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The collection of perinatal data within Queensland, A ustralia, has traditionally been achieved via a paper form completed by midwives after each birth. Recently, with an increase in the use of e-health systems in healthcare, perinatal data collection has migrated to an online system. It is suggested that this move from paper to an ehealth platform has resulted in improvement to error rates, completion levels, timeliness of data transfer from healthcare institutions to the perinatal data collection and subsequent publication of data items. Worldwide, perinatal data are collected utilising a variety of methods, but essentially data are used for similar purposes: to monitor outcome patterns within obstetrics and midwifery. T his paper discusses current practice in relation to perinatal data collection worldwide and within Australia, with a specific focus on Queensland, highlights relevant issues for midwives, and points to the need for further research into the efficient use of an e-health platform for perinatal data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber-physical systems are a genre of networked real-time systems that monitor and control the physical world. Examples include unmanned aerial vehicles and industrial robotics. The experts who develop these complex systems are retiring much faster than universities are graduating engineering majors. As a result, it is important for undergraduates to gain exposure to these kinds of complex systems. This paper describes upbot, a robotics testbed hosted at the University of Portland, Portland, OR. The testbed features an extensible robot built from an iRobot Create chassis and a computationally powerful embedded system equipped with a wireless card. In the Spring 2012 semester, the testbed was used for a course project designed and assessed in the style of contract learning. Overall, students were enthusiastic about the hands-on and self-paced nature of the course, but some were concerned by the level of freedom. The lessons learned may inform other educators in project design in robotics education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The U.S. Navy has recently approved the Cochran NAVY decompression computer (DC) for use in Naval Special Warfare diving. This action represents the first approval of a diver-worn DC for use in the U.S. Navy. This paper reviews the development and testing of both the decompression algorithm and the hardware chosen for the Navy's DC. The decompression software in the Cochran NAVY is the VVAL 18 algorithm developed at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) by Captain Ed Thalmann. A discussion of the relative conservatism of the VVAL18 algorithm in comparison to the U.S. Navy Standard Air Tables and the basis for the differences between the two is provided. The initial guidelines establishing DC diving practice for the Navy SEAL community are outlined as are plans for future research efforts in U.S. Navy DC diving.

Purpose – This study seeks to develop the concept of technological embeddedness by extending the social embeddedness theory of economic actions to household computer adoption. It also aims to propose a research framework in which technological embeddedness is a key factor that influences household computer adoption. Design/methodology/approach – The US 1989-2003 Computer and Internet Use Supplements to the Current Population Surveys are used to validate the proposed research framework. Findings – The results show that technological embeddedness positively affects household computer adoption. In addition, the impact of technological embeddedness is positively moderated by household income, and this impact is particularly stronger on first-time buyers than on repeat buyers. Practical implications – The results provide important policy and managerial implications for encouraging household computer adoption and bridging the digital divide. Originality/value – The paper proposes a new concept and develops a research framework for analyzing household computer adoption and technology adoption in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'prevention paradox,' a notion that most alcohol-related problems are generated by nonheavy drinkers, has significant relevance to public health policy and prevention efforts. The extent of the paradox has driven debate over the type of balance that should be struck between alcohol policies targeting a select group of high-risk drinkers versus more global approaches that target the population at-large. This paper examines the notion that most alcohol problems among 4 Hispanic national groups in the United States are attributable to moderate drinkers. A general population survey employing a multistage cluster sample design, with face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes was conducted in 5 metropolitan areas of the United States. Study participants included a total of 2,773 current drinkers 18 years and older. Alcohol consumed in the past year (bottom 90% vs. top 10%), binge drinking (binge vs. no binge), and a 4-way grouping defined by volume and binge criteria were used. Alcohol-related harms included 14 social and dependence problems. Drinkers at the bottom 90% of the distribution are responsible for 56 to 73% of all social problems, and for 55 to 73% of all dependence-related problems reported, depending on Hispanic national group. Binge drinkers are responsible for the majority of the social problems (53 to 75%) and dependence-related problems (59 to 73%), also depending on Hispanic national group. Binge drinkers at the bottom 90% of the distribution are responsible for a larger proportion of all social and dependence-related problems reported than those at the top 10% of the volume distribution. Cuban Americans are an exception. The prevention paradox holds when using volume-based risk groupings and disappears when using a binge-drinking risk grouping. Binge drinkers who drink moderately on an average account for more harms than those who drink heavily across all groups, with exception of Cuban Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality assurance techniques used in software development and hardware maintenance/reliability help ensure that data in a computerized information management system are maintained well. However, information workers may not know the quality of data resident in their information systems. Knowledge of the quality of information and data in an enterprise provides managers with important facts for managing and improving the processes that impact information quality. This paper presents quality assessment methodology to assist information workers in planning and implementing an effective assessment of their information data and quality. The areas covered include: identifying appropriate information quality indicators; developing assessment procedures; conducting information quality assessments; reporting information assessment results; tracking improvements in information quality.

