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Objective: Epilepsy is largely a treatable condition with antiseizure medication (ASM). Recent national administrative claims data suggest one third of newly diagnosed adult epilepsy patients remain untreated 3 years after diagnosis. We aimed to quantify and characterize this treatment gap within a large US academic health system leveraging the electronic health record for enriched clinical detail. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the proportion of adult patients in the health system from 2012 to 2020 who remained untreated 3 years after initial epilepsy diagnosis. To identify incident epilepsy, we applied validated administrative health data criteria of two encounters for epilepsy/seizures and/or convulsions, and we required no ASM prescription preceding the first encounter. Engagement with the health system at least 2 years before and at least 3 years after diagnosis was required. Among subjects who met administrative data diagnosis criteria, we manually reviewed medical records for a subset of 240 subjects to verify epilepsy diagnosis, confirm treatment status, and elucidate reason for nontreatment. These results were applied to estimate the proportion of the full cohort with untreated epilepsy. Results: Of 831 patients who were automatically classified as having incident epilepsy by inclusion criteria, 80 (10%) remained untreated 3 years after incident epilepsy diagnosis. Manual chart review of incident epilepsy classification revealed only 33% (78/240) had true incident epilepsy. We found untreated patients were more frequently misclassified (p <.001). Using corrected counts, we extrapolated to the full cohort (831) and estimated <1%–3% had true untreated epilepsy. Significance: We found a substantially lower proportion of patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy remained untreated compared to previous estimates from administrative data analysis. Manual chart review revealed patients were frequently misclassified as having incident epilepsy, particularly patients who were not treated with an ASM. Administrative data analyses utilizing only diagnosis codes may misclassify patients as having incident epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Telemetry is frequently overused in hospitals. The goal of this study was to evaluate a telemetry protocol aimed at decreasing inappropriate telemetry utilization across four different hospitals within a large healthcare system by modifying the electronic telemetry order to incorporate the 2017 American Heart Association practice guidelines on the appropriate use of telemetry and using an electronic nursing screening task form to safely discontinue telemetry.Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of telemetry utilization before and after we implemented a protocol across four hospitals within a large healthcare system. We compared the average number of days of telemetry monitoring and hospital length of stay during the preintervention period with the 6-month postintervention period.Results: There were a total of 23,774 encounters evaluated. There was a statistically and clinically significant 24% decrease in telemetry duration between pre- and postintervention time periods (P < 0.0001). The mean (standard error) telemetry duration was 4.11 (0.17) and 2.36 (0.13) days in pre- and postintervention periods, respectively.Conclusions: The results of our study demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in overall duration of telemetry monitoring by nearly 1.75 days across each of the four hospitals with the implementation of a multifaceted telemetry protocol that included hardwiring the American Heart Association practice guidelines into the electronic order and using a nursing-driven discontinuation protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, several states have enacted their own immigration enforcement policies. This reflects substantial variation in the social environments faced by immigrants and native-born citizens, and has raised concerns about unintended consequences. E-Verify mandates, which require employers to use an electronic system to ascertain legal status as a pre-requisite for employment, are a common example of this trend. Drawing on birth certificate data from 2007 to 2014, during which 21 states enacted E-Verify mandates, we find that these mandates are associated with a decline in birthweight and gestational age for infants born to immigrant mothers with demographic profiles matching the undocumented population in their state as well as for infants of native-born mothers. In observing negative trends for both immigrants and natives, our findings do not support the hypothesis that E-Verify has a distinct impact on immigrant health; however, the broader economic, political, and demographic contexts that coincide with these policies, which likely impact the broader community of both immigrants and natives, may pose risks to infant health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) began placing at-sea observers on commercial shrimping (Penaeidae and Sicyonia brevirostris) vessels in the early 1990's in the southeastern region of the United States (U.S.) to identify and minimize the impacts of shrimp trawling on federally managed species. Recent analysis of bycatch data relative to smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, a species endangered globally, indicated a high level of uncertainty in the estimated take in the U.S. Due to costs associated with observer coverage, and given the rare event of capturing a smalltooth sawfish, increasing observer coverage to refine take estimates of this species is not considered practical. We explored the use of electronic monitoring (EM) to provide a valid alternative to increased observer coverage for the purpose of documenting fishery interactions with smalltooth sawfish. This system was additionally used to document interactions with other protected species and large teleost and elasmobranch bycatches (>1.0 kg). While no smalltooth sawfish were observed, the catch and safe release of a loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, was recorded by both the EM system and observer. The EM system was used to record commercial shrimp vessel operations during six trips, encompassing 1,733 h of video over 94 sea days, with a certified fishery observer also being preswithent for the full duration of each trip. Catch composition documented by the EM reviewer was compared to observer data. Overall, 20 tows contained a total of 33 bycatch items in the observer sample that met criteria of being over 1.0 kg. Of