Accessibility observations of visually impaired users using the South African National Accessibility Portal

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Coetzee, L

2008-05-01

Full Text Available . Improving web site accessibility has proven to be a challenging task with a myriad of standards, accessibility testing tools and few technical guides for implementation. This paper presents the South African National Accessibility Portal (NAP), which is used...

Access Agent Improving The Performance Of Access Control Lists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thelis R. S.

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The main focus of the proposed research is maintaining the security of a network. Extranet is a popular network among most of the organizations where network access is provided to a selected group of outliers. Limiting access to an extranet can be carried out using Access Control Lists ACLs method. However handling the workload of ACLs is an onerous task for the router. The purpose of the proposed research is to improve the performance and to solidify the security of the ACLs used in a small organization. Using a high performance computer as a dedicated device to share and handle the router workload is suggested in order to increase the performance of the router when handling ACLs. Methods of detecting and directing sensitive data is also discussed in this paper. A framework is provided to help increase the efficiency of the ACLs in an organization network using the above mentioned procedures thus helping the organizations ACLs performance to be improved to be more secure and the system to perform faster. Inbuilt methods of Windows platform or Software for open source platforms can be used to make a computer function as a router. Extended ACL features allow the determining of the type of packets flowing through the router. Combining these mechanisms allows the ACLs to be improved and perform in a more efficient manner.

Examination of CRISPR/Cas9 design tools and the effect of target site accessibility on Cas9 activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ciaran M; Davis, Timothy H; Bao, Gang

2018-04-01

What is the topic of this review? In this review, we analyse the performance of recently described tools for CRISPR/Cas9 guide RNA design, in particular, design tools that predict CRISPR/Cas9 activity. What advances does it highlight? Recently, many tools designed to predict CRISPR/Cas9 activity have been reported. However, the majority of these tools lack experimental validation. Our analyses indicate that these tools have poor predictive power. Our preliminary results suggest that target site accessibility should be considered in order to develop better guide RNA design tools with improved predictive power. The recent adaptation of the clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system for targeted genome engineering has led to its widespread application in many fields worldwide. In order to gain a better understanding of the design rules of CRISPR/Cas9 systems, several groups have carried out large library-based screens leading to some insight into sequence preferences among highly active target sites. To facilitate CRISPR/Cas9 design, these studies have spawned a plethora of guide RNA (gRNA) design tools with algorithms based solely on direct or indirect sequence features. Here, we demonstrate that the predictive power of these tools is poor, suggesting that sequence features alone cannot accurately inform the cutting efficiency of a particular CRISPR/Cas9 gRNA design. Furthermore, we demonstrate that DNA target site accessibility influences the activity of CRISPR/Cas9. With further optimization, we hypothesize that it will be possible to increase the predictive power of gRNA design tools by including both sequence and target site accessibility metrics. © 2017 The Authors. Experimental Physiology © 2017 The Physiological Society.

Toward Improved Market Access for ASEAN Agricultural Commodities

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... technical report, November 2009 - May 2013. Études. Towards improved market access for ASEAN agricultural commodities : donor partnerships strategy and plan. Rapports. Towards improved market access for ASEAN agricultural commodities : project inception meeting report, Palm Garden Hotel, Putrajaya, Malaysia, ...

Moving towards tangible decision-making tools for policy makers: Measuring and monitoring energy access provision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhanot, Jaya; Jha, Vivek

2012-01-01

Access to energy services has been recognised as central to achieving economic growth and sustainable development. However, almost 1.3 billion people in the world still lack access to electricity and 2.7 billion lack access to clean cooking facilities. In this backdrop, the issue of energy access is receiving more interest than ever before and this has brought to the fore, the need for a robust decision support tool for policy makers to measure the progress of energy access provision and also to provide direction for future policy making. The paper studies existing definitions of energy access and identifies the key requirements for an appropriate decision-making tool to measure and monitor energy access provision. In this context the paper assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the metrics currently being used to measure energy access in policy, as well as of contemporary monitoring and evaluation frameworks being used in other sectors. Based on these insights, a dashboard of indicators is proposed as an alternate decision support tool for policy makers to measure energy access. The paper concludes with a discussion on what is needed to operationalise this proposed framework. - Highlights: ► No one indicator or metric can successfully capture progress on energy access. ► A service oriented approach is necessary to measure energy access. ► Socio-economic and political contexts influence success of energy access policies.

Improving Health Care Accessibility: Strategies and Recommendations.

Science.gov (United States)

Almorsy, Lamia; Khalifa, Mohamed

2016-01-01

Access time refers to the interval between requesting and actual outpatient appointment. It reflects healthcare accessibility and has a great influence on patient treatment and satisfaction. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia studied the accessibility to outpatient services in order to develop useful strategies and recommendations for improvement. Utilized, unutilized and no-show appointments were analyzed. It is crucial to manage no-shows and short notice appointment cancellations by preparing a waiting list for those patients who can be called in to an appointment on the same day using an open access policy. An overlapping appointment scheduling model can be useful to minimize patient waiting time and doctor idle time in addition to the sensible use of appointment overbooking that can significantly improve productivity.

A Flexible Visualization Tool for Rapid Access to EFIT Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Ruirui; Xiao Bingjia; Luo Zhengping

2014-01-01

This paper introduces the design and implementation of an interactive tool, the EASTViewer, for the visualization of plasma equilibrium reconstruction results for EAST (the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). Aimed at the operating system independently, Python, when combined with the PyGTK toolkit, is used as the programming language. Using modular design, the EASTViewer provides a unified interface with great flexibility. It is easy to access numerous data sources either from local data files or an MDSplus tree, and with the pre-defined configuration files, it can be extended to other tokamaks. The EASTViewer has been used as the major tool to visualize equilibrium data since the second EAST campaign in 2008, and it has been verified that the EASTViewer features a user-friendly interface, and has easy access to numerous data sources and cross-platforms. (fusion engineering)

Quality improvement tools and processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, Catherine Y

2015-04-01

The Model for Improvement and the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle is a popular quality improvement (QI) tool for health care providers to successfully lead QI projects and redesign care processes. This tool has several distinct components that must be addressed in sequence to organize and critically evaluate improvement activities. Unlike other health sciences clinical research, QI projects and research are based on dynamic hypotheses that develop into observable, serial tests of change with continuous collection and feedback of performance data to stakeholders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How to plan workflow changes: a practical quality improvement tool used in an outpatient hospital pharmacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, Christine; Chau, Connie; Giridharan, Neha; Huh, Youchin; Cooley, Janet; Warholak, Terri L

2013-06-01

A quality improvement tool is provided to improve pharmacy workflow with the goal of minimizing errors caused by workflow issues. This study involved workflow evaluation and reorganization, and staff opinions of these proposed changes. The study pharmacy was an outpatient pharmacy in the Tucson area. However, the quality improvement tool may be applied in all pharmacy settings, including but not limited to community, hospital, and independent pharmacies. This tool can help the user to identify potential workflow problem spots, such as high-traffic areas through the creation of current and proposed workflow diagrams. Creating a visual representation can help the user to identify problem spots and to propose changes to optimize workflow. It may also be helpful to assess employees' opinions of these changes. The workflow improvement tool can be used to assess where improvements are needed in a pharmacy's floor plan and workflow. Suggestions for improvements in the study pharmacy included increasing the number of verification points and decreasing high traffic areas in the workflow. The employees of the study pharmacy felt that the proposed changes displayed greater continuity, sufficiency, accessibility, and space within the pharmacy.

Building Accessible Educational Web Sites: The Law, Standards, Guidelines, Tools, and Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ye; Palmer, Bart; Recker, Mimi

2004-01-01

Professional education is increasingly facing accessibility challenges with the emergence of webbased learning. This paper summarizes related U.S. legislation, standards, guidelines, and validation tools to make web-based learning accessible for all potential learners. We also present lessons learned during the implementation of web accessibility…

e-Health Tools for Targeting and Improving Melanoma Screening: A Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tyagi, A.; Miller, K.; Cockburn, M.

2012-01-01

The key to improved prognosis for melanoma is early detection and diagnosis, achieved by skin surveillance and secondary prevention (screening). However, adherence to screening guidelines is low, with population-based estimates of approximately 26% for physician-based skin cancer screening and 20-25% for skin self-examination. The recent proliferation of melanoma detection "e-Health"tools, digital resources that facilitate screening in patients often outside of the clinical setting, may offer new strategies to promote adherence and expand the proportion and range of individuals performing skin self-examination. The purpose of this paper is to catalog and categorize melanoma screening e-Health tools to aid in the determination of their efficacy and potential for adoption. The availability and accessibility of such tools, their costs, target audience, and, where possible, information on their efficacy, will be discussed with potential benefits and limitations considered. While e-Health tools targeting melanoma screening are widely available, little has been done to formally evaluate their efficacy and ability to aid in overcoming screening barriers. Future research needs to formally evaluate the potential role of e-Health tools in melanoma prevention.

Accessing the SEED genome databases via Web services API: tools for programmers.

Science.gov (United States)

Disz, Terry; Akhter, Sajia; Cuevas, Daniel; Olson, Robert; Overbeek, Ross; Vonstein, Veronika; Stevens, Rick; Edwards, Robert A

2010-06-14

The SEED integrates many publicly available genome sequences into a single resource. The database contains accurate and up-to-date annotations based on the subsystems concept that leverages clustering between genomes and other clues to accurately and efficiently annotate microbial genomes. The backend is used as the foundation for many genome annotation tools, such as the Rapid Annotation using Subsystems Technology (RAST) server for whole genome annotation, the metagenomics RAST server for random community genome annotations, and the annotation clearinghouse for exchanging annotations from different resources. In addition to a web user interface, the SEED also provides Web services based API for programmatic access to the data in the SEED, allowing the development of third-party tools and mash-ups. The currently exposed Web services encompass over forty different methods for accessing data related to microbial genome annotations. The Web services provide comprehensive access to the database back end, allowing any programmer access to the most consistent and accurate genome annotations available. The Web services are deployed using a platform independent service-oriented approach that allows the user to choose the most suitable programming platform for their application. Example code demonstrate that Web services can be used to access the SEED using common bioinformatics programming languages such as Perl, Python, and Java. We present a novel approach to access the SEED database. Using Web services, a robust API for access to genomics data is provided, without requiring large volume downloads all at once. The API ensures timely access to the most current datasets available, including the new genomes as soon as they come online.

Data Basin: Expanding Access to Conservation Data, Tools, and People

Science.gov (United States)

Comendant, T.; Strittholt, J.; Frost, P.; Ward, B. C.; Bachelet, D. M.; Osborne-Gowey, J.

2009-12-01

Mapping and spatial analysis are a fundamental part of problem solving in conservation science, yet spatial data are widely scattered, difficult to locate, and often unavailable. Valuable time and resources are wasted locating and gaining access to important biological, cultural, and economic datasets, scientific analysis, and experts. As conservation problems become more serious and the demand to solve them grows more urgent, a new way to connect science and practice is needed. To meet this need, an open-access, web tool called Data Basin (www.databasin.org) has been created by the Conservation Biology Institute in partnership with ESRI and the Wilburforce Foundation. Users of Data Basin can gain quick access to datasets, experts, groups, and tools to help solve real-world problems. Individuals and organizations can perform essential tasks such as exploring and downloading from a vast library of conservation datasets, uploading existing datasets, connecting to other external data sources, create groups, and produce customized maps that can be easily shared. Data Basin encourages sharing and publishing, but also provides privacy and security for sensitive information when needed. Users can publish projects within Data Basin to tell more complete and rich stories of discovery and solutions. Projects are an ideal way to publish collections of datasets, maps and other information on the internet to reach wider audiences. Data Basin also houses individual centers that provide direct access to data, maps, and experts focused on specific geographic areas or conservation topics. Current centers being developed include the Boreal Information Centre, the Data Basin Climate Center, and proposed Aquatic and Forest Conservation Centers.

Improving the effectiveness of ecological site descriptions: General state-and-transition models and the Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool (EDIT)

Science.gov (United States)

Bestelmeyer, Brandon T.; Williamson, Jeb C.; Talbot, Curtis J.; Cates, Greg W.; Duniway, Michael C.; Brown, Joel R.

2016-01-01

State-and-transition models (STMs) are useful tools for management, but they can be difficult to use and have limited content.STMs created for groups of related ecological sites could simplify and improve their utility. The amount of information linked to models can be increased using tables that communicate management interpretations and important within-group variability.We created a new web-based information system (the Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool) to house STMs, associated tabular information, and other ecological site data and descriptors.Fewer, more informative, better organized, and easily accessible STMs should increase the accessibility of science information.

Enabling Web-Based GIS Tools for Internet and Mobile Devices To Improve and Expand NASA Data Accessibility and Analysis Functionality for the Renewable Energy and Agricultural Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, A.; Stackhouse, P. W.; Tisdale, B.; Tisdale, M.; Chandler, W.; Hoell, J. M., Jr.; Kusterer, J.

2014-12-01

The NASA Langley Research Center Science Directorate and Atmospheric Science Data Center have initiated a pilot program to utilize Geographic Information System (GIS) tools that enable, generate and store climatological averages using spatial queries and calculations in a spatial database resulting in greater accessibility of data for government agencies, industry and private sector individuals. The major objectives of this effort include the 1) Processing and reformulation of current data to be consistent with ESRI and openGIS tools, 2) Develop functions to improve capability and analysis that produce "on-the-fly" data products, extending these past the single location to regional and global scales. 3) Update the current web sites to enable both web-based and mobile application displays for optimization on mobile platforms, 4) Interact with user communities in government and industry to test formats and usage of optimization, and 5) develop a series of metrics that allow for monitoring of progressive performance. Significant project results will include the the development of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant web services (WMS, WCS, WFS, WPS) that serve renewable energy and agricultural application products to users using GIS software and tools. Each data product and OGC service will be registered within ECHO, the Common Metadata Repository, the Geospatial Platform, and Data.gov to ensure the data are easily discoverable and provide data users with enhanced access to SSE data, parameters, services, and applications. This effort supports cross agency, cross organization, and interoperability of SSE data products and services by collaborating with DOI, NRCan, NREL, NCAR, and HOMER for requirements vetting and test bed users before making available to the wider public.

Automating testbed documentation and database access using World Wide Web (WWW) tools

Science.gov (United States)

Ames, Charles; Auernheimer, Brent; Lee, Young H.

1994-01-01

A method for providing uniform transparent access to disparate distributed information systems was demonstrated. A prototype testing interface was developed to access documentation and information using publicly available hypermedia tools. The prototype gives testers a uniform, platform-independent user interface to on-line documentation, user manuals, and mission-specific test and operations data. Mosaic was the common user interface, and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) provided hypertext capability.

Improving e-book access via a library-developed full-text search tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Foust, Jill E; Bergen, Phillip; Maxeiner, Gretchen L; Pawlowski, Peter N

2007-01-01

This paper reports on the development of a tool for searching the contents of licensed full-text electronic book (e-book) collections. The Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) provides services to the University of Pittsburgh's medical programs and large academic health system. The HSLS has developed an innovative tool for federated searching of its e-book collections. Built using the XML-based Vivísimo development environment, the tool enables a user to perform a full-text search of over 2,500 titles from the library's seven most highly used e-book collections. From a single "Google-style" query, results are returned as an integrated set of links pointing directly to relevant sections of the full text. Results are also grouped into categories that enable more precise retrieval without reformulation of the search. A heuristic evaluation demonstrated the usability of the tool and a web server log analysis indicated an acceptable level of usage. Based on its success, there are plans to increase the number of online book collections searched. This library's first foray into federated searching has produced an effective tool for searching across large collections of full-text e-books and has provided a good foundation for the development of other library-based federated searching products.

Improving e-book access via a library-developed full-text search tool*

Science.gov (United States)

Foust, Jill E.; Bergen, Phillip; Maxeiner, Gretchen L.; Pawlowski, Peter N.

2007-01-01

Purpose: This paper reports on the development of a tool for searching the contents of licensed full-text electronic book (e-book) collections. Setting: The Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) provides services to the University of Pittsburgh's medical programs and large academic health system. Brief Description: The HSLS has developed an innovative tool for federated searching of its e-book collections. Built using the XML-based Vivísimo development environment, the tool enables a user to perform a full-text search of over 2,500 titles from the library's seven most highly used e-book collections. From a single “Google-style” query, results are returned as an integrated set of links pointing directly to relevant sections of the full text. Results are also grouped into categories that enable more precise retrieval without reformulation of the search. Results/Evaluation: A heuristic evaluation demonstrated the usability of the tool and a web server log analysis indicated an acceptable level of usage. Based on its success, there are plans to increase the number of online book collections searched. Conclusion: This library's first foray into federated searching has produced an effective tool for searching across large collections of full-text e-books and has provided a good foundation for the development of other library-based federated searching products. PMID:17252065

Teledermatology as a means to improve access to inpatient dermatology care.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Priyank; Kovarik, Carrie L; Lipoff, Jules B

2016-07-01

Many hospitals have limited inpatient dermatology consultation access. Most dermatologists are outpatient-based and may find the distance and time to complete inpatient consultations prohibitive. Teledermatology may improve access to inpatient dermatology care by reducing barriers of distance and time. We conducted a prospective two-phase pilot study at two academic hospitals comparing time needed to complete inpatient consultations after resident dermatologists initially evaluated patients, called average handling time (AHT), and time needed to respond to the primary team, called time to response (TTR), with and without teledermatology with surveys to capture changes in dermatologist opinion on teledermatology. Teledermatology was only used in the study phase, and patients were seen in-person in both study phases. Teledermatology alone sufficiently answered consultations in 10 of 25 study consultations. The mean AHT in the study phase (sAHT) was 26.9 min compared to the baseline phase (bAHT) of 43.5 min, a 16.6 min reduction (p = 0.004). The 10 study cases where teledermatology alone was sufficient had mean study TTR (sTTR) of 273.3 min compared to a baseline TTR (bTTR) of 405.7 min, a 132.4 min reduction (p = 0.032). Teledermatology reduces the time required for an attending dermatologist to respond and the time required for a primary team to receive a response for an inpatient dermatology consultation in a subset of cases. These findings suggest teledermatology can be used as a tool to improve access to inpatient dermatology care. © The Author(s) 2015.

Unifying Water Data Sources: How the CUAHSI Water Data Center is Enabling and Improving Access to a Growing Catalog of over 100 Data Providers

Science.gov (United States)

Pollak, J.; Berry, K.; Couch, A.; Arrigo, J.; Hooper, R. P.

2013-12-01

Scientific data about water are collected and distributed by numerous sources which can differ tremendously in scale. As competition for water resources increases, increasing access to and understanding of information about water will be critical. The mission of the new CUAHSI Water Data Center (WDC) is to provide those researchers who collect data a medium to publish their datasets and give those wanting to discover data the proper tools to efficiently find the data that they seek. These tools include standards-based data publication, data discovery tools based upon faceted and telescoping search, and a data analysis tool HydroDesktop that downloads and unifies data in standardized formats. The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) is a community developed and open source system for sharing water data. As a federated, web service oriented system it enables data publication for a diverse user population including scientific investigators (Research Coordination Networks, Critical Zone Observatories), government agencies (USGS, NASA, EPA), and citizen scientists (watershed associations). HydroDesktop is an end user application for data consumption in this system that the WDC supports. This application can be used for finding, downloading, and analyzing data from the HIS. It provides a GIS interface that allows users to incorporate spatial data that are not accessible via HIS, simple analysis tools to facilitate graphing and visualization, tools to export data to common file types, and provides an extensible architecture that developers can build upon. HydroDesktop, however, is just one example of a data access client for HIS. The web service oriented architecture enables data access by an unlimited number of clients provided they can consume the web services used in HIS. One such example developed at the WDC is the 'Faceted Search Client', which capitalizes upon exploratory search concepts to improve accuracy and precision during search. We highlight such

Data access and decision tools for coastal water resources ...

Science.gov (United States)

US EPA has supported the development of numerous models and tools to support implementation of environmental regulations. However, transfer of knowledge and methods from detailed technical models to support practical problem solving by local communities and watershed or coastal management organizations remains a challenge. We have developed the Estuary Data Mapper (EDM) to facilitate data discovery, visualization and access to support environmental problem solving for coastal watersheds and estuaries. EDM is a stand-alone application based on open-source software which requires only internet access for operation. Initially, development of EDM focused on delivery of raw data streams from distributed web services, ranging from atmospheric deposition to hydrologic, tidal, and water quality time series, estuarine habitat characteristics, and remote sensing products. We have transitioned to include access to value-added products which provide end-users with results of future scenario analysis, facilitate extension of models across geographic regions, and/or promote model interoperability. Here we present three examples: 1) the delivery of input data for the development of seagrass models across estuaries, 2) scenarios illustrating the implications of riparian buffer management (loss or restoration) for stream thermal regimes and fish communities, and 3) access to hydrology model outputs to foster connections across models at different scales, ultimately feeding

The Role of Social Media Tools: Accessible Tourism for Disabled Citizens

Science.gov (United States)

Altinay, Zehra; Saner, Tulen; Bahçelerli, Nesrin M.; Altinay, Fahriye

2016-01-01

Knowledge sharing becomes important to accomplish digital citizenship. Social media tools become popular to share and diffuse the knowledge in the digitalization. This social media learning and knowledge sharing platforms provides accessibility to the services within societies especially for disabled citizens. This research study aims to evaluate…

Electronic Health Record Tools to Care for At-Risk Older Drivers: A Quality Improvement Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Colleen M; Salinas, Katherine; Eckstrom, Elizabeth

2015-06-01

Evaluating driving safety of older adults is an important health topic, but primary care providers (PCP) face multiple barriers in addressing this issue. The study's objectives were to develop an electronic health record (EHR)-based Driving Clinical Support Tool, train PCPs to perform driving assessments utilizing the tool, and systematize documentation of assessment and management of driving safety issues via the tool. The intervention included development of an evidence-based Driving Clinical Support Tool within the EHR, followed by training of internal medicine providers in the tool's content and use. Pre- and postintervention provider surveys and chart review of driving-related patient visits were conducted. Surveys included self-report of preparedness and knowledge to evaluate at-risk older drivers and were analyzed using paired t-test. A chart review of driving-related office visits compared documentation pre- and postintervention including: completeness of appropriate focused history and exam, identification of deficits, patient education, and reporting to appropriate authorities when indicated. Data from 86 providers were analyzed. Pre- and postintervention surveys showed significantly increased self-assessed preparedness (p < .001) and increased driving-related knowledge (p < .001). Postintervention charts showed improved documentation of correct cognitive testing, more referrals/consults, increased patient education about community resources, and appropriate regulatory reporting when deficits were identified. Focused training and an EHR-based clinical support tool improved provider self-reported preparedness and knowledge of how to evaluate at-risk older drivers. The tool improved documentation of driving-related issues and led to improved access to interdisciplinary care coordination. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America 2015.

Improving data discoverability, accessibility, and interoperability with the Esri ArcGIS Platform at the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC).

Science.gov (United States)

Tisdale, M.

2017-12-01

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is operationally using the Esri ArcGIS Platform to improve data discoverability, accessibility and interoperability to meet the diversifying user requirements from government, private, public and academic communities. The ASDC is actively working to provide their mission essential datasets as ArcGIS Image Services, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Mapping Services (WMS), and OGC Web Coverage Services (WCS) while leveraging the ArcGIS multidimensional mosaic dataset structure. Science teams at ASDC are utilizing these services through the development of applications using the Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS and the ArcGIS API for Javascript. These services provide greater exposure of ASDC data holdings to the GIS community and allow for broader sharing and distribution to various end users. These capabilities provide interactive visualization tools and improved geospatial analytical tools for a mission critical understanding in the areas of the earth's radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry. The presentation will cover how the ASDC is developing geospatial web services and applications to improve data discoverability, accessibility, and interoperability.

Framing quality improvement tools and techniques in healthcare the case of improvement leaders' guides.

Science.gov (United States)

Millar, Ross

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of how quality improvement tools and techniques are framed within healthcare settings. The paper employs an interpretive approach to understand how quality improvement tools and techniques are mobilised and legitimated. It does so using a case study of the NHS Modernisation Agency Improvement Leaders' Guides in England. Improvement Leaders' Guides were framed within a service improvement approach encouraging the use of quality improvement tools and techniques within healthcare settings. Their use formed part of enacting tools and techniques across different contexts. Whilst this enactment was believed to support the mobilisation of tools and techniques, the experience also illustrated the challenges in distributing such approaches. The paper provides an important contribution in furthering our understanding of framing the "social act" of quality improvement. Given the ongoing emphasis on quality improvement in health systems and the persistent challenges involved, it also provides important information for healthcare leaders globally in seeking to develop, implement or modify similar tools and distribute leadership within health and social care settings.

Improvement of the severe accident practice tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawasaki, Ikuo; Takahashi, Shunsuke

2016-01-01

We developed the severe accident (SA) practice tool based on lessons learned in the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We utilized the developed SA practice tool and carried out the SA training for some employees of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. Afterwards, we examined the opinions given by trainees attending the training lecture and improved the SA practice tool to achieve a better educational effect. The main changes we made were improvement of the practice scenario for EAL judgments and addition of functions to the practice tool such as the EAL explanation document indication. As a result of having carried out the SA education using this practice tool, we determined the tool users could make the right EAL judgment and report the communication vote. Finally, we confirmed that the knowledge necessary for SA correspondence could be given satisfactorily by this practice tool. (author)

Enabling web users and developers to script accessibility with Accessmonkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigham, Jeffrey P; Brudvik, Jeremy T; Leung, Jessica O; Ladner, Richard E

2009-07-01

Efficient web access remains elusive for blind computer users. Previous efforts to improve web accessibility have focused on developer awareness, automated improvement, and legislation, but these approaches have left remaining concerns. First, while many tools can help produce accessible content, most are difficult to integrate into existing developer workflows and rarely offer specific suggestions that developers can implement. Second, tools that automatically improve web content for users generally solve specific problems and are difficult to combine and use on a diversity of existing assistive technology. Finally, although blind web users have proven adept at overcoming the shortcomings of the web and existing tools, they have been only marginally involved in improving the accessibility of their own web experience. In a step toward addressing these concerns, we have developed Accessmonkey, a common scripting framework that web users, web developers and web researchers can use to collaboratively improve accessibility. This framework advances the idea that Javascript and dynamic web content can be used to improve inaccessible content instead of being a cause of it. Using Accessmonkey, web users and developers on different platforms and with potentially different goals can collaboratively make the web more accessible. In this article, we first present the design of the Accessmonkey framework and offer several example scripts that demonstrate the utility of our approach. We conclude by discussing possible future extensions that will provide easy access to scripts as users browse the web and enable non-technical blind users to independently create and share improvements.

Demonstrating High-Accuracy Orbital Access Using Open-Source Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbertson, Christian; Welch, Bryan

2017-01-01

Orbit propagation is fundamental to almost every space-based analysis. Currently, many system analysts use commercial software to predict the future positions of orbiting satellites. This is one of many capabilities that can replicated, with great accuracy, without using expensive, proprietary software. NASAs SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Center for Engineering, Networks, Integration, and Communications (SCENIC) project plans to provide its analysis capabilities using a combination of internal and open-source software, allowing for a much greater measure of customization and flexibility, while reducing recurring software license costs. MATLAB and the open-source Orbit Determination Toolbox created by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) were utilized to develop tools with the capability to propagate orbits, perform line-of-sight (LOS) availability analyses, and visualize the results. The developed programs are modular and can be applied for mission planning and viability analysis in a variety of Solar System applications. The tools can perform 2 and N-body orbit propagation, find inter-satellite and satellite to ground station LOS access (accounting for intermediate oblate spheroid body blocking, geometric restrictions of the antenna field-of-view (FOV), and relativistic corrections), and create animations of planetary movement, satellite orbits, and LOS accesses. The code is the basis for SCENICs broad analysis capabilities including dynamic link analysis, dilution-of-precision navigation analysis, and orbital availability calculations.

Understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in rural Tanzania: the ACCESS Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Hetzel, Manuel W; Iteba, Nelly; Makemba, Ahmed; Mshana, Christopher; Lengeler, Christian; Obrist, Brigit; Schulze, Alexander; Nathan, Rose; Dillip, Angel; Alba, Sandra; Mayumana, Iddy; Khatib, Rashid A; Njau, Joseph D; Mshinda, Hassan

2007-06-29

Prompt access to effective treatment is central in the fight against malaria. However, a variety of interlinked factors at household and health system level influence access to timely and appropriate treatment and care. Furthermore, access may be influenced by global and national health policies. As a consequence, many malaria episodes in highly endemic countries are not treated appropriately. The ACCESS Programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in a rural Tanzanian setting. The programme's strategy is based on a set of integrated interventions, including social marketing for improved care seeking at community level as well as strengthening of quality of care at health facilities. This is complemented by a project that aims to improve the performance of drug stores. The interventions are accompanied by a comprehensive set of monitoring and evaluation activities measuring the programme's performance and (health) impact. Baseline data demonstrated heterogeneity in the availability of malaria treatment, unavailability of medicines and treatment providers in certain areas as well as quality problems with regard to drugs and services. The ACCESS Programme is a combination of multiple complementary interventions with a strong evaluation component. With this approach, ACCESS aims to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive access framework and to inform and support public health professionals and policy-makers in the delivery of improved health services.

Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)

Science.gov (United States)

... for Success Am I Rural? Evidence-based Toolkits Economic Impact Analysis Tool Community Health Gateway Sustainability Planning ... hospitals and improve access to healthcare by keeping essential services in rural communities. To accomplish this goal, ...

RESEARCH Improving access and quality of care in a TB control ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

or treatment. Improving access and quality of care in a. TB control programme. Vera Scott, Virginia Azevedo, Judy Caldwell. Objectives. To use a quality improvement approach to improve access to and quality of tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and care in. Cape Town. Methods. Five HIV/AIDS/sexually transmitted infections/TB.

Understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in rural Tanzania: the ACCESS Programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alba Sandra

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prompt access to effective treatment is central in the fight against malaria. However, a variety of interlinked factors at household and health system level influence access to timely and appropriate treatment and care. Furthermore, access may be influenced by global and national health policies. As a consequence, many malaria episodes in highly endemic countries are not treated appropriately. Project The ACCESS Programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in a rural Tanzanian setting. The programme's strategy is based on a set of integrated interventions, including social marketing for improved care seeking at community level as well as strengthening of quality of care at health facilities. This is complemented by a project that aims to improve the performance of drug stores. The interventions are accompanied by a comprehensive set of monitoring and evaluation activities measuring the programme's performance and (health impact. Baseline data demonstrated heterogeneity in the availability of malaria treatment, unavailability of medicines and treatment providers in certain areas as well as quality problems with regard to drugs and services. Conclusion The ACCESS Programme is a combination of multiple complementary interventions with a strong evaluation component. With this approach, ACCESS aims to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive access framework and to inform and support public health professionals and policy-makers in the delivery of improved health services.

A service concept and tools to improve maternal and newborn health in Nigeria and Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Salgado, Mariana; Wendland, Melanie; Rodriguez, Damaris; Bohren, Meghan A; Oladapo, Olufemi T; Ojelade, Olubunmi A; Mugerwa, Kidza; Fawole, Bukola

2017-12-01

The "Better Outcomes in Labor Difficulty" (BOLD) project used a service design process to design a set of tools to improve quality of care during childbirth by strengthening linkages between communities and health facilities in Nigeria and Uganda. This paper describes the Passport to Safer Birth concept and the tools developed as a result. Service design methods were used to identify facilitators and barriers to quality care, and to develop human-centered solutions. The service design process had three phases: Research for Design, Concept Design, and Detail Design, undertaken in eight hospitals and catchment communities. The service concept "Better Beginnings" comprises three tools. The "Pregnancy Purse" provides educational information to women throughout pregnancy. The "Birth Board" is a visual communication tool that presents the labor and childbirth process. The "Family Pass" is a set of wearable passes for the woman and her supporter to facilitate communication of care preferences. The Better Beginnings service concept and tools form the basis for the promotion of access to information and knowledge acquisition, and could improve communication between the healthcare provider, the woman, and her family during childbirth. © 2017 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The World Health Organization retains copyright and all other rights in the manuscript of this article as submitted for publication.

A Conceptual Framework of Mapping Access to Health Care across EU Countries: The Patient Access Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Souliotis, Kyriakos; Hasardzhiev, Stanimir; Agapidaki, Eirini

Research evidence suggests that access to health care is the key influential factor for improved population health outcomes and health care system sustainability. Although the importance of addressing barriers in access to health care across European countries is well documented, little has been done to improve the situation. This is due to different definitions, approaches and policies, and partly due to persisting disparities in access within and between European countries. To bridge this gap, the Patient Access Partnership (PACT) developed (a) the '5As' definition of access, which details the five critical elements (adequacy, accessibility, affordability, appropriateness, and availability) of access to health care, (b) a multi-stakeholders' approach for mapping access, and (c) a 13-item questionnaire based on the 5As definition in an effort to address these obstacles and to identify best practices. These tools are expected to contribute effectively to addressing access barriers in practice, by suggesting a common framework and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise, in order to improve access to health care between and within European countries. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Using Operational Analysis to Improve Access to Pulmonary Function Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ada Ip

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Timely pulmonary function testing is crucial to improving diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary diseases. Perceptions of poor access at an academic pulmonary function laboratory prompted analysis of system demand and capacity to identify factors contributing to poor access. Methods. Surveys and interviews identified stakeholder perspectives on operational processes and access challenges. Retrospective data on testing demand and resource capacity was analyzed to understand utilization of testing resources. Results. Qualitative analysis demonstrated that stakeholder groups had discrepant views on access and capacity in the laboratory. Mean daily resource utilization was 0.64 (SD 0.15, with monthly average utilization consistently less than 0.75. Reserved testing slots for subspecialty clinics were poorly utilized, leaving many testing slots unfilled. When subspecialty demand exceeded number of reserved slots, there was sufficient capacity in the pulmonary function schedule to accommodate added demand. Findings were shared with stakeholders and influenced scheduling process improvements. Conclusion. This study highlights the importance of operational data to identify causes of poor access, guide system decision-making, and determine effects of improvement initiatives in a variety of healthcare settings. Importantly, simple operational analysis can help to improve efficiency of health systems with little or no added financial investment.

Improving Seismic Data Accessibility and Performance Using HDF Containers

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, B. J. K.; Wang, J.; Yang, R.

2017-12-01

The performance of computational geophysical data processing and forward modelling relies on both computational and data. Significant efforts on developing new data formats and libraries have been made the community, such as IRIS/PASSCAL and ASDF in data, and programs and utilities such as ObsPy and SPECFEM. The National Computational Infrastructure hosts a national significant geophysical data collection that is co-located with a high performance computing facility and provides an opportunity to investigate how to improve the data formats from both a data management and a performance point of view. This paper investigates how to enhance the data usability in several perspectives: 1) propose a convention for the seismic (both active and passive) community to improve the data accessibility and interoperability; 2) recommend the convention used in the HDF container when data is made available in PH5 or ASDF formats; 3) provide tools to convert between various seismic data formats; 4) provide performance benchmark cases using ObsPy library and SPECFEM3D to demonstrate how different data organization in terms of chunking size and compression impact on the performance by comparing new data formats, such as PH5 and ASDF to traditional formats such as SEGY, SEED, SAC, etc. In this work we apply our knowledge and experience on data standards and conventions, such as CF and ACDD from the climate community to the seismology community. The generic global attributes widely used in climate community are combined with the existing convention in the seismology community, such as CMT and QuakeML, StationXML, SEGY header convention. We also extend such convention by including the provenance and benchmarking records so that the r user can learn the footprint of the data together with its baseline performance. In practise we convert the example wide angle reflection seismic data from SEGY to PH5 or ASDF by using ObsPy and pyasdf libraries. It quantitatively demonstrates how the

Tools for Inspecting and Sampling Waste in Underground Radioactive Storage Tanks with Small Access Riser Openings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nance, T.A.

1998-01-01

Underground storage tanks with 2 inches to 3 inches diameter access ports at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site have been used to store radioactive solvents and sludge. In order to close these tanks, the contents of the tanks need to first be quantified in terms of volume and chemical and radioactive characteristics. To provide information on the volume of waste contained within the tanks, a small remote inspection system was needed. This inspection system was designed to provide lighting and provide pan and tilt capabilities in an inexpensive package with zoom abilities and color video. This system also needed to be utilized inside of a plastic tent built over the access port to contain any contamination exiting from the port. This system had to be build to travel into the small port opening, through the riser pipe, into the tank evacuated space, and out of the riser pipe and access port with no possibility of being caught and blocking the access riser. Long thin plates were found in many access riser pipes that blocked the inspection system from penetrating into the tank interiors. Retrieval tools to clear the plates from the tanks using developed sampling devices while providing safe containment for the samples. This paper will discuss the inspection systems, tools for clearing access pipes, and solvent sampling tools developed to evaluate the tank contents of the underground solvent storage tanks

Improving irrigation efficiency : the need for a relevant sequence of the management tools

Science.gov (United States)

Fayolle, Y.

2009-04-01

With 70 % of worldwide withdrawals, irrigation efficiency is a key issue in the overall problem of water resources. Management of water dedicated to agriculture should be improved to secure food production and save water to deal with increasing domestic and industrial demands. This paper is based on the results of a collaborative research project conducted in India with a local NGO (the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, AKRSP(I)) during which GIS were tested. It is aimed at analyzing the efficiency of water usage in a water development programme conducted by the partner NGO in the semi-arid margins of Gujarat state. The analysis raises the question of the articulation of legal, institutional, economical, and technical tools to improve water efficiency. The NGO supervises the construction of surface water harvesting structures for irrigation purposes. Following a participatory approach, it creates and trains user groups to which the management of dams would then be devolved. User group membership depends on financial contribution to the building costs. A legal vacuum regarding surface water management combined with unequal investment capacities favor the concentration of water resources in the hands of a limited number of farmers. This causes low water use efficiency, irrigation choices being mostly oriented to high water consumptive crops and recipient farmers showing no interest in investing in water saving techniques. Our observations favor equality of access and paying more attention to the sequence in which management tools are articulated. On a national scale, as a prerequisite, water user rights as well as NGO's intervention legal framework should be clarified. On a project scale, before construction, information systems could help to identify all potential beneficiaries and optimize equality of access. It aims at reducing the volume of water per farmer to encourage them to irrigate low water consumptive crops and invest in water saving techniques. Depending

Open access to high-level data and analysis tools in the CMS experiment at the LHC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calderon, A; Rodriguez-Marrero, A; Colling, D; Huffman, A; Lassila-Perini, K; McCauley, T; Rao, A; Sexton-Kennedy, E

2015-01-01

The CMS experiment, in recognition of its commitment to data preservation and open access as well as to education and outreach, has made its first public release of high-level data under the CC0 waiver: up to half of the proton-proton collision data (by volume) at 7 TeV from 2010 in CMS Analysis Object Data format. CMS has prepared, in collaboration with CERN and the other LHC experiments, an open-data web portal based on Invenio. The portal provides access to CMS public data as well as to analysis tools and documentation for the public. The tools include an event display and histogram application that run in the browser. In addition a virtual machine containing a CMS software environment along with XRootD access to the data is available. Within the virtual machine the public can analyse CMS data; example code is provided. We describe the accompanying tools and documentation and discuss the first experiences of data use. (paper)

Planetary data in education: tool development for access to the Planetary Data System

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, C. H.; Andres, P. M.; Liggett, P. K.; Lowes, L. L.; Sword, B. J.

2003-01-01

In this session we will describe and demonstrate the interface to the PDS access tools and functions developed for the scientific community, and discuss the potential for its utilization in K-14 formal and informal settings.

ValeAS: an ICT tool to assess accessibility and safety of the built environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi Biocca

2014-05-01

Full Text Available ValeAS (Assessment of Accessibility and Safety is a software developed by the Construction Technologies Institute, Rome Unit, of the National Research Council (ITC-CNR, with the aim of giving an ICT tool for assessing the accessibility level of egress ways in the build environment for people with disabilities. The software takes into account the action sequence a person normally performs when involved in an emergency situation, from when he/she perceives the alarm until he/she reaches a safe place or meeting point, thus resulting into the dynamical insertion of the design elements along the path. Once completed the path elements composition, the program generates a result with the assessment of each parameter. The main purpose of ValeAS is to introduce a tool responding to the requirements of accessibility of the built environment, in order to allow relevant professionals and stakeholders to plan new design or adjustment interventions.

HIV/AIDS programmes should focus on improved access.

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Manning, A

2000-10-14

This paper discusses the need for HIV/AIDS programs in sub-Saharan countries to focus more on improved access to information to empower poor people living in remote areas. It is noted that despite Glaxo Wellcome's move to reduce the cost of antiretroviral therapy, it is unlikely to have an impact on most of those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, since concerns regarding lack of sustainability, bureaucratic administration, and communication difficulties predominate in the country. In this regard, it is therefore recommended that national HIV/AIDS programs be balanced with the needs of both the community and the individual and in prevention and care. Health workers should be explicit in confronting traditional beliefs, such as those about gender roles and traditional medicine, in prevention campaigns. Moreover, there is also an urgent need to improve access to condoms; strengthen health programs such as directly observed treatment short-term (DOTS) courses for tuberculosis and the syndromic approach to sexually transmitted disease treatment; and improve practical support to communities caring for those who are sick and the orphans. Lastly, all partners working with prevention programs should use the more positive community attitudes towards HIV/AIDS issues seen in many sub-Saharan countries to develop evidence-based programs that focus more on improved access and less on sustainability.

Improving access to screening for people with learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Marriott, Anna; Turner, Sue; Giraud-Saunders, Alison

2014-11-04

People with learning disabilities have poorer health than their non-disabled peers, and are less likely to access screening services than the general population. The National Development Team for Inclusion and the Norah Fry Research Centre developed a toolkit and guidance to improve uptake of five national (English) screening programmes (one of which is delivered through local programmes), based on work to improve access by people with learning disabilities in the south west peninsula of the UK. This article describes the findings in relation to the five English screening programmes and suggests ways to improve uptake of cancer screening by people with learning disabilities.

Using complaints to enhance quality improvement: developing an analytical tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Sophie Yahui

2012-01-01

This study aims to construct an instrument for identifying certain attributes or capabilities that might enable healthcare staff to use complaints to improve service quality. PubMed and ProQuest were searched, which in turn expanded access to other literature. Three paramount dimensions emerged for healthcare quality management systems: managerial, operational, and technical (MOT). The paper reveals that the managerial dimension relates to quality improvement program infrastructure. It contains strategy, structure, leadership, people and culture. The operational dimension relates to implementation processes: organizational changes and barriers when using complaints to enhance quality. The technical dimension emphasizes the skills, techniques or information systems required to achieve successfully continuous quality improvement. The MOT model was developed by drawing from the relevant literature. However, individuals have different training, interests and experiences and, therefore, there will be variance between researchers when generating the MOT model. The MOT components can be the guidelines for examining whether patient complaints are used to improve service quality. However, the model needs testing and validating by conducting further research before becoming a theory. Empirical studies on patient complaints did not identify any analytical tool that could be used to explore how complaints can drive quality improvement. This study developed an instrument for identifying certain attributes or capabilities that might enable healthcare professionals to use complaints and improve service quality.

Improving outpatient access and patient experiences in academic ambulatory care.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neill, Sarah; Calderon, Sherry; Casella, Joanne; Wood, Elizabeth; Carvelli-Sheehan, Jayne; Zeidel, Mark L

2012-02-01

Effective scheduling of and ready access to doctor appointments affect ambulatory patient care quality, but these are often sacrificed by patients seeking care from physicians at academic medical centers. At one center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the authors developed interventions to improve the scheduling of appointments and to reduce the access time between telephone call and first offered appointment. Improvements to scheduling included no redirection to voicemail, prompt telephone pickup, courteous service, complete registration, and effective scheduling. Reduced access time meant being offered an appointment with a physician in the appropriate specialty within three working days of the telephone call. Scheduling and access were assessed using monthly "mystery shopper" calls. Mystery shoppers collected data using standardized forms, rated the quality of service, and transcribed their interactions with schedulers. Monthly results were tabulated and discussed with clinical leaders; leaders and frontline staff then developed solutions to detected problems. Eighteen months after the beginning of the intervention (in June 2007), which is ongoing, schedulers had gone from using 60% of their registration skills to over 90%, customer service scores had risen from 2.6 to 4.9 (on a 5-point scale), and average access time had fallen from 12 days to 6 days. The program costs $50,000 per year and has been associated with a 35% increase in ambulatory volume across three years. The authors conclude that academic medical centers can markedly improve the scheduling process and access to care and that these improvements may result in increased ambulatory care volume.

Improving access to transport in developing countries

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Savill, T

2003-06-01

Full Text Available Improving access and mobility of people with disabilities is an essential component of the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. Disabled people are among the most socially excluded members of society and poorly designed and inaccessible...

Do Access to Improved Water Source and Sanitation Facility Accelerate Economic Growth in Bangladesh?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandip SARKER

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship among access to improved water, sanitation and economic growth in Bangladesh through co-integration and vector error correction model (VECM over the period 1991 to 2014. Bangladesh has registered remarkable progress in achieving major Millennium Development Goals (MDG. Today nearly 87% of our total population has access to improved water sources and 60% have access to improved sanitation facilities which is contributing significantly towards human development in Bangladesh. Therefore we want to test whether access to improved water and sanitation accelerates economic growth in Bangladesh through a time series analysis. The Johansen co-integration tests indicate that there is long run association among the variables. The vector error correction model indicates that there is a long run causality running from improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access and improved water source (% of population with access to gross domestic product in Bangladesh. Similarly in the short run a causal relationship has been found among the variables as well. Further impulse response function and variance decomposition results say that improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access and improved water source (% of population with access can explain the major variations in our economic growth. The implication of our findings is that in Bangladesh an increase in improved access to water and sanitation is likely to positively affect our economic growth in the long run. Keeping in mind about Sustainable Development Goals (SDG, policymakers in Bangladesh need to pay special attention to ensure greater access to improved water and sanitation to boost our economic growth & development.

Measuring access to primary health care: use of a GIS-based accessibility analysis

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mokgalaka, H

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Spatial analytical tools and analyses are key enabling instruments which can be used to efficiently plan for public-spaces such as healthcare facilities in a metropolitan context. Improving the levels of access to public-spaces through various...

Authoring Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Treviranus, Jutta

Authoring tools that are accessible and that enable authors to produce accessible Web content play a critical role in web accessibility. Widespread use of authoring tools that comply to the W3C Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) would ensure that even authors who are neither knowledgeable about nor particularly motivated to produce accessible content do so by default. The principles and techniques of ATAG are discussed. Some examples of accessible authoring tools are described including authoring tool content management components such as TinyMCE. Considerations for creating an accessible collaborative environment are also covered. As part of providing accessible content, the debate between system-based personal optimization and one universally accessible site configuration is presented. The issues and potential solutions to address the accessibility crisis presented by the advent of rich internet applications are outlined. This challenge must be met to ensure that a large segment of the population is able to participate in the move toward the web as a two-way communication mechanism.

Access Denied: School Librarians' Responses to School District Policies on the Use of Social Media Tools

Science.gov (United States)

DiScala, Jeffrey; Weeks, Ann Carlson

2013-01-01

Public school districts often block access to online social media tools. While considered a preventive measure to ensure student safety and limit district liability, this policy strips school librarians and their collaborating teachers of opportunities to instruct students in using social media tools creatively and responsibly. Using one school…

Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health

Science.gov (United States)

Trtanji, J.

2012-12-01

The need for health information resources to support climate change adaptation and mitigation decisions is growing, both in the United States and around the world, as the manifestations of climate change become more evident and widespread. In many instances, these information resources are not specific to a changing climate, but have either been developed or are highly relevant for addressing health issues related to existing climate variability and weather extremes. To help address the need for more integrated data, the Interagency Cross-Cutting Group on Climate Change and Human Health, a working group of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, has developed the Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH). MATCH is a gateway to relevant information that can be used to solve problems at the nexus of climate science and public health by facilitating research, enabling scientific collaborations in a One Health approach, and promoting data stewardship that will enhance the quality and application of climate and health research. MATCH is a searchable clearinghouse of publicly available Federal metadata including monitoring and surveillance data sets, early warning systems, and tools for characterizing the health impacts of global climate change. Examples of relevant databases include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Public Health Tracking System and NOAA's National Climate Data Center's national and state temperature and precipitation data. This presentation will introduce the audience to this new web-based geoportal and demonstrate its features and potential applications.

AR4VI: AR as an Accessibility Tool for People with Visual Impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlan, James M; Miele, Joshua

2017-10-01

Although AR technology has been largely dominated by visual media, a number of AR tools using both visual and auditory feedback have been developed specifically to assist people with low vision or blindness - an application domain that we term Augmented Reality for Visual Impairment (AR4VI). We describe two AR4VI tools developed at Smith-Kettlewell, as well as a number of pre-existing examples. We emphasize that AR4VI is a powerful tool with the potential to remove or significantly reduce a range of accessibility barriers. Rather than being restricted to use by people with visual impairments, AR4VI is a compelling universal design approach offering benefits for mainstream applications as well.

