Declarative Support for Prototyping Interactive Systems

The development of complex, multi-user, interactive systems is a difficult process that requires both a rapid iterative approach, and the ability to reason carefully about system designs. This thesis argues that a combination of declarative prototyping and formal specification provides a suitable way of satisfying these requirements. The focus of this thesis is on the development of software tools for prototyping interactive systems. In particular, it uses a declarative approach, based on the functional programming paradigm. This thesis makes two contributions. The most significant contribution is the presentation of FranTk, a new Graphical User Interface language, embedded in the functional language Haskell. It is suitable for prototyping complex, concurrent, multi-user systems. It allows systems to be built in a high level, structured manner. In particular, it provides good support for specifying real-time properties of such systems. The second contribution is a mechanism that allows a formal specification to be derived from a high level FranTk prototype. The approach allows this to be done automatically. This specification can then be checked, with tool support, to verify some safety properties about a system. To avoid the state space explosion problem that would be faced when verifying an entire system, we focus on partial verification. This concentrates on key areas of a design: in particular this means that we only derive a specification from parts of a prototype. To demonstrate the scalability of both the prototyping and verification approaches, this thesis uses a series of case studies including a multi-user design rationale editor and a prototype data-link Air Traffic Control system

FranTk - a declarative GUI language for Haskell

Pragmatisme et éducation, James, Dewey, Rorty. Brigitte Frelat-Kahn Vrin, « Philosophie de l’éducation ». 212 p., 13,5 × 21,5 cm. ISBN : 978-2-7116-2489-8. Si le pragmatisme a longtemps rencontré des réticences en France, c’est à cause de son caractère « américain » et de sa réduction à la pédagogie Or, il retrouve aujourd’hui un écho et une influence inédits. Cela tient à un processus de sécularisation de la culture, d’individualisation et de privatisation de la vie sociale qui marque l’hist..

FranTk - A declarative GUI language for Haskell

FranTk is a new high level library for programming Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) in Haskell. It is based on Fran (Functional Reactive Animation), and uses the notions of Behaviors and Events to structure code. Behaviors are time-varying, reactive values. They can be used to represent the state of an application. Events are streams of values that occur at discrete points in time. They can be used, for instance, to represent user input. FranTk allows user interfaces to be structured in a more declarative manner than has been possible with previous functional GUI libraries. We demonstrate, through a series of examples, how this is achieved, and why it is important. These examples are elements of a prototype, Air Traffic Control simulator. FranTk uses a binding to the popular Tcl/Tk toolkit to provide a powerful set of platform independent set of widgets. It has been released as a Haskell library that runs under Hugs and GHC. Keywords Graphical User Interfaces, Haskell, ..

Managing chemotherapy symptoms via mobile phones

BACKGROUND: Changes in cancer services to outpatient care have resulted in patients spending limited time in hospital. The use of IT within healthcare has seen the development of innovative ways to support patients in the community. AIM: This study aimed to test the procedures and technical systems involved in using an advanced symptom management system (ASyMS-®) in the home monitoring and symptom management of patients receiving chemotherapy. METHOD: Ten patients were recruited from two centres in Scotland. Patients in the intervention group used the mobile phone to record and send their symptom reports to their hospital and receive self-care advice, while the control group received standard care. A risk model was developed which alerted healthcare professionals of symptoms that were severe or life-threatening. Patient and nurse perceptions were evaluated throughout. RESULTS: Patients believed the system improved the management of symptoms and felt reassured they were being monitored at home. Nurses also found the system beneficial in managing symptoms and promoting timely interventions. The full randomised controlled trial is now underway. CONCLUSION: The ASyMS system has the potential to improve the management of symptoms in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy

Results of a UK based pilot study of a mobile phone based advanced symptom management system (ASyMS) in the remote monitoring of chemotherapy related toxicity

Objectives: Changes in cancer services to out-patient care have resulted in patients spending limited time in hospital. The use of IT within healthcare has seen the development of innovative ways to support patients in the community. This study aimed to test the procedures and technical systems involved in using an advanced symptom management system (ASyMS) in the home monitoring and symptom management of patients receiving chemotherapy. Patients and methods: Ten patients were recruited from two centres in Scotland. Patients in the intervention group used the mobile phone to record and send their symptom reports to their hospital and receive self-care advice, while the control group received standard care. A risk model was developed which alerted health professionals of symptoms that were severe or life threatening. Patient and professional perceptions were evaluated throughout. Main results: Patients believed that the ASyMS system improved the management of their symptoms and felt reassured they were being monitored at home. Health professionals also found the system beneficial in the management of symptoms and the promotion of timely interventions. The full randomised controlled trial is now underway

Utilization of the Medical Research Council evaluation framework in the development of technology for symptom management:the ASyMS-YG Study

Background: Technology is becoming an important medium for supporting patients in health care. However, successful application depends on user acceptability. The Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS©) involves patients reporting cancer chemotherapy-related symptoms using mobile phone technology. Objective: The aim of this article was to report a study of how young people were involved in the development of ASyMS© using the Medical Research Council framework for evaluating complex interventions. Methods: A convenience sample of young people aged 13 to 18 years undergoing cancer chemotherapy were recruited from 2 principal cancer treatment centers in London. Results: In phase 1, young people selected 5 symptoms from an adapted version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale that were most important to them. In phase 2, young people completed the ASyMS©-YG PDA (personal digital assistant) questionnaire daily on days 1 to 14 of a cycle of chemotherapy and pre/post-use questionnaires. In phase 1, 5 young people chose diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, constipation, and weight loss as the most important symptoms. In phase 2, 25 young people reported positively to using PDA technology, found ASyMS©-YG simple and easy to complete, and liked that they were monitored at home. In addition to the 5 core symptoms, the ASyMS©-YG reports showed the number (n = 37) of other symptoms young people experienced. CONCLUSIONS:: This early development work indicates the acceptability of ASyMS©-YG and has informed an exploratory trial (phase 3) and randomized controlled trial (stage 4). Implications for practice: This study reaffirms the importance of promoting communication between young people and health professionals. Copyright © 2010 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Perceptions of the use of a remote monitoring system in patients receiving palliative care at home

In remote communities, where frequent face-to-face contact with health professionals may be diffi cult, the ongoing review and management of symptoms – a fundamental part of good palliative care – can be diffi cult to achieve. Telecare and other developments in information technology are increasingly being sought as a means of addressing shifting population demographics and rising demands on stretched health services, and may help in providing a system which allows patients to report their symptoms as they are happening. This may be one way of enhancing symptom management and improving quality of care at the end of life. A study testing the feasibility of using mobile phone-based technology (Advanced Symptom Management System in Palliative Care (ASyMSp)) to monitor and manage symptoms reported by patients being cared for at home in the advanced stages of their illness was carried out in two rural communities in the north of Scotland. The results of this study show that the system was usable and acceptable to patients and the health professionals who cared for them