In this paper, a fast chaos-based pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) is proposed for secured communications. In order to achieve fast throughput and facilitate hardware realization, 32-bit fixed point representation and arithmetic are used. Even under such configuration with quantization errors which will make the normal chaos-based PRNG impractical, our scheme can pass all the statistical tests in the up-to-date National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test suite with the output bit rate up to 134 Mbps in a 2.6 GHz Pentium-4 machine. With such a fast PRNG, a stream cipher is hence designed for the application of online secure voice communication system with User Datagram Protocol (UDP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with a reassessment of the money–income relation and predictability of changes in GDP with innovations in money in the presence of barter. Organized barter as a method of transaction, through barter exchanges, has been growing rapidly in the US economy. With the introduction of computers and the use of a credit system which allows non-simultaneous transactions, barter exchanges have found new opportunities to offer an alternative to monetary transactions. Analysis of data from the 1974–96 period provides some evidence suggesting that inclusion of barter in the output function improves the marginal predictability of money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author says that researcher Rob Kling joined the Department of Information and Computer Science at the University of California in Irvine, California (UCI), in 1973. Kling was at UCI for 23 years of his life. The author and Kling first met, and collaborated most intensively during those years, in the urban information systems project at the very beginning of his tenure at UCI. The project had its roots in a consulting experience with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a $30 million program aimed at helping cities to computerize. The idea was to use a systems approach and a multidisciplinary team comprised of aerospace/systems companies, research institutes, and city governments to develop prototype systems that could be transferred to other cities. To maintain goodwill with the losing cities, a group of researchers including the author were sent to all cities that competed for the awards to explain the selection process to city officials and to let them know that, in time, there would be a technology transfer program from which they could benefit. During these visits, they discovered that some of the losing cities were doing better with their computerization efforts than the chosen cities.

Survey data are used to examine the use of, and views about, information technology (IT) among U.S. national unions. Usable responses were received from nearly two-thirds of such unions. In addition to descriptive information regarding IT use in national unions, this paper tentatively explores both the causes and consequences of IT use. While IT use of some sort is found to be nearly universal, there is considerable variation across unions in the use of many forms of IT (e.g., e-mail, websites, video conferences) and in the areas to which IT is applied (e.g., bargaining, organizing, communicating with current members). However, a vast majority of survey respondents feel that IT has improved service and overall efficiency at their unions, and that continued IT emphasis is critical to union success. Results show preliminary support for most hypotheses concerning possible causes and consequences of IT use by unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genetic algorithm (GA) is a computational procedure that 'evolves' solutions to optimization problems by generating populations of possible solutions, and then by treating these solutions metaphorically as individuals that can 'mate' and 'compete' to 'survive' and 'reproduce'. In this paper, I explore how culturally specific notions of evolution, population, reproduction, sex/gender, and kinship inflect the ways GAs are assembled and understood. Combining the results of fieldwork among GA workers with analysis of GA texts, I contend that the picture of 'nature' embedded in GAs is resonant with the values of secularized Judeo-Christian white middle-class US-American and European heterosexual culture. I also maintain that GA formulations are accented by languages inherited from sociobiology. I argue that examining GAs can help us track how dominant meanings of 'nature' are being stabilized and refigured in an age in which exchanges of metaphor between biology and computer science are increasingly common.