these catch items, 87.9% were also detected by the EM reviewer compared to observer data. Detection rates for elasmobranchs were higher in comparison to teleosts, at 95.8%. Pairwise comparison of EM video to data collected by onboard observers (animals >1.0 kg in size) lead us to conclude that EM would be an effective tool for detecting protected resources and larger fauna interactions in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prescribing limits are one policy strategy to reduce short-term opioid prescribing, but there is limited evidence of their impact.Objective: Evaluate implementation of a state prescribing limit law and health system electronic medical record (EMR) alert on characteristics of new opioid prescriptions, refill rates, and clinical encounters.Design: Difference-in-differences study comparing new opioid prescriptions from ambulatory practices in New Jersey (NJ) to controls in Pennsylvania (PA) from 1 year prior to the implementation of a NJ state prescribing limit (May 2016-May 2017) to 10 months after (May 2017-March 2018).Participants: Adults with new opioid prescriptions in an academic health system with practices in PA and NJ.Interventions: State 5-day opioid prescribing limit plus health system and health system EMR alert.Main Measures: Changes in morphine milligram equivalents (MME) and tablet quantity per prescription, refills, and encounters, adjusted for patient and prescriber characteristics.Key Results: There were a total of 678 new prescriptions in NJ and 4638 in PA. Prior to the intervention, median MME/prescription was 225 mg in NJ and 150 mg in PA, and median quantity was 30 tablets in both. After implementation, median MME/prescription was 150 mg in both states, and median quantity was 20 in NJ and 30 in PA. In the adjusted model, there was a greater decrease in mean MME and tablet quantity in NJ relative to PA after implementation of the policy plus alert (- 82.99 MME/prescription, 95% CI - 148.15 to - 17.84 and - 10.41 tabs/prescription, 95% CI - 19.70 to - 1.13). There were no significant differences in rates of refills or encounters at 30 days based on exposure to the interventions.Conclusions: Implementation of a prescribing limit and EMR alert was associated with an approximately 22% greater decrease in opioid dose per new prescription in NJ compared with controls in PA. The combination of prescribing limits and alerts may be an effective strategy to influence prescriber behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated the confounding effects of factors on injury outcomes for all occupants in fatal single-vehicle crashes that involved a rollover event.Method: A generalized ordered logit model was used to investigate the role of roadway attributes, environmental factors, driver characteristics, and vehicle features in injury severity outcomes for occupants. Five years of single-vehicle rollover crash data for the United States were studied.Results: Results showed that the likelihood of serious and fatal injuries increases in rollover crashes with partial or complete ejection of the occupant, no seat belt use, speeding, higher posted speed limits, roadside and median rollovers, undulating terrain, blacktop road surface, and rural roads. We also found that evening, weekdays, previous driver crash, careless or inattentive driving, driver-passenger engagement, aggressive driving, and vehicle type affect injury severity. The deployment of airbags was associated with fewer serious and fatal injuries. Regional differences were found for injury severity outcomes in rollover crashes.Conclusions: The study provides valuable insight for reducing injury severity in single-vehicle crashes where a rollover occurs. Several proven countermeasures may prevent rollovers or reduce injury severity. These strategies include increasing seatbelt use, posting lower speed limits and installing speed enforcement cameras in high-risk areas, flattening roadside embankments, and promoting in-vehicle stability enhancement systems such as electronic stability control and rollover-activated side curtain airbags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rapid growth of both digital systems and identifiers in the field of library science in the U.S. As defined, identifiers in electronic systems maybe in the form of numbers, letters, and symbols to represent something. These identifiers may not be necessary in the exchange of information, however, it is necessary as key components of functions in library networking. It must also conform to the existing network standards to provide interactions between library resources and the Internet.

As more collection dollars are allocated to the purchase of electronic content, the management of these resources continues to challenge libraries. In order to streamline this activity, and to improve compliance with license terms and conditions, libraries are exploring a number of software solutions. These range from tracking data in spread-sheets or developing local databases to buying software from commercial vendors. This article reviews the progress of e-resource software development, such as the Colorado Alliance's Gold Rush software, Innovative Interfaces' Electronic Resource Management module, EBSCO's journal management services and others, and explores what these products are designed to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines variations in the adoption of new technology by firms operating in a network-based industry: telecommunications. These variations are explained as a function of three network effects: the first is the conversion effect, driven by operations-related increasing returns to scale; the second is the consumption effect, driven by demand-side increasing returns to scale; the third is an imitative effect We expect the conversion effect to be felt more strongly during earlier phases of a technology's evolution, while a strong consumption effect is felt throughout. The imitative effect is also expected to be felt throughout. These hypotheses are examined with respect to electronic switching adoption in the local operating sector of the U.S. telecommunications industry. An analysis of the variations in adoption levels of the 40 largest firms over a period lasting from 1973 to 1987 supports our expectations, except for the imitative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a project to measure and reduce book loss due to theft in the main library at the University of Kentucky. Extent of book loss in the library; Denial of requests for funding for an electronic security system; Approaches that would inexpensively reduce the opportunity for theft.

