The framework for REVIEWS: an exploration into design principles for an electronic medical early warning system observation chart

The observation chart is for many health professionals (HPs) the primary source of objective information relating to the health of a patient. Information Systems (IS) research has demonstrated the positive impact of good interface design on decision making and it is logical that good observation chart design can positively impact healthcare decision making. Despite the potential for good observation chart design, there is a paucity of observation chart design literature, with the primary source of literature leveraging Human Computer Interaction (HCI) literature to design better charts. While this approach has been successful, this design approach introduces a gap between understanding of the tasks performed by HPs when using charts and the design features implemented in the chart. Good IS allow for the collection and manipulation of data so that it can be presented in a timely manner that support specific tasks. Good interface design should therefore consider the specific tasks being performed prior to designing the interface. This research adopts a Design Science Research (DSR) approach to formalise a framework of design principles that incorporates knowledge of the tasks performed by HPs when using observation charts and knowledge pertaining to visual representations of data and semiology of graphics. This research is presented in three phases, the initial two phases seek to discover and formalise design knowledge embedded in two situated observation charts: the paper-based NEWS chart developed by the Health Service Executive in Ireland and the electronically generated eNEWS chart developed by the Health Information Systems Research Centre in University College Cork. A comparative evaluation of each chart is also presented in the respective phases. Throughout each of these phases, tentative versions of a design framework for electronic vital sign observation charts are presented, with each subsequent iteration of the framework (versions Alpha, Beta, V0.1 and V1.0) representing a refinement of the design knowledge. The design framework will be named the framework for the Retrospective Evaluation of Vital Sign Information from Early Warning Systems (REVIEWS). Phase 3 of the research presents the deductive process for designing and implementing V0.1 of the framework, with evaluation of the instantiation allowing for the final iteration V1.0 of the framework. This study makes a number of contributions to academic research. First the research demonstrates that the cognitive tasks performed by nurses during clinical reasoning can be supported through good observation chart design. Secondly the research establishes the utility of electronic vital sign observation charts in terms of supporting the cognitive tasks performed by nurses during clinical reasoning. Third the framework for REVIEWS represents a comprehensive set of design principles which if applied to chart design will improve the usefulness of the chart in terms of supporting clinical reasoning. Fourth the electronic observation chart that emerges from this research is demonstrated to be significantly more useful than previously designed charts and represents a significant contribution to practice. Finally the research presents a research design that employs a combination of inductive and deductive design activities to iterate on the design of situated artefacts.

Hazard and early warning analysis based on domain specific modeling technologies

An aim of proactive risk management strategies is the timely identification of safety related risks. One way to achieve this is by deploying early warning systems. Early warning systems aim to provide useful information on the presence of potential threats to the system, the level of vulnerability of a system, or both of these, in a timely manner. This information can then be used to take proactive safety measures. The United Nation’s has recommended that any early warning system need to have four essential elements, which are the risk knowledge element, a monitoring and warning service, dissemination and communication and a response capability. This research deals with the risk knowledge element of an early warning system. The risk knowledge element of an early warning system contains models of possible accident scenarios. These accident scenarios are created by using hazard analysis techniques, which are categorised as traditional and contemporary. The assumption in traditional hazard analysis techniques is that accidents are occurred due to a sequence of events, whereas, the assumption of contemporary hazard analysis techniques is that safety is an emergent property of complex systems. The problem is that there is no availability of a software editor which can be used by analysts to create models of accident scenarios based on contemporary hazard analysis techniques and generate computer code that represent the models at the same time. This research aims to enhance the process of generating computer code based on graphical models that associate early warning signs and causal factors to a hazard, based on contemporary hazard analyses techniques. For this purpose, the thesis investigates the use of Domain Specific Modeling (DSM) technologies. The contributions of this thesis is the design and development of a set of three graphical Domain Specific Modeling languages (DSML)s, that when combined together, provide all of the necessary constructs that will enable safety experts and practitioners to conduct hazard and early warning analysis based on a contemporary hazard analysis approach. The languages represent those elements and relations necessary to define accident scenarios and their associated early warning signs. The three DSMLs were incorporated in to a prototype software editor that enables safety scientists and practitioners to create and edit hazard and early warning analysis models in a usable manner and as a result to generate executable code automatically. This research proves that the DSM technologies can be used to develop a set of three DSMLs which can allow user to conduct hazard and early warning analysis in more usable manner. Furthermore, the three DSMLs and their dedicated editor, which are presented in this thesis, may provide a significant enhancement to the process of creating the risk knowledge element of computer based early warning systems.

