2346213
Healthcare Enterprise Process Development and Integration
Healthcare enterprises involve complex processes that span diverse groups and organisations. These processes involve clinical and administrative tasks, large volumes of data, and large numbers of patients and personnel. The tasks can be performed either by humans or by automated systems. In the latter case, the tasks are supported by a variety of software applications and information systems which are very often heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed. The development of systems to manage and automate these processes has increasingly played an important role in improving the efficiency of healthcare enterprises. In this paper we look at four healthcare and medical applications that involve investigative, clinical, and administrative functions. Based on these applications, we derive the requirements for developing enterprise applications that involve the coordination of a variety of tasks performed by humans, information systems, and legacy applications.
468883
Research and commercial opportunities in Web-Based Simulation
Abstract In a few short years, Web-Based Simulation has exhibited explosive growth in the simulation research community. This paper which grew out of a panel discussion at the 2000 WEBSIM Conference, briefly reviews the development of this research area and considers future opportunities, both on the research and commercial sides. On the research side, the area is maturing, but still quite active. Efforts to expanded Web-Based Simulation to include new capabilities beyond those found in conventional simulation technology or provide interoperation with other information processing technology are particularly promising. On the commercial side, a critical mass of research knowledge is now available. However, some catalyst is needed to produce any substantial movement of simulation vendors toward Web-Based Simulation. This could happen quickly under a couple of scenarios: A small simulation vendor focused on Web-Based Simulation could begin to claim significant market share. Alternatively, the development of a “killer-app” to demonstrate a clear advantage to Web-Based Simulation could make this shift happen very quickly.
15950590
Model instantiation for query driven simulation in active KDL
The focus of this paper is on how Active KDL can be used to provide a very powerful simulation support environment. Active KDL (Knowledge/Data Language) is an object-oriented database programming language, which provides access to integrated model, knowledge, and data bases. Simulation inputs and outputs can be stored by Active KDL since it supports complex objects. More importantly, Active KDL also allows users to specify rules to capture heuristic knowledge and methods to specify procedural behavior. Finally, Active KDL provides a simple mechanism for specifying concurrent execution, namely tasks embedded in active objects. These facilities provide a powerful mechanism for building simulation models out of pre-existing model components. These capabilities provide a tight coupling between a SIMODULA-like simulation system and a knowledge/database system, supporting query driven simulation, where model instantiation is used for information generation.
7800547
Design of an Object-Oriented Database for Reverse Genetics
We present the design of an object-oriented database system for reverse genetics applications. Such a database will encapsulate not only the data in the genetic and physical maps, but also the methods used to create the maps as well as methods to link them to other databases, such as GenBank, PIR, and MedLine. The purpose of this database is to provide the fungal genetics community with an electronic tool for identifying the biochemical function of any DNA fragment in the database--electronic reverse genetics. Such a tool for reverse genetics will enable researchers to identify the biochemical functions associated with genes encoding proteins in fungal development pathways, purine metabolism, the heat shock response, and molecular chromosome mechanics and evolution. Our initial goal is to apply the database for the genome mapping of the filamentous fungi, Aspergillus nidulans and Neurospora crassa, at the University of Georgia and the University of Leeds in England.
7959746
Authorization and Access Control of Application Data in Workflow Systems
Workflow Management Systems (WfMSs) are used to support the modeling and coordinated execution of business processes within an organization or across organizational boundaries. Although some research efforts have addressed requirements for authorization and access control for workflow systems, little attention has been paid to the requirements as they apply to application data accessed or managed by WfMSs. In this paper, we discuss key access control requirements for application data in workflow applications using examples from the healthcare domain, introduce a classification of application data used in workflow systems by analyzing their sources, and then propose a comprehensive data authorization and access control mechanism for WfMSs. This involves four aspects: role, task, process instance-based user group, and data content. For implementation, a predicate-based access control method is used. We believe that the proposed model is applicable to workflow applications and WfMSs with diverse access control requirements.
16289956
Scenario management in Web-based simulation
Internet communications in general and the World-Wide Web specifically are revolutionizing the computer industry. Today, the Web is full of important documents and clever applets. Java applets and servlets are beginning to appear that provide useful and even mission critical applications. From the perspective of simulation, a future Web will be full of simulation models and large amounts of simulation-generated data. Many of the models will include two or three dimensional animation as well as virtual reality. Others will allow human interaction with simulation models to control or influence their execution no matter where the user is located in the world. Analysis of data from Web-based simulations involves greater degrees of freedom than traditional simulations. The number of simulation models available and the amount of simulation data are likely to be much greater. In order to assure the quality of data, the execution of models under a variety of scenarios should be well managed. Since the user community will also be larger, quality assurance should be delegated to agents responsible for defining scenarios and executing models. A major element of simulation analysis is the analysis of output data, which manages the execution of simulation models, in order to obtain statistical data of acceptable quality. Such data may be used to predict the performance of a single system, or to compare the performance of two or more alternative system designs using a single or multiple performance measures.
