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Journal articles on the topic 'Electronic (technical) surveillance'
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1
Tomczyk, Paweł, Daniel Mider, and Józef Grzegorczyk. "Inwigilacja elektroniczna jako metoda pozyskiwania informacji – ewaluacja i prognozy." Studia Politologiczne 2019, no. 54 (November 20, 2019): 258–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.33896/spolit.2019.54.10.
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The text focuses on one of the elements belonging to the surveillance society – surveillance with the use of electronic tools. The authors attempt to answer the following questions. What types of negative phenomena are produced and intensified by electronic surveillance technologies? How deep is the state of the „vulnerability” of modern societies, what are the possibilities of surveillance devices? Is it possible to practically oppose them, how and what are the limits? What is the genesis of these phenomena and what future scenarios can be sketched based on the anticipation of observed trends? A set of research questions defined in this way required both sociological and technical perspectives at the same time. The authors recognize the negative phenomena associated with electronic surveillance: escalation, professionalization, institutionalization and normalization.
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Blatt, Amy J. "Geospatial Applications in Disease Surveillance." International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research 4, no. 2 (April 2013): 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jagr.2013040101.
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Given the current attention on national health care reform and the electronic exchange of health information, this article highlights the major developments in disease surveillance and identifies a number of public health opportunities for geospatial thought leaders to undertake. Issues surrounding spatial data quality and resolution, the legal and ethical issues of volunteered geographical health information, and the technical demands of formulating a synthetic and integrative disease surveillance system represent the types of research questions that only geographers can address successfully.
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Rossheim, Matthew E., Eric K. Soule, Dennis L. Thombs, Tracey E. Barnett, Melvin D. Livingston, Gilbert Gimm, and Ogechikamma C. Emechebe. "Electronic Cigarette Explosion and Burn Injuries." Tobacco Regulatory Science 6, no. 3 (May 1, 2020): 179–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.18001/trs.6.3.2.
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Objectives: E-cigarette explosions have resulted in severe injuries and fatalities. To date, only 2 studies have systematically estimated the prevalence of these injuries. This study updates these national estimates and describes the context of these explosion injuries. Methods: We conducted analyses on cross-sectional data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). A key word search of case narrative text identified e-cigarette explosion and burn injuries reported by US hospital emergency departments. We applied sampling weights to make national incidence estimates, and reviewed text to identify contextual factors. Results: An estimated 2693 (95% CI 1478 to 3909) e-cigarette explosion and burn injuries were presented to US hospital emergency departments between 2015 and 2018. Case narratives indicated that a notable proportion of explosions occurred while a person was changing or replacing a device's battery. Conclusions: To prevent further injuries and fatalities, there is a need for strengthened regulation and monitoring of e-cigarette devices. The variety of contexts in which e-cigarettes have exploded suggests these devices have poorly understood technical problems that industry should be required to address. In addition, data recording and surveillance of e-cigarette injuries need improvement.
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Kalancha, I. "ELECTRONIC SEGMENT IN THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW OF THE LATVIA." Criminalistics and Forensics, no. 65 (May 18, 2020): 90–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.33994/kndise.2020.65.09.
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The article deals with the electronic segment in criminal procedural law in Latvia. It analyses both specialized electronic tools of criminal procedure in the form of information system (judicial information system) and non-specialized electronic tools of criminal procedure. The author studies the requirements for electronic recording of specific investigatory actions (interrogation of a juvenile victim and witness, questioning, exhumation, line-up for identification). The research focuses as well on the electronic component of special investigatory actions (correspondence control, communication facilities control, data control in an automated data processing system, content control of the transmitted data, audio or video location control, individual audio control). It provides further evidence for the possibility of implementing procedural actions using technical means (telephone conference, videoconference) if the interests of criminal proceedings so require. It is made clear that it is the duty of individual subjects of criminal proceedings at the request of the person who administers the proceedings to immediately notify in writing postal or e-mail address for managing written communications. The author outlines the terms for sending notifications in criminal proceedings and subpoenas to the individual’s email address. The article also investigates the procedure for publishing electronic images of a detainee, suspect, victim and witness in the media. It studies the regulations for recording the course of a court hearing in full size using audio, video or other technical means, as well as recording the parole by means of electronic surveillance. According to the results of the study, the author proposes to take into account a number regulations in criminal procedural law in Latvia when developing proposals for improving domestic criminal procedural law, including: interrogation of a minor using technical means and a psychologist in another room; the obligation to provide in writing postal or e-mail address for managing written communications and the possibility of sending a notification as for the decision with the enclosed copies to that e-mail address; sending summons to an email address; the procedure for the publication in the media of images of the suspect, victim and witness taken during the proceedings; arranging the parole using electronic surveillance.
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BOROVYK, O., D. BOROVYK, and D. CIMBRIQUE. "SUMMARY REQUIRING REGARDLESS OF CREATION DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR THE DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITIES TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT EFFICIENCY OF BORDER REGION OF SYSTEMS FOR OPTO-ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE." Computer Systems and Information Technologies 1, no. 1 (September 2, 2020): 81–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.31891/csit-2020-1-11.
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The article is devoted to the substantiation of the choice of the basic methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the optoelectronic surveillance system, which could be taken as the basic model of this system for the distribution of forces and means to ensure a sufficient level of border protection efficiency. taking into account in the specified basic methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the system. As a result of the study it was found that as a basic method of assessing the effectiveness of the optoelectronic surveillance system, it is advisable to adopt a method based on a probabilistic approach to describe the processes that accompany the functioning of the optoelectronic surveillance system. It is also substantiated that the main provisions that need to be taken into account when creating a decision support system for the distribution of forces and means to ensure a sufficient level of border protection in the field of optoelectronic surveillance are: homogeneous in terms of features of technical means of border protection time periods; adequate integrated laws of distribution of time periods, which determine the probability of non-detection of the target to its approach to a given distance by certain technical means of border protection, which are part of the studied system of optoelectronic surveillance; points of "stitching" of various integral laws of distribution at the ends of the specified periods; the impact of weather changes over a period of time, which characterizes the period of the service organization, on the functioning of the system; "Dead" zones, which are dynamically variable depending on the natural and man-made conditions that arise in the area of responsibility.
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Aliabadi, Ali, Abbas Sheikhtaheri, and Hossein Ansari. "Electronic health record–based disease surveillance systems: A systematic literature review on challenges and solutions." Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 27, no. 12 (September 14, 2020): 1977–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa186.
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Abstract Objective Disease surveillance systems are expanding using electronic health records (EHRs). However, there are many challenges in this regard. In the present study, the solutions and challenges of implementing EHR-based disease surveillance systems (EHR-DS) have been reviewed. Materials and Methods We searched the related keywords in ProQuest, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus. Then, we assessed and selected articles using the inclusion and exclusion criteria and, finally, classified the identified solutions and challenges. Results Finally, 50 studies were included, and 52 unique solutions and 47 challenges were organized into 6 main themes (policy and regulatory, technical, management, standardization, financial, and data quality). The results indicate that due to the multifaceted nature of the challenges, the implementation of EHR-DS is not low cost and easy to implement and requires a variety of interventions. On the one hand, the most common challenges include the need to invest significant time and resources; the poor data quality in EHRs; difficulty in analyzing, cleaning, and accessing unstructured data; data privacy and security; and the lack of interoperability standards. On the other hand, the most common solutions are the use of natural language processing and machine learning algorithms for unstructured data; the use of appropriate technical solutions for data retrieval, extraction, identification, and visualization; the collaboration of health and clinical departments to access data; standardizing EHR content for public health; and using a unique health identifier for individuals. Conclusions EHR systems have an important role in modernizing disease surveillance systems. However, there are many problems and challenges facing the development and implementation of EHR-DS that need to be appropriately addressed.
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Gamache, Roland, Hadi Kharrazi, and Jonathan Weiner. "Public and Population Health Informatics: The Bridging of Big Data to Benefit Communities." Yearbook of Medical Informatics 27, no. 01 (August 2018): 199–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1667081.
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Objective: To summarize the recent public and population health informatics literature with a focus on the synergistic “bridging” of electronic data to benefit communities and other populations. Methods: The review was primarily driven by a search of the literature from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. The search included articles indexed in PubMed using subject headings with (MeSH) keywords “public health informatics” and “social determinants of health”. The “social determinants of health” search was refined to include articles that contained the keywords “public health”, “population health” or “surveillance”. Results: Several categories were observed in the review focusing on public health's socio-technical infrastructure: evaluation of surveillance practices, surveillance methods, interoperable health information infrastructure, mobile health, social media, and population health. Common trends discussing socio-technical infrastructure included big data platforms, social determinants of health, geographical information systems, novel data sources, and new visualization techniques. A common thread connected these categories of workforce, governance, and sustainability: using clinical resources and data to bridge public and population health. Conclusions: Both medical care providers and public health agencies are increasingly using informatics and big data tools to create and share digital information. The intent of this “bridging” is to proactively identify, monitor, and improve a range of medical, environmental, and social factors relevant to the health of communities. These efforts show a significant growth in a range of population health-centric information exchange and analytics activities.
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David, Matthew, and Jamieson Kirkhope. "New Digital Technologies: Privacy/Property, Globalization, and Law." Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 3, no. 4 (2004): 437–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1569150042728884.
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AbstractThis paper addresses attempts to locate and dislocate music audiences in the context of global commercial, legal, and technical developments. The 2001 legal decision against Napster in the United States found the file share service company guilty of copyright infringement. This precedent appeared to support the recording industry. However, such legal frames have been bypassed by new softwares. Supporters see such global networks of sharing and distribution as undoing corporate control. The recording industry has responded with parallel claims of having encryption and surveillance technologies capable of globally reregulating property. However, as this article shows, there is no technical necessity and that total freedom and total enforcement are impossible. Just as globalization is reified into an inevitable process of deregulation in one instance and at the next moment it is reified into an indispensable regulatory regime, so new electronic media and global electronic networks promote neither regulation or deregulation, except in so far as the balance of social forces at any one time interprets and enacts them in such ways.
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Bloomfield, Brian. "In the Right Place at the Right Time: Electronic Tagging and Problems of Social Order/Disorder." Sociological Review 49, no. 2 (May 2001): 174–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-954x.00251.
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This paper explores the relationship between technology and problems of social order/disorder in the context of discussions of surveillance and ‘virtuality'. The emphasis is on understanding the connections between technology and social relations in areas where issues of social order/disorder are a prominent feature of concern and where one can identify the emergence of new regimes of virtual control which are directed at solving the (supposed) deficits in order or the threats posed to it. Rather than constituting a ‘technical fix’ for the problems of social order/disorder, it is argued that forms of virtual control both presuppose a reconstruction of social order and at the same time aim to effect a suppression of disorder. Focusing in particular on various manifestations of electronic tagging – from prisoners to babies, from retail goods to works of art, from television programmes to Personal Identification Numbers – the paper argues that these share a problematic which interrelates technology, order/disorder, subjects/objects, time, and space. It thus seeks to generalize the concept of electronic tagging, to regard it as a practice rather than a specific set of artefacts. Moreover, in contrast to the negative, panoptic reading of tagging technologies, the paper considers the active public participation in systems of surveillance and thereby the more positive or productive exercises of power which they may be taken to constitute.
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Galli, Brian J. "Effects on Current Day Technology, Legislation with Respect to Ethical Valuation." International Journal of Responsible Leadership and Ethical Decision-Making 1, no. 1 (January 2019): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijrledm.2019010101.
