Support for Implementation of Evolutionary Concurrent Systems

Concurrent programs that embed specifications of synchronizations in the body of their component are difficult to extend and modify. Small changes in a concurrent program, particularly changes in the interactions among components, may require re-implementation of a large number of components. Even specifications of components cannot be reused easily. This paper presents a concurrent program composition mechanism in which both specification and implementation of computations and interactions are completely separated. Separation of specifications and implementations facilitates extensions and modifications of programs by allowing one to separately change the implementations of computations and interactions. It also supports their reusability. The paper also describes the design and implementation of a concurrent object-oriented programming language based on this model, including a compiler for the language, and reports on the execution behavior of programs written in the language.     

A medical hand tool physical interaction evaluation approach for prototype testing using patient care simulators

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a physical ergonomics assessment approach for medical device handles. The method assesses wrist posture and force of exertion simultaneously by task element. Electrogoniometers and EMG sensors were connected through a data acquisition module for synchronization with video recordings of trials. Task analysis of video recordings were performed offline with Observer XT software. Average posture and force data across several repetitions of individual task elements were calculated and presented in a format suitable for informing product designers of specific issues during a test trial. A handle comfort questionnaire is proposed to survey subjective responses. The evaluation approach was applied to an endoscope needle in sampling a biopsy from the stomach wall using a gastrointestinal track simulator with ten physician surrogates. The results showed that for all task elements the wrist was in extension (33(°)-45(°)). Peak muscle forces ranged from 28% to 68% MVC across the three muscles studied. Muscle peak forces were above ACGIH HAL maximum threshold limits for four of the seven task elements, and above the action limit for all seven task elements for two muscles. The handle comfort questionnaire data also supported the high muscle force findings, and also on force distribution on the handle due to contact stresses. This combined approach could be used to collect and report detailed early stage ergonomics data from user trials on patient care simulators. The approach is proposed for use by medical device designers at the design stage of new products using prototypes, but it could also be used on existing products with real patients.     

Confocal surface profiling utilizing chromatic aberration

A new method for surface profiling in the confocal microscope utilizing chromatic aberration is presented. An expression for the integrated spectral intensity in the new profilometer is derived and chromatic aberration in the confocal microscope is explained. Estimates of the minimum resolvable depth and the maximum depth that can be profiled are given utilizing a ratiometric signal detection scheme. Examples of ratio images illustrating the new surface profiling technique are presented, showing the scheme to be both simple to implement and effective.     

A model management systems approach to manufacturing systems design

Manufacturing systems design involves the solution of a complex series of interrelated problems. This complexity will increase in the future as manufacturing practices change to meet increased global competition. Research within manufacturing systems design has mainly been focused on finding improved models for solving particular problems, or extending existing modeling techniques. This has resulted in numerous modeling tools being available to support manufacturing systems design. However, little research work has been carried out into consolidating the existing theories and models. As a result, a large body of this work has not been applied in industry.Model management has evolved as a research area which investigates methods for storing, modifying, and manipulating models. This article describes a prototype model management system for manufacturing systems design. The objective here is not to develop another decision support system for manufacturing design, but to illustrate, through the development of a prototype system, a number of key ideas of how concepts from the area of model management systems can be used to support manufacturing systems design. The prototype model management system utilizes the structured modeling framework and uses an extended version of the structured modeling language. An important aspect of the prototype model management system is the incorporation of the model development task, thus allowing the system to be easily updated and adapted. The prototype system was evaluated using a range of queueing network models for manufacturing systems design.     

The one-way quantum computer--a non-network model of quantum computation

A one-way quantum computer (QC _C ) works by performing a sequence of one-qubit measurements on a particular entangled multi-qubit state, the cluster state. No non-local operations are required in the process of computation. Any quantum logic network can be simulated on the QC _C . On the other hand, the network model of quantum computation cannot explain all ways of processing quantum information possible with the QC _C . In this paper, two examples of the non-network character of the QC _C are given. First, circuits in the Clifford group can be performed in a single time step. Second, the QC _C -realization of a particular circuit—the bit-reversal gate—has no network interpretation.     

Representation and extrapolation in multilayer perceptrons

To give an adequate explanation of cognition and perform certain practical tasks, connectionist systems must be able to extrapolate. This work explores the relationship between input representation and extrapolation, using simulations of multilayer perceptrons trained to model the identity function. It has been discovered that representation has a marked effect on extrapolation.     

Analysis of grocery chain pharmacists' work-related behaviors

OBJECTIVE: To measure grocery chain pharmacists' work-related behaviors to assess the impact of a Pharmaceutical Care Certificate Program (PCCP) and other future interventions intended to alter pharmacists' practice behaviors. DESIGN: This study used multidimensional work sampling (MWS), a work measurement methodology that breaks "work" into three components: activity (what was done), contact (with whom the activity was performed), and function (the purpose or objective of the activity). Pharmacists were signaled at random intervals during the workday by a random signal generator. A selection was made from a list of items in each of the three dimensions of work to form an activity-contact-function combination code that described the work-related behavior at that point in time. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Pharmacists in 15 grocery chain stores in the Indianapolis area; 20 pharmacists were enrolled in Purdue University's PCCP and 10 served as controls. Data were collected for a period of six weeks during April through June 1997 before the beginning of the PCCP program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pharmacists' work-related behaviors. RESULTS: Writing/keyboarding was the most frequently recorded activity (22%), followed by one-to-one meetings (21.6%), and drug preparation (18%). Pharmacists spent most of their time working alone (62.9%), while a smaller but still substantial proportion of time was spent interacting with patients (17.9%). The most frequently recorded purpose (i.e., function) of pharmacists' activities was drug distribution (23.9%), followed by personal time (12.4%), receiving or transferring a medication order (10.2%), and patient counseling (6.6%). Out of a possible, 1,760 activity-contact-function combinations, 10 accounted for 46.3% of all reported observations, with "Prepare drug-Self-Drug distribution" representing the most frequently recorded activity-contact-function combination (15.7%). CONCLUSION: MWS is useful in helping grocery chain management better understand how pharmacy personnel are currently being utilized. This study provides a baseline for evaluating the impact of training programs or other alterations in the practice environment on pharmacists' work-related behaviors.