Parasites, animal production and sustainable development

Ecologically sustainable development is aimed at reducing environmental degradation while enabling economic development with equity between the developed and developing worlds and between generations. Parasite control in livestock can both contribute to, and take advantage of, sustainable agriculture. This will tend towards less intensive, lower input, diversified crop and animal production with less risk of parasite-induced losses and greater opportunities for integrated control including the exploitation of grazing management. Chemotherapy will continue to play a part but the most serious problem is resistance in the target species. Except for a few isolated issues, currently used parasiticides are relatively minor contaminants of the food supply or the environment. Nevertheless, the compounds of the future will need to be narrow-spectrum, non-persistent and rapidly degraded, with convenience in the hands of the user reduced in importance. Environmentally friendly alternatives to chemotherapy, including genetic resistance of hosts, vaccines, and biological control, show considerable promise and must be pursued. Sustainable systems pose optimisation problems and more attention must be given to systems research, models and products to aid decisions. If governments are serious about sustainable development, greater support will be needed for longer-term patient, multi-disciplinary research.     

Application of Web Services for Structural Engineering Systems

The Internet has revolutionized the way computing is done and the way software systems work. Many systems, such as search engines and PC games, have utilized Web-related technologies for Web-based systems. However, the application of Web-based engineering software is still in its infancy, especially regarding engineering computing. This paper presents a prototype development of Web-based structural engineering systems by utilizing modern computer graphics and information technology to provide Web-based analytical services. The system design emphasizes platform-independence, graphical interface, system performance, and a multiple-user environment. The user needs only an Internet-connected machine to access high-performance services provided at remote sites over the Web. This framework will provide users a powerful tool to efficiently perform analysis with minimal computer resource requirements. The user will always have access to the most up-to-date and functional system with no client-side updates or maintenance required. Two Web-based system implementations are given as examples in this paper.     

Perspective on the integration of substance user needs assessment and treatment planning

In the 1970s and 1980s, several techniques for assessing the needs for substance user treatment were developed. Generally these techniques relied upon the data developed from large-scale data-gathering systems, originally designed to assess the capacity of the substance user treatment system nationwide. The need assessment techniques generally require making estimates of the prevalence of substance use disorders in the population and then applying them to the national utilitization experience. As first attempts often do, these approaches tended to simplify complex problems and tended to rely too heavily on the only available data. The result was that they tended to reify current practice rather than to define best practice. In the 1990s, new challenges face those attempting to assess needs for substance user services. As a result of the last decade's emphasis on cost containment, new concepts have challenged traditional views of needs assessment. This paper will discuss those new concepts and their impact on the needs assessment endeavor. In particular, the impact of the concept of medical necessity will be examined.     

Developing decision support systems: a change in emphasis

Against a backdrop of many demonstrably proficient expert systems that are not routinely used, and a user community that is skeptical of the benefits of using such technology in healthcare, the AIM funded Dilemma project is attempting to introduce decision support technology into shared care environments within scenarios from the specialties of oncology and cardiology. This paper outlines the experiences of one work-package of the Dilemma project which is concerned with the development of applications with a decision support component for use in shared care of coronary artery disease patients. We suggest reasons why expert systems have failed to gain acceptance in the past, and conclude that a shift in emphasis from building expert systems to building clinically useful applications that have an expert system component may improve the chances of acceptance of this technology in the future.     

Noise Control and Speech Privacy Guidelines for Office Building Design

Noise control is required to provide an indoor environment free from the stress of unwanted noise and to provide a measure of speech privacy. There is a need for the development of guidelines to be used by building designers to ensure that user comfort is taken into consideration. The focus of this paper is on the development of guidelines as advice to designers to facilitate systems replacement in new buildings and the introduction of new systems in the future. Some aspects of noise control and speech privacy in various locations in office buildings have been addressed. Responses from 92 design professionals (architects and engineers) in nine countries to a questionnaire on noise control and speech privacy in office buildings have been summarized in the form of guidelines for use by building designers.     