7380263
Getting more from the data in a multinomial selection problem
We consider the problem of determining which of k simulated systems is most likely to be the best per former based on some objective performance measure. The standard experiment is to generate v in dependent vector observations (replications) across the k- systems. A classical multinomial selection pro cedure, BEM (Bechhofer, Elmaghraby, and Morse), prescribes a minimum number of replications so that the probability of correctly selecting the true best system meets or exceeds a prespecified probability. Assuming that larger is better, BEM selects as best the system having the largest value of the performance measure in more replications than any other. We propose using these same v replications across k systems to form vk pseudoreplications (no longer in dependent) that contain one observation from each system, and again select as best the system having the largest value of the performance measure in more pseudoreplications than any other. We expect that this new procedure, AVC (all vector comparisons), dominates BEM in the sense that AVC will never require more independent replications than DEM to meet a prespecified probability of correct selection. We present analytical and simulation results to show how AVC fares versus BEM for different underly ing distribution families, different numbers of populations and various values of v. We also present results for the closely related problem of estimating the probability that a specific system is the best.
14082423
Neutrality and the Evolvability of Boolean Function Landscape
This work is a study of neutrality in the context of Evolutionary Computation systems. In particular, we introduce the use of explicit neutrality with an integer string coding scheme to allow neutrality to be measured during evolution. We tested this method on a Boolean benchmark problem. The experimental results indicate that there is a positive relationship between neutrality and evolvability: neutrality improves evolvability. We also identify four characteristics of adaptive/neutral mutations that are associated with high evolvability. They may be the ingredients in designing effective Evolutionary Computation systems for the Boolean class problem.
11647322
Hembase: browser and genome portal for hematology and erythroid biology
Hembase (http://hembase.niddk.nih.gov) is an integrated browser and genome portal designed for web-based examination of the human erythroid transcriptome. To date, Hembase contains 15,752 entries from erythroblast Expressed Sequenced Tags (ESTs) and 380 referenced genes relevant for erythropoiesis. The database is organized to provide a cytogenetic band position, a unique name as well as a concise annotation for each entry. Search queries may be performed by name, keyword or cytogenetic location. Search results are linked to primary sequence data and three major human genome browsers for access to information considered current at the time of each search. Hembase provides interested scientists and clinical hematologists with a genome-based approach toward the study of erythroid biology.
3221324
How common random numbers affect multinomial selection
We consider the effect of common random numbers (CRNs) among simulated systems in two different multinomial selection procedures: the classical procedure BEM (Bechhofer, Elmaghraby, and Morse) and procedure AVC (all vector comparisons). CVe examine a simple two population scenario and demonstrate analytically how CRNs affect the probability of correct selection (PCS). In addition, various levels of positive correlation are induced to approximate the effect of using CRNs with complex simulated systems. We present analytical and simulation results to show the effect correlation has on the probability of correct selection (PCS) for each solution procedure. This paper responds to Jim Wilson’s question raised at WSC’96 about how the use of CRNs affects multinomial selection procedures.
8310590
Modeling leadership effects and recruit type in an Army recruiting station
Army recruiters have an uphill battle recruiting well-qualified volunteers into military service. With prospering economy, there are many alternatives to joining the military, and all services are having difficulty recruiting young people. United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) sponsored our research in simulating the workings of an Army recruiting station in an effort to help understand more about the recruiting process. Specifically, USAREC wanted a management tool to examine the effects of changing a variety of controllable factors on the way an individual recruiting station performs. We focused this study on the effect of recruiting station commander leadership on recruiting productivity, and the differences in processing times and success rates for different types of applicants (potential recruits). This study added capability to a previous simulation model developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) (J.D. Cordeiro and M.A. Friend, 1998). Cordeiro and Friend's model depicted an Army recruiting station with three types of recruiters, and a single (average) recruiter type. For the current work, we needed to gather pertinent data on the effects of leadership and on the differences between different applicant types. In addition, we needed to incorporate the new data into the simulation model. The remainder of the paper includes an overview of the recruiting process, considerations for modeling leadership effects and applicant types, discussion of incorporating these features in the simulation, a brief look at some simulation output, and some future research interests.