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Edward Snowden is an American who released classified government information to journalists in June 2013. These secrets revealed the existence and purpose of numerous government mass-surveillance programs, which were developed to gather, retain, and analyze electronic information not only on a nationwide scale but also on a global scale. Due to his actions, some would describe Snowden as a villain or traitor, while others would describe him as a hero or patriot. After the release of information about large government surveillance programs, there are varied opinions as to whether this had a reforming effect on our society from a technical and legislative standpoint. However, there has been very little focus on whether the absence or presence of these changes has any correlation or effect on what we think about it ethically. This research is intended to discuss if the results of Edward Snowden's actions had an impact on cybertechnology and legislation due to the ethical considerations surrounding it.
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Blázquez-García, Rodrigo, Jorge Casamayón-Antón, and Mateo Burgos-García. "LTE-based passive multistatic radar for high-speed railway network surveillance: design and preliminary results." International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies 11, no. 5-6 (March 25, 2019): 482–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1759078719000278.
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AbstractWith the aim of performing perimeter surveillance of high-speed railway networks, this paper presents the design of a passive multistatic radar system based on the use of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) downlink signals as the illumination of opportunity. Taking into account the specifications and standard of the LTE system, the ambiguity function of measured downlink signals is analyzed in terms of range and Doppler resolution, ambiguities, and sidelobe level. The deployment of the proposed passive radar is flexible and scalable, and it is based on multichannel software defined radio receivers that obtain the reference and surveillance signals by means of digital beamforming. The signal processing and data fusion are based, respectively, on the delay-Doppler cross-correlation with the reconstructed reference signals and a two-stage tracking at sensor and central level. Finally, the performance of the proposed system is estimated in terms of its maximum detection range and simulation results of the detection of moving targets are presented, demonstrating its technical feasibility for the short-range detection of pedestrians, vehicles, and small drones.
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Livada, Vujić, Radić, Unkašević, and Banjac. "Digital Magnetic Compass Integration with Stationary, Land-Based Electro-Optical Multi-Sensor Surveillance System." Sensors 19, no. 19 (October 7, 2019): 4331. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19194331.
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Multi-sensor imaging systems using the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and digital magnetic compass (DMC) for geo-referencing have an important role and wide application in long-range surveillance systems. To achieve the required system heading accuracy, the specific magnetic compass calibration and compensation procedures, which highly depend on the application conditions, should be applied. The DMC compensation technique suitable for the operation environment is described and different technical solutions are studied. The application of the swinging procedure was shown as a good solution for DMC compensation in a given application. The selected DMC was built into a system to be experimentally evaluated, both under laboratory and field conditions. The implementation of the compensation procedure and magnetic sensor integration in systems is described. The heading accuracy measurement results show that DMC could be successfully integrated and used in long-range surveillance systems providing required geo-referencing data.
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Al-Jamrah, Khaled Mohammed, Basheer Abdulgalil Al Nabehi, Khaled Abdullah Almoayed, Labiba Saeed Anam, and Yousef S. Khader. "Performance of the Neonatal Tetanus Surveillance System (NTSS) in Sana'a, Yemen: Evaluation Study." JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 7, no. 5 (May 4, 2021): e27606. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27606.
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Background The Neonatal Tetanus Surveillance System (NTSS) in Yemen was established in 2009 to identify high-risk areas, determine trends, and evaluate elimination activities. Since its launch, the NTSS had never been evaluated. Objective This study aimed to assess the performance of NTSS and determine its strengths and weaknesses to recommend improvements. Methods The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines were used for evaluating the NTSS. Stakeholders at the central, district, and facility levels were interviewed to rate the attributes of the NTSS. The percentage scores for attributes were ranked as poor (<60%), average (≥60% to <80%) and good (≥80%). Results The overall usefulness score percentage was 38%, which indicates a poor performance. The performance of the NTSS was rated as average on flexibility (score percent: 68%) and acceptability (score percent: 64%) attributes and poor on stability (score percentage: 33%), simplicity (score percentage: 57%), and representativeness (score percentage: 39%) attributes. About 65% of investigation forms were completed within 48 hours of notification date. Data quality was poor, as 41% of the core variables were missing. Conclusions The overall performance of the NTSS was poor. Most of the system attributes require improvement, including stability, simplicity, quality of data, and completeness of investigation. To improve the performance of NTSS, the following are recommended: capacity building of staff (focal points), strengthening NTSS through technical support and government funding to ensure its sustainability, establishing electronic investigation forms for improving the system data quality, and expansion of NTSS coverage to include all private health care facilities.
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Utin, L. L., A. V. Pavlovsky, A. A. Olkhovik, and A. V. Makatserchyk. "Analysis results of experimental operation of the protection complex of long perimeters VM 8018." Doklady BGUIR 19, no. 3 (June 2, 2021): 96–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.35596/1729-7648-2021-19-3-96-103.
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In recent years, technical means of perimeter security are becoming more widespread, which is due to their increasing efficiency of protection from unauthorized access by intruders to protected facilities. The high competition of manufacturers of such means has led to the emergence of a variety of technical solutions for detection means (hereinafter referred to as DT) operating on different physical principles and designed to solve specific problems. The main purpose of the DT is to ensure the detection of the facts of intruders' penetration through the guarded obstacle. Considering that the methods of intruders' penetration are varied (destruction of fences, climbing over the fence, digging under the fence, etc.), the creation of an effective security system using only one type of DT is a problematic task. At the same time, the autonomous use of many types of DT leads to the fact that there will be a large number of technical means in the duty room, which increase not only the time and financial costs for their maintenance, but also increase the requirements for the competence of the duty personnel. Research Institute of Electronic Computers has developed the complex VM 8018, designed to automate the process of protecting extended perimeters of objects for various purposes, including sections of the state border, perimeters and premises of outposts, extendedperimeters of industrial and military facilities, as well as controlling executive devices (electric drives for gates and gates, lighting etc.), video surveillance.
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Oliynik, R., S. Tsilyna, and O. Yermolenko. "IMPROVEMENT OF OPTICAL-ELECTRONIC MEANS FOR INCREASE OF EFFICIENCY OF COMBAT EMPLOYMENT OF THE ARMORED WEAPONS UNDER LIMITED VISIBILITY CONDITIONS." Наукові праці Державного науково-дослідного інституту випробувань і сертифікації озброєння та військової техніки, no. 6 (December 30, 2020): 62–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.37701/dndivsovt.6.2020.07.
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According to the experience of hostilities, including during the JFO (ATO), today much attention is paid by military experts to the development and improvement of optical and optoelectronic devices. This is due to the continuous improvement and development of new generation weapons systems that have improved tactical and technical characteristics, reduces the time spent by objects in the area of detection and damage, reduces the visibility of objects, increases their protection from interference and countermeasures, changes their tactics.
The main advantages of optoelectronic devices are: the secrecy of their use, in contrast to radar and radio equipment, they do not require additional systems of protection against interference; relative simplicity of design, operation and small dimensions; low energy consumption; ecological purity.
The current state of threats to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, first of all the ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation, requires the introduction of necessary ways to counter them, improving approaches to the formation of military-technical policy, taking into account the urgent need to update existing weapons and military (special) equipment.
There is a need to create electron-optical transducers or matrix devices of other types that work in the visible and infrared ranges, for night vision devices, and opto-electronic systems for detection (registration) of laser radiation of rangefinders, control systems for homing projectiles, missiles in the optical range spectrum.
The paper describes the areas of improvement of optoelectronic means of surveillance, detection and aiming in order to increase the effectiveness of combat employment of armored weapons. The relevance of the study lies in the need to introduce fundamentally new concepts for the integration of optical and optoelectronic devices.
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Kondrashchenko, Daria A. "Constitutional legal regulation of the use of information technologies in the electoral process of the Russian Federation: Problems and prospects for development." Izvestiya of Saratov University. New Series. Series Economics. Management. Law 21, no. 2 (May 25, 2021): 215–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.18500/1994-2540-2021-21-2-215-222.
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Introduction. Currently, information technologies occupy an important place in the life of every person and they are actively used in all spheres of the life of society and the state. The electoral process is one of the spheres of active use of the latest information technologies. Thus, in the elections and referenda Russia regularly uses electronic devices for voting, vote counting and data transfer within the system of election commissions, as well as means of video surveillance and broadcasting of images in the premises for voting. Theoretical analysis. Analyzing the legal basis for the use of information technologies in the electoral process of the Russian Federation, it should be noted that the importance of these technologies is emphasized in the latest edition of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The electoral legislation of the Russian Federation is very large-scale and, in addition to the basic Federal Law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation”, the organizational and legal features of the use of information technologies are regulated by a number of legal acts. Empirical analysis. Considering the fact that information technologies have been used in various forms in the Russian electoral process for a long time, their significant technical changes should be emphasized. The analysis of the various aspects of the use of these technologies has allowed to allocate their advantages and disadvantages. Results. The author identified the problems of legal regulation of stationary and remote electronic voting and also the problems of using video surveillance and image broadcasting, including on the Internet. The author also stresses the need to systematize the existing rules and fill existing legal gaps and, therefore, the proposals on regulation of the organizational and legal features of the use of these technologies in the Federal Law “On electronic voting in the Russian Federation”.
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SRINIVAS, G., A. K. VERMA, and A. SRIVIDYA. "RISK INFORMED DECISION MAKING USING MULTIOBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE." International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering 16, no. 06 (December 2009): 483–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0218539309003526.
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Nuclear Power Plant operations are guided by Limiting conditions of operations (LCO's) laid out in the document referred to as the Technical Specifications (TS). This Technical Specification is a legitimate framework approved by the Regulatory Bodies for the Safe operations of the Nuclear Power plants. In the past, the regulatory bodies used a deterministic approach as the basis for making decisions on safety issues and organizing the activities that they carry out. This was done by applying high level criteria such as the need to provide defence in depth and adequate safety margins. However with the availability of detailed Plant Specific Level-1 Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA), these limiting conditions need to be reviewed/revised based on the analysis results. This review of the LCO's is not a trivial exercise if the entire solution space of the variables defining the variables has to be investigated. This paper reviews the case for revision of Surveillance test frequencies of the Emergency Core Cooling System injection valves, using the multiobjective optimization technique.
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Potortì, Francesco, Filippo Palumbo, and Antonino Crivello. "Sensors and Sensing Technologies for Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation." Sensors 20, no. 20 (October 20, 2020): 5924. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20205924.
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The last 10 years have seen enormous technical progress in the field of indoor positioning and indoor navigation; yet, in contrast with outdoor well-established GNSS solutions, no technology exists that is cheap and accurate enough for the general market. The potential applications of indoor localization are all-encompassing, from home to wide public areas, from IoT and personal devices to surveillance and crowd behavior applications, and from casual use to mission-critical systems. This special issue is focused on the recent developments within the sensors and sensing technologies for indoor positioning and indoor navigation networks domain. The papers included in this special issue provide useful insights to the implementation, modelling, and integration of novel technologies and applications, including location-based services, indoor maps and 3D building models, human motion monitoring, robotics and UAV, self-contained sensors, wearable and multi-sensor systems, privacy and security for indoor localization systems.
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Lima, Suzanne Santos de, Maria Auxiliadora Vieira Caldas Sivini, Rita de Cássia de Oliveira, Patrícia Michelly Santos Lima, Bárbara Araújo Silva de Azevedo, Camila Costa Dias, Anna Samonne Amaral Lopes, et al. "A strategy action from the Cievs/Pernambuco in response to the emergency on Congenital Syndrome associated to Zika virus infection: an integrative action." Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil 18, no. 2 (June 2018): 437–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-93042018000200010.