The article discusses anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems relative to charge-particle-beam ABM weapon. The early U.S. ABM programs involves hitting a ballistic missile warhead with another one. Charged-particle beam (CPB) weapons could be used in various ABM systems. A ground-based charged-particle beam could shoot through the atmosphere to destroy reentry vehicles in midcourse. Such a system would require long-range radars to detect and track reentry vehicles. The system must also be able to discriminate against decoys, generate the charged-particle beam, point and track the beam and propagate that beam through the atmosphere.

The article looks at research on product design and development processes within high technology industries. The author presents empirical findings from a study on product definition within six large U.S. corporations engaged in the development and production of electronic systems products. The strategic importance of early stage decisions on product characteristics, design and market is discussed. The author notes that early stages of new product development cycles are characterized by relatively low rates of expenditure, as changes in product features incur lower cost penalties. Decisions made during these early stages have significant implications for costly investments that occur later in the development, manufacturing and marketing activities that come with new products.

The computer industry isn't maturing, it's molting. Standardization of hardware and software, increasing integration of systems and capabilities, and the Japanese "technology tsunami" are combining to effect a tremendous transformation in the industry. Intel Corporation President and CEO Andrew S. Grove looks at what these trends mean for the computer industry of the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an abundance of literature about the impact of the new electronic communications technologies and most of the authors attest to its value and theoretical benefits. Many organizations are working in this area and producing novel implementations, but for the general company there is little that is of help in planning for these systems. In order to overcome this deficiency, this article presents a detailed analysis of electronic data interchange (EDI) undertaken by a large number of U.S. companies. The results suggest a model of strategic implementation which illustrates how factors such as the nature of markets and distribution channels, organizational structure and process and buyer power influence the implementation of EDI with suppliers and customers. Five generic EDI strategies have been identified and the impact of market share and IT expertise on these are discussed. Finally, the authors give their views on some of the long-term issues and suggest some possible outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which analyzes the consequences of introducing electronic data processing (EDP) in several large offices in the U.S. The introduction of computers in offices revolutionizes the office system, alters the nature of the office work, increases labor productivity, upgrades the structure of the labor force, and changes its sex composition. Office automation reduced total labor requirements, but EDP has developed the skill composition of labor force. The application of EDP in office works of several companies included in the study had significant impact on office employment. However, office automation may be responsible for the decrease in growth rate of clerical jobs and that it may be reducing employment opportunities for women employees.

The northeast U.S. extratropical cyclone of 8-9 February 2013 produced blizzard conditions and more than 0.6-0.9 m (2-3 ft) of snow from Long Island through eastern New England. A surprising aspect of this blizzard was the development and rapid weakening of a snowband to the northwest of the cyclone center with radar ref lectivity factor exceeding 55 dB Z. Because the radar reflectivity within snowbands in winter storms rarely exceeds 40 dB Z, this event warranted further investigation. The high radar reflectivity was due to mixed-phase microphysics in the snowband, characterized by high differential reflectivity ( ZDR > 2 dB) and low correlation coefficient (CC < 0.9), as measured by the operational dual-polarization radar in Upton, New York (KOKX). Consistent with these radar observations, heavy snow and ice pellets (both sleet and graupel) were observed. Later, as the reflectivity decreased to less than 40 dB Z, surface observations indicated a transition to primarily high-intensity dry snow, consistent with lower-tropospheric cold advection. Therefore, the rapid decrease of the 50+ dB Z reflectivity resulted from the transition from higher-density, mixed-phase precipitation to lower-density, dry-snow crystals and aggregates. This case study indicates the value that dual-polarization radar can have in an operational forecast environment for determining the variability of frozen precipitation (e.g., ice pellets, dry snow aggregates) on relatively small spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counterfeit electronic components have become a significant concern in the electronic parts supply chain. Original equipment manufacturers in particular are concerned about counterfeit components as there have been several recent reports of counterfeit parts entering the supply chain of the US military. This paper presents a case study of multilayer ceramic capacitors for use in a printed circuit assembly in an electronic system on a military aircraft. The capacitors failed during a high temperature screening test. Upon failure analysis it was revealed that the capacitors were not made to the correct specifications and were suspected to be counterfeit and not the authentic military grade capacitors manufactured by Kemet. Further investigation revealed that the suspect multilayered ceramic capacitors had entered into the electronics parts supply chain and were sold as authentic Kemet capacitors that met the higher military-specified requirements. The manufacturing and distribution of the counterfeit capacitors were traced to locations where, according to Kemet, its authentic capacitors are neither manufactured nor distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grading of fingerprint quality by fingerprint examiners as currently practised is a subjective process. Therefore, an objective system was devised to remove the subjectivity. The devised grading system is quantitative and uses three separate, easily available, software packages to ultimately identify the portions of a fingerprint that correspond to low-, medium-, and high-quality definitive minutiae as defined on the Universal Latent Workstation of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the possibility of measuring the average temperature in the active