Interoperable support for collaborative, mobile, and accessible health care

E-Health systems, through their use of Internet and wireless technologies, offer the possibility of near real-time data integration to support the delivery and management of health care. In practice, the wide range of choice in technologies, vendors, protocols, formats, and information representations can make even simple exchanges of information between systems problematic. Much of the focus on healthcare interoperability has been on resolving interoperability issues of system to system information exchanges. But issues around people to people interactions and people to system interactions are just as important to address from an interoperability point of view. In this paper, we identify interoperability deficiencies in collaborative care delivery and develop a methodology in two parts. In the first part, an ontology is developed to represent collaborative care delivery. In the second part, the ontology is used to design an architecture for interoperable clinical information system design. We then use a case study in palliative care to provide a proof of concept of the methodology. The case study provides an inventory of the interoperability requirements for palliative care and a perspective on the design and implementation of a people oriented clinical information system that supports collaborative health care delivery in palliative care.     

Conferencing and collaborative computing

As integrated services have become available to the desktop, users have embraced new modes of interaction, such as multimedia conferencing and collaborative computing. In this paper, we provide a survey of past and present research that has influenced this application area, and describe research directions for the future.     

mStar: enabling collaborative applications on the Internet

Distributed, real-time multimedia applications on the Internet permit users to cooperate in new and more interesting ways for collaborative teamwork and net-based learning. The mStar environment features an agent-based architecture, implemented in Java, which preserves compatibility with the dominant Mbone paradigm for IP multicast. The shared software environment provides an integrated solution for generating, presenting, scoring, and editing media in collaborative applications. In particular, mStar supports developers in creating distributed, real-time multimedia software applications such as e-meetings. mStar enhances both distance education and collaborative teamwork by presenting a uniform user interface for real-time audio and video, shared whiteboard, char, voting, and distributed Web-based presentations. The system also supports on-demand recording and session playback     

Java and the shift to net-centric computing

Java is an object-oriented programming language with a syntax similar to C and C++, only simpler. Because Java is an interpreted language, the typical C or C++ compile-link-load-test-debug cycle is reduced. Java development environments actually let the entire software-development life cycle take place within a Web browser. The author discusses some basic and advanced features of Java, including garbage collection, multithreading and application programming interfaces     

Enterprise computing: the Java factor

The ubiquitous availability of Web browsers on multiple platforms and user familiarity with browser technology provide numerous advantages: a uniform interface; support for multimedia and user interaction and collaboration; a simple communication protocol that has been implemented in all major hardware and software platforms; and support by almost all vendors who package Web engines within their products. Such factors have expedited the implementation of network centric computing as a productive infrastructure for corporate environments. The addition of Java, with its ability to build cross platform application logic into a browser, gives network centric computing the potential to better meet enterprise computing needs. Because it lets users interact with the application on the client rather than the server, Java enables better utilization of both the server and the client's computational capability. Java can also provide sessions state information (for client side session control and resource management) in an otherwise stateless Web world. Besides naturally decentralizing application execution, Java makes it possible to decentralize application deployment. In large enterprises, organization wide applications such as personnel timekeeping or document routing can benefit from Java implementations. One immediate impact is a noticeable reduction of the server load during peak hours. Finally, Java enabled browsers can provide greater functionality than HTML     

Distributed processing: a strategy for health care computing

Hospitals deal with large amounts of data, which need to be accesed by different internal departments, each with its own particular needs. When information is passed within a District Health Authority from hospital to hospital the situation is more complex. A network in a major London hospital with external links is described with particular emphasis on its evolution and the need for versatility with cost effectiveness. Future plans are also discussed.     

Patterns and technologies for enabling supply chain traceability through collaborative e-business

Industrial traceability systems are designed to operate over complex supply chains, with a large and dynamic group of participants. These systems need to agree on processing and marketing of goods, information management, responsibility, and identification. In addition, they should guarantee context independence, scalability, and interoperability. In this paper, we first discuss the main issues emerging at different abstraction levels in developing traceability systems. Second, we introduce a data model for traceability and a set of suitable patterns to encode generic traceability semantics. Then, we discuss suitable technological standards to define, register, and enable business collaborations. Finally, we show a practical implementation of a traceability system through a real world experience on food supply chains.     

Secure data-exchange protocol in a cloud-based collaborative health care environment

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Cloud-based big data frameworks help collaborative healthcare service providers to efficiently store and manage large-scale health data. In such frameworks each...     

Implementing Java computing: Sun on architecture and applicationsdeployment

SunIR is the information technology organization within Sun Microsystems that is responsible for developing and maintaining the IT environment that supports all of Sun's business operations worldwide. This environment supports more than 20,000 employees in 180 locations in 55 countries. It currently consists of a global network with more than 3,000 subnets, 35,000 desktops, 9,000 servers and 200 internally developed distributed business applications, which are accessed by employees as well as customers, vendors and other business partners outside Sun's corporate intranet. In the process of providing the infrastructure and computer systems upon which all of Sun's business is run, SunIR also serves as a proving ground for many Sun products. We expect this architecture to continue to evolve as we learn more and as new technologies become available. We are currently working to incorporate Enterprise JavaBeans technology into this model, as we continue to build and deploy enterprise applications that support the operations of a $9 billion company     

CCF: a framework for collaborative computing

The Collaborative Computing Frameworks toolkit enables cooperative computer-based work among collaborators at different sites. The collaborators are typically engaged in scientific endeavors, but CCF offers integrated support for any collaboration that depends heavily on distributed computational transformations and data management     