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Abstract Objectives: to describe the strategy action from the Centro de Informações Estratégicas de Vigilância em Saúde (Cievs/PE) (Strategic Information on Health Surveillance Center) in response to the emergency on Congenital Syndrome associated to Zika virus infection (CSZ) in Pernambuco State between 2015 and 2016. Methods: description performed on the strategies and activities developed by Cievs/PE during the important international public health emergency related to CSZ. Results: participated in detecting suspected CSZ cases; participated in elaborating clinical epidemiological protocols; developed electronic forms to notify CSZ cases and pregnant women with exanthema rashes; prepared epidemiological reports; developed a website about the emergency on the Cievs/PE website; insert the occurrence in the Comitê de Avaliação e Monitoramento de Eventos (CAME) (Committee to Assess and Monitor Occurrence); resolution of demands during readiness; technical visits from National and International institutions. The actions developed by the Cievs/PE were fundamental in detecting and following-up on 2,073 CSZ cases. 390 cases were confirmed (18.1%) and 1,413 were discarded (65.6%), and 4,467 pregnant women had exanthema rash. Conclusions: the action from the Cievs/PE allowed to employ timely strategies on preparation and response in a qualified and cooperative way to face public health emergency on CSZ's
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Jabar, Ardil, Francisco Fong, Monica Chavira, Maria Teresa Cerqueira, Dylan Barth, Richard Matzopoulos, and Mark E. Engel. "Is the introduction of violence and injury observatories associated with a reduction in violence-related injury in adult populations? A systematic review and meta-analysis." BMJ Open 9, no. 7 (July 2019): e027977. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027977.
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ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to summarise the results from existing studies reporting on the effectiveness of the introduction of violence and injury observatories (VIOs).DesignThis is a systematic review and meta-analysis study.Data sourcesWe searched multiple electronic databases including but not limited to PubMed, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, Cochrane Collaboration, Campbell Collaboration and Web of Knowledge.Eligibility criteriaWe included non-randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs, prospective and retrospective cohort studies, controlled before-and-after studies and cross-sectional studies. We sought to include studies performed in any country and published in any language. The primary outcome was homicide, while the secondary outcome was assault.Data extraction and synthesisWe searched a number of databases, supplemented by searches in grey literature including technical reports. Searches comprised studies from January 1990 to October 2018.ResultsOf 3105 potentially relevant unique citations from all literature searches, 3 empirical studies and 4 technical reports met our inclusion criteria. Studies were conducted in the UK (n=3), Colombia (n=2), Brazil (n=1) and Uruguay (n=1). Subgroup analyses according to the two types of models implemented, the VIO and the injury surveillance system (ISS), provided evidence for an association between implementing the VIO model and a reduction in homicide count in high-violence settings (incidence rate ratio (IRR)=0.06; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.19; four studies), while the introduction of ISS showed significant results in reducing assault (IRR=0.80; 95% CI 0.71 to 0.91; three studies).ConclusionThis systematic review provides the best evidence available for the effectiveness of the introduction of VIOs and ISSs in reducing violence outcomes in adults in high-violence settings. The implementation of VIOs should be considered in high-violence communities where reduction in homicide rates is desired.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42014009818.
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Sadeghi, Malihe, Mostafa Langarizadeh, Beheshteh Olang, Hamed Seddighi, and Abbas Sheikhtaheri. "A Survey of implementation status of child nutrition surveillance systems, registry systems and information systems: a scoping literature review protocol." BMJ Paediatrics Open 5, no. 1 (August 2021): e001164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001164.
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IntroductionChild malnutrition in all forms is known globally as the leading cause of poor health. Planning and solving this challenge require sources that collect data accurately. Nutrition surveillance systems (NSS), nutrition registry systems (NRS) and nutrition information systems (NIS) collect and analyse data on nutrition status. Unfortunately, these systems only exist in a few countries. The methods that these systems use significantly differ and their effectiveness is also scarcely researched. This scoping literature review aimed to conduct a survey on NSS, NRS and NIS that collect data on children’s nutrition at national and international levels, along with their attributes.Methods and analysisThe methods and analyses of this scoping review follow the Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology. This scoping literature review will be conducted in five stages based on this method. (1) The main research question and subquestions are identified. (2) Relevant studies are extracted. In this step, we will search electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus and ISI Web of Science. A manual search will also be performed in Google Scholar, grey literature, and the websites of organisations such as WHO, UNICEF, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health Service, International Food Policy Research Institute, Food and Agriculture Organization, Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance, United Nations World Food Programme, and United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition. (3) Extracted studies are separately reviewed by two reviewers based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and eligible studies are then selected. A third reviewer resolves disagreements. (4) A checklist is developed to extract the features. Data of included systems are separately extracted and entered into a checklist by two reviewers. A third reviewer then resolves any disagreement. (5) Data are summarised and analysed and are presented in tables and figures.DiscussionThis scoping literature review provides strong evidence of the status of systems that collect data on the status of child nutrition. This evidence can help select best practices which can be applied to develop future systems. It can also be a positive step towards achieving an integrated system.
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Kratky, Miroslav, and Jan Farlik. "Countering UAVs – the Mover of Research in Military Technology." Defence Science Journal 68, no. 5 (September 12, 2018): 460–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.68.12442.
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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are massively seeping into a wide range of human activities. Along with other remotely controlled or automatic devices, they have entered many aspects of human activities and industry. While the majority of researchers have been working on the construction, deployment and non-military use of UAVs, the protection against UAVs remained on the edge of their interest. Nowadays, the situation is rapidly changing. The risk of misuse of UAVs by criminals, guerrillas or terrorists has compelled authorities, scientists and defence industry to face this threat. Organisations have launched crucial infrastructure defence programs to cope with UAV threat. To solve this problem, it is necessary to develop disciplines improving the air space surveillance and UAVs elimination techniques. The substantial aspects of the UAVs detection and elimination were analysed, being supported by a number of conferences, workshops and journals articles. The contribution of the study in the Counter–UAV area consists particularly in generalisation and evaluation of the main technical issues. The aim of this paper is to emphasise the importance of developing new scientific fields for countering UAVs, and hence it is directed firstly on the scientific audience.
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Mohammadi, Ahlam, and Zahra Abedinejad Mehrabadi. "Delinquency Prevention through Crime Conservation." Journal of Politics and Law 9, no. 7 (July 25, 2016): 35. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v9n7p35.
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<p>Nowadays, the prevention of crime over the past are subjected to the judicial authorities seriously and criminal policy has adopted a set of measures to deal with criminal phenomenon that a part of the measures returns to situational prevention measures which seeks to limit the opportunities and situations causing offense and makes difficult to realize the criminal mind. Further, one of these strategies, protect and support the target of crime. In addition the community has not been achieved in take away of the mind and think of the people from crime and social prevention, perfectly. Therefore, we must think of the stockade after the realizing of the criminal act. Owing to one of the ways in which the transition from thought to action make difficult is strengthening the protection of crime targets so the aim of the choice of the current title is trying to realize to prevention from delinquency by protecting the target of crime. Moreover, research methodology is explanatory method using the library resources, the finding of the author of this study is that the organized protection of targets that are more vulnerable to crime will be an effective step towards restriction the crime. In conclusion this protection will be including outside the in-hand targets of criminals or exposed them in the public view, technical measures of protection of the homes and vehicles and other property, property marking, control of inputs and outputs, electronic protections such as video surveillance and protection from software data.</p>
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Stodola, Drozd, Nohel, Hodický, and Procházka. "Trajectory Optimization in a Cooperative Aerial Reconnaissance Model." Sensors 19, no. 12 (June 24, 2019): 2823. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19122823.
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In recent years, the use of modern technology in military operations has become standard practice. Unmanned systems play an important role in operations such as reconnaissance and surveillance. This article examines a model for planning aerial reconnaissance using a fleet of mutually cooperating unmanned aerial vehicles to increase the effectiveness of the task. The model deploys a number of waypoints such that, when every waypoint is visited by any vehicle in the fleet, the area of interest is fully explored. The deployment of waypoints must meet the conditions arising from the technical parameters of the sensory systems used and tactical requirements of the task at hand. This paper proposes an improvement of the model by optimizing the number and position of waypoints deployed in the area of interest, the effect of which is to improve the trajectories of individual unmanned systems, and thus increase the efficiency of the operation. To achieve this optimization, a modified simulated annealing algorithm is proposed. The improvement of the model is verified by several experiments. Two sets of benchmark problems were designed: (a) benchmark problems for verifying the proposed algorithm for optimizing waypoints, and (b) benchmark problems based on typical reconnaissance scenarios in the real environment to prove the increased effectiveness of the reconnaissance operation. Moreover, an experiment in the SteelBeast simulation system was also conducted.
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Thordardottir, Björg, Agneta Malmgren Fänge, Connie Lethin, Danae Rodriguez Gatta, and Carlos Chiatti. "Acceptance and Use of Innovative Assistive Technologies among People with Cognitive Impairment and Their Caregivers: A Systematic Review." BioMed Research International 2019 (March 6, 2019): 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/9196729.
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Cognitive impairments (CI), associated with the consequences of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, are increasingly prevalent among older adults, leading to deterioration in self-care, mobility, and interpersonal relationships among them. Innovative Assistive Technologies (IAT) such as electronic reminders and surveillance systems are considered as increasingly important tools to facilitate independence among this population and their caregivers. The aim of this study is to synthesise knowledge on facilitators and barriers related to acceptance of and use of IAT among people with CI and their caregivers. This systematic review includes original papers with quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods design. Relevant peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2007 and 2017 were retrieved in the following databases: CINAHL; PubMed; Inspec; and PsycINFO. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used for quality assessment. We retrieved thirty studies, including in total 1655 participants from Europe, USA/Canada, Australia, and Asia, enrolled in their homes, care-residences, day-care centres, or Living Labs. Two-thirds of the studies tested technologies integrating home sensors and wearable devices for care and monitoring CI symptoms. Main facilitators for acceptance and adherence to IAT were familiarity with and motivation to use technologies, immediate perception of effectiveness (e.g., increase in safety perceptions), and low technical demands. Barriers identified included older age, low maturity of the IAT, little experience with technologies in general, lack of personalization, and support. More than 2/3 of the studies met 80% of the quality criteria of the MMAT. Low acceptance and use of IAT both independently and with caregivers remains a significant concern. More knowledge on facilitators and barriers to use of IAT among clients of health care and social services is crucial for the successful implementation of innovative programmes aiming to leverage innovative technologies for the independence of older people with CI.
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Lee, Jieun, Caroline A. Lynch, Lauren Oliveira Hashiguchi, Robert W. Snow, Naomi D. Herz, Jayne Webster, Justin Parkhurst, and Ngozi A. Erondu. "Interventions to improve district-level routine health data in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review." BMJ Global Health 6, no. 6 (June 2021): e004223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004223.
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BackgroundRoutine health information system(s) (RHIS) facilitate the collection of health data at all levels of the health system allowing estimates of disease prevalence, treatment and preventive intervention coverage, and risk factors to guide disease control strategies. This core health system pillar remains underdeveloped in many low-income and middle-income countries. Efforts to improve RHIS data coverage, quality and timeliness were launched over 10 years ago.MethodsA systematic review was performed across 12 databases and literature search engines for both peer-reviewed articles and grey literature reports on RHIS interventions. Studies were analysed in three stages: (1) categorisation of RHIS intervention components and processes; (2) comparison of intervention component effectiveness and (3) whether the post-intervention outcome improved above the WHO integrated disease surveillance response framework data quality standard of 80% or above.Results5294 references were screened, resulting in 56 studies. Three key performance determinants—technical, organisational and behavioural—were proposed as critical to RHIS strengthening. Seventy-seven per cent [77%] of studies identified addressed all three determinants. The most frequently implemented intervention components were ‘providing training’ and ‘using an electronic health management information systems’. Ninety-three per cent [93%] of pre–post or controlled trial studies showed improvements in one or more data quality outputs, but after applying a standard threshold of >80% post-intervention, this number reduced to 68%. There was an observed benefit of multi-component interventions that either conducted data quality training or that addressed improvement across multiple processes and determinants of RHIS.ConclusionHolistic data quality interventions that address multiple determinants should be continuously practised for strengthening RHIS. Studies with clearly defined and pragmatic outcomes are required for future RHIS improvement interventions. These should be accompanied by qualitative studies and cost analyses to understand which investments are needed to sustain high-quality RHIS in low-income and middle-income countries.