Novel combined patient instruction and discharge summary tool improves timeliness of documentation and outpatient provider satisfaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meredith Gilliam

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Incomplete or delayed access to discharge information by outpatient providers and patients contributes to discontinuity of care and poor outcomes. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a new electronic discharge summary tool on the timeliness of documentation and communication with outpatient providers. Methods: In June 2012, we implemented an electronic discharge summary tool at our 145-bed university-affiliated Veterans Affairs hospital. The tool facilitates completion of a comprehensive discharge summary note that is available for patients and outpatient medical providers at the time of hospital discharge. Discharge summary note availability, outpatient provider satisfaction, and time between the decision to discharge a patient and discharge note completion were all evaluated before and after implementation of the tool. Results: The percentage of discharge summary notes completed by the time of first post-discharge clinical contact improved from 43% in February 2012 to 100% in September 2012 and was maintained at 100% in 2014. A survey of 22 outpatient providers showed that 90% preferred the new summary and 86% found it comprehensive. Despite increasing required documentation, the time required to discharge a patient, from physician decision to discharge note completion, improved from 5.6 h in 2010 to 4.1 h in 2012 (p = 0.04, and to 2.8 h in 2015 (p < 0.001. Conclusion: The implementation of a novel discharge summary tool improved the timeliness and comprehensiveness of discharge information as needed for the delivery of appropriate, high-quality follow-up care, without adversely affecting the efficiency of the discharge process.

Medication abortion: Potential for improved patient access through pharmacies.

Science.gov (United States)

Raifman, Sarah; Orlando, Megan; Rafie, Sally; Grossman, Daniel

2018-05-08

To discuss the potential for improving access to early abortion care through pharmacies in the United States. Despite the growing use of medications to induce termination of early pregnancy, pharmacist involvement in abortion care is currently limited. The Food and Drug Administration's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Mifeprex® (mifepristone 200 mg), the principal drug used in early medication abortion, prohibits the dispensing of the drug by prescription at pharmacies. This commentary reviews the pharmacology of medication abortion with the use of mifepristone and misoprostol, as well as aspects of service delivery and data on safety, efficacy, and acceptability. Given its safety record, mifepristone no longer fits the profile of a drug that requires an REMS. The recent implementation of pharmacy dispensing of mifepristone in community pharmacies in Australia and some provinces of Canada has improved access to medication abortion by increasing the number of medication abortion providers, particularly in rural areas. Provision of mifepristone in pharmacies, which involves dispensing and patient counseling, would likely improve access to early abortion in the United States without increasing risks to women. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Communication Styles of Interactive Tools for Self-Improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Niess, Jasmin; Diefenbach, Sarah

Interactive products for self-improvement (e.g., online trainings to reduce stress, fitness gadgets) have become increasingly popular among consumers and healthcare providers. In line with the idea of positive computing, these tools aim to support their users on their way to improved well-being and human flourishing. As an interdisciplinary domain, the design of self-improvement technologies requires psychological, technological, and design expertise. One needs to know how to support people in behavior change, and one needs to find ways to do this through technology design. However, as recent reviews show, the interlocking relationship between these disciplines is still improvable. Many existing technologies for self-improvement neglect psychological theory on behavior change, especially motivational factors are not sufficiently considered. To counteract this, we suggest a focus on the dialog and emerging communication between product and user, considering the self-improvement tool as an interactive coach and advisor. The present qualitative interview study (N = 18) explored the user experience of self-improvement technologies. A special focus was on the perceived dialog between tool and user, which we analyzed in terms of models from communication psychology. Our findings show that users are sensible to the way the product "speaks to them" and consider this as essential for their experience and successful change. Analysis revealed different communication styles of self-improvement tools (e.g., helpful-cooperative, rational-distanced, critical-aggressive), each linked to specific emotional consequences. These findings form one starting point for a more psychologically founded design of self-improvement technology. On a more general level, our approach aims to contribute to a better integration of psychological and technological knowledge, and in consequence, supporting users on their way to enhanced well-being.

A tool for safety evaluations of road improvements.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltola, Harri; Rajamäki, Riikka; Luoma, Juha

2013-11-01

Road safety impact assessments are requested in general, and the directive on road infrastructure safety management makes them compulsory for Member States of the European Union. However, there is no widely used, science-based safety evaluation tool available. We demonstrate a safety evaluation tool called TARVA. It uses EB safety predictions as the basis for selecting locations for implementing road-safety improvements and provides estimates of safety benefits of selected improvements. Comparing different road accident prediction methods, we demonstrate that the most accurate estimates are produced by EB models, followed by simple accident prediction models, the same average number of accidents for every entity and accident record only. Consequently, advanced model-based estimates should be used. Furthermore, we demonstrate regional comparisons that benefit substantially from such tools. Comparisons between districts have revealed significant differences. However, comparisons like these produce useful improvement ideas only after taking into account the differences in road characteristics between areas. Estimates on crash modification factors can be transferred from other countries but their benefit is greatly limited if the number of target accidents is not properly predicted. Our experience suggests that making predictions and evaluations using the same principle and tools will remarkably improve the quality and comparability of safety estimations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Improved Access to Transportation on Emergency obstetric ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reduction in maternal mortality has not been appreciable in most low-income countries. Improved access to transport for mothers is one way to improve maternal health. This study evaluated a free-of-charge 24-hour ambulance and communication services intervention in Oyam district using 'Caesarean section rate' (CSR) ...

Accessibility improvement interventions realised in Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, Greece

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aristotelis Naniopoulos

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose – Access to culture is a fundamental right of people with disabilities and a significant aspect in the development of accessible tourism. A visit to a monument provides an authentic experience which cannot be substituted by any representation. However, any interventions to improve accessibility should be made carefully, so as not to alter the monument�s character, or damage it visually or structurally. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical approach model was defined in the PROSPELASIS project for the improvement of accessibility in monuments which was applied in Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki. This approach contains the following steps: evaluation of existing accessibility level; definition of alternative solutions; creation of final studies, approval by archaeological authorities and implementation of interventions. Findings – In six major Byzantine monuments significant improvements were realized which include: installation of two lifts and creation of a new staircase at Acheiropoietos; creation of a metal bridge, a new staircase and installation of a lift at Rotunda; opening of the secondary gate and creation of a ramp at the Heptapyrgion fortress; creation of an accessible toilet at the Saint Demetrios church; installation in the six monuments of a WiFi system providing text and audible information as well as information in Greek and International Sign Language; creation of two tactile models; creation of a �cultural route� connecting three major Byzantine monuments. Originality/value – For the first time, to the knowledge, a set of interventions has been realized in Byzantine monuments focusing on various categories of people with disabilities, i.e. motor, visual, hearing and cognitive.

Quality and Efficiency Improvement Tools for Every Radiologist.

Science.gov (United States)

Kudla, Alexei U; Brook, Olga R

2018-03-20

In an era of value-based medicine, data-driven quality improvement is more important than ever to ensure safe and efficient imaging services. Familiarity with high-value tools enables all radiologists to successfully engage in quality and efficiency improvement. In this article, we review the model for improvement, strategies for measurement, and common practical tools with real-life examples that include Run chart, Control chart (Shewhart chart), Fishbone (Cause-and-Effect or Ishikawa) diagram, Pareto chart, 5 Whys, and Root Cause Analysis. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving Open Access through Prior Learning Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Shuangxu; Kawachi, Paul

2013-01-01

This paper explores and presents new data on how to improve open access in distance education through using prior learning assessments. Broadly there are three types of prior learning assessment (PLAR): Type-1 for prospective students to be allowed to register for a course; Type-2 for current students to avoid duplicating work-load to gain…

New features and improved uncertainty analysis in the NEA nuclear data sensitivity tool (NDaST)

Science.gov (United States)

Dyrda, J.; Soppera, N.; Hill, I.; Bossant, M.; Gulliford, J.

2017-09-01

Following the release and initial testing period of the NEA's Nuclear Data Sensitivity Tool [1], new features have been designed and implemented in order to expand its uncertainty analysis capabilities. The aim is to provide a free online tool for integral benchmark testing, that is both efficient and comprehensive, meeting the needs of the nuclear data and benchmark testing communities. New features include access to P1 sensitivities for neutron scattering angular distribution [2] and constrained Chi sensitivities for the prompt fission neutron energy sampling. Both of these are compatible with covariance data accessed via the JANIS nuclear data software, enabling propagation of the resultant uncertainties in keff to a large series of integral experiment benchmarks. These capabilities are available using a number of different covariance libraries e.g., ENDF/B, JEFF, JENDL and TENDL, allowing comparison of the broad range of results it is possible to obtain. The IRPhE database of reactor physics measurements is now also accessible within the tool in addition to the criticality benchmarks from ICSBEP. Other improvements include the ability to determine and visualise the energy dependence of a given calculated result in order to better identify specific regions of importance or high uncertainty contribution. Sorting and statistical analysis of the selected benchmark suite is now also provided. Examples of the plots generated by the software are included to illustrate such capabilities. Finally, a number of analytical expressions, for example Maxwellian and Watt fission spectra will be included. This will allow the analyst to determine the impact of varying such distributions within the data evaluation, either through adjustment of parameters within the expressions, or by comparison to a more general probability distribution fitted to measured data. The impact of such changes is verified through calculations which are compared to a `direct' measurement found by

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) - The Need for Radical Reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Michael J

2018-02-01

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies is a UK government-funded initiative to widen access to the psychological treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. The author has had the opportunity to independently assess 90 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies clients, using a standardised semi-structured interview, the Structured Clinical Diagnostic Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID) and to listen to their account of interaction with the service. The results suggest that only the tip of the iceberg fully recovers from their disorder (9.2%) whether or not they were treated before or after a personal injury claim. There is a pressing need to re-examine the modus operandi of the service.

Improving Access to Health Care Among New Zealand’s Maori Population

Science.gov (United States)

Ellison-Loschmann, Lis; Pearce, Neil

2006-01-01

The health status of indigenous peoples worldwide varies according to their unique historical, political, and social circumstances. Disparities in health between Maoris and non-Maoris have been evident for all of the colonial history of New Zealand. Explanations for these differences involve a complex mix of components associated with socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, availability of health care, and discrimination. Improving access to care is critical to addressing health disparities, and increasing evidence suggests that Maoris and non-Maoris differ in terms of access to primary and secondary health care services. We use 2 approaches to health service development to demonstrate how Maori-led initiatives are seeking to improve access to and quality of health care for Maoris. PMID:16507721

BODIPY-phosphane as a versatile tool for easy access to new metal-based theranostics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tasan, Semra; Zava, Olivier; Bertrand, Benoit; Bernhard, Claire; Goze, Christine; Picquet, Michel; Le Gendre, Pierre; Harvey, Pierre; Denat, Franck; Casini, Angela; Bodio, Ewen

2013-01-01

A new BODIPY-phosphane was synthesized and proved to be a versatile tool for imaging organometallic complexes. It also led to easy access to a new family of theranostics, featuring gold, ruthenium and osmium complexes. The compounds' cytotoxicity was tested on cancer cells, and their cell uptake was

Mobile task management tool that improves workflow of an acute general surgical service.

Science.gov (United States)

Foo, Elizabeth; McDonald, Rod; Savage, Earle; Floyd, Richard; Butler, Anthony; Rumball-Smith, Alistair; Connor, Saxon

2015-10-01

Understanding and being able to measure constraints within a health system is crucial if outcomes are to be improved. Current systems lack the ability to capture decision making with regard to tasks performed within a patient journey. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a mobile task management tool on clinical workflow within an acute general surgical service by analysing data capture and usability of the application tool. The Cortex iOS application was developed to digitize patient flow and provide real-time visibility over clinical decision making and task performance. Study outcomes measured were workflow data capture for patient and staff events. Usability was assessed using an electronic survey. There were 449 unique patient journeys tracked with a total of 3072 patient events recorded. The results repository was accessed 7792 times. The participants reported that the application sped up decision making, reduced redundancy of work and improved team communication. The mode of the estimated time the application saved participants was 5-9 min/h of work. Of the 14 respondents, nine discarded their analogue methods of tracking tasks by the end of the study period. The introduction of a mobile task management system improved the working efficiency of junior clinical staff. The application allowed capture of data not previously available to hospital systems. In the future, such data will contribute to the accurate mapping of patient journeys through the health system. © 2015 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Improving antivenom availability and accessibility: science, technology, and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Gutiérrez, José María

2012-09-15

Snakebite envenomings constitute a serious and neglected public health problem. Despite the fact that effective treatment exists, i.e. administration of animal-derived antivenoms, the availability and accessibility of these life-saving immunobiologicals is deficitary in various parts of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and some regions of Asia. This article discusses some of the problems that need to be circumvented in order to improve the availability and accessibility of antivenoms. The conglomerate of antivenom manufacturers is highly heterogeneous in terms of technological base, qualification of staff, implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and volume of production. Therefore, improvements in antivenom quality and availability should be based on strategies tailored to the situation of each region or country; in this context, three different scenarios are discussed. Accessibility of antivenoms demands concerted efforts at multiple levels, including raising the awareness of public health authorities on the relevance of the problem, implementing innovative antivenom purchasing schemes, strengthening national distribution channels on the basis of robust epidemiological information, improving the cold chain and the provision of health services in remote rural settings, supporting the correct use of antivenoms, and promoting the involvement of local community organizations in various aspects of prevention and management. These tasks should be envisaged in terms of synergistic, interprogrammatic and intersectorial interventions, with the participation of many players. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated Speech and Audio Analysis for Semantic Access to Multimedia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong, F.M.G. de; Ordelman, R.; Huijbregts, M.

2006-01-01

The deployment and integration of audio processing tools can enhance the semantic annotation of multimedia content, and as a consequence, improve the effectiveness of conceptual access tools. This paper overviews the various ways in which automatic speech and audio analysis can contribute to

Automated speech and audio analysis for semantic access to multimedia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Franciska M.G.; Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Avrithis, Y.; Kompatsiaris, Y.; Staab, S.; O' Connor, N.E.

2006-01-01

The deployment and integration of audio processing tools can enhance the semantic annotation of multimedia content, and as a consequence, improve the effectiveness of conceptual access tools. This paper overviews the various ways in which automatic speech and audio analysis can contribute to

EPUB as publication format in Open Access journals: Tools and workflow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trude Eikebrokk

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In this article, we present a case study of how the main publishing format of an Open Access journal was changed from PDF to EPUB by designing a new workflow using JATS as the basic XML source format. We state the reasons and discuss advantages for doing this, how we did it, and the costs of changing an established Microsoft Word workflow. As an example, we use one typical sociology article with tables, illustrations and references. We then follow the article from JATS markup through different transformations resulting in XHTML, EPUB and MOBI versions. In the end, we put everything together in an automated XProc pipeline. The process has been developed on free and open source tools, and we describe and evaluate these tools in the article. The workflow is suitable for non-professional publishers, and all code is attached and free for reuse by others.

Enriching Traditional Cataloging for Improved Access to Information:Library of Congress Tables of Contents Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D. Byrum Jr.

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, standard catalog records have provided bibliographic data that mostly address the basic features of library resources. At the same time, catalogs have offered access to these records through a limited array of names, titles, series, subject headings, class numbers, and a relatively small number of keywords contained within descriptions. Today’s catalog users expect access to information well beyond what can be offered by traditional approaches to bibliographic description and access. By pursuing a suite of projects, the Library of Congress (LC has responded to the challenge of enticing patrons to continue to include the online catalog among the tools they use for information retrieval. Drawing extensively on the power of automation, staff of LC’s Bibliographic Enrichment Advisory Team (BEAT have created and implemented a variety of initiatives to link researchers, catalogs, and Web resources; increase the content of the catalog record; and link the catalog to electronic resources. BEAT’s ongoing work demonstrates how, in the electronic era, it is possible to provide new and improved ways to capitalize on traditional services in the digital age. This paper will illustrate these points by focusing on BEAT’s tables of contents projects to demonstrate how library automation can make significant bibliographic enhancement efforts quick, easy, and affordable to achieve.

Open source GIS based tools to improve hydrochemical water resources management in EU H2020 FREEWAT platform

Science.gov (United States)

Criollo, Rotman; Velasco, Violeta; Vázquez-Suñé, Enric; Nardi, Albert; Marazuela, Miguel A.; Rossetto, Rudy; Borsi, Iacopo; Foglia, Laura; Cannata, Massimiliano; De Filippis, Giovanna

2017-04-01

Due to the general increase of water scarcity (Steduto et al., 2012), water quantity and quality must be well known to ensure a proper access to water resources in compliance with local and regional directives. This circumstance can be supported by tools which facilitate process of data management and its analysis. Such analyses have to provide research/professionals, policy makers and users with the ability to improve the management of the water resources with standard regulatory guidelines. Compliance with the established standard regulatory guidelines (with a special focus on requirement deriving from the GWD) should have an effective monitoring, evaluation, and interpretation of a large number of physical and chemical parameters. These amounts of datasets have to be assessed and interpreted: (i) integrating data from different sources and gathered with different data access techniques and formats; (ii) managing data with varying temporal and spatial extent; (iii) integrating groundwater quality information with other relevant information such as further hydrogeological data (Velasco et al., 2014) and pre-processing these data generally for the realization of groundwater models. In this context, the Hydrochemical Analysis Tools, akvaGIS Tools, has been implemented within the H2020 FREEWAT project; which aims to manage water resources by modelling water resource management in an open source GIS platform (QGIS desktop). The main goal of AkvaGIS Tools is to improve water quality analysis through different capabilities to improve the case study conceptual model managing all data related into its geospatial database (implemented in Spatialite) and a set of tools for improving the harmonization, integration, standardization, visualization and interpretation of the hydrochemical data. To achieve that, different commands cover a wide range of methodologies for querying, interpreting, and comparing groundwater quality data and facilitate the pre-processing analysis for

Does open access improve the process and outcome of podiatric care?

Science.gov (United States)

Wrobel, James S; Davies, Michael L; Robbins, Jeffrey M

2011-05-19

Open access to clinics is a management strategy to improve healthcare delivery. Providers are sometimes hesitant to adopt open access because of fear of increased visits for potentially trivial complaints. We hypothesized open access clinics would result in decreased wait times, increased number of podiatry visits, fewer no shows, higher rates of acute care visits, and lower minor amputation rates over control clinics without open access. This study was a national retrospective case-control study of VHA (Veterans Hospital Administration) podiatry clinics in 2008. Eight case facilities reported to have open podiatry clinic access for at least one year were identified from an email survey. Sixteen control facilities with similar structural features (e.g., full time podiatrists, health tech, residency program, reconstructive foot surgery, vascular, and orthopedic surgery) were identified in the same geographic region as the case facilities. Twenty-two percent of facilities responded to the survey. Fifty-four percent reported open access and 46% did not. There were no differences in facility or podiatry panel size, podiatry visits, or visit frequency between the cases and controls. Podiatry visits trended higher for control facilities but didn't reach statistical significance. Case facilities had more new consults seen within 30 days (96%, 89%; P = 0.050) and lower minor amputation rates (0.62/1,000, 1.0/1,000; P = 0.041). The VHA is the worlds largest managed care organization and it relies on clinical efficiencies as one mechanism to improve the quality of care. Open access clinics had more timely access for new patients and lower rates of minor amputations.

The ATS Web Page Provides "Tool Boxes" for: Access Opportunities, Performance, Interfaces, Volume, Environments, "Wish List" Entry and Educational Outreach

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of the Access to Space website, including information on the 'tool boxes' available on the website for access opportunities, performance, interfaces, volume, environments, 'wish list' entry, and educational outreach.

Building partnership to improve migrants’ access to healthcare in Mumbai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilesh Chandrakant Gawde

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Objectives: An intervention to improve migrants’ access to healthcare was piloted in Mumbai with purpose of informing health policy and planning. This paper aims to describe the process of building partnership for improving migrants’ access to healthcare of the pilot intervention including the role played by different stakeholders and the contextual factors affecting the intervention. Methods: The process evaluation was based upon Baranowski and Stables’ framework. their Observations in community and conversations with stakeholders as recorded in daily diaries, minutes of pre-intervention workshops and stakeholder meetings served as data sources. Data were coded using the framework and descriptive summaries of evaluation components were prepared.Results: Recruitment of stakeholders was easier than sustaining their interest. Community representatives led the intervention assisted by government officials. They planned community level interventions to improve access to healthcare which involved predominantly information, education and communication activities for which pre-existing formal and informal social networks and community events were used. Although the intervention reached migrants living with families, single male migrants neither participated nor did the intervention reach them consistently. Contextual factors such as culture differences between migrants and native population and illegality in the nature of the settlement resulting in the exclusion from services were the barriers. Conclusion: Inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership including migrants themselves and using both formal and informal networks in community is a feasible strategy for health education and has potential to improve the migrants’ access to healthcare. However, there are challenges to the partnership process and new strategies to overcome these challenges need to be tested such as peer-led models for involvement of single male migrants. For sustaining such

Building Partnership to Improve Migrants' Access to Healthcare in Mumbai.

Science.gov (United States)

Gawde, Nilesh Chandrakant; Sivakami, Muthusamy; Babu, Bontha V

2015-01-01

An intervention to improve migrants' access to healthcare was piloted in Mumbai with purpose of informing health policy and planning. This paper aims to describe the process of building partnership for improving migrants' access to healthcare of the pilot intervention, including the role played by different stakeholders and the contextual factors affecting the intervention. The process evaluation was based on Baranowski and Stables' framework. Observations in community and conversations with stakeholders as recorded in daily diaries, minutes of pre-intervention workshops, and stakeholder meetings served as data sources. Data were coded using the framework and descriptive summaries of evaluation components were prepared. Recruitment of stakeholders was easier than sustaining their interest. Community representatives led the intervention assisted by government officials. They planned community-level interventions to improve access to healthcare that involved predominantly information, education, and communication activities for which pre-existing formal and informal social networks and community events were used. Although the intervention reached migrants living with families, single male migrants neither participated nor did the intervention reach them consistently. Contextual factors such as culture differences between migrants and native population and illegality in the nature of the settlement, resulting in the exclusion from services, were the barriers. Inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership, including migrants themselves and using both formal and informal networks in community is a feasible strategy for health education and has potential to improve the migrants' access to healthcare. However, there are challenges to the partnership process and new strategies to overcome these challenges need to be tested such as peer-led models for involvement of single male migrants. For sustaining such efforts and mainstreaming migrants, addressing contextual factors and

Use of Process Improvement Tools in Radiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rawson, James V; Kannan, Amogha; Furman, Melissa

2016-01-01

Process improvement techniques are common in manufacturing and industry. Over the past few decades these principles have been slowly introduced in select health care settings. This article reviews the Plan, Do, Study, and Act cycle, Six Sigma, the System of Profound Knowledge, Lean, and the theory of constraints. Specific process improvement tools in health care and radiology are presented in the order the radiologist is likely to encounter them in an improvement project. Copyright © 2015 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

U.S. Geological Survey community for data integration: data upload, registry, and access tool

Science.gov (United States)

,

2012-01-01

As a leading science and information agency and in fulfillment of its mission to provide reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ensures that all scientific data are effectively hosted, adequately described, and appropriately accessible to scientists, collaborators, and the general public. To succeed in this task, the USGS established the Community for Data Integration (CDI) to address data and information management issues affecting the proficiency of earth science research. Through the CDI, the USGS is providing data and metadata management tools, cyber infrastructure, collaboration tools, and training in support of scientists and technology specialists throughout the project life cycle. One of the significant tools recently created to contribute to this mission is the Uploader tool. This tool allows scientists with limited data management resources to address many of the key aspects of the data life cycle: the ability to protect, preserve, publish and share data. By implementing this application inside ScienceBase, scientists also can take advantage of other collaboration capabilities provided by the ScienceBase platform.

Improving Access to European E-theses: the DART-Europe Programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Moyle

2008-11-01

Full Text Available DART-Europe (Digital Access to Research Theses - Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. The Programme is endorsed by LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche as part of the work of the LIBER Access Division, and it is the European Working Group of the NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. DART-Europe serves as a European networking forum on issues relating to electronic theses. The DART-Europe partners share an enthusiasm for open access to research theses, and they have helped to provide researchers with the DART-Europe E-theses Portal, a service which enables the discovery of the open access research-level e-theses offered by institutions and consortia from a growing number of European countries. This article gives an overview of DART-Europe, its progress and its future plans, with particular reference to the DART-Europe E-theses Portal.

Chemical Data Access Tool

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This tool is intended to aid individuals interested in learning more about chemicals that are manufactured or imported into the United States. Health and safety...

Improving access to medicines in low and middle income countries: corporate responsibilities in context.

Science.gov (United States)

Leisinger, Klaus Michael; Garabedian, Laura Faden; Wagner, Anita Katharina

2012-12-01

More than two billion people in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) lack adequate access to essential medicines. In this paper, we make strong public health, human rights and economic arguments for improving access to medicines in LMIC and discuss the different roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders, including national governments, the international community, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We then establish a framework of pharmaceutical firms' corporate responsibilities - the "must," the "ought to," and the "can" dimensions - and make recommendations for actionable business strategies for improving access to medicines. We discuss controversial topics, such as pharmaceutical profits and patents, with the goal of building consensus around facts and working towards a solution. We conclude that partnerships and collaboration among multiple stakeholders are urgently needed to improve equitable access to medicines in LMIC.

Development of a Multi-Domain Assessment Tool for Quality Improvement Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenbluth, Glenn; Burman, Natalie J; Ranji, Sumant R; Boscardin, Christy K

2017-08-01

Improving the quality of health care and education has become a mandate at all levels within the medical profession. While several published quality improvement (QI) assessment tools exist, all have limitations in addressing the range of QI projects undertaken by learners in undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education. We developed and validated a tool to assess QI projects with learner engagement across the educational continuum. After reviewing existing tools, we interviewed local faculty who taught QI to understand how learners were engaged and what these faculty wanted in an ideal assessment tool. We then developed a list of competencies associated with QI, established items linked to these competencies, revised the items using an iterative process, and collected validity evidence for the tool. The resulting Multi-Domain Assessment of Quality Improvement Projects (MAQIP) rating tool contains 9 items, with criteria that may be completely fulfilled, partially fulfilled, or not fulfilled. Interrater reliability was 0.77. Untrained local faculty were able to use the tool with minimal guidance. The MAQIP is a 9-item, user-friendly tool that can be used to assess QI projects at various stages and to provide formative and summative feedback to learners at all levels.

Improving awareness, accountability, and access through health coaching

Science.gov (United States)

Liddy, Clare; Johnston, Sharon; Irving, Hannah; Nash, Kate; Ward, Natalie

2015-01-01

Abstract Objective To assess patients’ experiences with and perceptions of health coaching as part of their ongoing care. Design A qualitative research design using semistructured interviews that were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Setting Ottawa, Ont. Participants Eleven patients (> 18 years of age) enrolled in a health coaching pilot program who were at risk of or diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Methods Patients’ perspectives were assessed with semistructured interviews. Interviews were conducted with 11 patients at the end of the pilot program, using a stratified sampling approach to ensure maximum variation. Main findings All patients found the overall experience with the health coaching program to be positive. Patients believed the health coaching program was effective in increasing awareness of how diabetes affected their bodies and health, in building accountability for their health-related actions, and in improving access to care and other health resources. Conclusion Patients perceive one-on-one health coaching as an acceptable intervention in their ongoing care. Patients enrolled in the health coaching pilot program believed that there was an improvement in access to care, health literacy, and accountability, all factors considered to be precursors to behavioural change. PMID:25932483

E-KIT: An Electronic-Knowledge Information Tool for Organizing Site Information and Improving Technical Communication with Stakeholders - 13082

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kautsky, Mark; Findlay, Richard C.; Hodges, Rex A.

2013-01-01

Managing technical references for projects that have long histories is hampered by the large collection of documents, each of which might contain discrete pieces of information relevant to the site conceptual model. A database application has been designed to improve the efficiency of retrieving technical information for a project. Although many databases are currently used for accessing analytical and geo-referenced data, applications designed specifically to manage technical reference material for projects are scarce. Retrieving site data from the array of available references becomes an increasingly inefficient use of labor. The electronic-Knowledge Information Tool (e-KIT) is designed as a project-level resource to access and communicate technical information. The e-KIT is a living tool that grows as new information becomes available, and its value to the project increases as the volume of site information increases. Having all references assembled in one location with complete reference citations and links to elements of the site conceptual model offers a way to enhance communication with outside groups. The published and unpublished references are incorporated into the e-KIT, while the compendium of references serves as a complete bibliography for the project. (authors)

E-KIT: An Electronic-Knowledge Information Tool for Organizing Site Information and Improving Technical Communication with Stakeholders - 13082

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kautsky, Mark [U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, 2597 Legacy Way, Grand Junction CO 81503 (United States); Findlay, Richard C.; Hodges, Rex A. [Stoller LMS Team, 2597 Legacy Way, Grand Junction CO 81503 (United States)

2013-07-01

Managing technical references for projects that have long histories is hampered by the large collection of documents, each of which might contain discrete pieces of information relevant to the site conceptual model. A database application has been designed to improve the efficiency of retrieving technical information for a project. Although many databases are currently used for accessing analytical and geo-referenced data, applications designed specifically to manage technical reference material for projects are scarce. Retrieving site data from the array of available references becomes an increasingly inefficient use of labor. The electronic-Knowledge Information Tool (e-KIT) is designed as a project-level resource to access and communicate technical information. The e-KIT is a living tool that grows as new information becomes available, and its value to the project increases as the volume of site information increases. Having all references assembled in one location with complete reference citations and links to elements of the site conceptual model offers a way to enhance communication with outside groups. The published and unpublished references are incorporated into the e-KIT, while the compendium of references serves as a complete bibliography for the project. (authors)

SLIPTA e-Tool improves laboratory audit process in Vietnam and Cambodia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thuong T. Nguyen

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background: The Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA checklist is used worldwide to drive quality improvement in laboratories in developing countries and to assess the effectiveness of interventions such as the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA programme. However, the paperbased format of the checklist makes administration cumbersome and limits timely analysis and communication of results. Development of e-Tool: In early 2012, the SLMTA team in Vietnam developed an electronic SLIPTA checklist tool. The e-Tool was pilot tested in Vietnam in mid-2012 and revised. It was used during SLMTA implementation in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2012 and 2013 and further revised based on auditors’ feedback about usability. Outcomes: The SLIPTA e-Tool enabled rapid turn-around of audit results, reduced workload and language barriers and facilitated analysis of national results. Benefits of the e-Tool will be magnified with in-country scale-up of laboratory quality improvement efforts and potential expansion to other countries.

ROLE OF ICTS IN IMPROVING FOOD ACCESSIBILITY OF IRAN'S ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

BARTH EKWUEME

2009-09-22

Sep 22, 2009 ... point of view, the situation of food accessibility in Iran's rural households was ... oriented programs and content of old technologies were determined to account for 69% of the variance of food ... all people, at all times, have physical and economic ... market communication, improving market profitability,.

The Use of an Improved Access Structure in Dictionaries*

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rbr

Page 1 ... that a frame structure and an improved use of outer texts can enhance access to the lexicographic data. Different macrostructural ordering procedures are discussed and it is suggested that the lexicographers of ..... ~-landing, maanlanding; ~less, donker(maan), sonder maan; a ~less night, donkermaan, 'n donker ...

Communication Styles of Interactive Tools for Self-Improvement

OpenAIRE

Niess, Jasmin; Diefenbach, Sarah

2016-01-01

Background Interactive products for self-improvement (e.g., online trainings to reduce stress, fitness gadgets) have become increasingly popular among consumers and healthcare providers. In line with the idea of positive computing, these tools aim to support their users on their way to improved well-being and human flourishing. As an interdisciplinary domain, the design of self-improvement technologies requires psychological, technological, and design expertise. One needs to know how to suppo...

vFitness: a web-based computing tool for improving estimation of in vitro HIV-1 fitness experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Demeter Lisa

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The replication rate (or fitness between viral variants has been investigated in vivo and in vitro for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV. HIV fitness plays an important role in the development and persistence of drug resistance. The accurate estimation of viral fitness relies on complicated computations based on statistical methods. This calls for tools that are easy to access and intuitive to use for various experiments of viral fitness. Results Based on a mathematical model and several statistical methods (least-squares approach and measurement error models, a Web-based computing tool has been developed for improving estimation of virus fitness in growth competition assays of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1. Conclusions Unlike the two-point calculation used in previous studies, the estimation here uses linear regression methods with all observed data in the competition experiment to more accurately estimate relative viral fitness parameters. The dilution factor is introduced for making the computational tool more flexible to accommodate various experimental conditions. This Web-based tool is implemented in C# language with Microsoft ASP.NET, and is publicly available on the Web at http://bis.urmc.rochester.edu/vFitness/.

Improving access to care through the patient-centered medical home.

Science.gov (United States)

North, Stephen W; McElligot, James; Douglas, Gaye; Martin, Amanda

2014-02-01

School-based health centers (SBHCs) serve an essential role in providing access to high-quality, comprehensive care to underserved children and adolescents in more than 2,000 schools across the United States. SBHCs are an essential component of the health care safety net, and their role in the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) continues to evolve as both collaborating partners and, when fully functioning, independent PCMHs. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports the use of SBHCs, citing the proven benefits and exciting potential as justification, but also offers caution and recommends a focus on communication within the community. Traditional "brick and mortar" SBHCs are more likely to be located in urban communities (54.2% urban versus 18.0% rural) and be in schools with more students, allowing for a greater return on investment. Current SBHCs are located in schools with an average population of 997 students. The need for a large school population to help an SBHC approach financial viability excludes children in rural communities who are more likely to attend a school with fewer than 500 students, be poor, and have difficulty accessing health care.2 The expansion of telehealth technologies allows the creation of solutions to decrease geographic barriers that have limited the growth of SBHCs in rural communities. Telehealth school-based health centers (tSBHCs) that exclusively provide services through telemedicine are operating and developing in communities where geographic barriers and financial challenges have prevented the establishment of brick and mortar SBHCs. TSBHCs are beginning to increase the number and variety of services they provide through the use of telehealth to include behavioral health, nutrition services, and pediatric specialists. Understanding the role of tSBHCs in the growth of the PCMH model is critical for using these tools to continue to improve child and adolescent health. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

A Reassessment of Complementary Access Tools for Chemical Indicators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siskind, Barry [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Nonproliferation and National Security Dept.; Stern, Warren [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Nonproliferation and National Security Dept.; Henzl, Vladimir [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-04-01

technologies considered under Phase 2, we provide a preliminary re-ranking of the suggested tools for detection of chemical indicators during complementary access.

Improved molecular tools for sugar cane biotechnology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinkema, Mark; Geijskes, Jason; Delucca, Paulo; Palupe, Anthony; Shand, Kylie; Coleman, Heather D; Brinin, Anthony; Williams, Brett; Sainz, Manuel; Dale, James L

2014-03-01

Sugar cane is a major source of food and fuel worldwide. Biotechnology has the potential to improve economically-important traits in sugar cane as well as diversify sugar cane beyond traditional applications such as sucrose production. High levels of transgene expression are key to the success of improving crops through biotechnology. Here we describe new molecular tools that both expand and improve gene expression capabilities in sugar cane. We have identified promoters that can be used to drive high levels of gene expression in the leaf and stem of transgenic sugar cane. One of these promoters, derived from the Cestrum yellow leaf curling virus, drives levels of constitutive transgene expression that are significantly higher than those achieved by the historical benchmark maize polyubiquitin-1 (Zm-Ubi1) promoter. A second promoter, the maize phosphonenolpyruvate carboxylate promoter, was found to be a strong, leaf-preferred promoter that enables levels of expression comparable to Zm-Ubi1 in this organ. Transgene expression was increased approximately 50-fold by gene modification, which included optimising the codon usage of the coding sequence to better suit sugar cane. We also describe a novel dual transcriptional enhancer that increased gene expression from different promoters, boosting expression from Zm-Ubi1 over eightfold. These molecular tools will be extremely valuable for the improvement of sugar cane through biotechnology.

Book4All: A Tool to Make an e-Book More Accessible to Students with Vision/Visual-Impairments

Science.gov (United States)

Calabrò, Antonello; Contini, Elia; Leporini, Barbara

Empowering people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired includes ensuring that products and electronic materials incorporate a broad range of accessibility features and work well with screen readers and other assistive technology devices. This is particularly important for students with vision impairments. Unfortunately, authors and publishers often do not include specific criteria when preparing the contents. Consequently, e-books can be inadequate for blind and low vision users, especially for students. In this paper we describe a semi-automatic tool developed to support operators who adapt e-documents for visually impaired students. The proposed tool can be used to convert a PDF e-book into a more suitable accessible and usable format readable on desktop computer or on mobile devices.

Improving Accessibility to Medical Services for Persons with Disabilities in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anpatcha Sakhornkhan

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This action research aimed at developing an action plan to improve the accessibility to home health care and assistive devices for persons with disabilities in a rural community, and to evaluate changes in the numbers of such persons who received appropriate home health care and assistive devices after a three-month implementation of the action plan.Method: The study was conducted at a sub-district of Maha Sarakham Province, Thailand. The main beneficiaries were 99 persons with disabilities (mean age55.4±18.7 years. Group meetings were organised for persons with disabilities, caregivers, and various community members. An action plan for improving the accessibility of persons with disabilities to home health care and assistive devices was collaboratively formulated and implemented for three months.Results: The main strategy for improving accessibility was to increase the competency of village health volunteers in providing home health care and assistive devices to persons with disabilities. After the three-month action plan implementation, the number of persons with disabilities who received appropriate home health care, i.e. at least once a month, significantly increased from 33.3% to 72.2% (Chi-square test, PConclusions: Under the supervision of physical therapists and/or other allied health professionals, the village health volunteer is likely to be a key person for improving the accessibility to home health care and assistive devices for persons with disabilities in a rural community.Limitations: The study was limited to only one sub-district. No comparable areas were studied. Further, since the study recruited persons with disabilities from a rural community, applicability of the findings to persons with disabilities in an urban community should be considered judiciously.

Remote access tools for optimization of hardware and workmanship resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartnig, Roberto; Diniz, Luciano; Ribeiro, Joao Luiz; Salcedo, Fernando

2000-01-01

Campos basin, during its 23 years, went by several different generations concerning industrial automation, always looking for operational improvement and reduction of risks, as well as larger reliability and precision in the process controls. The ECOS (Central Operational and Supervision Station) is a human-machine interface developed by PETROBRAS using graphic stations for supervision and control of 16 offshore production units, which nowadays are responsible for about 77 % of oil production of Campos basin (730,000 barrels/day). Through the use of software tools developed by the personnel of the support to the industrial automation it was possible to optimize the resources of specialized labor and to take advantage of the periods of smaller use of the net. Those tools monitor disk free space and fragmentation, onshore/offshore communication links, local network traffic and errors, backup of process historical data and applications, in order to guarantee the operation of the net, the historical of process data, the integrity of the production applications, improving safety and operational continuity. (author)

City without barriers, ICT tools for the universal accessibility: study cases in Barcelona

OpenAIRE

Biere Arenas, Rolando Mauricio; Arellano Ramos, Blanca; Roca Cladera, Josep

2016-01-01

Financed in the framework of the Call 2013, of the Program RecerCaixa (RecerCaixa and ACUP) This paper is the presentation of the results and developed tasks in the framework of the research project titled City without barriers. Tool for the evaluation and visualization of the accessibility into public space, using TLS, GIS and GPS Technologies,1 developed during 2014 and 2015 by the authors and others researchers and technicians in the Centre of Land Policy and Valuations (CPSV) and the V...

Development of an improved low profile hub seal refurbishment tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagg, L.

1997-01-01

The hub seal area of a fuel channel feeder coupling can be exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere if protective measures are not taken during maintenance outages. Exposure to oxygen can lead to pitting of the hub seal area. Although this is a rare occurrence, the resulting possibility of the feeder coupling leakage led to the development of a feeder hub refurbishment tool. To reduce time and man-rem exposure during feeder hub seal refurbishment, an improved low profile hub seat refurbishing tool has been developed. The improved tool design will allow for quick and controlled removal of material, and the restoration of a roll-burnished finish equivalent to the original requirements. The new tool can be used in maintenance operations, with the end fitting present, as well as under retube-type circumstances, with the end fitting removed. (author)

OpenTopography: Enabling Online Access to High-Resolution Lidar Topography Data and Processing Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Christopher; Nandigam, Viswanath; Baru, Chaitan; Arrowsmith, J. Ramon

2013-04-01

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the Earth's surface and overlying vegetation. These data, collected from airborne, tripod, or mobile-mounted scanners have emerged as a fundamental tool for research on topics ranging from earthquake hazards to hillslope processes. Lidar data provide a digital representation of the earth's surface at a resolution sufficient to appropriately capture the processes that contribute to landscape evolution. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is a web-based system designed to democratize access to earth science-oriented lidar topography data. OpenTopography provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including the raw point cloud and associated geospatial-processing tools for customized analysis. The point cloud data are co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate digital elevation models, and derived products and visualizations which allow users to quickly access data in a format appropriate for their scientific application. The OpenTopography system is built using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that leverages cyberinfrastructure resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego to allow users, regardless of expertise level, to access these massive lidar datasets and derived products for use in research and teaching. OpenTopography hosts over 500 billion lidar returns covering 85,000 km2. These data are all in the public domain and are provided by a variety of partners under joint agreements and memoranda of understanding with OpenTopography. Partners include national facilities such as the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Lidar Mapping (NCALM), as well as non-governmental organizations and local, state, and federal agencies. OpenTopography has become a hub for high-resolution topography

SLIPTA e-Tool improves laboratory audit process in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Thuong T; McKinney, Barbara; Pierson, Antoine; Luong, Khue N; Hoang, Quynh T; Meharwal, Sandeep; Carvalho, Humberto M; Nguyen, Cuong Q; Nguyen, Kim T; Bond, Kyle B

2014-01-01

The Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) checklist is used worldwide to drive quality improvement in laboratories in developing countries and to assess the effectiveness of interventions such as the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme. However, the paper-based format of the checklist makes administration cumbersome and limits timely analysis and communication of results. In early 2012, the SLMTA team in Vietnam developed an electronic SLIPTA checklist tool. The e-Tool was pilot tested in Vietnam in mid-2012 and revised. It was used during SLMTA implementation in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2012 and 2013 and further revised based on auditors' feedback about usability. The SLIPTA e-Tool enabled rapid turn-around of audit results, reduced workload and language barriers and facilitated analysis of national results. Benefits of the e-Tool will be magnified with in-country scale-up of laboratory quality improvement efforts and potential expansion to other countries.

Pipe dream? Envisioning a grassroots Python ecosystem of open, common software tools and data access in support of river and coastal biogeochemical research (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Mayorga, E.

2013-12-01

Practical, problem oriented software developed by scientists and graduate students in domains lacking a strong software development tradition is often balkanized into the scripting environments provided by dominant, typically proprietary tools. In environmental fields, these tools include ArcGIS, Matlab, SAS, Excel and others, and are often constrained to specific operating systems. While this situation is the outcome of rational choices, it limits the dissemination of useful tools and their integration into loosely coupled frameworks that can meet wider needs and be developed organically by groups addressing their own needs. Open-source dynamic languages offer the advantages of an accessible programming syntax, a wealth of pre-existing libraries, multi-platform access, linkage to community libraries developed in lower level languages such as C or FORTRAN, and access to web service infrastructure. Python in particular has seen a large and increasing uptake in scientific communities, as evidenced by the continued growth of the annual SciPy conference. Ecosystems with distinctive physical structures and organization, and mechanistic processes that are well characterized, are both factors that have often led to the grass-roots development of useful code meeting the needs of a range of communities. In aquatic applications, examples include river and watershed analysis tools (River Tools, Taudem, etc), and geochemical modules such as CO2SYS, PHREEQ and LOADEST. I will review the state of affairs and explore the potential offered by a Python tool ecosystem in supporting aquatic biogeochemistry and water quality research. This potential is multi-faceted and broadly involves accessibility to lone grad students, access to a wide community of programmers and problem solvers via online resources such as StackExchange, and opportunities to leverage broader cyberinfrastructure efforts and tools, including those from widely different domains. Collaborative development of such

Effective Tool to Improve Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

hanumantp

Mass Counseling: Effective Tool to Improve Knowledge,. Attitude and Behavior ... of mobile counseling units by blood banks may help to create a voluntary blood donor. Changes in ..... How to cite this article: Kulkarni PY, Kulkarni AD.

Improving access to adequate pain management in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Scholten, Willem

2015-06-01

There is a global crisis in access to pain management in the world. WHO estimates that 4.65 billion people live in countries where medical opioid consumption is near to zero. For 2010, WHO considered a per capita consumption of 216.7 mg morphine equivalents adequate, while Taiwan had a per capita consumption of 0.05 mg morphine equivalents in 2007. In Asia, the use of opioids is sensitive because of the Opium Wars in the 19th century and for this reason, the focus of controlled substances policies has been on the prevention of diversion and dependence. However, an optimal public health outcome requires that also the beneficial aspects of these substances are acknowledged. Therefore, WHO recommends a policy based on the Principle of Balance: ensuring access for medical and scientific purposes while preventing diversion, harmful use and dependence. Furthermore, international law requires that countries ensure access to opioid analgesics for medical and scientific purposes. There is evidence that opioid analgesics for chronic pain are not associated with a major risk for developing dependence. Barriers for access can be classified in the categories of overly restrictive laws and regulations; insufficient medical training on pain management and problems related to assessment of medical needs; attitudes like an excessive fear for dependence or diversion; and economic and logistical problems. The GOPI project found many examples of such barriers in Asia. Access to opioid medicines in Taiwan can be improved by analysing the national situation and drafting a plan. The WHO policy guidelines Ensuring Balance in National Policies on Controlled Substances can be helpful for achieving this purpose, as well as international guidelines for pain treatment. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Unlocking the Value of Literature in Health Co-Design: Transforming Patient Experience Publications into a Creative and Accessible Card Tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Villalba, Clare; Jaiprakash, Anjali; Donovan, Jared; Roberts, Jonathan; Crawford, Ross

2018-05-26

A wealth of peer-reviewed data exists regarding people's health experience, yet practical ways of using the data to understand patients' experiences and to inform health co-design are needed. This study aims to develop an applied and pragmatic method for using patient experience literature in co-design by transforming it into an accessible and creative co-design tool. A scoping literature review of the CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PubMed electronic databases was conducted from January 2011 through August 2016. Qualitative publications regarding the experience of living with diabetes in Australia were selected. The Results section of each paper was extracted and affinity analysis was applied to identify insights into the health experience. These insights were developed into a card tool for use in health co-design activities. Thirteen relevant papers were identified from the review, and affinity analysis of the Results sections of these papers lead to the identification of 85 insights, from 'Shock of diagnosis' (Insight 1), to 'Delay seeking care' (Insight 9), to 'Assess the quality of care' (Insight 28), to 'Avoid or adapt habits' (Insight 78). Each insight was developed into an individual card, which included a high-level theme, insight, quote and a link back to the literature, together making up the Health Experience Insight Cards, Living with Diabetes Edition. This was the first study to develop a method for transforming existing patient experience literature into a creative tool for health improvement. The Health Experience Insight Cards collate the diverse experiences of over 300 people living with diabetes in Australia, from 13 studies. Health improvement teams can use the 'Living with Diabetes Edition' cards or they can follow this pragmatic method to create their own cards focused on other health experiences to facilitate person-focused health improvements.

AIR Tools II: algebraic iterative reconstruction methods, improved implementation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Per Christian; Jørgensen, Jakob Sauer

2017-01-01

with algebraic iterative methods and their convergence properties. The present software is a much expanded and improved version of the package AIR Tools from 2012, based on a new modular design. In addition to improved performance and memory use, we provide more flexible iterative methods, a column-action method...