边缘智能与协同计算: 前沿与进展

随着万物互联时代的到来,边缘设备规模急剧增加,海量数据在网络边缘产生,人工智能技术的飞速发展为分析和处理这些数据提供了强大的支撑.然而,传统云计算的集中处理模式难以满足用户对任务低时延和设备低功耗的需求,并带来数据隐私泄露的潜在隐患.与此同时,嵌入式高性能芯片的发展显著提升了边缘设备的计算能力,使其能够在边缘侧实时处理部分计算密集型任务.在此背景下,边缘计算和人工智能有机融合,孕育了一种新的计算范式:边缘智能.鉴于此,聚焦边缘智能与协同计算的前沿与进展,首先概述边缘计算、人工智能和边缘智能的相关背景、基本原理与发展趋势;然后从训练、推理和缓存3个方面回顾面向单个设备的边缘智能方法;接着从架构、技术和功能3个维度介绍多个设备合作实现边缘智能协同的相关工作;最后总结边缘智能在工业物联网、智慧城市和虚拟现实等领域的广泛应用.     

协同地球科学计算环境的架构设计

以建立区域气候模拟系统为研究原型,探讨利用Peer-to-Peer 技术和移动Agent 技术构建协同地球科学计算环境（GeoCoEn）。基于P2P 和多Agent 集成的多层体系结构,满足了GeoCoEn 对开放性、灵活性、可扩展性、可移植性以及透明性等方面的需求。     

Distributed computing for multidisciplinary design optimization using Java

The programming language Java (recently referred to as the computer language of the Web) offers substantial possibilities for the type of complex engineering problems typically encountered in multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) problems. In order to demonstrate the potential uses of Java for MDO problems, this paper presents the development of the Web Interface for complex engineering design (WICkED) software, which simulates the convergence of a decomposed complex system in a distributed computing environment and computes the sensitivity derivatives of the system with respect to the independent input variables using the GSE method or the finite difference method. In this application, one computer is designated as the server and sends out required inputs to a number of client subsystems over the Internet. A number of client computers can connect to the server and then receive the inputs necessary to calculate the solution to their model. As the code necessary to solve the model already exists at the client, only the inputs have to be sent over the network. When the client has solved the calculation, it returns the results to the server which processes the result to produce new inputs.WICkED is written entirely in the Java programming language which allows server and clients to exist on completely different computer types and in heterogeneous, distributed networks. A number of parametric studies on the behaviour of complex systems in a distributed environment are performed and the results are reported in this paper. This research serves to identify potential problems as well as advantages in using Java for MDO applications.     

A Java framework for massively distributed symbolic computing

We present a framework for implementing massively distributed applications in symbolic computing. Using this framework, computations with massive resource requirements can be distributed and processed in parallel on a network of workstations or on a large scale network such as the Internet. For each concrete application only minimal code is needed to complement the generic framework in order to enable large scale distributed processing of the application.Our framework introduces a “divide and be conquered” model for massively distributed computations. We compare this model to a more traditional one, in a symbolic computing setting. We stress the major problems and propose solutions for some of them.     

Collaborative learning with screen‐based simulation in health care education: an empirical study of collaborative patterns and proficiency development

This article is about collaborative learning with educational computer‐assisted simulation (ECAS) in health care education. Previous research on training with a radiological virtual reality simulator has indicated positive effects on learning when compared to a more conventional alternative. Drawing upon the field of Computer‐Supported Collaborative Learning, we investigate collaborative patterns, their causes, and their implications for learning. We investigate why the extent of application of subject‐specific terminology differs between simulation training and more conventional training. We also investigate how the student‐simulator interaction affordances produce collaborative patterns and impact learning. Proficiency tests before and after training, observations during training, and interviews after training constitute the empirical foundation. Thirty‐six dentistry students volunteered for participation. The results showed that not only the task but also the medium of feedback impacts the application of subject‐specific terminology. However, no relation to proficiency development was revealed. We identified turn‐taking as well as dominance patterns of student‐simulator interaction but again found no relation to proficiency development. Further research may give us deeper insights into if and how these collaborative patterns, in other respects, impact collaborative learning with ECAS in health care education.     

Java simulations for physics education

We discuss the use of World Wide Web-based Java simulations in teaching physics to K–12 and undergraduate students. Our work focuses on the physics of membranes and illustrating how such systems are studied. We propose that Java should be used not only to produce small versions of research simulations but also to provide models illustrating simpler concepts underlying the main subject matter. In particular, applets should be tailored to the context in which they appear and should be as intuitive to use as possible. The applets we are developing are described in the context of current client performance. We also highlight the development of collaborative systems as an area of particular interest. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Service-based computing on manets: enabling dynamic interoperability of first responders

Mobile ad hoc networks will form a critical part of the first-responder communications infrastructure. Empirical data shows how network-aware, autonomous, mobile agents can manage information services on live manet environments. A multidisciplinary team in Drexel University's College of Engineering has been working with local law enforcement and transportation officials to identify problems in enabling police, fire, security, and other public protectors to effectively communicate and collaborate in first-response situations. Development of the Philadelphia Area Urban Wireless Network Testbed (PA-UWNT) is part of this effort. The PA-UWNT is a mobile ad hoc network (manet) comprising mobile computers (PDAs, tablets, and laptops) and Web service-based applications. Our experience in the PA-UWNT project indicates that constructing such systems will require new research developments in computer networking, agent and service-based computing, and security that integrate each of these disciplines at several fundamental levels. In this paper, we outline part of this approach through experiments demonstrating the utility of integrating the network and agent layers and enabling agents to reason about the current operating context. We posit that autonomous agents that can reason about the network's slate and services offer an effective means of meeting the manet environment's challenges.