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Musa, Raja Abdullah, Sali, Ismail, and Rashid. "Low-Slow-Small (LSS) Target Detection Based on Micro Doppler Analysis in Forward Scattering Radar Geometry." Sensors 19, no. 15 (July 29, 2019): 3332. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19153332.
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The increase in drone misuse by civilian apart from military applications is alarming and need to be addressed. This drone is characterized as a low altitude, slow speed, and small radar cross-section (RCS) (LSS) target and is considered difficult to be detected and classified among other biological targets, such as insects and birds existing in the same surveillance volume. Although several attempts reported the successful drone detection on radio frequency-based (RF), thermal, acoustic, video imaging, and other non-technical methods, however, there are also many limitations. Thus, this paper investigated a micro-Doppler analysis from drone rotating blades for detection in a special Forward Scattering Radar (FSR) geometry. The paper leveraged the identified benefits of FSR mode over conventional radars, such as improved radar cross-section (RCS) value irrespective of radar absorbing material (RAM), direct signal perturbation, and high resolutions. To prove the concept, a received signal model for micro-Doppler analysis, a simulation work, and experimental validation are elaborated and explained in the paper. Two rotating blades aspect angle scenarios were considered, which are (i) when drone makes a turn, the blade cross-sectional area faces the receiver and (ii) when drone maneuvers normally, the cross-sectional blade faces up. The FSR system successfully detected a commercial drone and extracted the micro features of a rotating blade. It further verified the feasibility of using a parabolic dish antenna as a receiver in FSR geometry; this marked an appreciable achievement towards the FSR system performance, which in future could be implemented as either active or passive FSR system.
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Feil, Charlotte, Thorsten Stein, Andreas Forster, Irene Schmidtmann, Thomas Riemann-Seibert, Martin Berger, Robert Owen, and Carl Christoph Schimanski. "Diagnosis of lung cancer by canine olfactory detection in urine and breath samples." Journal of Clinical Oncology 37, no. 15_suppl (May 20, 2019): e13067-e13067. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2019.37.15_suppl.e13067.
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e13067 Background: Lung cancer is the leading oncological cause of death in western countries. The WHO estimated 2.09 million newly diagnosed lung cancer patients in 2018 worldwide. Although early detection is crucial for patients outcome, no surveillance tools exist. Dogs have a highly sensitive olfactory system which is already used in several ways, such as drug and ketone detection. The aim of the study was to evaluate the capability of a classically conditioned domestic dog to accurately distinguish samples of lung cancer patients of all tumor stages in urine and breath from healthy controls. Methods: This monocentric clinical trial was an original study and approved by the local ethics committee. After conditioning a domestic dog with samples of 186 patients (36 cancer patients and 150 control patients), further 246 patients aged between 45 and 80 entered into the study: 41 patients with a histologically proven lung cancer comprising all different stages and 205 control samples of healthy individuals with no cancer history. Two urine and two breath samples were collected of each patient and immediately shock frozen at -80°C. Urine and breath samples were separately exposed to the dog in a randomized, double-blinded manner, resulting in a specific conditioned reaction indicating the cancer sample. Results: The dog correctly predicted cancer in 36 of 41 urine samples, corresponding to a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 97.6%. Concerning the breath samples, the dog correctly predicted cancer in 32 of 41 samples, corresponding to a sensitivity of 78% and a specificity of 95.6%. Combining both techniques, the dog correctly identified 40 of 41 cancer samples, leading to an overall sensitivity of 97.6%. The specificity is not evaluable. Conclusions: Urine and breath carry volatile organic compounds indicating cancer growth, as previously reported. Canine olfactory detection of lung cancer is a simple tool to detect lung cancer non-invasively. Further identification of target compounds for technical translation of this approach is under way, with the potential for the development of a bionic electronic nose.
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Vahidy, Farhaan, Stephen L. Jones, Mauricio E. Tano, Juan Carlos Nicolas, Osman A. Khan, Jennifer R. Meeks, Alan P. Pan, et al. "Rapid Response to Drive COVID-19 Research in a Learning Health Care System: Rationale and Design of the Houston Methodist COVID-19 Surveillance and Outcomes Registry (CURATOR)." JMIR Medical Informatics 9, no. 2 (February 23, 2021): e26773. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/26773.
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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges of meaningful health care digitization. The need for rapid yet validated decision-making requires robust data infrastructure. Organizations with a focus on learning health care (LHC) systems tend to adapt better to rapidly evolving data needs. Few studies have demonstrated a successful implementation of data digitization principles in an LHC context across health care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective We share our experience and provide a framework for assembling and organizing multidisciplinary resources, structuring and regulating research needs, and developing a single source of truth (SSoT) for COVID-19 research by applying fundamental principles of health care digitization, in the context of LHC systems across a complex health care organization. Methods Houston Methodist (HM) comprises eight tertiary care hospitals and an expansive primary care network across Greater Houston, Texas. During the early phase of the pandemic, institutional leadership envisioned the need to streamline COVID-19 research and established the retrospective research task force (RRTF). We describe an account of the structure, functioning, and productivity of the RRTF. We further elucidate the technical and structural details of a comprehensive data repository—the HM COVID-19 Surveillance and Outcomes Registry (CURATOR). We particularly highlight how CURATOR conforms to standard health care digitization principles in the LHC context. Results The HM COVID-19 RRTF comprises expertise in epidemiology, health systems, clinical domains, data sciences, information technology, and research regulation. The RRTF initially convened in March 2020 to prioritize and streamline COVID-19 observational research; to date, it has reviewed over 60 protocols and made recommendations to the institutional review board (IRB). The RRTF also established the charter for CURATOR, which in itself was IRB-approved in April 2020. CURATOR is a relational structured query language database that is directly populated with data from electronic health records, via largely automated extract, transform, and load procedures. The CURATOR design enables longitudinal tracking of COVID-19 cases and controls before and after COVID-19 testing. CURATOR has been set up following the SSoT principle and is harmonized across other COVID-19 data sources. CURATOR eliminates data silos by leveraging unique and disparate big data sources for COVID-19 research and provides a platform to capitalize on institutional investment in cloud computing. It currently hosts deeply phenotyped sociodemographic, clinical, and outcomes data of approximately 200,000 individuals tested for COVID-19. It supports more than 30 IRB-approved protocols across several clinical domains and has generated numerous publications from its core and associated data sources. Conclusions A data-driven decision-making strategy is paramount to the success of health care organizations. Investment in cross-disciplinary expertise, health care technology, and leadership commitment are key ingredients to foster an LHC system. Such systems can mitigate the effects of ongoing and future health care catastrophes by providing timely and validated decision support.
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Robinson, Marla R., Kyran Quinlan, Gina Lowell, Lawrence Gottlieb, Annemarie O’Connor, and Nancy A. Cowles. "621 Successfully Advocating to Make Microwave Ovens “child-resistant” to Protect Young Children from Severe Scalds." Journal of Burn Care & Research 41, Supplement_1 (March 2020): S154—S155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/iraa024.245.
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Abstract Introduction Scald burn injuries are the leading cause of burn-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations for young children. An increasing portion of these injuries occur when children are removing items from microwave ovens. Many of these occur on the face/chest and can have lifelong physical, functional, aesthetic and psychological consequences. Over the past 15 years we have published a series of studies supporting our advocacy for a change in microwave oven design to protect children from severe scalds. Requiring microwave oven doors to be more difficult for a child to open would help to protect young children from these types of burn injuries. Our analysis of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System found an estimated 7000 young children were treated in US emergency departments over the last decade for burns suffered when the child opened a microwave oven door and spilled the heated contents. This report describes our continued research and advocacy to finally get a regulatory agency to pass a “child-safety” mechanism for opening microwave doors. Methods In the United States, microwave ovens must meet the published microwave standard administered by Underwriters Laboratories (UL 923). In 2013, we formally proposed a change in the standard which underwent a voting process by the Standards Technical Panel. Microwave makers are well represented on the panel. This attempt did not pass. We continued to publish focused research, presented at national meetings, enlisted engineering students to design “child-resistant” microwave doors to demonstrate feasibility, and created a video to put a face to the statistics. In 2017, we became active members of a National Task Group convened by UL, and two authors became voting members on the 17 member microwave Standards Technical Panel. A new proposal was introduced by the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers requiring “two distinct actions” to make it more difficult for a young child to open a microwave oven door. Multiple concerns were addressed including those related to the impact on seniors. We lobbied members who appeared undecided. Results On September 17, 2018, the UL 923 STP voted by a narrow margin to pass the measure. In the future, new microwave ovens sold in the United States will be required to be made with “child-resistant doors”. Conclusions Research and advocacy work together to protect children. Child scald risk will be reduced as microwaves with child-resistant doors replace current models. Applicability of Research to Practice Our research demonstrated that very young children are able to open microwave ovens putting them at risk for burn injuries. We worked diligently through various advocacy channels to actively improve the safety of microwave ovens. With the approved changes for future microwave design requirements, research and advocacy have now resulted in practice changes.
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Katz, Stephen. "TECHNOLOGY AND AGING FUTURES: DISCOVERING THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES) 2019." Innovation in Aging 3, Supplement_1 (November 2019): S22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.081.
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Abstract The growing field of technology and aging or gerontechnology has largely been considered from a health perspective on technological intervention to ameliorate conditions of isolation, disconnection, inactivity, and loneliness, as well as provide efficient alert systems, transportation coordination, and emergency services. Contesting the image of a ‘digital divide’ separating younger from older generations, the recreational industry has also produced a seniors market of technological games, toys, apps, exercises, and social media. The four papers in this symposium, however, are individual critical reflections by a group of social scientists who visited the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2019 (Las Vegas) as part of an ethnographic project about the politics of the technical turn in gerontological studies. In particular, the authors gathered evidence from the CES to support their interests in four trends: a) The collecting, aggregating, and sharing of personal data by home surveillance, artificial intelligence monitoring, and self-tracking systems for commercial, insurance and work-place purposes, b) The popularization of healthy lifestyles based on technical and exclusionary models of ‘smart’, ‘fit’, and ‘optimal’ standards, c) The technical rhetoric that infuses designs for efficiency, speed, and convenience with anti-aging and ageist ideologies, d) The challenges to older people to manage their lives against the health risks, interventions, and expectations posed by technology-driven austerity programs. The papers have in common their creative interpretations of CES materials and shared concern about the many older groups whose insufficient access, skill, and resources will deny them participation in the technological imaginary of aging futures.
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Katz, Stephen. "SMART LIFE, FITNESS, WELLNESS, AND THE PROMISE OF DIGITAL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES FOR OLDER PEOPLE." Innovation in Aging 3, Supplement_1 (November 2019): S23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.084.
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Abstract Based on the author’s ethnographic observation and collection of product media kits, videos, and photographs from the Consumer Electronics Show 2019, this paper critiques the ways in which positive lifestyle concepts such as ‘smart life’, ‘fitness’ and ‘wellness’ are designed within products aimed at senior marketing to shape the older consumers as composites of health problems open to technological intervention. However helpful sensor clothing, home surveillance cameras, self-tracking appliances, robotic companions, or digital mobility devices may be, they are also opportunities to capitalize on shared personal data and subscription-based monitoring services. Discussion links these concepts to wider concerns about algorithimic standardization of health risks for older people, healthcare austerity programs, and social inequalities based on technical markers of successful aging and privileged life-course trajectories
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Nakata, Keiichi, and Stuart Moran. "A Semiotic Analysis of a Model for Understanding User Behaviours in Ubiquitously Monitored Environments." International Journal of Information Systems and Social Change 2, no. 3 (July 2011): 36–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jissc.2011070103.
