Search

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Guidelines Committee develops evidence-based guidelines for practicing surgeons using standard methodology. Our objective was to survey the SAGES membership regarding guidelines’ quality, use, and value and identify topics of interest for new guideline development. An anonymous online survey was emailed in October 2019 to SAGES members. Respondents were asked 18 questions on their use and evaluation of SAGES guidelines and SAGES reviews and to provide suggestions for new guideline topics and areas of improvement. The survey was open for 6 weeks with a 3-week reminder. Of 548 responders, most were minimally invasive (41%) or general surgeons (33%). There was an even distribution between academic (46%) and non-academic practice (24% private practice, 23% hospital employed). Most used SAGES guidelines frequently (22%) or occasionally (68%) and found them to be of value (83%), above average quality (86%), and easy to use (74%). While most stated it was important (35%) or very important (58%) that SAGES continues to follow “rigorous guidelines development processes,” common suggestions were for more timely updates and improved web access. Of 442 overlapping topic suggestions, 60% fell into overarching categories of hernia, bariatric, robotic, HPB, and colorectal surgery. The SAGES guidelines are used frequently and valued by its users for their quality and content. Topics proposed by SAGES members and valuable insight from this survey can guide creation of new guidelines and refinement of established guidelines and processes.

The Mössbauer spectroscopy database compiled and maintained by the Mössbauer Effect Data Center (MEDC) is a unique, wide-scope Mössbauer-spectroscopy related information resource, which forms the basis of information services provided by the Mössbauer Effect Data Center to the worldwide scientific community. The Mössbauer Effect Reference and Data Journal (MERDJ) and the Mössbauer Web Access Database (MWAD), both published by MEDC, are widely known examples of the services that rely on the MEDC database. In recent years a further improvement of these services, especially that of MWAD, has been envisaged, and as a first step of the corresponding process the further development of the MEDC database was started. In the present work we introduce the main features of the MEDC database and the steps that have been already taken in the frame of its further development. Implications of the work regarding the associated services are also presented.

We consider the problem of mining web access patterns with super-pattern constraint. This constraint requires that the sequential patterns in the sequence database must contain a particular set of patterns as sub-patterns. One common application of this constraint is web usage mining which mines the user access behavior on the web. In this paper, we introduce an efficient strategy for mining web access patterns with super-pattern constraint that requires only one database scan. Firstly, we present the MWAPC (M ining W eb A ccess P atterns based on super-pattern C onstraint) algorithm, in which each frequent pattern has to be checked if it contains at least one pattern from a user-defined set of patterns. Then we develop an effective algorithm, called EMWAPC that prunes the search space at the beginning of mining process and avoids checking the constraints one by one based on three proposed propositions. We have conducted the experiments on real web log databases. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithms outperform the previous methods.

With an eye on locating the sequences from web data the most talented solution web usage mining is elegantly employed. In this regard, the modern technique is plagued by several constraints like the forward reference of web access sequence, making it irrelevant for the incremental databases. With the intention of overwhelming these hassles, an innovative technique is elegantly launched for mining web access utility by employing the hybrid hill climbing genetic algorithm (HHCGA) based tree construction. The novel approach deploys the two tree constructions such as the HUWAS tree (HHCGA and utility based web access sequence tree) and the HIUWAS tree (HHCGA and incremental utility based web access sequence tree). The tree construction, in essence, is generally dependent on the internal and external utility values of the web access sequence. The HHCGA is effectively utilized to optimize both the HUWAS and HIUWAS trees. In this regard, hill climbing attracts attention as an optimization approach offering solutions for the search challenges and Genetic Algorithm makes its presence felt as an ideal one for issues encompassing an extensive and intricate search space with added local optimums. The epoch-making technique comes out with flying colors by effectively addressing both the forward and backward references of web access.

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is one of the major security components in the provision of fair web access by differentiating human access from malicious, automated access by bots. Though the CAPTCHA strengthens the security aspect of web access, their accessibility to people with visual impairments has inherent unresolved challenges. This paper presents an accessible CAPTCHA model termed HuMan (human or machine?) which aims at providing an audio-based CAPTCHA for people with visual impairments. The HuMan model incorporates personalization into the CAPTCHA access. The polymorphic nature of resolving the HuMan CAPTCHA facilitates kaleidoscopic behavior in CAPTCHA rendering. The presence of ambient noise and requirement of common sense knowledge to answer the questions presented by HuMan CAPTCHA model makes it friendlier toward human users. The HuMan model has a CAPTCHA preemption feature which enables the user to stop the challenge audio as soon as the answer is identified. The results of experiments conducted on the prototype implementation of HuMan model project the mean success rate of 92.46 % and system usability scale score of 82.44 for persons with visual impairments and 82.63 for sighted users.

