Anaesthesia record system on handheld computers--pilot experience and uses for quality control and clinical guidelines

This paper describes a mobile information system to collect patient information for anesthesia quality control. In this system, a mobile database program was designed for use on handheld computers (Pocket PC). This program is used to collect patient data at the bedside on the handhelds, with a daily synchronization of the data between the anaesthesiologists' handhelds with the anaesthesia database. All collected data are later used for quality control analysis. Furthermore, clinical guidelines will be included on these same handhelds. During the pilot phase, data from a sample set of about 300 patients were incorporated. The processes and interfaces of the system are presented in the paper. The current mobile database system has been designed to replace the original paper-based data collection system. The individual anaesthesiologist's handheld synchronizes patient data daily with anaesthesia database center. This information database is analyzed and used not only to give feedback to the individual doctor or center, but also to review the use of the guidelines provided and the results of their utilization.     

Automatic laser-based identification for UF6 cylinders

We present a laser item identification system (L2IS), installed in a real facility on trial, that is capable of automatically monitoring all transfers of uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) cylinders between different process areas. Each cylinder has a unique ‘fingerprint’ represented by the 3D micro-structure of its surface which remains intact even under extreme environmental conditions. L2IS automatically identifies each cylinder through exploring the 3D frontal surface acquired by the laser scanner. The system is composed of a portable unit (operated in attended mode) and a fixed installed unit (operated without inspector presence). The efficiency and accuracy of our identification system were evaluated on a large dataset acquired during several years including a full year of field testing.     

Shadow Prices in Territory Division

We consider a geographic optimization problem in which we are given a region R, a probability density function f(?) defined on R, and a collection of n utility density functions u _i (?) defined on R. Our objective is to divide R into n sub-regions R _i so as to “balance” the overall utilities on the regions, which are given by the integrals \(\iint _{R_{i}}f(x)u_{i}(x)\, dA\). Using a simple complementary slackness argument, we show that (depending on what we mean precisely by “balancing” the utility functions) the boundary curves between optimal sub-regions are level curves of either the difference function u _i (x) ? u _j (x) or the ratio u _i (x)/u _j (x). This allows us to solve the problem of optimally partitioning the region efficiently by reducing it to a low-dimensional convex optimization problem. This result generalizes, and gives very short and constructive proofs of, several existing results in the literature on equitable partitioning for particular forms of f(?) and u _i (?). We next give two economic applications of our results in which we show how to compute a market-clearing price vector in an aggregate demand system or a variation of the classical Fisher exchange market. Finally, we consider a dynamic problem in which the density function f(?) varies over time (simulating population migration or transport of a resource, for example) and derive a set of partial differential equations that describe the evolution of the optimal sub-regions over time. Numerical simulations for both static and dynamic problems confirm that such partitioning problems become tractable when using our methods.     

Two-machine open shop scheduling with secondary criteria

This paper considers two-machine open shop problems with secondary criteria where the primary criterion is the minimization of makespan and the secondary criterion is the minimization of the total flow time, total weighted flow time, or total weighted tardiness time. In view of the strongly NP-hard nature of these problems, two polynomially solvable special cases are given and constructive heuristic algorithms based on insertion techniques are developed. A strongly connected neighborhood structure is derived and used to develop effective iterative heuristic algorithms by incorporating iterative improvement, simulated annealing and multi-start procedures. The proposed insertion and iterative heuristic algorithms are empirically evaluated by solving problem instances with up to 80 jobs.     

In formation: Support for flexibility, mobility, collaboration, and coherence

This paper describes support for flexibility, mobility and collaboration in engaging with, and making sense of, information. Our focus lies on the transitions people make between different, dynamic configurations of digital and physical materials, technologies, people and spaces. The technologies we describe have been developed in partnership with landscape architects over the past two years. We show that appliances and people can come together in a way that creates scope for such transitions, collaboration, and the emergence of new ways of working.     

Maxsim2—Real-time interactive simulations for computer-assisted teaching of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

We developed a computer program for use in undergraduate and graduate courses in pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. This program can also be used in environmental and toxicological studies and preclinical simulation, to facilitate communication between modeling pharmacokineticists and project leaders or other decision-makers in the pharmaceutical industry. The program simulates the drug delivery and transport by means of (I) a six-compartment physiological pharmacokinetic flow model, (II) a system of traditional compartment models, or (III) a target-mediated drug disposition system. The program also can be used to simulate instantaneous equilibria between concentration and pharmacodynamic response, or as temporal delays between concentration and response. The latter is done by means of turnover models (indirect response models). Drug absorption, distribution, and elimination are represented by differential equations, which are described by organ and tissue volumes or other volumes of distribution, blood flows, clearance terms, and tissue-to-blood partition coefficients. The user can control and adjust these parameters by means of a slider in real time. By interactively changing the parameter values and simultaneously displaying the resulting concentration–time and/or response–time profiles, users can understand the major mechanisms that govern the disposition or the pharmacological response of the drug in the organism in real time. Schedule dependence is typically seen in clinical practice with a non-linear concentration–response relationship, and is difficult to communicate except via simulations. Here, we sought to illustrate the potential advantages of this approach in teaching pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics to undergraduate pharmacy-, veterinary-, and medical students or to project teams in drug discovery/development.     

A Review of 25 Years of CSCW Research in Healthcare: Contributions, Challenges and Future Agendas

CSCW as a field has been concerned since its early days with healthcare, studying how healthcare work is collaboratively and practically achieved and designing systems to support that work. Reviewing literature from the CSCW Journal and related conferences where CSCW work is published, we reflect on the contributions that have emerged from this work. The analysis illustrates a rich range of concepts and findings towards understanding the work of healthcare but the work on the larger policy level is lacking. We argue that this presents a number of challenges for CSCW research moving forward: in having a greater impact on larger-scale health IT projects; broadening the scope of settings and perspectives that are studied; and reflecting on the relevance of the traditional methods in this field - namely workplace studies - to meet these challenges.     

Performance analysis of opportunistic broadcast for delay-tolerant wireless sensor networks

This paper investigates a class of mobile wireless sensor networks that are unconnected most of the times; we refer to them as delay-tolerant wireless sensor networks (DTWSN). These networks inherit their characteristics from both delay tolerant networks (DTN) and traditional wireless sensor networks. After introducing DTWSNs, three main problems in the design space of these networks are discussed: routing, data gathering, and neighbor discovery. A general protocol is proposed for DTWSNs based on opportunistic broadcasting in delay-tolerant networks with radio device on-off periods. Three performance measures are defined in the study: the energy for sending queries to ask for data from possible neighbors (querying energy), data transfer energy, and absorption time (delay). A simple yet accurate approximation for the data-transfer energy is proposed. An analytic model is provided to evaluate the querying energy per contact (epc). Simulation results for the data propagation delay show that the querying energy per contact measure obtained from the analytic model is proportional to the product of the querying energy and the delay. A practical rule of thumb for an optimal query interval in terms of delay and energy is derived from different parts of the study.     

Software Assumptions Lead to Preventable Errors

Undocumented assumptions are often the cause of serious software system failure. Thus, to reduce such failures, developers must become better at discovering and documenting their assumptions. In this article, we focus on common categories of assumptions in software, discuss methods for recognizing when developers are making them, and recommend techniques for documenting them.