Improving the performance of the actinic inspection tool with an optimized alignment procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mochi, I.; Goldberg, K.A.; Naulleau, P.; Huh, Sungmin

2009-01-01

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy is an important tool for the investigation of the performance of EUV masks, for detecting the presence and the characteristics of defects, and for evaluating the effectiveness of defect repair techniques. Aerial image measurement bypasses the difficulties inherent to photoresist imaging and enables high data collection speed and flexibility. It provides reliable and quick feedback for the development of masks and lithography system modeling methods. We operate the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT), a EUV microscope installed at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The AIT is equipped with several high-magnification Fresnel zoneplate lenses, with various numerical aperture values, that enable it image the reflective mask surface with various resolution and magnification settings. Although the AIT has undergone significant recent improvements in terms of imaging resolution and illumination uniformity, there is still room for improvement. In the AIT, an off-axis zoneplate lens collects the light coming from the sample and an image of the sample is projected onto an EUV-sensitive CCD camera. The simplicity of the optical system is particularly helpful considering that the AIT alignment has to be performed every time that a sample or a zoneplate is replaced. The alignment is sensitive to several parameters such as the lens position and orientation, the illumination direction and the sample characteristics. Since the AIT works in high vacuum, there is no direct access to the optics or to the sample during the alignment and the measurements. For all these reasons the alignment procedures and feedback can be complex, and in some cases can reduce the overall data throughput of the system. In this paper we review the main strategies and procedures that have been developed for quick and reliable alignments, and we describe the performance improvements we have achieved, in terms of aberration

Improving the performance of the actinic inspection tool with an optimized alignment procedure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mochi, I.; Goldberg, K.A.; Naulleau, P.; Huh, Sungmin

2009-03-04

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy is an important tool for the investigation of the performance of EUV masks, for detecting the presence and the characteristics of defects, and for evaluating the effectiveness of defect repair techniques. Aerial image measurement bypasses the difficulties inherent to photoresist imaging and enables high data collection speed and flexibility. It provides reliable and quick feedback for the development of masks and lithography system modeling methods. We operate the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT), a EUV microscope installed at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The AIT is equipped with several high-magnification Fresnel zoneplate lenses, with various numerical aperture values, that enable it image the reflective mask surface with various resolution and magnification settings. Although the AIT has undergone significant recent improvements in terms of imaging resolution and illumination uniformity, there is still room for improvement. In the AIT, an off-axis zoneplate lens collects the light coming from the sample and an image of the sample is projected onto an EUV-sensitive CCD camera. The simplicity of the optical system is particularly helpful considering that the AIT alignment has to be performed every time that a sample or a zoneplate is replaced. The alignment is sensitive to several parameters such as the lens position and orientation, the illumination direction and the sample characteristics. Since the AIT works in high vacuum, there is no direct access to the optics or to the sample during the alignment and the measurements. For all these reasons the alignment procedures and feedback can be complex, and in some cases can reduce the overall data throughput of the system. In this paper we review the main strategies and procedures that have been developed for quick and reliable alignments, and we describe the performance improvements we have achieved, in terms of aberration

BioSPICE: access to the most current computational tools for biologists.

Science.gov (United States)

Garvey, Thomas D; Lincoln, Patrick; Pedersen, Charles John; Martin, David; Johnson, Mark

2003-01-01

The goal of the BioSPICE program is to create a framework that provides biologists access to the most current computational tools. At the program midpoint, the BioSPICE member community has produced a software system that comprises contributions from approximately 20 participating laboratories integrated under the BioSPICE Dashboard and a methodology for continued software integration. These contributed software modules are the BioSPICE Dashboard, a graphical environment that combines Open Agent Architecture and NetBeans software technologies in a coherent, biologist-friendly user interface. The current Dashboard permits data sources, models, simulation engines, and output displays provided by different investigators and running on different machines to work together across a distributed, heterogeneous network. Among several other features, the Dashboard enables users to create graphical workflows by configuring and connecting available BioSPICE components. Anticipated future enhancements to BioSPICE include a notebook capability that will permit researchers to browse and compile data to support model building, a biological model repository, and tools to support the development, control, and data reduction of wet-lab experiments. In addition to the BioSPICE software products, a project website supports information exchange and community building.

Effects of Job Accessibility Improved by Public Transport System: Natural Experimental Evidence from the Copenhagen Metro

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pons Rotger, Gabriel Angel; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

2015-01-01

This study examines the effect of accessibility to urban jobs via a public transport system on individual earnings and commuting behaviour. The effect of improved public transport based accessibility on these outcomes is determined by exploiting the exogenous variation in access to a public rail ...... with a change in commuting patterns as the improved access to public transport facilitates a shift from employment within the township to better paid jobs in the city centre, as well as in other suburbs of the Copenhagen Metropolitan area...

IMPROVING ACCESS TO DRUGS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Max Joseph Herman

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Although essentially not all therapies need drug intervention, drugs is still an important components in health sector, either in preventive, curative, rehabilitative or promotion efforts. Hence the access to drugs is a main problem, either in international or national scale even to the smallest unit. The problem on access to drugs is very complicated and cannot be separated especially from pharmacy management problems; moreover in general from the overall lack of policy development and effective of health policy, and also the implementation process. With the policy development and effective health policy, rational drug uses, sufficient health service budget so a country can overcome the health problems. Besides infrastructures, regulations, distribution and cultural influences; the main obstacles for drug access is drugs affordability if the price of drugs is an important part and determined by many factors, especially the drug status whether is still patent orgenerics that significantly decrease cost of health cares and enhance the drugs affordability. The determination of essential drug prices in developing countries should based on equity principal so that poor people pay cheaper and could afford the essential drugs. WHO predicts two third of world population can not afford the essential drugs in which in developing countries, some are because of in efficient budget allocation in consequence of drug distribution management, including incorrect selection and allocation and also irrational uses. In part these could be overcome by enhancing performances on the allocation pharmacy needs, including the management of information system, inventory management, stock management and the distribution. Key words: access, drugs, essential drugs, generic drugs

Performance indicators: A tool for continuous quality improvement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nidhi M Bhatnagar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Performance monitoring is an important tool which can be used for setting priorities for process improvement. At our centre, we have been monitoring every step in the processes, right from inventory of consumables (both critical and routine to number of donors reactive for TTI. We conducted a study to measure the impact of monitoring Performance Indicators and how it could be used as a tool for Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI. Materials and Methods: The present study was a retrospective study where the performance indicator (PI data of blood bank was analyzed for over four years. For certain parameters, benchmarks or thresholds were set that represented warning limits or action limits. The yearly data were collated from monthly data. "Shifts" or "Trends", if any, were identified and Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA taken accordingly. At the end, outcomes of the analysis were charted. Results: After the yearly data evaluation, outcomes obtained were used to plan, correct and amend processes and systems in the blood center. It was observed that the workload of the center showed an upward trend. This helped us to plan for the purchase of consumables and management of manpower. The monitoring of usage and discard of blood helped in the efficient management of blood stocks. The need for any new equipment could also be judged by the trends in workload. Conclusion: Performance indicators are indispensible tools which various stakeholders in the Blood Transfusion centres should implement to improve on quality performance.

Performance indicators: A tool for continuous quality improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatnagar, Nidhi M; Soni, Shital; Gajjar, Maitrey; Shah, Mamta; Shah, Sangita; Patel, Vaidehi

2016-01-01

Performance monitoring is an important tool which can be used for setting priorities for process improvement. At our centre, we have been monitoring every step in the processes, right from inventory of consumables (both critical and routine) to number of donors reactive for TTI. We conducted a study to measure the impact of monitoring Performance Indicators and how it could be used as a tool for Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). The present study was a retrospective study where the performance indicator (PI) data of blood bank was analyzed for over four years. For certain parameters, benchmarks or thresholds were set that represented warning limits or action limits. The yearly data were collated from monthly data. Shifts or Trends, if any, were identified and Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) taken accordingly. At the end, outcomes of the analysis were charted. After the yearly data evaluation, outcomes obtained were used to plan, correct and amend processes and systems in the blood center. It was observed that the workload of the center showed an upward trend. This helped us to plan for the purchase of consumables and management of manpower. The monitoring of usage and discard of blood helped in the efficient management of blood stocks. The need for any new equipment could also be judged by the trends in workload. Performance indicators are indispensible tools which various stakeholders in the Blood Transfusion centres should implement to improve on quality performance.

When access to drugs meets catch-up: Insights from the use of CL threats to improve access to ARV drugs in Brazil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ramani, Shyama V.; Urias, E.

2018-01-01

Access to affordable lifesaving medicines is considered a human right. This leads to a question largely understudied in the catch-up literature on accumulation of industrial capabilities. Can the need to improve access to an essential commodity impact the sectoral catch-up trajectory of the

Improving the Accessibility and Use of NASA Earth Science Data

Science.gov (United States)

Tisdale, Matthew; Tisdale, Brian

2015-01-01

Many of the NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) multidimensional tropospheric and atmospheric chemistry data products are stored in HDF4, HDF5 or NetCDF format, which traditionally have been difficult to analyze and visualize with geospatial tools. With the rising demand from the diverse end-user communities for geospatial tools to handle multidimensional products, several applications, such as ArcGIS, have refined their software. Many geospatial applications now have new functionalities that enable the end user to: Store, serve, and perform analysis on each individual variable, its time dimension, and vertical dimension. Use NetCDF, GRIB, and HDF raster data formats across applications directly. Publish output within REST image services or WMS for time and space enabled web application development. During this webinar, participants will learn how to leverage geospatial applications such as ArcGIS, OPeNDAP and ncWMS in the production of Earth science information, and in increasing data accessibility and usability.

A Management Tool for Improvement (Improving) IMS Stations Performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammad, D.; Pantin, A.; Quintana, E.

2011-01-01

IMS-Maintenance is a software under development by the personnel of ARN-CTBT office, intended for the technical management of IMS stations under ARN's responsibility. This software integrates the whole control of the equipment in an IMS station, including the management of consumables used in daily or periodic operation. It permits an easy retrieval (access) of the technical features, suppliers, etc. of each item of the equipment, as well as its maintenance history and scheduled task. Although this project is still in a starting phase, a preliminary version of this software is being used in radionuclide station RN01 (Buenos Aires), having already demonstrated its usefulness and potential for the improvement of IMS station management. (authors)

Strategies to improve smallholders' market access

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tilburg, van A.; Schalkwyk, van H.D.

2011-01-01

Smallholders, especially in less developed countries, have encountered several challenges in gaining access to markets. Market access includes the ability to obtain necessary farm inputs and farm services, and the ability to deliver farm products to buyers. Market access was less of a problem in the

The adaptation of cities to climate change: appropriating the tools and accessing financing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Depoues, Vivian; Leseur, Alexia

2015-12-01

Cities and urban areas are particularly affected because of their geographical location and the large share of the population and economic activities they bring together. This Climate Report provides a synthetic and problematized review of the literature on climate change adaptation at the urban scale, the tools and resources available to cities to implement strategies and adaptation actions. It is primarily intended for local officials in French-speaking cities. It provides a checkpoint of current dynamics, questions the real ownership of these resources by local stakeholders and identifies the openings for: - monitoring and evaluation adaptation to climate change; - Understand and use economic analysis as a help to the decision; - Access to funding to implement adaptation actions. This overview of the literature provides elements to understand how cities take ownership of the tools to design, select, monitor and evaluate adaptation projects. It highlights a mismatch between the maturity of the tools inventory and of the guidance available and the actual demand of cities. Except in a few well documented pioneers cases, the process of appropriation of adaptation issues is still at a relatively upstream stage

A Reassessment of Complementary Access Tools for Chemical Indicators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siskind, Barry

2016-01-01

-evaluation of the technologies considered under Phase 2, we provide a preliminary re-ranking of the suggested tools for detection of chemical indicators during complementary access.

Fixing Accessibility Issues in Open-Source Teaching Repositories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Javier Díaz

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the LINTI, New Information Technologies Research Laboratory at the Computer Science School, in the National University of La Plata, it is being developed a project that involves the integration of the repository, implemented using DSpace, with different tools and platforms used in academic tasks. Accessibility is a process that cuts across all software development stages, so when using a free software product it is important to evaluate it in order to correct faults if it´s necessary. This article describes a DSpace repository accessibility validation, using screen readers for manual test, automatic validation with software tools and experimental test with users with and without disabilities. The evaluation involves the proper basic functions and the implemented extensions. The original DSpace software was extended through the integration with different tools and platforms, such as Moodle LMS, the library management system called Meran, file management services like DropBox and GoogleDrive and the social network Facebook.  The tools used during accessibility evaluation were Examinator, Google ChromeVox and one entirely implemented in the LINTI, called SiMor. The experimental tests were made with blind and deaf persons, most of them college students. All the validation results are detailed using tables and graphs, where it can observe the measured values. It is also described the changes that was necessary to carry out in the repository to improve the user experience and ensure Web service accessibility.

Cast Off expansion plan by rapid improvement through Optimization tool design, Tool Parameters and using Six Sigma’s ECRS Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Gopalakrishnan, T.; Saravanan, R.

2017-03-01

Powerful management concepts step-up the quality of the product, time saving in producing the product thereby increase the production rate, improves tools and techniques, work culture, work place and employee motivation and morale. In this paper discussed about the case study of optimizing the tool design, tool parameters to cast off expansion plan according ECRS technique. The proposed designs and optimal tool parameters yielded best results and meet the customer demand without expansion plan. Hence the work yielded huge savings of money (direct and indirect cost), time and improved the motivation and more of employees significantly.

Anesthesia report card - a customizable tool for performance improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Peccora, Christian D; Gimlich, Robert; Cornell, Richard P; Vacanti, Charles A; Ehrenfeld, Jesse M; Urman, Richard D

2014-09-01

Measuring and providing performance feedback to physicians has gained momentum not only as a way to comply with regulatory requirements, but also as a way to improve patient care. Measurement of structural, process, and outcome metrics in a reliable, evidence-based, specialty-specific manner maximizes the probability of improving physician performance. The manner in which feedback is provided influences whether the measurement tool will be successful in changing behavior. We created an innovative reporting tool template for anesthesiology practitioners designed to provide detailed, continuous feedback covering many aspects of clinical practice. The literature regarding quality metric measurement and feedback strategies was examined to design a reporting tool that could provide high quality information and result in improved performance of clinical and academic tasks. A committee of department leaders and information technology professionals was tasked with determining the measurement criteria and infrastructure needed to generate these reports. Data was collected in a systematic, unbiased manner, and reports were populated with information from multiple databases and software systems. Feedback would be based on frequently updated information and allow for analysis of historical performance as well as comparison amongst peers. A template for an anesthesia report card was created. Categories included compliance, credentialing and qualifications, education, clinical and operating room responsibilities, and academic achievements. Physicians were able to choose to be evaluated in some of the categories and had to meet a minimum number of criteria within each category. This allowed for customization to each practitioner's practice. Criteria were derived from the measures of academic and clinical proficiency, as well as quality metrics. Criteria were objective measures and data gathering was often automated. Reports could be generated that were updated daily and provided

The use of Reference Management tools to improve Citation

OpenAIRE

Ebrahim, Nader Ale

2016-01-01

Reference Management tools offer an easy way of finding relevant literature, collecting references, organizing them in a database, and insert citations works in a manuscript with proper citation style. Most of the new Reference Management tools provide facility to connect with other researchers that you can’t find on other platforms. A Web-based reference management provide easier collaboration and use across multiple devices and assist you to improve publication visibility.

CoC GIS Tools (GIS Tool)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Housing and Urban Development — This tool provides a no-cost downloadable software tool that allows users to interact with professional quality GIS maps. Users access pre-compiled projects through...

Can health insurance improve access to quality care for the Indian poor?

Science.gov (United States)

Michielsen, Joris; Criel, Bart; Devadasan, Narayanan; Soors, Werner; Wouters, Edwin; Meulemans, Herman

2011-08-01

Recently, the Indian government launched health insurance schemes for the poor both to protect them from high health spending and to improve access to high-quality health services. This article aims to review the potentials of health insurance interventions in order to improve access to quality care in India based on experiences of community health insurance schemes. PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE (R), All EBM Reviews, CSA Sociological Abstracts, CSA Social Service Abstracts, EconLit, Science Direct, the ISI Web of Knowledge, Social Science Research Network and databases of research centers were searched up to September 2010. An Internet search was executed. One thousand hundred and thirty-three papers were assessed for inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-five papers were selected providing information on eight schemes. A realist review was performed using Hirschman's exit-voice theory: mechanisms to improve exit strategies (financial assets and infrastructure) and strengthen patient's long voice route (quality management) and short voice route (patient pressure). All schemes use a mix of measures to improve exit strategies and the long voice route. Most mechanisms are not effective in reality. Schemes that focus on the patients' bargaining position at the patient-provider interface seem to improve access to quality care. Top-down health insurance interventions with focus on exit strategies will not work out fully in the Indian context. Government must actively facilitate the potential of CHI schemes to emancipate the target group so that they may transform from mere passive beneficiaries into active participants in their health.

Monitoring User-Based Accessibility Assessment in Urban Environments and in Public Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gintaras Stauskis

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The research features analysis of user-experience-based accessibility assessment and progress monitoring of buildings and public spaces; this analysis is used as a tool for facilitating the development of humane, socially sustainable and an inclusive urban environment. A group of users representing people with different kinds of disabilities, the elderly and families with children was created to assess the quality of access to various buildings with different functions and locations across Vilnius and in Singapore. A school, two hospitals, a rehab centre and two offices were selected for access monitoring in Vilnius City, while a hotel, a café and two metro stations with public squares were chosen for access assessment in Singapore. As the same method was principally applied to assess accessibility of selected buildings in Vilnius City in 2000 and 2017 and in Singapore in 2012, the article draws a comparative analysis of access levels in these two cities located in different global regions. The results show a definite improvement of access quality over time and also identify the critical aspects in this process. The segment of plot planning represents the lowest quality of access for all assessed building types as compared to the building segment and the external–internal element segments. The paper also draws conclusions that access improvement is a continuous process of implementing advanced urban policy instruments, and city planners can contribute to it by constantly analysing and presenting to public the monitoring data about the progress in access improvement. Comparing the assessment results between Vilnius City and Singapore – cities that are located in different global regions and in different socio-economic environments – provides a practical tool for benchmarking and setting the priorities for this process.

Assessing the Library Homepages of COPLAC Institutions for Section 508 Accessibility Errors: Who's Accessible, Who's Not, and How the Online WebXACT Assessment Tool Can Help

Science.gov (United States)

Huprich, Julia; Green, Ravonne

2007-01-01

The Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) libraries websites were assessed for Section 508 errors using the online WebXACT tool. Only three of the twenty-one institutions (14%) had zero accessibility errors. Eighty-six percent of the COPLAC institutions had an average of 1.24 errors. Section 508 compliance is required for institutions…

International cooperation to improve access to and sustain effectiveness of antimicrobials.

Science.gov (United States)

Årdal, Christine; Outterson, Kevin; Hoffman, Steven J; Ghafur, Abdul; Sharland, Mike; Ranganathan, Nisha; Smith, Richard; Zorzet, Anna; Cohn, Jennifer; Pittet, Didier; Daulaire, Nils; Morel, Chantal; Rizvi, Zain; Balasegaram, Manica; Dar, Osman A; Heymann, David L; Holmes, Alison H; Moore, Luke S P; Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Mendelson, Marc; Røttingen, John-Arne

2016-01-16

Securing access to effective antimicrobials is one of the greatest challenges today. Until now, efforts to address this issue have been isolated and uncoordinated, with little focus on sustainable and international solutions. Global collective action is necessary to improve access to life-saving antimicrobials, conserving them, and ensuring continued innovation. Access, conservation, and innovation are beneficial when achieved independently, but much more effective and sustainable if implemented in concert within and across countries. WHO alone will not be able to drive these actions. It will require a multisector response (including the health, agriculture, and veterinary sectors), global coordination, and financing mechanisms with sufficient mandates, authority, resources, and power. Fortunately, securing access to effective antimicrobials has finally gained a place on the global political agenda, and we call on policy makers to develop, endorse, and finance new global institutional arrangements that can ensure robust implementation and bold collective action. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving patient access to videofluoroscopy services: Role of the practitioner-led clinic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newman, Roger D., E-mail: Roger.Newman@lthtr.nhs.uk [Dept. of Speech and Language Therapy, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Sharoe Green lane, Fulwood, Preston PR2 9HT (United Kingdom); University of Salford (United Kingdom); Nightingale, Julie [University of Salford (United Kingdom)

2011-11-15

Quality Issue: Although costly and time consuming, videofluoroscopic swallowing (VFS) examinations are the gold standard for imaging of oro-pharyngeal dysphagia, and demand is likely to increase with an ageing population. Traditional radiologist-led VFS services in the UK are gradually being replaced by practitioner-led clinics undertaken jointly by speech and language therapists and radiographers. This article explores the impact on patient access of a practitioner-led VFS clinic at a large teaching hospital. Initial Assessment: Specific information pertaining to VFS patient waiting times and service quality was collected for a twelve month period both pre- and post-clinic formation. Choice of Solution: Additional capacity was achieved with the introduction of the practitioner-led clinic, with overall patient access improving by 111%. Mean waiting times for in-patients reduced by 75%, many of whom had the procedure on the same day as referral, with out-patients waiting times reducing by 62.5%. Evaluation: The data demonstrates that patient access and report turnaround times are significantly improved, with no adverse effects as measured by inadequate studies, incorrect reports, complaints and documented radiation dose levels. Lessons Learnt: Practitioner-led VFS services can be recommended as a safe and efficient method of improving service provision.

Improving patient access to videofluoroscopy services: Role of the practitioner-led clinic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, Roger D.; Nightingale, Julie

2011-01-01

Quality Issue: Although costly and time consuming, videofluoroscopic swallowing (VFS) examinations are the gold standard for imaging of oro-pharyngeal dysphagia, and demand is likely to increase with an ageing population. Traditional radiologist-led VFS services in the UK are gradually being replaced by practitioner-led clinics undertaken jointly by speech and language therapists and radiographers. This article explores the impact on patient access of a practitioner-led VFS clinic at a large teaching hospital. Initial Assessment: Specific information pertaining to VFS patient waiting times and service quality was collected for a twelve month period both pre- and post-clinic formation. Choice of Solution: Additional capacity was achieved with the introduction of the practitioner-led clinic, with overall patient access improving by 111%. Mean waiting times for in-patients reduced by 75%, many of whom had the procedure on the same day as referral, with out-patients waiting times reducing by 62.5%. Evaluation: The data demonstrates that patient access and report turnaround times are significantly improved, with no adverse effects as measured by inadequate studies, incorrect reports, complaints and documented radiation dose levels. Lessons Learnt: Practitioner-led VFS services can be recommended as a safe and efficient method of improving service provision.

Tools for improving the diagnosis of atherosclerotic plaque using ultrasound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jespersen, Søren Kragh

1997-01-01

topics have been investigated: an ultrasound pulse-echo simulation tool and a new compound imaging technique for improving visualization of atherosclerotic disease.A tool for simulation of the received electrical signal in a pulse-echo ultrasound system, due to a reflector surface of arbitrary geometry......, has been developed. The method is denoted the Diffraction Response Interpolation Method (DRIM) and is based on the pulse-echo diffraction impulse response method. The DRIM is a computationally efficient tool for calculating the integral of the spatially varying pulse-echo diffraction impulse response...... definition of the interfaces in the cases where one or more of the beams had near-normal incidence on the interface, i.e. an improved visualization over an angular range of interface orientations roughly corresponding to the range of beam angles used. The speckle statistics and the speckle reduction have...

Designing the OPAC User Interface to Improve Access and Retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Basista, Thomas; And Others

1991-01-01

Discussion of problems with retrieval of records in library online public access catalogs (OPACs) focuses on an ongoing research project at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) that has been trying to improve subject retrieval vocabulary control using natural and thesaural language and on the design of a good graphical user interface.…

Facilitation of Function and Manipulation Knowledge of Tools Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryo Ishibashi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Using a variety of tools is a common and essential component of modern human life. Patients with brain damage or neurological disorders frequently have cognitive deficits in their recognition and manipulation of tools. In this study, we focused on improving tool-related cognition using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS. Converging evidence from neuropsychology, neuroimaging and non- invasive brain stimulation has identified the anterior temporal lobe (ATL and inferior parietal lobule (IPL as brain regions supporting action semantics. We observed enhanced performance in tool cognition with anodal tDCS over ATL and IPL in two cognitive tasks that require rapid access to semantic knowledge about the function or manipulation of common tools. ATL stimulation improved access to both function and manipulation knowledge of tools. The effect of IPL stimulation showed a trend toward better manipulation judgments. Our findings support previous studies of tool semantics and provide a novel approach for manipulation of underlying circuits.

Persistent Identifiers for Improved Accessibility for Linked Data Querying

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, A.; Chandler, C. L.; Arko, R. A.; Fils, D.; Jones, M. B.; Krisnadhi, A.; Mecum, B.

2016-12-01

The adoption of linked open data principles within the geosciences has increased the amount of accessible information available on the Web. However, this data is difficult to consume for those who are unfamiliar with Semantic Web technologies such as Web Ontology Language (OWL), Resource Description Framework (RDF) and SPARQL - the RDF query language. Consumers would need to understand the structure of the data and how to efficiently query it. Furthermore, understanding how to query doesn't solve problems of poor precision and recall in search results. For consumers unfamiliar with the data, full-text searches are most accessible, but not ideal as they arrest the advantages of data disambiguation and co-reference resolution efforts. Conversely, URI searches across linked data can deliver improved search results, but knowledge of these exact URIs may remain difficult to obtain. The increased adoption of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) can lead to improved linked data querying by a wide variety of consumers. Because PIDs resolve to a single entity, they are an excellent data point for disambiguating content. At the same time, PIDs are more accessible and prominent than a single data provider's linked data URI. When present in linked open datasets, PIDs provide balance between the technical and social hurdles of linked data querying as evidenced by the NSF EarthCube GeoLink project. The GeoLink project, funded by NSF's EarthCube initiative, have brought together data repositories include content from field expeditions, laboratory analyses, journal publications, conference presentations, theses/reports, and funding awards that span scientific studies from marine geology to marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry to paleoclimatology.

Improving Global Precipitation Product Access at the GES DISC

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Z.; Vollmer, B.; Savtchenko, A.; Ostrenga, D.; DeShong, B.; Fang, F.; Albayrak, R,; Sherman, E.; Greene, M.; Li, A.;

Development of a national audit tool for juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a BSPAR project funded by the Health Care Quality Improvement Partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

McErlane, Flora; Foster, Helen E; Armitt, Gillian; Bailey, Kathryn; Cobb, Joanna; Davidson, Joyce E; Douglas, Sharon; Fell, Andrew; Friswell, Mark; Pilkington, Clarissa; Strike, Helen; Smith, Nicola; Thomson, Wendy; Cleary, Gavin

2018-01-01

Timely access to holistic multidisciplinary care is the core principle underpinning management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Data collected in national clinical audit programmes fundamentally aim to improve health outcomes of disease, ensuring clinical care is equitable, safe and patient-centred. The aim of this study was to develop a tool for national audit of JIA in the UK. A staged and consultative methodology was used across a broad group of relevant stakeholders to develop a national audit tool, with reference to pre-existing standards of care for JIA. The tool comprises key service delivery quality measures assessed against two aspects of impact, namely disease-related outcome measures and patient/carer reported outcome and experience measures. Eleven service-related quality measures were identified, including those that map to current standards for commissioning of JIA clinical services in the UK. The three-variable Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score and presence/absence of sacro-iliitis in patients with enthesitis-related arthritis were identified as the primary disease-related outcome measures, with presence/absence of uveitis a secondary outcome. Novel patient/carer reported outcomes and patient/carer reported experience measures were developed and face validity confirmed by relevant patient/carer groups. A tool for national audit of JIA has been developed with the aim of benchmarking current clinical practice and setting future standards and targets for improvement. Staged implementation of this national audit tool should facilitate investigation of variability in levels of care and drive quality improvement. This will require engagement from patients and carers, clinical teams and commissioners of JIA services. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.

Development of a national audit tool for juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a BSPAR project funded by the Health Care Quality Improvement Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

McErlane, Flora; Foster, Helen E; Armitt, Gillian; Bailey, Kathryn; Cobb, Joanna; Davidson, Joyce E; Douglas, Sharon; Fell, Andrew; Friswell, Mark; Pilkington, Clarissa; Strike, Helen; Smith, Nicola; Thomson, Wendy; Cleary, Gavin

2018-01-01

Abstract Objective Timely access to holistic multidisciplinary care is the core principle underpinning management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Data collected in national clinical audit programmes fundamentally aim to improve health outcomes of disease, ensuring clinical care is equitable, safe and patient-centred. The aim of this study was to develop a tool for national audit of JIA in the UK. Methods A staged and consultative methodology was used across a broad group of relevant stakeholders to develop a national audit tool, with reference to pre-existing standards of care for JIA. The tool comprises key service delivery quality measures assessed against two aspects of impact, namely disease-related outcome measures and patient/carer reported outcome and experience measures. Results Eleven service-related quality measures were identified, including those that map to current standards for commissioning of JIA clinical services in the UK. The three-variable Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score and presence/absence of sacro-iliitis in patients with enthesitis-related arthritis were identified as the primary disease-related outcome measures, with presence/absence of uveitis a secondary outcome. Novel patient/carer reported outcomes and patient/carer reported experience measures were developed and face validity confirmed by relevant patient/carer groups. Conclusion A tool for national audit of JIA has been developed with the aim of benchmarking current clinical practice and setting future standards and targets for improvement. Staged implementation of this national audit tool should facilitate investigation of variability in levels of care and drive quality improvement. This will require engagement from patients and carers, clinical teams and commissioners of JIA services. PMID:29069424

Developing an Application to Increase the Accessibility of Planetary Geologic Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsen, R. E.; Fay, C.

2018-06-01

USGS planetary geologic maps are widely used digital products with text, raster, vector, and temporal data, within a highly standardized design. This tool will augment the user experience by improving accessibility among the various forms of data.

Mass Counseling: Effective Tool to Improve Knowledge, Attitude and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mass Counseling: Effective Tool to Improve Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Regarding Blood Donation. ... PY Kulkarni, AD Kulkarni ... Establishment of mobile counseling units by blood banks may help to create a voluntary blood donor.

The Use of Ultrasound to Improve Axillary Vein Access and Minimize Complications during Pacemaker Implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaiel, Abdullah; Hassan, Jeremy; Blenkhorn, Fay; Mardigyan, Vartan

2016-05-01

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the United States recommends the use of ultrasound (US) for central venous access to improve patient outcomes. However, in a recent publication, US is still underutilized for axillary vein access during pacemaker implantation. We sought to describe a technique for US-guided axillary vein access during pacemaker implantation and to report complication rates and success rate. Retrospective data collection included success rate and complications on all pacemaker implants by one operator since implementing the systematic use of US at our institution, from November 2012 to January 2015. For the last 59 cases, data were collected prospectively to include time of venous access and number of attempts. A total of 403 consecutive patients were included in the analysis. Two leads were implanted in 255 cases and one lead was implanted in 148 cases. The rate of successful US-guided access was 99.25%. There were no access-related complications. The average number of venipuncture attempts was 1.18 per patient. The average time to obtain venous access was 2.24 minutes including the time to apply the sterile US sleeve. The described technique has the potential to improve the success rate of axillary vein access and minimize complications during pacemaker implantation. ©2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Coordination mechanisms for quality improvement and market access in Ethiopian potato value chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abebe, G.K.

2013-01-01

Market access for smallholders in developing countries often requires the improvement of product quality. As products are traded in value chains, quality improvement entails the coordination of activities and decisions by all actors in the chain. Thus, enhancing smallholders’

Measuring the Benefits of Public Chargers and Improving Infrastructure Deployments Using Advanced Simulation Tools: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wood, Eric; Neubauer. Jeremy; Burton, Evan

2015-02-01

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed BLAST-V -- the Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool for Vehicles. The addition of high-resolution spatial-temporal travel histories enables BLAST-V to investigate user-defined infrastructure rollouts of publically accessible charging infrastructure, as well as quantify impacts on vehicle and station owners in terms of improved vehicle utility and station throughput. This paper presents simulation outputs from BLAST-V that quantify the utility improvements of multiple distinct rollouts of publically available Level 2 electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) in the Seattle, Washington, metropolitan area. Publically available data on existing Level 2 EVSE are also used as an input to BLAST-V. The resulting vehicle utility is compared to a number of mock rollout scenarios. Discussion focuses on the estimated number of Level 2 stations necessary to substantially increase vehicle utility and how stations can be strategically sited to maximize their potential benefit to prospective electric vehicle owners.

Auditing as a Tool for Improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazila Said; Nurhanisah Adnan

2016-01-01

Quality audit in Nuclear Malaysia is monitored by Research Management Centre (RIMC) that manages and monitors the internal and external audit are performed effectively. Therefore auditing for Quality Management System (QMS) is a tool that helps Nuclear Malaysia to enhance the quality performance beside to sustain the certificate. QMS is a platform for processes and laboratories to make continual improvement such as the need to close the Audit Findings to tackle nonconformance (nc) clauses and opportunity for improvement (ofi) that focus on customers and suppliers. This study will discuss the percentage of non-conforming and conforming of processes and laboratories and to identify the trend for the year 2012, 2013 and 2014. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data by using SPSS version 20 and excel software. The finding of this study found that there are some trends of total numbers of non-conforming items for internal and external audit for the year 2012 to 2014. The improvement plans from RMC are also have been discussed according to four factors; internal audit quality, organizational setting, management support and auditee attributes. (author)

Geographical heterogeneity and inequality of access to improved drinking water supply and sanitation in Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Wen-Jun; Lai, Ying-Si; Karmacharya, Biraj M; Dai, Bo-Feng; Hao, Yuan-Tao; Xu, Dong Roman

2018-04-02

Per United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, Nepal is aspiring to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and provide access to adequate and equitable sanitation for all by 2030. For these goals to be accomplished, it is important to understand the country's geographical heterogeneity and inequality of access to its drinking-water supply and sanitation (WSS) so that resource allocation and disease control can be optimized. We aimed 1) to estimate spatial heterogeneity of access to improved WSS among the overall Nepalese population at a high resolution; 2) to explore inequality within and between relevant Nepalese administrative levels; and 3) to identify the specific administrative areas in greatest need of policy attention. We extracted cluster-sample data on the use of the water supply and sanitation that included 10,826 surveyed households from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, then used a Gaussian kernel density estimation with adaptive bandwidths to estimate the distribution of access to improved WSS conditions over a grid at 1 × 1 km. The Gini coefficient was calculated for the measurement of inequality in the distribution of improved WSS; the Theil L measure and Theil T index were applied to account for the decomposition of inequality. 57% of Nepalese had access to improved sanitation (range: 18.1% in Mahottari to 100% in Kathmandu) and 92% to drinking-water (range: 41.7% in Doti to 100% in Bara). The most unequal districts in Gini coefficient among improved sanitation were Saptari, Sindhuli, Banke, Bajura and Achham (range: 0.276 to 0.316); and Sankhuwasabha, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi, Bhojpur, Kathmandu (range: 0.110 to 0.137) among improved drinking-water. Both the Theil L and Theil T showed that within-province inequality was substantially greater than between-province inequality; while within-district inequality was less than between-district inequality. The inequality of several districts was

Effects of Job Accessibility Improved by Public Transport System: Natural Experimental Evidence from the Copenhagen Metro

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pons Rotger, Gabriel Angel; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

2015-01-01

This study examines the effect of accessibility to urban jobs via a public transport system on individual earnings and commuting behaviour. The effect of improved public transport based accessibility on these outcomes is determined by exploiting the exogenous variation in access to a public rail...... and Metro system resulting from the construction of a new terminal Metro station connecting southern townships to Copenhagen city centre. The results show that public transport based job accessibility has a positive and permanent effect on individual earnings. The increase in earnings is associated...... with a change in commuting patterns as the improved access to public transport facilitates a shift from employment within the township to better paid jobs in the city centre, as well as in other suburbs of the Copenhagen Metropolitan area...

Monitoring Accessibility Services in Digital Television

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Utray

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses methodology and tools applied to the monitoring of accessibility services in digital television at a time when the principles of accessibility and design are being considered in all new audiovisual media communication services. The main objective of this research is to measure the quality and quantity of existing accessibility services offered by digital terrestrial television (DTT. The preliminary results, presented here, offer the development of a prototype for automatic monitoring and a methodology for obtaining quality measurements, along with the conclusions drawn by initial studies carried out in Spain. The recent approval of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities gives special relevance to this research because it provides valuable guidelines to help set the priorities to improve services currently available to users.

Coastal On-line Assessment and Synthesis Tool 2.0

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Richard; Navard, Andrew; Nguyen, Beth

2011-01-01

COAST (Coastal On-line Assessment and Synthesis Tool) is a 3D, open-source Earth data browser developed by leveraging and enhancing previous NASA open-source tools. These tools use satellite imagery and elevation data in a way that allows any user to zoom from orbit view down into any place on Earth, and enables the user to experience Earth terrain in a visually rich 3D view. The benefits associated with taking advantage of an open-source geo-browser are that it is free, extensible, and offers a worldwide developer community that is available to provide additional development and improvement potential. What makes COAST unique is that it simplifies the process of locating and accessing data sources, and allows a user to combine them into a multi-layered and/or multi-temporal visual analytical look into possible data interrelationships and coeffectors for coastal environment phenomenology. COAST provides users with new data visual analytic capabilities. COAST has been upgraded to maximize use of open-source data access, viewing, and data manipulation software tools. The COAST 2.0 toolset has been developed to increase access to a larger realm of the most commonly implemented data formats used by the coastal science community. New and enhanced functionalities that upgrade COAST to COAST 2.0 include the development of the Temporal Visualization Tool (TVT) plug-in, the Recursive Online Remote Data-Data Mapper (RECORD-DM) utility, the Import Data Tool (IDT), and the Add Points Tool (APT). With these improvements, users can integrate their own data with other data sources, and visualize the resulting layers of different data types (such as spatial and spectral, for simultaneous visual analysis), and visualize temporal changes in areas of interest.

Improving the Authentication Scheme and Access Control Protocol for VANETs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Chen Wu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Privacy and security are very important in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs. VANETs are negatively affected by any malicious user’s behaviors, such as bogus information and replay attacks on the disseminated messages. Among various security threats, privacy preservation is one of the new challenges of protecting users’ private information. Existing authentication protocols to secure VANETs raise challenges, such as certificate distribution and reduction of the strong reliance on tamper-proof devices. In 2011, Yeh et al. proposed a PAACP: a portable privacy-preserving authentication and access control protocol in vehicular ad hoc networks. However, PAACP in the authorization phase is breakable and cannot maintain privacy in VANETs. In this paper, we present a cryptanalysis of an attachable blind signature and demonstrate that the PAACP’s authorized credential (AC is not secure and private, even if the AC is secretly stored in a tamper-proof device. An eavesdropper can construct an AC from an intercepted blind document. Any eavesdropper can determine who has which access privileges to access which service. For this reason, this paper copes with these challenges and proposes an efficient scheme. We conclude that an improving authentication scheme and access control protocol for VANETs not only resolves the problems that have appeared, but also is more secure and efficient.

Improving Access to Behavioral Health Care for Remote Service Members and Their Families

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

video conferencing can help remote service members and dependents access needed care. These two promising avenues for improving access to care can...Corporation ISBN 978-0-8330-8872-7 www.rand.org Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are...RAND Corporation View document details Support RAND Browse Reports & Bookstore Make a charitable contribution Limited Electronic Distribution Rights

A fast track path improves access to palliative care for people with learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitington, Jane; Ma, Peng

People with learning disabilities often experience inequalities in accessing general health services. This group, their families and carers need access to effective palliative care when facing a life limiting illness. This article describes the development and implementation of a fast track referral pathway for people with learning disabilities at St Francis Hospice in Essex. Our aim is to share this pathway so others can replicate the collaborative working to improve access to palliative care services for this group.

Does Improved Water Access Increase Child School Attendance? A Quasi-Experimental Approach From Rural Ethiopia

Science.gov (United States)

Masuda, Y.; Cook, J.

2012-12-01

This paper analyzes the impact of improved water access on child school attendance using two years of primary panel data from a quasi-experimental study in Oromiya, Ethiopia. A predominant form of child labor in rural poor households in least developed countries is water collection. Girls are often the primary water collectors for households, and because of the time intensive nature of water collection improved water access may allow for time to be reallocated to schooling (Rosen and Vincent 1999; Nankhuni and Findeis 2004). Understanding how improved water access may increase schooling for girls has important development policy implications. Indeed, abundant research on returns to education suggests increased schooling for girls is tied to improved future child and maternal health, economic opportunities, and lower fertility rates (Handa 1996; Schultz 1998; Michaelowa 2000). The literature to date finds that improved water access leads to increased schooling; however, there still exists a clear gap in the literature for understanding this relationship for two reasons. First, only four studies have directly examined the relationship between improved water access and schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, and analyses have been limited due to the use of cross-sectional data and research designs (Nankhuni and Findeis 2004; Koolwal and Van de Walle 2010; Ndiritu and Nyangan 2011; Nauges and Strand 2011). Indeed, only two studies have attempted to control for the endogenous nature of water access. Second, all studies use a binary school enrollment indicator from household surveys, which may suffer from response bias and may be an imperfect measure for actual schooling. Respondents may feel pressured to report that their children are enrolled in school if, like in Ethiopia, there are compulsory education laws. This may result in an overestimation of school enrollment. In addition, most children from rural poor households combine work and school, and a binary indicator does

The CANDU alarm analysis tool (CAAT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davey, E C; Feher, M P; Lupton, L R [Control Centre Technology Branch, ON (Canada)

1997-09-01

AECL undertook the development of a software tool to assist alarm system designers and maintainers based on feedback from several utilities and design groups. The software application is called the CANDU Alarm Analysis Tool (CAAT) and is being developed to: Reduce by one half the effort required to initially implement and commission alarm system improvements; improve the operational relevance, consistency and accuracy of station alarm information; record the basis for alarm-related decisions; provide printed reports of the current alarm configuration; and, make day-to-day maintenance of the alarm database less tedious and more cost-effective. The CAAT assists users in accessing, sorting and recording relevant information, design rules, decisions, and provides reports in support of alarm system maintenance, analysis of design changes, or regulatory inquiry. The paper discusses the need for such a tool, outlines the application objectives and principles used to guide tool development, describes the how specific tool features support user design and maintenance tasks, and relates the lessons learned from early application experience. (author). 4 refs, 2 figs.

The CANDU alarm analysis tool (CAAT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davey, E.C.; Feher, M.P.; Lupton, L.R.

1997-01-01

AECL undertook the development of a software tool to assist alarm system designers and maintainers based on feedback from several utilities and design groups. The software application is called the CANDU Alarm Analysis Tool (CAAT) and is being developed to: Reduce by one half the effort required to initially implement and commission alarm system improvements; improve the operational relevance, consistency and accuracy of station alarm information; record the basis for alarm-related decisions; provide printed reports of the current alarm configuration; and, make day-to-day maintenance of the alarm database less tedious and more cost-effective. The CAAT assists users in accessing, sorting and recording relevant information, design rules, decisions, and provides reports in support of alarm system maintenance, analysis of design changes, or regulatory inquiry. The paper discusses the need for such a tool, outlines the application objectives and principles used to guide tool development, describes the how specific tool features support user design and maintenance tasks, and relates the lessons learned from early application experience. (author). 4 refs, 2 figs

Demand, capacity, and access of the outpatient clinic: A framework for analysis and improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

van Bussel, Erik Martijn; van der Voort, Marc Boudewijn Victor Rouppe; Wessel, Ronald N; van Merode, Godefridus G

2018-06-01

While theoretical frameworks for optimization of the outpatient processes are abundant, practical step-by-step analyses to give leads for improvement, to forecast capacity, and to support decision making are sparse. This article demonstrates how to evaluate and optimize the triad of demand, (future) capacity, and access time of the outpatient clinic using a structured six-step method. All individual logistical patient data of an orthopaedic outpatient clinic of one complete year were analysed using a 6-step method to evaluate demand, supply, and access time. Trends in the data were retrospectively analysed and evaluated for potential improvements. A model for decision making was tested. Both the analysis of the method and actual results were considered as main outcomes. More than 25 000 appointments were analysed. The 6-step method showed to be sufficient to result in valuable insights and leads for improvement. While the overall match between demand and capacity was considered adequate, the variability in capacity was much higher than in demand, thereby leading to delays in access time. Holidays and subsequent weeks showed to be of great influence for demand, capacity, and access time. Using the six-step method, several unfavourable characteristics of the outpatient clinic were revealed and a better match between demand, supply, and access time could have been reached with only minor adjustments. Last, a clinic specific prediction and decision model for demand and capacity was made using the 6-step method. The 6-step analysis can successfully be applied to redesign and improve the outpatient health care process. The results of the analysis showed that national holidays and variability in demand and capacity have a big influence on the outpatient clinic. Using the 6-step method, practical improvements in outpatient logistics were easily found and leads for future decision making were contrived. © 2018 The Authors Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice

Online user tracking and usability tools - a mapping study

OpenAIRE

Nyström, Niklas

2014-01-01

Tracking user activities online can be done in order to improve systems usability, understand user behaviour or to increase monetary prot, to mention a few things. The software tools for this purpose can vary, for example in terms of usability of the tool itself, features, security, price, accessibility and support options. In this study I have developed a methodology to evaluate a selection of modern tools and map them depending on various properties. I have also analysed learning theories t...

Coaching as a Performance Improvement Tool at School

Science.gov (United States)

Yirci, Ramazan; Karakose, Turgut; Kocabas, Ibrahim

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the current literature and have an insight about coaching as a performance improvement tool at school. In today's world, schools have to survive and keep their organizational success in the highest level because of the high expectations from school stakeholders. Taking place in such a fierce competitive…

MbT-Tool: An open-access tool based on Thermodynamic Electron Equivalents Model to obtain microbial-metabolic reactions to be used in biotechnological process.

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Pablo Granda; Gras, Anna; Ginovart, Marta

2016-01-01

Modelling cellular metabolism is a strategic factor in investigating microbial behaviour and interactions, especially for bio-technological processes. A key factor for modelling microbial activity is the calculation of nutrient amounts and products generated as a result of the microbial metabolism. Representing metabolic pathways through balanced reactions is a complex and time-consuming task for biologists, ecologists, modellers and engineers. A new computational tool to represent microbial pathways through microbial metabolic reactions (MMRs) using the approach of the Thermodynamic Electron Equivalents Model has been designed and implemented in the open-access framework NetLogo. This computational tool, called MbT-Tool (Metabolism based on Thermodynamics) can write MMRs for different microbial functional groups, such as aerobic heterotrophs, nitrifiers, denitrifiers, methanogens, sulphate reducers, sulphide oxidizers and fermenters. The MbT-Tool's code contains eighteen organic and twenty inorganic reduction-half-reactions, four N-sources (NH4 (+), NO3 (-), NO2 (-), N2) to biomass synthesis and twenty-four microbial empirical formulas, one of which can be determined by the user (CnHaObNc). MbT-Tool is an open-source program capable of writing MMRs based on thermodynamic concepts, which are applicable in a wide range of academic research interested in designing, optimizing and modelling microbial activity without any extensive chemical, microbiological and programing experience.

Improvement of Selected Logistics Processes Using Quality Engineering Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Zasadzień, Michał; Žarnovský, Jozef

2018-03-01

Increase in the number of orders, the increasing quality requirements and the speed of order preparation require implementation of new solutions and improvement of logistics processes. Any disruption that occurs during execution of an order often leads to customer dissatisfaction, as well as loss of his/her confidence. The article presents a case study of the use of quality engineering methods and tools to improve the e-commerce logistic process. This made it possible to identify and prioritize key issues, identify their causes, and formulate improvement and prevention measures.

Does improved access to diagnostic imaging results reduce hospital length of stay? A retrospective study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hurlen Petter

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background One year after the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT to support diagnostic imaging at our hospital, clinicians had faster and better access to radiology reports and images; direct access to Computed Tomography (CT reports in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR was particularly popular. The objective of this study was to determine whether improvements in radiology reporting and clinical access to diagnostic imaging information one year after the ICT introduction were associated with a reduction in the length of patients' hospital stays (LOS. Methods Data describing hospital stays and diagnostic imaging were collected retrospectively from the EMR during periods of equal duration before and one year after the introduction of ICT. The post-ICT period was chosen because of the documented improvement in clinical access to radiology results during that period. The data set was randomly split into an exploratory part used to establish the hypotheses, and a confirmatory part. The data was used to compare the pre-ICT and post-ICT status, but also to compare differences between groups. Results There was no general reduction in LOS one year after ICT introduction. However, there was a 25% reduction for one group - patients with CT scans. This group was heterogeneous, covering 445 different primary discharge diagnoses. Analyses of subgroups were performed to reduce the impact of this divergence. Conclusion Our results did not indicate that improved access to radiology results reduced the patients' LOS. There was, however, a significant reduction in LOS for patients undergoing CT scans. Given the clinicians' interest in CT reports and the results of the subgroup analyses, it is likely that improved access to CT reports contributed to this reduction.

