Automation of a problem list using natural language processing

BACKGROUND: The medical problem list is an important part of the electronic medical record in development in our institution. To serve the functions it is designed for, the problem list has to be as accurate and timely as possible. However, the current problem list is usually incomplete and inaccurate, and is often totally unused. To alleviate this issue, we are building an environment where the problem list can be easily and effectively maintained. METHODS: For this project, 80 medical problems were selected for their frequency of use in our future clinical field of evaluation (cardiovascular). We have developed an Automated Problem List system composed of two main components: a background and a foreground application. The background application uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to harvest potential problem list entries from the list of 80 targeted problems detected in the multiple free-text electronic documents available in our electronic medical record. These proposed medical problems drive the foreground application designed for management of the problem list. Within this application, the extracted problems are proposed to the physicians for addition to the official problem list. RESULTS: The set of 80 targeted medical problems selected for this project covered about 5% of all possible diagnoses coded in ICD-9-CM in our study population (cardiovascular adult inpatients), but about 64% of all instances of these coded diagnoses. The system contains algorithms to detect first document sections, then sentences within these sections, and finally potential problems within the sentences. The initial evaluation of the section and sentence detection algorithms demonstrated a sensitivity and positive predictive value of 100% when detecting sections, and a sensitivity of 89% and a positive predictive value of 94% when detecting sentences. CONCLUSION: The global aim of our project is to automate the process of creating and maintaining a problem list for hospitalized patients and thereby help to guarantee the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of this information

Vibration Assessment Of Variable Speed Vertically Mounted Pumps

Lecturepg. 17Analytical and experimental assessments of the vibration characteristics are described for two 700 hp, vertically mounted centrifugal service water pumps following their conversion from fixed speed to variable speed operation. This work was accomplished by the New York Power Authority at the Charles Poletti Power Project in Queens, New York. Implementation criteria and a description of the adjustable speed drive system are presented, as are predicted and measured dynamic performance of the modified pumps during startup and initial operation

ABSTRACT Dynamic Connectivity Management with an Intelligent Route Service Control Point

Increased use of demanding network applications, as well as the increase of unwanted network traffic in the form of DDoS attacks, are putting new pressures on service providers to meet the expectations of customers in terms of network availability and performance. Providers are expected to deal with potential problems in near real-time fashion. Further, many of these demanding application, such as VoIP and online gaming, are very sensitivity to even small periods of disruption. In this work we therefore specifically focus on dynamic connectivity management, which we broadly define as the ability to dynamically manage how and where traffic flows across a network. Because it is intimately involved with how traffic flows through the network, BGP would be an ideal candidate for many of these management tasks. Unfortunately, BGP is itself a complicated protocol and up to now the prospect of using it to perform routine management tasks has not been considered a feasible approach. In this paper we show how the simplification introduced by a centralized Intelligent Route Service Control Point (IRSCP) that allows route selection to be performed outside the routers and also allows such route selection to be informed by external network intelligence, address this quandary. We present several examples of connectivity management tasks that can benefit from our approach. We describe our trial implementation of the IRSCP and show how our approach raise the level of abstraction, allowing operators to focus on what functions need to be performed, rather than getting bogged down with how to perform them