Within the framework of the scientific community, we could define virtual reality (VR) as an effective simulation of complex environmental aspects related to both interaction-dependent and high-risk operations, where mistakes will lead to unacceptable consequences. Surgeons performing open surgery, endoscopists working on the intestine or neurologists working on the brain-all are impressive examples where the VR approach looks potentially quite interesting. In fact the risk of unsatisfactory implementations, too poor with respect to the complexity of the real world, coming from the unsatisfactory performance of the present-day technology, is quite high. Typically, the loss of the real time requirement for the operator interactions can remove much of the effectiveness of what has been built. Some questions about the real need for high performance computational resources and high level graphic resolution need to be answered. This paper presents and discusses an inventory of computational resources used in real applications.

The ability to use technology has become a survival skill in our society. This paper discusses technology trends related to the demands of the Information Age, the increasing availability of information and assistive technologies, and the impact of recent civil rights legislation mandating that persons with disabilities be given equal access to technologies that can enhance functional performance. Occupational therapists must become competent in the application and integration of these technologies into reasonable accommodation interventions if we are to meet the changing needs of persons with disabilities. To address this need for technology training, a multitiered set of technology competencies specifically designed for occupational therapy practitioners was authored by the American Occupational Therapy Association Technology Special Interest Section and reviewed by occupational therapists with technology expertise. The process of developing these competencies and recommendations for implementing them within occupational therapy educational programs are discussed.

Before a company can introduce a new pharmaceutical in the United States, it must receive approval of a New Drug Application (NDA) from the Food and Drug Administration. As a document that may consist of over 100,000 pages, the NDA presents the company's evidence that the new pharmaceutical is safe and effective for treating a particular medical condition. This paper describes four major issues in the NDA process: the role of computers in the FDA review, standards for compound documents and data, substitution of computer-assisted new drug applications (CANDAs) and electronic versions of other documents for paper versions, and management of the heterogeneous collection of material on which an NDA is based.

Understanding users' individual differences may provide clues to help identify computer users who are prone to act insecurely. We examine factors that impact home users' reported computer security behaviour. We conducted two online surveys with a total of 650 participants to investigate the relationship between self-reported security behaviour and users' knowledge, motivation, confidence, risk propensity and sex-typed characteristics. We found that all of these factors impacted security behaviour, with knowledge as the most important predictor. We further show that a user's affinity to feminine or masculine characteristics is a better determinant of security behaviour than using binary male/female descriptors. Our study enabled us to confirm earlier results in the literature in a non-organisational setting, and to extend the literature by studying additional factors and by comparing the relative importance of each factor as a predictor of security behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Political Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Individuals with developmental disabilities may fail to attend to multiple features in compound stimuli (e.g., arrays of pictures, letters within words) with detrimental effects on learning. Participants were 5 children with autism spectrum disorder who had low to intermediate accuracy scores (35% to 84%) on a computer-presented compound matching task. Sample stimuli were pairs of icons (e.g., chair-tree), the correct comparison was identical to the sample, and each incorrect comparison had one icon in common with the sample (e.g., chair-sun, airplane-tree). A 5-step tabletop sorting-to-matching training procedure was used to teach compound matching. The first step was sorting 3 single pictures; subsequent steps gradually changed the task to compound matching. If progress stalled, tasks were modified temporarily to prompt observing behavior. After tabletop training, participants were retested on the compound matching task; accuracy improved to at least 95% for all children. This procedure illustrates one way to improve attending to multiple features of compound stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summarizes the paper `Computers and Output Growth Revisited: How Big Is the Puzzle?' by Stephen D. Oliner and Daniel E. Sichel, published in the `Brookings Papers on Economic Activity' in 1994. Lack of evidence of a computer-related surge in aggregate productivity; Possibility that computers may boost productivity in the future as what happened with the electric motor in the 19th century.