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Improvements in electronics and computing have increased the potential of monitoring and surveillance technologies. Although now widely used, these technologies have been known to cause unintended effects, such as increases in stress in those being observed. Further advancements in technology lead people towards the ‘pervasive era’ of computing, where a new means of monitoring ubiquitously becomes possible. This monitoring differs from existing methods in its distinct lack of physical boundaries. To address the effects of this kind of monitoring, this paper proposes a model consisting of a series of factors identified in the monitoring and pervasive literature believed to influence behaviour. The model aims to understand and predict behaviour, thereby preventing any potential undesirable effects, but also to provide a means to analyse the problem. Various socio-technical frameworks have been proposed to guide research within ubiquitous computing; this paper uses the semiotic framework to analyse the model in order to better understand and explain the behavioural impact of ubiquitous monitoring.
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Sundermann, Alexander J., Ahmed Babiker, Jane W. Marsh, Kathleen A. Shutt, Mustapha M. Mustapha, Anthony W. Pasculle, Chinelo Ezeonwuka, et al. "Outbreak of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in Interventional Radiology: Detection Through Whole-genome Sequencing-based Surveillance." Clinical Infectious Diseases 70, no. 11 (July 16, 2019): 2336–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciz666.
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Abstract Background Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. The risk of infection from interventional radiology (IR) procedures is not well documented. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) surveillance of clinical bacterial isolates among hospitalized patients can identify previously unrecognized outbreaks. Methods We analyzed WGS surveillance data from November 2016 to November 2017 for evidence of VRE transmission. A previously unrecognized cluster of 10 genetically related VRE (Enterococcus faecium) infections was discovered. Electronic health record review identified IR procedures as a potential source. An outbreak investigation was conducted. Results Of the 10 outbreak patients, 9 had undergone an IR procedure with intravenous (IV) contrast ≤22 days before infection. In a matched case-control study, preceding IR procedure and IR procedure with contrast were associated with VRE infection (matched odds ratio [MOR], 16.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.01 to 138.73; P = .009 and MOR, 39.35; 95% CI, 7.85 to infinity; P < .001, respectively). Investigation of IR practices and review of the manufacturer’s training video revealed sterility breaches in contrast preparation. Our investigation also supported possible transmission from an IR technician. Infection prevention interventions were implemented, and no further IR-associated VRE transmissions have been observed. Conclusions A prolonged outbreak of VRE infections related to IR procedures with IV contrast resulted from nonsterile preparation of injectable contrast. The fact that our VRE outbreak was discovered through WGS surveillance and the manufacturer’s training video that demonstrated nonsterile technique raise the possibility that infections following invasive IR procedures may be more common than previously recognized.
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Gontarski, S. E. "Weaponised Aesthetics and Dystopian Modernism: Cut-ups, Playbacks, Pick-ups and the ‘Limits of Control’ from Burroughs to Deleuze." Deleuze and Guattari Studies 14, no. 4 (November 2020): 555–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/dlgs.2020.0418.
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American outlier writer William S. Burroughs was a creative force – an homme de lettres in his own right, yes, but as a cultural theorist as well, particularly his anticipation of what we now regularly call ‘a society of control’ or ‘a surveillance culture’, and, moreover, as a textual embodiment as well. That is, Burroughs was as much a media theorist and performance artist as he was a traditional literary figure, what we generally call a writer, or novelist, although he lauded those latter categories. Through such multimodality he offered critiques of a ‘control society’ and of ‘thought control’ by a media that strips us of volition. In his lectures on Michel Foucault delivered at the Université de Paris VIII in the 1980s, Gilles Deleuze detailed Burroughs's influence on both philosophers with his critique of our ‘control societies’, a term they adopted from him. These critiques of what Burroughs calls ‘thought control’ were and currently remain inseparable from his emergence as a performance artist, such embodiment of his art readily available amid our own image-obsessed electronic revolution. That is, the products of this period are currently being recirculated through commercial media outlets and through multiple open access formats to suggest – to confirm – that the artist whom many another ‘outsider’ has called ‘the Priest’ and who saw himself as a ‘cosmonaut of inner space’ and ‘a technician of consciousness’, this dystopic modernist author, visionary science fiction writer, and aesthetic weapons maker was one of the major media artists, social critics, cultural theorists and literary figures not only of his but of our ‘postpersonal’ time. Michel Foucault closes The Order of Things by imagining a time when ‘man will be erased, like a face drawn in sand at the edge of the sea’. The closing image was crafted some fifteen years before Foucault met Burroughs in New York in 1975, but in the 1960s Burroughs, too, was already imagining and theorising the disappearing author and a post-human, media-dominated world. Such lines of thought suggest parallel (but independent) trajectories that Deleuze will see as bridging philosopher and artist if not philosophy and art.
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Rumoro, Dino P., Gillian S. Gibbs, Shital C. Shah, Marilyn M. Hallock, Gordon M. Trenholme, Michael J. Waddell, and Joseph P. Bernstein. "Natural Language Processing and Technical Challenges of Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 8, no. 1 (March 24, 2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v8i1.6575.
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Processing free-text clinical information in an electronic medical record may enhance surveillance systems for early identification of influenza-like illness outbreaks. However, processing clinical text using natural language processing (NLP) poses a challenge in preserving the semantics of the original information recorded. In this study, we discuss several NLP and technical issues as well as potential solutions for implementation in syndromic surveillance systems.
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Almayahi, Zayid K., Fahad Alswaidi, and Abdullah Alzahrani. "Perception of the health surveillance users on the health electronic surveillance network (HESN), Saudi Arabia, 2016." Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association 96, no. 1 (June 16, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s42506-021-00074-1.
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Abstract Background The established aim of the Saudi Health Electronic Surveillance Network (HESN) is to support the prevention and control of different health events, and to facilitate the delivery of other public health programs. This study aims to evaluate the perceptions of active HESN users regarding its general performance through five major components: practicability, design, data and communication, technical support, and general impression. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 using a sample of active HESN users. Out of 1535 active users, 700 were randomly selected. A predesigned electronic questionnaire was sent to each participant via email which was completed by 485 participants. Different composite scores were calculated and compared to the sociodemographic and other technical variables. Results The mean age of the participants was 36.92 ± 9.12 (24–65 years), and 57.8% of the sample were male. Riyadh and the KSA’s eastern province represented the highest two regions of participation, at (18.4%) and (14.2%) participants, respectively. About 70.8% were generally satisfied with HESN, while 86.6%% believed that it is better than the traditional paper-work system. Participants who used to work more frequently expressed more level of satisfaction compared to those with minimal use per week or month (P ≤ 0.001). Internet speed displayed a significant association with the general level of satisfaction with HESN (P < 0.001). Additionally, users who accessed HESN with the Google Chrome browser displayed higher levels of satisfaction when compared to users who relied on other browsers (P = 0.003). Conclusion Presently, the level of user satisfaction with HESN is reasonable. However, to achieve optimal outcomes for HESN usage, improvements should be considered.
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Leegon, Jeffrey, Caleb Wiedeman, Vamshi Nukala, and Paul Petersen. "Creation of a Technical Tool to Improve Syndromic Surveillance Onboarding in Tennessee." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 10, no. 1 (May 22, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i1.8907.
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Objective: To show how the creation of a software tool and implementation of new processes improved the efficiency of syndromic surveillance onboarding at the Tennessee Department of Health.Introduction: Syndromic surveillance is commonly supported by information generated from electronic health record (EHR) systems and sent to public health via standardized messaging. Before public health can receive syndromic surveillance information from an EHR, a healthcare provider must demonstrate reliable and timely generation of messages according to national standards. This process is known as onboarding. Onboarding at the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) focused heavily on human review of HL7 messages. However, the visual inspection of messages was time-intensive and delayed efforts to provide constructive feedback to participating healthcare providers. To ease the quantity of manual review done during the onboarding process, TDH created an application to assist in the process of reviewing syndromic surveillance messages.Methods: The application for reviewing syndromic surveillance messages was developed in Python 3.6, a general purpose programming language. Python was selected because of the strong libraries already developed in the language for data analysis, database interaction, and interacting with healthcare related data. To support TDH onboarding efforts, the application performed three tasks : file handling, HL7 processing, and database loading.File handling was completed using Python core libraries. Healthcare facilities participating in onboarding regularly uploaded test HL7 batch files containing all emergency department (ED) visits to a secure File Transfer Protocol (sFTP) server owned by the State of Tennessee. Files are then retrieved from the sFTP server and delivered to the TDH integration engine, Rhapsody. Rhapsody processes the incoming files and makes a copy available to the Python application. The copies are then loaded by the application into a database and backed up in an archive.After the application has finished handling the received files, the raw HL7 messages within the files are processed to extract relevant information needed to validate the message. The extraction was supported by the “python-hl7” library. The application referenced a CSV file with the names and locations of all of the PHIN 2.0 guide HL7 data elements to guide data processing. Processed HL7 fields and file metadata were then extracted into a relational database using the Python library SQL Alchemy.Conclusions: The creation of this application has greatly assisted in the process of reviewing syndromic surveillance messages at TDH by automating data extraction and organization for all received HL7 messages. The database tables of extracted HL7 data elements allowed for easy analysis in any tool that can connect to a database (e.g., SAS, R, Python, Excel, Tableau) and faster, more manageable message validation. TDH has been able communicate better feedback to more healthcare providers because of the efficiencies gained after deploying the application.
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Chang, Hwa-Gan, Jacqueline Griffin, Charlie DiDonato, Cori Tice, and Byron Backenson. "An Integrated Mosquito Surveillance Module in New York State." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 9, no. 1 (May 2, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v9i1.7632.
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ObjectiveTo develop a mosquito surveillance module to collect mosquitoinformation testing for West Nile, East Equine Encephalitis (EEE)and Zika viruses using national standards. To provide a common setof data for local health departments (LHDs) and state users to reportand share information. To monitor the type of mosquito species thatcarry diseases.IntroductionThere were several stand-alone vector surveillance applicationsbeing used by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)to support the reporting of mosquito, bird, and mammal surveillanceand infection information implemented in early 2000s in responseto West Nile virus. In subsequent years, the Electronic ClinicalLaboratory Reporting System (ECLRS) and the CommunicableDisease Electronic Surveillance System (CDESS) were developedand integrated to be used for surveillance and investigations of humaninfectious diseases and management of outbreaks.An integrated vector surveillance system project was proposedto address the migration of the stand-alone vector surveillanceapplications into a streamlined, consolidated solution to supportoperational, management, and technical needs by using the nationalstandards with the existing resources and technical environment.MethodsA mosquito surveillance module was designed to link with CDESS,an electronic disease case reporting and investigation system, to allowLHDs to enter mosquito trap sites and mosquito pool informationobtained from those traps. The mosquito test results are automaticallytransmitted to ECLRS through public health lab Clinical LaboratoryInformation Management System (CLIMS) using ELR standards. Byutilizing these standards, the ECLRS was enhanced to add a new non-human specimen table and existing processes were used to obtainmosquito laboratory results and automatically transfer them to thesurveillance system the same way that human results are transferred.The new mosquito surveillance module also utilizes the existingCDESS reporting module, thereby allowing users the flexibility toquery and extract data of their choosing. The minimum infectionrate (MIR) report calculates the number of infected pools with anarbovirus divided by the total number of specimens tested*1000; atrap report shows number of mosquitoes trapped by species type,location and trap type; and a lab test result report shows the numberof pools that tested positive and the percentage of positive pools bydisease.ResultsThe mosquito surveillance module was rolled out in May 2016to all 57 LHDs. A non-human species lookup table was created toallow public health lab to report the test results using Health Levelseven (HL7) v 2.5.1 standards. As of August 31, 2016 there were4,545 pools tested. A total of 201 (4.4%) pools were positive for WestNile and the MIR was 1.2. There were no pools positive for EEEor Zika virus. Various reports have been created for monitoring thesurveillance of mosquitoes trapped and tested for mosquito-bornediseases.ConclusionsThe integration of mosquito surveillance module within CDESSallows LHDs and the State to monitor mosquito-borne disease activitymore efficiently. The module also increases NYDOH’s ability toprovide timely, accurate and consistent information to the local healthdepartments and healthcare practitioners regarding mosquito-bornediseases.