基于深度神经网络的点击率预测模型

针对现有深度神经网络点击率预测模型在对用户偏好建模时,难以有效且高效地处理用户行为序列的问题,提出长短期兴趣网络（Long and short term interests network, LSTIN）模型,充分利用用户历史记录上下文信息和顺序信息,提升点击率预测精准性和训练效率。使用基于注意力机制的Transformer和激活单元结构完成用户长、短期兴趣建模,对用户短期兴趣进一步使用循环神经网络（Recurrent neural network, RNN）、卷积神经网络（Convolutional neural networks, CNN）进行处理,最后使用全连接神经网络进行预测。在亚马逊公开数据集上开展实验,将提出的模型与基于分解机的神经网络（DeepFM）、深度兴趣网络（Deep interest network, DIN）等点击率预测模型对比,结果表明提出的模型实现了考虑上下文信息和顺序信息的用户历史记录建模,接受者操作特征曲线下面积（Area under curve, AUC）指标为85.831%,相比于基础模型（BaseModel）提升1.154%,相比于DIN提升0.476%。且因区分用户长、短期兴趣,模型能够在提升预测精准性的同时保障训练效率。      

Calculation of metal forming processes by means of FEM

The simulation of metal forming processes with the finite element method (FEM) is becoming more and more significant for process analysis and optimising. With regard to the quality of the calculations care must be taken to select a suitable FE model. Possibilities for FEM applications will be shown using the examples of die bending sheets and profile bending. A practical extension of this application is the support of the FE systems user by access to a material database.     

Crystal ball gazing: back to the future

This article presents some of the challenges, competencies, and opportunities that advanced practice nurses will face in the near future as the emerging health care system unfolds. Nurses must be knowledgeable about, prepared for, and participate in the creation of a preferred future in health care policy and practice. Advancing educational programs and orienting research and activism in the direction of personal and community health will allow advanced practice nurses to continue to have a significant influence on the transformation of health care and delivery systems.     

Medical coding and classification systems

Medical coding and classification systems are expected to become increasingly important in the health care sector. Together with and as an integrated part of the electronic health information systems, the coding and classification systems will be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of the medical services. Activities connected to the different coding and classification systems are a very important component of the attempts at standardization taking place both in Norway and in the rest of Europe within the discipline medical informatics. These activities must be secured a proper professional and economic foundation. It is also of vital importance that national health authorities should participate in these activities and establish formal cooperation with professional bodies. In Norway, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has accepted with some miner modifications, our suggestion for a model where the Norwegian Medical Association would be responsible for the medical aspects of the coding and classification systems and for their development, and the Norwegian Centre for Medical Informatic's for organization, distribution, electronic version, integration in information systems and user assistance.     

Refractoriness to mammary carcinogenesis in the parous mouse is reversible by hormonal stimulation induced by pituitary isografts

As scientific advances in biochemistry shaped the health-care system since World War II, the projected advances in molecular biology will drive the system of the future. With each scientific advancement or new technology there will continue to be the need for efficient organizations to provide acute care to the patients who will benefit most. Despite numerous projections about the viability of the acute care hospital as we know it and vigorous redirection of services to the patient at home in ambulatory settings or in their community, it is crucial for nurses to take a leadership role in developing long-term approaches to patient care delivery systems for the acute care hospital of the future.     

Impact of information systems on acute care hospitals: results from a survey in the United States

These results are from a survey of acute care hospitals in the United States. A random sample of 813 hospitals was selected with 115 responding and 33 incorrect addresses resulting in a 15% response rate. The purpose of the study was to measure the impact and future potential of information systems integration in the financial, medical, and administrative systems of the hospitals. Impact of Information Systems is measured in many ways. Questions about employee moral, reductions in employees, goals being met and overall satisfaction with the systems are asked and results analyzed. This information will provide a benchmark for hospitals to determine their information systems position and technology transfer planning. These analyses will lead to setting goals.     