Solutions in the domain of mobile computing face a typical problem of fragmentation due to permissible customization to android framework. Fragmentation is a problem at the device side where the expected behavior of an application is not exhibited identically over all other devices. Presently, cross-layer design is becoming essential aspect of the app development, targeted to deliver an energy-efficient and productive solution. Fragmentation is posing an enormous challenge for development community, and solutions are designed per case basis. There are solutions developed in the domain of graphics and Web access, but as far as the fragmentation with core framework is considered, the solution is still missing. In this paper, we are proposing an intermediate background app residing between the application and the core framework. The proposed app TelePatch generates a map between the intended calls with actually supported calls. The map so obtained can be used by the interested application to obtain the services from the core framework. In our case, we have deployed TelePatch with NeSen, used for capturing the network-state parameters using telephony API of the Android.

A software package known as MIT Automated Processing of GPS (MAPGPS) has been developed to automate the processing of GPS data into global total electron density (TEC) maps. The goal of the MAPGPS software is to produce reliable TEC data automatically, although not yet in real time. Observations are used from all available GPS receivers during all geomagnetic conditions where data has been successfully collected. In this paper, the architecture of the MAPGPS software is described. Particular attention is given to the algorithms used to estimate the individual receiver biases. One of the largest sources of error in estimating TEC from GPS data is the determination of these unknown receiver biases. The MAPGPS approach to solving the receiver bias problem uses three different methods: minimum scalloping, least squares, and zero-TEC. These methods are described in detail, along with their relative performance characteristics. A brief comparison of the JPL and MAPGPS receiver biases is presented, and a possible remaining error source in the receiver bias estimation is discussed. Finally, the Madrigal database, which allows Web access to the MAPGPS TEC data and maps, is described.

The current textual and graphical interfaces to computing, including the Web, is a dream come true for the hearing impaired. However, improved technology for voice and audio interface threaten to end this dream. Requirements are identified for continued access to computing for the hearing impaired. Consideration is given also to improving access to the sight impaired.

Many age-associated impairments such as loss of memory and vision make computer use difficult for older adults. This paper is concerned with interface design in a voice Web browser, which compensates for age-associated impairments, particularly loss of memory and vision. It describes a special Voice Help facility talking to older adults through their browser interaction, and reports experiments to establish the mixes of output media (text and speech) that are most effective for information transfer. In particular, the paper demonstrates that older adults' retention of spoken output is different to that of younger people. The paper provides information on absorption rates for different media for older adults, which supports the design of multimodal systems suited to older adults. This is important for the development of systems that enable older adults to absorb information easily.

SDSL (Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) is a future-proof wideband access technology for small business and residential users via twisted pair. The original motive for development of new xDSL technologies was the desire on faster Internet access for classic telephone users via copper line. Especially the development of SDSL with its symmetrical nature presents new possibilities itself. For instance SDSL copes excellently with the growing demand for carrying several voice connections via a single copper line always called VoDSL (Voice over DSL), the new generation of voice services for small enterprises and the small office/home office (SOHO) market. We will summarize the features of SDSL and its implementation and have a short look at the actual standardization items. Different Voice over DSL approaches and the use of SDSL as in-house installation will be discussed.

With the emerging need for ubiquitous access to information, web access from mobile clients is gaining increasing importance. Unfortunately, the underlying protocols of the web are not designed to support operations from a resource poor platform in a low bandwidth, disconnection prone environment. Efforts to create systems to support mobile browsing have typically been proxydbased. However, such solutions have recently been criticized due to their nondscalability. Developments in ad hoc networking also threaten the viability of proxydbased approaches. In this paper, we critically examine the proxydbased approach and its place in mobile access to the web in particular, and networked multimedia information in general. We argue for a hybrid approach that uses both proxydbased and end–end techniques as appropriate, suggest when each is more appropriate, and present a preliminary implementation.

Electronic journals are the basis of a world of purely electronic scientific communication. Just imagine, no more bookshelves and mountains of disorganized paperwork, no more late nights organizing and searching for articles of interest. For most active research-oriented students and scientists this is already a reality, or will be in the near future. Although most 'top ranked' traditional journals now offer web access to recent publications, and to less or more of their archives, not everyone has the luxury of access through their university, or has his/her subscription paid for, or can afford to pay US $30–35 for an electronic reprint. Traditionally, journals generated their revenue from individual subscribers, private and/or state owned institutions, page charges from authors, and charges for color illustrations. Consequently, the traditional science publishing industry limited access to scientific publications to scientists in the developed countries while, in many cases, leaving the rest of the world unattended.