Objectives. We evaluated the use of New York City's (NYC's) electronic death registration system (EDRS) to conduct mortality surveillance during and after Hurricane Sandy. Methods. We used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for surveillance system evaluation to gather evidence on usefulness, flexibility, stability, timeliness, and quality. We assessed system components, interviewed NYC Health Department staff, and analyzed 2010 to 2012 death records. Results. Despite widespread disruptions, NYC's EDRS was stable and collected timely mortality data that were adapted to provide storm surveillance with minimal additional resources. Direct-injury fatalities and trends in excess all-cause mortality were rapidly identified, providing useful information for response; however, the time and burden of establishing reports, adapting the system, and identifying indirect deaths limited surveillance. Conclusions. The NYC Health Department successfully adapted its EDRS for near real-time disaster-related mortality surveillance. Retrospective assessment of deaths, advanced methods for case identification and analysis, standardized reports, and system enhancements will further improve surveillance. Local, state, and federal partners would benefit from partnering with vital records to develop EDRSs for surveillance and to promote ongoing evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the information field (I Field) becomes more recognized by different constituencies for education and research, the need to better understand its intellectual characteristics becomes more compelling. Although there are various conceptualizations of the I Field, to date, in-depth studies based on empirical evidence are scarce. This article reports a study that fills this gap. We focus on the first five I Schools in the I Caucus as a proxy to represent the I Field. The intellectual characteristics are depicted by two independent sets of data on tenure track faculty as knowledge contributors: their intellectual heritages and the intellectual substance in their journal publications. We use a critical analysis method to examine doctoral training areas and 3 years of journal publications. Our results indicate that (a) the I Field can be better conceptualized with empirical support by a four-component model that includes People, Information, Technology, and Management, as predicted by the I- Model ( Zhang & Benjamin, 2007); (b) the I Schools' faculty members are diverse, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary as shown by their intellectual heritages, by their research foci, by journals in which they publish, by the contexts within which they conduct research, and by the levels of analysis in research investigations; (c) the five I Schools share similarities while evincing differences in both faculty heritages and intellectual substances; (d) I School tenure track faculty members do not collaborate much with each other within or across schools although there is great potential; and (e) intellectual heritages are not good predictors of scholars' intellectual substance. We conclude by discussing the implications of the findings on I Field identity, I Field development, new I School formation and existing I School evolution, faculty career development, and collaboration within the I Field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a computerized data-base management system (DBMS) for keeping medical records of kidney failure patients. The system allows simple data entry by untrained medical personnel as well as automatic feeding of data from computer generated data files. The system allows easy retrieval which is enhanced by graphic displays and statistical analyses of the data. The DBMS uses a relational model of data representation and is based on an existing system which was developed to run under the UNIX operating system on DEC PDP 11's. Previous attempts by the authors and others to create such a medical record system are described. A description of the hardware and software environment of the medical record system is provided. The system is then described, and examples of data manipulations are given.

Established in 1971 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Center for Toxicological Research is committed to the study of long-term, low-dose effects of potentially toxic substances, including carcinogens. The Scientific Information Systems Division (SISD) facility provides logistic support for complex experiments involving large numbers of test animals. Animal population at the Center, including the breeding colony and animals on experiment, can be as high as 80,000. Each animal must be accounted for, fed and watered under strict control, and continually observed. From birth to final examination, an individual animal might have as many as 3,000 individual elements of information associated with it. This paper introduces a series of reports dealing with an integrated and comprehensive system of experiment planning and implementation (including information gathering, classification, analyses and reporting), employing state-of-the-art data processing techniques. This extensive use of computer technology has permitted the collection, proper classification, and rapid retrieval of virtually error-free data, resulting in cost-sensitive experiment planning.

Military medicine is aggressively meeting the need for enhanced information flow and improved efficiency in the delivery of health care by implementing automated systems. A Department of Defense (DOD) Agency, the Tri-Service Medical Information Systems (TRIMIS) Program office, is centrally procuring automated data processing to support clinical and patient appointment activities within the DOD health care system of 165 hospitals and 287 clinics. The procured systems are then implemented with the assistance of the military departments. Systems are now supporting cardiology, pharmacy, radiology, clinical laboratory, and patient appointment and scheduling. Capabilities of all these systems are detailed in the paper. To date, the TRIMIS efforts have contributed significantly to more efficient information processing, thus ensuring continued quality health care through the DOD.