topsoil of the Arctic tundra from the temperature dependence of the radar backscattering coefficient is theoretically studied. The radar backscattering coefficient is simulated by the small perturbation method at a frequency of 1.26 GHz of radars placed onboard ALOS-2 and SMAP satellites. In simulation, the soil density, surface roughness, and temperature and moisture profiles measured in situ at the biosphere station Franklin Bluffs, Alaska (69°39′ N, 148°43′ W), from August 1, 2000 to July 1, 2001 were used. The soil permittivity was calculated for the generalized temperature-dependent refractive mixing dielectric model for organic rich soil whose sample was taken on the Alaska North Slope (68°38′N, 149°35′W). This model allows the complex dielectric constant of moist thawed and frozen soil to be calculated at temperatures in the range from -30°С to +25°С. It is demonstrated that the radar backscattering coefficient is correlated with the topsoil temperature with the error less than 5.7°С during the entire period of freezing and thawing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sondrestrom upper atmospheric research facility, located just north of the Arctic Circle near the west coast of Greenland, will soon celebrate 30 yr of operations. The centerpiece of the facility, an incoherent scatter radar, has collected 46 000 h of data on the ionospheric state parameters. This instrument was designed and built to measure the effects of nuclear bombs on radio wave propagation in the South Pacific, but instead was deployed to Alaska to study the effects of auroral structuring on the ionosphere, and was later moved to Greenland to explore the auroral cusp and the dynamics of the polar cap boundary. This is the story of the birth and genesis of the instrument, its travels, and the evolution of its facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the importance of electronic transfusion management systems for safe transfusion practice. It mentions that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that blood transfusion is the leading causes of death from in the U.S. It further highlights that data for transfusion process requires various components including the patient details; clinical area and date are stored in a management system in the blood bank.

A high-resolution surface rainfall product is used to estimate rain characteristics over the continental United States as a function of rain intensity. By defining data at 4-km horizontal resolutions and 1-h temporal resolutions as an individual precipitating or nonprecipitating sample, statistics of rain occurrence and rain volume including their geographical and seasonal variations are documented. Quantitative estimations are also conducted to evaluate the impact of missing light rain events due to satellite sensors' detection capabilities. It is found that statistics of rain characteristics have large seasonal and geographical variations across the continental United States. Although heavy rain events (>10 mm h−1) only occupy 2.6%% of total rain occurrence, they may contribute to 27%% of total rain volume. Light rain events (<1.0 mm h−1), occurring much more frequently (65%%) than heavy rain events, can also make important contributions (15%%) to the total rain volume. For minimum detectable rain rates setting at 0.5 and 0.2 mm h−1, which are close to sensitivities of the current and future spaceborne precipitation radars, there are about 43%% and 11%% of total rain occurrence below these thresholds, and they respectively represent 7%% and 0.8%% of total rain volume. For passive microwave sensors with their rain pixel sizes ranging from 14 to 16 km and the minimum detectable rain rates around 1 mm h−1, the missed light rain events may account for 70%% of rain occurrence and 16%% of rain volume. Statistics of rain characteristics are also examined on domains with different temporal and spatial resolutions. Current issues in estimates of rain characteristics from satellite measurements and model outputs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genesis of this paper was notification to the author that he would receive the 2010 Rossing Prize in Acoustics Education, which carried the responsibility of giving a lecture at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. He decided to draw on his remembrances of writing several textbooks during a 40 year career as a professor to discuss the facets of writing that a faculty member might encounter. This paper is an expanded version of that lecture [J. H. Ginsberg, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128, 2389 (2010)]. An opening section elucidating the author's experiences as an author is followed by a discussion intended to motivate and encourage those who are undecided about taking on this activity. Suggestions are offered as to how to organize and proceed through a writing project as well as what elements should be included. An explanation of the author's role in the process of producing a printed textbook is provided. Guidance is offered as to how one can focus on writing a book in the face of teaching, research, and personal responsibilities. The closure discusses current trends that endanger the ongoing flow of high quality textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the United States embraces electronic health records (EHRs), improved emergency medical services (EMS) information systems are also a priority; however, little is known about the experiences of EMS agencies as they adopt and implement electronic patient care report (e-PCR) systems. We sought to characterize motivations for adoption of e-PCR systems, challenges associated with adoption and implementation, and emerging implementation strategies. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews with EMS agency leaders. Participants were recruited through a web-based survey of National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) members, a didactic session at the 2010 NAEMSP Annual Meeting, and snowball sampling. Interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes, were recorded and professionally transcribed. Analysis was conducted by a five-person team, employing the constant comparative method to identify recurrent themes. Results: Twenty-three interviewees represented 20 EMS agencies from the United States and Canada; 14 EMS agencies were currently using e-PCR systems. The primary reason for adoption was the potential for e-PCR systems to support quality assurance efforts. Challenges to e-PCR system adoption included those common to any health information technology project, as well as challenges unique to the prehospital setting, including: fear of increased ambulance run times leading to decreased ambulance availability, difficulty integrating with existing hospital information systems, and unfunded mandates requiring adoption of e-PCR systems. Three recurring strategies emerged to improve e-PCR system adoption and implementation: 1) identify creative funding sources; 2) leverage regional health information organizations; and 3) build internal information technology capacity. Conclusion: EMS agencies are highly motivated to adopt e-PCR systems to support quality assurance efforts; however, adoption and implementation of e-PCR systems has been challenging for many. Emerging strategies from EMS agencies and others that have successfully implemented EHRs may be useful in expanding e-PCR system use and facilitating this transition for other EMS agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This column revisits the topic of raw data and electronic records for a chromatography data system (CDS) in light of recent updates in regulations and guidance issued by regulatory agencies and industry bodies. We look at the ways to define what raw data are for a CDS and pose the question: Is it still possible to define paper records as chromatographic raw data? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functionality of next generation the US Army's platforms, such as the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Small Unmanned Arial Vehicles, is strongly dependent on the reliability of electronics-rich devices. Thus, the performance and accuracy of these systems will be dependent on the life-cycle of electronics. These electronic systems and the critical components in them experience extremely harsh environments such as shock and vibration. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the failure mechanisms of these components through experimental and virtual failure assessment. One of the key challenges in re-creating life-cycle vibration conditions during design and qualification testing in the lab is the re-creation of simultaneous multiaxial excitation that the product experiences in the field. Instead, the common practice is to use sequential single-axis excitation in different axes or uncontrolled multiaxial vibration on repetitive shock shakers. Consequently, the dominant failure modes in the field are sometimes very difficult to duplicate in a laboratory test. This paper presents the joint effort by the US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) and the Center of Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland to develop test methods and analytical models that better capture unforeseen design weaknesses prior to the qualification phase, by better replication of the life-cycle vibration conditions. One approach was to utilize a novel multi-degrees-of-freedom (M-DoF) electrodynamic shaker to ruggedize designs for fatigue damage due to multi-directional random vibration. The merits of vibration testing methods with six-DoF shaker and cost saving associated with such an approach will be addressed in this paper. There is a potential for M-DoF to detect critical design vulnerabilities earlier in the development cycle than has been traditionally possible with existing shaker technologies; and therefore to produce more cost effective, reliable and safe systems for the warfighters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the E-Verify Internet work authorization measure in immigration law in the U.S. Topics include the matching of employee data by employers through the computer system, the responsibilities of employers to sign a memorandum of understanding, and punishment for noncompliance with the program. It is suggested that state laws regarding E-Verify are inconsistent and promote discrimination in the workplace.

Our goal is to understand the evolution of the autonomous system (AS) ecosystem over the last 12 years. Instead of focusing on abstract topological properties, we classify ASs into a number of types depending on their function and business type. Furthermore, we consider the semantics of inter-AS links: customer–provider versus peering relations. We find that the available historic datasets from RouteViews and RIPE are not sufficient to infer the evolution of peering links, and so we restrict our focus to customer–provider links. Our findings highlight some important trends in the evolution of the Internet over the last 12 years and hint at what the Internet is heading toward. After an exponential increase phase until 2001, the Internet has settled into a slower exponential growth in terms of both ASs and inter-AS links. The growth is mostly due to enterprise networks and content/access providers at the periphery of the Internet. The average path length remains almost constant, mostly due to the increasing multihoming degree of transit and content/access providers. The AS types differ significantly from each other with respect to their rewiring activity; content/access providers are the most active. A few large transit providers act as “attractors” or “repellers” of customers. For many providers, strong attractiveness precedes strong repulsiveness by 3–9 months. Finally, in terms of regional growth, we find that the AS ecosystem is now larger and more dynamic in Europe than in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Public and private organisations are investing increasing amounts into the development of healthcare software. These applications are perceived to offer numerous benefits. Software systems can improve the exchange of information between healthcare facilities. They support standardized procedures that can help to increase consistency between different service providers. Electronic patient records ensure minimum standards across the trajectory of care when patients move between different specializations. Healthcare information systems also offer economic benefits through efficiency savings; for example by providing the data that helps to identify potential bottlenecks in the provision and administration of care. However, a number of high-profile failures reveal the safety concerns that arise when staff must cope with the loss of these applications. In particular, teams have to retrieve paper based records that often lack the detail of electronic systems. Individuals who have only used electronic information systems face particular problems in learning how to apply paper-based fallbacks. The following pages compare two different failures of healthcare information systems in the UK and North America. The intention is to ensure that future initiatives to extend the integration of electronic patient records will build on the ‘lessons learned’ from previous systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers information on the use of electronic verification of the employees through E-Verify, an internet system to enhance accountability and transparency in government procurement in the U.S. It states that it is operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). It mentions that the employers utilize the system to verify the employment authorization of their employees online within seconds.