Improving access to urologists through an electronic consultation service

Science.gov (United States)

Witherspoon, Luke; Liddy, Clare; Afkham, Amir; Keely, Erin; Mahoney, John

2017-01-01

Introduction Access to specialist services is limited by wait times and geographic availability. Champlain Building Access to Specialist Advice (BASE) has been implemented in our service region to facilitate access to specialists by primary care providers (PCPs). Through a secure web-based system, PCPs are able to send eConsults instead of requesting a formal in-office consultation. Methods Urology eConsults completed through the Champlain BASE service from March 2013 to January 2015 were analyzed. Each consult was characterized in regard to the type of question asked by the referring physician and the clinical content of the referral. Using the mandatory close-out surveys, we analyzed rates of referral avoidance, physician satisfaction, and overall impact on patient care. Results Of 190 eConsultations, 70% were completed in less than 10 minutes. The most common clinical questions related to the interpretation of imaging reports (16%) and tests to choose for investigating a condition (15%). The most common diagnoses were hematuria (13%) and renal mass (8%). In 35% of cases, referral to a urologist had originally been contemplated and was avoided. In 8% of cases, a PCP did not believe a consultation was initially needed, but a referral was ultimately initiated after the eConsultation. Conclusions Our study shows that although certain clinical presentations still require a formal in-person urological consultation, eConsultations can potentially reduce unnecessary clinic visits while identifying patients who may benefit from early urological consultation. Through both these mechanisms, we may improve timely access to urologists. PMID:28798830

Severe accident management guidelines tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gutierrez Varela, Javier; Tanarro Onrubia, Augustin; Martinez Fanegas, Rafael

2014-01-01

Severe Accident is addressed by means of a great number of documents such as guidelines, calculation aids and diagnostic trees. The response methodology often requires the use of several documents at the same time while Technical Support Centre members need to assess the appropriate set of equipment within the adequate mitigation strategies. In order to facilitate the response, TECNATOM has developed SAMG TOOL, initially named GGAS TOOL, which is an easy to use computer program that clearly improves and accelerates the severe accident management. The software is designed with powerful features that allow the users to focus on the decision-making process. Consequently, SAMG TOOL significantly improves the severe accident training, ensuring a better response under a real situation. The software is already installed in several Spanish Nuclear Power Plants and trainees claim that the methodology can be followed easier with it, especially because guidelines, calculation aids, equipment information and strategies availability can be accessed immediately (authors)

Improving the Accessibility of Mobile OCR Apps Via Interactive Modalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

2017-10-01

Mobile optical character recognition (OCR) apps have come of age. Many blind individuals use them on a daily basis. The usability of such tools, however, is limited by the requirement that a good picture of the text to be read must be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. Some mobile OCR apps already implement auto-shot and guidance mechanisms to facilitate this task. In this paper, we describe two experiments with blind participants, who tested these two interactive mechanisms on a customized iPhone implementation. These experiments bring to light a number of interesting aspects of accessing a printed document without sight, and enable a comparative analysis of the available interaction modalities.

A framework for improving access and customer service times in health care: application and analysis at the UCLA Medical Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Duda, Catherine; Rajaram, Kumar; Barz, Christiane; Rosenthal, J Thomas

2013-01-01

There has been an increasing emphasis on health care efficiency and costs and on improving quality in health care settings such as hospitals or clinics. However, there has not been sufficient work on methods of improving access and customer service times in health care settings. The study develops a framework for improving access and customer service time for health care settings. In the framework, the operational concept of the bottleneck is synthesized with queuing theory to improve access and reduce customer service times without reduction in clinical quality. The framework is applied at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to determine the drivers for access and customer service times and then provides guidelines on how to improve these drivers. Validation using simulation techniques shows significant potential for reducing customer service times and increasing access at this institution. Finally, the study provides several practice implications that could be used to improve access and customer service times without reduction in clinical quality across a range of health care settings from large hospitals to small community clinics.

Corporate social responsibility to improve access to medicines: the case of Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorsteinsdóttir, Halla; Ovtcharenko, Natasha; Kohler, Jillian Clare

2017-02-21

Access to medicines and the development of a strong national pharmaceutical industry are two longstanding pillars of health policy in Brazil. This is reflected in a clear emphasis by Brazil's Federal Government on improving access to medicine in national health plans and industrial policies aimed at promoting domestic pharmaceutical development. This research proposes that such policies may act as incentives for companies to pursue a strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda. CSR that supports Governmental priorities could help companies to benefit significantly from the Governmental industrial policy. We sought to determine whether CSR activities of Brazilian pharmaceutical firms are currently aligned with the Federal Government's health prioritization. To do so we examined key Brazilian health related policies since 2004, including the specific priorities of Brazil's 2012-2015 Health Plan, and compared these with CSR initiatives that are reported on the websites of select pharmaceutical firms in Brazil. Brazil's national health plans and industrial policies demonstrated that the Federal Government has followed diverse approaches for improving access to medicines, including strengthening health care infrastructure, increasing transparency, and supporting product development partnerships. Case studies of six pharmaceutical firms, representing both public and private companies of varying size, support the perspective that CSR is a priority for firms. However, while many programs target issues such as health infrastructure, health care training, and drug donation, more programs focus on areas other than health and do not seem to be connected to Governmental prioritization. This research suggests that there are loose connections between Governmental priorities and pharmaceutical firm CSR. However, there remains a significant opportunity for greater alignment, which could improve access to medicines in the country and foster a stronger relationship between

PRIORITIZED ACTIONS FOR MARKETING IMPROVEMENT: A TOOL FOR SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING PROGRAMMES

OpenAIRE

Nikola Rovis

2010-01-01

Purpose of this paper is to offer a pragmatic tool for management and marketing practitioners in small businesses. The name of the tool is Prioritized Action for Marketing Improvements (PAMI). This work gives an overview of marketing and strategy processes in small businesses and a brief description of Dibb and Simkin buying proforma tool. The PAMI tool builds on successfully conducted market segmentation and specification or implicit knowledge on targeted market segments and market positioni...

When action is not enough: tool-use reveals tactile-dependent access to Body Schema.

Science.gov (United States)

Cardinali, L; Brozzoli, C; Urquizar, C; Salemme, R; Roy, A C; Farnè, A

2011-11-01

Proper motor control of our own body implies a reliable representation of body parts. This information is supposed to be stored in the Body Schema (BS), a body representation that appears separate from a more perceptual body representation, the Body Image (BI). The dissociation between BS for action and BI for perception, originally based on neuropsychological evidence, has recently become the focus of behavioural studies in physiological conditions. By inducing the rubber hand illusion in healthy participants, Kammers et al. (2009) showed perceptual changes attributable to the BI to which the BS, as indexed via motor tasks, was immune. To more definitively support the existence of dissociable body representations in physiological conditions, here we tested for the opposite dissociation, namely, whether a tool-use paradigm would induce a functional update of the BS (via a motor localization task) without affecting the BI (via a perceptual localization task). Healthy subjects were required to localize three anatomical landmarks on their right arm, before and after using the same arm to control a tool. In addition to this classical task-dependency approach, we assessed whether preferential access to the BS could also depend upon the way positional information about forearm targets is provided, to subsequently execute the same task. To this aim, participants performed either verbally or tactually driven versions of the motor and perceptual localization tasks. Results showed that both the motor and perceptual tasks were sensitive to the update of the forearm representation, but only when the localization task (perceptual or motor) was driven by a tactile input. This pattern reveals that the motor output is not sufficient per se, but has to be coupled with tactually mediated information to guarantee access to the BS. These findings shade a new light on the action-perception models of body representations and underlie how functional plasticity may be a useful tool to

IMPROVING NEAREST NEIGHBOUR SEARCH IN 3D SPATIAL ACCESS METHOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Suhaibaha

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Nearest Neighbour (NN is one of the important queries and analyses for spatial application. In normal practice, spatial access method structure is used during the Nearest Neighbour query execution to retrieve information from the database. However, most of the spatial access method structures are still facing with unresolved issues such as overlapping among nodes and repetitive data entry. This situation will perform an excessive Input/Output (IO operation which is inefficient for data retrieval. The situation will become more crucial while dealing with 3D data. The size of 3D data is usually large due to its detail geometry and other attached information. In this research, a clustered 3D hierarchical structure is introduced as a 3D spatial access method structure. The structure is expected to improve the retrieval of Nearest Neighbour information for 3D objects. Several tests are performed in answering Single Nearest Neighbour search and k Nearest Neighbour (kNN search. The tests indicate that clustered hierarchical structure is efficient in handling Nearest Neighbour query compared to its competitor. From the results, clustered hierarchical structure reduced the repetitive data entry and the accessed page. The proposed structure also produced minimal Input/Output operation. The query response time is also outperformed compared to the other competitor. For future outlook of this research several possible applications are discussed and summarized.

Improving children's access to health care: the role of decategorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, D C; Halfon, N; Brindis, C D; Newacheck, P W

1996-01-01

Far too many children in this country are unable to obtain the health care they need because of barriers that prohibit easy access. Among the most significant obstacles are financial barriers, including lack of adequate health insurance and inadequate funding of programs for low-income children and those with special health-care needs. Another set of "non-financial" barriers are related to the categorical nature of addressing children's health-care needs, which impedes access by increasing the complexity and burden of seeking care and discourages providers from providing care. Decategorization represents an appealing partial remedy to these problems because it can lead to fundamental and lasting changes in financing and delivering health services. The greatest appeal of decategorization is its potential to improve access to care with the expenditure of little or no new funds. Decategorization also holds considerable risk. Depending on how it is designed and implemented, decategorization may lead to diminished access to care by serving as a foil for budget cuts or by undermining essential standards of care. However, these risks do not negate the value of exploring decategorization as an approach that can be taken today to better organize services and ensure that existing resources adequately meet children's needs. In this report we examine the role of decategorization as a mechanism for removing the barriers to care that are created by categorical funding of health programs.

Improving access in gastroenterology: The single point of entry model for referrals

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Kerri L; Van Zanten, Sander Veldhuyzen; Pendharkar, Sachin R

2013-01-01

In 2005, a group of academic gastroenterologists in Calgary (Alberta) adopted a centralized referral intake system known as central triage. This system provided a single point of entry model (SEM) for referrals rather than the traditional system of individual practitioners managing their own referrals and queues. The goal of central triage was to improve wait times and referral management. In 2008, a similar system was developed in Edmonton at the University of Alberta Hospital (Edmonton, Alberta). SEMs have subsequently been adopted by numerous subspecialties throughout Alberta. There are many benefits of SEMs including improved access and reduced wait times. Understanding and measuring complex patient flow systems is key to improving access, and centralized intake systems provide an opportunity to better understand total demand and system bottlenecks. This knowledge is particularly important for specialties such as gastroenterology (GI), in which demand exceeds supply. While it is anticipated that SEMs will reduce wait times for GI care in Canada, the lack of sufficient resources to meet the demand for GI care necessitates additional strategies. PMID:24040629

Improving Access in Gastroenterology: The Single Point of Entry Model for Referrals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerri L Novak

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In 2005, a group of academic gastroenterologists in Calgary (Alberta adopted a centralized referral intake system known as central triage. This system provided a single point of entry model (SEM for referrals rather than the traditional system of individual practitioners managing their own referrals and queues. The goal of central triage was to improve wait times and referral management. In 2008, a similar system was developed in Edmonton at the University of Alberta Hospital (Edmonton, Alberta. SEMs have subsequently been adopted by numerous subspecialties throughout Alberta. There are many benefits of SEMs including improved access and reduced wait times. Understanding and measuring complex patient flow systems is key to improving access, and centralized intake systems provide an opportunity to better understand total demand and system bottlenecks. This knowledge is particularly important for specialties such as gastroenterology (GI, in which demand exceeds supply. While it is anticipated that SEMs will reduce wait times for GI care in Canada, the lack of sufficient resources to meet the demand for GI care necessitates additional strategies.

Improving access in gastroenterology: the single point of entry model for referrals.

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Kerri; Veldhuyzen Van Zanten, Sander; Pendharkar, Sachin R

2013-11-01

In 2005, a group of academic gastroenterologists in Calgary (Alberta) adopted a centralized referral intake system known as central triage. This system provided a single point of entry model (SEM) for referrals rather than the traditional system of individual practitioners managing their own referrals and queues. The goal of central triage was to improve wait times and referral management. In 2008, a similar system was developed in Edmonton at the University of Alberta Hospital (Edmonton, Alberta). SEMs have subsequently been adopted by numerous subspecialties throughout Alberta. There are many benefits of SEMs including improved access and reduced wait times. Understanding and measuring complex patient flow systems is key to improving access, and centralized intake systems provide an opportunity to better understand total demand and system bottlenecks. This knowledge is particularly important for specialties such as gastroenterology (GI), in which demand exceeds supply. While it is anticipated that SEMs will reduce wait times for GI care in Canada, the lack of sufficient resources to meet the demand for GI care necessitates additional strategies.

Improving Data Discovery, Access, and Analysis to More Than Three Decades of Oceanographic and Geomorphologic Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Forte, M.; Hesser, T.; Knee, K.; Ingram, I.; Hathaway, K. K.; Brodie, K. L.; Spore, N.; Bird, A.; Fratantonio, R.; Dopsovic, R.; Keith, A.; Gadomski, K.

2016-02-01

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (USACE ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) Coastal Observations and Analysis Branch (COAB) Measurements Program has a 35-year record of coastal observations. These datasets include oceanographic point source measurements, Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS bathymetry surveys, and remote sensing data from both the Field Research Facility (FRF) in Duck, NC and from other project and experiment sites around the nation. The data has been used to support a variety of USACE mission areas, including coastal wave model development, beach and bar response, coastal project design, coastal storm surge, and other coastal hazard investigations. Furthermore these data have been widely used by a number of federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and private industries in hundreds of scientific and engineering investigations, publications, conference presentations and model advancement studies. A limiting factor to the use of FRF data has been rapid, reliable access and publicly available metadata for each data type. The addition of web tools, accessible data files, and well-documented metadata will open the door to much future collaboration. With the help of industry partner RPS ASA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District Spatial Data Branch, a Data Integration Framework (DIF) was developed. The DIF represents a combination of processes, standards, people, and tools used to transform disconnected enterprise data into useful, easily accessible information for analysis and reporting. A front-end data portal connects the user to the framework that integrates both oceanographic observation and geomorphology measurements using a combination of ESRI and open-source technology while providing a seamless data discovery, access, and analysis experience to the user. The user interface was built with ESRI's JavaScript API and all project metadata is managed using Geoportal. The geomorphology data is made

2B-Alert Web: An Open-Access Tool for Predicting the Effects of Sleep/Wake Schedules and Caffeine Consumption on Neurobehavioral Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Reifman, Jaques; Kumar, Kamal; Wesensten, Nancy J; Tountas, Nikolaos A; Balkin, Thomas J; Ramakrishnan, Sridhar

2016-12-01

Computational tools that predict the effects of daily sleep/wake amounts on neurobehavioral performance are critical components of fatigue management systems, allowing for the identification of periods during which individuals are at increased risk for performance errors. However, none of the existing computational tools is publicly available, and the commercially available tools do not account for the beneficial effects of caffeine on performance, limiting their practical utility. Here, we introduce 2B-Alert Web, an open-access tool for predicting neurobehavioral performance, which accounts for the effects of sleep/wake schedules, time of day, and caffeine consumption, while incorporating the latest scientific findings in sleep restriction, sleep extension, and recovery sleep. We combined our validated Unified Model of Performance and our validated caffeine model to form a single, integrated modeling framework instantiated as a Web-enabled tool. 2B-Alert Web allows users to input daily sleep/wake schedules and caffeine consumption (dosage and time) to obtain group-average predictions of neurobehavioral performance based on psychomotor vigilance tasks. 2B-Alert Web is accessible at: https://2b-alert-web.bhsai.org. The 2B-Alert Web tool allows users to obtain predictions for mean response time, mean reciprocal response time, and number of lapses. The graphing tool allows for simultaneous display of up to seven different sleep/wake and caffeine schedules. The schedules and corresponding predicted outputs can be saved as a Microsoft Excel file; the corresponding plots can be saved as an image file. The schedules and predictions are erased when the user logs off, thereby maintaining privacy and confidentiality. The publicly accessible 2B-Alert Web tool is available for operators, schedulers, and neurobehavioral scientists as well as the general public to determine the impact of any given sleep/wake schedule, caffeine consumption, and time of day on performance of a

Are consumer surveys valuable as a service improvement tool in health services? A critical appraisal.

Science.gov (United States)

Patwardhan, Anjali; Patwardhan, Prakash

2009-01-01

In the recent climate of consumerism and consumer focused care, health and social care needs to be more responsive than ever before. Consumer needs and preferences can be elicited with accepted validity and reliability only by strict methodological control, customerisation of the questionnaire and skilled interpretation. To construct, conduct, interpret and implement improved service provision, requires a trained work force and infrastructure. This article aims to appraise various aspects of consumer surveys and to assess their value as effective service improvement tools. The customer is the sole reason organisations exist. Consumer surveys are used worldwide as service and quality of care improvement tools by all types of service providers including health service providers. The article critically appraises the value of consumer surveys as service improvement tools in health services tool and its future applications. No one type of survey is the best or ideal. The key is the selection of the correct survey methodology, unique and customised for the particular type/aspect of care being evaluated. The method used should reflect the importance of the information required. Methodological rigor is essential for the effectiveness of consumer surveys as service improvement tools. Unfortunately so far there is no universal consensus on superiority of one particular methodology over another or any benefit of one specific methodology in a given situation. More training and some dedicated resource allocation is required to develop consumer surveys. More research is needed to develop specific survey methodology and evaluation techniques for improved validity and reliability of the surveys as service improvement tools. Measurement of consumer preferences/priorities, evaluation of services and key performance scores, is not easy. Consumer surveys seem impressive tools as they provide the customer a voice for change or modification. However, from a scientific point

Improving access to healthcare with eHealth in sub-Saharan Africa ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

23 août 2013 ... Health systems across Africa are hindered by inadequate resources and growing disease burdens. Access to timely and affordable health services is needed to manage diseases and improve health and well-being. The growing field of electronic health (eHealth) is helping fill gaps in decision-making and ...

Using the GTFS format to improve public transport data accessibility in Gauteng

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Koetsier, Sumarie

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Public transport plays an important role in cities. It is a less expensive option than private transport and could reduce congestion and improve accessibility to jobs. However, ridership could be hampered when information regarding an operator’s...

75 FR 75188 - Listening Session Regarding Improving the Accessibility of Government Information

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-02

... SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Listening Session Regarding Improving the Accessibility of... of diverse communities and provide better solutions, the U.S. Council of CIOs, in collaboration with... out of? What technologies should the Federal government use that would enhance your interactions with...

Access 2007 forms and reports for dummies

CERN Document Server

Underdahl, Brian

2013-01-01

Do you have tons and tons of data on your computer but you're not quite sure how to make heads or tails of them-or even organize them? Are you using Access as spreadsheet rather than what it was really meant for? If you have trouble finding meaning in your data, then Access 2007 Forms & Reports for Dummies let you discover the wonders of this highly useful program. This no-nonsense guide gets right down to business by showing you the easy way to use this powerful tool. It gets you started with selective, targeted queries; forms that improve efficiency; and reports that communicate-while sparin

Interactive and Approachable Web-Based Tools for Exploring Global Geophysical Data Records

Science.gov (United States)

Croteau, M. J.; Nerem, R. S.; Merrifield, M. A.; Thompson, P. R.; Loomis, B. D.; Wiese, D. N.; Zlotnicki, V.; Larson, J.; Talpe, M.; Hardy, R. A.

2017-12-01

Making global and regional data accessible and understandable for non-experts can be both challenging and hazardous. While data products are often developed with end users in mind, the ease of use of these data can vary greatly. Scientists must take care to provide detailed guides for how to use data products to ensure users are not incorrectly applying data to their problem. For example, terrestrial water storage data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission is notoriously difficult for non-experts to access and correctly use. However, allowing these data to be easily accessible to scientists outside the GRACE community is desirable because this would allow that data to see much wider-spread use. We have developed a web-based interactive mapping and plotting tool that provides easy access to geophysical data. This work presents an intuitive method for making such data widely accessible to experts and non-experts alike, making the data approachable and ensuring proper use of the data. This tool has proven helpful to experts by providing fast and detailed access to the data. Simultaneously, the tool allows non-experts to gain familiarity with the information contained in the data and access to that information for both scientific studies and public use. In this presentation, we discuss the development of this tool and application to both GRACE and ocean altimetry satellite missions, and demonstrate the capabilities of the tool. Focusing on the data visualization aspects of the tool, we showcase our integrations of the Mapbox API and the D3.js data-driven web document framework. We then explore the potential of these tools in other web-based visualization projects, and how incorporation of such tools into science can improve the presentation of research results. We demonstrate how the development of an interactive and exploratory resource can enable further layers of exploratory and scientific discovery.

MbT-Tool: An open-access tool based on Thermodynamic Electron Equivalents Model to obtain microbial-metabolic reactions to be used in biotechnological process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pablo Araujo Granda

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Modelling cellular metabolism is a strategic factor in investigating microbial behaviour and interactions, especially for bio-technological processes. A key factor for modelling microbial activity is the calculation of nutrient amounts and products generated as a result of the microbial metabolism. Representing metabolic pathways through balanced reactions is a complex and time-consuming task for biologists, ecologists, modellers and engineers. A new computational tool to represent microbial pathways through microbial metabolic reactions (MMRs using the approach of the Thermodynamic Electron Equivalents Model has been designed and implemented in the open-access framework NetLogo. This computational tool, called MbT-Tool (Metabolism based on Thermodynamics can write MMRs for different microbial functional groups, such as aerobic heterotrophs, nitrifiers, denitrifiers, methanogens, sulphate reducers, sulphide oxidizers and fermenters. The MbT-Tool's code contains eighteen organic and twenty inorganic reduction-half-reactions, four N-sources (NH4+, NO3−, NO2−, N2 to biomass synthesis and twenty-four microbial empirical formulas, one of which can be determined by the user (CnHaObNc. MbT-Tool is an open-source program capable of writing MMRs based on thermodynamic concepts, which are applicable in a wide range of academic research interested in designing, optimizing and modelling microbial activity without any extensive chemical, microbiological and programing experience.

About Using Predictive Models and Tools To Assess Chemicals under TSCA

Science.gov (United States)

As part of EPA's effort to promote chemical safety, OPPT provides public access to predictive models and tools which can help inform the public on the hazards and risks of substances and improve chemical management decisions.

Optimal Design of Multitype Groundwater Monitoring Networks Using Easily Accessible Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Wöhling, Thomas; Geiges, Andreas; Nowak, Wolfgang

2016-11-01

Monitoring networks are expensive to establish and to maintain. In this paper, we extend an existing data-worth estimation method from the suite of PEST utilities with a global optimization method for optimal sensor placement (called optimal design) in groundwater monitoring networks. Design optimization can include multiple simultaneous sensor locations and multiple sensor types. Both location and sensor type are treated simultaneously as decision variables. Our method combines linear uncertainty quantification and a modified genetic algorithm for discrete multilocation, multitype search. The efficiency of the global optimization is enhanced by an archive of past samples and parallel computing. We demonstrate our methodology for a groundwater monitoring network at the Steinlach experimental site, south-western Germany, which has been established to monitor river-groundwater exchange processes. The target of optimization is the best possible exploration for minimum variance in predicting the mean travel time of the hyporheic exchange. Our results demonstrate that the information gain of monitoring network designs can be explored efficiently and with easily accessible tools prior to taking new field measurements or installing additional measurement points. The proposed methods proved to be efficient and can be applied for model-based optimal design of any type of monitoring network in approximately linear systems. Our key contributions are (1) the use of easy-to-implement tools for an otherwise complex task and (2) yet to consider data-worth interdependencies in simultaneous optimization of multiple sensor locations and sensor types. © 2016, National Ground Water Association.

Accessibility and usability OCW data: The UTPL OCW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Germania Rodríguez

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This data article provides a data description on article entitled “A framework for improving web accessibility and usability of Open Course Ware sites” [3] This Data in Brief presents the data obtained from the accessibility and usability evaluation of the UTPL OCW. The data obtained from the framework evaluation consists of the manual evaluation of the standards criteria and the automatic evaluation of the tools Google PageSpeed and Google Analytics. In addition, this article presents the synthetized tables from standards that are used by the framework to evaluate the accessibility and usability of OCW, and the questionnaires required to extract the data. As a result, the article also provides the data required to reproduce the evaluation of other OCW.

SWS: accessing SRS sites contents through Web Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Romano, Paolo; Marra, Domenico

2008-03-26

Web Services and Workflow Management Systems can support creation and deployment of network systems, able to automate data analysis and retrieval processes in biomedical research. Web Services have been implemented at bioinformatics centres and workflow systems have been proposed for biological data analysis. New databanks are often developed by taking into account these technologies, but many existing databases do not allow a programmatic access. Only a fraction of available databanks can thus be queried through programmatic interfaces. SRS is a well know indexing and search engine for biomedical databanks offering public access to many databanks and analysis tools. Unfortunately, these data are not easily and efficiently accessible through Web Services. We have developed 'SRS by WS' (SWS), a tool that makes information available in SRS sites accessible through Web Services. Information on known sites is maintained in a database, srsdb. SWS consists in a suite of WS that can query both srsdb, for information on sites and databases, and SRS sites. SWS returns results in a text-only format and can be accessed through a WSDL compliant client. SWS enables interoperability between workflow systems and SRS implementations, by also managing access to alternative sites, in order to cope with network and maintenance problems, and selecting the most up-to-date among available systems. Development and implementation of Web Services, allowing to make a programmatic access to an exhaustive set of biomedical databases can significantly improve automation of in-silico analysis. SWS supports this activity by making biological databanks that are managed in public SRS sites available through a programmatic interface.

Amail : design and evaluation of an accessible email tool for persons with Aphasia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahmud, Al A.; Martens, J.B.O.S.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we describe the iterative design and exploratory evaluation of 'Amail', an email tool designed for persons with aphasia. It is inspired by interviews with persons with aphasia and their partners and has been improved through discussions with experienced speech therapists. Our user

Two-Step Optimization for Spatial Accessibility Improvement: A Case Study of Health Care Planning in Rural China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Luo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A recent advancement in location-allocation modeling formulates a two-step approach to a new problem of minimizing disparity of spatial accessibility. Our field work in a health care planning project in a rural county in China indicated that residents valued distance or travel time from the nearest hospital foremost and then considered quality of care including less waiting time as a secondary desirability. Based on the case study, this paper further clarifies the sequential decision-making approach, termed “two-step optimization for spatial accessibility improvement (2SO4SAI.” The first step is to find the best locations to site new facilities by emphasizing accessibility as proximity to the nearest facilities with several alternative objectives under consideration. The second step adjusts the capacities of facilities for minimal inequality in accessibility, where the measure of accessibility accounts for the match ratio of supply and demand and complex spatial interaction between them. The case study illustrates how the two-step optimization method improves both aspects of spatial accessibility for health care access in rural China.

Proteomics: A Biotechnology Tool for Crop Improvement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moustafa eEldakak

2013-02-01

Full Text Available A sharp decline in the availability of arable land and sufficient supply of irrigation water along with a continuous steep increase in food demands have exerted a pressure on farmers to produce more with fewer resources. A viable solution to release this pressure is to speed up the plant breeding process by employing biotechnology in breeding programs. The majority of biotechnological applications rely on information generated from various -omic technologies. The latest outstanding improvements in proteomic platforms and many other but related advances in plant biotechnology techniques offer various new ways to encourage the usage of these technologies by plant scientists for crop improvement programs. A combinatorial approach of accelerated gene discovery through genomics, proteomics, and other associated -omic branches of biotechnology, as an applied approach, is proving to be an effective way to speed up the crop improvement programs worldwide. In the near future, swift improvements in -omic databases are becoming critical and demand immediate attention for the effective utilization of these techniques to produce next-generation crops for the progressive farmers. Here, we have reviewed the recent advances in proteomics, as tools of biotechnology, which are offering great promise and leading the path towards crop improvement for sustainable agriculture.

AquaUsers: Improving access to remotely sensed data for non-specialists

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, Oliver; Walker, Peter; Calton, Ben; Miller, Peter

2015-04-01

In recent years more and more complex remotely sensed data have been made available to the public by national and international agencies. These data are also reprocessed by different organisations to produce secondary products that are of specific need to a community. For instance the production of chlorophyll concentration maps from ocean colour data provided by NASA for the marine community. Providing access to such data has normally been focused on simply making the data available with appropriate metadata so that domain specialists can make use of it. One area that has seen significant investment, both of time and money, has been in the production of web based data portals. Primarily these have focused on spatial data. By providing a web map visualisation users are able to quickly assess both spatial coverage and data values. Data portal improvements have been possible thanks to advancements in back end data servers such as Thredds and ncWMS as well as improvements in front-end libraries for data visualisation including OpenLayers and D3. Data portals that make use of these technological advancements have aimed at improving the access and use of data by trained scientific domain specialists. There is now a push to improve access to these systems by non-scientific domain specialists through several European Commission funded projects, including OPEC and AquaUsers. These projects have improved upon an open source web GIS portal created by Plymouth Marine Laboratory [https://github.com/pmlrsg/GISportal]. We will present the latest version of our GIS portal, discuss the designs steps taken to achieve the latest build and share user stories as to how non-domain specialists are now able to utilise the system and get benefits from remotely sensed data. A first version was produced and disseminated to end users for feedback. At this stage the end users included government advisors, fish farmers and scientific groups with no specific GIS training or knowledge. This

Nucleonica. Web-based software tools for simulation and analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magill, J.; Dreher, R.; Soti, Z.

2014-01-01

The authors present a description of the Nucleonica web-based portal for simulation and analysis for a wide range of commonly encountered nuclear science applications. Advantages of a web-based approach include availability wherever there is internet access, intuitive user-friendly interface, remote access to high-power computing resources, and continual maintenance, improvement, and addition of tools and techniques common to the nuclear science industry. A description of the nuclear data resources, and some applications is given.

Current strategies for improving access and adherence to antiretroviral therapies in resource-limited settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scanlon ML

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Michael L Scanlon,1,2 Rachel C Vreeman1,21Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; 2USAID, Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH Partnership, Eldoret, KenyaAbstract: The rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART significantly reduced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-related morbidity and mortality, but good clinical outcomes depend on access and adherence to treatment. In resource-limited settings, where over 90% of the world’s HIV-infected population resides, data on barriers to treatment are emerging that contribute to low rates of uptake in HIV testing, linkage to and retention in HIV care systems, and suboptimal adherence rates to therapy. A review of the literature reveals limited evidence to inform strategies to improve access and adherence with the majority of studies from sub-Saharan Africa. Data from observational studies and randomized controlled trials support home-based, mobile and antenatal care HIV testing, task-shifting from doctor-based to nurse-based and lower level provider care, and adherence support through education, counseling and mobile phone messaging services. Strategies with more limited evidence include targeted HIV testing for couples and family members of ART patients, decentralization of HIV care, including through home- and community-based ART programs, and adherence promotion through peer health workers, treatment supporters, and directly observed therapy. There is little evidence for improving access and adherence among vulnerable groups such as women, children and adolescents, and other high-risk populations and for addressing major barriers. Overall, studies are few in number and suffer from methodological issues. Recommendations for further research include health information technology, social-level factors like HIV stigma, and new research directions in cost-effectiveness, operations, and implementation. Findings from this review make a

Educational Leadership and Comprehensive Reform for Improving Equity and Access for All

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olcay Yavuz

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Disparities in college access for underrepresented urban students are one of the most urgent educational problems of America’s education system. In response to growing national concern, this longitudinal study investigated how school leaders worked collaboratively with key stakeholders to implement research-supported student services in order to improve college access for underrepresented urban students. The quantitative investigation showed that when educational leaders and key stakeholders worked collaboratively to deliver comprehensive student services, urban students in a high-poverty school district experienced measurable benefits in terms of their college enrolment. This study may be of particular value to policymakers, school leaders, and educators concerned with the low college access rates of students in urban schools, as well as to those who are seeking to understand what works better to prepare urban students for post-secondary education.

Identification of appropriate tools of information and communication ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Access to sufficient and desirable food is one of the principles of any developing and healthy society. One of the important means for attainment of food security is information and communication technologies (ICT). The purpose of the research was to identify appropriate tools of ICT in improving food security of Iran's rural ...

Web accessibility and open source software.

Science.gov (United States)

Obrenović, Zeljko

2009-07-01

A Web browser provides a uniform user interface to different types of information. Making this interface universally accessible and more interactive is a long-term goal still far from being achieved. Universally accessible browsers require novel interaction modalities and additional functionalities, for which existing browsers tend to provide only partial solutions. Although functionality for Web accessibility can be found as open source and free software components, their reuse and integration is complex because they were developed in diverse implementation environments, following standards and conventions incompatible with the Web. To address these problems, we have started several activities that aim at exploiting the potential of open-source software for Web accessibility. The first of these activities is the development of Adaptable Multi-Interface COmmunicator (AMICO):WEB, an infrastructure that facilitates efficient reuse and integration of open source software components into the Web environment. The main contribution of AMICO:WEB is in enabling the syntactic and semantic interoperability between Web extension mechanisms and a variety of integration mechanisms used by open source and free software components. Its design is based on our experiences in solving practical problems where we have used open source components to improve accessibility of rich media Web applications. The second of our activities involves improving education, where we have used our platform to teach students how to build advanced accessibility solutions from diverse open-source software. We are also partially involved in the recently started Eclipse projects called Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF), the aim of which is development of extensible infrastructure, upon which developers can build a variety of utilities that help to evaluate and enhance the accessibility of applications and content for people with disabilities. In this article we briefly report on these activities.

A prospective international cooperative information technology platform built using open-source tools for improving the access to and safety of bone marrow transplantation in low- and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Rajat Kumar; Sedai, Amit; Dhimal, Sunil; Ankita, Kumari; Clemente, Luigi; Siddique, Sulman; Yaqub, Naila; Khalid, Sadaf; Itrat, Fatima; Khan, Anwar; Gilani, Sarah Khan; Marwah, Priya; Soni, Rajpreet; Missiry, Mohamed El; Hussain, Mohamed Hamed; Uderzo, Cornelio; Faulkner, Lawrence

2014-01-01

Jagriti Innovations developed a collaboration tool in partnership with the Cure2Children Foundation that has been used by health professionals in Italy, Pakistan, and India for the collaborative management of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for thalassemia major since August 2008. This online open-access database covers data recording, analyzing, and reporting besides enabling knowledge exchange, telemedicine, capacity building, and quality assurance. As of February 2014, over 2400 patients have been registered and 112 BMTs have been performed with outcomes comparable to international standards, but at a fraction of the cost. This approach avoids medical emigration and contributes to local healthcare strengthening and competitiveness. This paper presents the experience and clinical outcomes associated with the use of this platform built using open-source tools and focusing on a locally pertinent tertiary care procedure-BMT. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Using remote participation tools to improve collaborations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balme, S.; How, J.; Theis, J.M.; Utzel, N.

2005-01-01

Research on fusion requires effective collaboration between members who are not co-located in time and space. In order that distance should not restrict collaboration, this paper gives ideas and solutions to encourage and improve remote participation. This includes techniques for:1.'On-line' discussions with internet via instant messaging (IM). 2.Sharing a publication space, using a collaborative web workspace. 3.Equipping dedicated meeting rooms with flexible communication and collaboration tools, hardware and software for multi-standard videoconferences. 4.Sharing presentations and supervision screens. 5.Participating remotely to experiments

Longitudinal Household Trends in Access to Improved Water Sources and Sanitation in Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong Province, Viet Nam and Associated Factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuyet-Hanh, Tran Thi; Long, Tran Khanh; Van Minh, Hoang; Huong, Le Thi Thanh

2016-01-01

This study aims to characterize household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitaton in Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong Province, Vietnam, and to identify factors affecting those trends. Data were extracted from the Chi Linh Health and Demographic Surveillance System (CHILILAB HDSS) database from 2004-2014, which included household access to improved water sources, household access to improved sanitation, and household demographic data. Descriptive statistical analysis and multinominal logistic regression were used. The results showed that over a 10-year period (2004-2014), the proportion of households with access to improved water and improved sanitation increased by 3.7% and 28.3%, respectively. As such, the 2015 Millennium Development Goal targets for safe drinking water and basic sanitation were met. However, 13.5% of households still had unimproved water and sanitation. People who are retired, work in trade or services, or other occupations were 1.49, 1.97, and 1.34 times more likely to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities than farming households, respectively ( p < 0.001). Households living in urban areas were 1.84 times more likely than those living in rural areas to have access to improved water sources and improved sanitation facilities (OR =1.84; 95% CI = 1.73-1.96). Non-poor households were 2.12 times more likely to have access to improved water sources and improved sanitation facilities compared to the poor group (OR = 2.12; 95% CI = 2.00-2.25). More efforts are required to increase household access to both improved water and sanitation in Chi Linh Town, focusing on the 13.5% of households currently without access. Similar to situations observed elsewhere in Vietnam and other low- and middle- income countries, there is a need to address socio-economic factors that are associated with inadequate access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities.

Analysis Tool Web Services from the EMBL-EBI.

Science.gov (United States)

McWilliam, Hamish; Li, Weizhong; Uludag, Mahmut; Squizzato, Silvano; Park, Young Mi; Buso, Nicola; Cowley, Andrew Peter; Lopez, Rodrigo

2013-07-01

Since 2004 the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) has provided access to a wide range of databases and analysis tools via Web Services interfaces. This comprises services to search across the databases available from the EMBL-EBI and to explore the network of cross-references present in the data (e.g. EB-eye), services to retrieve entry data in various data formats and to access the data in specific fields (e.g. dbfetch), and analysis tool services, for example, sequence similarity search (e.g. FASTA and NCBI BLAST), multiple sequence alignment (e.g. Clustal Omega and MUSCLE), pairwise sequence alignment and protein functional analysis (e.g. InterProScan and Phobius). The REST/SOAP Web Services (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/webservices/) interfaces to these databases and tools allow their integration into other tools, applications, web sites, pipeline processes and analytical workflows. To get users started using the Web Services, sample clients are provided covering a range of programming languages and popular Web Service tool kits, and a brief guide to Web Services technologies, including a set of tutorials, is available for those wishing to learn more and develop their own clients. Users of the Web Services are informed of improvements and updates via a range of methods.

WAPTT - Web Application Penetration Testing Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DURIC, Z.

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Web applications vulnerabilities allow attackers to perform malicious actions that range from gaining unauthorized account access to obtaining sensitive data. The number of reported web application vulnerabilities in last decade is increasing dramatically. The most of vulnerabilities result from improper input validation and sanitization. The most important of these vulnerabilities based on improper input validation and sanitization are: SQL injection (SQLI, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS and Buffer Overflow (BOF. In order to address these vulnerabilities we designed and developed the WAPTT (Web Application Penetration Testing Tool tool - web application penetration testing tool. Unlike other web application penetration testing tools, this tool is modular, and can be easily extended by end-user. In order to improve efficiency of SQLI vulnerability detection, WAPTT uses an efficient algorithm for page similarity detection. The proposed tool showed promising results as compared to six well-known web application scanners in detecting various web application vulnerabilities.

Closing the circle of care: implementation of a web-based communication tool to improve emergency department discharge communication with family physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunchak, Cheryl; Tannenbaum, David; Roberts, Michael; Shah, Thrushar; Tisma, Predrag; Ovens, Howard; Borgundvaag, Bjug

2015-03-01

Postdischarge emergency department (ED) communication with family physicians is often suboptimal and negatively impacts patient care. We designed and piloted an online notification system that electronically alerts family physicians of patient ED visits and provides access to visitspecific laboratory and diagnostic information. Nine (of 10 invited) high-referring family physicians participated in this single ED pilot. A prepilot chart audit (30 patients from each family physician) determined the baseline rate of paper-based record transmission. A webbased communication portal was designed and piloted by the nine family physicians over 1 year. Participants provided usability feedback via focus groups and written surveys. Review of 270 patient charts in the prepilot phase revealed a 13% baseline rate of handwritten chart and a 44% rate of any information transfer between the ED and family physician offices following discharge. During the pilot, participant family physicians accrued 880 patient visits. Seven and two family physicians accessed online records for 74% and 12% of visits, respectively, an overall 60.7% of visits, corresponding to an overall absolute increase in receipt of patient ED visit information of 17%. The postpilot survey found that 100% of family physicians reported that they were ''often'' or ''always'' aware of patient ED visits, used the portal ''always'' or ''regularly'' to access patients' health records online, and felt that the web portal contributed to improved actual and perceived continuity of patient care. Introduction of a web-based ED visit communication tool improved ED-family physician communication. The impact of this system on improved continuity of care, timeliness of follow-up, and reduced duplication of investigations and referrals requires additional study.

Special issue on enabling open and interoperable access to Planetary Science and Heliophysics databases and tools

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

The large amount of data generated by modern space missions calls for a change of organization of data distribution and access procedures. Although long term archives exist for telescopic and space-borne observations, high-level functions need to be developed on top of these repositories to make Planetary Science and Heliophysics data more accessible and to favor interoperability. Results of simulations and reference laboratory data also need to be integrated to support and interpret the observations. Interoperable software and interfaces have recently been developed in many scientific domains. The Virtual Observatory (VO) interoperable standards developed for Astronomy by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) can be adapted to Planetary Sciences, as demonstrated by the VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access) team within the Europlanet-H2020-RI project. Other communities have developed their own standards: GIS (Geographic Information System) for Earth and planetary surfaces tools, SPASE (Space Physics Archive Search and Extract) for space plasma, PDS4 (NASA Planetary Data System, version 4) and IPDA (International Planetary Data Alliance) for planetary mission archives, etc, and an effort to make them interoperable altogether is starting, including automated workflows to process related data from different sources.

Genomic-based-breeding tools for tropical maize improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakradhar, Thammineni; Hindu, Vemuri; Reddy, Palakolanu Sudhakar

2017-12-01

Maize has traditionally been the main staple diet in the Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and widely grown by millions of resource poor small scale farmers. Approximately, 35.4 million hectares are sown to tropical maize, constituting around 59% of the developing worlds. Tropical maize encounters tremendous challenges besides poor agro-climatic situations with average yields recorded <3 tones/hectare that is far less than the average of developed countries. On the contrary to poor yields, the demand for maize as food, feed, and fuel is continuously increasing in these regions. Heterosis breeding introduced in early 90 s improved maize yields significantly, but genetic gains is still a mirage, particularly for crop growing under marginal environments. Application of molecular markers has accelerated the pace of maize breeding to some extent. The availability of array of sequencing and genotyping technologies offers unrivalled service to improve precision in maize-breeding programs through modern approaches such as genomic selection, genome-wide association studies, bulk segregant analysis-based sequencing approaches, etc. Superior alleles underlying complex traits can easily be identified and introgressed efficiently using these sequence-based approaches. Integration of genomic tools and techniques with advanced genetic resources such as nested association mapping and backcross nested association mapping could certainly address the genetic issues in maize improvement programs in developing countries. Huge diversity in tropical maize and its inherent capacity for doubled haploid technology offers advantage to apply the next generation genomic tools for accelerating production in marginal environments of tropical and subtropical world. Precision in phenotyping is the key for success of any molecular-breeding approach. This article reviews genomic technologies and their application to improve agronomic traits in tropical maize breeding has been reviewed in

Log files as a tool for improving Internet dictionaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henning, Bergenholtz.; Johnsen, Mia

2005-01-01

are not related to concrete examples of dictionary use. The surveys, which have always been concerned with printed dictionaries, have therefore not contributed to substantial improvements of dictionary conception. In the case of internet dictionaries, on the other hand, technical possibilities enable...... in the dictionary. Furthermore, log files allow lexicographers to see the types of information which have not, or not yet, been searched for. All in all, log files may thus be used as a tool for improving internet dictionaries - and perhaps also printed dictionaries - quite considerably....

TEL4Health – Mobile tools to improve patient safety

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drachsler, Hendrik; Kalz, Marco; Specht, Marcus

2013-01-01

Drachsler, H., Kalz, M., & Specht, M. (2013, 10 October). TEL4Health – Mobile tools to improve patient safety. Presentation given at the blended learning platform of the Netherlands Organisation for Hospitals (Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen), Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Design and validation of an improved graphical user interface with the 'Tool ball'.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kuo-Wei; Lee, Ying-Chu

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research is introduce the design of an improved graphical user interface (GUI) and verifies the operational efficiency of the proposed interface. Until now, clicking the toolbar with the mouse is the usual way to operate software functions. In our research, we designed an improved graphical user interface - a tool ball that is operated by a mouse wheel to perform software functions. Several experiments are conducted to measure the time needed to operate certain software functions with the traditional combination of "mouse click + tool button" and the proposed integration of "mouse wheel + tool ball". The results indicate that the tool ball design can accelerate the speed of operating software functions, decrease the number of icons on the screen, and enlarge the applications of the mouse wheel. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

From theoretical concept to organizational tool for public sector improvement:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ernst, Jette; Hindhede, Anette Lykke; Andersen, Vibeke

2018-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine, first, how social capital was crafted and transformed from a theoretical concept to an organizational tool for public sector improvement that was adopted by a Danish region and implemented in all regional hospitals. Second, the paper examines...... produce a pressure on the department management and the nurses. Originality/value – The explanatory critical framework combined with the ethnographic approach is a useful approach for theorizing and understanding social capital as an example of the emergence and consequences of new managerial tools...

Improving access to antiretrovirals in rural South Africa – a call to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Improving access to antiretrovirals in rural South Africa – a call to action. South Africa (SA) already has the world's biggest antiretroviral (ARV) programme. With the introduction of extended criteria for initiating ARVs, the National Department of Health (NDoH) wishes to increase the number of people on ARVs by around.

Role of isotope tools in the fight against malnutrition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fjeld, C.R.; Parr, R.M.; Mutru, T.J.

1996-01-01

Isotope techniques are highly suited to evaluations of this kind - evaluations of the nutritional needs of the target population, as well as of the specific nutrients contained in local foodstuffs. Nuclear techniques are unique in that they can be used to evaluate nutritional status and food quality irrespective of the intervention to improve the situation. For examples, approaches to improving human health and nutrition may focus on education programmes for women, improving access to nutritionally adequate diets, improving the nutritional status of teenage girls to improve pregnancy outcome, or food and nutrient supplements for children. In a number of activities, the IAEA is using nuclear science and technology as tools to evaluate nutritional status and nutrients in foods. Member States decide to improve nutritional status; the IAEA provides the tools for assessing nutritional needs, for monitoring programmes and for determining programme impact. 26 refs, 6 figs, 2 tabs

A GIS Tool for evaluating and improving NEXRAD and its application in distributed hydrologic modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, X.; Srinivasan, R.

2008-12-01

In this study, a user friendly GIS tool was developed for evaluating and improving NEXRAD using raingauge data. This GIS tool can automatically read in raingauge and NEXRAD data, evaluate the accuracy of NEXRAD for each time unit, implement several geostatistical methods to improve the accuracy of NEXRAD through raingauge data, and output spatial precipitation map for distributed hydrologic model. The geostatistical methods incorporated in this tool include Simple Kriging with varying local means, Kriging with External Drift, Regression Kriging, Co-Kriging, and a new geostatistical method that was newly developed by Li et al. (2008). This tool was applied in two test watersheds at hourly and daily temporal scale. The preliminary cross-validation results show that incorporating raingauge data to calibrate NEXRAD can pronouncedly change the spatial pattern of NEXRAD and improve its accuracy. Using different geostatistical methods, the GIS tool was applied to produce long term precipitation input for a distributed hydrologic model - Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Animated video was generated to vividly illustrate the effect of using different precipitation input data on distributed hydrologic modeling. Currently, this GIS tool is developed as an extension of SWAT, which is used as water quantity and quality modeling tool by USDA and EPA. The flexible module based design of this tool also makes it easy to be adapted for other hydrologic models for hydrological modeling and water resources management.

Toyota A3 report: a tool for process improvement in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Te-Shu; Kuo, Mu-Hsing

2009-01-01

It is proposed that the A3 problem solving process be used by hospital staff to improve its healthcare workflow. A hypothetical case study is given to demonstrate the applicability and benefits of the methodology. The research results show that A3 is a useful tool for healthcare organizations seeking to continuously improve their healthcare service quality.

Instant messaging: The way to improve access for young people to their school nurse.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuller, Lynne; Thaker, Kelly

2015-12-01

Children and young people require ease of access to their school nurse. Alongside this, school nurses are charged with the need to work smarter, being cost-effective and timely in response. School nursing teams across the country provide access through text messaging, however, there is presently no access provided to young people to have a consultation as a web-based chat facility. Using digital media, Doncaster school nurses have worked closely with young people to redesign and launch a totally interactive web- based clinic facility. This allows for improved access, reduction in travel costs and consultations to take place outside of the traditional times for accessing school nurses. This paper discusses a pilot project around the establishment of an e-clinic connecting young people and school nurses. It outlines the journey towards providing this innovative service in an attempt to provide cost-effective, timely services while reducing the barriers for service users.

An Analysis of Website Accessibility in Higher Education in Indonesia Based on WCAG 2.0 Guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Arasid, W.; Abdullah, A. G.; Wahyudin, D.; Abdullah, C. U.; Widiaty, I.; Zakaria, D.; Amelia, N.; Juhana, A.