Are computer systems in nursing cost effective? The question is appropriate for some types of systems, specifically those that are circumscribed and well-defined. But most automated systems that impact nursing practice are large and diffuse, and do not lend themselves to cost effectiveness analysis. The author contends that cost benefit analysis is the more appropriate technique. This paper provides definitions of the terms used, and reviews documented examples of each type of evaluation. Nurses should learn when cost effectiveness analysis is appropriate and when it is not. They should also recognize that the more sophisticated a clinical system is in terms of data manipulation/management capabilities, the more expensive it will be, and the harder it will be to assign a dollar value to the benefits that accrue.

A computerized notation system has been developed to produce a digital medical data base. Use of a separate physical record for every 1-4 patients allows several years of accumulated data to be easily accessible for patient "summaries" or admission "histories and physicals." To facilitate entry of data in the system, the physician is provided with a portable, complete computer system (HP-85, or Epson HX-20), a user-defined two-letter dictionary, and a program that produces all elements of the manual paper charting system. "Overview" and research data bases are developed from the digital medical data base records. In this paper, we report the efficiency of use of this computerized notation system in private outpatient and inpatient practice.

Educators and practitioners in the health professions are faced with two questions as they attempt to adapt to changes brought by new technology. What is the nature of the technology? and What are the implications for education and practice? The present paper directs these questions to pharmacy in a three-part discussion: the implications of the technology; the relevant technology presented as brief, descriptive vignettes; and comments on the apparent problems which are created by technological change. The implications are presented first, as a set of general guidelines, second, the implications for the knowledge and skill components of education and practice, and third, as attitudes required by pharmacists and pharmacy students. The paper concludes with a list of still unanswered questions relative to the future.

The purpose of the present paper was to describe five ways in which computer-generated maps for 3,073 United States political subdivisions (counties) are being used as a part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health surveillance system. Four maps show the approximate spatial location of potential workplace hazards in terms of (i) worksites, (ii) estimates of the proportion of workers at risk for US counties, and (iv) counties within a selected state. A fifth map shows age-standardized county-level mortality for a cause of death associated with an occupational risk. These five types of maps represent first efforts to present and disseminate information in an effective format and to generate occupational health surveillance leads that may warrant further research.

The development of minicomputers and microprocessors allows the paper and pencil records to be replaced by electronic records. Data from medical practice stored in paper form disappear in the jaws of office files and hospital record rooms. Only a fraction are retrieved for retrospective studies. Records kept in electronic form are immediately available and over time give the doctor a data base from which he can construct a computerized textbook describing his own practice in terms of diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. Data from the practice can even be available as a basis for clinical trials of drugs and procedures. The doctor now has a potential data base for biostatistical and epidemiologic studies relating to his practice on an ongoing basis.

This article discusses the potential contribution of computerized school-based record systems to help monitor the 1990 and future health objectives for the nation, to provide a continuing health data base on nearly 50 million Americans, and to improve current school health record-keeping practices. Limitations of paper-based health record systems and the state-of-the-art and future potential of computerized record systems are described. Several key obstacles to computerization of school health records are considered, including technological problems, difficulties in appreciating and evaluating the benefits of computerization, costs, acceptability to individuals and organizational users, standardization problems, and concerns about confidentiality. Implementation steps involving research and surveillance measures for attaining the 1990 objectives that may be facilitated by improved school health records and information systems are specified. As school health education and school health services increasingly become vehicles for achieving national public health objectives, including those set for 1990, it will be desirable to establish data systems that link information collected in individual schools with research and surveillance activities at the state and national level. Moreover, it will be desirable for school's health records and information systems to contain data describing students' health-related knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and physiological risk factors, in addition to the data traditionally maintained in such records.

The recent dramatic advances in microcomputer hardware capability have created a problem for software developers and users. In the past, software programs could be transported to newer machines only with great difficulty and at substantial cost in time and money. This paper describes the use of the p-System operating system environment to achieve universal transportability of microcomputer applications.

"Hospitals are the last of the large service industries to automate. Compare them to banks, for instance, which were first. . . . Imagine walking up to the teller to deposit your paycheck. She takes it, looks around to find that all the places to record your check are busy, takes your name and the amount of the check, and scribbles them down on a scrap of paper (or her hand) and walks away, finished with your transaction. How secure would you feel about the record of your money?"