This two-part article compares the different histories of public broadcasting in France and the United States in the context of their different national sociopolitical cultures. It reviews the contemporary conditions facing public broadcasting in the two countries and examines what the common and different elements reveal about the future of public media. Against the backdrop of serious threats to both traditional media and public service systems, the paper inquires into the sustainability of the two models. Part I relates how public broadcasting came into being in each country-with what missions, funding, and structures, and with which built-in contradictions. Part II examines how current changes in technology, social uses of media, and broader policy deliberations are affecting public broadcasting's goals, as well as how the current challenges and opportunities they establish are being met. The papers find that historical patterns of national policy and public broadcasting organization and funding have persisted and have systematically run counter to important elements of the core public media missions and have thereby inhibited the prospects for real reform and full realization of the public service ideal in both nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dengue fever is a virus infection that is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and can cause severe disease especially in children. Dengue fever is a major problem in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Methodology/Principal Findings: We invited dengue experts from around the world to attend meetings to discuss dengue surveillance. We reviewed literature, heard detailed reports on surveillance programs, and shared expert opinions. Results: Presentations by 22 countries were heard during the 2.5 day meetings. We describe the best methods of surveillance in general, the stakeholders in dengue surveillance, and the steps from mosquito bite to reporting of a dengue case to explore how best to carry out dengue surveillance. We also provide details and a comparison of the dengue surveillance programs by the presenting countries. Conclusions/Significance: The experts provided recommendations for achieving the best possible data from dengue surveillance accepting the realities of the real world (e.g., limited funding and staff). Their recommendations included: (1) Every dengue endemic country should make reporting of dengue cases to the government mandatory; (2) electronic reporting systems should be developed and used; (3) at minimum dengue surveillance data should include incidence, hospitalization rates, deaths by age group; (4) additional studies should be completed to check the sensitivity of the system; (5) laboratories should share expertise and data; (6) tests that identify dengue virus should be used in patients with fever for four days or less and antibody tests should be used after day 4 to diagnose dengue; and (7) early detection and prediction of dengue outbreaks should be goals for national surveillance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology's use in the United States healthcare marketplace, known as health IT (HIT), significantly lags behind that of other industries and leaves much room for improvement. While many industries already use information technology (IT) to improve efficiency, the healthcare industry has not made any significant progress toward widespread use of HIT. Although some hospitals and physician clinics have begun using HIT, the industry as a whole is still pessimistic toward the improvement and implementation of costly HIT functions such as electronic medical records (EMR) and their interoperability in current and future healthcare systems. As federal mandate requires all healthcare providers to implement EMR system by 2014, this study suggests an integrated framework that would make EMR a vital component to ensure the success of the new universal healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of the electronic-rulemaking (e-rulemaking) program in the U.S. along with the recent policies issued by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. It proposes to design a two-tiered registration system for the website MyRegulations.gov. It proposes to follow the model used by the European Commission for electronic rulemaking and explores the extent to which that model should be modified and imported to the U.S.

The article reports on the amendments to the Article 9 of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) by the Joint Review Committee related to domestic and international sales of goods, personal property leases, and secured transactions. As stated, the Study Committee on Payment Issues explored the prospect of overhauling payments law to modify electronic transactions. It mentions the Vessels Act to bring uniformity in federal laws regarding vessels and Article 9.

The planned Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission will measure freshwater storage changes in global lakes. Herein, the anticipated SWOT storage change accuracy is evaluated for the lakes in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Northern Alaska and Western Siberia. Because of the significant lack of Arctic lake measurements, we simulated realistic daily to seasonal changes in water elevations in the study region using a combination of data from lake gauges, satellite radar altimeter, and satellite imagery. This 'truth' dataset is sampled with several candidate SWOT orbits and then corrupted with expected instrument errors to simulate SWOT observed storage changes. The number of revisits increases with increasing or decreasing latitude for a given repeat cycle (e.g. four to eight revisits for a 22-day cycle), allowing us to investigate storage change errors at monthly sampling. SWOT storage change accuracy is primarily controlled by lake size. Lakes larger than 1 km2 have relative errors generally less than 5% whereas one-hectare size lakes are about 20%. We concluded that the storage change accuracy is insensitive to the orbital inclination or repeat periods, but is sensitive to lake shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Introduction: E-prescribing is part of a new generation of electronic solutions for the medical industry that may have great potential for improving work flow and communication between medical practices and pharmacies. In the US, it has been introduced with minimal monitoring of errors and general usability. This paper examines refill functionality in e-prescribing software. Methods: A mixed method study including focus groups and surveys was conducted. Qualitative data were collected in