agency for Integration, Diffusion and Archive of Medical Information (AIDA) is an interoperability healthcare platform that ensures these demands and it is implemented in Centro Hospitalar do Porto (CHP), a major healthcare unit in Portugal. Therefore, the overall performance of CHP HIS depends on the success of AIDA functioning. This paper presents monitoring and prevention systems implemented in the CHP, which aim to improve the system integrity and high availability. These systems allow the monitoring and the detection of situations conducive to failure in the AIDA main components: database, machines and intelligent agents. Through the monitoring systems, it was found that the database most critical period is between 11:00 and 12:00 and the resources are well balanced. The prevention systems detected abnormal situations that were reported to the administrators that took preventive actions, avoiding damage to AIDA workflow. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.- This work is financed with the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), within project PEstOE/EEI/UI0752/2014.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Decision support in E-government – a pervasive business intelligence approach case study in a local government

Business Intelligence (BI) systems are being increasingly used by organizations and considered as an advantage, which goal is to offer access to information in a timely manner to support the decision-making process. Simultaneously, the local government has put forward quality assurance systems, with the goal of improving efficiency of internal processes, who require timely and quality information to function. However it should be noted that this is an area of activity with peculiar characteristics that must be taken into account. This paper presents a real case study and the development of a pervasive BI functional solution implemented in local government, providing support and improving the quality of processes. The developed solution brings some important contributions and represents some advances in the e-Government context applied to local governments. This solution is able to accommodate a wide range of users, with the information available anytime and anywhere, capable of issuing alerts and being ubiquitous, scalable and have real-time data availability.(undefined

CARACTERIZAÇÃO FÍSICO- QUÍMICA DO BIODIESEL DE PEQUI (Caryocar brasiliensis) / CHARACTERISATION PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF BIODIESEL OF PEQUI (Caryocar brasiliensis)

O pequizeiro, árvore da família das cariocáceas também pode ser encontrado em toda a região Centro-Oeste (considerada a capital da fruta) e nos estados de Rondônia (a leste), Minas Gerais (norte e oeste), Pará (sudoeste), Tocantins, Maranhão (extremo sul), Piauí (extremo sul), Bahia (oeste) e Ceará (Sul).O pequizeiro (Caryocar brasiliensis Camb) É uma fruta nativa amplamente difundida no Brasil (região central). Os seus frutos são comestíveis e utilizados para a extração de petróleo, constituído de triglicerídeos que podem ser utilizadas na produção de biodiesel. Esse biocombustível pode ser utilizado em motores devendo estar dentro das especificações exigidas pela Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP).Isto exige que vários testes que podem atestar a sua qualidade.Propõe-se que os trabalhos sobre as características físicas e químicas do biodiesel metílico e etílico de pequi.Os ensaios físicos e químicos do biodiesel metílico e etílico de pequi foram conduzidos de acordo com a ASTM "American Society for Testing and material".</p

CARACTERIZAÇÃO FÍSICO-QUÍMICA DO BIODIESEL DE JATROPHA CURCAS PELA ROTA METÍLICA / CHARACTERIZATION PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF BIODIESEL JATROPHA CURCAS

O Brasil apresenta uma farta variedade de oleaginosas as quais apresentam potencial para se produzir biodiesel, no entanto, muitas vezes a falta de estudos voltados a essas plantas nao proporciona fundamentação científica visando confirmar por meio de experimentos e dados todo esse potencial. Este trabalho é baseado na caracterizaçao físico-química e também da estabilidade oxidativa do óleo e do biodiesel metílico de pinhão-Manso produzido a partir do óleo bruto. Palavras-chave: Jatropha curcas; óleo; biocombustível

Trypanosoma vivax infection dynamics in a cattle herd maintained in a transition area between Pantanal lowlands and highlands of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil Dinâmica de infecção de Trypanosoma vivax em rebanho bovino mantido numa área de transição entre o Pantanal e o planalto de Mato Grosso do Sul

Trypanosoma vivax outbreaks in beef cattle in the Pantanal region of Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, causes relevant economical impact due to weight loss, abortion and mortality. Cattle moved from the Pantanal to adjacent areas of this ecosystem for breeding and fattening is a common feature. Therefore an epidemiological study on breeding cows in the transition area between Pantanal lowland and adjacent highlands of Mato Grosso do Sul was performed to determine the T. vivax infection dynamics and outbreak risk. Three experimental groups were formed: Group 1 consisted of cows parasitologically negative by the Woo test and in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for T. vivax antibody detection (Tv-ELISA-Ab); Group 2 parasitologically negative and positive in the Tv-ELISA-Ab; and in Group 3 cows were parasitologically positive and with positive reactions in the Tv-ELISA-Ab. During 24 months, the cows' dislodgment between the above established groups was monitored by Woo test and Tv-ELISA-Ab exams. The tabanid population was also monitored and the highest number occurred during the rainy season. Although parasitemias were detected only in the first four samplings of the experimental period, the cows could be considered as trypanotolerant, because no clinical signs were observed. Despite the higher T. vivax incidence during the dry season, no disease symptoms were seen. Even though T. vivax epidemiological situation in the herd was characterized as endemic with seasonal variation, the probability of outbreaks was null within the conditions of the study.<br>Surtos de Trypanosoma vivax em bovinos de corte do Pantanal foram responsáveis por relevante impacto econômico, devido a perda de peso, abortos e mortalidade. Um manejo comum é o deslocamento de bovinos do Pantanal baixo para áreas adjacentes desse ecosistema para reprodução e engorda. Por essa razão, foi efetuado um estudo epidemiológico em rebanho de vacas movidas para uma área de transição entre Pantanal baixo e planalto do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul para determinar a dinâmica de infecção do T. vivax e o risco de surto. Três grupos experimentais foram formados: Grupo 1; composto por vacas parasitologicamente negativas no teste de Woo e no exame sorológico de imunoadsorção enzimática para detecção de anticorpos contra T. vivax (Tv-ELISA-Ab); Grupo 2, vacas negativas parasitológicamente e com reação positiva no Tv-ELISA-Ab; e no Grupo 3, positivas parasitologicamente e no Tv-ELISA-Ab. Durante 24 meses o deslocamento das vacas entre esses grupos experimentais foi determinado pelo monitoramento mensal realizado pelo teste de Woo e Tv-ELISA-Ab. Durante esse período a população de tabanídeos na área experimental foi determinada e as maiores populações ocorreram no período das chuvas. Parasitemias de T. vivax foram detectadas apenas nas quatro primeiras amostragens do período experimental, apesar da elevação de incidência determinada sorológicamente tenha ocorrido no período seco do ano. Portanto, T. vivax foi endêmico no rebanho e a ausência de manifestação clínica sugere que os bovinos sejam tripanotolerantes e o risco de surto seja nulo nas condições em que o experimento foi executado, pois a manifestação clínica da doença esta associada à presença de parasitemia