Developing an ARIS-House-Based Method from Existing Information Systems to Project-Based Enterprise Resource Planning for General Contractor

In recent years, general contractors in the construction industry have gradually begun to implement a system called enterprise resource planning (ERP). During the ERP implementation process, contractors performed required analyses on daily operation functions demanded by the enterprise. The analyses focused on function mapping to ensure that ERP satisfies all the requirements, including the functions of existing information systems, and meets future requirements. The process of function mapping in the construction industry typically involves a series of lengthy and time-consuming meetings, and face-to-face discussions; systematic analysis procedure was lacking. This research will propose a novel function mapping approach, the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS)-house-based (AHB) method, to enhance the effectiveness of meetings and improve the efficiency of discussions. In addition, AHB method will use the structure of ARIS-house diagram to guide the function mapping process, streamline existing information systems, meet future requirements, and successfully implement ERP. Finally, this research will use a case study to verify the effectiveness of the AHB method for contractor to implement ERP.     

Computerized System for Application of Value Engineering Methodology

This paper aims to present an easy, quick, and accurate way of implementing value engineering (VE) studies by introducing an integrated computerized system for the VE technique and life-cycle cost as a checkout system. The VE computer program was designed using a database computer program, FoxPro Window. The computerized version of the VE study consists of several interactive panels, representing the systematic approach (job plan) of a VE study, through which all the information and data of the VE study will be input. The program will help the user to come up with the best selected idea, based on certain calculations that will be done automatically by the VE program. Moreover, the VE case studies that will be investigated by the program will be stored, and thus the program will also serve as a data bank for these case studies as references for future studies. The objective of this paper is not to create a smart VE system, but it can be considered a major step toward this objective.     

Major issues in user interface design for health professional workstations: summary and recommendations

Lack of good user interfaces has been a major impediment to the acceptance and routine use of health-care professional workstations. Health-care providers, and the environment in which they practice, place strenuous demands on the interface. User interfaces must be designed with greater consideration of the requirements, cognitive capabilities, and limitations of the end-user. The challenge of gaining better acceptance and achieving widespread use of clinical information systems will be accentuated as the variety and complexity of multi-media presentation increases. Better understanding of issues related to cognitive processes involved in human-computer interactions is needed in order to design interfaces that are more intuitive and more acceptable to health-care professionals. Critical areas which deserve immediate attention include: improvement of pen-based technology, development of knowledge-based techniques that support contextual presentation, and development of new strategies and metrics to evaluate user interfaces. Only with deliberate attention to the user interface, can we improve the ways in which information technology contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness of health-care providers.     

Automated GIS-Based System for Speed Estimation and Highway Safety Evaluation

Although geographic information systems (GISs) have been applied in different areas of transportation, full use of their potential in speed profile analysis and highway design consistency studies has yet to be made. The possibilities that GISs offer for analysis and the increasing number of highway inventories supported by such systems, including traffic data and crash rates, suggest that the implementation of a highway design consistency analysis module within a GIS will facilitate and improve road safety studies. It is with this aim that a GIS-based computer system that builds vehicle speed profiles and analyzes highway design consistency has been developed, in which an operating speed prediction model, acceleration/deceleration rates, and other features can be configured by the engineering user in order to obtain an analysis that is more representative of drivers and local conditions. Application of this system to the study of the design consistency of highways is described, using three examples.     