Shining light on food microbiology; applications of luciferase-tagged microorganisms in the food industry

Bioluminescence is the production of light by living organisms as a result of a number of enzyme catalysed reactions caused by enzymes termed luciferases. The lux genes responsible for the emission of light can be cloned from one bioluminescent microorganism into one that is not bioluminescent. The light emitted can be monitored and quantified and will provide information on the metabolic activity, quantity and location of cells in a particular environment, in real-time. The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate and identify several food industry related applications of lux-tagged microorganisms. The first aim was to monitor a lux-tagged Cronobacter sakazakii in reconstituted infant milk formula, in realtime. The second aim was to investigate a bioluminescent-based early warning system for starter culture disruption by bacteriophages and antibiotic residues. The third of this thesis was to examine the use of a bioluminescent-based assay to test the activity of bioengineered Nisin derivatives M21V and S29A against foodborne pathogens in laboratory media and selected foods.

A knowledge management system to optimise comfort throughout the building life-cycle

Comfort is, in essence, satisfaction with the environment, and with respect to the indoor environment it is primarily satisfaction with the thermal conditions and air quality. Improving comfort has social, health and economic benefits, and is more financially significant than any other building cost. Despite this, comfort is not strictly managed throughout the building lifecycle. This is mainly due to the lack of an appropriate system to adequately manage comfort knowledge through the construction process into operation. Previous proposals to improve knowledge management have not been successfully adopted by the construction industry. To address this, the BabySteps approach was devised. BabySteps is an approach, proposed by this research, which states that for an innovation to be adopted into the industry it must be implementable through a number of small changes. This research proposes that improving the management of comfort knowledge will improve comfort. ComMet is a new methodology proposed by this research that manages comfort knowledge. It enables comfort knowledge to be captured, stored and accessed throughout the building life-cycle and so allowing it to be re-used in future stages of the building project and in future projects. It does this using the following: Comfort Performances – These are simplified numerical representations of the comfort of the indoor environment. Comfort Performances quantify the comfort at each stage of the building life-cycle using standard comfort metrics. Comfort Ratings - These are a means of classifying the comfort conditions of the indoor environment according to an appropriate standard. Comfort Ratings are generated by comparing different Comfort Performances. Comfort Ratings provide additional information relating to the comfort conditions of the indoor environment, which is not readily determined from the individual Comfort Performances. Comfort History – This is a continuous descriptive record of the comfort throughout the project, with a focus on documenting the items and activities, proposed and implemented, which could potentially affect comfort. Each aspect of the Comfort History is linked to the relevant comfort entity it references. These three components create a comprehensive record of the comfort throughout the building lifecycle. They are then stored and made available in a common format in a central location which allows them to be re-used ad infinitum. The LCMS System was developed to implement the ComMet methodology. It uses current and emerging technologies to capture, store and allow easy access to comfort knowledge as specified by ComMet. LCMS is an IT system that is a combination of the following six components: Building Standards; Modelling & Simulation; Physical Measurement through the specially developed Egg-Whisk (Wireless Sensor) Network; Data Manipulation; Information Recording; Knowledge Storage and Access.Results from a test case application of the LCMS system - an existing office room at a research facility - highlighted that while some aspects of comfort were being maintained, the building’s environment was not in compliance with the acceptable levels as stipulated by the relevant building standards. The implementation of ComMet, through LCMS, demonstrates how comfort, typically only considered during early design, can be measured and managed appropriately through systematic application of the methodology as means of ensuring a healthy internal environment in the building.

Investigation of the function of the LNX family of E3 ubiquitin ligases in the nervous system

The Lnx1 (Ligand of Numb protein X 1) and Lnx2 genes belong to a family of PDZ domain-containing RING finger domain E3 ubiquitin ligases. mRNA expression for both genes have been reported in early murine central nervous system. However, there have been limited reports with regards to the expression patterns for both the proteins in vivo. Hence, we have attempted to characterize the significance of these proteins in the context of morphology and physiology of the central nervous system. Through our studies, we have attempted to examine closely the expression of these two genes in the murine central nervous system. We have also looked at novel interacting ligands for both proteins. Interacting partners have been examined with particular relevance to possible roles of their interactions with LNX1 and LNX2 in the functioning of the nervous system. Moreover, we have performed loss-of-function studies by way of creation and characterization of knockout mice.

Early warning sign attributes for the safety of drinking water treatment works

A proactive risk management strategy seeks to prevent accidents from taking place and maintain the safety of a system. In this context, the task of identifying and disseminating early warning signs and signals is among the most important. The problem is that warning signs that are present before an accident takes place are often being overlooked and not picked up or identified as warning signs. If these warning signs were responded to, then an accident may be averted. Accidents occuring in the critical domain of a drinking water treatments works can have serious implications for the public health of consumers of the water supplied. Realising and comprehending early warning signs is a major challenge for the domain of systems safety and especially in the domain of a water treatment works. The approaches that are typically used to enhance the realisation, comprehension and dissemination of early warning signs in the water treatment domain in Ireland mainly involves the creation of accident scenarios, the use of monitoring data and procedures for the dissemination of warnings. While all of these approaches are all useful to inform the mental or process models of possible accident scenarios, nevertheless, accidents are still occurring in this domain. Therefore, a new approach to enhance the comprehension of and effective dissemination of early warning signs is required in order to improve safety and proactive risk management strategies. The contributions of this thesis is the provision of a set of attributes associated with the early warning sign concept that provides meaningful data on the early warning signs and allows recipients to better comprehend them. The values of these attributes were customised for application in the water treatment domain. This research proves that early warning signs at a water treatment works received with information on their attributes are comprehended and communicated more effectively and efficiently than the usual pragmatic approach and thereby improves the safety and proactive risk management strategies.