2018-02-01

Website accessibility is a simple way to access a website by everyone so that information on the website can be easily understood. This study aims to improve the accessibility of universities’ website to analyze website accessibility problems based on WCAG 2.0 guidelines. This study analyzed 13 universities’ websites in West Java, Indonesia by using TAW as an evaluation tool. The evaluation results were presented in a graph showing the error rate of each university’s website. The same errors that occurred in almost all websites were: non-text content, info and relationships, page title, link purpose, language of page, on input, labels and instructions, parsing, and name, role, value criteria. This study was expected to provide information to the university and to perform as guidelines for website accessibility improvements.

Data Mining Tools Make Flights Safer, More Efficient

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

A small data mining team at Ames Research Center developed a set of algorithms ideal for combing through flight data to find anomalies. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. signed a Space Act Agreement with Ames in 2011 to access the tools, helping the company refine its safety practices, improve its safety reviews, and increase flight efficiencies.

A Retrofit Tool for Improving Energy Efficiency of Commercial Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Mark; Feng, Wei; Ke, Jing; Hong, Tianzhen; Zhou, Nan

2013-06-06

Existing buildings will dominate energy use in commercial buildings in the United States for three decades or longer and even in China for the about two decades. Retrofitting these buildings to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use is thus critical to achieving the target of reducing energy use in the buildings sector. However there are few evaluation tools that can quickly identify and evaluate energy savings and cost effectiveness of energy conservation measures (ECMs) for retrofits, especially for buildings in China. This paper discusses methods used to develop such a tool and demonstrates an application of the tool for a retrofit analysis. The tool builds on a building performance database with pre-calculated energy consumption of ECMs for selected commercial prototype buildings using the EnergyPlus program. The tool allows users to evaluate individual ECMs or a package of ECMs. It covers building envelope, lighting and daylighting, HVAC, plug loads, service hot water, and renewable energy. The prototype building can be customized to represent an actual building with some limitations. Energy consumption from utility bills can be entered into the tool to compare and calibrate the energy use of the prototype building. The tool currently can evaluate energy savings and payback of ECMs for shopping malls in China. We have used the tool to assess energy and cost savings for retrofit of the prototype shopping mall in Shanghai. Future work on the tool will simplify its use and expand it to cover other commercial building types and other countries.

Access 2013 bible

CERN Document Server

Alexander, Michael

2013-01-01

A comprehensive reference to the updated and new features of Access 2013 As the world's most popular database management tool, Access enables you to organize, present, analyze, and share data as well as build powerful database solutions. However, databases can be complex. That's why you need the expert guidance in this comprehensive reference. Access 2013 Bible helps you gain a solid understanding of database purpose, construction, and application so that whether you're new to Access or looking to upgrade to the 2013 version, this well-rounded resource provides you with a th

Exploring interoperability: The advancements and challenges of improving data discovery, access, and visualization of scientific data through the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS). (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, J.; Lynge, J.; Hackathorn, E.; MacDermaid, C.; Pierce, R.; Smith, J.

2013-12-01

Interoperability is a complex subject and often leads to different definitions in different environments. An interoperable framework of web services can improve the user experience by providing an interface for interaction with data regardless of it's format or physical location. This in itself improves accessibility to data, fosters data exploration and use, and provides a framework for new tools and applications. With an interoperable system you have: -- Data ready for action. Services model facilitates agile response to events. Services can be combined or reused quickly, upgraded or modified independently. -- Any data available through an interoperable framework can be operated on or combined with other data. Integrating standardized formats and access. -- New and existing systems have access to wide variety of data. Any new data added is easily incorporated with minimal changes required. The possibilities are limitless. The NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS) at the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is continuing research into an interoperable framework of layered services designed to facilitate the discovery, access, integration, visualization, and understanding of all NOAA (past, present, and future) data. An underlying philosophy of NEIS is to take advantage of existing off-the-shelf technologies and standards to minimize development of custom code allowing everyone to take advantage of the framework to meet these goals above. This framework, while built by NOAA are not limited to NOAA data or applications. Any other data available through similar services or applications that understand these standards can work interchangeably. Two major challenges are under active research at ESRL are data discoverability and fast access to big data. This presentation will provide an update on development of NEIS, including these challenges, the findings, and recommendations on what is needed for an interoperable system, as well as ongoing research activities

Ways to Improve the Access to Finance of Romanian SME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentin Mihai Leoveanu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study intends to highlight the principal aspects concerning SME’s financing in Romania by analyzing the European Union context of SME’s financing, the research done by World Bank, OECD and NBR specialists regarding the actual framework of SME’s financing and the surveys realized by some Romanian market researchers and the National Council of Romanian SMEs. The starting point is a theoretical approach about SME’s financing that underline the role and the importance of SME for the economy and the main issues concerning access of SME to finance. The author tries to emphasize some particularities for SME’s financing by European Union in order to better approach the framework for Romania. In this respect, the research undertaken on Romania materializes into a SWOT analysis that encapsulate the internal and external constraints of SME’s financing and also factors favoring it in order that entrepreneurs and policy makers take better actions to improve the SME access to finance.

Longitudinal Household Trends in Access to Improved Water Sources and Sanitation in Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong Province, Viet Nam and Associated Factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tran Thi Tuyet-Hanh

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Objective: This study aims to characterize household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitaton in Chi Linh Town, Hai Duong Province, Vietnam, and to identify factors affecting those trends. Method: Data were extracted from the Chi Linh Health and Demographic Surveillance System (CHILILAB HDSS database from 2004–2014, which included household access to improved water sources, household access to improved sanitation, and household demographic data. Descriptive statistical analysis and multinominal logistic regression were used. The results showed that over a 10-year period (2004–2014, the proportion of households with access to improved water and improved sanitation increased by 3.7% and 28.3%, respectively. As such, the 2015 Millennium Development Goal targets for safe drinking water and basic sanitation were met. However, 13.5% of households still had unimproved water and sanitation. People who are retired, work in trade or services, or other occupations were 1.49, 1.97, and 1.34 times more likely to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities than farming households, respectively (p < 0.001. Households living in urban areas were 1.84 times more likely than those living in rural areas to have access to improved water sources and improved sanitation facilities (OR =1.84; 95% CI = 1.73–1.96. Non-poor households were 2.12 times more likely to have access to improved water sources and improved sanitation facilities compared to the poor group (OR = 2.12; 95% CI = 2.00–2.25. More efforts are required to increase household access to both improved water and sanitation in Chi Linh Town, focusing on the 13.5% of households currently without access. Similar to situations observed elsewhere in Vietnam and other low- and middle- income countries, there is a need to address socio-economic factors that are associated with inadequate access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities.

Efficiency of conscious access improves with coupling of slow and fast neural oscillations.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakatani, Chie; Raffone, Antonino; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-05-01

Global workspace access is considered as a critical factor for the ability to report a visual target. A plausible candidate mechanism for global workspace access is coupling of slow and fast brain activity. We studied coupling in EEG data using cross-frequency phase-amplitude modulation measurement between delta/theta phases and beta/gamma amplitudes from two experimental sessions, held on different days, of a typical attentional blink (AB) task, implying conscious access to targets. As the AB effect improved with practice between sessions, theta-gamma and theta-beta coupling increased generically. Most importantly, practice effects observed in delta-gamma and delta-beta couplings were specific to performance on the AB task. In particular, delta-gamma coupling showed the largest increase in cases of correct target detection in the most challenging AB conditions. All these practice effects were observed in the right temporal region. Given that the delta band is the main frequency of the P3 ERP, which is a marker of global workspace activity for conscious access, and because the gamma band is involved in visual object processing, the current results substantiate the role of phase-amplitude modulation in conscious access to visual target representations.

[Improve the accessibility of essential drugs for the populations of one medical region in Burkina Faso].

Science.gov (United States)

Ridde, Valéry; Nitièma, Abdoulaye P; Dadjoari, Moussa

2005-01-01

Despite the formulation of the Bamako initiative in 1992 in Burkina Faso, not until 2001 and the launching of a project by a nongovernmental organization was the policy really implemented in a region of the country. One of the goals of this policy is to improve access to health care by using generic essential drugs. The objective of this article is to summarize the results of the evaluation of the project's ability to improve the population's access to drugs. The project lasted three years (2001-2003) and the interventions took place in 41 basic health centres of three districts. According to WHO, improving access to drugs requires consideration of four essential factors: rational use, affordable prices, financial viability, and effectiveness of the distribution. The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription sheet (n = 1061) was 2.4; 93% of the drugs were prescribed by their generic name (international non-proprietary names); 44% of infant diarrheas were treated with oral rehydration salt. National drug prices were respected but not the directives aiming at exempting from payment or subsidizing certain population sub-groups (children, indigents). The average annual cash flow of the basic health centres was 1.2 million F CFA and it increased by 854% compared to the beginning of the project. The cost-recovery scheme for administrative expenses was 106%. The average annual availability of the 10 essential drugs was 89%. Utilization rates increased (0.13 in 1999 to 0.21 in 2003) but not significantly differently than in other basic health centres of the area not supported by the project (p = 0.084). The project succeeded in improving access to these drugs for the overall population but not for the worst-off. The drugs are now geographically available for all and financially accessible for those who can afford to pay. The intervention strategy supported the sustainability of the project's activities but much remains to be done to provide the poorest with

Assessing organisational culture for quality and safety improvement: a national survey of tools and tool use.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannion, R; Konteh, F H; Davies, H T O

2009-04-01

There is growing international interest in managing organisational culture as a lever for healthcare improvement. This has prompted a practical need to understand what instruments and tools exist for assessing cultures in healthcare contexts. The present study was undertaken to determine the culture assessment tools being used in the English NHS and assess their fitness for purpose. Postal questionnaire survey of clinical governance leads in 275 English NHS organisations, with a response rate of 77%. A third of the organisations were currently using a culture assessment instrument to support their clinical governance activity. Although we found a high degree of satisfaction with existing instruments, in terms of ease of use and relevance, there is an immediate practical need to develop new and better bespoke culture assessment tools to bridge the gap between the cultural domains covered by extant instruments and the broader range of concerns of clinical governance managers. There is growing interest in understanding and shaping local cultures in healthcare, which is not yet matched by widespread use of available instruments. Even though extant tools cover many of the most important cultural attributes identified by clinical governance managers, the over-riding focus of tools in use is on safety rather than a holistic assessment of the dimensions of healthcare quality and performance.

Using implementation tools to design and conduct quality improvement projects for faster and more effective improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ovretveit, John; Mittman, Brian; Rubenstein, Lisa; Ganz, David A

2017-10-09

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enable improvers to use recent knowledge from implementation science to carry out improvement changes more effectively. It also highlights the importance of converting research findings into practical tools and guidance for improvers so as to make research easier to apply in practice. Design/methodology/approach This study provides an illustration of how a quality improvement (QI) team project can make use of recent findings from implementation research so as to make their improvement changes more effective and sustainable. The guidance is based on a review and synthesis of improvement and implementation methods. Findings The paper illustrates how research can help a quality project team in the phases of problem definition and preparation, in design and planning, in implementation, and in sustaining and spreading a QI. Examples of the use of different ideas and methods are cited where they exist. Research limitations/implications The example is illustrative and there is little limited experimental evidence of whether using all the steps and tools in the one approach proposed do enable a quality team to be more effective. Evidence supporting individual guidance proposals is cited where it exists. Practical implications If the steps proposed and illustrated in the paper were followed, it is possible that quality projects could avoid waste by ensuring the conditions they need for success are in place, and sustain and spread improvement changes more effectively. Social implications More patients could benefit more quickly from more effective implementation of proven interventions. Originality/value The paper is the first to describe how improvement and implementation science can be combined in a tangible way that practical improvers can use in their projects. It shows how QI project teams can take advantage of recent advances in improvement and implementation science to make their work more effective and sustainable.

The PEcAn Project: Accessible Tools for On-demand Ecosystem Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Cowdery, E.; Kooper, R.; LeBauer, D.; Desai, A. R.; Mantooth, J.; Dietze, M.

2014-12-01

Ecosystem models play a critical role in understanding the terrestrial biosphere and forecasting changes in the carbon cycle, however current forecasts have considerable uncertainty. The amount of data being collected and produced is increasing on daily basis as we enter the "big data" era, but only a fraction of this data is being used to constrain models. Until we can improve the problems of model accessibility and model-data communication, none of these resources can be used to their full potential. The Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) is an ecoinformatics toolbox and a set of workflows that wrap around an ecosystem model and manage the flow of information in and out of regional-scale TBMs. Here we present new modules developed in PEcAn to manage the processing of meteorological data, one of the primary driver dependencies for ecosystem models. The module downloads, reads, extracts, and converts meteorological observations to Unidata Climate Forecast (CF) NetCDF community standard, a convention used for most climate forecast and weather models. The module also automates the conversion from NetCDF to model specific formats, including basic merging, gap-filling, and downscaling procedures. PEcAn currently supports tower-based micrometeorological observations at Ameriflux and FluxNET sites, site-level CSV-formatted data, and regional and global reanalysis products such as the North American Regional Reanalysis and CRU-NCEP. The workflow is easily extensible to additional products and processing algorithms.These meteorological workflows have been coupled with the PEcAn web interface and now allow anyone to run multiple ecosystem models for any location on the Earth by simply clicking on an intuitive Google-map based interface. This will allow users to more readily compare models to observations at those sites, leading to better calibration and validation. Current work is extending these workflows to also process field, remotely-sensed, and historical

Improving collaboration between primary care research networks using Access Grid technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zsolt Nagykaldi

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Access Grid (AG is an Internet2-driven, high performance audio_visual conferencing technology used worldwide by academic and government organisations to enhance communication, human interaction and group collaboration. AG technology is particularly promising for improving academic multi-centre research collaborations. This manuscript describes how the AG technology was utilised by the electronic Primary Care Research Network (ePCRN that is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH Roadmap initiative to improve primary care research and collaboration among practice- based research networks (PBRNs in the USA. It discusses the design, installation and use of AG implementations, potential future applications, barriers to adoption, and suggested solutions.

Improving access to important recovery information for heart patients with low health literacy: reflections on practice-based initiatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Naccarella, Lucio; Biuso, Catuscia; Jennings, Amanda; Patsamanis, Harry

2018-05-29

Evidence exists for the association between health literacy and heart health outcomes. Cardiac rehabilitation is critical for recovery from heart attack and reducing hospital readmissions. Despite this, literacy. This brief case study reflects and documents practice-based initiatives by Heart Foundation Victoria to improve access to recovery information for patients with low literacy levels. Three key initiatives, namely the Six Steps To Cardiac Recovery resource, the Love Your Heart book and the nurse ambassador program, were implemented informed by mixed methods that assessed need and capacity at the individual, organisational and systems levels. Key outcomes included increased access to recovery information for patients with low health literacy, nurse knowledge and confidence to engage with patients on recovery information, improved education of patients and improved availability and accessibility of information for patients in diverse formats. Given the challenges involved in addressing heart health literacy, multifaceted practice-based approaches are essential to improve access to recovery information for patients with low literacy levels. What is known about the topic? Significant challenges exist for patients with lower health literacy receiving recovery information after a heart attack in hospitals. What does this paper add? This case study provides insights into a practice-based initiative by Heart Foundation Victoria to improve access to recovery information for patients with low literacy levels. What are the implications for practitioners? Strategies to improve recovery through increased heart health literacy must address the needs of patients, nursing staff and the health system within hospitals. Such strategies need to be multifaceted and designed to build the capacity of nurses, heart patients and their carers, as well as support from hospital management.

ASAView: Database and tool for solvent accessibility representation in proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fawareh Hamed

2004-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Accessible surface area (ASA or solvent accessibility of amino acids in a protein has important implications. Knowledge of surface residues helps in locating potential candidates of active sites. Therefore, a method to quickly see the surface residues in a two dimensional model would help to immediately understand the population of amino acid residues on the surface and in the inner core of the proteins. Results ASAView is an algorithm, an application and a database of schematic representations of solvent accessibility of amino acid residues within proteins. A characteristic two-dimensional spiral plot of solvent accessibility provides a convenient graphical view of residues in terms of their exposed surface areas. In addition, sequential plots in the form of bar charts are also provided. Online plots of the proteins included in the entire Protein Data Bank (PDB, are provided for the entire protein as well as their chains separately. Conclusions These graphical plots of solvent accessibility are likely to provide a quick view of the overall topological distribution of residues in proteins. Chain-wise computation of solvent accessibility is also provided.

Virtual reality: emerging role of simulation training in vascular access.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Ingemar J A; Lok, Charmaine; Dolmatch, Bart; Gallieni, Maurizio; Nolen, Billy; Pittiruti, Mauro; Ross, John; Slakey, Douglas

2012-11-01

Evolving new technologies in vascular access mandate increased attention to patient safety; an often overlooked yet valuable training tool is simulation. For the end-stage renal disease patient, simulation tools are effective for all aspects of creating access for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. Based on aviation principles, known as crew resource management, we place equal emphasis on team training as individual training to improve interactions between team members and systems, cumulating in improved safety. Simulation allows for environmental control and standardized procedures, letting the trainee practice and correct mistakes without harm to patients, compared with traditional patient-based training. Vascular access simulators range from suture devices, to pressurized tunneled conduits for needle cannulation, to computer-based interventional simulators. Simulation training includes simulated case learning, root cause analysis of adverse outcomes, and continual update and refinement of concepts. Implementation of effective human to complex systems interaction in end-stage renal disease patients involves a change in institutional culture. Three concepts discussed in this article are as follows: (1) the need for user-friendly systems and technology to enhance performance, (2) the necessity for members to both train and work together as a team, and (3) the team assigned to use the system must test and practice it to a proficient level before safely using the system on patients. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An exploration of multilevel modeling for estimating access to drinking-water and sanitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Jennyfer; Bonjour, Sophie; Prüss-Ustün, Annette

2013-03-01

Monitoring progress towards the targets for access to safe drinking-water and sanitation under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) requires reliable estimates and indicators. We analyzed trends and reviewed current indicators used for those targets. We developed continuous time series for 1990 to 2015 for access to improved drinking-water sources and improved sanitation facilities by country using multilevel modeling (MLM). We show that MLM is a reliable and transparent tool with many advantages over alternative approaches to estimate access to facilities. Using current indicators, the MDG target for water would be met, but the target for sanitation missed considerably. The number of people without access to such services is still increasing in certain regions. Striking differences persist between urban and rural areas. Consideration of water quality and different classification of shared sanitation facilities would, however, alter estimates considerably. To achieve improved monitoring we propose: (1) considering the use of MLM as an alternative for estimating access to safe drinking-water and sanitation; (2) completing regular assessments of water quality and supporting the development of national regulatory frameworks as part of capacity development; (3) evaluating health impacts of shared sanitation; (4) using a more equitable presentation of countries' performances in providing improved services.

Popularity Prediction Tool for ATLAS Distributed Data Management

CERN Document Server

Beermann, T; The ATLAS collaboration; Stewart, G; Lassnig, M; Garonne, V; Barisits, M; Vigne, R; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A; Molfetas, A

2013-01-01

This paper describes a popularity prediction tool for data-intensive data management systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). It is fed by the DDM popularity system, which produces historical reports about ATLAS data usage, providing information about files, datasets, users and sites where data was accessed. The tool described in this contribution uses this historical information to make a prediction about the future popularity of data. It finds trends in the usage of data using a set of neural networks and a set of input parameters and predicts the number of accesses in the near term future. This information can then be used in a second step to improve the distribution of replicas at sites, taking into account the cost of creating new replicas (bandwidth and load on the storage system) compared to gain of having new ones (faster access of data for analysis). To evaluate the benefit of the redistribution a grid simulator is introduced that is able replay real workload on different data distri...

Popularity Prediction Tool for ATLAS Distributed Data Management

CERN Document Server

Beermann, T; The ATLAS collaboration; Stewart, G; Lassnig, M; Garonne, V; Barisits, M; Vigne, R; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A; Molfetas, A

2014-01-01

This paper describes a popularity prediction tool for data-intensive data management systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). It is fed by the DDM popularity system, which produces historical reports about ATLAS data usage, providing information about files, datasets, users and sites where data was accessed. The tool described in this contribution uses this historical information to make a prediction about the future popularity of data. It finds trends in the usage of data using a set of neural networks and a set of input parameters and predicts the number of accesses in the near term future. This information can then be used in a second step to improve the distribution of replicas at sites, taking into account the cost of creating new replicas (bandwidth and load on the storage system) compared to gain of having new ones (faster access of data for analysis). To evaluate the benefit of the redistribution a grid simulator is introduced that is able replay real workload on different data distri...

Access improvement to aircraft passengers' hand luggage.

Science.gov (United States)

Alberda, W; Kampinga, O; Kassels, R; van Kester, R; Noriega, J; Vink, P

2015-01-01

Efficient use of space and passenger comfort in aircraft interiors are major issues. There is not much research available about the flying experience regarding passengers' personal belongings. The objective of this study is to explore concepts within the current aircraft seats which improve the passenger experience related to their personal belongings like wallets, mobile phones and laptops. Through on-site observations, interviews and online questionnaires, data regarding the number of personal belongings taken into the airplane and opinions about access to hand luggage were gathered. These data were used to develop different concepts to optimize the aircraft interior, which were evaluated by passengers. Almost every passenger carries a phone (88%), wallet (94%), travel documents (98%) and keys (76%) with them and they like to have these stored close by. Passengers rate the concept that provides integrated storage in the tray table of the aircraft seat the best. Extra storage possibility in the table-tray seems a promising solution according to the passengers.

Network computing infrastructure to share tools and data in global nuclear energy partnership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Guehee; Suzuki, Yoshio; Teshima, Naoya

2010-01-01

CCSE/JAEA (Center for Computational Science and e-Systems/Japan Atomic Energy Agency) integrated a prototype system of a network computing infrastructure for sharing tools and data to support the U.S. and Japan collaboration in GNEP (Global Nuclear Energy Partnership). We focused on three technical issues to apply our information process infrastructure, which are accessibility, security, and usability. In designing the prototype system, we integrated and improved both network and Web technologies. For the accessibility issue, we adopted SSL-VPN (Security Socket Layer - Virtual Private Network) technology for the access beyond firewalls. For the security issue, we developed an authentication gateway based on the PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) authentication mechanism to strengthen the security. Also, we set fine access control policy to shared tools and data and used shared key based encryption method to protect tools and data against leakage to third parties. For the usability issue, we chose Web browsers as user interface and developed Web application to provide functions to support sharing tools and data. By using WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) function, users can manipulate shared tools and data through the Windows-like folder environment. We implemented the prototype system in Grid infrastructure for atomic energy research: AEGIS (Atomic Energy Grid Infrastructure) developed by CCSE/JAEA. The prototype system was applied for the trial use in the first period of GNEP. (author)

Applying human rights to improve access to reproductive health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Dorothy; Cook, Rebecca J

2012-10-01

Universal access to reproductive health is a target of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5B, and along with MDG 5A to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters, progress is currently too slow for most countries to achieve these targets by 2015. Critical to success are increased and sustainable numbers of skilled healthcare workers and financing of essential medicines by governments, who have made political commitments in United Nations forums to renew their efforts to reduce maternal mortality. National essential medicine lists are not reflective of medicines available free or at cost in facilities or in the community. The WHO Essential Medicines List indicates medicines required for maternal and newborn health including the full range of contraceptives and emergency contraception, but there is no consistent monitoring of implementation of national lists through procurement and supply even for basic essential drugs. Health advocates are using human rights mechanisms to ensure governments honor their legal commitments to ensure access to services essential for reproductive health. Maternal mortality is recognized as a human rights violation by the United Nations and constitutional and human rights are being used, and could be used more effectively, to improve maternity services and to ensure access to drugs essential for reproductive health. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Fixed-Wing Aircraft Simulation Tool for Improving the efficiency of DoD Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-05

simulation tool , CREATETM-AV Helios [12-14], a high fidelity rotary wing vehicle simulation tool , and CREATETM-AV DaVinci [15-16], a conceptual through...05/2015 Oct 2008-Sep 2015 A Fixed-Wing Aircraft Simulation Tool for Improving the Efficiency of DoD Acquisition Scott A. Morton and David R...multi-disciplinary fixed-wing virtual aircraft simulation tool incorporating aerodynamics, structural dynamics, kinematics, and kinetics. Kestrel allows

Pro Access 2010 Development

CERN Document Server

Collins, Mark

2011-01-01

Pro Access 2010 Development is a fundamental resource for developing business applications that take advantage of the features of Access 2010 and the many sources of data available to your business. In this book, you'll learn how to build database applications, create Web-based databases, develop macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) tools for Access applications, integrate Access with SharePoint and other business systems, and much more. Using a practical, hands-on approach, this book will take you through all the facets of developing Access-based solutions, such as data modeling, co

Improving web site performance using commercially available analytical tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogle, James A

2010-10-01

It is easy to accurately measure web site usage and to quantify key parameters such as page views, site visits, and more complex variables using commercially available tools that analyze web site log files and search engine use. This information can be used strategically to guide the design or redesign of a web site (templates, look-and-feel, and navigation infrastructure) to improve overall usability. The data can also be used tactically to assess the popularity and use of new pages and modules that are added and to rectify problems that surface. This paper describes software tools used to: (1) inventory search terms that lead to available content; (2) propose synonyms for commonly used search terms; (3) evaluate the effectiveness of calls to action; (4) conduct path analyses to targeted content. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) uses SurfRay's Behavior Tracking software (Santa Clara CA, USA, and Copenhagen, Denmark) to capture and archive the search terms that have been entered into the site's Google Mini search engine. The AAOS also uses Unica's NetInsight program to analyze its web site log files. These tools provide the AAOS with information that quantifies how well its web sites are operating and insights for making improvements to them. Although it is easy to quantify many aspects of an association's web presence, it also takes human involvement to analyze the results and then recommend changes. Without a dedicated resource to do this, the work often is accomplished only sporadically and on an ad hoc basis.

Status of EFDA Remote Participation Tools and Needs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giese, P. [Association Euratom HAS /KFKI-RMKI, Budapest (Hungary); Castro, R.; Vega, J. [Asociation Euratom/CIEMAT para Fusion, Madrid (Spain); Schwenn, U. [Max-Planck-Institut fur Plasmaphysik, Garching (Germany)

2009-07-01

Remote Participation is key to the success of the activities carried out under JET, EFDA Task Forces and Topical Groups. The Remote Participation Technology enables work and collaborations, irrespective of the physical location of the participants. These activities include 5 broad topics. 1) Remote Data and Computer Access: the main methods used in remote computer access are VPN, SSH and Citrix. There is no strong desire to move towards a standard access method. With regards to remote data access MDSplus has become de-facto standard. Thus, it would seem sensible for data access to/from the ITM gateway to also use MDSPlus. 2) Networking: All EFDA relevant NRENs, as well as GEANT2 and Internet2 work close to perfection. There is no real need for global QoS tools. Some of the LANs have to be improved, since some Associates lack proper connections to GEANT2. 3) Distance conferences and Telecommunication: To achieve an adequate quality of remote conferences the use of H.323 based equipment together with EFDATV is recommended within the EFDA community. Several MCUs (DFNVC, ITER, F4E, NIIF) provide multipoint conference services for EFDA. 4) Collaborative Services: Collaborative environments must provide partners with resources to allow them an easy exchange of information: documents, data and audio/video streams. The EFDA Wiki tool developed for exchange of information among the technical contact persons will be open for other users groups. 5) Remote Experiment Participation: Although Remote experiment tools are still rarely implemented, some are well established and stable. The remote real time experiment data access project, which is being developed by CIEMAT, UPM University and JET CODAS, is very interesting for the users community and its results could be an important base for future developments in this field. This document is composed of an abstract followed by the presentation transparencies. (authors)

A Pilot Quality Improvement Collaborative to Improve Safety Net Dental Access for Pregnant Women and Young Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Vander Schaaf, Emily B; Quinonez, Rocio B; Cornett, Amanda C; Randolph, Greg D; Boggess, Kim; Flower, Kori B

2018-02-01

Objectives To determine acceptability and feasibility of a quality improvement (QI) collaborative in safety net dental practices, and evaluate its effects on financial stability, access, efficiency, and care for pregnant women and young children. Methods Five safety net dental practices participated in a 15-month learning collaborative utilizing business assessments, QI training, early childhood oral health training, and prenatal oral health training. Practices collected monthly data on: net revenue, no-show rates, total encounters, and number of encounters for young children and pregnant women. We analyzed quantitative data using paired t-tests before and after the collaborative and collected supplemental qualitative feedback from clinic staff through focus groups and directed email. Results All mean measures improved, including: higher monthly revenue ($28,380-$33,102, p = 0.37), decreased no-show rate (17.7-14.3%, p = 0.11), higher monthly dental health encounters (283-328, p = 0.08), and higher monthly encounters for young children (8.8-10.5, p = 0.65), and pregnant women (2.8-9.7, p = 0.29). Results varied by practice, with some demonstrating largest increases in encounters for young children and others pregnant women. Focus group participants reported that the collaborative improved access for pregnant women and young children, and that QI methods were often new and difficult. Conclusion for practice Participation by safety net dental practices in a QI collaborative is feasible and acceptable. Individual sites saw greater improvements in different outcomes areas, based on their own structures and needs. Future efforts should focus on specific needs of each dental practice and should offer additional QI training.

Subsetting Tools for Enabling Easy Access to International Airborne Chemistry Data

Science.gov (United States)

Northup, E. A.; Chen, G.; Quam, B. M.; Beach, A. L., III; Silverman, M. L.; Early, A. B.

2017-12-01

In response to the Research Opportunities in Earth and Space Science (ROSES) 2015 release announcement for Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS), researchers at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) proposed to extend the capabilities of the existing Toolsets for Airborne Data (TAD) to include subsetting functionality to allow for easier access to international airborne field campaign data. Airborne field studies are commonly used to gain a detailed understanding of atmospheric processes for scientific research on international climate change and air quality issues. To accommodate the rigorous process for manipulating airborne field study chemistry data, and to lessen barriers for researchers, TAD was created with the ability to geolocate data from various sources measured on different time scales from a single flight. The analysis of airborne chemistry data typically requires data subsetting, which can be challenging and resource-intensive for end users. In an effort to streamline this process, new data subsetting features and updates to the current database model will be added to the TAD toolset. These will include two subsetters: temporal and spatial, and vertical profile. The temporal and spatial subsetter will allow users to both focus on data from a specific location and/or time period. The vertical profile subsetter will retrieve data collected during an individual aircraft ascent or descent spiral. These new web-based tools will allow for automation of the typically labor-intensive manual data subsetting process, which will provide users with data tailored to their specific research interests. The system has been designed to allow for new in-situ airborne missions to be added as they become available, with only minor pre-processing required. The development of these enhancements will be discussed in this presentation.

Phases and Steps in the Access to Data in Information Tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergenholtz, Henning; Bothma, Theo; Gouws, Rufus

2015-01-01

route and access time, but not access structure. This term is not only ill defined – it is less relevant, because each user has different access routes, and also the same user makes use of different routes in different cases. We describe four experiments in a case study with one test person how...... the different access processes in different user situations take place. This test person is trying to solve different accounting information needs in different user situations. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the access process terminology of lexicography and information science, to systematize...... the terms in a logical structure and to show how these disciplines complement one another by providing clearer definitions to describe the different access processes....

Escape Excel: A tool for preventing gene symbol and accession conversion errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, Eric A; Stewart, Paul A; Kuenzi, Brent M; Eschrich, James A

2017-01-01

Microsoft Excel automatically converts certain gene symbols, database accessions, and other alphanumeric text into dates, scientific notation, and other numerical representations. These conversions lead to subsequent, irreversible, corruption of the imported text. A recent survey of popular genomic literature estimates that one-fifth of all papers with supplementary gene lists suffer from this issue. Here, we present an open-source tool, Escape Excel, which prevents these erroneous conversions by generating an escaped text file that can be safely imported into Excel. Escape Excel is implemented in a variety of formats (http://www.github.com/pstew/escape_excel), including a command line based Perl script, a Windows-only Excel Add-In, an OS X drag-and-drop application, a simple web-server, and as a Galaxy web environment interface. Test server implementations are accessible as a Galaxy interface (http://apostl.moffitt.org) and simple non-Galaxy web server (http://apostl.moffitt.org:8000/). Escape Excel detects and escapes a wide variety of problematic text strings so that they are not erroneously converted into other representations upon importation into Excel. Examples of problematic strings include date-like strings, time-like strings, leading zeroes in front of numbers, and long numeric and alphanumeric identifiers that should not be automatically converted into scientific notation. It is hoped that greater awareness of these potential data corruption issues, together with diligent escaping of text files prior to importation into Excel, will help to reduce the amount of Excel-corrupted data in scientific analyses and publications.

Moving toward a universally accessible web: Web accessibility and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurt, Serhat

2017-12-08

The World Wide Web is an extremely powerful source of information, inspiration, ideas, and opportunities. As such, it has become an integral part of daily life for a great majority of people. Yet, for a significant number of others, the internet offers only limited value due to the existence of barriers which make accessing the Web difficult, if not impossible. This article illustrates some of the reasons that achieving equality of access to the online world of education is so critical, explores the current status of Web accessibility, discusses evaluative tools and methods that can help identify accessibility issues in educational websites, and provides practical recommendations and guidelines for resolving some of the obstacles that currently hinder the achievability of the goal of universal Web access.

Making Statistical Data More Easily Accessible on the Web Results of the StatSearch Case Study

CERN Document Server

Rajman, M; Boynton, I M; Fridlund, B; Fyhrlund, A; Sundgren, B; Lundquist, P; Thelander, H; Wänerskär, M

2005-01-01

In this paper we present the results of the StatSearch case study that aimed at providing an enhanced access to statistical data available on the Web. In the scope of this case study we developed a prototype of an information access tool combining a query-based search engine with semi-automated navigation techniques exploiting the hierarchical structuring of the available data. This tool enables a better control of the information retrieval, improving the quality and ease of the access to statistical information. The central part of the presented StatSearch tool consists in the design of an algorithm for automated navigation through a tree-like hierarchical document structure. The algorithm relies on the computation of query related relevance score distributions over the available database to identify the most relevant clusters in the data structure. These most relevant clusters are then proposed to the user for navigation, or, alternatively, are the support for the automated navigation process. Several appro...

On improving the communication between models and data.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietze, Michael C; Lebauer, David S; Kooper, Rob

2013-09-01

The potential for model-data synthesis is growing in importance as we enter an era of 'big data', greater connectivity and faster computation. Realizing this potential requires that the research community broaden its perspective about how and why they interact with models. Models can be viewed as scaffolds that allow data at different scales to inform each other through our understanding of underlying processes. Perceptions of relevance, accessibility and informatics are presented as the primary barriers to broader adoption of models by the community, while an inability to fully utilize the breadth of expertise and data from the community is a primary barrier to model improvement. Overall, we promote a community-based paradigm to model-data synthesis and highlight some of the tools and techniques that facilitate this approach. Scientific workflows address critical informatics issues in transparency, repeatability and automation, while intuitive, flexible web-based interfaces make running and visualizing models more accessible. Bayesian statistics provides powerful tools for assimilating a diversity of data types and for the analysis of uncertainty. Uncertainty analyses enable new measurements to target those processes most limiting our predictive ability. Moving forward, tools for information management and data assimilation need to be improved and made more accessible. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Implementation of the trauma registry as a tool for quality improvement in trauma care in a brazilian hospital: the first 12 months.

Science.gov (United States)

Parreira, José Gustavo; de Campos, Tércio; Perlingeiro, Jacqueline A Gianinni; Soldá, Silvia C; Assef, José Cesar; Gonçalves, Augusto Canton; Zuffo, Bruno Malteze; Floriano, Caio Gomes; de Oliveira, Erik Haruk; de Oliveira, Renato Vieira Rodrigues; Oliveira, Amanda Lima; de Melo, Caio Gullo; Below, Cristiano; Miranda, Dino R Pérez; Santos, Gabriella Colasuonno; de Almeida, Gabriele Madeira; Brianti, Isabela Campos; Votto, Karina Baruel de Camargo; Schues, Patrick Alexander Sauer; dos Santos, Rafael Gomes; de Figueredo, Sérgio Mazzola Poli; de Araujo, Tatiani Gonçalves; Santos, Bruna do Nascimento; Ferreira, Laura Cardoso Manduca; Tanaka, Giuliana Olivi; Matos, Thiara; da Sousa, Maria Daiana; Augusto, Samara de Souza

2015-01-01

to analyze the implementation of a trauma registry in a university teaching hospital delivering care under the unified health system (SUS), and its ability to identify points for improvement in the quality of care provided. the data collection group comprised students from medicine and nursing courses who were holders of FAPESP scholarships (technical training 1) or otherwise, overseen by the coordinators of the project. The itreg (ECO Sistemas-RJ/SBAIT) software was used as the database tool. Several quality "filters" were proposed to select those cases for review in the quality control process. data for 1344 trauma patients were input to the itreg database between March and November 2014. Around 87.0% of cases were blunt trauma patients, 59.6% had RTS>7.0 and 67% ISSquality program. The auditing filters most frequently registered were laparotomy four hours after admission and drainage of acute subdural hematomas four hours after admission. Several points for improvement were flagged, such as control of overtriage of patients, the need to reduce the number of negative imaging exams, the development of protocols for achieving central venous access, and management of major TBI. the trauma registry provides a clear picture of the points to be improved in trauma patient care, however, there are specific peculiarities for implementing this tool in the Brazilian milieu.

Developing design principles for a Virtual Hospice: improving access to care.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Andrea; French, Tara; Raman, Sneha

2018-03-01

Providing access to hospice services will become increasingly difficult due to the pressures of an ageing population and limited resources. To help address this challenge, a small number of services called Virtual Hospice have been established. This paper presents early-stage design work on a Virtual Hospice to improve access to services provided by a hospice (Highland Hospice) serving a largely remote and rural population in Scotland, UK. The study was structured as a series of Experience Labs with Highland Hospice staff, healthcare professionals and patients. Experience Labs employ a participatory design approach where participants are placed at the centre of the design process, helping to ensure that the resultant service meets their needs. Data from the Experience Labs were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and design analysis. A number of themes and barriers to accessing Highland Hospice services were identified. In response, an initial set of seven design principles was developed. Design principles are high-level guidelines that are used to improve prioritisation and decision making during the design process by ensuring alignment with research insights. The design principles were piloted with a group of stakeholders and gained positive feedback. The design principles are intended to guide the ongoing development of the Highland Hospice Virtual Hospice. However, the challenges faced by Highland Hospice in delivering services in a largely remote and rural setting are not unique. The design principles, encompassing digital and non-digital guidelines, or the design approach could be applied by other hospices in the UK or overseas. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Access, Use and Perceptions of Teachers and Students towards Mobile Phones as a Tool for Teaching and Learning in Tanzania

Science.gov (United States)

Kafyulilo, Ayoub

2014-01-01

This study explored the access, use and perceptions of teachers and students towards mobile phones as a tool for facilitating teaching and learning beyond the classroom walls. A total of 29 pre-service teachers and four college instructors from Dar es salaam University College of Education (DUCE) as well as 12 in-service teachers and 40 students…

[Improving global access to new vaccines: intellectual property, technology transfer, and regulatory pathways].

Science.gov (United States)

Crager, Sara Eve

2015-01-01

The 2012 World Health Assembly Global Vaccine Action Plan called for global access to new vaccines within 5 years of licensure. Current approaches have proven insufficient to achieve sustainable vaccine pricing within such a timeline. Paralleling the successful strategy of generic competition to bring down drug prices, a clear consensus is emerging that market entry of multiple suppliers is a critical factor in expeditiously bringing down prices of new vaccines. In this context, key target objectives for improving access to new vaccines include overcoming intellectual property obstacles, streamlining regulatory pathways for biosimilar vaccines, and reducing market entry timelines for developing-country vaccine manufacturers by transfer of technology and know-how. I propose an intellectual property, technology, and know-how bank as a new approach to facilitate widespread access to new vaccines in low- and middle-income countries by efficient transfer of patented vaccine technologies to multiple developing-country vaccine manufacturers.

Improving global access to new vaccines: intellectual property, technology transfer, and regulatory pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Crager, Sara Eve

2014-11-01

The 2012 World Health Assembly Global Vaccine Action Plan called for global access to new vaccines within 5 years of licensure. Current approaches have proven insufficient to achieve sustainable vaccine pricing within such a timeline. Paralleling the successful strategy of generic competition to bring down drug prices, a clear consensus is emerging that market entry of multiple suppliers is a critical factor in expeditiously bringing down prices of new vaccines. In this context, key target objectives for improving access to new vaccines include overcoming intellectual property obstacles, streamlining regulatory pathways for biosimilar vaccines, and reducing market entry timelines for developing-country vaccine manufacturers by transfer of technology and know-how. I propose an intellectual property, technology, and know-how bank as a new approach to facilitate widespread access to new vaccines in low- and middle-income countries by efficient transfer of patented vaccine technologies to multiple developing-country vaccine manufacturers.

Evidence Aid: Using Systematic Reviews to Improve Access to Evidence for Humanitarian Emergencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Clarke

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Evidence Aid is an international initiative to improve access to reliable evidence that will help people and organisations make well-informed decisions about interventions, actions and strategies in the disaster setting. It focuses on systematic reviews as the most reliable source of research evidence, maximising the power of existing research, avoiding undue emphasis on single studies and reducing the waste associated with research that is ignored or not accessible to decision makers. Evidence Aid is knowledge champion for influencers of the humanitarian sector, including funders, policy makers, NGOs, and humanitarian professionals. Evidence Aid was established by members of the Cochrane Collaboration after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. It provides access to information relevant to disaster risk reduction, planning, response, recovery, resilience and rehabilitation. This presentation will discuss the need for Evidence Aid, and describes its activities.Find out more about Mike.

The use of a policy dialogue to facilitate evidence-informed policy development for improved access to care: the case of the Winnipeg Central Intake Service (WCIS).

Science.gov (United States)

Damani, Zaheed; MacKean, Gail; Bohm, Eric; DeMone, Brie; Wright, Brock; Noseworthy, Tom; Holroyd-Leduc, Jayna; Marshall, Deborah A

2016-10-18

meeting achieved its purpose (to engage stakeholders, elicit feedback, refine policy directions). Third, our decision-maker partners' expectations of the policy roundtable meeting were exceeded; they re-affirmed its value and described the refined policy directions as foundational to establishing the vocabulary, vision and framework for improving access to scheduled clinical services in Manitoba. Finally, our adaptation of key design elements was conducive to discussion of issues surrounding access to care. Our policy roundtable process was an effective tool for acquiring broad input from stakeholders, refining policy directions and forming the necessary consensus starting points to move towards evidence-informed policy.

Open source Modeling and optimization tools for Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peles, S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-02-10

Open source modeling and optimization tools for planning The existing tools and software used for planning and analysis in California are either expensive, difficult to use, or not generally accessible to a large number of participants. These limitations restrict the availability of participants for larger scale energy and grid studies in the state. The proposed initiative would build upon federal and state investments in open source software, and create and improve open source tools for use in the state planning and analysis activities. Computational analysis and simulation frameworks in development at national labs and universities can be brought forward to complement existing tools. An open source platform would provide a path for novel techniques and strategies to be brought into the larger community and reviewed by a broad set of stakeholders.

Improving Public Health Through Access to and Utilization of Medication Assisted Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas F. Kresina

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Providing access to and utilization of medication assisted treatment (MAT for the treatment of opioid abuse and dependence provides an important opportunity to improve public health. Access to health services comprising MAT in the community is fundamental to achieve broad service coverage. The type and placement of the health services comprising MAT and integration with primary medical care including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV prevention, care and treatment services are optimal for addressing both substance abuse and co-occurring infectious diseases. As an HIV prevention intervention, integrated (same medical record for HIV services and MAT services MAT with HIV prevention, care and treatment programs provides the best “one stop shopping” approach for health service utilization. Alternatively, MAT, medical and HIV services can be separately managed but co-located to allow convenient utilization of primary care, MAT and HIV services. A third approach is coordinated care and treatment, where primary care, MAT and HIV services are provided at distinct locations and case managers, peer facilitators, or others promote direct service utilization at the various locations. Developing a continuum of care for patients with opioid dependence throughout the stages MAT enhances the public health and Recovery from opioid dependence. As a stigmatized and medical disenfranchised population with multiple medical, psychological and social needs, people who inject drugs and are opioid dependent have difficulty accessing services and navigating medical systems of coordinated care. MAT programs that offer comprehensive services and medical care options can best contribute to improving the health of these individuals thereby enhancing the health of the community.

Tools for surveying and improving the quality of life: people with special needs in focus.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoyningen-Süess, Ursula; Oberholzer, David; Stalder, René; Brügger, Urs

2012-01-01

This article seeks to describe online tools for surveying and improving quality of life for people with disabilities living in assisted living centers and special education service organizations. Ensuring a decent quality of life for disabled people is an important welfare state goal. Using well-accepted quality of life conceptions, online diagnostic and planning tools were developed during an Institute for Education, University of Zurich, research project. The diagnostic tools measure, evaluate and analyze disabled people's quality of life. The planning tools identify factors that can affect their quality of life and suggest improvements. Instrument validity and reliability are not tested according to the standard statistical procedures. This will be done at a more advanced stage of the project. Instead, the tool is developed, refined and adjusted in cooperation with practitioners who are constantly judging it according to best practice standards. The tools support staff in assisted living centers and special education service organizations. These tools offer comprehensive resources for surveying, quantifying, evaluating, describing and simulating quality of life elements.

Tuning COCOMO-II for Software Process Improvement: A Tool Based Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SYEDA UMEMA HANI

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In order to compete in the international software development market the software organizations have to adopt internationally accepted software practices i.e. standard like ISO (International Standard Organization or CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration in spite of having scarce resources and tools. The aim of this study is to develop a tool which could be used to present an actual picture of Software Process Improvement benefits in front of the software development companies. However, there are few tools available to assist in making predictions, they are too expensive and could not cover dataset that reflect the cultural behavior of organizations for software development in developing countries. In extension to our previously done research reported elsewhere for Pakistani software development organizations which has quantified benefits of SDPI (Software Development Process Improvement, this research has used sixty-two datasets from three different software development organizations against the set of metrics used in COCOMO-II (Constructive Cost Model 2000. It derived a verifiable equation for calculating ISF (Ideal Scale Factor and tuned the COCOMO-II model to bring prediction capability for SDPI (benefit measurement classes such as ESCP (Effort, Schedule, Cost, and Productivity. This research has contributed towards software industry by giving a reliable and low-cost mechanism for generating prediction models with high prediction accuracy. Hopefully, this study will help software organizations to use this tool not only to predict ESCP but also to predict an exact impact of SDPI.

Developing an agenda for research about policies to improve access to healthy foods in rural communities: a concept mapping study

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Policies that improve access to healthy, affordable foods may improve population health and reduce health disparities. In the United States most food access policy research focuses on urban communities even though residents of rural communities face disproportionately higher risk for nutrition-related chronic diseases compared to residents of urban communities. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify the factors associated with access to healthy, affordable food in rural communities in the United States; and (2) prioritize a meaningful and feasible rural food policy research agenda. Methods This study was conducted by the Rural Food Access Workgroup (RFAWG), a workgroup facilitated by the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network. A national sample of academic and non-academic researchers, public health and cooperative extension practitioners, and other experts who focus on rural food access and economic development was invited to complete a concept mapping process that included brainstorming the factors that are associated with rural food access, sorting and organizing the factors into similar domains, and rating the importance of policies and research to address these factors. As a last step, RFAWG members convened to interpret the data and establish research recommendations. Results Seventy-five participants in the brainstorming exercise represented the following sectors: non-extension research (n = 27), non-extension program administration (n = 18), “other” (n = 14), policy advocacy (n = 10), and cooperative extension service (n = 6). The brainstorming exercise generated 90 distinct statements about factors associated with rural food access in the United States; these were sorted into 5 clusters. Go Zones were established for the factors that were rated highly as both a priority policy target and a priority for research. The highest ranked policy and research priorities include strategies designed to

Big Data is a powerful tool for environmental improvements in the construction business

Science.gov (United States)

Konikov, Aleksandr; Konikov, Gregory

2017-10-01

The work investigates the possibility of applying the Big Data method as a tool to implement environmental improvements in the construction business. The method is recognized as effective in analyzing big volumes of heterogeneous data. It is noted that all preconditions exist for this method to be successfully used for resolution of environmental issues in the construction business. It is proven that the principal Big Data techniques (cluster analysis, crowd sourcing, data mixing and integration) can be applied in the sphere in question. It is concluded that Big Data is a truly powerful tool to implement environmental improvements in the construction business.

