Overview of the ShARe/CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab 2013

Discharge summaries and other free-text reports in healthcare transfer information between working shifts and geographic locations. Patients are likely to have difficulties in understanding their content, because of their medical jargon, non-standard abbreviations,and ward-specific idioms. This paper reports on an evaluation lab with an aim to support the continuum of care by developing methods and resources that make clinical reports in English easier to understand for patients, and which helps them in finding information related to their condition.

Overview of the ShARe/CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab 2014

This paper reports on the 2nd ShARe/CLEFeHealth evaluation lab which continues our evaluation resource building activities for the medical domain. In this lab we focus on patients' information needs as opposed to the more common campaign focus of the specialised information needs of physicians and other healthcare workers. The usage scenario of the lab is to ease patients and next-of-kins' ease in understanding eHealth information, in particular clinical reports. The 1st ShARe/CLEFeHealth evaluation lab was held in 2013. This lab consisted of three tasks. Task 1 focused on named entity recognition and normalization of disorders; Task 2 on normalization of acronyms/abbreviations; and Task 3 on information retrieval to address questions patients may have when reading clinical reports. This year's lab introduces a new challenge in Task 1 on visual-interactive search and exploration of eHealth data. Its aim is to help patients (or their next-of-kin) in readability issues related to their hospital discharge documents and related information search on the Internet. Task 2 then continues the information extraction work of the 2013 lab, specifically focusing on disorder attribute identification and normalization from clinical text. Finally, this year's Task 3 further extends the 2013 information retrieval task, by cleaning the 2013 document collection and introducing a new query generation method and multilingual queries. De-identified clinical reports used by the three tasks were from US intensive care and originated from the MIMIC II database. Other text documents for Tasks 1 and 3 were from the Internet and originated from the Khresmoi project. Task 2 annotations originated from the ShARe annotations. For Tasks 1 and 3, new annotations, queries, and relevance assessments were created. 50, 79, and 91 people registered their interest in Tasks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. 24 unique teams participated with 1, 10, and 14 teams in Tasks 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The teams were from Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, and North America. The Task 1 submission, reviewed by 5 expert peers, related to the task evaluation category of Effective use of interaction and targeted the needs of both expert and novice users. The best system had an Accuracy of 0.868 in Task 2a, an F1-score of 0.576 in Task 2b, and Precision at 10 (P@10) of 0.756 in Task 3. The results demonstrate the substantial community interest and capabilities of these systems in making clinical reports easier to understand for patients. The organisers have made data and tools available for future research and development.

Day in the Lab : Urban Informatics Research Lab, Queensland University of Technology

The Urban Informatics Research Lab brings together a group of people who focus their research on interdisciplinary topics at the intersection of social, spatial, and technical research domains—that is, people, place, and technology. Those topics are spread across the breadth of urban life—its contemporary issues and its needs, as well as the design opportunities that we have as individuals, groups, communities, and as a whole society. The lab’s current research areas include urban planning and design, civic innovation, mobility and transportation, education and connected learning, environmental sustainability, and food and urban agriculture. The common denominator of the lab’s approach is user-centered design research directed toward understanding, conceptualizing, developing, and evaluating sociotechnical practices as well as the opportunities afforded by innovative digital technology in urban environments.

Low cost brain-computer interface: first results

Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) has been previously demonstrated to restore patient communication, meeting with varying degrees of success. Due to the nature of the equipment traditionally used in BCI experimentation (the electroencephalograph) it is mostly conned to clinical and research environments. The required medical safety standards, subsequent cost of equipment and its application/training times are all issues that need to be resolved if BCIs are to be taken out of the lab/clinic and delivered to the home market. The results in this paper demonstrate a system developed with a low cost medical grade EEG amplier unit in conjunction with the open source BCI2000 software suite thus constructing the cheapest per electrode system available, meeting rigorous clinical safety standards. Discussion of the future of this technology and future work concerning this platform are also introduced.