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Hoferka, Stacey. "Evaluation of First Electronic Case Reports received in Illinois." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 11, no. 1 (May 30, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v11i1.9709.
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ObjectiveComparison of content in eCR and ELR cases reportingReview technical challenges and strategies for data managementIntroductionCommunicable disease reporting from providers can be a time-consuming process that results in delayed or incomplete reporting of infectious diseases, limiting public health's ability to respond quickly to prevent or control disease. The recent development of an HL7 standard for automated Electronic initial case reports (eICR) represents an important advancement for public health surveillance. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) participated in a pilot with the Public Health Informatics Institute and an Illinois-based provider group to accept eICR reports for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia.MethodsThe provider group working with their EHR vendor submitted a batch of CT and GC reports directly to IDPH in September 2017 according to the published eICR standard. A summary of the provider and PHII work has been presented previously in the STI eCR Learning Community. The eICR reports received from the provider were compared to case report data in the communicable disease surveillance system, I-NEDSS. Data was extracted from I-NEDSS that included race and ethnicity, timing of specimen collection, result, ELR submission surveillance action and treatment.ResultsIDPH received a batch of 89 files containing 77 unique persons, with 54 chlamydia (CT), 13 Gonorrhea (GC) and 10 co-infected case reports. The communicable disease surveillance system had captured 76 (98.7%) of the persons reported in the pilot. Among those, an Electronic Laboratory Report (ELR) was received for 72 (95%) cases, on average within 1 day of the lab report date. Data in I-NEDSS had a completion of 45% for race and ethnicity compared to 99% for race and 92% for ethnicity in the eICR files. Information on treatment in the surveillance system was reported for 18 (24%) cases compared to 67 (87%) cases.ConclusionsThis pilot was the first submission of real patient data submitted using the eICR standard to IDPH. Data was more complete from provider eICR reports for key demographic of race and ethnicity and treatment. A comparison with the current surveillance system showed near complete and timely case capture from ELR data. Integrated reporting of both ELR and eICR can produce a more complete case report through automated submissions and potentially reduce burden of data collection on health department communicable disease investigators. As public health reporting moves in this direction, public health agencies will have some substantial tasks to correctly ingest, map and interpret the increased amounts of information that are contained in the eICR. Further, the advantages of case reporting will be dependent on automated processes within the communicable disease system to merge data and apply business rules to automatically process completed case reports for high volume diseases, such as STIs. This work will continue as providers are ready to submit reports from different vendor products from a near real-time production environment.
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Rajamani, Sripriya, Ann Kayser, Emily Emerson, and Sarah Solarz. "Evaluation of Data Exchange Process for Interoperability and Impact on Electronic Laboratory Reporting Quality to a State Public Health Agency." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 10, no. 2 (September 21, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i2.9317.
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Background: Past and present national initiatives advocate for electronic exchange of health data and emphasize interoperability. The critical role of public health in the context of disease surveillance was recognized with recommendations for electronic laboratory reporting (ELR). Many public health agencies have seen a trend towards centralization of information technology services which adds another layer of complexity to interoperability efforts.Objectives: To understand the process of data exchange and its impact on the quality of data being transmitted in the context of electronic laboratory reporting to public health. The study was conducted in context of Minnesota Electronic Disease Surveillance System (MEDSS), the public health information system for supporting infectious disease surveillance in Minnesota. Data Quality (DQ) dimensions by Strong et al., was chosen as the guiding framework for evaluation.Methods: The process of assessing data exchange for electronic lab reporting and its impact was a mixed methods approach with qualitative data obtained through expert discussions and quantitative data obtained from queries of the MEDSS system. Interviews were conducted in an open-ended format from November 2017 through February 2018. Based on these discussions, two high level categories of data exchange process which could impact data quality were identified: onboarding for electronic lab reporting and internal data exchange routing. This in turn comprised of eight critical steps and its impact on quality of data was identified through expert input. This was followed by analysis of data in MEDSS by various criteria identified by the informatics team.Results: All DQ metrics (Intrinsic DQ, Contextual DQ, Representational DQ, and Accessibility DQ) were impacted in the data exchange process with varying influence on DQ dimensions. Some errors such as improper mapping in electronic health records (EHRs) and laboratory information systems had a cascading effect and can pass through technical filters and go undetected till use of data by epidemiologists. Some DQ dimensions such as accuracy, relevancy, value-added data and interpretability are more dependent on users at either end of the data exchange spectrum, the relevant clinical groups and the public health program professionals. The study revealed that data quality is dynamic and on-going oversight is a combined effort by MEDSS Operations Team and Review by Technical and Public Health Program Professionals.Conclusion: With increasing electronic reporting to public health, there is a need to understand the current processes for electronic exchange and their impact on quality of data. This study focused on electronic laboratory reporting to public health and analyzed both on-boarding and internal data exchange processes. Insights gathered from this research can be applied to other public health reporting currently (e.g. immunizations) and will be valuable in planning for electronic case reporting in near future.
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"Crop Surveillance using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Precision Agriculture." International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering 9, no. 8 (June 10, 2020): 931–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.35940/ijitee.h6702.069820.
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Precision agriculture (PA) is a combination of latest technologies planned to increase the productivity and profitability by retaining the quality of the fertile land and surrounding environment. Crop monitoring in precision agriculture will be achieved by implementing innovative techniques; however the utilization of Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs) results in low power and low cost utilization arrangements thus turning into a predominant alternative. It is likewise outstanding that harvests are additionally influenced adversely by interlopers (human or animals) and by insufficient control of the production process. Crop surveillance through drone is one of the technical approaches to capture and distinguish the crop patterns, which helps in early detection of the crop damage, leads the farmers to take care for crop yield. Drone is also termed as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). These vehicles are equipped with required electronic sensors, cameras and a flight control system to simulate the UAV, with small in size and flexible to handle and operate, These Aerial Vehicles can operate within indoor as well as at outdoor. The goal of the research is to contribute to the implementation and deployment of remote sensing technology with UAV. This paper enumerate on the applications of UAVs for crop scouting and analyzing the transmitted images using NDVI to predict the crop growth and yield
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Austin, Erin E. "Coordinated Enhanced Surveillance with Healthcare Entities for Mass Gathering Events." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 9, no. 1 (May 2, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v9i1.7678.
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ObjectiveTo describe the planning strategies and lessons learned by theVirginia Department of Health (VDH) when conducting enhancedsurveillance during mass gathering events and coordinating withhealthcare entities to distinguish event-related emergency department(ED) visits from community-related ED visits.IntroductionMass gatherings can result in morbidity and mortality fromcommunicable and non-communicable diseases, injury, andbioterrorism. Therefore, it is important to identify event-related visitsas opposed to community-related visits when conducting publichealth surveillance1. Previous mass gatherings in Virginia havedemonstrated the importance of implementing enhanced surveillanceto facilitate early detection of public health issues to allow for timelyresponse2.MethodsBetween June 2015 and September 2015, VDH coordinatedwith two healthcare entities representing six acute care hospitalsto conduct enhanced surveillance for the 2015 World Police andFire Games and 2015 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) RoadWorld Championships. VDH established initial communicationwith each healthcare entity between 1 week to 2 months before theevent start date to discuss functional requirements with technical,informatics, and clinical staff. Requirements included: 1) health careentity identifying gathering attendees during the ED registration, 2)capturing a standardized mass gathering indicator within the patient’selectronic health record (EHR), and 3) transmitting the gatheringindicator to VDH through existing electronic syndromic surveillancereporting processes. ED visit records with the gathering indicator wereanalyzed by VDH using the Virginia Electronic Surveillance Systemfor the Notification Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) andfindings were incorporated in daily VDH situational reports. Thissame methodology will be applied for the upcoming U.S. VicePresidential Debate in October 2016.ResultsThe duration of the two gatherings in 2015 ranged from 9 to 10 daysand the locations were categorized as urban. The population densityof the gathering location ranged from 1,950 to 2,889 populationper square mile. The estimated number of attendees ranged from45,000 to 400,000. Attendees were defined as having attended at leastone day of the mass gathering event. The mass gathering indicatorcaptured during the ED registration included the gathering acronymor a gathering specific field with a drop down menu containingtrue/false options. VDH utilized ESSENCE to identify 42 ED visits(0.5%) with the gathering acronym out of 8,768 total ED visits duringthe 2015 World Police and Fire Games and 60 ED visits (2.6%)with the gathering specific field out of 2,296 total visits during the2015 UCI Road World Championships. The results of the U.S. VicePresidential Debate in October 2016 are pending.ConclusionsIn 2015, VDH partnered with two healthcare entities to conductenhanced surveillance during two mass gatherings. Although VDHroutinely uses syndromic surveillance data to identify issues of publichealth concern, it has previously lacked the ability to identify EDvisits specific to mass gatherings. Prior to collaboration with VDH,the healthcare entities did not capture gathering-specific ED visitsusing their EHR systems. The two healthcare entities successfullymodified their business procedures and EHR system to capture andtransmit a gathering indicator for ED visits despite some challenges.These challenges include constraints with customization of theEHR and syndromic surveillance systems, lack of standardizedtraining among ED registration staff for interpreting and applyingthe gathering indicator, and limited functionality testing prior tothe event. Lessons learned from this coordinated effort are to: 1)initiate the planning phase and identification of requirements as earlyas possible to ensure they are well defined and understandable, 2)implement frequent communications with the healthcare entity,and 3) customize requirements for the specific gathering as muchas possible while balancing the burden and benefit to public healthand the healthcare entity. The coordinated enhanced surveillanceefforts provided both VDH and the healthcare entities with improvedsituational awareness and capacity building during mass gatheringevents. The strategies and lessons learned from these two events willbe applied to improve enhanced surveillance of public health issuesduring future mass gatherings, including the U.S. Vice PresidentialDebate in October 2016.
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Edison, Laura, Karl Soetebier, Hope Dishman, Wendy Smith, Alex Cowell, and Cherie Drenzek. "Rapidly Adapting Flexible Surveillance Systems for Emergent Event Response." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 9, no. 1 (May 2, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v9i1.7634.