Intelligent medical information filtering

This paper describes an intelligent information filtering system to assist users to be notified of updates to new and relevant medical information. Among the major problems users face is the large volume of medical information that is generated each day, and the need to filter and retrieve relevant information. The Internet has dramatically increased the amount of electronically accessible medical information and reduced the cost and time needed to publish. The opportunity of the Internet for the medical profession and consumers is to have more information to make decisions and this could potentially lead to better medical decisions and outcomes. However, without the assistance from professional medical librarians, retrieving new and relevant information from databases and the Internet remains a challenge. Many physicians do not have access to the services of a medical librarian. Most physicians indicate on surveys that they do not prefer to retrieve the literature themselves, or visit libraries because of the lack of recent materials, poor organisation and indexing of materials, lack of appropriate and available material, and lack of time. The information filtering system described in this paper records the online web browsing behaviour of each user and creates a user profile of the index terms found on the web pages visited by the user. A relevance-ranking algorithm then matches the user profiles to the index terms of new health care web pages that are added each day. The system creates customised summaries of new information for each user. A user can then connect to the web site to read the new information. Relevance feedback buttons on each page ask the user to rate the usefulness of the page to their immediate information needs. Errors in relevance ranking are reduced in this system by having both the user profile and medical information represented in the same representation language using a controlled vocabulary. This system also updates the user profiles, automatically relieving this burden from the user, but also allowing the user to explicitly state preferences. An initial evaluation of this system was done with health consumers using a web site on consumer health. It was found that users often modified their criteria for what they considered relevant not only between browsing sessions but also during a session. A user's criteria for what is relevant is constantly changing as they interact with the information. New revised metrics of recall and precision are needed to account for the partially relevant judgements and the dynamically changing criteria of users. Future research, development, and evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems will need to take into account the users' dynamically changing criteria of relevance.     

Training system issues in the year 2000.

This article discusses the influence of future changes in the demographics of working populations and the characteristics of the workplace on research, development, and policy for training systems. Analyses of these changes indicate that there will be more expectations that training programs will serve as a positive hope to maximize the potential of each person. This will result in increased emphasis on research to identify abilities required to perform more cognitively complex jobs. Also, research on basic skill and support programs to permit unskilled youth to enter the world of work will be required. In addition, there will be a need for research on training necessary to help future managers and leaders work with members of a more diverse work force. Finally, the implications of these changes suggest that we need policies that consider research and development on retraining as a national need to help all individuals maximize their individual talents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cost-Estimating Tools for Low-Impact Development Best Management Practices: Challenges, Limitations, and Implications

Tools were developed for estimating costs of vegetative roofs, rainwater catchment systems, and bioretention facilities. These tools provide a detailed framework to facilitate cost estimation for capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, and life-cycle net present value. The tools can provide users with planning-level cost estimates and serve as a format for cost-reporting for past, current, and future projects. Very little cost data was available in the public forum, and prolific inconsistencies of supporting details were found in the available cost data. To address this, design assumptions were established for each facility type and professionally prepared cost estimates based on these design assumptions were used. Electives in design, such as plant selection and media depth, also greatly affected costs. To make the user aware of these effects, the model separates each option into line items that can be elected or excluded as appropriate. To facilitate collecting future cost data, best management practice (BMP) designers and builders should use these tools to record actual costs and report them to a clearinghouse such as the BMP Database.     

Infertility profile at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa

Interventional MRI is one of the most recent developments of clinical MR imaging. Because of the development of open MR systems and very compact high-field systems, a number of interventional procedures are already possible today under MR control and will be tested in experimental and clinical investigations. The currently commercially available systems differ with respect to their static magnetic field strength, their gradient systems and patient access. In addition, there are differences concerning their space requirements and costs. All systems have components facilitating interventional procedures. In this article we discuss the advantages and shortcomings of these commercially available systems and look at future developments in interventional MR equipment.     

Pharmacology of neurotransmission to the smooth muscle of the rat and the guinea-pig prostate glands

The advantages of customized Laboratory Information Management's Systems (LIMS) are their focus on the special aspects of their users' needs. Differences in the research and development or production chain in the individual organizations lead to an increase of interest in customized systems. Usually, also for customized systems, the core software is commercially available. The individual application modules as the Customized part of the LIMS are the most critical elements within the validation process. The topic of this paper is to give an example of the validation of a customized analytical LIMS. Validation of complex computerized systems guarantees the intended use and is therefore an unavoidable requirement of authorities. The audit of the supplier of the individual programmed modules, the user requirement specifications and the acceptance testing and results, respectively, on the software are of special interest within a customized LIMS. The hardware suitability and the principal processing routines are also a very important part of the whole validation process, but they will not be discussed in detail in this paper.