Sistema CIE Lab: análise computacional de fotografias

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Design, implementation and evaluation of a virtual laboratory for Computer Engineering Education

Broad consensus has been reached within the Education and Cognitive Psychology research communities on the need to center the learning process on experimentation and concrete application of knowledge, rather than on a bare transfer of notions. Several advantages arise from this educational approach, ranging from the reinforce of students learning, to the increased opportunity for a student to gain greater insight into the studied topics, up to the possibility for learners to acquire practical skills and long-lasting proficiency. This is especially true in Engineering education, where integrating conceptual knowledge and practical skills assumes a strategic importance. In this scenario, learners are called to play a primary role. They are actively involved in the construction of their own knowledge, instead of passively receiving it. As a result, traditional, teacher-centered learning environments should be replaced by novel learner-centered solutions. Information and Communication Technologies enable the development of innovative solutions that provide suitable answers to the need for the availability of experimentation supports in educational context. Virtual Laboratories, Adaptive Web-Based Educational Systems and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments can significantly foster different learner-centered instructional strategies, offering the opportunity to enhance personalization, individualization and cooperation. More specifically, they allow students to explore different kinds of materials, to access and compare several information sources, to face real or realistic problems and to work on authentic and multi-facet case studies. In addition, they encourage cooperation among peers and provide support through coached and scaffolded activities aimed at fostering reflection and meta-cognitive reasoning. This dissertation will guide readers within this research field, presenting both the theoretical and applicative results of a research aimed at designing an open, flexible, learner-centered virtual lab for supporting students in learning Information Security.

Computer Literacy - Erwerb einer Basiskompetenz

Das Projekt Literalität in Alltag und Beruf (LAB) entwickelt und erprobt spezifische Methoden der Weiterbildung. Es richtet sich an Erwachsene mit Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit den Basiskompetenzen Schriftgebrauch und Alltagsmathematik. Generelles Ziel des Programms ist, die Arbeitsmarktfähigkeit von Bildungsbenachteiligten zu erreichen, wo möglich zu erhalten und zu steigern. Weiter soll den Teilnehmenden durch die Stärkung von literalen Grundkompetenzen der Zugang zu bestehenden Weiterbildungsangeboten in ihrem beruflichen Umfeld ermöglicht oder erleichtert werden.

An Innovative Approach to Impacting Student Academic Achievement and Attitudes: Pilot Study of the HEADS UP Virtual Molecular Biology Lab

Introduction: The Virtual Molecular Biology Lab is an innovative, computer-based educational program designed to teach advanced high school biology students how to create a transgenic mouse model in a simulated laboratory setting. It was created in an effort to combat the current decrease in adolescent enthusiasm for and academic achievement in science and science careers, especially in Hispanic students. Because studies have found that hands-on learning, particularly computer-based instruction, is effective in enhancing science achievement, the Virtual Lab is a potential tool for increasing the number of Hispanic students that choose to enter science fields. [See PDF for complete abstract]

An innovative approach to impacting student academic achievement and attitudes: Pilot study of the HEADS UP Virtual Molecular Biology Lab

Objective. To evaluate the HEADS UP Virtual Molecular Biology Lab, a computer-based simulated laboratory designed to teach advanced high school biology students how to create a mouse model. ^ Design. A randomized clinical control design of forty-four students from two science magnet high schools in Mercedes, Texas was utilized to assess knowledge and skills of molecular laboratory procedures, attitudes towards science and computers as a learning tool, and usability of the program. ^ Measurements. Data was collected using five paper-and-pencil formatted questionnaires and an internal "lab notebook." ^ Results. The Virtual Lab was found to significantly increase student knowledge over time (p<0.005) and with each use (p<0.001) as well as positively increase attitudes towards computers (p<0.001) and skills (p<0.005). No significant differences were seen in science attitude scores.^ Conclusion. These results provide evidence that the HEADS UP Virtual Molecular Biology Lab is a potentially effective educational tool for high school molecular biology education.^

Unidad didáctica sobre el uso del programa Virtual.Lab para simulaciones acústicas. Parte I