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ObjectiveTo describe how flexible surveillance systems can be rapidlyadapted and deployed, and increase the efficiency and accuracy ofsurveillance, during responses to outbreaks and all hazard emergentevents.IntroductionGeorgia Department of Public Health (DPH) epidemiologists haveresponded to multiple emergent outbreaks with diverse surveillanceneeds. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza response, it was necessaryto electronically integrate multiple reporting sources and viewpopulation-level data, while during the 2014–2015 West African Ebolaepidemic, it was necessary to easily collect and view individual leveldata from travelers to facilitate early detection of potential importedEbola disease. DPH in-house information technology (IT) staffwork closely with epidemiologists to understand and accommodatesurveillance needs. Through this collaboration, IT created a robustelectronic surveillance and outbreak management system (OMS) toaccommodate routine reporting of notifiable diseases and outbreakinvestigations, and surveillance during emergent events.MethodsOMS was created within the State Electronic Notifiable DiseaseSurveillance System (SendSS); a secure, HIPAA-compliant, Oracleand web-based platform which collects data on all notifiable diseasesin Georgia. This flexible platform has multi-functionality includingdynamic web-based surveys that link to case records or outbreaks,online case reporting, electronic laboratory reporting, contact tracing,visual dashboards summarizing outbreak data, electronic alerts, andindividual accounts for users with varying privileges to limit access tospecific modules. These features can be customized for any emergentevent.ResultsSendSS and OMS are widely used by state and districtepidemiologists. Individual case and outbreak management activitiesinclude but are not limited to: notifiable disease and conditioncases; all disease clusters; animal bites surveillance including biteinvestigation and laboratory results; and syndromic surveillance dataautomatically collected from 90 emergency facilities. OMS has beenrapidly modified to facilitate efficient epidemiologic responses toemergent events such as: integrating multiple reporting sources duringthe H1N1 outbreak; shelter surveillance during hurricanes Katrinaand Rita in 2005; active monitoring of >2,500 travelers in Georgiaduring the Ebola response; tracking cases investigations during theZika response, and future monitoring of poultry workers if highly-pathogenic avian influenza occurs in Georgia.ConclusionsThe flexible and customizable features of SendSS and OMSaccommodate the changing needs of epidemiologists to monitora variety of diseases. Rapid implementation has enabled DPHepidemiologists to respond efficiently to emergent events usinglimited human resources, achieving immediate situational awarenessby incorporating multiple data sources into user friendly dashboardsand notifications, and easily sharing information among state andfederal stakeholders to facilitate rapid risk assessment and response asneeded. The success of these systems illustrates the return on DPH’spreparedness investment in retaining technical staff to work withepidemiologists to meet urgent surveillance needs.
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Billah, Sk Masum, Rashidul Haque, Atique Iqbal Chowdhury, Md Shahjahan Siraj, Qazi Sadequr Rahman, Tanvir Hossain, Asraful Alam, et al. "Setting up a maternal and newborn registry applying electronic platform: an experience from the Bangladesh site of the global network for women’s and children’s health." Reproductive Health 17, S2 (November 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-00993-w.
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Abstract Background The Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research (Global Network, GN) has established the Maternal Newborn Health Registry (MNHR) to assess MNH outcomes over time. Bangladesh is the newest country in the GN and has implemented a full electronic MNH registry system, from married women surveillance to pregnancy enrollment and subsequent follow ups. Method Like other GN sites, the Bangladesh MNHR is a prospective, population-based observational study that tracks pregnancies and MNH outcomes. The MNHR site is in the Ghatail and Kalihati sub-districts of the Tangail district. The study area consists of 12 registry clusters each of ~ 18,000–19,000 population. All pregnant women identified through a two-monthly house-to-house surveillance are enrolled in the registry upon consenting and followed up on scheduled visits until 42 days after pregnancy outcome. A comprehensive automated registry data capture system has been developed that allows for married women surveillance, pregnancy enrollment, and data collection during follow-up visits using a web-linked tablet-PC-based system. Result During March–May 2019, a total of 56,064 households located were listed in the Bangladesh MNH registry site. Of the total 221,462 population covered, 49,269 were currently married women in reproductive age (CMWRA). About 13% CMWRA were less susceptible to pregnancy. Large variability was observed in selected contraceptive usage across clusters. Overall, 5% of the listed CMWRAs were reported as currently pregnant. Conclusion In comparison to paper-pen capturing system electronic data capturing system (EDC) has advantages of less error-prone data collection, real-time data collection progress monitoring, data quality check and sharing. But the implementation of EDC in a resource-poor setting depends on technical infrastructure, skilled staff, software development, community acceptance and a data security system. Our experience of pregnancy registration, intervention coverage, and outcome tracking provides important contextualized considerations for both design and implementation of individual-level health information capturing and sharing systems.
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"Performance Analysis of Analog Passive Detectors in Target Tracking Wireless Sensor Networks." International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering 10, no. 1 (February 15, 2021): 417–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.30534/ijatcse/2021/621012021.
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The development of surveillance systems for indoor and outdoor environments using currently available wireless sensor technology without violating privacy issues is a challenging task. Passive Infrared (PIR) detectors are suitable for such systems provided solutions to the technical limitations are implemented. In the proposed work, the development of a human tracking system using analogue PIR detectors and currently available wireless sensor technology is presented. Performance is evaluated by conducting real-time tests in different environmental scenarios. Analysis of experimentalresults of human sensing signals indicates that performance is affected by environmental parameters. These findings will be helpful for the researchers while implementing a real-time system in the field
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Hemingway-Foday, Jennifer, Ousmane Souare, Eileen Reynolds, Boubacar Dialio, Marlyatou Bah, Almamy Karamokoba Kaba, Moussa Kone, et al. "Improving Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Capacity in Guinea, 2015-2018." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 11, no. 1 (May 30, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v11i1.9837.
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ObjeciveThe objective is to discuss capacity building for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Guinea and synthesize lessons learned for implementing the Global Health Security Agenda in similar settings.IntroductionThe 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Guinea revealed systematic weaknesses in the existing disease surveillance system. The lack of public health workers adequately trained in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) contributed to underreporting of cases and problems with data completeness, accuracy, and reliability. These data quality issues resulted in difficulty assessing the epidemic's scale and distribution and hindered the control effort (McNamara, 2016; Bell, 2016). In 2015, the Guinean Ministry of Health (MoH) recognized the importance of the IDSR framework as a tool for improving disease surveillance and emphasized IDSR strengthening as a priority activity in the post-Ebola transition (MoH, 2015).To support this strategic objective, we engaged with the MoH, CDC, and key surveillance partners to strengthen surveillance capacity through a national initiative to improve IDSR tools, including assistance with developing Guinea-specific IDSR technical guidelines, simplified and standardized case notification forms, and supportive job aids to facilitate appropriate IDSR implementation by health workers at all levels of the system.MethodsThe Ebola outbreak highlighted the need for streamlined and standardized case reporting tools that promote accurate application of standard case definitions, adherence to IDSR technical guidelines, and integration of data from clinical and laboratory sources (McNamara, 2016). We partnered with the MoH and CDC to update case notification forms and create job aids for improved IDSR implementation at all health levels. Using a One Health approach, we helped organize and facilitate a series of workshops between the MoH, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, CDC, national laboratory, and other surveillance partners to review and update the Guinea-specific IDSR priority diseases. This resulted in the identification of 14 priority diseases and events, which are the focus of weekly epidemiological surveillance. By bringing together the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Environment, the workshops resulted in improved tools for zoonotic disease detection, reporting, and responses. This included agreement on 3 new zoonotic diseases (anthrax, brucellosis, and rabies) for weekly reporting, as well as recommendations for enhancing surveillance of zoonotic diseases already included in weekly surveillance, such as influenza and Ebola.To further promote collaboration, we helped establish a technical working group and implemented a series of workshops for the Ministries and surveillance partners to review and revise case notification forms for the 14 priority diseases and events. Within the MoH, we also solicited feedback from health workers at the national, regional, and district levels to identify needs throughout the health system. As a result, each form now has an agreed-upon data collection structure that is consistent with IDSR guidelines. Standardized sections were applied across forms for case identification, notification, hospitalization, actions taken, and feedback tracking. The standardization improves data consistency across forms and establishes familiarity with common data elements, which leads to more complete data capture. Additionally, each form promotes accurate case classification by collecting disease-specific information on risk factors, signs and symptoms, and laboratory analysis and results. The revised forms also use a logical data collection flow that follows the patient’s information from the site of identification, to higher levels of care (if required), laboratory, and the national level, thus improving data integration and completeness. The forms have been incorporated into the national DHIS2 electronic surveillance system, which allows data entry at the district, regional, national, and laboratory level and supports rapid and complete reporting.ResultsThe development of revised case notification forms demonstrates an effective, collaborative, One Health approach to IDSR. All three ministries participated in the development and revision of the forms and subsequently, approved and adopted the forms for surveillance of priority diseases. This One Health approach has provided the Government of Guinea with a framework for identifying and strengthening surveillance of its five zoonotic diseases of greatest public health concern, which enables measurement of progress towards achieving the objectives of the GHSA Zoonotic Disease Action Package.We collaborated with the MoH to launch nationwide training of trainers for the new case notification forms, including the use of DHIS2 to manage, report, analyze, and present data. The training of trainers produced a cadre of 55 trainers, representing the participating ministries, national laboratory, and key surveillance partners such as WHO. By the end of 2018, IDSR training will cover health workers at all levels of the system in all 38 of Guinea’s health districts.Incorporating DHIS2 as a platform for managing case data further demonstrates Guinea’s capacity to conduct event-based surveillance and track the 14 priority diseases and events in real-time, an essential indicator of the GHSA Real-time Surveillance Action Package.ConclusionsGuinea’s IDSR strengthening activities are an important step towards achieving the GHSA objective of establishing a functional public health surveillance system capable of detecting events of significance for public health, animal health, and health security. The updated case notification forms, coupled with the use of DHIS2 for real-time reporting, provide critical tools to promote more complete, accurate, and timely data; however, successful implementation will rely on effectively training health workers throughout the system and providing on-going supportive supervision. The multi-sectoral approach to developing IDSR tools helped establish a foundation for future collaboration across ministries using a One Health approach to strengthen Guinea’s national health surveillance system. While the IDSR activities have focused heavily on building capacity for human disease surveillance, it is critical that similar attention is given to animal health. The MoH and surveillance partners should continue to work with the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment to build surveillance capacity for detecting and controlling zoonotic threats while they are still in animal populations and to develop compatible human and animal surveillance data fields for more efficient, integrated data systems.References1. McNamara LA, Schafer IJ, Nolen LD, Gorina Y, Redd JT, Lo T, Ervin E, Henao O, Dahl BA, Morgan O, Hersey S, Knust B. Ebola surveillance – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. MMWR Suppl. 2016; 65(3):35-43; http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15585/mmwr.su6503a62. Bell BP, Damon IK, Jernigan DB, et al. Overview, Control Strategies, and Lessons Learned in the CDC Response to the 2014–2016 Ebola Epidemic. MMWR Suppl. 2016;65(Suppl-3):4–11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6503a23. Ministere de la Santé-République de Guinée, Direction Nationale de la Prevention et Santé Communautaire, Division Prevention et Lutte Contre la Maladie. Plan de Renforcement de la Surveillance des Maladies à Potentiel Epidémique en Guinée (2015-2017), August 2015.
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Zwald, Marissa L., Kristin M. Holland, Francis Annor, Aaron Kite-Powell, Steven A. Sumner, Daniel Bowen, Alana Marie Vivolo-Kantor, Deborah M. Stone, and Alex E. Crosby. "Monitoring suicide-related events using National Syndromic Surveillance Program data." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 11, no. 1 (May 30, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v11i1.9927.
