Life event ontology based e-government service integration with privacy awareness

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.The advancement of information and communications technology (ICT) and web services offers a promising opportunity for e-government service integration, which can improve the availability and quality of e-government services. One of the key challenges in electronic government (e-government) is the composition of standalone e-government services to achieve complex services. In recent years, the life event model as ontology has been introduced as the core element of integrating complexity of service delivery to improve the efficiency and reusability of e-government services, and web-based information management systems. Despite the conceptual emergence of life event ontology, the question as to how ontology can be used to effectively model life events to support e-government government to citizen service integration remains. Furthermore, privacy concerns represents a major barrier for citizens to accept e-government services, and the question of how to address these privacy issues is becoming increasingly important as the government moves to push service delivery online. Although solutions have been recently suggested in the literature to deal with privacy concerns, there are few practical approaches for helping citizens to create their preferences for privacy protection based on various aspects of privacy policy. These preferences include purpose, retention, consent and the protection of personal information in the context of using e-government services. As a step forward to satisfy the above requirements and to address some of the current challenges, this thesis presents a new framework for supporting e-government service integration based on a life event model. More specifically, the framework enables the system to automatically discover, select, compose and execute correct service across multiple web applications for appropriate life events and to allow a citizen to set up their privacy preferences and to support computerisation of these preferences so that these preferences can be guaranteed. The main contributions are fivefold: (i) the proposal of a conceptual framework of e-government service integration based on life events, (ii) the development of a new life-event model using ontology technique and the methodology to model life events as an ontology model for e-government service integration, (iii) the development of a novel citizen personal information sensitivity model with privacy awareness for supporting citizens in expressing their privacy preferences and for granting the protection of citizens’ personal information, (iv) the development of a suite of techniques to implement the framework including a practical solution to enforce the privacy policies in relation to citizens’ personal information during e-government service integration, and (v) the manifestation of the validity of the proposed framework, models and techniques through the creation of a working prototype of an integrated e-government service system in a specific e-government domain in Saudi Arabia. The significance of this study can be seen from the fact that it: (i) enables the domain expert to model effective life-events based on the use of ontology building methodology, (ii) enables effective modeling of citizens’ personal information, (iii) enables citizens to specify their privacy preferences, (iv) ensures that citizens can be well informed in terms of what information is used, what purpose is it used for, where and how it is stored and who will handle the information, and (v) enforces privacy policies which correspond to the citizens’ privacy preferences so that their privacy concerns can be properly addressed and that citizens’ personal information will be protected and guaranteed against unauthorized access, loss, misuse or alterations based on their privacy preferences. Based on the outcomes of this study, the integrated e-government systems can significantly improve the accessibility of e-government services and enhance the citizens' trust toward the integrated government e-service systems

Satisfaction survey on the critical care response team services in a teaching hospital

Saad Al Qahtani1,21Intensive Care Department, Critical Care Response Team, King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), National Guard Health Affairs, 2King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaIntroduction: Patient care and safety is the main goal and mission of any health care provider. We surveyed nurses in the wards and obtained their feedback about the quality of care delivered by the Critical Care Response Team (CCRT).Methods: Our hospital has 900 beds. A self-administered survey was given onsite to all ward nurses. Survey items were identified, discussed, reviewed, piloted, and finalized over a 3-month period in a focus group discussion format during three CCRT core group meetings. Responses were anonymous and collected by the nurses onsite.Results: The total number of returned and analyzed surveys was 274 (98.6%). Ninety-seven percent agreed that CCRT staff arrived in a timely manner. Ninety-four percent reported that CCRT staff helped in managing sick patients and ~70% reported that it strengthened team dynamics. Only 50% of the nurses felt CCRT staff improved competence at the bedside. The overall satisfaction was 100%; none of the nurses were dissatisfied with the team.Conclusion: The CCRT helped manage sick patients in the wards. However, CRRT staff should remember to involve and communicate with the team initiator and the patient’s physician to optimize patient health care.Keywords: rapid response team, medical emergency team, critical care response team, satisfactio

Qatars membership of the World Trade Organization: what are the economic benefits?

In 1993 Qatar became a contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and in 1996 became an official member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). By being a member of the GATT/WTO, Qatar must abide by the rules and the regulations of this organization. The aim of the research is to determine the extent to which Qatar's economic policies and its trading activities have been influenced by the WTO regulations. The research assesses the economic performance of WTO membership for Qatar, with a specific focus on the energy sector with its three components of oil, gas, and petrochemicals that constitute the bulk of Qatar's exports. Qatar's imports come from diverse sources, and its WTO membership implies there is no discrimination in favour of particular suppliers, apart from those based in its GCC trading partners.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Acute renal failure and severe rhabdomyolysis in a patient with resistant thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare, life-threatening disorder. This paper describes the case of a 39-year-old Sudanese male who presented to the emergency room with fever, jaundice, decreased level of consciousness, and worsening kidney function for 7 days, a high lactate dehydrogenase level (1947), severe thrombocytopenia (platelets 8), and numerous schistocytes in the peripheral blood smear. The patient was admitted with a diagnosis of TTP for plasma exchange. Fourteen days later, his creatinine kinase (CK) level rose to >50,000 IU; rhabdomyolysis was suggested. Continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) was started. The patient’s CK level remained high, despite CVVHD, until the 6th day, after which this parameter gradually started to decrease. This report highlights a resistant case of TTP that presented with concomitant severe rhabdomyolysis, which demanded aggressive, continuous intervention

First Confirmed Case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in the Kingdom of Bahrain: In a Saudi Gentleman after Cardiac Bypass Surgery