IMPROVEMENT OF METHODS FOR HYDROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND MODIFICATION OF STANDARD TOOLS FOR SAMPLE COLLECTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Aligadjiev

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. The paper discusses the improvement of methods of hydrobiological studies by modifying tools for plankton and benthic samples collecting. Methods. In order to improve the standard methods of hydro-biological research, we have developed tools for sampling zooplankton and benthic environment of the Caspian Sea. Results. Long-term practice of selecting hydrobiological samples in the Caspian Sea shows that it is required to complete the modernization of the sampling tools used to collect hydrobiological material. With the introduction of Azov and Black Sea invasive comb jelly named Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz to the Caspian Sea there is a need to collect plankton samples without disturbing its integrity. Tools for collecting benthic fauna do not always give a complete picture of the state of benthic ecosystems because of the lack of visual site selection for sampling. Moreover, while sampling by dredge there is a probable loss of the samples, especially in areas with difficult terrain. Conclusion. We propose to modify a small model of Upstein net (applied in shallow water to collect zooplankton samples with an upper inverted cone that will significantly improve the catchability of the net in theCaspian Sea. Bottom sampler can be improved by installing a video camera for visual inspection of the bottom topography, and use sensors to determine tilt of the dredge and the position of the valves of the bucket. 

Improvements in Spectrum's fit to program data tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahiane, Severin G; Marsh, Kimberly; Grantham, Kelsey; Crichlow, Shawna; Caceres, Karen; Stover, John

2017-04-01

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS-supported Spectrum software package (Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA) is used by most countries worldwide to monitor the HIV epidemic. In Spectrum, HIV incidence trends among adults (aged 15-49 years) are derived by either fitting to seroprevalence surveillance and survey data or generating curves consistent with program and vital registration data, such as historical trends in the number of newly diagnosed infections or people living with HIV and AIDS related deaths. This article describes development and application of the fit to program data (FPD) tool in Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS' 2016 estimates round. In the FPD tool, HIV incidence trends are described as a simple or double logistic function. Function parameters are estimated from historical program data on newly reported HIV cases, people living with HIV or AIDS-related deaths. Inputs can be adjusted for proportions undiagnosed or misclassified deaths. Maximum likelihood estimation or minimum chi-squared distance methods are used to identify the best fitting curve. Asymptotic properties of the estimators from these fits are used to estimate uncertainty. The FPD tool was used to fit incidence for 62 countries in 2016. Maximum likelihood and minimum chi-squared distance methods gave similar results. A double logistic curve adequately described observed trends in all but four countries where a simple logistic curve performed better. Robust HIV-related program and vital registration data are routinely available in many middle-income and high-income countries, whereas HIV seroprevalence surveillance and survey data may be scarce. In these countries, the FPD tool offers a simpler, improved approach to estimating HIV incidence trends.

Improved relationships in eastern Kenya from water interventions and access to water.

Science.gov (United States)

Zolnikov, Tara Rava; Blodgett Salafia, Elizabeth

2016-03-01

Global health interventions focus on providing solutions to unaddressed public health issues in low- and middle-income countries. Providing nearby access to safe drinking water is a primary public health concern and a frequent public health intervention throughout sub-Saharan Africa; access to water eliminates long gathering and transport time and provides an individual with more personal time. Previous research has not reviewed the aspect of time and relationship changes after implemented water interventions. A qualitative phenomenological approach used 52 semistructured interviews to examine relationship experiences among primary water gatherers and their families after receiving nearby access to water. This study took place throughout the historically semiarid eastern region in Kitui, Kenya, where community members have been beneficiaries of various water interventions. Before the water intervention, family members experienced difficulties with irregular meal times and food availability, infrequent family conversations, irritation with lack of bathing and cleanliness, and general discontent without the availability of 1 able-bodied family member. Participants' experiences after implemented water interventions revealed enhanced relationships within household family units; additional personal time was gained and used to rebuild relationships. The newly established relationships included constructive discussions and conversations built around understanding and developing solutions to address economic or individual challenges encountered by the family. This study's findings suggest that relationships significantly improved after households receive access to nearby water. Furthermore, this research provides evidence of an increased need for access to quality water for communities throughout the world to positively contribute to constructive family relationships. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A tool for facilitating access to documents’; Una herramienta para facilitar el acceso a la documentación

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farriols Solá, Antoni

2016-07-01

Goal: Having the highest number of electronically stored documents in a safe and accessible environment and for this, automate the load selected in the Document Management System relevant documentation. Engineering groups should select documents to migrate to a Document Management System and associate them with their metadata in a comfortable template so you can connect to the loading tool developed. Result: Sharing of knowledge and technical information between departments and projects, has benefited from the launch of the system.

Improving children’s mobility and access to socio-economic opportunities: A synthesis of literature

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mashiri, M

2005-07-01

Full Text Available the population of many such countries consists of children and young persons. Improving mobility and access to socio-economic opportunities for this group is crucial if the Millennium Development Goals of Universal Primary Education, Promotion of Gender Equity...

Cilostazol May Improve Maturation Rates and Durability of Vascular Access for Hemodialysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Todd E; Kasper, Gregory C; Seiwert, Andrew J; Comerota, Anthony J; Lurie, Fedor

2017-04-01

Cilostazol is effective in controlling pathophysiological pathways similar or identical to those involved in nonmaturation and failure of the arteriovenous access. This case-control study examined whether cilostazol would improve maturation rates and durability of vascular access for hemodialysis. The treatment group included 33 patients who received cilostazol for ≥30 days prior to creation of a dialysis access and continued with cilostazol therapy for ≥60 days after surgery. The matched (gender, age, race, diabetes, and the year of surgery) control group included 116 patients who underwent the same procedure but did not receive cilostazol prior to and at least 3 months after surgery. Primary outcomes were maturation and, for those that matured, time of functioning access, defined as the time from the first use to irreparable failure of the access. Secondary outcomes were time to maturation, complications, and time to first complication. Study group patients were 3.8 times more likely to experience fistula maturation compared to the controls (88% vs 66%, RR = 3.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.3-11.6, P = .016). Fewer patients in the study group had complications (76% vs 92%, P = .025), and the time from construction of the fistula to the first complication was longer (345.6 ± 441 days vs 198.3 ± 185.0 days, P = .025). Time to maturation was similar in both groups (119.3 ± 62.9 days vs 100.2 ± 61.7 days, P = .2). However, once matured, time to failure was significantly longer in the treatment group (903.7 ± 543.6 vs 381.6 ± 317.2 days, P = .001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the likelihood of maturation was significantly higher in the treatment group patients. These results suggest that dialysis access patients may benefit from preoperative and postoperative cilostazol therapy. If confirmed by a randomized trial, this treatment will have a major beneficial impact on patients dependent on a well-functioning access for their hemodialysis.

Improving patient access to an interventional US clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, Joseph R; Clarke, Ryan K; Terrell, John A; Brightmon, Tonya R

2014-01-01

A continuous quality improvement project was conducted to increase patient access to a neurointerventional ultrasonography (US) clinic. The clinic was experiencing major scheduling delays because of an increasing patient volume. A multidisciplinary team was formed that included schedulers, medical assistants, nurses, technologists, and physicians. The team created an Ishikawa diagram of the possible causes of the long wait time to the next available appointment and developed a flowchart of the steps involved in scheduling and completing a diagnostic US examination and biopsy. The team then implemented a staged intervention that included adjustments to staffing and room use (stage 1); new procedures for scheduling same-day add-on appointments (stage 2); and a lead technician rotation to optimize patient flow, staffing, and workflow (stage 3). Six months after initiation of the intervention, the mean time to the next available appointment had decreased from 25 days at baseline to 1 day, and the number of available daily appointments had increased from 38 to 55. These improvements resulted from a coordinated provider effort and had a net present value of more than $275,000. This project demonstrates that structural changes in staffing, workflow, and room use can substantially reduce scheduling delays for critical imaging procedures. © RSNA, 2014.

Towards comprehensive early abortion service delivery in high income countries: insights for improving universal access to abortion in Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Dawson

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Improving access to safe abortion is an essential strategy in the provision of universal access to reproductive health care. Australians are largely supportive of the provision of abortion and its decriminalization. However, the lack of data and the complex legal and service delivery situation impacts upon access for women seeking an early termination of pregnancy. There are no systematic reviews from a health services perspective to help direct health planners and policy makers to improve access comprehensive medical and early surgical abortion in high income countries. This review therefore aims to identify quality studies of abortion services to provide insight into how access to services can be improved in Australia. Methods We undertook a structured search of six bibliographic databases and hand-searching to ascertain peer reviewed primary research in English between 2005 and 2015. Qualitative and quantitative study designs were deemed suitable for inclusion. A deductive content analysis methodology was employed to analyse selected manuscripts based upon a framework we developed to examine access to early abortion services. Results This review identified the dimensions of access to surgical and medical abortion at clinic or hospital-outpatient based abortion services, as well as new service delivery approaches utilising a remote telemedicine approach. A range of factors, mostly from studies in the United Kingdom and United States of America were found to facilitate improved access to abortion, in particular, flexible service delivery approaches that provide women with cost effective options and technology based services. Standards, recommendations and targets were also identified that provided services and providers with guidance regarding the quality of abortion care. Conclusions Key insights for service delivery in Australia include the: establishment of standards, provision of choice of procedure, improved provider

DoD Needs to Improve Screening and Access Controls for General Public Tenants Leasing Housing on Military Installations (REDACTED)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

helps enhance service members’ quality of life by improving the condition of military-owned housing faster and more economically than traditional...DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY SUBJECT: DoD Needs to Improve Screening and Access Controls for General Public Tenants Leasing Housing on Military...public tenants who leased DoD privatized housing before granting those tenants unescorted access to military installations. In addition, DoD officials

MetaMeta: integrating metagenome analysis tools to improve taxonomic profiling.

Science.gov (United States)

Piro, Vitor C; Matschkowski, Marcel; Renard, Bernhard Y

2017-08-14

Many metagenome analysis tools are presently available to classify sequences and profile environmental samples. In particular, taxonomic profiling and binning methods are commonly used for such tasks. Tools available among these two categories make use of several techniques, e.g., read mapping, k-mer alignment, and composition analysis. Variations on the construction of the corresponding reference sequence databases are also common. In addition, different tools provide good results in different datasets and configurations. All this variation creates a complicated scenario to researchers to decide which methods to use. Installation, configuration and execution can also be difficult especially when dealing with multiple datasets and tools. We propose MetaMeta: a pipeline to execute and integrate results from metagenome analysis tools. MetaMeta provides an easy workflow to run multiple tools with multiple samples, producing a single enhanced output profile for each sample. MetaMeta includes a database generation, pre-processing, execution, and integration steps, allowing easy execution and parallelization. The integration relies on the co-occurrence of organisms from different methods as the main feature to improve community profiling while accounting for differences in their databases. In a controlled case with simulated and real data, we show that the integrated profiles of MetaMeta overcome the best single profile. Using the same input data, it provides more sensitive and reliable results with the presence of each organism being supported by several methods. MetaMeta uses Snakemake and has six pre-configured tools, all available at BioConda channel for easy installation (conda install -c bioconda metameta). The MetaMeta pipeline is open-source and can be downloaded at: https://gitlab.com/rki_bioinformatics .

Mapping actions to improve access to medicines for mental disorders in low and middle income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbui, C; Dua, T; Kolappa, K; Saraceno, B; Saxena, S

2017-10-01

In recent years a number of intergovernmental initiatives have been activated in order to enhance the capacity of countries to improve access to essential medicines, particularly for mental disorders. In May 2013 the 66th World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, which builds upon the work of WHO's Mental Health Gap Action Programme. Within this programme, evidence-based guidelines for mental disorders were developed, including recommendations on appropriate use of medicines. Subsequently, the 67th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on access to essential medicines, which urged Member States to improve national policies for the selection of essential medicines and to promote their availability, affordability and appropriate use. Following the precedent set by these important initiatives, this article presents eleven actions for improving access and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines. A 4 × 4 framework mapping actions as a function of the four components of access - selection, availability, affordability and appropriate use - and across four different health care levels, three of which belong to the supply side and one to the demand side, was developed. The actions are: developing a medicine selection process; promoting information and education activities for staff and end-users; developing a medicine regulation process; implementing a reliable supply system; implementing a reliable quality-control system; developing a community-based system of mental health care and promoting help-seeking behaviours; developing international agreements on medicine affordability; developing pricing policies and a sustainable financing system; developing or adopting evidence-based guidelines; monitoring the use of psychotropic medicines; promoting training initiatives for staff and end-users on critical appraisal of scientific evidence and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines. Activating

A comparison of text and technology based training tools to improve cognitive skills in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Kevin; Kirwan, Grainne; Palmer, Marion

2011-01-01

Research has indicated that use of cognitive skills training tools can produce positive benefits with older adults. However, little research has compared the efficacy of technology-based interventions and more traditional, text-based interventions which are also available. This study aimed to investigate cognitive skills improvements experienced by 40 older adults using cognitive skills training tools. A Solomon 4 group design was employed to determine which intervention demonstrated the greatest improvement. Participants were asked to use the interventions for 5-10 minutes per day, over a period of 60 days. Pre and post-tests consisted of measures of numerical ability, self-reported memory and intelligence. Following training, older adults indicated significant improvements on numerical ability and intelligence regardless of intervention type. No improvement in selfreported memory was observed. This research provides a critical appraisal of brain training tools and can help point the way for future improvements in the area. Brain training improvements could lead to improved quality of life, and perhaps, have financial and independent living ramifications for older adults.

Pediatric Diabetes Telemedicine Program Improves Access to Care for Rural Families: Role of APRNs.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Nancy Marie; Satyshur, Rosemarie DiMauro

2016-01-01

Type 1 diabetes mellitus has increased in children by 23% from 2001 to 2009. Rural communities additionally have increased disparities related to access barriers and a large minority population with poorer overall health. Research evidence supports telemedicine as an effective alternative to bring preventive diabetes care to remote areas. This article presents an overview of the leadership role of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with the implementation and evaluation of a pediatric diabetes telemedicine program at a rural pediatric outpatient specialty clinic in partnership with a tertiary center telemedicine network. The telemedicine program quality improvement (QI) project explored caregiver satisfaction with a convenience sample of caregivers (N = 14) using a nine-item Telemedicine Diabetes Caregiver Satisfaction Survey (TDCSS), with responses ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Findings indicate caregivers were highly satisfied with communication/ privacy (M = 4.8), access to care (M = 4.1), and quality of services (M = 5.0). The multidisciplinary collaborative teamwork, continuous QI, and dependable technology were integral to the quality of the telemedicine clinical initiative. APRNs provided technology expertise, interdisciplinary collaboration leadership, care coordination, and advocacy for policy changes. Results demonstrate that telemedicine and APRN leadership can help implement innovative programs into rural communities to improve access to care, healthcare cost, and outcomes.

Airport Gate Activity Monitoring Tool Suite for Improved Turnaround Prediction, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The objective of this research is to create a suite of tools for monitoring airport gate activities with the objective of improving aircraft turnaround. Airport ramp...

Popularity Prediction Tool for ATLAS Distributed Data Management

Science.gov (United States)

Beermann, T.; Maettig, P.; Stewart, G.; Lassnig, M.; Garonne, V.; Barisits, M.; Vigne, R.; Serfon, C.; Goossens, L.; Nairz, A.; Molfetas, A.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

This paper describes a popularity prediction tool for data-intensive data management systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). It is fed by the DDM popularity system, which produces historical reports about ATLAS data usage, providing information about files, datasets, users and sites where data was accessed. The tool described in this contribution uses this historical information to make a prediction about the future popularity of data. It finds trends in the usage of data using a set of neural networks and a set of input parameters and predicts the number of accesses in the near term future. This information can then be used in a second step to improve the distribution of replicas at sites, taking into account the cost of creating new replicas (bandwidth and load on the storage system) compared to gain of having new ones (faster access of data for analysis). To evaluate the benefit of the redistribution a grid simulator is introduced that is able replay real workload on different data distributions. This article describes the popularity prediction method and the simulator that is used to evaluate the redistribution.

Popularity prediction tool for ATLAS distributed data management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beermann, T; Maettig, P; Stewart, G; Lassnig, M; Garonne, V; Barisits, M; Vigne, R; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A; Molfetas, A

2014-01-01

This paper describes a popularity prediction tool for data-intensive data management systems, such as ATLAS distributed data management (DDM). It is fed by the DDM popularity system, which produces historical reports about ATLAS data usage, providing information about files, datasets, users and sites where data was accessed. The tool described in this contribution uses this historical information to make a prediction about the future popularity of data. It finds trends in the usage of data using a set of neural networks and a set of input parameters and predicts the number of accesses in the near term future. This information can then be used in a second step to improve the distribution of replicas at sites, taking into account the cost of creating new replicas (bandwidth and load on the storage system) compared to gain of having new ones (faster access of data for analysis). To evaluate the benefit of the redistribution a grid simulator is introduced that is able replay real workload on different data distributions. This article describes the popularity prediction method and the simulator that is used to evaluate the redistribution.

Using Quality Tools and Methodologies to Improve a Hospital's Quality Position.

Science.gov (United States)

Branco, Daniel; Wicks, Angela M; Visich, John K

2017-01-01

The authors identify the quality tools and methodologies most frequently used by quality-positioned hospitals versus nonquality hospitals. Northeastern U.S. hospitals in both groups received a brief, 12-question survey. The authors found that 93.75% of the quality hospitals and 81.25% of the nonquality hospitals used some form of process improvement methodologies. However, there were significant differences between the groups regarding the impact of quality improvement initiatives on patients. The findings indicate that in quality hospitals the use of quality improvement initiatives had a significantly greater positive impact on patient satisfaction and patient outcomes when compared to nonquality hospitals.

Lean management: innovative tools for engaging teams in continuous quality improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Perreault, Lucille; Vaillancourt, Lise; Filion, Catherine; Hadj, Camélia

2014-01-01

Lean management has proven to be a sustainable method to ensure a high level of patient care through innovation and teamwork. It involves a set of six tools that allow for visual management shared among team members. The team focuses their efforts on the improvement of organizational indicators in a standardized and engaging way, resulting in the sustainability of improvements. This article outlines the program's rollout at Montfort Hospital (l'Hôpital Montfort). In only a few months, two pilot units accomplished close to 50 improvements each. In addition, the organizational employee satisfaction questionnaire showed very positive results. Copyright © 2014 Longwoods Publishing.

Web accessibility of public universities in Andalusia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Alejandro Casasola Balsells

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper describes an analysis conducted in 2015 to evaluate the accessibility of content on Andalusian public university websites. In order to determinate whether these websites are accessible, an assessment has been carried out to check conformance with the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C. For this purpose, we have designed a methodology for analysis that combines the use of three automatic tools (eXaminator, MINHAP web accessibility tool, and TAW with a manual analysis to provide a greater reliability and validity of the results. Although the results are acceptable overall, a detailed analysis shows that more is still needed for achieving full accessibility for the entire university community. In this respect, we suggest several corrections to common accessibility errors for facilitating the design of university web portals.

Improving awareness, accountability, and access through health coaching: qualitative study of patients' perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Liddy, Clare; Johnston, Sharon; Irving, Hannah; Nash, Kate; Ward, Natalie

2015-03-01

To assess patients' experiences with and perceptions of health coaching as part of their ongoing care. A qualitative research design using semistructured interviews that were recorded and transcribed verbatim.Setting Ottawa, Ont. Eleven patients (> 18 years of age) enrolled in a health coaching pilot program who were at risk of or diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Patients' perspectives were assessed with semistructured interviews. Interviews were conducted with 11 patients at the end of the pilot program, using a stratified sampling approach to ensure maximum variation. All patients found the overall experience with the health coaching program to be positive. Patients believed the health coaching program was effective in increasing awareness of how diabetes affected their bodies and health, in building accountability for their health-related actions, and in improving access to care and other health resources. Patients perceive one-on-one health coaching as an acceptable intervention in their ongoing care. Patients enrolled in the health coaching pilot program believed that there was an improvement in access to care, health literacy, and accountability,all factors considered to be precursors to behavioural change.

Do Bedside Visual Tools Improve Patient and Caregiver Satisfaction? A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Goyal, Anupama A; Tur, Komalpreet; Mann, Jason; Townsend, Whitney; Flanders, Scott A; Chopra, Vineet

2017-11-01

Although common, the impact of low-cost bedside visual tools, such as whiteboards, on patient care is unclear. To systematically review the literature and assess the influence of bedside visual tools on patient satisfaction. Medline, Embase, SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL, and CENTRAL. Studies of adult or pediatric hospitalized patients reporting physician identification, understanding of provider roles, patient-provider communication, and satisfaction with care from the use of visual tools were included. Outcomes were categorized as positive, negative, or neutral based on survey responses for identification, communication, and satisfaction. Two reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of study bias. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Visual tools included whiteboards (n = 4), physician pictures (n = 7), whiteboard and picture (n = 1), electronic medical record-based patient portals (n = 3), and formatted notepads (n = 1). Tools improved patients' identification of providers (13/13 studies). The impact on understanding the providers' roles was largely positive (8/10 studies). Visual tools improved patient-provider communication (4/5 studies) and satisfaction (6/8 studies). In adults, satisfaction varied between positive with the use of whiteboards (2/5 studies) and neutral with pictures (1/5 studies). Satisfaction related to pictures in pediatric patients was either positive (1/3 studies) or neutral (1/3 studies). Differences in tool format (individual pictures vs handouts with pictures of all providers) and study design (randomized vs cohort) may explain variable outcomes. The use of bedside visual tools appears to improve patient recognition of providers and patient-provider communication. Future studies that include better design and outcome assessment are necessary before widespread use can be recommended. © 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine

Fast and Efficient XML Data Access for Next-Generation Mass Spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Röst, Hannes L; Schmitt, Uwe; Aebersold, Ruedi; Malmström, Lars

2015-01-01

In mass spectrometry-based proteomics, XML formats such as mzML and mzXML provide an open and standardized way to store and exchange the raw data (spectra and chromatograms) of mass spectrometric experiments. These file formats are being used by a multitude of open-source and cross-platform tools which allow the proteomics community to access algorithms in a vendor-independent fashion and perform transparent and reproducible data analysis. Recent improvements in mass spectrometry instrumentation have increased the data size produced in a single LC-MS/MS measurement and put substantial strain on open-source tools, particularly those that are not equipped to deal with XML data files that reach dozens of gigabytes in size. Here we present a fast and versatile parsing library for mass spectrometric XML formats available in C++ and Python, based on the mature OpenMS software framework. Our library implements an API for obtaining spectra and chromatograms under memory constraints using random access or sequential access functions, allowing users to process datasets that are much larger than system memory. For fast access to the raw data structures, small XML files can also be completely loaded into memory. In addition, we have improved the parsing speed of the core mzML module by over 4-fold (compared to OpenMS 1.11), making our library suitable for a wide variety of algorithms that need fast access to dozens of gigabytes of raw mass spectrometric data. Our C++ and Python implementations are available for the Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. All proposed modifications to the OpenMS code have been merged into the OpenMS mainline codebase and are available to the community at https://github.com/OpenMS/OpenMS.

Fast and Efficient XML Data Access for Next-Generation Mass Spectrometry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannes L Röst

Full Text Available In mass spectrometry-based proteomics, XML formats such as mzML and mzXML provide an open and standardized way to store and exchange the raw data (spectra and chromatograms of mass spectrometric experiments. These file formats are being used by a multitude of open-source and cross-platform tools which allow the proteomics community to access algorithms in a vendor-independent fashion and perform transparent and reproducible data analysis. Recent improvements in mass spectrometry instrumentation have increased the data size produced in a single LC-MS/MS measurement and put substantial strain on open-source tools, particularly those that are not equipped to deal with XML data files that reach dozens of gigabytes in size.Here we present a fast and versatile parsing library for mass spectrometric XML formats available in C++ and Python, based on the mature OpenMS software framework. Our library implements an API for obtaining spectra and chromatograms under memory constraints using random access or sequential access functions, allowing users to process datasets that are much larger than system memory. For fast access to the raw data structures, small XML files can also be completely loaded into memory. In addition, we have improved the parsing speed of the core mzML module by over 4-fold (compared to OpenMS 1.11, making our library suitable for a wide variety of algorithms that need fast access to dozens of gigabytes of raw mass spectrometric data.Our C++ and Python implementations are available for the Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. All proposed modifications to the OpenMS code have been merged into the OpenMS mainline codebase and are available to the community at https://github.com/OpenMS/OpenMS.

Action research to improve methods of delivery and feedback in an Access Grid Room environment

Science.gov (United States)

McArthur, Lynne C.; Klass, Lara; Eberhard, Andrew; Stacey, Andrew

2011-12-01

This article describes a qualitative study which was undertaken to improve the delivery methods and feedback opportunity in honours mathematics lectures which are delivered through Access Grid Rooms. Access Grid Rooms are facilities that provide two-way video and audio interactivity across multiple sites, with the inclusion of smart boards. The principal aim was to improve the student learning experience, given the new environment. The specific aspects of the course delivery that the study focused on included presentation of materials and provision of opportunities for interaction between the students and between students and lecturers. The practical considerations in the delivery of distance learning are well documented in the literature, and similar problems arise in the Access Grid Room environment; in particular, those of limited access to face-to-face interaction and the reduction in peer support. The nature of the Access Grid Room classes implies that students studying the same course can be physically situated in different cities, and possibly in different countries. When studying, it is important that students have opportunity to discuss new concepts with others; particularly their peers and their lecturer. The Access Grid Room environment also presents new challenges for the lecturer, who must learn new skills in the delivery of materials. The unique nature of Access Grid Room technology offers unprecedented opportunity for effective course delivery and positive outcomes for students, and was developed in response to a need to be able to interact with complex data, other students and the instructor, in real-time, at a distance and from multiple sites. This is a relatively new technology and as yet there has been little or no studies specifically addressing the use and misuse of the technology. The study found that the correct placement of cameras and the use of printed material and smart boards were all crucial to the student experience. In addition, the

Improving access to surgery in a developing country: experience from a surgical collaboration in Sierra Leone.

Science.gov (United States)

Kushner, Adam L; Kamara, Thaim B; Groen, Reinou S; Fadlu-Deen, Betsy D; Doah, Kisito S; Kingham, T Peter

2010-01-01

Although surgery is increasingly recognized as an essential component of primary health care, there has been little documentation of surgical programs in low- and middle-income countries. Surgeons OverSeas (SOS) is a New York-based organization with a mission to save lives in developing countries by improving surgical care. This article highlights the surgical program in Sierra Leone as a possible model to improve access to surgery. An SOS team conducted a needs assessment of surgical capacity in Sierra Leone in February 2008. Interventions were then developed and programs were implemented. A follow-up assessment was conducted in December 2009, which included interviews of key Sierra Leone hospital personnel and a review of operating room log books. Based on an initial needs assessment, a program was developed that included training, salary support, and the provision of surgical supplies and equipment. Two 3-day workshops were conducted for a total of 44 health workers, salary support given to over 100 staff, and 2 containers of supplies and equipment were donated. Access to surgery, as measured by the number of major operations at Connaught Hospital, increased from 460 cases in 2007 to 768 cases in 2009. The SOS program in Sierra Leone highlights a method for improving access to surgery that incorporates an initial needs assessment with minimal external support and local staff collaboration. The program functions as a catalyst by providing training, salary support, and supplies. The beneficial results of the program can then be used to advocate for additional resources for surgery from policy makers. This model could be beneficial in other resource-poor countries in which improved access to surgery is desired. Copyright 2010 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improved cultivation and metagenomics as new tools for bioprospecting in cold environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vester, Jan Kjølhede; Glaring, Mikkel Andreas; Stougaard, Peter

2015-01-01

Only a small minority of microorganisms from an environmental sample can be cultured in the laboratory leaving the enormous bioprospecting potential of the uncultured diversity unexplored. This resource can be accessed by improved cultivation methods in which the natural environment is brought...... be limited as few hosts are available for expression of genes with extremophilic properties. This review summarizes the methods developed for improved cultivation as well as the metagenomic approaches for bioprospecting with focus on the challenges faced by bioprospecting in cold environments....

Exposing the Strategies that Can Reduce the Obstacles: Improving the Science User Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, Francis E.; Brennan, Jennifer; Behnke, Jeanne; Lynnes, Chris

2017-01-01

It is now well established that pursuing generic solutions to what seem are common problems in Earth science data access and use can often lead to disappointing results for both system developers and the intended users. This presentation focuses on real-world experience of managing a large and complex data system, NASAs Earth Science Data and Information Science System (EOSDIS), whose mission is to serve both broad user communities and those in smaller niche applications of Earth science data and services. In the talk, we focus on our experiences with known data user obstacles characterizing EOSDIS approaches, including various technological techniques, for engaging and bolstering, where possible, user experiences with EOSDIS. For improving how existing and prospective users discover and access NASA data from EOSDIS we introduce our cross-archive tool: Earthdata Search. This new search and order tool further empowers users to quickly access data sets using clever and intuitive features. The Worldview data visualization tool is also discussed highlighting how many users are now performing extensive data exploration without necessarily downloading data. Also, we explore our EOSDIS data discovery and access webinars, data recipes and short tutorials, targeted technical and data publications, user profiles and social media as additional tools and methods used for improving our outreach and communications to a diverse user community. These efforts have paid substantial dividends for our user communities by allowing us to target discipline specific community needs. The desired take-away from this presentation will be an improved understanding of how EOSDIS has approached, and in several instances achieved, removing or lowering the barriers to data access and use. As we look ahead to more complex Earth science missions, EOSDIS will continue to focus on our user communities, both broad and specialized, so that our overall data system can continue to serve the needs of

Exposing the Strategies that can Reduce the Obstacles: Improving the Science User Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, F. E.; Brennan, J.; Behnke, J.; Lynnes, C.

2017-12-01

It is now well established that pursuing generic solutions to what seem are common problems in Earth science data access and use can often lead to disappointing results for both system developers and the intended users. This presentation focuses on real-world experience of managing a large and complex data system, NASA's Earth Science Data and Information Science System (EOSDIS), whose mission is to serve both broad user communities and those in smaller niche applications of Earth science data and services. In the talk, we focus on our experiences with known data user obstacles characterizing EOSDIS approaches, including various technological techniques, for engaging and bolstering, where possible, user experiences with EOSDIS. For improving how existing and prospective users discover and access NASA data from EOSDIS we introduce our cross-archive tool: Earthdata Search. This new search and order tool further empowers users to quickly access data sets using clever and intuitive features. The Worldview data visualization tool is also discussed highlighting how many users are now performing extensive data exploration without necessarily downloading data. Also, we explore our EOSDIS data discovery and access webinars, data recipes and short tutorials, targeted technical and data publications, user profiles and and social media as additional tools and methods used for improving our outreach and communications to a diverse user community. These efforts have paid substantial dividends for our user communities by allowing us to target discipline specific community needs. The desired take-away from this presentation will be an improved understanding of how EOSDIS has approached, and in several instances achieved, removing or lowering the barriers to data access and use. As we look ahead to more complex Earth science missions, EOSDIS will continue to focus on our user communities, both broad and specialized, so that our overall data system can continue to serve the needs of

Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuupiel, Desmond; Bawontuo, Vitalis; Mashamba-Thompson, Tivani P

2017-11-29

Access to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings.

Improving the Accessibility and Efficiency of Point-of-Care Diagnostics Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Lean and Agile Supply Chain Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Desmond Kuupiel

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Access to point-of-care (POC diagnostics services is essential for ensuring rapid disease diagnosis, management, control, and surveillance. POC testing services can improve access to healthcare especially where healthcare infrastructure is weak and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. Improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services, particularly in resource-limited settings, may be a promising route to improving healthcare outcomes. In this review, the accessibility of POC testing is defined as the distance/proximity to the nearest healthcare facility for POC diagnostics service. This review provides an overview of the impact of POC diagnostics on healthcare outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs and factors contributing to the accessibility of POC testing services in LMICs, focusing on characteristics of the supply chain management and quality systems management, characteristics of the geographical location, health infrastructure, and an enabling policy framework for POC diagnostics services. Barriers and challenges related to the accessibility of POC diagnostics in LMICs were also discussed. Bearing in mind the reported barriers and challenges as well as the disease epidemiology in LMICs, we propose a lean and agile supply chain management framework for improving the accessibility and efficiency of POC diagnostics services in these settings.

ThinkHazard!: an open-source, global tool for understanding hazard information

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Stuart; Jongman, Brenden; Simpson, Alanna; Nunez, Ariel; Deparday, Vivien; Saito, Keiko; Murnane, Richard; Balog, Simone

2016-04-01

Rapid and simple access to added-value natural hazard and disaster risk information is a key issue for various stakeholders of the development and disaster risk management (DRM) domains. Accessing available data often requires specialist knowledge of heterogeneous data, which are often highly technical and can be difficult for non-specialists in DRM to find and exploit. Thus, availability, accessibility and processing of these information sources are crucial issues, and an important reason why many development projects suffer significant impacts from natural hazards. The World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is currently developing a new open-source tool to address this knowledge gap: ThinkHazard! The main aim of the ThinkHazard! project is to develop an analytical tool dedicated to facilitating improvements in knowledge and understanding of natural hazards among non-specialists in DRM. It also aims at providing users with relevant guidance and information on handling the threats posed by the natural hazards present in a chosen location. Furthermore, all aspects of this tool will be open and transparent, in order to give users enough information to understand its operational principles. In this presentation, we will explain the technical approach behind the tool, which translates state-of-the-art probabilistic natural hazard data into understandable hazard classifications and practical recommendations. We will also demonstrate the functionality of the tool, and discuss limitations from a scientific as well as an operational perspective.

Web-based Tool Identifies and Quantifies Potential Cost Savings Measures at the Hanford Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renevitz, Marisa J.; Peschong, Jon C.; Charboneau, Briant L.; Simpson, Brett C.

2014-01-01

The Technical Improvement system is an approachable web-based tool that is available to Hanford DOE staff, site contractors, and general support service contractors as part of the baseline optimization effort underway at the Hanford Site. Finding and implementing technical improvements are a large part of DOE's cost savings efforts. The Technical Improvement dashboard is a key tool for brainstorming and monitoring the progress of submitted baseline optimization and potential cost/schedule efficiencies. The dashboard is accessible to users over the Hanford Local Area Network (HLAN) and provides a highly visual and straightforward status to management on the ideas provided, alleviating the need for resource intensive weekly and monthly reviews

Subject Access Problems of Different Types of OPAC Users Or, the Double Challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Cochrane, Pauline A.

1989-01-01

Reviews the problems of users of online public access catalogs and argues that it is necessary to think of all searching problems as systems problems rather than user failures, and to concentrate research in the area of systems enhancements. A list of improved tools needed for subject searching in online catalogs is identified. (CLB)

Leveraging community-academic partnerships to improve healthy food access in an urban, Kansas City, Kansas, community.

Science.gov (United States)

Mabachi, Natabhona M; Kimminau, Kim S

2012-01-01

Americans can combat overweight (OW) and obesity by eating unprocessed, fresh foods. However, all Americans do not have equal access to these recommended foods. Low-income, minority, urban neighborhoods in particular often have limited access to healthy resources, although they are vulnerable to higher levels of OW and obesity. This project used community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to investigate the food needs of residents and develop a business plan to improve access to healthy food options in an urban, Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood. Partner community organizations were mobilized to conduct a Community Food Assessment survey. The surveys were accompanied by flyers that were part of the communication engagement strategy. Statistical analysis of the surveys was conducted. We engaged low-income, minority population (40% Latino, 30% African American) urban communities at the household level. Survey results provided in-depth information about residents' food needs and thoughts on how to improve food access. Results were reported to community members at a town hall style meeting. Developing a strategic plan to engage a community and develop trust is crucial to sustaining a partnership particularly when working with underserved communities. This project demonstrates that, if well managed, the benefits of academic and community partnerships outweigh the challenges thus such relationships should be encouraged and supported by communities, academic institutions, local and national government, and funders. A CBPR approach to understanding an urban community's food needs and opinions is important for comprehensive food access planning.

Implementation of the trauma registry as a tool for quality improvement in trauma care in a brazilian hospital: the first 12 months

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JOSÉ GUSTAVO PARREIRA

Full Text Available ABSTRACTObjective:to analyze the implementation of a trauma registry in a university teaching hospital delivering care under the unified health system (SUS, and its ability to identify points for improvement in the quality of care provided.Methods:the data collection group comprised students from medicine and nursing courses who were holders of FAPESP scholarships (technical training 1 or otherwise, overseen by the coordinators of the project. The itreg (ECO Sistemas-RJ/SBAIT software was used as the database tool. Several quality "filters" were proposed to select those cases for review in the quality control process.Results:data for 1344 trauma patients were input to the itreg database between March and November 2014. Around 87.0% of cases were blunt trauma patients, 59.6% had RTS>7.0 and 67% ISS<9. Full records were available for 292 cases, which were selected for review in the quality program. The auditing filters most frequently registered were laparotomy four hours after admission and drainage of acute subdural hematomas four hours after admission. Several points for improvement were flagged, such as control of overtriage of patients, the need to reduce the number of negative imaging exams, the development of protocols for achieving central venous access, and management of major TBI.Conclusion: the trauma registry provides a clear picture of the points to be improved in trauma patient care, however, there are specific peculiarities for implementing this tool in the Brazilian milieu.

Online Classrooms: Powerful Tools for Rapid-Iteration Pedagogical Improvements

Science.gov (United States)

Horodyskyj, L.; Semken, S.; Anbar, A.; Buxner, S.

2015-11-01

Online education offers the opportunity to reach a variety of students including non-traditional and geographically diverse students. Research has shown that online courses modeled after traditional lecture-exam courses are ineffective. Over the past three years, Arizona State University developed and offered Habitable Worlds, an online-only astrobiology lab course featuring active learning tools. The course is offered in an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that records a wealth of student data. In analyzing data from the Fall 2013 offering of the course, we were able to identify pre-post quiz results that were suboptimal and where in the lesson and how precisely students were missing concepts. The problem areas were redesigned, and the improved lessons were deployed a few months later. We saw significant improvements in our pre-post quiz results due to the implemented changes. This demonstrates the effectiveness of using robust ITS not only to present content online, but to provide instantaneous data for rapid iteration and improvement of existing content.

PROBLEMS OF ICT-BASED TOOLS ESTIMATION IN THE CONTEXT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY FORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Shyshkina

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The article describes the problems of improvement of quality of implementation and use of e-learning tools which arise in terms of increasing quality and accessibility of education. It is determined that those issues are closely linked to specific scientific and methodological approaches to evaluation of quality, selection and use of ICT-based tools in view of emergence of promising information technological platforms of these resources implementation and delivery.

Improving Multi Access Interference Suppression in Optical CDMA by using all-Optical Signal Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. B. Osadola

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the study of a novel all-optical method for processing optical CDMA signals towards improving suppression of multi access interference. The main focus is on incoherent OCDMA systems using multiwavelength 2D-WH/TS codes generated using FBG based encoders and decoders. The MAI suppression capabilities based on its ability to eliminate selective wavelength pulse processing have been shown. A novel transmitter architecture that achieves up to 3dB power saving was also presented. As a result of hardware savings, processing cost will be significantly reduced and power budget improvement resulted in improved performance.

Toolpath strategy for cutter life improvement in plunge milling of AISI H13 tool steel

Science.gov (United States)

Adesta, E. Y. T.; Avicenna; hilmy, I.; Daud, M. R. H. C.

2018-01-01

Machinability of AISI H13 tool steel is a prominent issue since the material has the characteristics of high hardenability, excellent wear resistance, and hot toughness. A method of improving cutter life of AISI H13 tool steel plunge milling by alternating the toolpath and cutting conditions is proposed. Taguchi orthogonal array with L9 (3^4) resolution will be employed with one categorical factor of toolpath strategy (TS) and three numeric factors of cutting speed (Vc), radial depth of cut (ae ), and chip load (fz ). It is expected that there are significant differences for each application of toolpath strategy and each cutting condition factor toward the cutting force and tool wear mechanism of the machining process, and medial axis transform toolpath could provide a better tool life improvement by a reduction of cutting force during machining.

Household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in Vietnam and associated factors: findings from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, 2000-2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuyet-Hanh, Tran Thi; Lee, Jong-Koo; Oh, Juhwan; Van Minh, Hoang; Ou Lee, Chul; Hoan, Le Thi; Nam, You-Seon; Long, Tran Khanh

2016-01-01

Despite progress made by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number 7.C, Vietnam still faces challenges with regard to the provision of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. This paper describes household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities separately, and analyses factors associated with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in combination. Secondary data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2000, 2006, and 2011 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and tests of significance describe trends over time in access to water and sanitation by location, demographic and socio-economic factors. Binary logistic regressions (2000, 2006, and 2011) describe associations between access to water and sanitation, and geographic, demographic, and socio-economic factors. There have been some outstanding developments in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities from 2000 to 2011. In 2011, the proportion of households with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities reached 90% and 77%, respectively, meeting the 2015 MDG targets for safe drinking water and basic sanitation set at 88% and 75%, respectively. However, despite these achievements, in 2011, only 74% of households overall had access to combined improved drinking water and sanitation facilities. There were also stark differences between regions. In 2011, only 47% of households had access to both improved water and sanitation facilities in the Mekong River Delta compared with 94% in the Red River Delta. In 2011, households in urban compared to rural areas were more than twice as likely (odds ratio [OR]: 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9-2.5) to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities in combination, and households in the highest compared with the lowest wealth quintile were over 40 times more likely (OR: 42.3; 95% CI: 29.8-60.0). More efforts are required to increase household access to

Direct-Acting Antivirals Improve Access to Care and Cure for Patients With HIV and Chronic HCV Infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Lauren F; Chan, Austin; Zheng, Jiayin; Chow, Shein-Chung; Wilder, Julius M; Muir, Andrew J; Naggie, Susanna

2018-01-01

Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) as curative therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection offer >95% sustained virologic response (SVR), including in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Despite improved safety and efficacy of HCV treatment, challenges remain, including drug-drug interactions between DAA and antiretroviral therapy (ART) and restrictions on access by payers. We performed a retrospective cohort study of all HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected patients captured in care at our institution from 2011-2015, reflecting the DAA era, to determine treatment uptake and SVR, and to elucidate barriers to accessing DAA for co-infected patients. We identified 9290 patients with HCV mono-infection and 507 with HIV/HCV co-infection. Compared to mono-infected patients, co-infected patients were younger and more likely to be male and African-American. For both groups, treatment uptake improved from the DAA/pegylated interferon (PEGIFN)-ribavirin to IFN-free DAA era. One-third of co-infected patients in the IFN-free DAA era required ART switch and nearly all remained virologically suppressed after 6 months. We observed SVR >95% for most patient subgroups including those with co-infection, prior treatment-experience, and cirrhosis. Predictors of access to DAA for co-infected patients included Caucasian race, CD4 count ≥200 cells/mm 3 , HIV virologic suppression and cirrhosis. Time to approval of DAA was longest for patients insured by Medicaid, followed by private insurance and Medicare. DAA therapy has significantly improved access to HCV treatment and high SVR is independent of HIV status. However, in order to realize cure for all, barriers and disparities in access need to be urgently addressed.

Training Theory of Mind and Executive Control: A Tool for Improving School Achievement?

Science.gov (United States)

Kloo, Daniela; Perner, Josef

2008-01-01

In the preschool years, there are marked improvements in theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions. And, children's competence in these two core cognitive domains is associated with their academic achievement. Therefore, training ToM and executive control could be a valuable tool for improving children's success in school. This article reviews…

Strategic Accessibility Competition

OpenAIRE

Bacchiega, Emanuele; Randon, Emanuela; Zirulia, Lorenzo

2010-01-01

We analyze the effect of competition in market-accessibility enhancement among quality-differentiated firms. Firms are located in regions with different ex-ante transport costs to reach the final market. We characterize the equilibrium of the two-stage game in which firms first invest to improve market accessibility and then compete in prices. Efforts in accessibility improvement crucially depend on the interplay between the willingness to pay for the quality premium of the median consumer an...

Decision support tools in conservation: a workshop to improve user-centred design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Rose

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A workshop held at the University of Cambridge in May 2017 brought developers, researchers, knowledge brokers, and users together to discuss user-centred design of decision support tools. Decision support tools are designed to take users through logical decision steps towards an evidence-informed final decision. Although they may exist in different forms, including on paper, decision support tools are generally considered to be computer- (online, software or app-based. Studies have illustrated the potential value of decision support tools for conservation, and there are several papers describing the design of individual tools. Rather less attention, however, has been placed on the desirable characteristics for use, and even less on whether tools are actually being used in practice. This is concerning because if tools are not used by their intended end user, for example a policy-maker or practitioner, then its design will have wasted resources. Based on an analysis of papers on tool use in conservation, there is a lack of social science research on improving design, and relatively few examples where users have been incorporated into the design process. Evidence from other disciplines, particularly human-computer interaction research, illustrates that involving users throughout the design of decision support tools increases the relevance, usability, and impact of systems. User-centred design of tools is, however, seldom mentioned in the conservation literature. The workshop started the necessary process of bringing together developers and users to share knowledge about how to conduct good user-centred design of decision support tools. This will help to ensure that tools are usable and make an impact in conservation policy and practice.

Developing a middleware to support HDF data access in ArcGIS

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, M.; Jiang, Y.; Yang, C. P.

2014-12-01

Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) is the standard data format for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) data products, like the MODIS level-3 data. These data have been widely used in long-term study of the land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, and oceans of the Earth. Several toolkits have been developed to access HDF data, such as the HDF viewer and Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL), etc. ArcGIS integrated the GDAL providing data user a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to read HDF data. However, there are still some problems when using the toolkits:for example, 1) the projection information is not recognized correctly, 2) the image is dispalyed inverted, and 3) the tool lacks of capability to read the third dimension information stored in the data subsets, etc. Accordingly, in this study we attempt to improve the current HDF toolkits to address the aformentioned issues. Considering the wide-usage of ArcGIS, we develop a middleware for ArcGIS based on GDAL to solve the particular data access problems happening in ArcGIS, so that data users can access HDF data successfully and perform further data analysis with the ArcGIS geoprocessing tools.

How NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is operationally using the Esri ArcGIS Platform to improve data discoverability, accessibility and interoperability to meet the diversifying government, private, public and academic communities' driven requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

Tisdale, M.

2016-12-01

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is operationally using the Esri ArcGIS Platform to improve data discoverability, accessibility and interoperability to meet the diversifying government, private, public and academic communities' driven requirements. The ASDC is actively working to provide their mission essential datasets as ArcGIS Image Services, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Mapping Services (WMS), OGC Web Coverage Services (WCS) and leveraging the ArcGIS multidimensional mosaic dataset structure. Science teams and ASDC are utilizing these services, developing applications using the Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS and ArcGIS API for Javascript, and evaluating restructuring their data production and access scripts within the ArcGIS Python Toolbox framework and Geoprocessing service environment. These capabilities yield a greater usage and exposure of ASDC data holdings and provide improved geospatial analytical tools for a mission critical understanding in the areas of the earth's radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry.

New tools and improvements in the Exoplanet Transit Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pejcha O.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Comprehensive collection of the available light curves, prediction possibilities and the online model fitting procedure, that are available via Exoplanet Transit Database became very popular in the community. In this paper we summarized the changes, that we made in the ETD during last year (including the Kepler candidates into the prediction section, modeling of an unknown planet in the model-fit section and some other small improvements. All this new tools cannot be found in the main ETD paper.

Innovations in the Endovascular Management of Critical Limb Ischemia: Retrograde Tibiopedal Access and Advanced Percutaneous Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Mustapha, Jihad A; Diaz-Sandoval, Larry J; Saab, Fadi

2017-08-01

Retrograde tibiopedal access and interventions have contributed to advance of endovascular techniques to treat critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients. This review encompasses the spectrum from advanced diagnostic imaging and technical therapeutic approaches for infrapopliteal occlusions, to a discussion of current standards and future directions. Contemporary studies of infrapopliteal angioplasty show suboptimal short-term and 1-year clinical outcomes. Comparative data is needed to shift the focus from PTA to disruptive treatment modalities that can further improve outcomes. Retrograde pedal access has emerged as an important tool to facilitate successfully percutaneous revascularization and limb salvage in patients with CLI. To efficiently approach the complexity of CLI, new thought processes are needed to change the reigning paradigms. Retrograde tibial-pedal access has shown improvement in the rate of successful revascularizations and is an important tool in the amputation-prevention armamentarium. Additional technologies may further improve success rates. Drug-eluting stents have shown better outcomes than PTA in patients with focal infrapopliteal lesions. Registry data have demonstrated the advantage of several atherectomy devices in the tibial arteries. More recently, bioresorbable vascular scaffolds have been used successfully, and further studies with drug-coated balloons are underway. Interventional operators are now even working in the inframalleolar space to reconstitute the plantar arch. Well-conducted studies are needed to generate high-quality evidence in the field of critical limb ischemia management.