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ObjectiveTo describe epidemiological characteristics of emergency department (ED) visits related to suicidal ideation (SI) or suicidal attempt (SA) using syndromic surveillance data.IntroductionSuicide is a growing public health problem in the United States.1 From 2001 to 2016, ED visit rates for nonfatal self-harm, a common risk factor for suicide, increased 42%.2–4 To improve public health surveillance of suicide-related problems, including SI and SA, the Data and Surveillance Task Force within the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention recommended the use of real-time data from hospital ED visits.5 The collection and use of real-time ED visit data on SI and SA could support a more targeted and timely public health response to prevent suicide.5 Therefore, this investigation aimed to monitor ED visits for SI or SA and to identify temporal, demographic, and geographic patterns using data from CDC’s National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP).MethodsCDC’s NSSP data were used to monitor ED visits related to SI or SA among individuals aged 10 years and older from January 1, 2016 through July 31, 2018. A syndrome definition for SI or SA, developed by the International Society for Disease Surveillance’s syndrome definition committee in collaboration with CDC, was used to assess SI or SA-related ED visits. The syndrome definition was based on querying the chief complaint history, discharge diagnosis, and admission reason code and description fields for a combination of symptoms and Boolean operators (for example, hang, laceration, or overdose), as well as ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM, and SNOMED diagnostic codes associated with SI or SA. The definition was also developed to include common misspellings of self-harm-related terms and to exclude ED visits in which a patient “denied SI or SA.”The percentage of ED visits involving SI or SA were analyzed by month and stratified by sex, age group, and U.S. region. This was calculated by dividing the number of SI or SA-related ED visits by the total number of ED visits in each month. The average monthly percentage change of SI or SA overall and for each U.S. region was also calculated using the Joinpoint regression software (Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute).6ResultsAmong approximately 259 million ED visits assessed in NSSP from January 2016 to July 2018, a total of 2,301,215 SI or SA-related visits were identified. Over this period, males accounted for 51.2% of ED visits related to SI or SA, and approximately 42.1% of SI or SA-related visits were comprised of patients who were 20-39 years, followed by 40-59 years (29.7%), 10-19 years (20.5%), and ≥60 years (7.7%).During this period, the average monthly percentage of ED visits involving SI or SA significantly increased 1.1%. As shown in Figure 1, all U.S. regions, except for the Southwest region, experienced significant increases in SI or SA ED visits from January 2016 to July 2018. The average monthly increase of SI or SA-related ED visits was 1.9% for the Midwest, 1.5% for the West (1.5%), 1.1% for the Northeast, 0.9% for the Southeast, and 0.5% for the Southwest.ConclusionsED visits for SI or SA increased from January 2016 to June 2018 and varied by U.S. region. In contrast to previous findings reporting data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance Program – All-Injury Program, we observed different trends in SI or SA by sex, where more ED visits were comprised of patients who were male in our investigation.2 Syndromic surveillance data can fill an existing gap in the national surveillance of suicide-related problems by providing close to real-time information on SI or SA-related ED visits.5 However, our investigation is subject to some limitations. NSSP data is not nationally representative and therefore, these findings are not generalizable to areas not participating in NSSP. The syndrome definition may under-or over-estimate SI or SA based on coding differences and differences in chief complaint or discharge diagnosis data between jurisdictions. Finally, hospital participation in NSSP can vary across months, which could potentially contribute to trends observed in NSSP data. Despite these limitations, states and communities could use this type of surveillance data to detect abnormal patterns at more detailed geographic levels and facilitate rapid response efforts. States and communities can also use resources such as CDC’s Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices to guide prevention decision-making and implement comprehensive suicide prevention approaches based on the best available evidence.7References1. Stone DM, Simon TR, Fowler KA, et al. Vital Signs: Trends in State Suicide Rates — United States, 1999–2016 and Circumstances Contributing to Suicide — 27 States, 2015. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018;67(22):617-624.2. CDCs National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Published 2018. Accessed September 1, 2018.3. Mercado M, Holland K, Leemis R, Stone D, Wang J. Trends in emergency department visits for nonfatal self-inflicted injuries among youth aged 10 to 24 years in the United States, 2005-2015. J Am Med Assoc. 2017;318(19):1931-1933. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.133174. Olfson M, Blanco C, Wall M, et al. National Trends in Suicide Attempts Among Adults in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry. 2017;10032(11):1095-1103. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.25825. Ikeda R, Hedegaard H, Bossarte R, et al. Improving national data systems for surveillance of suicide-related events. Am J Prev Med. 2014;47(3 SUPPL. 2):S122-S129. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2014.05.0266. National Cancer Institute. Joinpoint Regression Software. https://surveillance.cancer.gov/joinpoint/. Published 2018. Accessed September 1, 2018.7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices.
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Eggers, Carrie. "Approaching Evaluations of Surveillance System Pilots through an Ownership Perspective." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 10, no. 1 (May 22, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i1.9121.
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ObjectiveWe used experiences in multiple countries to determine that owner engagement is critical for successful evaluations of surveillance system viability.IntroductionPilot projects help determine utility and feasibility of a system, but even if considered successful, cost could prevent further scale-up. When evaluating a surveillance system pilot, cost and benefits are key factors to examine. In Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania, Ministry of Health (MoH) and non-governmental partners receive funding under the Global Health Security Agenda to strengthen disease surveillance for earlier detection and improved response to potential infectious disease outbreaks. To this end, Community based surveillance (CBS) projects were implemented in 2016 as a means for early warning of potential events to facilitate a more rapid response.Currently, these CBS projects are being evaluated collaboratively with the primary stakeholder, the host country government (HCG), as lead, and partners such as CDC providing technical assistance. In other instances, partners may conduct an evaluation and share the results and recommendations with the HCG; however, if the HCG is not actively engaged as the primary executor, outcomes may not be endorsed or implemented. Therefore, these evaluations were approached from an owner’s (HCG) perspective. In this way, the governmental agencies develop capabilities to conduct similar activities in other areas, reduce dependencies on outside entities, and promote enactment of resulting recommendations.MethodsOnce the determination was made that an evaluation was necessary to decide the usefulness of the projects for future planning, key stakeholders worked together to design and execute the evaluation. For Cote d’Ivoire, the evaluation team consisted of representatives from the MoH’s National Institute of Public Health, Directorate of Informatics and Health Information, and Directorate for the Coordination of the Expanded Immunization Program, along with delegates from CDC and implementing partners. In Tanzania, evaluation team members came from the MoH, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestries and Livestock, WHO, CDC and implementing partners. Team members participated in either planning, conducting or analyzing the evaluation, while some contributed to a combination or to all aspects. MoH members led the effort with CDC and other partners providing technical assistance, while implementing partners contributed only to planning and logistics to reduce the potential for bias.For the initial step, representatives came together to fully document the system to be evaluated. This system description details the purpose, relevant stakeholders and current operation of the pilot system. As the evaluation question should remain within the scope of the system’s purpose, it was necessary to definitively understand and confirm the goal and objectives set out for the system. Next, the sites, participants and roles, and data flows were described, noting that verification of the actual processes would occur during the site visit portion of the evaluation. Total cost of ownership was calculated by considering solution costs, implementation costs and ongoing support, and then broken down by district. The CBS pilots implemented early warning notification systems in two districts in Cote d’Ivoire and in five districts in Tanzania using a combination of paper-based and electronic reporting formats.Evaluation teams visited pilot sites and routine surveillance sites for comparison and conducted in-person interviews using questionnaires specific to the individual’s role. Data were either collected in the field on paper forms or electronically on tablets for subsequent upload to a centralized database for later analysis. Data from project and routine reporting databases were comparatively analyzed to calculate timeliness, validity, usefulness, acceptability and value of the early warning system pilots.ResultsAlthough final interpretations of the evaluation results are pending, the evaluations were successfully led by the HCG and jointly conducted with other stakeholder engagement. Leadership by the owners of the systems has already resulted in the recognition that certain aspects of the pilot surveillance systems demonstrate a successful and affordable approach, while others will need to consider more cost-effective strategies. Though further analysis will likely continue to show the utility of CBS strategies, the ownership approach is resulting in an outcome of broad stakeholder input with approval from the host country government.ConclusionsCommunity based surveillance can help to detect events of public health importance and effect earlier introduction into the health system for more timely situational awareness and response. However, it is difficult to determine the costs associated with different strategies of implementation and operation in order to ascertain the value for public health action. Additionally, pilot implementations of these systems are often funded at a level that cannot be replicated nationally and not for a prolonged period of time. While it is believed that CBS can be a cost effective early notification system, continual monitoring and routine evaluation is required. By routinely monitoring cost and quality, sustainability of the system can be continually assessed and system adaptations made accordingly. Key to remember is that evaluation must occur from an owner’s perspective and must engage the people who are going to govern, operate and provide the ongoing resources for system operation. In this way, effectiveness and efficiency can be continually monitored within the parameter of cost so that viability of the system can be ascertained.
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Morse, Amanda D., Kevin Wickersham, Natasha Close, Elyse Kadocura, and Tom E. Hulse. "The RHINO Community of Practice: Building a Space for Data Users and Enthusiasts in Washington State." Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 10, no. 1 (May 22, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i1.8975.
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ObjectiveTo grow and facilitate a community of syndromic surveillance data users in Washington State, improving and expanding local syndromic practice.IntroductionPrior to June 2016, there were 45 registered users of syndromic surveillance data in Washington State, with 29 (64.4%) representing 5 of Washington’s 35 local health jurisdictions and 16 (35.6%) at the state level. Of those registered users, 9 (8.8%) had logged into ESSENCE at least once in the 6 months before October 2016.In June 2016, the Washington State syndromic surveillance program began accepting Meaningful Use data and sought to increase its user base. To accomplish this, the Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH) designated a staff member to oversee outreach efforts to increase the visibility of syndromic data in the state, including the establishment of a Community of Practice.MethodsThe Washington State syndromic surveillance program—the Rapid Health Information NetwOrk (RHINO)—began the process of stakeholder engagement by delivering a needs assessment to 15 current and potential users of the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) platform. The survey assessed interest in participation in a Community of Practice for Washington State syndromic data users, the timing and format for meetings, needs for technical assistance, and topic areas of interest. RHINO then used the survey results to create a bank of topics for Community of Practice calls and develop a strategy for long-term outreach and engagement.In April of 2017, the RHINO team developed a new strategic plan and outlined metrics for evaluating growth and challenges in the program’s outreach efforts, including plans for outreach to novel disciplines like emergency preparedness. These metrics included counts of invitations for speaking engagements, ESSENCE users, onsite ESSENCE trainings and attendees at those trainings, organizations and disciplines represented in the Community of Practice, Community members, and webinars facilitated for the Community. RHINO staff compiled monthly tabulations of these metrics to track progress over the course of the year and aid in adjustments to outreach efforts as necessary.ResultsRHINO received 10 responses to the survey, with 9 respondents from local health jurisdictions and 1 from WA DOH. Respondents indicated particularly strong interest in regular webinars, a database of resources, and live trainings to support syndromic practice in their work. They also expressed concerns about the distance which would be required for in-person meetings.RHINO established that meetings would occur via webinar every other month and held 6 webinars between October 2016 and October 2017 on a broad range of topics including developing syndrome definitions, basic ESSENCE functions, using ESSENCE’s Report Manager tool, monitoring influenza-like-illness in ESSENCE, and using syndromic data for situational surveillance. In addition to the Community of Practice webinars, RHINO staff developed technical guides for both the Washington and National Surveillance Program’s (NSSP) ESSENCE platforms, a handbook for using syndromic surveillance data in Washington State, and a curriculum for onsite ESSENCE training.Between October 2016 and October 2017, RHINO offered 8 onsite ESSENCE trainings for groups of users at the Washington State Department of Health and local health jurisdictions, serving a total of 36 attendees. Over the course of the year, ESSENCE users in Washington State increased to 75, with 40 (53.3%) of them logging into the system at least once over the previous 6 months and 20 (26.7%) listed as “new users” who have not yet activated their accounts. The Community of Practice itself has 86 members representing 16 agencies and 19 disciplines.As RHINO’s profile increased and more potential users became aware of the availability of syndromic data, RHINO began receiving invitations to present for external partners. Between March 2016 and October 2017, RHINO received 8 invitations to present to audiences of potential syndromic data users. These audiences included leadership at the Washington State Department of Health and emergency preparedness and response organizations.In the next year, the program will continue offering data trainings and partner meetings to better serve the needs of both current and potential data users in Washington State. As more jurisdictions begin to have production-quality data, RHINO will continue offering onsite training. RHINO has also built a relationship with the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center in Portland, Oregon to begin the process of exploring data sharing with the Tribal Nations and Organizations located within Washington.ConclusionsThrough the development and implementation of a detailed outreach plan, RHINO increased the user base and profile of syndromic surveillance data in Washington State. This work was made possible through the careful construction of strong relationships with new and potential partners and the decision to diversify RHINO’s staff to include members with backgrounds beyond epidemiology.