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is well known to cause severe respiratory infection and was first reported in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012. We report here the first confirmed MERS-CoV infection in the Kingdom of Bahrain in a Saudi gentleman who was admitted electively for coronary bypass surgery, postoperatively developed an acute respiratory illness, and tested positive for MERS-CoV. 40 close contacts, all healthcare workers, were traced and followed with no documented secondary cases

Use of stem cells in tissue engineering and reconstruction of the maxillofacial region

The oral and craniofacial defect reconstruction has been a daunting task for several decades. Many clinicians have attempted to switch surgical techniques in flap transfer to enhance the purposeful outcomes. In many cases, however, near total restoration of the native anatomy is not achievable. Also, the normal functional performance is not attainable, regardless of the surgical technique used. This problem is more evident within the oral and craniofacial region considering the importance of functions, such as speech, chewing, and appearance. Stem cells have attracted a growing interest within the scientific community chiefly for their ability to regenerate broken tissues and conjointly for their known potential in modulating inflammatory and immune responses. These skills have caused stem cells to be thought about as a promising strategic tool for a range of clinical maxillofacial applications. In this review, authors briefly summarize the applications of stem cells in maxillofacial surgery.

Crack initiation and growth behavior at corrosion pit in 2024-T3 aluminum alloy

In this research, fatigue crack formation from two types of corrosion pits at a circular hole was investigated under uniaxial fatigue. Through pits and corner pits were created on the edge of a circular hole in test specimens using an electrochemical process. Specimens of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy were subjected to cyclic uniaxial loads with stress ratio of R = 0.5 in both air and saltwater environments. A fracture mechanics approach was used to investigate the crack initiation and crack growth from corrosion pits. Specimens with a through pit at the edge of a circular hole had a closed form solution to predict stress intensity factor range, ΔK, which was in agreement with finite element analysis. In addition, specimens with a corner pit do not have a closed form solution and finite element modeling was used to determine stress intensity range. Optical and electron microscopy provided an accurate method to measure the size of corrosion pits. Exposure to saltwater reduced the number of cycles for crack initiation in both types of corrosion pits. This reduction is up to 90% for through pits and up to 75% for corner pits. The required number of cycles for crack initiation for corner pit specimens is less than for through pit specimens. Here, the number of cycles decreases up to 94% in air and up to 88% in saltwater environment. There was a good agreement between crack growth rates in machined notch specimens and the specimen with through pit

Diagnostic uncertainty of hepatobiliary cystadenoma: Report of 11 cases and review of the literature

AbstractObjectivesThis research was conducted to highlight the pre-operative diagnostic uncertainty of hepatobiliary cystadenomas and to suggest strategies to improve its diagnostic yield.MethodsAll consecutive patients admitted with hepatobiliary cystadenomas from July 2007 to July 2014 were recruited in this study. The following information was retrieved from the medical records of eligible patients: demographics, clinical features, laboratory tests, imaging results, operative procedures, frozen sections, complications, histopathology, outpatient follow-up, and morbidity and mortality.ResultsEleven total patients with a diagnosis of hepatobiliary cystadenomas were treated in our unit. Abdominal ultrasounds and computed tomography (CT) scans were performed in all patients; magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) was performed in three patients with suspicion of hepatobiliary cystadenomas. Six patients underwent a definitive surgery; five patients were incorrectly diagnosed with non-hepatobiliary cystadenoma liver cysts (2 hydatid cysts and 3 simple cysts) by the pre-operative ultrasound and CT scan. These five patients underwent surgical deroofing. The frozen section was positive in two patients and was falsely negative in one patient who was diagnosed with simple cysts. The final histopathology results identified hepatobiliary cystadenomas in all patients.ConclusionsHepatobiliary cystadenomas are rare and are frequently misdiagnosed as hepatic cystic lesions with resultant inadequate surgical treatments. A diagnosis of hepatobiliary cystadenomas should be considered in all patients with atypical liver cystic lesions. Further pre-operative assessment with MRIs and intra-operative frozen sections may improve the diagnostic yield and provide an opportunity for a definitive radical resection

The Paperless Organization: Improved processes and reduction in paper usage through wider use of electronic documents and tablet computers

This qualitative, descriptive research study aimed to investigate the way in which documents were handled in an organization in relation to how much paper was wasted, and opportunities presented to save paper via new technologies. For the purposes of this study, an example organization was chosen, being the University of Waikato in New Zealand. However, the findings of the investigations comprising this thesis can be considered generalizable across organization types. The results of the investigations revealed that the university wasted a great deal of paper in the process of performing the three example activities: producing the university calendar, distributing meeting agendas and processing PhD student reports. These activities have been chosen, as an example of other practices, as they involve documents processing, several committees, and diverse types of tasks and includes staff and students working in different positions. This wastage was as a direct result of the inherent drawbacks of working with paper documents. These drawbacks were found to include: the high cost of producing, storing and maintaining paper documents, the risk of lost documents, the difficulties in sharing and tracking the documents, problems of security and delays caused by difficulty accessing the documents in a timely fashion. It was therefore suggested that working electronically would reduce paper wastage, and streamline the performance of the activities in the process. Specifically, this thesis presents the tablet computer as the key to moving organizations towards their paperless futures. The research explores the potential of using tablet devices in general and the specialist facilities of the iPad in particular as an example of modern technology. Participants in the unstructured qualitative research interviews stressed the functionality provided by the iPad, which overcomes many of the drawbacks of using paper documents. They also highlighted the effectiveness and advantages of using an electronic system as comparing to the current paper-based system. The final investigation presented in this thesis highlights the tools and applications of the iPad most promising for helping to reduce the use of paper documents in the workplace