Surveillance during pregnancy: methods and response rates from a hospital based pilot study of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System in Ireland

Background: Many European countries including Ireland lack high quality, on-going, population based estimates of maternal behaviours and experiences during pregnancy. PRAMS is a CDC surveillance program which was established in the United States in 1987 to generate high quality, population based data to reduce infant mortality rates and improve maternal and infant health. PRAMS is the only on-going population based surveillance system of maternal behaviours and experiences that occur before, during and after pregnancy worldwide.Methods: The objective of this study was to adapt, test and evaluate a modified CDC PRAMS methodology in Ireland. The birth certificate file which is the standard approach to sampling for PRAMS in the United States was not available for the PRAMS Ireland study. Consequently, delivery record books for the period between 3 and 5 months before the study start date at a large urban obstetric hospital [8,900 births per year] were used to randomly sample 124 women. Name, address, maternal age, infant sex, gestational age at delivery, delivery method, APGAR score and birth weight were manually extracted from records. Stillbirths and early neonatal deaths were excluded using APGAR scores and hospital records. Women were sent a letter of invitation to participate including option to opt out, followed by a modified PRAMS survey, a reminder letter and a final survey.Results: The response rate for the pilot was 67%. Two per cent of women refused the survey, 7% opted out of the study and 24% did not respond. Survey items were at least 88% complete for all 82 respondents. Prevalence estimates of socially undesirable behaviours such as alcohol consumption during pregnancy were high [>50%] and comparable with international estimates.Conclusion: PRAMS is a feasible and valid method of collecting information on maternal experiences and behaviours during pregnancy in Ireland. PRAMS may offer a potential solution to data deficits in maternal health behaviour indicators in Ireland with further work. This study is important to researchers in Europe and elsewhere who may be interested in new ways of tailoring an established CDC methodology to their unique settings to resolve data deficits in maternal health.

CloudNeg: An autonomous multi issue negotiation system, with preference elicitation component, for trading cloud services

Cloud services provide its users with flexible resource provisioning. But in the current market, a user has to choose from a limited set of configurations at a fixed price. This paper presents an autonomous negotiation system termed CloudNeg for negotiating cloud services. CloudNeg provides buyers and sellers of cloud services with autonomous agents to negotiate on the specifications of a cloud instance, including price, on their behalf. These agents elicit their buyers’ time preferences and use them in negotiations. Further, this paper presents two artifacts: a negotiation algorithm and a prototype which together form CloudNeg.

A support system for mentors of novice entrepreneurs

In this study we present online software to rapidly assess the impact of mentoring techniques on a novice entrepreneur. We have built a prototype that collects data from team members in less than five minutes and that automatically returns a diagnostic analysis to the mentor. Between 2012 and 2015 we have tested three versions of our prototype with longitudinal analyses of teams attending startup weekend competitions, to confirm that our prototype supports mentors with few and yet relevant information. The results of our studies open several avenues of research regarding rapid diagnostic of project teams, whereas, from a practical point of view, our prototype entirely done with Google Docs can be easily used by anyone interested in entrepreneurship education. Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, effectuation, mentoring, decision support, design science.

Monitoring and modelling the morphodynamic evolution of a breached barrier beach system

Predicting the evolution of a coastal cell requires the identification of the key drivers of morphology. Soft coastlines are naturally dynamic but severe storm events and even human intervention can accelerate any changes that are occurring. However, when erosive events such as barrier breaching occur with no obvious contributory factors, a deeper understanding of the underlying coastal processes is required. Ideally conclusions on morphological drivers should be drawn from field data collection and remote sensing over a long period of time. Unfortunately, when the Rossbeigh barrier beach in Dingle Bay, County Kerry, began to erode rapidly in the early 2000’s, eventually leading to it breaching in 2008, no such baseline data existed. This thesis presents a study of the morphodynamic evolution of the Inner Dingle Bay coastal system. The study combines existing coastal zone analysis approaches with experimental field data collection techniques and a novel approach to long term morphodynamic modelling to predict the evolution of the barrier beach inlet system. A conceptual model describing the long term evolution of Inner Dingle Bay in 5 stages post breaching was developed. The dominant coastal processes driving the evolution of the coastal system were identified and quantified. A new methodology of long term process based numerical modelling approach to coastal evolution was developed. This method was used to predict over 20 years of coastal evolution in Inner Dingle Bay. On a broader context this thesis utilised several experimental coastal zone data collection and analysis methods such as ocean radar and grain size trend analysis. These were applied during the study and their suitability to a dynamic coastal system was assessed.