Strategic purchasing reform in Estonia: Reducing inequalities in access while improving care concentration and quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Habicht, Triin; Habicht, Jarno; van Ginneken, Ewout

2015-08-01

As of 2014, the Estonian Health Insurance Fund has adopted new purchasing procedures and criteria, which it now has started to implement in specialist care. Main changes include (1) redefined access criteria based on population need rather than historical supply, which aim to achieve more equal access of providers and specialties; (2) stricter definition and use of optimal workload criteria to increase the concentration of specialist care (3) better consideration of patient movement; and (4) an increased emphasis on quality to foster quality improvement. The new criteria were first used in the contract cycle that started in 2014 and resulted in fewer contracted providers for a similar volume of care compared to the previous contract cycle. This implies that provision of specialized care has become concentrated at fewer providers. It is too early to draw firm conclusions on the impact on care quality or on actors, but the process has sparked debate on the role of selective contracting and the role of public and private providers in Estonian health care. Lastly, the Estonian experience may hold important lessons for other countries looking to overcome inequalities in access while concentrating care and improving care quality. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Crossing the Barriers: An Analysis of Land Access Barriers to Geothermal Development and Potential Improvement Scenarios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Aaron L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Young, Katherine R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-10-04

Developers have identified many non-technical barriers to geothermal power development, including access to land. Activities required for accessing land, such as environmental review and private and public leasing can take a considerable amount of time and can delay or prevent project development. This paper discusses the impacts to available geothermal resources and deployment caused by land access challenges, including tribal and cultural resources, environmentally sensitive areas, biological resources, land ownership, federal and state lease queues, and proximity to military installations. In this analysis, we identified challenges that have the potential to prevent development of identified and undiscovered hydrothermal geothermal resources. We found that an estimated 400 MW of identified geothermal resource potential and 4,000 MW of undiscovered geothermal resource potential were either unallowed for development or contained one or more significant barriers that could prevent development at the site. Potential improvement scenarios that could be employed to overcome these barriers include (1) providing continuous funding to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for processing geothermal leases and permit applications and (2) the creation of advanced environmental mitigation measures. The model results forecast that continuous funding to the USFS could result in deployment of an additional 80 MW of geothermal capacity by 2030 and 124 MW of geothermal capacity by 2050 when compared to the business-as-usual scenario. The creation of advanced environmental mitigation measures coupled with continuous funding to the USFS could result in deployment of an additional 97 MW of geothermal capacity by 2030 and 152 MW of geothermal capacity by 2050 when compared to the business-as-usual scenario. The small impact on potential deployment in these improvement scenarios suggests that these 4,400 MW have other barriers to development in addition to land access. In other words, simply

Household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in Vietnam and associated factors: findings from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, 2000–2011

Science.gov (United States)

Tuyet-Hanh, Tran Thi; Lee, Jong-Koo; Oh, Juhwan; Van Minh, Hoang; Ou Lee, Chul; Hoan, Le Thi; Nam, You-Seon; Long, Tran Khanh

2016-01-01

Background Despite progress made by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number 7.C, Vietnam still faces challenges with regard to the provision of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Objective This paper describes household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities separately, and analyses factors associated with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in combination. Design Secondary data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2000, 2006, and 2011 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and tests of significance describe trends over time in access to water and sanitation by location, demographic and socio-economic factors. Binary logistic regressions (2000, 2006, and 2011) describe associations between access to water and sanitation, and geographic, demographic, and socio-economic factors. Results There have been some outstanding developments in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities from 2000 to 2011. In 2011, the proportion of households with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities reached 90% and 77%, respectively, meeting the 2015 MDG targets for safe drinking water and basic sanitation set at 88% and 75%, respectively. However, despite these achievements, in 2011, only 74% of households overall had access to combined improved drinking water and sanitation facilities. There were also stark differences between regions. In 2011, only 47% of households had access to both improved water and sanitation facilities in the Mekong River Delta compared with 94% in the Red River Delta. In 2011, households in urban compared to rural areas were more than twice as likely (odds ratio [OR]: 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9–2.5) to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities in combination, and households in the highest compared with the lowest wealth quintile were over 40 times more likely (OR: 42.3; 95% CI: 29.8–60.0). Conclusions More

Household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in Vietnam and associated factors: findings from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, 2000–2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tran Thi Tuyet-Hanh

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Despite progress made by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG number 7.C, Vietnam still faces challenges with regard to the provision of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Objective: This paper describes household trends in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities separately, and analyses factors associated with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities in combination. Design: Secondary data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2000, 2006, and 2011 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and tests of significance describe trends over time in access to water and sanitation by location, demographic and socio-economic factors. Binary logistic regressions (2000, 2006, and 2011 describe associations between access to water and sanitation, and geographic, demographic, and socio-economic factors. Results: There have been some outstanding developments in access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities from 2000 to 2011. In 2011, the proportion of households with access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities reached 90% and 77%, respectively, meeting the 2015 MDG targets for safe drinking water and basic sanitation set at 88% and 75%, respectively. However, despite these achievements, in 2011, only 74% of households overall had access to combined improved drinking water and sanitation facilities. There were also stark differences between regions. In 2011, only 47% of households had access to both improved water and sanitation facilities in the Mekong River Delta compared with 94% in the Red River Delta. In 2011, households in urban compared to rural areas were more than twice as likely (odds ratio [OR]: 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9–2.5 to have access to improved water and sanitation facilities in combination, and households in the highest compared with the lowest wealth quintile were over 40 times more likely (OR: 42.3; 95% CI: 29.8–60

Process Improvement Through Tool Integration in Aero-Mechanical Design

Science.gov (United States)

Briggs, Clark

2010-01-01

Emerging capabilities in commercial design tools promise to significantly improve the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary design and analysis coverage for aerospace mechanical engineers. This paper explores the analysis process for two example problems of a wing and flap mechanical drive system and an aircraft landing gear door panel. The examples begin with the design solid models and include various analysis disciplines such as structural stress and aerodynamic loads. Analytical methods include CFD, multi-body dynamics with flexible bodies and structural analysis. Elements of analysis data management, data visualization and collaboration are also included.

Seamless access to OER with mobile technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tabuenca, Bernardo

2014-01-01

This presentation provides insight on how ubiquitous technology can support lifelong learners facilitating access across context. The 3LHub tool is presented as suitable tool to scaffold personal learning ecologies.

Worktime control access, need and use in relation to work-home interference, fatigue, and job motivation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijp, H.H.; Beckers, D.G.J.; Kompier, M.A.J.; Bossche, S.N.J. van den; Geurts, S.A.E.

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Worktime control (WTC) has been suggested as a tool to reduce employees' work-home interference and fatigue and improve job motivation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) to examine the prevalence of employees' need for, access to, and use of WTC, as well as the incongruence

Improving sustainability during hospital design and operation a multidisciplinary evaluation tool

CERN Document Server

Bottero, Marta; Buffoli, Maddalena; Lettieri, Emanuele

2015-01-01

This book describes the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare (SustHealth) project, which had the goal of developing an original multidisciplinary evaluation tool that can be applied to assess and improve hospitals’ overall sustainability. The comprehensive nature of the appraisal offered by this tool exceeds the scope of most current rating systems, which typically permit a thorough evaluation of relevant environmental factors when designing a new building but fail to consider social and economic impacts of the design phase or the performance of the hospital’s operational structure in these fields. The multidisciplinary evaluation system was developed, from its very inception through to its testing, by following a scientific experimental method in which a global perspective was constantly maintained, as opposed to a focus only on specific technical issues. Application of the SustHealth rating tool to a currently functioning hospital, or one under design, will identify weaknesses and guide users to potentia...

Open-access ultrasound referrals from general practice.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Hughes, P

2015-03-01

Direct access referral for radiological investigations from General Practice (GP) provides an indispensable diagnostic tool and avoids the inherently long waiting time that referral through a hospital based specialty would entail. Improving access to hospital based radiology services is one of Health Information and Quality Authority\\'s key recommendations in its report on patient referrals from general practice. This study aimed to review all GP referrals for ultrasound investigations to a tertiary referral teaching hospital over a seven month period with respect to their demographics, waiting times and diagnostic outcomes. 1,090 ultrasounds originating in general practice were carried out during the study period. Positive findings were recorded in 332 (30.46%) examinations. The median waiting time from receipt of referral to the diagnostic investigation was 56 days (range 16 - 91 years). 71 (6.5%) patients had follow-up imaging investigations while recommendation for hospital based specialty referral was made in 35 cases (3.2%). Significant findings included abdominal aortic aneurysms, metastatic disease and lymphoma. Direct access to ultrasound for general practitioners allows the referring physician to make an informed decision with regard to the need for specialist referral. We believe these findings help support the case for national direct access to diagnostic ultrasound for general practitioners.

The APIS service : a tool for accessing value-added HST planetary auroral observations over 1997-2015

Science.gov (United States)

Lamy, L.; Henry, F.; Prangé, R.; Le Sidaner, P.

2015-10-01

The Auroral Planetary Imaging and Spectroscopy (APIS) service http://obspm.fr/apis/ provides an open and interactive access to processed auroral observations of the outer planets and their satellites. Such observations are of interest for a wide community at the interface between planetology, magnetospheric and heliospheric physics. APIS consists of (i) a high level database, built from planetary auroral observations acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since 1997 with its mostly used Far-Ultraviolet spectro- imagers, (ii) a dedicated search interface aimed at browsing efficiently this database through relevant conditional search criteria (Figure 1) and (iii) the ability to interactively work with the data online through plotting tools developed by the Virtual Observatory (VO) community, such as Aladin and Specview. This service is VO compliant and can therefore also been queried by external search tools of the VO community. The diversity of available data and the capability to sort them out by relevant physical criteria shall in particular facilitate statistical studies, on long-term scales and/or multi-instrumental multispectral combined analysis [1,2]. We will present the updated capabilities of APIS with several examples. Several tutorials are available online.

Operational Improvements of Continuous Process with Tools of Lean Production - A Case Study in a Brazilian Petrochemical

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Uchoa Passos

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This study seeks to evaluate operational improvements in Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem, which has been using lean production management tools to monitor its processes. There was some improvement in plant efficiency, measured from the beginning of implementation of management tools Six Sigma and TPM. Thus, we investigated three efficiency indicators considered by the company of great importance for the competitiveness of the business: the physical loss of products, plant’s energy efficiency, and the utilization rate of assets. The differences observed in these indicators, before and after the use of the tools, were tested for its statistical significance, which revealed that the physical losses of ethylene and plant’s energy efficiency improved, almost reaching the performance considered as class world. As for the utilization rate of assets, although it has evolved positively, still is at a considerable distance from that performance standard. By registering operational improvements in a continuous process plant, with lean production tools, this study indicates that these instruments, even if they have no causal relation with the improvements, are suitable for continuous processes and could have a much broader use, oriented, first of all, by the general approach of process optimization and, somehow, regardless of the nature of productive activity.

Improvements to Integrated Tradespace Analysis of Communications Architectures (ITACA) Network Loading Analysis Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Nathaniel; Welch, Bryan W.

2018-01-01

NASA's SCENIC project aims to simplify and reduce the cost of space mission planning by replicating the analysis capabilities of commercially licensed software which are integrated with relevant analysis parameters specific to SCaN assets and SCaN supported user missions. SCENIC differs from current tools that perform similar analyses in that it 1) does not require any licensing fees, 2) will provide an all-in-one package for various analysis capabilities that normally requires add-ons or multiple tools to complete. As part of SCENIC's capabilities, the ITACA network loading analysis tool will be responsible for assessing the loading on a given network architecture and generating a network service schedule. ITACA will allow users to evaluate the quality of service of a given network architecture and determine whether or not the architecture will satisfy the mission's requirements. ITACA is currently under development, and the following improvements were made during the fall of 2017: optimization of runtime, augmentation of network asset pre-service configuration time, augmentation of Brent's method of root finding, augmentation of network asset FOV restrictions, augmentation of mission lifetimes, and the integration of a SCaN link budget calculation tool. The improvements resulted in (a) 25% reduction in runtime, (b) more accurate contact window predictions when compared to STK(Registered Trademark) contact window predictions, and (c) increased fidelity through the use of specific SCaN asset parameters.

The upgrade of the J-TEXT experimental data access and management system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, C.; Zhang, M.; Zheng, W.; Liu, R.; Zhuang, G.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The J-TEXT DAMS is developed based on B/S model, which makes it conveniently access the system. • The JWeb-Scope adopts segment strategy to read data that improve the speed of reading data. • DAMS have integrated the management and JWeb-Scope and make an easy way for visitors to access the experiment data. • The JWeb-Scope can be visited all over the world, plot experiment data and zoom in or out smoothly. - Abstract: The experimental data of J-TEXT tokamak are stored in the MDSplus database. The old J-TEXT data access system is based on the tools provided by MDSplus. Since the number of signals is huge, the data retrieval for an experiment is difficult. To solve this problem, the J-TEXT experimental data access and management system (DAMS) based on MDSplus has been developed. The DAMS left the old MDSplus system unchanged providing new tools, which can help users to handle all signals as well as to retrieve signals they need thanks to the user information requirements. The DAMS also offers users a way to create their jScope configuration files which can be downloaded to the local computer. In addition, the DAMS provides a JWeb-Scope tool to visualize the signal in a browser. JWeb-Scope adopts segment strategy to read massive data efficiently. Users can plot one or more signals on their own choice and zoom-in, zoom-out smoothly. The whole system is based on B/S model, so that the users only need of the browsers to access the DAMS. The DAMS has been tested and it has a better user experience. It will be integrated into the J-TEXT remote participation system later

Improving accessibility and discovery of ESA planetary data through the new planetary science archive

Science.gov (United States)

Macfarlane, A. J.; Docasal, R.; Rios, C.; Barbarisi, I.; Saiz, J.; Vallejo, F.; Besse, S.; Arviset, C.; Barthelemy, M.; De Marchi, G.; Fraga, D.; Grotheer, E.; Heather, D.; Lim, T.; Martinez, S.; Vallat, C.

2018-01-01

The Planetary Science Archive (PSA) is the European Space Agency's (ESA) repository of science data from all planetary science and exploration missions. The PSA provides access to scientific data sets through various interfaces at http://psa.esa.int. Mostly driven by the evolution of the PDS standards which all new ESA planetary missions shall follow and the need to update the interfaces to the archive, the PSA has undergone an important re-engineering. In order to maximise the scientific exploitation of ESA's planetary data holdings, significant improvements have been made by utilising the latest technologies and implementing widely recognised open standards. To facilitate users in handling and visualising the many products stored in the archive which have spatial data associated, the new PSA supports Geographical Information Systems (GIS) by implementing the standards approved by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The modernised PSA also attempts to increase interoperability with the international community by implementing recognised planetary science specific protocols such as the PDAP (Planetary Data Access Protocol) and EPN-TAP (EuroPlanet-Table Access Protocol). In this paper we describe some of the methods by which the archive may be accessed and present the challenges that are being faced in consolidating data sets of the older PDS3 version of the standards with the new PDS4 deliveries into a single data model mapping to ensure transparent access to the data for users and services whilst maintaining a high performance.

Subscriber Number Forecasting Tool Based on Subscriber Attribute Distribution for Evaluating Improvement Strategies

OpenAIRE

Hiramatsu, Ayako; Shono, Yuji; Oiso, Hiroaki; Komoda, Norihisa

2005-01-01

In this paper, a subscriber number forecasting tool that evaluates quiz game mobile content improvement strategies is developed. Unsubscription rates depend on such subscriber attributes such as consecutive months, stages, rankings, and so on. In addition, content providers can anticipate change in unsubscription rates for each content improvement strategy. However, subscriber attributes change dynamically. Therefore, a method that deals with dynamic subscriber attribute changes is proposed. ...

Association of State Access Standards With Accessibility to Specialists for Medicaid Managed Care Enrollees.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndumele, Chima D; Cohen, Michael S; Cleary, Paul D

2017-10-01

Medicaid recipients have consistently reported less timely access to specialists than patients with other types of coverage. By 2018, state Medicaid agencies will be required by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to enact time and distance standards for managed care organizations to ensure an adequate supply of specialist physicians for enrollees; however, there have been no published studies of whether these policies have significant effects on access to specialty care. To compare ratings of access to specialists for adult Medicaid and commercial enrollees before and after the implementation of specialty access standards. We used Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data to conduct a quasiexperimental difference-in-differences (DID) analysis of 20 163 nonelderly adult Medicaid managed care (MMC) enrollees and 54 465 commercially insured enrollees in 5 states adopting access standards, and 37 290 MMC enrollees in 5 matched states that previously adopted access standards. Reported access to specialty care in the previous 6 months. Seven thousand six hundred ninety-eight (69%) Medicaid enrollees and 28 423 (75%) commercial enrollees reported that it was always or usually easy to get an appointment with a specialist before the policy implementation (or at baseline) compared with 11 889 (67%) of Medicaid enrollees in states that had previously implemented access standards. Overall, there was no significant improvement in timely access to specialty services for MMC enrollees in the period following implementation of standard(s) (adjusted difference-in-differences, -1.2 percentage points; 95% CI, -2.7 to 0.1), nor was there any impact of access standards on insurance-based disparities in access (0.6 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.3 to 5.4). There was heterogeneity across states, with 1 state that implemented both time and distance standards demonstrating significant improvements in access and reductions in disparities

Energy efficiency improvement of medical electric tools and devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meshkov Aleksandr S.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With the ever-increasing volume of applications of various kinds of electric drives in all spheres of human activity, the issues in improving the efficiency of the electromechanical converters of electric energy, one of the most important components of the electric drive (ED, are becoming increasingly important. Such issues include reducing their weight and size, improving the functional characteristics of these devices to increase their operational life and reducing the cost of manufacture. Taking full advantage of these opportunities relates to the AC and DC single-phase commutator motor (SCM, which is widely used in regulated and high-speed motor drives in medical electric hand tools. The SCM is used in machinery where the load torque has a hyperbolic dependence on the rotational speed and the need to work with a large motor overload due to the “soft” mechanical characteristics of such motors.

Shared medical appointments: improving access, outcomes, and satisfaction for patients with chronic cardiac diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartley, Kelly Bauer; Haney, Rebecca

2010-01-01

Improving access to care, health outcomes, and patient satisfaction are primary objectives for healthcare practices. This article outlines benefits, concerns, and possible challenges of shared medical appointments (SMAs) for patients and providers. The SMA model was designed to support providers' demanding schedules by allowing patients with the same chronic condition to be seen in a group setting. By concentrating on patient education and disease management, interactive meetings provide an opportunity for patients to share both successes and struggles with others experiencing similar challenges. Studies demonstrated that SMAs improved patient access, enhanced outcomes, and promoted patient satisfaction. This article describes the potential benefits of SMAs for patients with chronic heart disease, which consumes a large number of healthcare dollars related to hospital admissions, acute exacerbations, and symptom management. Education for self-management of chronic disease can become repetitive and time consuming. The SMA model introduces a fresh and unique style of healthcare visits, allowing providers to devote more time and attention to patients and improve productivity. The SMA model provides an outstanding method for nurse practitioners to demonstrate their role as a primary care provider, by leading patients in group discussions and evaluating their current health status. Patient selection, preparation, and facilitation of an SMA are discussed to demonstrate the complementary nature of an SMA approach in a healthcare practice.

Globalization and information access tools: the way forward for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among people, ... face the new challenges so as to render more effective services to library clientele in the globalized environment.

A Delphi study assessing the utility of quality improvement tools and resources in Australian primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Upham, Susan J; Janamian, Tina; Crossland, Lisa; Jackson, Claire L

2016-04-18

To determine the relevance and utility of online tools and resources to support organisational performance development in primary care and to complement the Primary Care Practice Improvement Tool (PC-PIT). A purposively recruited Expert Advisory Panel of 12 end users used a modified Delphi technique to evaluate 53 tools and resources identified through a previously conducted systematic review. The panel comprised six practice managers and six general practitioners who had participated in the PC-PIT pilot study in 2013-2014. Tools and resources were reviewed in three rounds using a standard pre-tested assessment form. Recommendations, scores and reasons for recommending or rejecting each tool or resource were analysed to determine the final suite of tools and resources. The evaluation was conducted from November 2014 to August 2015. Recommended tools and resources scored highly (mean score, 16/20) in Rounds 1 and 2 of review (n = 25). These tools and resources were perceived to be easily used, useful to the practice and supportive of the PC-PIT. Rejected resources scored considerably lower (mean score, 5/20) and were noted to have limitations such as having no value to the practice and poor utility (n = 6). A final review (Round 3) of 28 resources resulted in a suite of 21 to support the elements of the PC-PIT. This suite of tools and resources offers one approach to supporting the quality improvement initiatives currently in development in primary care reform.

Training using a new multidirectional reach tool improves balance in individuals with stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Khumsapsiri, Numpung; Siriphorn, Akkradate; Pooranawatthanakul, Kanokporn; Oungphalachai, Tanyarut

2018-04-01

Previous studies suggested that limits of stability (LOS) training with visual feedback using commercial equipment could be used to improve balance ability in individuals with stroke. However, this system is expensive. In this study, we created a new tool from inexpensive elements based on LOS training using visual feedback. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of training using a new multidirectional reach tool on balance in individuals with stroke. A single-blind randomized control trial was conducted. Individuals with stroke (n = 16; age range 38-72 years) were recruited. Participants in the experimental group were trained with the multidirectional reach training for 30 min and conventional physical therapy for 30 min per day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks. Participants in the control group received conventional physical therapy for 30 min per day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks. The outcomes were LOS, weight-bearing squat, and Fullerton Advanced Balance scale. All of the outcome measures were measured at pretraining, post-training, and 1 month follow-up. At post-training and 1-month follow-up, the participants in the experimental group had an improvement of dynamic balance than the control group. Furthermore, the activity assessment by Fullerton Advanced Balance scale was more improved at 1 month follow-up in the experimental group than control group. The results of this study provide evidence that training using a new multidirectional reach tool is effective for improving balance in individuals with stroke. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania following community, retail sector and health facility interventions -- a user perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Obrist Brigit

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The ACCESS programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment. Between 2004 and 2008 the programme implemented a social marketing campaign for improved treatment-seeking. To improve access to treatment in the private retail sector a new class of outlets known as accredited drug dispensing outlets (ADDO was created in Tanzania in 2006. Tanzania changed its first-line treatment for malaria from sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP to artemether-lumefantrine (ALu in 2007 and subsidized ALu was made available in both health facilities and ADDOs. The effect of these interventions on understanding and treatment of malaria was studied in rural Tanzania. The data also enabled an investigation of the determinants of access to treatment. Methods Three treatment-seeking surveys were conducted in 2004, 2006 and 2008 in the rural areas of the Ifakara demographic surveillance system (DSS and in Ifakara town. Each survey included approximately 150 people who had suffered a fever case in the previous 14 days. Results Treatment-seeking and awareness of malaria was already high at baseline, but various improvements were seen between 2004 and 2008, namely: better understanding causes of malaria (from 62% to 84%; an increase in health facility attendance as first treatment option for patients older than five years (27% to 52%; higher treatment coverage with anti-malarials (86% to 96% and more timely use of anti-malarials (80% to 93-97% treatments taken within 24 hrs. Unfortunately, the change of treatment policy led to a low availability of ALu in the private sector and, therefore, to a drop in the proportion of patients taking a recommended malaria treatment (85% to 53%. The availability of outlets (health facilities or drug shops is the most important determinant of whether patients receive prompt and effective treatment, whereas affordability and accessibility contribute to a lesser extent. Conclusions An

Risk management: A tool for improving nuclear power plant performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-04-01

This technical document on risk management as a tool for improving nuclear power plant (NPP) operations is part of an ongoing project on management of NPP operations in a competitive environment. The overall objective of this project is to assist the management of operating organizations and NPPs in identifying and implementing appropriate measures to remain competitive in a rapidly changing business environment. Other reports developed through this project have identified overall strategies and techniques that NPP operating organization managers can use to succeed in more competitive energy markets. For example, in IAEA-TECDOC-1123, Strategies for Competitive Nuclear Power Plants, one of the most important strategies identified was integrated risk management. This publication provides a recommended structure for risk management along with examples of how NPP operating organizations are using this tool to help them integrate safety, operational and economic related risks in a changing business environment

Enhancing Access to and Use of NASA Earth Sciences Data via CUAHSI-HIS (Hydrologic Information System) and Other Hydrologic Community Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Rui, H.; Strub, R.; Teng, W. L.; Vollmer, B.; Mocko, D. M.; Maidment, D. R.; Whiteaker, T. L.

2013-12-01

The way NASA earth sciences data are typically archived (by time steps, one step per file, often containing multiple variables) is not optimal for their access by the hydrologic community, particularly if the data volume and/or number of data files are large. To enhance the access to and use of these NASA data, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) adopted two approaches, in a project supported by the NASA ACCESS Program. The first is to optimally reorganize two large hydrological data sets for more efficient access, as time series, and to integrate the time series data (aka 'data rods') into hydrologic community tools, such as CUAHSI-HIS, EPA-BASINS, and Esri-ArcGIS. This effort has thus far resulted in the reorganization and archive (as data rods) of the following variables from the North American and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (NLDAS and GLDAS, respectively): precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, runoff, near-surface specific humidity, potential evaporation, soil temperature, near surface air temperature, and near-surface wind. The second approach is to leverage the NASA Simple Subset Wizard (SSW), which was developed to unite data search and subsetters at various NASA EOSDIS data centers into a single, simple, seamless process. Data accessed via SSW are converted to time series before being made available via Web service. Leveraging SSW makes all data accessible via SSW potentially available to HIS users, which increases the number of data sets available as time series beyond those available as data rods. Thus far, a set of selected variables from the NASA Modern Era-Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications Land Surface (MERRA-Land) data set has been integrated into CUAHSI-HIS, including evaporation, land surface temperature, runoff, soil moisture, soil temperature, precipitation, and transpiration. All data integration into these tools has been conducted in collaboration with their

Usable and accessible websites in SMEs. Challenges for the future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Castillo-Díaz, Ph. D.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In an increasingly competitive environment in which Internet occupies a prominent place, transferring a brand from the offline to the online environment has become a vital issue for companies. Usability and accessibility have become crucial to enable adequate online brand communication. Ensuring websites are usable and accessible will facilitate web navigation, will improve the company’s image, and will favour loyalty towards the brand.This article presents the results of an investigation measuring the extent to what small and medium enterprises (SMEs employ usability and accessibility as supporting pillars of brand in the online environment to communicate with their audiences. The results indicate that usability is in fact taken into account by SMEs, but it is seen more as a technological element than as a promotion tool for the brand. Accessibility, on the other hand, is of secondary concern in the design of websites analysed, since they are not certified by any standard and are not fully accessible. Thus, it can be argued that the concern to transmit the brand online is incipient but, currently, SMEs do not take advantage of all the potential offered by the Web.

The universal access handbook

CERN Document Server

Stephanidis, Constantine

2009-01-01

In recent years, the field of Universal Access has made significant progress in consolidating theoretical approaches, scientific methods and technologies, as well as in exploring new application domains. Increasingly, professionals in this rapidly maturing area require a comprehensive and multidisciplinary resource that addresses current principles, methods, and tools. Written by leading international authorities from academic, research, and industrial organizations and nonmarket institutions, The Universal Access Handbook covers the unfolding scientific, methodological, technological, and pol

ISO 9000 and quality standards improvement in the maintenance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated ISO 9000 as a tool for improving quality standards in ... The study used cross-sectional descriptive research design, using quantitative research ... enhance business performance and competiveness of manufacturing firms. ... By Country · List All Titles · Free To Read Titles This Journal is Open Access.

Writeshops: An effective tool to enable African academics to publish

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Vincent, K

2012-08-01

Full Text Available -1 Writeshops: An effective tool to enable African academics to publish Vincent*, K., T. Cull, (Kulima Integrated Development Solutions, South Africa) E. Archer van Garderen, (CSIR, South Africa) and A. Awiti, (Aga Khan University, Kenya) * Corresponding... Seipt, Lisa Schipper and Richard J. T. Klein for their commitment to writeshops, and for various discussions on improving the accessibility of developing country researchers to the peer-reviewed literature. ...

Captioning and Indian Sign Language as Accessibility Tools in Universal Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Mathew Martin Poothullil

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Universal Design in Media as a strategy to achieve accessibility in digital television started in Spain in 1997 with the digitalization of satellite platforms (MuTra, 2006. In India, a conscious effort toward a strategy for accessible media format in digital television is yet to be made. Advertising in India is a billion dollar industry (Adam Smith, 2008 and digital television provides a majority of the space for it. This study investigated the effects of advertisement in accessible format, through the use of captioning and Indian sign language (ISL, on hearing and deaf people. “Deaf (capital letter ‘D’ used for culturally Deaf and hearing” viewers watched two short recent advertisements with and without accessibility formats in a randomized order. Their reactions were recorded on a questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study. Eighty-four persons participated in this study of which 42 were deaf persons. Analysis of the data showed that there was difference in the effects of accessible and nonaccessible formats of advertisement on the “Deaf and Hearing” viewers. The study showed that accessible formats increased the comprehension of the message of the advertisement and use of ISL helped deaf persons to understand concepts better. While captioning increased the perception of the hearing persons to correlate with listening and understanding the concept of the advertisement, the deaf persons correlated watching the ISL interpreter with understanding the concept of the advertisement. Placement of the ISL interpreter in the screen and color of the fonts used for captioning were also covered under the study. However, the placement of the ISL interpreter and color of fonts in the screen and their correlation with comprehension of the advertisement by hearing and deaf persons did not show much of significance in the result of the study.

Augmented Reality Tool for the Situational Awareness Improvement of UAV Operators

Science.gov (United States)

Ruano, Susana; Cuevas, Carlos; Gallego, Guillermo; García, Narciso

2017-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being extensively used nowadays. Therefore, pilots of traditional aerial platforms should adapt their skills to operate them from a Ground Control Station (GCS). Common GCSs provide information in separate screens: one presents the video stream while the other displays information about the mission plan and information coming from other sensors. To avoid the burden of fusing information displayed in the two screens, an Augmented Reality (AR) tool is proposed in this paper. The AR system has two functionalities for Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) UAVs: route orientation and target identification. Route orientation allows the operator to identify the upcoming waypoints and the path that the UAV is going to follow. Target identification allows a fast target localization, even in the presence of occlusions. The AR tool is implemented following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standards so that it can be used in different GCSs. The experiments show how the AR tool improves significantly the situational awareness of the UAV operators. PMID:28178189

NASA Access Mechanism - Graphical user interface information retrieval system

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Judy F.; Generous, Curtis; Duncan, Denise

1993-01-01

Access to online information sources of aerospace, scientific, and engineering data, a mission focus for NASA's Scientific and Technical Information Program, has always been limited by factors such as telecommunications, query language syntax, lack of standardization in the information, and the lack of adequate tools to assist in searching. Today, the NASA STI Program's NASA Access Mechanism (NAM) prototype offers a solution to these problems by providing the user with a set of tools that provide a graphical interface to remote, heterogeneous, and distributed information in a manner adaptable to both casual and expert users. Additionally, the NAM provides access to many Internet-based services such as Electronic Mail, the Wide Area Information Servers system, Peer Locating tools, and electronic bulletin boards.

NASA access mechanism: Graphical user interface information retrieval system

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Judy; Generous, Curtis; Duncan, Denise

1993-01-01

Access to online information sources of aerospace, scientific, and engineering data, a mission focus for NASA's Scientific and Technical Information Program, has always been limited to factors such as telecommunications, query language syntax, lack of standardization in the information, and the lack of adequate tools to assist in searching. Today, the NASA STI Program's NASA Access Mechanism (NAM) prototype offers a solution to these problems by providing the user with a set of tools that provide a graphical interface to remote, heterogeneous, and distributed information in a manner adaptable to both casual and expert users. Additionally, the NAM provides access to many Internet-based services such as Electronic Mail, the Wide Area Information Servers system, Peer Locating tools, and electronic bulletin boards.

The software improvement process - tools and rules to encourage quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sigerud, K.; Baggiolini, V.

2012-01-01

The Applications section of the CERN accelerator controls group has decided to apply a systematic approach to quality assurance (QA), the 'Software Improvement Process' - SIP. This process focuses on three areas: the development process itself, suitable QA tools, and how to practically encourage developers to do QA. For each stage of the development process we have agreed on the recommended activities and deliverables, and identified tools to automate and support the task. For example we do more code reviews. As peer reviews are resource intensive, we only do them for complex parts of a product. As a complement, we are using static code checking tools, like FindBugs and Checkstyle. We also encourage unit testing and have agreed on a minimum level of test coverage recommended for all products, measured using Clover. Each of these tools is well integrated with our IDE (Eclipse) and give instant feedback to the developer about the quality of their code. The major challenges of SIP have been to 1) agree on common standards and configurations, for example common code formatting and Javadoc documentation guidelines, and 2) how to encourage the developers to do QA. To address the second point, we have successfully implemented 'SIP days', i.e. one day dedicated to QA work to which the whole group of developers participates, and 'Top/Flop' lists, clearly indicating the best and worst products with regards to SIP guidelines and standards, for example test coverage. This paper presents the SIP initiative in more detail, summarizing our experience since two years and our future plans. (authors)

Crowdsourcing e-book accessibility information and the impact on staff development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria Dobson

2017-07-01

Full Text Available For students with print impairments, e-books offer great potential to remove barriers to information. However, for various reasons, not all e-books are fully accessible. Significant variability exists between different platforms and titles. To benchmark e-book accessibility, a group of library and disability professionals across the UK higher education sector organized a crowdsourced e-book accessibility audit, using simple criteria to capture end-user experiences. The audit can act as a framework for librarians and e-book providers to discuss accessibility and effect improvements. This audit was of 275 e-books from 65 publishers across 44 platforms, resulting in an interactive spreadsheet on the project website and individual feedback reports for each platform. Most of the volunteer auditors had little accessibility expertise so a by-product of the process was training to introduce key accessibility concepts and support for those using the audit tool. This paper explores the process, including key findings from a follow-up questionnaire for testers. The results indicate increased awareness of e-book accessibility and empathy for disabled learners and an appetite for further training, in particular using e-books with screen reading and text-to-speech software. The study suggests crowdsourced research can be highly effective on multiple levels.

Vehicle barrier with access delay

Science.gov (United States)

Swahlan, David J; Wilke, Jason

2013-09-03

An access delay vehicle barrier for stopping unauthorized entry into secure areas by a vehicle ramming attack includes access delay features for preventing and/or delaying an adversary from defeating or compromising the barrier. A horizontally deployed barrier member can include an exterior steel casing, an interior steel reinforcing member and access delay members disposed within the casing and between the casing and the interior reinforcing member. Access delay members can include wooden structural lumber, concrete and/or polymeric members that in combination with the exterior casing and interior reinforcing member act cooperatively to impair an adversarial attach by thermal, mechanical and/or explosive tools.

Optimizing Libraries’ Content Findability Using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) With Multi-Tier Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Lahinta, A.; Haris, I.; Abdillah, T.

2017-03-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a developed application of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) as a model for improving libraries’ digital content findability on the library web. The study applies XML text-based protocol tools in the collection of data about libraries’ visibility performance in the search results of the book. Model from the integrated Web Service Document Language (WSDL) and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) are applied to analyse SOAP as element within the system. The results showed that the developed application of SOAP with multi-tier architecture can help people simply access the website in the library server Gorontalo Province and support access to digital collections, subscription databases, and library catalogs in each library in Regency or City in Gorontalo Province.

Feeder replacement tooling and processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mallozzi, R.; Goslin, R.; Pink, D.; Askari, A.

2008-01-01

Primary heat transport system feeder integrity has become a concern at some CANDU nuclear plants as a result of thinning caused by flow accelerated corrosion (FAC). Feeder inspections are indicating that life-limiting wall thinning can occur in the region between the Grayloc hub weld and second elbow of some outlet feeders. In some cases it has become necessary to replace thinned sections of affected feeders to restore feeder integrity to planned end of life. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Babcock and Wilcox Canada Ltd. (B and W) have developed a new capability for replacement of single feeders at any location on the reactor face without impacting or interrupting operation of neighbouring feeders. This new capability consists of deploying trained crews with specialized tools and procedures for feeder replacements during planned outages. As may be expected, performing single feeder replacement in the congested working environment of an operational CANDU reactor face involves overcoming many challenges with respect to access to feeders, available clearances for tooling, and tooling operation and performance. This paper describes some of the challenges encountered during single feeder replacements and actions being taken by AECL and B and W to promote continuous improvement of feeder replacement tooling and processes and ensure well-executed outages. (author)

Medical approaches to suffering are limited, so why critique Improving Access to Psychological Therapies from the same ideology.

Science.gov (United States)

Binnie, James

2018-04-01

Although the article by Scott rightly questions the dynamics of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies system and re-examines the recovery rates, finding quite shocking results, his recommendations are ultimately flawed. There is a strong critique of the diagnostic procedures in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services, but the answer is not to diagnose more rigorously and to adhere more strictly to a manualised approach to psychotherapy. The opposite may be required. Alternatives to the medical model of distress offer a less stigmatising and more human approach to helping people with their problems. Perhaps psychological therapists and the people they work alongside would be better served by a psychological approach rather than a psychiatric one.

SOAP2: an improved ultrafast tool for short read alignment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Ruiqiang; Yu, Chang; Li, Yingrui

2009-01-01

SUMMARY: SOAP2 is a significantly improved version of the short oligonucleotide alignment program that both reduces computer memory usage and increases alignment speed at an unprecedented rate. We used a Burrows Wheeler Transformation (BWT) compression index to substitute the seed strategy...... for indexing the reference sequence in the main memory. We tested it on the whole human genome and found that this new algorithm reduced memory usage from 14.7 to 5.4 GB and improved alignment speed by 20-30 times. SOAP2 is compatible with both single- and paired-end reads. Additionally, this tool now supports...... multiple text and compressed file formats. A consensus builder has also been developed for consensus assembly and SNP detection from alignment of short reads on a reference genome. AVAILABILITY: http://soap.genomics.org.cn....

How Can Pricing and Reimbursement Policies Improve Affordable Access to Medicines? Lessons Learned from European Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogler, Sabine; Paris, Valérie; Ferrario, Alessandra; Wirtz, Veronika J; de Joncheere, Kees; Schneider, Peter; Pedersen, Hanne Bak; Dedet, Guillaume; Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din

2017-06-01

This article discusses pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies in European countries with regard to their ability to ensure affordable access to medicines. A frequently applied pricing policy is external price referencing. While it provides some benchmark for policy-makers and has been shown to be able to generate savings, it may also contribute to delay in product launch in countries where medicine prices are low. Value-based pricing has been proposed as a policy that promotes access while rewarding useful innovation; however, implementing it has proven quite challenging. For high-priced medicines, managed-entry agreements are increasingly used. These agreements allow policy-makers to manage uncertainty and obtain lower prices. They can also facilitate earlier market access in case of limited evidence about added therapeutic value of the medicine. However, these agreements raise transparency concerns due to the confidentiality clause. Tendering as used in the hospital and offpatent outpatient sectors has been proven to reduce medicine prices but it requires a robust framework and appropriate design with clear strategic goals in order to prevent shortages. These pricing and reimbursement policies are supplemented by the widespread use of Health Technology Assessment to inform decision-making, and by strategies to improve the uptake of generics, and also biosimilars. While European countries have been implementing a set of policy options, there is a lack of thorough impact assessments of several pricing and reimbursement policies on affordable access. Increased cooperation between authorities, experience sharing and improving transparency on price information, including the disclosure of confidential discounts, are opportunities to address current challenges.

Analytical Tools to Improve Optimization Procedures for Lateral Flow Assays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen V. Hsieh

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Immunochromatographic or lateral flow assays (LFAs are inexpensive, easy to use, point-of-care medical diagnostic tests that are found in arenas ranging from a doctor’s office in Manhattan to a rural medical clinic in low resource settings. The simplicity in the LFA itself belies the complex task of optimization required to make the test sensitive, rapid and easy to use. Currently, the manufacturers develop LFAs by empirical optimization of material components (e.g., analytical membranes, conjugate pads and sample pads, biological reagents (e.g., antibodies, blocking reagents and buffers and the design of delivery geometry. In this paper, we will review conventional optimization and then focus on the latter and outline analytical tools, such as dynamic light scattering and optical biosensors, as well as methods, such as microfluidic flow design and mechanistic models. We are applying these tools to find non-obvious optima of lateral flow assays for improved sensitivity, specificity and manufacturing robustness.

An audit of local government planning tools for their potential use in addressing community food and nutrition issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Good, Elizabeth; Hammond, Melinda; Martin, Caroline; Burns, Catherine; Groos, Anita

2010-04-01

This project aimed to identify how local government planning tools could be used to influence physical and policy environments to support healthy eating behaviours in communities. An audit of Queensland's legislative and non-legislative local government planning tools was conducted by a public health nutritionist to assess their potential use in addressing strategies to achieve positive nutrition outcomes. Ten strategies were identified and covered the following themes: improving access to healthy foods and drinks; increasing access to breastfeeding facilities; decreasing fast food outlet density; and unhealthy food advertising. The audit found that all of the 10 strategies to achieve positive nutrition outcomes could be considered through three or more of the planning tools. Based on the findings of this audit, local government planning tools provide opportunities to address food and nutrition issues and contribute toward creating physical and policy environments that support healthy eating behaviours.

Multidisciplinary Cooperation in Crisis Management Teams: a Tool to Improve Team Situation Awareness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koning, L. de; Kuijt-Evers, L.; Theunissen, N.; Rijk, R. van; Huis in 't Veld, M.

2011-01-01

When a crisis occurs, people from different organizations, on different hierarchical levels have to deal with unexpected situations that require coordinated effort. The goal of this research is to improve multidisciplinary cooperation for crisis management teams. We developed a tool, the Multi-mono

A PRELIMINARY STUDY FOR DEVELOPING ACCESSIBLE MOOC SERVICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Iniesto

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The flexibility of the MOOC service allows students to learn at their own time, place and pace, enhancing continuous communication and interaction between all participants in knowledge and community building. This model especially benefits people with disabilities, which can improve therefore their level of employability and social inclusion, reaching a better quality of life. Unfortunately the access to MOOC platforms present severe barriers: there is a lack of accessibility on the learning resources, the communicating tools and personalized user interfaces. All these issues add extra difficulties such as the need to develop specific digital or even social skills for students with functional diversity. In this context, MOOCs are leading a revolutionary computer and mobile-based scenario along with social technologies that will emerge new kinds of learning applications that enhance communication and collaboration processes. For that reason, this paper describes the need for designing an information model and related specifications to support a new strategy for delivering accessible MOOC courses to learners with special needs, in terms of their preferences and context of use based on a particular application profile. This user profile’s design is based on standard metadata schemas, data that provides information about other data, regarding the achievement of accessibility from content to user preferences.

Public Access for Teaching Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, A. Malcolm

2003-01-01

When the human genome project was conceived, its leaders wanted all researchers to have equal access to the data and associated research tools. Their vision of equal access provides an unprecedented teaching opportunity. Teachers and students have free access to the same databases that researchers are using. Furthermore, the recent movement to…

Key stakeholders' perceptions of the acceptability and usefulness of a tablet-based tool to improve communication and shared decision making in ICUs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ernecoff, Natalie C; Witteman, Holly O; Chon, Kristen; Chen, Yanquan Iris; Buddadhumaruk, Praewpannarai; Chiarchiaro, Jared; Shotsberger, Kaitlin J; Shields, Anne-Marie; Myers, Brad A; Hough, Catherine L; Carson, Shannon S; Lo, Bernard; Matthay, Michael A; Anderson, Wendy G; Peterson, Michael W; Steingrub, Jay S; Arnold, Robert M; White, Douglas B

2016-06-01

Although barriers to shared decision making in intensive care units are well documented, there are currently no easily scaled interventions to overcome these problems. We sought to assess stakeholders' perceptions of the acceptability, usefulness, and design suggestions for a tablet-based tool to support communication and shared decision making in ICUs. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 58 key stakeholders (30 surrogates and 28 ICU care providers). Interviews explored stakeholders' perceptions about the acceptability of a tablet-based tool to support communication and shared decision making, including the usefulness of modules focused on orienting families to the ICU, educating them about the surrogate's role, completing a question prompt list, eliciting patient values, educating about treatment options, eliciting perceptions about prognosis, and providing psychosocial support resources. The interviewer also elicited stakeholders' design suggestions for such a tool. We used constant comparative methods to identify key themes that arose during the interviews. Overall, 95% (55/58) of participants perceived the proposed tool to be acceptable, with 98% (57/58) of interviewees finding six or more of the seven content domains acceptable. Stakeholders identified several potential benefits of the tool including that it would help families prepare for the surrogate role and for family meetings as well as give surrogates time and a framework to think about the patient's values and treatment options. Key design suggestions included: conceptualize the tool as a supplement to rather than a substitute for surrogate-clinician communication; make the tool flexible with respect to how, where, and when surrogates can access the tool; incorporate interactive exercises; use video and narration to minimize the cognitive load of the intervention; and build an extremely simple user interface to maximize usefulness for individuals with low computer literacy. There is

[Interventions to improve access to health services by indigenous peoples in the Americas].

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Miguel; Moraga, Cecilia; Chapman, Evelina; Barreto, Jorge; Illanes, Eduardo

2016-11-01

Synthesize evidence on effectiveness of interventions designed to improve access to health services by indigenous populations. Review of systematic reviews published as of July 2015, selecting and analyzing only studies in the Region of the Americas. The bibliographic search encompassed MEDLINE, Lilacs, SciELO, EMBASE, DARE, HTA, The Cochrane Library, and organization websites. Two independent reviewers selected studies and analyzed their methodological quality. A narrative summary of the results was produced. Twenty-two reviews met the inclusion criteria. All selected studies were conducted in Canada and the United States of America. The majority of the interventions were preventive, to surmount geographical barriers, increase use of effective measures, develop human resources, and improve people's skills or willingness to seek care. Topics included pregnancy, cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes, substance abuse, child development, cancer, mental health, oral health, and injuries. Some interventions showed effectiveness with moderate or high quality studies: educational strategies to prevent depression, interventions to prevent childhood caries, and multicomponent programs to promote use of child safety seats. In general, results for chronic non-communicable diseases were negative or inconsistent. Interventions do exist that have potential for producing positive effects on access to health services by indigenous populations in the Americas, but available studies are limited to Canada and the U.S. There is a significant research gap on the topic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Using a Client Survey to Support Continuous Improvement: An Australian Case Study in Managing Change

Science.gov (United States)

Besch, Janice

2014-01-01

With the arrival of online survey tools that are low-cost, readily available and easy to administer, all organizations have access to one of the most effective mechanisms for determining quality improvement priorities and measuring progress towards achieving those priorities over time. This case study outlines the use made of this simple tool by a…

Modification of CAS-protocol for improvement of security web-applications from unauthorized access

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexey I Igorevich Alexandrov

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Dissemination of information technologies and the expansion of their application demand constantly increasing security level for users, operating with confidential information and personal data. The problem of setting up secure user identification is probably one of the most common tasks, which occur in the process of software development. Today, despite the availability of a large amount of authentication tools, new solutions, mechanisms and technologies are being introduced regularly. Primarily, it is done to increase the security level of data protection against unauthorized access. This article describes the experience of using central user authentication service based on CAS-protocol (CAS – Central Authentication Service and free open source software, analyzing its main advantages and disadvantages and describing the possibility of its modification, which would increase security of web-based information systems from being accessed illegally. The article contains recommendations for setting a maximum time limit for users working on services, integrated with central authentication; and, analyses the research of implementing modern web-technologies while using user authentication system based on CAS-protocol. In addition, it describes the ways of CAS-server modernization for developing additional modules: a module for collecting and analyzing the use of information systems, and another one, for a user management system. Furthermore, CAS-protocol can be used at universities and other organizations for creating a unified information environment in education.

Breaking through barriers: using technology to address executive function weaknesses and improve student achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, David M

2014-01-01

Assistive technologies provide significant capabilities for improving student achievement. Improved accessibility, cost, and diversity of applications make integration of technology a powerful tool to compensate for executive function weaknesses and deficits and their impact on student performance, learning, and achievement. These tools can be used to compensate for decreased working memory, poor time management, poor planning and organization, poor initiation, and decreased memory. Assistive technology provides mechanisms to assist students with diverse strengths and weaknesses in mastering core curricular concepts.

