The Knowledge Grid: A Platform to Increase the Interoperability of Computable Knowledge and Produce Advice for Health

Here we demonstrate how more highly interoperable computable knowledge enables systems to generate large quantities of evidence-based advice for health. We first provide a thorough analysis of advice. Then, because advice derives from knowledge, we turn our focus to computable, i.e., machine-interpretable, forms for knowledge. We consider how computable knowledge plays dual roles as a resource conveying content and as an advice enabler. In this latter role, computable knowledge is combined with data about a decision situation to generate advice targeted at the pending decision. We distinguish between two types of automated services. When a computer system provides computable knowledge, we say that it provides a knowledge service. When computer system combines computable knowledge with instance data to provide advice that is specific to an unmade decision we say that it provides an advice-giving service. The work here aims to increase the interoperability of computable knowledge to bring about better knowledge services and advice-giving services for health. The primary motivation for this research is the problem of missing or inadequate advice about health topics. The global demand for well-informed health advice far exceeds the global supply. In part to overcome this scarcity, the design and development of Learning Health Systems is being pursued at various levels of scale: local, regional, state, national, and international. Learning Health Systems fuse capabilities to generate new computable biomedical knowledge with other capabilities to rapidly and widely use computable biomedical knowledge to inform health practices and behaviors with advice. To support Learning Health Systems, we believe that knowledge services and advice-giving services have to be more highly interoperable. I use examples of knowledge services and advice-giving services which exclusively support medication use. This is because I am a pharmacist and pharmacy is the biomedical domain that I know. The examples here address the serious problems of medication adherence and prescribing safety. Two empirical studies are shared that demonstrate the potential to address these problems and make improvements by using advice. But primarily we use these examples to demonstrate general and critical differences between stand-alone, unique approaches to handling computable biomedical knowledge, which make it useful for one system, and common, more highly interoperable approaches, which can make it useful for many heterogeneous systems. Three aspects of computable knowledge interoperability are addressed: modularity, identity, and updateability. We demonstrate that instances of computable knowledge, and related instances of knowledge services and advice-giving services, can be modularized. We also demonstrate the utility of uniquely identifying modular instances of computable knowledge. Finally, we build on the computing concept of pipelining to demonstrate how computable knowledge modules can automatically be updated and rapidly deployed. Our work is supported by a fledgling technical knowledge infrastructure platform called the Knowledge Grid. It includes formally specified compound digital objects called Knowledge Objects, a conventional digital Library that serves as a Knowledge Object repository, and an Activator that provides an application programming interface (API) for computable knowledge. The Library component provides knowledge services. The Activator component provides both knowledge services and advice-giving services. In conclusion, by increasing the interoperability of computable biomedical knowledge using the Knowledge Grid, we demonstrate new capabilities to generate well-informed health advice at a scale. These new capabilities may ultimately support Learning Health Systems and boost health for large populations of people who would otherwise not receive well-informed health advice.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146073/1/ajflynn_1.pd

Oh, Moon of the Summer\u27s Night

[Verse 1] Over There, The silv’ry moon was shining, Over There, A solider boy while pining, To the moon pleaded, And if it heeded This is what it heard him say, Oh! [Chorus] Moon, of the summer night, Your silv’ry beams bring me dreams, of the loved ones way back home, Could you only tell them all, That I’m safe tonight, How it would cheer up the loved ones far across the foam, Over yonder in the golden west, My mother’s praying, And the little girl I love the best, Is praying too, So I’m asking you, Oh! Moon, Won’t you send your light, And tell my mother for me, cross the sea, Her boy’s alright. [Verse 2] Over Here, The night was dark and dreary, Over Here, Two loving hearts were weary, Sweetheart and mother, Asking each other, Will our Soldier boy return, Oh! [Chorus

Border parasites: schistosomiasis control among Uganda's fisherfolk

Copyright @ 2012 Taylor & Francis. This article has been made publically available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.It is recognized that the control of schistosomisais in Uganda requires a focus on fisherfolk. Large numbers suffer from this water-borne parasitic disease; notably along the shores of lakes Albert and Victoria and along the River Nile. Since 2004, a policy has been adopted of providing drugs, free of charge, to all those at risk. The strategy has been reported to be successful, but closer investigation reveals serious problems. This paper draws upon long-term research undertaken at three locations in northwestern and southeastern Uganda. It highlights consequences of not engaging with the day to day realities of fisherfolk livelihoods; attributable, in part, to the fact that so many fisherfolk live and work in places located at the country’s international borders, and to a related tendency to treat them as "feckless" and "ungovernable". Endeavours to roll out treatment end up being haphazard, erratic and location-specific. In some places, concerted efforts have been made to treat fisherfolk; but there is no effective monitoring, and it is difficult to gauge what proportion have actually swallowed the tablets. In other places, fisherfolk are, in practice, largely ignored, or are actively harassed in ways that make treatment almost impossible. At all sites, the current reliance upon resident "community" drug distributors or staff based at static clinics and schools was found to be flawed.The Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Imperial College, under the auspices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Putting Our Best Boots Forward: US Military Deployments and Host-Country Crime

