Introducing process management in E-government and healthcare

The public sector has shown that it has, comparedwith other sectors, a relatively underdeveloped information system structure. In this context the importance of reducing costs and streamlining workflows and processes is ever more recognized. However, despite the importance of process management, currently there are internationally very few guidelines provided for introducing process management in public administration. The objective of this paper is to outline a framework for analyzing process management projects. By using this framework we analyze a system in the public administration of Bulgaria as well as an implementation of a healthcare administration system in Ireland. Our analysis revealed some interesting results. The reasons for failure in public administration are rather content and structural in nature then solely project management issues.Відкритий сектор економіки має, у порівнянні з іншими секторами, відносно недостатньо розвинену структуру інформаційних систем. У цьому контексті є сенс вважати важливими зниження витрат та спрямлення робочих потоків. Проте, незважаючи на важливість управління процесами, у теперішній час є дуже мало керівних документів, які допомагають впровадити управління процесами у користувальницьку адміністрацію. Мета цієї роботи – дати огляд можливої інфраструктури для аналізу проектів з управління процесами. Шляхом використання цієї інфраструктури ми аналізуємо систему управління у Болгарії та адміністрування охороною здоров'я у Ірландії. Наш аналіз дав деякі цікаві результати

Provision of tailored health information for patient empowerment: An initial study

Search of “right” health information by patients/citizens is an important step towards their empowerment. The number of health information seekers on the Internet is steadily increasing over the years so it is crucial to understand their information needs and the challenges they face during the search process. However, generic search engines do not make any distinction among the users and overload them with the amount of information. Moreover, specific search engines/sites mostly work on medical literature and are built by hand. This paper analyses the possibility of providing the user with tailored web information by exploiting the web semantic capabilities and, in particular, those of schema.org and its health-lifesci extension. After presenting a short review of the main user requirements when searching for health information on the Internet, an analysis of schema.org and its health-lifesci extension is shown to understand the main properties and semantic capabilities in the health/medical domain. Finally, an initial mapping among user requirements and schema.org elements is presented in order to provide expert and non-expert user categories with web pages that satisfy their specific requirements

An Intelligent Empowering Agent (IEA) to Provide Easily Understood and Trusted Health Information Appropriate to the User Needs

Most members of the public, including patients, usually obtain health information from Web searches using generic search engines, which is often overwhelming, too generic, and of poor quality. Although patients may be better informed, they are often none the wiser and not empowered to communicate with medical professionals so that their care is compatible with their needs, values, and best interests. Intelligent Empowering Agents (IEA) use AI to filter medical information and assist the user in the understanding of health information about specific complaints or health in general. We have designed and developed a prototype of an IEA that dialogues with the user in simple language, collects health information from the Web, and provides tailored, easily understood, and trusted information. It empowers users to create their own comprehensive and objective opinion on health matters that concern them. This paper describes the IEA main characteristics and presents the results of subjective and objective tests carried out to assess the effectiveness of the IEA

A comparison between different propagative schemes for the simulation of tapered step index slab waveguides

The performance and accuracy of a number of propagative algorithms are compared for the simulation of tapered high contrast step index slab waveguides. The considered methods include paraxial as well as nonparaxial formulations of optical field propagation. In particular attention is paid to the validity of the paraxial approximation. To test the internal consistency of the various methods the property of reciprocity is verified and it is shown that for the paraxial algorithms the reciprocity can only be fulfilled if the paraxial approximation of the power flux expression using the Poynting vector is considered. Finally, modeling results are compared with measured fiber coupling losses for an experimentally realized taper structure

GABA and glycine immunoreactivity in the guinea pig superior olivary complex

Immunoperoxidase immunocytochemistry was employed to examine the distribution of [gamma]-aminobutyric acid (GABA)- and glycine (GLY)-immunoreactive cells, fibers, and terminals in the guinea pig superior olivary complex. The nuclei studied were the lateral superior olive (LSO), medial superior olive (MSO), superior paraolivary nucleus (SPN), and the medial, ventral, and lateral nuclei of the trapezoid body (MNTB, VNTB, and LNTB, respectively). The majority of LSO neurons exhibited GABA-immunoreactive (+) labeling. These same neurons were also lightly GLY+. Extensive perisomatic punctate GLY+ labeling was ovserved on most LSO neurons; these puncta most likely correspond to synaptic terminals. A very small number of MSO fusiform neurons were GABA+, and none were GLY+. The GLY positive perisomatic punctate labeling around most MSO neurons, although abundant, was not as profuse as that observed in the LSO. The MNTB neurons corresponding to the principal and elongate types were intensely GLY+ and were contacted by small numbers of GLY+ puncta. There was extensive GLY+ punctate labeling in the SPN that surrounded the cell bodies of most of its large, radiate neurons and many of the smaller, fusiform neurons. The few large, radiate neurons that were lightly GLY+ possessed far fewer GLY+ puncta on their perikarya. The distribution of GABA+ puncta was generally diffuse and scattered throughout the nuclei described above. In the VNTB and LNTB, several large neurons of various shapes were GLY+ as were the small, oval neurons. The extent of GLY+ punctate labeling was quite variable in both nuclei. The majority of perikarya in the VNTB and LNTB were GABA+. A light distribution of GABA+ puncta was observed on most cell bodies in both nuclei. Peridendritic GABA+ punctate labeling was dense in the VNTB neuropil. Two small populations of GLY+ neurons were observed outside of the named nuclei of the SOC; one was located dorsal to the LSO, near its dorsal hilus, and the other was identified near the medial pole of the LSO. The somata of both populations possessed extremely sparse GLY+ punctate labeling. In general, these results agree with and expand on findings in rodents from previous studies. There appears, however, to be differences between the guinea pig and cat with regard to the proportions of GABA+ neurons in the LSO and GLY+ punctate labeling in the MSO.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27689/1/0000073.pd

Ultrasonic songs and stridulum anatomy of Asiophlugis crystal predatory katydids (Tettigonioidea: Meconematinae: Phlugidini)

The behavioural ecology of ultrasonic-singing katydids is not well understood, and the general bioacoustics, barely known for a few Neotropical Meconematinae, tends to be overlooked for species from Southeast Asia. These include Asiatic species of Phlugidini, commonly known as crystal predatory katydids. One of its genera, Asiophlugis consists of 16 species for which acoustic signals and stridulum anatomy are broadly unknown. These characters can be used to understand species boundaries. Here, we sampled Asiophlugis from five sites in Malay Peninsula and Borneo Island, recorded the acoustic signals of five species plus one subspecies using ultrasound sensitive equipment, and examined their stridulum anatomy. The calling songs of the taxa involved were documented for the first time. We found that the stridulum anatomy (e.g., tooth distributions, tooth length and tooth density) is distinct between species, but less so between subspecies. In contrary, songs of different taxa are different based on acoustic parameters (e.g., pulse duration, peak frequency) and descriptive patterns, even between the subspecies. We also did not observe that song signals are more different in sympatry than in allopatry. Whether this can be generalised requires further sampling, highlighting the need for more research on the ultrasonic acoustic communication in Asiatic katydids