Interoperable and transparent dynamic deployment of web services for service oriented grids

Dynamic deployment of Web services is a term used frequently when describing the selection and deployment of a service to a grid host. Although current grid systems (such as Globus) provide dynamic deployment, the requirements of the service being deployed are not considered. Therefore truly dynamic deployment cannot be achieved as the services deployed are restricted to the grid system used. We present a dynamic deployment mechanism as part of self configuration in a service oriented grid environment. The dynamic deployment mechanism takes the requirements of the service into consideration, including parameters such as the operating system required to execute the service, the required software libraries, any additional required software packages, price and Quality of Service (QoS) parameters.

Workload capacity measures for estimating allied health staffing requirements

Workforce planning methodologies for the allied health professions are acknowledged as rudimentary despite the increasing importance of these professions to health care across the spectrum of health services settings. The objectives of this study were to (i) identify workload capacity measures and methods for profiling allied health workforce requirements from a systematic review of the international literature; (ii) explore the use of these methods in planning workforce requirements; (iii) identify barriers to applying such methods; and (iv) recommend further action. Future approaches to workforce planning were explored through a systematic review of the literature, interviews with key stakeholders and focus group discussions with representatives from the different professional bodies and health agencies in Victoria. Results identified a range of methods used to calculate workload requirements or capacity. In order of increasing data demands and costliness to implement, workload capacity methods can be broadly classified into four groups: ratio-based, procedure-based, categories of care-based and diagnostic or casemix-based. Despite inherent limitations, the procedure-based measurement approach appears to be most widely accepted. Barriers to more rigorous workforce planning methods are discussed and future directions explored through an examination of the potential of casemix and mixed-method approaches.

Business 2.0 : a novel model for delivery of business services

Web 2.0, regardless of the exact definition, has proven to bring about significant changes to the way the Internet was used. Evident by key innovations such as Wikipedia, FaceBook, YouTube, and Blog sites, these community-based Website in which contents are generated and consumed by the same group of users are changing the way businesses operate. Advertisements are no longer dasiaforcedpsila upon the viewers but are instead dasiaintelligentlypsila targeted based on the contents of interest. In this paper, we investigate the concept of Web 2.0 in the context of business entities. We asked if Web 2.0 concepts could potentially lead to a change of paradigm or the way businesses operate today. We conclude with a discussion of a Web 2.0 application we recently developed that we think is an indication that businesses will ultimately be affected by these community-based technologies; thus bringing about Business 2.0 - a paradigm for businesses to cooperate with one another to deliver improved products and services to their own customers.

Parsimonious and efficient assessment of health-related quality of life in osteoarthritis research: validation of the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument

Background: The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) utility instrument was psychometrically developed for the general population. This study aimed to explore its potential as an osteoarthritis (OA) outcome measure.

Methods: WOMAC, Lequesne index, SF-36, Visual analogue scales and the AQoL were administered to 222 people with OA. The ability of each questionnaire to detect differences between groups was based on (i) self-rated health (SRH) and, (ii) differences between people on an orthopedic waiting list (WL) vs people with OA in the community (C). Comparisons included effect size, relative efficiency and receiver operator characteristic curves.

Results: All instruments detected differences between groups; however no one instrument exhibited superior efficiency. The AQoL demonstrated strong psychometric properties.

Conclusion: The AQoL has equivalent performance to comparator questionnaires commonly used in OA research and would be a useful adjunct to well-established disease specific scales. The AQoL has important advantages; brevity (12 items), facilitates comparisons between disease groups, and delivers a utility score that can be used in health economic evaluations.