on-site focus groups or individual interviews with clinicians and medical office staff at 64 physician office practices. Focus group participants described their experiences with the refill functionality of e-prescribing software, provided suggestions for improving it, and suggested improvements in office procedures and software functionality. Results: Overall, ∼50% reduction in time spent each day on refills was reported. Overall reports of refill functionality were positive; but clinicians and staff identified numerous difficulties and glitches associated managing prescription refills. These glitches diminished over time. Benefits included time saved as well as patient convenience. Potential for refilling without thought because of the ease of use was noted. Clinicians and staff appreciated the ability to track whether patients are filling and refilling prescriptions. Discussion: E-prescribing software for managing medication refills has not yet reached its full potential. To reduce work flow barriers and medication errors, software companies need to develop error reporting systems and response teams to deal effectively with problems experienced by users. Examining usability issues on both the medical office and pharmacy ends is required to identify the behavioral and cultural changes that accompany technological innovation and ease the transition to full use of e-prescribing software. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The development of technologies that allow interoperable radios on a number of networked nodes for tactical scenarios has seen much interest in recent years. In particular, the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is one project aimed at designing interoperable tactical data links for a number of scenarios involving United States and coalition forces. The JTRS project was motivated by a number of factors concerning extant tactical data links. These factors include a lack of interoperability and the proprietary nature of the radios required, as well as the inability of such links to allow high-rate ad hoc networked communications in a highly mobile environment. It has been suggested that existing commercial off-the-shelf equipment could perhaps be used for tactical networking. Subsequently, in a previous paper by the author, preliminary results were presented for an example tactical networking scenario. In that paper, it was assumed that high-gain antennas could be used in such a way that they always provided maximum gain, irrespective of the locations of each node, and the types of antenna gain patterns that could be achieved with such antennas. Additionally, size, weight and power (SWAP) constraints were not considered. In this paper, SWAP constraints are considered in determining an example set of transmit power and antenna types to investigate the effects of such practical constraints on the data rates that could be achieved. Also, a single ground-reflector model is used for the wireless channel, instead of the line-of-sight only model assumed in the previous work. Results obtained by simulation of an adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing scheme are provided for a range of possible asset separation distances. These results highlight both the effect of distance-dependent signal attenuation, and also antenna pointing mismatch. Such effects would need to be jointly considered when designing a high-rate tactical data network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Passive exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is estimated to exert a major burden of disease. Currently, numerous countries have taken legal actions to protect the population against ETS. Numerous studies have been conducted in this field. Therefore, scientometric methods should be used to analyze the accumulated data since there is no such approach available so far. Methods and Results: A combination of scientometric methods and novel visualizing procedures were used, including density-equalizing mapping and radar charting techniques. 6,580 ETS-related studies published between 1900 and 2008 were identified in the ISI database. Using different scientometric approaches, a continuous increase of both quantitative and qualitative parameters was found. The combination with density-equalizing calculations demonstrated a leading position of the United States (2,959 items published) in terms of quantitative research activities. Charting techniques demonstrated that there are numerous bi- and multilateral networks between different countries and institutions in this field. Again, a leading position of American institutions was found. Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive scientometric analysis of data on global scientific activities in the field of environmental tobacco smoke research. The present findings can be used as a benchmark for funding allocation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional sanitary sewer design uses detailed design tables that contain all the necessary information to complete the design. An alternative approach is to use modeling software, such as the EPA SWMM model. This paper details the application of the EPA SWMM model to design the sanitary sewer system of a proposed 62 lot development. Typically SWMM is thought of almost exclusively as a storm water system analysis tool, but this application shows how it can also be used for sanitary sewer analysis and design. The paper details how the SWMM model parameters were set to handle infiltration and inflow as well as base residential sanitary flows. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 203–212, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20124 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the data exchange standards and the various ways to harmonize it with research data exchange standards and make it widely implementable in the U.S. It cites that the emergence of electronic medical records (EMR) and other source systems have offered wider agreement on common standards to implement them. It notes that standards-setting groups such as the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) and Health Language Seven (HL7) are working on its implementation.

The article offers information on the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). It states that the system permits the applicant for mark registration to link directly to a standard form and fill out the form in response to prompts that are divided into the application's components. It offers guides for the TEAS application process for registration on the principal register of a trademark or service mark used by the applicants in commerce.

