Challenges in Moving to “Health Information for Action”: An Infrastructural Perspective From a Case Study in Tajikistan

Health information systems (HIS) in developing countries are mainly characterized as being “data led,” with vast amounts of data being routinely collected, but with limited evidence of them being used “for action.” While past research and practice have made significant progress in understanding issues contributing to this situation, limited advancement has been made as to how to redress the situation. Further, infrastructure issues impeding data use have also not been significantly highlighted in existing research. Drawing on a longitudinal case of the design, development and implementation of HIS in Tajikistan, we argue that a reason for this weak progress has been the rather narrow focus on technology, ignoring the broader issues that influence its uptake and use. We explore this through an “infrastructure” lens to enable a more holistic perspective to understand complex socio-technical networks with a multiplicity of interests, actors and technologies in play which need to be aligned. A key contribution of this paper is the identification of facets of a health information infrastructure which helps to identify both the constraints and opportunities in making a transition from a data-led to an action-led system.     

Chasing the White “WHALE”: A Case Study in Using iPads to Promote Active Learning

In order to encourage more active learning in the library classroom, the college librarians at the Tidewater Community College/City of Virginia Beach Joint-Use Library turned one of their library instruction classrooms into a dynamic and flexible space using movable seating and iPads. This article explores the reasons for making such a change, the benefits of doing so, how the new classroom has affected librarians' teaching methods, and gives specific information about apps used for class activities.     

A review of: “Stochastic Choice of Mode in Urban Travel”: A Study in Binary Choice. By STANLEY LEON WARNER (Northwestern University Press.)

The following abstracts are of work of ergonomic interest which have appeared in other journals and research reports. They are a selection from the quarterl‘Ergonomics Abstracts’ which is published by the Ergonomics Information Analysis Centre, Department of Engineering Production, University of Birmingham, England. This journal offers a comprehensive annotated bibliography of current ergonomics publications. By special arrangement, its contents, printed on unbound adhesive backed sheets, are available at reduced rates to members of national ergonomics and human factors societies on application to the Centre. Selections of the information in the Centre's continuing collection, currently totalling some 64,000 abstracts, are available through special bibliographies prepared on request, and may cover any of the recognized subject headings in the field of ergonomics.     

A technical note on the paper “hGA: Hybrid genetic algorithm in fuzzy rule-based classification systems for high-dimensional problems”

This paper provides a corrected formulation to the mixed integer programming model proposed by Aydogan et al. (2012) [1]. They proposed a genetic algorithm to learn fuzzy rules for a fuzzy rule-based classification system and developed a Mixed Integer Programming model (MIP) to prune the generated rules by selecting the best set of rules to maximize predictive accuracy. However, their proposed MIP formulation contains errors, which are described in this technical note. We develop corrections and improvements to the original formulation and test it with non-parametric statistical tests on the same data sets used to evaluate the original model. The statistical analysis shows that the results of the correction formulation are significantly different from the original model.     

How “OPTIMUS” is a city in terms of energy optimization? e-SCEAF: A web based decision support tool for local authorities

Nowadays cities tend to become “Smarter”, usually disregarding the issues of energy efficiency and sustainability. Therefore, optimizing energy use in a city remains a challenge and respective decision support systems are important to guide local authorities toward that direction. This paper provides a holistic approach presenting a Smart City Energy Assessment Framework (SCEAF) along with a specific web based decision support tool, the so-called e-SCEAF, which can provide local authorities with fruitful results for assessing the energy behavior and performance of their city. The tool merges heterogeneous information, such as clearly quantifiable energy related indicators, the related city policy context performance and the integration of smart infrastructure. This multi-source information fusion is based on the 2-tuple linguistic representation model of Herrera and Martínez. This particular model has been widely used in decision problems and was mainly selected due to the fact that it provides linguistic results that are accurate and easy to understand by the cities’ local authorities. The performance, usefulness and effectiveness of the SCEAF framework and the e-SCEAF tool are tested on a real life application in three different cities, Savona (Italy), Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain) and Zaanstad (The Netherlands). In this respect, the role of fusion methods and algorithms for merging multiple information will be evaluated in a “real life environment”.     

A Review of:“Safety in Manual Materials Handling.” By COLIN G. DRURY. (Cincinnati: US Dept. of Health,Education & Welfare, 1978.) [Pp. viii+ 209.]

The extension force against resistance was recorded in 23 postures for 12 subjects to find explanations for the decrease in back strength in asymmetric postures. A reduction in muscle force in asymmetric postures was found up to 40%, but was strongly dependent on the plane in which asymmetry occurred, and on the posture to which it referred. A quantitative relationship between the forces exerted in different asymmetric postures is discussed, as a basis for formulating universal ergonomic guidelines for optimal working postures. The reduction in force in different asymmetric postures can be explained by length of the muscle, the activation of the muscle, and the moment angle of the muscle.