Tools for building virtual laboratories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agarwal, Debora; Johnston, William E.; Loken, Stewart; Tierney, Brian

1996-01-01

There is increasing interest in making unique research facilities facilities accessible on the Internet. Computer systems, scientific databases and experimental apparatus can be used by international collaborations of scientists using high-speed networks and advanced software tools to support collaboration. We are building tools including video conferencing and electronic white boards that are being used to create examples of virtual laboratories. This paper describes two pilot projects which provide testbeds for the tools. The first is a virtual laboratory project providing remote access to LBNL's Advanced Light Source. The second is the Multidimensional Applications and Gigabit internet work Consortium (MAGIC) testbed which has been established to develop a very high-speed, wide-are network to deliver realtime data at gigabit-per-second rates. (author)

Jupiter Environment Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Sturm, Erick J.; Monahue, Kenneth M.; Biehl, James P.; Kokorowski, Michael; Ngalande, Cedrick,; Boedeker, Jordan

2012-01-01

The Jupiter Environment Tool (JET) is a custom UI plug-in for STK that provides an interface to Jupiter environment models for visualization and analysis. Users can visualize the different magnetic field models of Jupiter through various rendering methods, which are fully integrated within STK s 3D Window. This allows users to take snapshots and make animations of their scenarios with magnetic field visualizations. Analytical data can be accessed in the form of custom vectors. Given these custom vectors, users have access to magnetic field data in custom reports, graphs, access constraints, coverage analysis, and anywhere else vectors are used within STK.

Understanding and Improving Blind Students' Access to Visual Information in Computer Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Catherine M.

Teaching people with disabilities tech skills empowers them to create solutions to problems they encounter and prepares them for careers. However, computer science is typically taught in a highly visual manner which can present barriers for people who are blind. The goal of this dissertation is to understand and decrease those barriers. The first projects I present looked at the barriers that blind students face. I first present the results of my survey and interviews with blind students with degrees in computer science or related fields. This work highlighted the many barriers that these blind students faced. I then followed-up on one of the barriers mentioned, access to technology, by doing a preliminary accessibility evaluation of six popular integrated development environments (IDEs) and code editors. I found that half were unusable and all had some inaccessible portions. As access to visual information is a barrier in computer science education, I present three projects I have done to decrease this barrier. The first project is Tactile Graphics with a Voice (TGV). This project investigated an alternative to Braille labels for those who do not know Braille and showed that TGV was a potential alternative. The next project was StructJumper, which created a modified abstract syntax tree that blind programmers could use to navigate through code with their screen reader. The evaluation showed that users could navigate more quickly and easily determine the relationships of lines of code when they were using StructJumper compared to when they were not. Finally, I present a tool for dynamic graphs (the type with nodes and edges) which had two different modes for handling focus changes when moving between graphs. I found that the modes support different approaches for exploring the graphs and therefore preferences are mixed based on the user's preferred approach. However, both modes had similar accuracy in completing the tasks. These projects are a first step towards

Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2016-01-14

The Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool (DCAT) is an open-platform and publicly available methodology to help develop applications that aim to improve the capabilities of power system planning engineers to assess the impact and likelihood of extreme contingencies and potential cascading events across their systems and interconnections. Outputs from the DCAT will help find mitigation solutions to reduce the risk of cascading outages in technically sound and effective ways. The current prototype DCAT implementation has been developed as a Python code that accesses the simulation functions of the Siemens PSS/E planning tool (PSS/E). It has the following features: It uses a hybrid dynamic and steady-state approach to simulating the cascading outage sequences that includes fast dynamic and slower steady-state events. It integrates dynamic models with protection scheme models for generation, transmission, and load. It models special protection systems (SPSs)/remedial action schemes (RASs) and automatic and manual corrective actions. Overall, the DCAT attempts to bridge multiple gaps in cascading-outage analysis in a single, unique prototype tool capable of automatically simulating and analyzing cascading sequences in real systems using multiprocessor computers.While the DCAT has been implemented using PSS/E in Phase I of the study, other commercial software packages with similar capabilities can be used within the DCAT framework.

Repository on maternal child health: health portal to improve access to information on maternal child health in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Khanna, Rajesh; Karikalan, N; Mishra, Anil Kumar; Agarwal, Anchal; Bhattacharya, Madhulekha; Das, Jayanta K

2013-01-02

Quality and essential health information is considered one of the most cost-effective interventions to improve health for a developing country. Healthcare portals have revolutionalized access to health information and knowledge using the Internet and related technologies, but their usage is far from satisfactory in India. This article describes a health portal developed in India aimed at providing one-stop access to efficiently search, organize and share maternal child health information relevant from public health perspective in the country. The portal 'Repository on Maternal Child Health' was developed using an open source content management system and standardized processes were followed for collection, selection, categorization and presentation of resource materials. Its usage is evaluated using key performance indicators obtained from Google Analytics, and quality assessed using a standardized checklist of knowledge management. The results are discussed in relation to improving quality and access to health information. The portal was launched in July 2010 and provides free access to full-text of 900 resource materials categorized under specific topics and themes. During the subsequent 18 months, 52,798 visits were registered from 174 countries across the world, and more than three-fourth visits were from India alone. Nearly 44,000 unique visitors visited the website and spent an average time of 4 minutes 26 seconds. The overall bounce rate was 27.6%. An increase in the number of unique visitors was found to be significantly associated with an increase in the average time on site (p-value 0.01), increase in the web traffic through search engines (p-value 0.00), and decrease in the bounce rate (p-value 0.03). There was a high degree of agreement between the two experts regarding quality assessment carried out under the three domains of knowledge access, knowledge creation and knowledge transfer (Kappa statistic 0.72). Efficient management of health information

Repository on maternal child health: Health portal to improve access to information on maternal child health in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khanna Rajesh

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Quality and essential health information is considered one of the most cost-effective interventions to improve health for a developing country. Healthcare portals have revolutionalized access to health information and knowledge using the Internet and related technologies, but their usage is far from satisfactory in India. This article describes a health portal developed in India aimed at providing one-stop access to efficiently search, organize and share maternal child health information relevant from public health perspective in the country. Methods The portal ‘Repository on Maternal Child Health’ was developed using an open source content management system and standardized processes were followed for collection, selection, categorization and presentation of resource materials. Its usage is evaluated using key performance indicators obtained from Google Analytics, and quality assessed using a standardized checklist of knowledge management. The results are discussed in relation to improving quality and access to health information. Results The portal was launched in July 2010 and provides free access to full-text of 900 resource materials categorized under specific topics and themes. During the subsequent 18 months, 52,798 visits were registered from 174 countries across the world, and more than three-fourth visits were from India alone. Nearly 44,000 unique visitors visited the website and spent an average time of 4 minutes 26 seconds. The overall bounce rate was 27.6%. An increase in the number of unique visitors was found to be significantly associated with an increase in the average time on site (p-value 0.01, increase in the web traffic through search engines (p-value 0.00, and decrease in the bounce rate (p-value 0.03. There was a high degree of agreement between the two experts regarding quality assessment carried out under the three domains of knowledge access, knowledge creation and knowledge transfer (Kappa

A comparison of tools for modeling freshwater ecosystem services.

Science.gov (United States)

Vigerstol, Kari L; Aukema, Juliann E

2011-10-01

Interest in ecosystem services has grown tremendously among a wide range of sectors, including government agencies, NGO's and the business community. Ecosystem services entailing freshwater (e.g. flood control, the provision of hydropower, and water supply), as well as carbon storage and sequestration, have received the greatest attention in both scientific and on-the-ground applications. Given the newness of the field and the variety of tools for predicting water-based services, it is difficult to know which tools to use for different questions. There are two types of freshwater-related tools--traditional hydrologic tools and newer ecosystem services tools. Here we review two of the most prominent tools of each type and their possible applications. In particular, we compare the data requirements, ease of use, questions addressed, and interpretability of results among the models. We discuss the strengths, challenges and most appropriate applications of the different models. Traditional hydrological tools provide more detail whereas ecosystem services tools tend to be more accessible to non-experts and can provide a good general picture of these ecosystem services. We also suggest gaps in the modeling toolbox that would provide the greatest advances by improving existing tools. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation of surgical quality improvement: auditing tool for surgical site infection prevention practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Hechenbleikner, Elizabeth M; Hobson, Deborah B; Bennett, Jennifer L; Wick, Elizabeth C

2015-01-01

Surgical site infections are a potentially preventable patient harm. Emerging evidence suggests that the implementation of evidence-based process measures for infection reduction is highly variable. The purpose of this work was to develop an auditing tool to assess compliance with infection-related process measures and establish a system for identifying and addressing defects in measure implementation. This was a retrospective cohort study using electronic medical records. We used the auditing tool to assess compliance with 10 process measures in a sample of colorectal surgery patients with and without postoperative infections at an academic medical center (January 2012 to March 2013). We investigated 59 patients with surgical site infections and 49 patients without surgical site infections. First, overall compliance rates for the 10 process measures were compared between patients with infection vs patients without infection to assess if compliance was lower among patients with surgical site infections. Then, because of the burden of data collection, the tool was used exclusively to evaluate quarterly compliance rates among patients with infection. The results were reviewed, and the key factors contributing to noncompliance were identified and addressed. Ninety percent of process measures had lower compliance rates among patients with infection. Detailed review of infection cases identified many defects that improved following the implementation of system-level changes: correct cefotetan redosing (education of anesthesia personnel), temperature at surgical incision >36.0°C (flags used to identify patients for preoperative warming), and the use of preoperative mechanical bowel preparation with oral antibiotics (laxative solutions and antibiotics distributed in clinic before surgery). Quarterly compliance improved for 80% of process measures by the end of the study period. This study was conducted on a small surgical cohort within a select subspecialty. The

Improving open access to the results of USGS research (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Bristol, S.

2013-12-01

Since its establishment under the Organic Act of March 3, 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been committed to classifying and characterizing 'the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.' Over time, the pursuit of this mission and understanding the products of the national domain has involved a broad scientific pursuit to understand complex Earth system processes and includes topographic, geologic, biogeographic, and other types of mapping; chemical, physical, hydrological, and biological research; and the application of computer and data science. As science and technology have evolved, classification and characterization of the Nation's natural resources has come to be embodied in digital data of various structure and form. Fundamentally, scientific publications and data produced through research and monitoring form the core of the USGS mission. They are an organizational and national treasure held and provided in trust for the American people and for the global scientific community. The recent memo from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on 'Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research' is part of an overall initiative toward open digital government that dovetails well with the USGS mission. The objectives outlined in the memo correspond directly to goals and objectives of the 2007 USGS Science Strategy ('Facing Tomorrow's Challenges--U.S. Geological Survey Science in the Decade 2007-2017') and the recently released Science Strategy Plans across all USGS Mission Areas. The USGS response to the OSTP memo involves reinforcing aspects of the USGS commitment to open and free access to scholarly publications and data along with improvements to some of the underlying technological systems that facilitate search and discovery. These actions also align with the USGS response to the Executive Order on May 9, 2013, entitled 'Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for

A Telemonitoring Tool based on Serious Games Addressing Money Management Skills for People with Intellectual Disability

OpenAIRE

Lopez-Basterretxea, Asier; Mendez-Zorrilla, Amaia; Garcia-Zapirain, Begonya

2014-01-01

This article presents a telemonitoring tool based on computer games, aimed at money management skill improvement for people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). The presented tool is divided into two parts: on one hand, some training activities related to payments and currency discrimination based on Serious Games are proposed to the user using a multitouch device. On the other hand, the psychologists and specialist who work with them, can access to the Serious Games results using an online...

Report: EPA Could Improve Physical Access and Service Continuity/Contingency Controls for Financial and Mixed-Financial Systems Located at its Research Triangle Park Campus

Science.gov (United States)

Report #2006-P-00005, December 14, 2005. Controls needed to be improved in areas such as visitor access to facilities, use of contractor access badges, and general physical access to the NCC, computer rooms outside the NCC, and media storage rooms.

Co-production as deep engagement: Improving and sustaining access to clean water in Ghana and Nigeria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mangai, M.S.; Vries, M.S. de

2018-01-01

PURPOSE – While there is an urgent need for clean water in Ghana and Nigeria, governments lack the financial means to do much to address this need. This does not mean that improving access to clean water is impossible. On the contrary, this paper argued that engaging citizens through

A student's guide to the study, practice, and tools of modern mathematics

CERN Document Server

Bindner, Donald

2010-01-01

A Student's Guide to the Study, Practice, and Tools of Modern Mathematics provides an accessible introduction to the world of mathematics. It offers tips on how to study and write mathematics as well as how to use various mathematical tools, from LaTeX and Beamer to Mathematica® and Maple™ to MATLAB® and R. Along with a color insert, the text includes exercises and challenges to stimulate creativity and improve problem solving abilities.The first section of the book covers issues pertaining to studying mathematics. The authors explain how to write mathematical proofs and papers, how to perform

Using Data to Improve Educational Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthijs Koopmans

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Review of the book “Action Research in the Classroom: Helping Teachers Assess and Improve their Work” by Sr. Mary Ann Jacobs and Bruce S. Cooper There are many ways in which research can contribute to the improvement of educational practice, and action research is one of them. Action research bridges the gap that typically separates research from practice by having practitioners conduct specific projects to address their own questions and improve their effectiveness based on the answers they obtain. One of the advantages of this type of research is that results are often immediately accessible and have actionable implications. Thus, action research is a good tool for making improvements to the field based on evidence.

Improving access to emergency contraceptive pills.

Science.gov (United States)

1999-09-01

This article focuses on the accessibility of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs). The ECPs are safe, simple, and effective contraceptive agent that can reduce a woman's chance of becoming pregnant by 75%. It works by preventing or delaying ovulation, interfering with fertilization, or blocking implantation of a fertilized egg, depending on when in the menstrual cycle the pills are taken. The Population Council takes a multifaceted approach to expanding access to and knowledge on emergency contraception. Studies on innovations in service delivery are being conducted. In Mexico, one-tenth of women aged 13-55 who reported being raped during the 9-month study were counseled about ECPs. Results showed that pregnancies from reported rapes declined from 9.8% to 7.4% during the study. In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, practitioners approved of the use of emergency contraception and desired more accurate knowledge so that they could provide it effectively. Moreover, in Zambia, researchers found out that giving women packages of ECPs in advance greatly reduced the length of time between having unprotected intercourse and beginning ECP treatment. Council researchers have also addressed the safety of offering ECPs without prescription. They have collaborated with leaders in the health care industry to increase method availability.

Cultural transmission of tool use by Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) provides access to a novel foraging niche

Science.gov (United States)

Krützen, Michael; Kreicker, Sina; MacLeod, Colin D.; Learmonth, Jennifer; Kopps, Anna M.; Walsham, Pamela; Allen, Simon J.

2014-01-01

Culturally transmitted tool use has important ecological and evolutionary consequences and has been proposed as a significant driver of human evolution. Such evidence is still scarce in other animals. In cetaceans, tool use has been inferred using indirect evidence in one population of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), where particular dolphins (‘spongers’) use marine sponges during foraging. To date, evidence of whether this foraging tactic actually provides access to novel food items is lacking. We used fatty acid (FA) signature analysis to identify dietary differences between spongers and non-spongers, analysing data from 11 spongers and 27 non-spongers from two different study sites. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed significant differences in FA profiles between spongers and non-spongers between and within study sites. Moreover, FA profiles differed significantly between spongers and non-spongers foraging within the same deep channel habitat, whereas the profiles of non-spongers from deep channel and shallow habitats at this site could not be distinguished. Our results indicate that sponge use by bottlenose dolphins is linked to significant differences in diet. It appears that cultural transmission of tool use in dolphins, as in humans, allows the exploitation of an otherwise unused niche. PMID:24759862

Outage preparation milestones - A tool to improve planned outage performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laplatney, Jere; Hwang, Euiyoub

2006-01-01

Sustainable development of Nuclear Energy depends heavily on excellent performance of the existing fleet which in turn depend heavily on the performance of planned outages. Nuclear Power Plants who have successfully undertaken outage optimization projects have demonstrated than an effective Outage Preparation Milestone program is a key component of their improvement programs. This paper will provide background into the field of 'Outage Optimization' including the philosophy, general approach, and results obtained in the U. S. industry. The significant safety improvements afforded by properly implementing outage improvement programs will be explained. Some specific examples of outage improvements will be given including the adoption of a strong Outage Preparation Milestone Program. The paper will then describe the attributes of an effective Outage Preparation Milestone Program and list a set of specific key milestones. The key milestones are defined and the reasons for each are explained. Suggested due dates for each key milestone relative to the outage start date are provided. Successful implementation of an Outage Preparation Milestone program depends heavily upon the management tools and methods used to assure that the organization meets the milestones on time and in a quality fashion. These include methods to handle cases where milestones are not met - either partially or fully. KHNP is investigating implementing an improved Outage Preparation Milestone program for its fleet of reactors as part of its overall program to improve its performance of planned outages

Security analysis and improvements of authentication and access control in the Internet of Things.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndibanje, Bruce; Lee, Hoon-Jae; Lee, Sang-Gon

2014-08-13

Internet of Things is a ubiquitous concept where physical objects are connected over the internet and are provided with unique identifiers to enable their self-identification to other devices and the ability to continuously generate data and transmit it over a network. Hence, the security of the network, data and sensor devices is a paramount concern in the IoT network as it grows very fast in terms of exchanged data and interconnected sensor nodes. This paper analyses the authentication and access control method using in the Internet of Things presented by Jing et al. (Authentication and Access Control in the Internet of Things. In Proceedings of the 2012 32nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, Macau, China, 18-21 June 2012, pp. 588-592). According to our analysis, Jing et al.'s protocol is costly in the message exchange and the security assessment is not strong enough for such a protocol. Therefore, we propose improvements to the protocol to fill the discovered weakness gaps. The protocol enhancements facilitate many services to the users such as user anonymity, mutual authentication, and secure session key establishment. Finally, the performance and security analysis show that the improved protocol possesses many advantages against popular attacks, and achieves better efficiency at low communication cost.

Perceived impact and feasibility of strategies to improve access to healthy foods in Washington State, USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Donna B; Quinn, Emilee L; Podrabsky, Mary; Beckwith-Stanley, Nadia; Chan, Nadine; Ellings, Amy; Kovacs, Tricia; Lane, Claire

2013-12-01

The present study measured the perceived impact and political and implementation feasibility of state-level policy strategies related to increasing access to healthy foods and limiting unhealthy foods. Potential state-level policy strategies to improve access to healthy foods were identified through a review of evidence-based literature and policy recommendations. Respondents rated the perceived impact and political and implementation feasibility of each policy on a five-point scale using online surveys. Washington State policy process. Forty-nine content experts (national researchers and subject experts), forty policy experts (state elected officials or their staff, gubernatorial or legislative policy analysts) and forty-five other stakeholders (state-level advocates, programme administrators, food producers). In aggregate, respondents rated policy impact and implementation feasibility higher than political feasibility. Policy experts rated policy strategies as less politically feasible compared with content experts (P political and implementation feasibility. These included policies related to nutrition standards in schools and child-care facilities, food distribution systems, urban planning projects, water availability, joint use agreements and breast-feeding supports. Although they may be perceived as potentially impactful, some policies will be more difficult to enact than others. Information about the potential feasibility of policies to improve access to healthy foods can be used to focus limited policy process resources on strategies with the highest potential for enactment, implementation and impact.

Access to health information may improve behavior in preventing Avian influenza among women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ajeng T. Endarti

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Improving human behavior toward Avian influenza may lessen the chance to be infected by Avian influenza. This study aimed to identify several factors influencing behavior in the community.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2008. Behavior regarding Avian influenza was measured by scoring the variables of knowledge, attitude, and practice. Subjects were obtained from the sub district of Limo, in Depok, West Java, which was considered a high risk area for Avian influenza. The heads of household as the sample unit were chosen by multi-stage sampling.Results: Among 387 subjects, 29.5% of them was had good behavior toward Avian influenza. The final model revealed that gender and access to health information were two dominant factors for good behavior in preventing Avian influenza. Compared with men, women had 67% higher risk to have good behavior [adjusted relative risk (RRa = 1.67; 95% confidence interval (CI = 0.92-3.04; P = 0.092]. Compared to those with no access to health information, subjects with access to health information had 3.4 fold increase to good behavior (RRa = 3.40; 95% CI =  0.84-13.76; P = 0.087.Conclusion: Acces to health information concerning Avian influenza was more effective among women in promoting good behavior toward preventing Avian influenza. (Med J Indones 2011; 20:56-61Keywords: avian influenza, behavior, gender, health promotion

Improve Problem Solving Skills through Adapting Programming Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Shaykhian, Linda H.; Shaykhian, Gholam Ali

2007-01-01

There are numerous ways for engineers and students to become better problem-solvers. The use of command line and visual programming tools can help to model a problem and formulate a solution through visualization. The analysis of problem attributes and constraints provide insight into the scope and complexity of the problem. The visualization aspect of the problem-solving approach tends to make students and engineers more systematic in their thought process and help them catch errors before proceeding too far in the wrong direction. The problem-solver identifies and defines important terms, variables, rules, and procedures required for solving a problem. Every step required to construct the problem solution can be defined in program commands that produce intermediate output. This paper advocates improved problem solving skills through using a programming tool. MatLab created by MathWorks, is an interactive numerical computing environment and programming language. It is a matrix-based system that easily lends itself to matrix manipulation, and plotting of functions and data. MatLab can be used as an interactive command line or a sequence of commands that can be saved in a file as a script or named functions. Prior programming experience is not required to use MatLab commands. The GNU Octave, part of the GNU project, a free computer program for performing numerical computations, is comparable to MatLab. MatLab visual and command programming are presented here.

Advancement of Tools Supporting Improvement of Work Safety in Selected Industrial Company

Science.gov (United States)

Gembalska-Kwiecień, Anna

2018-03-01

In the presented article, the advancement of tools to improve the safety of work in the researched industrial company was taken into consideration. Attention was paid to the skillful analysis of the working environment, which includes the available technologies, work organization and human capital. These factors determine the development of the best prevention activities to minimize the number of accidents.

Welfare versus market access : the implications of tariff structure for tariff reform

OpenAIRE

James E. Anderson; J. Peter Neary

2004-01-01

We show that the effects of tariff changes on welfare and import volume can be fully characterised by their effects on the generalised mean and variance of the tariff distribution. Using these tools, we derive new results for welfare- and market-access-improving tariff changes, which imply two "cones of liberalisation" in price space. Because welfare is negatively but import volume positively related to the generalised variance, the cones do not intersect, which poses a dilemma for trad...

Web tools for predictive toxicology model building.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeliazkova, Nina

2012-07-01

The development and use of web tools in chemistry has accumulated more than 15 years of history already. Powered by the advances in the Internet technologies, the current generation of web systems are starting to expand into areas, traditional for desktop applications. The web platforms integrate data storage, cheminformatics and data analysis tools. The ease of use and the collaborative potential of the web is compelling, despite the challenges. The topic of this review is a set of recently published web tools that facilitate predictive toxicology model building. The focus is on software platforms, offering web access to chemical structure-based methods, although some of the frameworks could also provide bioinformatics or hybrid data analysis functionalities. A number of historical and current developments are cited. In order to provide comparable assessment, the following characteristics are considered: support for workflows, descriptor calculations, visualization, modeling algorithms, data management and data sharing capabilities, availability of GUI or programmatic access and implementation details. The success of the Web is largely due to its highly decentralized, yet sufficiently interoperable model for information access. The expected future convergence between cheminformatics and bioinformatics databases provides new challenges toward management and analysis of large data sets. The web tools in predictive toxicology will likely continue to evolve toward the right mix of flexibility, performance, scalability, interoperability, sets of unique features offered, friendly user interfaces, programmatic access for advanced users, platform independence, results reproducibility, curation and crowdsourcing utilities, collaborative sharing and secure access.

Implementation of hospital-wide reform at improving access and flow: Impact on time to antibiotics in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Roman, Cristina P; Poole, Susan G; Dooley, Michael J; Smit, De Villiers; Mitra, Biswadev

2016-04-01

ED overcrowding has been associated with increased mortality, morbidity and delays to essential treatment. It was hypothesised that hospital-wide reforms designed to improve patient access and flow, in addition to improving ED overcrowding, would impact on clinically important processes within the ED, such as timely delivery of antibiotics. A single pre-implementation and post-implementation prospective cohort study was conducted prior to and after a hospital-wide reform (Timely Quality Care (TQC)). Among patients who had intravenous antibiotics prescribed in the ED, data were prospectively collected on times of presentation, prescription and administration of antibiotics. Demographics and discharge diagnoses were retrospectively extracted. There were 380 cases included with 179 cases prior to introduction of the TQC model and 201 cases after its introduction. Time from presentation to administration of antibiotics improved significantly from 192 (99-320) min to 142 (81-209) min (P antibiotics were significantly reduced. These findings suggest that improved quality of care in this area may be achieved with processes aimed at improved hospital access and flow. Ongoing evaluation and vigilance is necessary to ensure sustainability and drive further improvements. © 2015 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

Ad Hoc Access Gateway Selection Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Jie, Liu

With the continuous development of mobile communication technology, Ad Hoc access network has become a hot research, Ad Hoc access network nodes can be used to expand capacity of multi-hop communication range of mobile communication system, even business adjacent to the community, improve edge data rates. For mobile nodes in Ad Hoc network to internet, internet communications in the peer nodes must be achieved through the gateway. Therefore, the key Ad Hoc Access Networks will focus on the discovery gateway, as well as gateway selection in the case of multi-gateway and handover problems between different gateways. This paper considers the mobile node and the gateway, based on the average number of hops from an average access time and the stability of routes, improved gateway selection algorithm were proposed. An improved gateway selection algorithm, which mainly considers the algorithm can improve the access time of Ad Hoc nodes and the continuity of communication between the gateways, were proposed. This can improve the quality of communication across the network.

Performance improvement tool for Thai make–to–order manufacturing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Apichat Sopadang

2012-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a framework to improve a performance of shop floor control for Thai make-to-order (MTO smalland medium enterprises (SMEs. Integrated definition for function modeling is exploited to explore activities and relate ofcomponents. In-depth interview with experts and practitioners in the case study is provided useful information. The empiricalstudy is evaluated to suit for using the finalized SHEN model as a benchmark. Factor analysis is performed to find simplifiedinformation from variables. The data are collected from experience respondents by using a designed questionnaire. Eachobserved variable is assigned to test validity and reliability by factor loading and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. The resultsshow that finalized SHEN can use as a performance improvement tool for Thai MTO SMEs. For example principle 11 is tested.Each observed variable has covariance value between 0.380-0.873. The value of reliability Cronbach’s alpha for this factoris shown 0.869. Based on the scree plot, it is asserted that 5 observed variables are correctly formed in the same principle.

Access 2010 Programmer's Reference

CERN Document Server

Hennig, Teresa; Griffith, Geoffrey L

2010-01-01

A comprehensive guide to programming for Access 2010 and 2007. Millions of people use the Access database applications, and hundreds of thousands of developers work with Access daily. Access 2010 brings better integration with SQL Server and enhanced XML support; this Wrox guide shows developers how to take advantage of these and other improvements. With in-depth coverage of VBA, macros, and other programming methods for building Access applications, this book also provides real-world code examples to demonstrate each topic.: Access is the leading database that is used worldwide; While VBA rem

WEB 2.0 applications by SMES as tool for innovation and improvement; Aplicaciones de la WEB 2.0 en las PYMES como herramienta para la innovacion y mejora

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jaca-Garcia, M. C.; Serrano-Barcena, N.

2010-07-01

The term Web 2.0 is associated with the development of Web-based technology applications and tools used by communities of users. Those applications let these users access and produce information in a simple way, without the necessity of complicated software on their computers. this technology can also be used by small and medium companies to improve of any type of projects involving collaborative work. This paper presents different Web 2.0 applications that can be used by SMES (Small and medium enterprises) and the steps that should be addressed to implement them. Different examples of its uses are also explained. (Author) 15 refs.

Improved efficiency access control equipment and explosive, weapons and drug abuse detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, A.; Milford, A.; Woollven, J.

1985-01-01

The second generation portal explosives detector has been designed with increased detection capability and convenience in service. The method of detection and performance relative to the first generation is described. A novel method of auto-calibration and self diagnosis is described and results are discussed. Improvements in convenience of operation have been achieved and operating space and costs reduced by combining metal detection capability, together with explosives detection. This allows both alarm signal and diagnostic outputs to be combined on a single remote panel in the guard room, and reduces the number of guards needed to man the access control. This type of access control is entirely a defensive measure against attack but a further additional feature is proposed which will also check the state of mind of all personnel passing through the check point. Any person suffering from the effect of narcotic or alcohol will be detected by their inability to reproduce their normal signature. A new method of signature analysis in five dimensions is described together with proposals for integrating the check without increasing the time in the test area. Some recent results on the effects of alcohol on signature reproduction is given

39% access time improvement, 11% energy reduction, 32 kbit 1-read/1-write 2-port static random-access memory using two-stage read boost and write-boost after read sensing scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Yasue; Moriwaki, Shinichi; Kawasumi, Atsushi; Miyano, Shinji; Shinohara, Hirofumi

2016-04-01

We propose novel circuit techniques for 1 clock (1CLK) 1 read/1 write (1R/1W) 2-port static random-access memories (SRAMs) to improve read access time (tAC) and write margins at low voltages. Two-stage read boost (TSR-BST) and write word line boost (WWL-BST) after the read sensing schemes have been proposed. TSR-BST reduces the worst read bit line (RBL) delay by 61% and RBL amplitude by 10% at V DD = 0.5 V, which improves tAC by 39% and reduces energy dissipation by 11% at V DD = 0.55 V. WWL-BST after read sensing scheme improves minimum operating voltage (V min) by 140 mV. A 32 kbit 1CLK 1R/1W 2-port SRAM with TSR-BST and WWL-BST has been developed using a 40 nm CMOS.

Quality improvement strategies and tools: A comparative analysis between Italy and the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Villa, Stefano; Restuccia, Joseph D; Anessi-Pessina, Eugenio; Rizzo, Marco Giovanni; Cohen, Alan B

2018-01-01

Italian and American hospitals, in two different periods, have been urged by external circumstances to extensively redesign their quality improvement strategies. This paper, through the use of a survey administered to chief quality officers in both countries, aims to identify commonalities and differences between the two systems and to understand which approaches are effective in improving quality of care. In both countries chief quality officers report quality improvement has become a strategic priority, clinical governance approaches, and tools-such as disease-specific quality improvement projects and clinical pathways-are commonly used, and there is widespread awareness that clinical decision making must be supported by protocols and guidelines. Furthermore, the study clearly outlines the critical importance of adopting a system-wide approach to quality improvement. To this extent Italy seems lagging behind compared to US in fact: (i) responsibilities for different dimensions of quality are spread across different organizational units; (ii) quality improvement strategies do not typically involve administrative staff; and (iii) quality performance measures are not disseminated widely within the organization but are reported primarily to top management. On the other hand, in Italy chief quality officers perceive that the typical hospital organizational structure, which is based on clinical directories, allows better coordination between clinical specialties than in the United States. In both countries, the results of the study show that it is not the single methodology/model that makes the difference but how the different quality improvement strategies and tools interact to each other and how they are coherently embedded with the overall organizational strategy.

Are patient surveys valuable as a service-improvement tool in health services? An overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patwardhan A

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Anjali Patwardhan,1 Charles H Spencer21Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus, 2Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USAAbstract: Improving the quality of care in international health services was made a high priority in 1977. The World Health Assembly passed a resolution to greatly improve “Health for all” by the year 2000. Since 1977, the use of patient surveys for quality improvement has become a common practice in the health-care industry. The use of surveys reflects the concept that patient satisfaction is closely linked with that of organizational performance, which is in turn closely linked with organizational culture. This article is a review of the role of patient surveys as a quality-improvement tool in health care. The article explores the characteristics, types, merits, and pitfalls of various patient surveys, as well as the impact of their wide-ranging application in dissimilar scenarios to identify gaps in service provision. It is demonstrated that the conducting of patient surveys and using the results to improve the quality of care are two different processes. The value of patient surveys depends on the interplay between these two processes and several other factors that can influence the final outcome. The article also discusses the business aspect of the patient surveys in detail. Finally, the authors make future recommendations on how the patient survey tool can be best used to improve the quality of care in the health-care sector.Keywords: patient surveys, quality improvement, service gaps 

New tools and resources in metabolomics: 2016-2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Misra, Biswapriya B

2018-04-01

Rapid advances in mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based platforms for metabolomics have led to an upsurge of data every single year. Newer high-throughput platforms, hyphenated technologies, miniaturization, and tool kits in data acquisition efforts in metabolomics have led to additional challenges in metabolomics data pre-processing, analysis, interpretation, and integration. Thanks to the informatics, statistics, and computational community, new resources continue to develop for metabolomics researchers. The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the metabolomics tools, software, and databases that were developed or improved during 2016-2017, thus, enabling readers, developers, and researchers access to a succinct but thorough list of resources for further improvisation, implementation, and application in due course of time. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

HERMES: A tool to prepare documentation for access to plants; HERMES: Una Herramienta para la preparacion de la documentacion de acceso a las plantas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Serrano Vizcaino, J.; Rodriguez Montalban, J. R.; Garcia Valcarcel, M.

2012-07-01

The appearance of the IS-12 standard has marked a before and after in the entry requirements to the plants. Its impact, in companies like Tecnatom that mobilizing a large number of people to perform services during refueling stops, has forced the design of a tool to help prepare the personnel access documentation in an in a flexible and efficient.

Ophthalmology patients' interest in online access to clinic notes at three US clinics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Bryan S; Oster, Natalia V; Chen, Galen Y; Ding, Leona L; Walker, Janice D; Elmore, Joann G

2017-07-01

This study aimed to understand patients' perceptions about potential benefits and harms of accessing their own ophthalmology clinic notes via an electronic patient portal as part of the OpenNotes initiative. The authors conducted a cross-sectional, in-person survey of ophthalmology patients at three US eye clinics. The paper survey was self-administered or administered with assistance from study staff before or after patients' clinical visits. The authors used descriptive statistics to summarise patient characteristics and patient attitudes about accessing their ophthalmology notes online. Chi-square and t-tests were performed to assess differences in patient responses between clinic locations. Four hundred and fifty-one patients responded (response rate 65%). Most patients thought that accessing doctors' notes online was a good idea (95%), wanted to view their clinic notes online (94%), and agreed online access would increase their understanding of their eye problems (95%) and help them better remember their care plan (94%); 14% said online access would increase their worry; 43% had privacy concerns; and 96% indicated they would show or discuss their notes with at least one other person. Non-white patients were more likely than white patients to perceive online clinic notes as a useful tool, but they were also more likely to worry and to express greater privacy concerns. Patients at three US eye clinics were strongly in favour of online access to ophthalmology notes and were optimistic this access would improve their understanding and self-care. Ophthalmologists should consider offering online access to their notes to enhance doctor-patient communication and improve clinical outcomes. © 2017 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2017 The College of Optometrists.

Evaluating online diagnostic decision support tools for the clinical setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Pryor, Marie; White, David; Potter, Bronwyn; Traill, Roger

2012-01-01

Clinical decision support tools available at the point of care are an effective adjunct to support clinicians to make clinical decisions and improve patient outcomes. We developed a methodology and applied it to evaluate commercially available online clinical diagnostic decision support (DDS) tools for use at the point of care. We identified 11 commercially available DDS tools and assessed these against an evaluation instrument that included 6 categories; general information, content, quality control, search, clinical results and other features. We developed diagnostically challenging clinical case scenarios based on real patient experience that were commonly missed by junior medical staff. The evaluation was divided into 2 phases; an initial evaluation of all identified and accessible DDS tools conducted by the Clinical Information Access Portal (CIAP) team and a second phase that further assessed the top 3 tools identified in the initial evaluation phase. An evaluation panel consisting of senior and junior medical clinicians from NSW Health conducted the second phase. Of the eleven tools that were assessed against the evaluation instrument only 4 tools completely met the DDS definition that was adopted for this evaluation and were able to produce a differential diagnosis. From the initial phase of the evaluation 4 DDS tools scored 70% or more (maximum score 96%) for the content category, 8 tools scored 65% or more (maximum 100%) for the quality control category, 5 tools scored 65% or more (maximum 94%) for the search category, and 4 tools score 70% or more (maximum 81%) for the clinical results category. The second phase of the evaluation was focused on assessing diagnostic accuracy for the top 3 tools identified in the initial phase. Best Practice ranked highest overall against the 6 clinical case scenarios used. Overall the differentiating factor between the top 3 DDS tools was determined by diagnostic accuracy ranking, ease of use and the confidence and

Evaluation of an Intervention to Improve Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care Access and Quality in Cotopaxi, Ecuador.

Science.gov (United States)

Broughton, Edward; Hermida, Jorge; Hill, Kathleen; Sloan, Nancy; Chavez, Mario; Gonzalez, Daniel; Freire, Juana Maria; Gudino, Ximena

2016-01-01

Despite improvements in health-care utilization, disadvantages persist among rural, less educated, and indigenous populations in Ecuador. The United States Agency for International Development-funded Cotopaxi Project created a provincial-level network of health services, including community agents to improve access, quality, and coordination of essential obstetric and newborn care. We evaluated changes in participating facilities compared to non-participating controls. The 21 poorest parishes (third-level administrative unit) in Cotopaxi were targeted from 2010 to 2013 for a collaborative health system performance improvement. The intervention included service reorganization, integration of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) with formal supervision, community outreach and education, and health worker technical training. Baseline ( n  = 462) and end-line ( n  = 412) household surveys assessed access, quality and use of care, and women's knowledge and practices. TBAs' knowledge and skills were assessed from simulations. Chart audits were used to assess facility obstetric and newborn care quality. Provincial government data were used for change in neonatal mortality between intervention and non-intervention parishes using weighted linear regression. The percentage of women receiving a postnatal visit within first 2 days of delivery increased from 53 to 81 in the intervention group and from 70 to 90 in the comparison group ( p  ≤ 0.001). Postpartum/counseling on newborn care increased 18% in the intervention compared with 5% in the comparison group ( p  ≤ 0.001). The project increased community and facility care quality and improved mothers' health knowledge. Intervention parishes experienced a nearly continual decline in newborn mortality between 2009 and 2012 compared with an increase in control parishes ( p  ≤ 0.001). The project established a comprehensive coordinated provincial-level network of health services and strengthened links

Evaluation of an intervention to improve essential obstetric and newborn care access and quality in Cotopaxi, Ecuador

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward Broughton

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background Despite improvements in health care utilization, disadvantages persist among rural, less educated and indigenous populations in Ecuador. The USAID-funded Cotopaxi Project created a provincial-level network of health services, including community agents to improve access, quality and coordination of essential obstetric and newborn care. We evaluated changes in participating facilities compared to non-participating controls. MethodsThe 21 poorest parishes (third-level administrative unit in Cotopaxi were targeted from 2010-2013 for a collaborative health system performance improvement. The intervention included service reorganization, integration of traditional birth attendants with formal supervision, community outreach and education, and health worker technical training.Baseline (n=462 and end-line (n=412 household surveys assessed access, quality and use of care and women's knowledge and practices. Traditional birth attendants’ knowledge and skills were assessed from simulations. Chart audits were used to assess facility obstetric and newborn care quality. Provincial government data were used for change in neonatal mortality between intervention and non-intervention parishes using weighted linear regression. Results The percentage of women receiving a post-natal visit within first 2 days of delivery increased from 53% to 81% in the intervention group and from 70% to 90% in the comparison group (p≤0.001. Postpartum/counseling on newborn care increased 18% in the intervention compared with 5% in the comparison group (p≤0.001. The project increased community and facility care quality and improved mothers’ health knowledge. Intervention parishes experienced a nearly continual decline in newborn mortality between 2009 and 2012 compared with an increase in control parishes (p≤0.001.ConclusionsThe project established a comprehensive coordinated provincial-level network of health services and strengthened links between community

An assessment tool to help producers improve cow comfort on their farms.

Science.gov (United States)

Vasseur, E; Gibbons, J; Rushen, J; Pellerin, D; Pajor, E; Lefebvre, D; de Passillé, A M

2015-01-01

Effective management and an appropriate environment are essential for dairy cattle health and welfare. Codes of practice provide dairy producers with best practice guidance for the care and handling of their cattle. New Canadian recommendations have been established for the dairy industry. The objectives of this study were to develop an on-farm assessment tool that helps producers assess how well they are meeting their code of practice and that identifies management and environment modifications that could improve dairy cow comfort on their farms. The assessment tool addressed critical areas of dairy cow comfort, including accommodation and housing (stall design, space allowance, stall management, pen management, milking parlor, and transfer alleys), feed and water (body condition scoring, nutrition), and health and welfare (lameness, claw health, and hoof-trimming). Targets of good practices were identified from the requirements and recommendations of the code of practice. Each farm received a score for each target, ranging from 0 (target not reached) to 100 (target reached). One hundred tiestall and 110 freestall farms were surveyed in 3 provinces of Canada (Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta). The duration of the assessment, in 2 visits lasting, on average, 8 and 9h (range between freestall and tiestall farms) and 4 and 4.1h, was beyond the targeted 3 to 4h due mainly to the animal-based measures; strategies to reduce the duration of the assessment were discussed. Standard operating procedures were developed to ensure consistency in measuring and recording data. Periodical checks were conducted by trainers to ensure all 15 assessors remained above target agreement of weighted kappa ≥0.6. Average scores for all critical areas ranged from 25 to 89% for freestall farms and from 48 to 95% for tiestall farms. These scores need to be considered with caution when comparing farms because scores could not always be calculated the same way between housing systems. An

The Galaxy platform for accessible, reproducible and collaborative biomedical analyses: 2018 update.

Science.gov (United States)

Afgan, Enis; Baker, Dannon; Batut, Bérénice; van den Beek, Marius; Bouvier, Dave; Cech, Martin; Chilton, John; Clements, Dave; Coraor, Nate; Grüning, Björn A; Guerler, Aysam; Hillman-Jackson, Jennifer; Hiltemann, Saskia; Jalili, Vahid; Rasche, Helena; Soranzo, Nicola; Goecks, Jeremy; Taylor, James; Nekrutenko, Anton; Blankenberg, Daniel

2018-05-22

Galaxy (homepage: https://galaxyproject.org, main public server: https://usegalaxy.org) is a web-based scientific analysis platform used by tens of thousands of scientists across the world to analyze large biomedical datasets such as those found in genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and imaging. Started in 2005, Galaxy continues to focus on three key challenges of data-driven biomedical science: making analyses accessible to all researchers, ensuring analyses are completely reproducible, and making it simple to communicate analyses so that they can be reused and extended. During the last two years, the Galaxy team and the open-source community around Galaxy have made substantial improvements to Galaxy's core framework, user interface, tools, and training materials. Framework and user interface improvements now enable Galaxy to be used for analyzing tens of thousands of datasets, and >5500 tools are now available from the Galaxy ToolShed. The Galaxy community has led an effort to create numerous high-quality tutorials focused on common types of genomic analyses. The Galaxy developer and user communities continue to grow and be integral to Galaxy's development. The number of Galaxy public servers, developers contributing to the Galaxy framework and its tools, and users of the main Galaxy server have all increased substantially.

The World Stress Map - A Freely Accessible Tool For Geohazard Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, Birgit; Heidbach, Oliver; Tingay, Mark

2006-01-01

The World Stress Map (WSM) database contains over 16,000 indicators on contemporary crustal tectonic stress and provides an essential parameter for geohazard assessment. This paper focuses on the importance of database accessibility for geohazard assessment and presents the basic concepts and availability of the WSM. The WSM can be applied to several key aspects of geohazard assessment, in particular the mapping of stress patterns and places of stress concentration for improved delineation of zones of seismic hazard. Furthermore, contemporary tectonic stresses can be used in combination with numerical modeling to identify faults or sections of fault systems with high failure potential and can help to predict the likely type of fault reactivation. This approach is especially valuable for assessing the likelihood of strong and rare seismic events for which probabilistic hazard assessment will fail and physically based methodologies are required. Herein, we use the Caspian-Caucasian region as an example to apply WSM data for geohazard assessment. The Caspian-Caucasian area is characterized by the occurrence of a number of stress related geohazards on different spatial scales, in particular crustal earthquakes, seismically triggered landslides and mud volcanism

Ensemble Streamflow Forecast Improvements in NYC's Operations Support Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, L.; Weiss, W. J.; Porter, J.; Schaake, J. C.; Day, G. N.; Sheer, D. P.

2013-12-01

Like most other water supply utilities, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has operational challenges associated with drought and wet weather events. During drought conditions, DEP must maintain water supply reliability to 9 million customers as well as meet environmental release requirements downstream of its reservoirs. During and after wet weather events, DEP must maintain turbidity compliance in its unfiltered Catskill and Delaware reservoir systems and minimize spills to mitigate downstream flooding. Proactive reservoir management - such as release restrictions to prepare for a drought or preventative drawdown in advance of a large storm - can alleviate negative impacts associated with extreme events. It is important for water managers to understand the risks associated with proactive operations so unintended consequences such as endangering water supply reliability with excessive drawdown prior to a storm event are minimized. Probabilistic hydrologic forecasts are a critical tool in quantifying these risks and allow water managers to make more informed operational decisions. DEP has recently completed development of an Operations Support Tool (OST) that integrates ensemble streamflow forecasts, real-time observations, and a reservoir system operations model into a user-friendly graphical interface that allows its water managers to take robust and defensible proactive measures in the face of challenging system conditions. Since initial development of OST was first presented at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, significant improvements have been made to the forecast system. First, the monthly AR1 forecasts ('Hirsch method') were upgraded with a generalized linear model (GLM) utilizing historical daily correlations ('Extended Hirsch method' or 'eHirsch'). The development of eHirsch forecasts improved predictive skill over the Hirsch method in the first week to a month from the forecast date and produced more realistic hydrographs on the tail

Use of a data warehouse at an academic medical center for clinical pathology quality improvement, education, and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Krasowski, Matthew D; Schriever, Andy; Mathur, Gagan; Blau, John L; Stauffer, Stephanie L; Ford, Bradley A

2015-01-01

Pathology data contained within the electronic health record (EHR), and laboratory information system (LIS) of hospitals represents a potentially powerful resource to improve clinical care. However, existing reporting tools within commercial EHR and LIS software may not be able to efficiently and rapidly mine data for quality improvement and research applications. We present experience using a data warehouse produced collaboratively between an academic medical center and a private company. The data warehouse contains data from the EHR, LIS, admission/discharge/transfer system, and billing records and can be accessed using a self-service data access tool known as Starmaker. The Starmaker software allows users to use complex Boolean logic, include and exclude rules, unit conversion and reference scaling, and value aggregation using a straightforward visual interface. More complex queries can be achieved by users with experience with Structured Query Language. Queries can use biomedical ontologies such as Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine. We present examples of successful searches using Starmaker, falling mostly in the realm of microbiology and clinical chemistry/toxicology. The searches were ones that were either very difficult or basically infeasible using reporting tools within the EHR and LIS used in the medical center. One of the main strengths of Starmaker searches is rapid results, with typical searches covering 5 years taking only 1-2 min. A "Run Count" feature quickly outputs the number of cases meeting criteria, allowing for refinement of searches before downloading patient-identifiable data. The Starmaker tool is available to pathology residents and fellows, with some using this tool for quality improvement and scholarly projects. A data warehouse has significant potential for improving utilization of clinical pathology testing. Software that can access data warehouse using a straightforward visual

Use of a data warehouse at an academic medical center for clinical pathology quality improvement, education, and research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew D Krasowski

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Pathology data contained within the electronic health record (EHR, and laboratory information system (LIS of hospitals represents a potentially powerful resource to improve clinical care. However, existing reporting tools within commercial EHR and LIS software may not be able to efficiently and rapidly mine data for quality improvement and research applications. Materials and Methods: We present experience using a data warehouse produced collaboratively between an academic medical center and a private company. The data warehouse contains data from the EHR, LIS, admission/discharge/transfer system, and billing records and can be accessed using a self-service data access tool known as Starmaker. The Starmaker software allows users to use complex Boolean logic, include and exclude rules, unit conversion and reference scaling, and value aggregation using a straightforward visual interface. More complex queries can be achieved by users with experience with Structured Query Language. Queries can use biomedical ontologies such as Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine. Result: We present examples of successful searches using Starmaker, falling mostly in the realm of microbiology and clinical chemistry/toxicology. The searches were ones that were either very difficult or basically infeasible using reporting tools within the EHR and LIS used in the medical center. One of the main strengths of Starmaker searches is rapid results, with typical searches covering 5 years taking only 1-2 min. A "Run Count" feature quickly outputs the number of cases meeting criteria, allowing for refinement of searches before downloading patient-identifiable data. The Starmaker tool is available to pathology residents and fellows, with some using this tool for quality improvement and scholarly projects. Conclusion: A data warehouse has significant potential for improving utilization of clinical pathology testing

Environmental tools in product development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wenzel, Henrik; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky; Jørgensen, Jørgen

1994-01-01

A precondition for design of environmentally friendly products is that the design team has access to methods and tools supporting the introduction of environmental criteria in product development. A large Danish program, EDIP, is being carried out by the Institute for Product Development, Technical...... University of Denmark, in cooperation with 5 major Danish companies aiming at the development and testing of such tools. These tools are presented in this paper...

Flexibility in problem solving and tool use of kea and New Caledonian crows in a multi access box paradigm.