The article discusses the complexity of plain view doctrine in digital searches in the U.S. It outlines the decision of the Ninth Circuit in the case of United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing (CDT II) and the difficulty in applying plain view doctrine to digital searches and to CD II. It cites the alternative approaches to resolve electronic plain view problems and to balance the interest of society against the interest of defendant in searched material.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has developed a real-time, remote detection system for damage control and situational awareness, called “Volume Sensor”, as part of the Advanced Volume Sensor Task, an important element of the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, Future Naval Capabilities program, Advanced Damage Countermeasures. The objective of the Advanced Volume Sensor Task was to develop an affordable detection system that could identify shipboard damage control conditions and provide real-time threat level information for damage control events (such as flaming and smoldering fires, explosions, pipe ruptures, flooding, and gas releases) while eliminating the false alarms typical of fire detection systems in industrial environments. The approach was to build a multisensor, multicriteria system from low cost commercial-off-the-shelf hardware components integrated with intelligent software and data fusion algorithms. Two multicompartment prototype Volume Sensor systems were constructed at NRL and tested with a series of simulated damage control events at the Navy’s full-scale fire test facility, the ex -USS Shadwell in Mobile Bay, AL. Results from this test series indicate that the Volume Sensor Prototypes performed as well or better than commercial video image detection and point-detection systems in critical quality metrics for fire detection while also providing additional situational awareness for flooding scenarios, fire suppression system activations, and gas release events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immigration debate has proven to be fertile ground for promoting exceptionalist practices, where certain groups of people are isolated from the rest of the population and regarded as a subclass. The federal electronic employment verification system, E-Verify, is a prime example of such a practice. Passed under the Procurement Act, the goal of E-Verify was to promote efficiency and economy in government procurement. Unfortunately, the system falls far short of these goals because of problems inherent in the electronic database and increased state involvement over immigration reform. E-Verify is often criticized as unreliable because it relies on inaccurate databases, imposes an undue financial burden on employers, and leaves immigrant workers vulnerable to subjective determinations about their legal status. While Congress works on resolving these issues, the legal landscape is nevertheless changing as states enact and enforce their own immigration laws, including those that mandate the use of E-Verify. State entry into the immigration arena not only expands the reach of the system's problems, but it also threatens to legitimize the exclusion of immigrants, documented or undocumented. This Comment describes how the implementation of E-Verify has frustrated the goals of efficiency and economy, and argues that Congress should establish definitive boundaries between state and federal immigration reform to restore the political imbalance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which concerns on the issues confronted among stakeholders in their attempt to develop, implement, and maintain electronic identity management (IdM) systems in government. Researchers have argued on the idea that perceptions of electronic IdM vary and that single conceptualisation of the concept is difficult to achieve. A qualitative analysis was performed in identifying 10 dominant stakeholder areas of concern from 17 European countries, and in the U.S.

Background/objective: Brief alcohol counseling is a foremost US prevention priority, but no health-care system has implemented it into routine care. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an electronic clinical reminder for brief alcohol counseling ("reminder"). The specific aims were to (1) determine the prevalence of use of the reminder and (2) evaluate whether use of the reminder was associated with resolution of unhealthy alcohol use at follow-up screening.Methods: The reminder was implemented in February 2004 in eight VA clinics where providers routinely used clinical reminders. Patients eligible for this retrospective cohort study screened positive on the AUDIT-C alcohol screening questionnaire (February 2004-April 2006) and had a repeat AUDIT-C during the 1-36 months of follow-up (mean 14.5). Use of the alcohol counseling clinical reminder was measured from secondary electronic data. Resolution of unhealthy alcohol use was defined as screening negative at follow-up with a >/=2-point reduction in AUDIT-C scores. Logistic regression was used to identify adjusted proportions of patients who resolved unhealthy alcohol use among those with and without reminder use.Results: Among 4,198 participants who screened positive for unhealthy alcohol use, 71% had use of the alcohol counseling clinical reminder documented in their medical records. Adjusted proportions of patients who resolved unhealthy alcohol use were 31% (95% CI 30-33%) and 28% (95% CI 25-30%), respectively, for patients with and without reminder use (p-value = 0.031).Conclusions: The brief alcohol counseling clinical reminder was used for a majority of patients with unhealthy alcohol use and associated with a moderate decrease in drinking at follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the literature search for electronic medical record (EMR) systems implementation to address the health information technology (IT) gap management in the U.S. healthcare industry. Accordingly, the literature search was theoretically based and empirically tested and was augmented from the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Moreover, six critical success factors which comprise the theoretical model for EMR implementation are also discussed.

The Software Communications Architecture is an open architecture developed by the U.S. Department of Defense to standardize the development of software-defined radio, improve communication systems interoperability, and reduce development and deployment costs. The SCA facilitates software reuse and technology insertion by abstracting radio applications from the supporting platform and defining a common operational environment across platforms. The SCA relies on commercial standards, classic software engineering principles, and software design patterns. While some SCA design choices are controversial and tightly tied to the specific needs for which it was developed, the basic design principles of software reuse and abstraction are sound and necessary if SDR is to achieve its full potential. Some of the techniques and concepts used in the SCA may be foreign to a communications engineer, and can result in confusion and long learning curves. The understanding of these concepts is of great relevance for communications engineers independent of any opinion about the SCA itself. This tutorial is aimed at educating communication engineers on these software engineering principles and describing how the SCA applies them to achieve its goals. We describe the different interfaces of the SCA that provide a framework for the implementation of SDR. The tutorial provides introductory material to understand the basic operation of the SCA as implemented in the Open-Source SCA Implementation::Embedded developed by Wireless @ Virginia Tech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issue concerning the impact of computers on family relationships in the U.S. It presents the historical trends of the role of home computer and Internet in the family communication and relation since the 1980s. It explores the discovery of a new disease called technostress, a modern disease affecting individuals who were unable to use new computers in a healthy way, in 1984. It also discusses the social and psychological impact of the Internet and implication of two-way interaction in family members.