BSML-mbeddr: Integrating Semantically Congurable State-Machine Models in a C Programming Environment

In model-driven engineering, developers express their solutions in domain-specific modelling languages (DSLs) that support domain-specific abstractions. Big-Step Modelling Languages (BSML) is a family of extended state-machine DSLs for creating executable models that have a complex execution semantics. In this paper, we present BSML-mbeddr, which imbeds a large subset of BSML within the mbeddr C programming environment, thereby extending mbeddr with language constructs for extended, semantically configurable state-machines. We also report on three case studies that exercise the expressiveness of BSML-mbeddr, assess the integrability of BSML-mbeddr into mbeddr, and demonstrate the need to provide support for state-machine models with different execution semantics.NSERC Discovery Grant, 155243-12 || Ontario Research Fund, RE05-04

Introduction to BPM approach in Healthcare and Case Study of End User Interaction with EHR Interface

Nowadays, process management is a key factor in the success of organizations. The market in which the organizations operate is increasingly competitive. This increase makes the improvement of business processes a constant and essential need in organizations. In recent years, organizations increasingly choose to adopt Business Process Management (BPM) and try to use the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) to model their processes and, as a result, to make their systems and applications more interoperable with others. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is another system for the exploitation of clinical and administrative information. Much of the information is generated in the EHR itself, the rest of the information results from external systems and are loaded into the EHR support database. This technology is a system with encrypted clinical information used in hospitals. This article looks at what BPMN is, and how BPMN can be a solution for an EHR. As a result, BPMN workflow diagrams of the system processes of the study case organization were created. The platform used in the case study is the Agency for Integration, Archive and Diffusion of Medical Information (AIDA) platform. Four main modules of the EHR were modeled; one of the modules was the ambulatory module.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013

Participatory Militias: An Analysis of an Armed Movement's Online Audience

Armed groups of civilians known as "self-defense forces" have ousted the powerful Knights Templar drug cartel from several towns in Michoacan. This militia uprising has unfolded on social media, particularly in the "VXM" ("Valor por Michoacan," Spanish for "Courage for Michoacan") Facebook page, gathering more than 170,000 fans. Previous work on the Drug War has documented the use of social media for real-time reports of violent clashes. However, VXM goes one step further by taking on a pro-militia propagandist role, engaging in two-way communication with its audience. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of VXM and its audience. We examined nine months of posts, from VXM's inception until May 2014, totaling 6,000 posts by VXM administrators and more than 108,000 comments from its audience. We describe the main conversation themes, post frequency and relationships with offline events and public figures. We also characterize the behavior of VXM's most active audience members. Our work illustrates VXM's online mobilization strategies, and how its audience takes part in defining the narrative of this armed conflict. We conclude by discussing possible applications of our findings for the design of future communication technologies.Comment: Participatory Militias: An Analysis of an Armed Movement's Online Audience. Saiph Savage, Andres Monroy-Hernandez. CSCW: ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work 201

Integrated engineering environments for large complex products

An introduction is given to the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, along with a brief explanation of the main focus towards large made-to-order products. Three key areas of research at the Centre, which have evolved as a result of collaboration with industrial partners from various sectors of industry, are identified as (1) decision support and optimisation, (2) design for lifecycle, and (3) design integration and co-ordination. A summary of the unique features of large made-to-order products is then presented, which includes the need for integration and co-ordination technologies. Thus, an overview of the existing integration and co-ordination technologies is presented followed by a brief explanation of research in these areas at the Engineering Design Centre. A more detailed description is then presented regarding the co-ordination aspect of research being conducted at the Engineering Design Centre, in collaboration with the CAD Centre at the University of Strathclyde. Concurrent Engineering is acknowledged as a strategy for improving the design process, however design coordination is viewed as a principal requirement for its successful implementation. That is, design co-ordination is proposed as being the key to a mechanism that is able to maximise and realise any potential opportunity of concurrency. Thus, an agentoriented approach to co-ordination is presented, which incorporates various types of agents responsible for managing their respective activities. The co-ordinated approach, which is implemented within the Design Co-ordination System, includes features such as resource management and monitoring, dynamic scheduling, activity direction, task enactment, and information management. An application of the Design Co-ordination System, in conjunction with a robust concept exploration tool, shows that the computational design analysis involved in evaluating many design concepts can be performed more efficiently through a co-ordinated approach

Use of short peripheral intravenous catheters: characteristics, management, and outcomes worldwide

BACKGROUND: Peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) use in health care is common worldwide. Failure of PIVCs is also common, resulting in premature removal and replacement. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics, management practices, and outcomes of PIVCs internationally. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING/PATIENTS: Hospitalized patients from rural, regional, and metropolitan areas internationally. MEASUREMENTS: Hospital, device, and inserter characteristics were collected along with assessment of the catheter insertion site. PIVC use in different geographic regions was compared. RESULTS: We reviewed 40,620 PIVCs in 51 countries. PIVCs were used primarily for intravenous medication (n = 28,571, 70%) and predominantly inserted in general wards (n = 22,167, 55%). Two-thirds of all devices were placed in non-recommended sites such as the hand, wrist, or antecubital veins. Nurses inserted most PIVCs (n = 28,575, 71%); although there was wide regional variation (26% to 97%). The prevalence of idle PIVCs was 14% (n = 5,796). Overall, 10% (n = 4,204) of PIVCs were painful to the patient or otherwise symptomatic of phlebitis; a further 10% (n = 3,879) had signs of PIVC malfunction; and 21% of PIVC dressings were suboptimal (n = 8,507). Over one-third of PIVCs (n = 14,787, 36%) had no documented daily site assessment and half (n = 19,768, 49%) had no documented date and time of insertion. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found that many PIVCs were placed in areas of "exion, were symptomatic or idle, had suboptimal dressings, or lacked adequate documentation. This suggests inconsistency between recommended management guidelines for PIVCs and current practice

A coalgebraic semantic framework for component-based development in UML

This paper introduces a generic semantic framework for component-based development, expressed in the unified modelling language UML. The principles of a coalgebraic semantics for class, object and statechart diagrams as well as for use cases, are developed. It is also discussed how to formalize the refinement steps in the development process based upon a suitable notion of behavior refinement. In this way, a formal basis for component-based development in UML is studied, which allows the construction of more complex and specific systems from independent components.FCT -Fuel Cell Technologies Program(POSI/ICHS/44304/2002