The deployment of military forces abroad has been a major component of the US’s grand strategy since the beginning of the Cold War. However, some scholars have argued that the presence of US military personnel abroad creates a series of negative externalities afflicting local communities. We put some of these claims to the test by looking at the effect of US military deployments on crime rates in the host-state. Using cross-national crime statistics from the United Nations and data on US troop deployments, we examine whether US military deployments are associated with higher levels of criminal activity across a large subset of crimes. In aggregate, the mere presence of troops does not increase the criminal activity in a state; however, there is a conditional effect when we account for a difference in culture between the host-state and the US; the presence of foreign deployed troops is associated with higher levels of property-related crimes in a country. Consequently, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the impact that US military deployments, and US foreign policy more broadly, have had on other countries, and also enhances our understanding of the micro-level factors that might affect relationships between alliance partners

Regions of Hierarchy and Security: US Troop Deployments, Spatial Relations, and Defense Burdens

Recent work has begun exploring the effects of foreign military deployments on hoststate foreign policies. However, research mostly focuses on dyadic relationships between major powers and host-states, ignoring the broader regional security environment of host-states. We develop a theory of spatial hierarchies to understand how security relationships throughout the region surrounding the host-state affect hoststate foreign policy. Using data on US military deployments from 1950–2005, we show that regional security considerations condition how host-states respond to the deployment of military forces to their territory. Consequently, regional analyses are fundamental in understanding monadic and dyadic decisions about security, alliance behavior, and conflict

Computable knowledge: An imperative for Learning Health Systems

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151989/1/lrh210203.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151989/2/lrh210203_am.pd

The Current State of Pharmacy Informatics Education in Professional Programs at US Colleges of Pharmacy

Objectives. Pharmacy practice is changing in response to several clarion reports published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) documenting preventable medication errors. This paper seeks to assess the current curricula of US colleges of pharmacy to determine the readiness of new pharmacist graduates to do the pharmacy informatics work necessary to implement a safer, more information-rich medication use system. Methods. Data were collected from course titles and descriptions published on the public Internet web sites of the 89 US colleges of pharmacy recognized as regular institutional members of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). Results. Of the 88 colleges of pharmacy included, 73 (83%) maintained updated curricula on their web sites. Of the 73 pharmacy curricula studied, only 24 (33%) included courses in pharmacy informatics. Conclusions. In the United States, colleges of pharmacy are formally training only a small portion of their pharmacy students in pharmacy informatics while informatics knowledge is desperately needed to improve medication use practices

Ecology and management of white-tailed deer in Missouri (2011)

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is one of Missouri's most valuable wildlife resources (Figure 1). Each year, hunters spend more than six million hunter-days in the field pursuing the whitetail, contributing $1.1 billion annually to the Missouri economy and supporting over 12,000 jobs in the process. Hunting the white-tailed deer is a tremendously popular form of recreation that carries great traditions. Deer also provide other recreational opportunities, as well as aesthetic, economic and educational value

Why Does the US Pay So Much for the Defense of Its Allies?: 5 Questions Answered

Since the start of Donald Trump’s run for the U.S. presidency in 2015, he has been critical of the amount of money U.S. allies contribute to their own defense. Now, the Trump administration is demanding that Japan and South Korea pay more for hosting U.S. troops stationed in those countries. The media also reported that U.S. military leadership in South Korea discussed the possibility of withdrawing up to 4,000 troops from South Korea if it does not increase its contributions. The Pentagon has since denied having such plans. We have each studied overseas deployments of U.S. military personnel for nearly a decade and have recently come together to research the costs and benefits of such deployments

Ariel - Volume 2 Number 2

Editors Delvyn C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhoff News Editors Richard Bonanno Daniel B. Gould Ronald A. Hoffman Lay-Out Editor Carol Dolinskas Sports Editor James J. Nocon Contributing Editors MichaeI J. Blecker Lin Sey Edwards Jack Guralnik W. Cherry Light Features Editor Donald A. Bergman Stephen P. Flynn Business Manager Nick Grego Public Relations Robin A. Edward