El presente Proyecto de Fin de Carrera supone el propósito conjunto de los alumnos Álvaro Morillas y Fernando Sáez, y del profesor Vladimir Ulin, de desarrollar una unidad didáctica sobre el programa de simulación para ingeniería Virtual.Lab. La versión sobre la que se ha trabajado para realizar este texto es la 11, publicada en agosto de 2012. Virtual.Lab, del fabricante belga LMS International, es una plataforma software de ingeniería asistida por ordenador, que agrupa en una misma aplicación varias herramientas complementarias en el diseño de un producto, desde su definición geométrica a los análisis de durabilidad, ruido u optimización. No obstante, de entre todas las posibles simulaciones que nos permite el programa, en este proyecto sólo se tratan las que están relacionadas con la acústica. Cabe resaltar que gran parte de los conceptos manejados en Virtual.Lab son compatibles con el programa CATIA V5, ya que ambos programas vienen instalados y funcionan conjuntamente. Por eso, el lector de este proyecto podrá transportar sus conocimientos al que es uno de los programas estándar en las industrias aeronáutica, naval y automovilística, entre otras. Antes de este proyecto, otros alumnos de la escuela también realizaron proyectos de fin de carrera en el campo de la simulación computarizada en acústica. Una característica común a estos trabajos es que era necesario hacer uso de distintos programas para cada una de las etapas de simulación (como por ejemplo, ANSYS para el modelado y estudio de la vibración y SYSNOISE para las simulaciones acústicas, además de otros programas auxiliares para las traducciones de formato). Con Virtual.Lab desaparece esta necesidad y el tiempo empleado se reduce. Debido a que las soluciones por ordenador están ganando cada vez más importancia en la industria actual, los responsables de este proyecto consideran la necesidad de formación de profesionales en esta rama. Para responder a la demanda empresarial de trabajadores cualificados, se espera que en los próximos años los planes de estudio contengan más cursos en esta materia. Por tanto la intención de los autores es que este material sea de utilidad para el aprendizaje y docencia de estas asignaturas en cursos sucesivos. Por todo esto, se justifica la relevancia de este PFC como manual para introducir a los alumnos interesados en iniciarse en un sistema actual, de uso extendido en otras universidades tecnológicas europeas, y con buenas perspectivas de futuro. En este proyecto se incluyen varios ejemplos ejecutables desde el programa, así como vídeos explicativos que ayudan a mostrar gráficamente los procesos de simulación. Estos archivos se pueden encontrar en el CD adjunto. Abstract This final thesis is a joint project made by the students Álvaro Morillas and Fernando Sáez, and the professor Vladimir Ulin. The nature of the joint regards the writing of a didactic unit on Virtual.Lab, the simulation software. The software version used in this text is the number 11, released in August 2012. Virtual.Lab, from the Belgian developer LMS International, is a computer-aided engineering software which is used for several related tasks in this field: product design, durability simulation, optimization, etc. However, this project is focused on the acoustical capabilities. It is worthy to highlight that most procedures explained in this text can be used in the software CATIA V5 as well. Both tools come installed together and may be used at the same time. Therefore, the reader of this project will be able to use the acquired knowledge in one of the most relevant softwares for the aerospace, marine and automotive engineering. Previously to the development of this project, this School has conducted projects on this field. These projects regarded the use of ANSYS for modeling and meshing stages as well as the use of SYSNOISE for the final acoustic analysis. Since both systems use different file formats, a third-party translation software was required. This thesis fulfill this pending necessity with Virtual.Lab; the translation software procedure is not necessary anymore and simulations can be done in a more flexible, fast way. Since companies have an increasing usage of numerical methods in the development of their products and services, the authors think that it is important to develop the appropriate method to instruct new professionals in the field. Thus, the aim of this project is to help teachers and students in their process of learning the use of this leading software in acoustical simulations. For all the reasons mentioned above, we consider that this project is relevant for the School and the educational community. Aiming to achieve this objective the author offers example files and video demonstrations with guidance in the CD that accompanies this material. This facilitates the comprehension of the practical tasks and guides the prospect users of the software.

Massachusetts: a map for Brent Lane of Dell Computer Corporation

produced by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council GIS Lab.

A technique for incorporating dynamic paths in lab-based mobile evaluations

Increasingly, lab evaluations of mobile applications are incorporating mobility. The inclusion of mobility alone, however, is insufficient to generate a realistic evaluation context since real-life users will typically be required to monitor their environment while moving through it. While field evaluations represent a more realistic evaluation context, such evaluations pose difficulties, including data capture and environmental control, which mean that a lab-based evaluation is often a more practical choice. This paper describes a novel evaluation technique that mimics a realistic mobile usage context in a lab setting. The technique requires that participants monitor their environment and change the route they are walking to avoid dynamically changing hazards (much as reallife users would be required to do). Two studies that employed this technique are described, and the results (which indicate the technique is useful) are discussed.

Research in practice: Bringing behavioural change from lab to studio

Design influences behaviour, whether it's planned or not. Service Design has a great opportunity to lead the emerging field of design for behavioural change, helping guide and shape experiences to benefit users, service providers and wider society. In this article, presented as an evolving conversation between research and practice, Nick Marsh (EMC Consulting) and Dan Lockton (Brunel University) discuss and explore design patterns for influencing behaviour through Service Design, and how Service Designers and academics can work together for social benefit.