Electronic Knowledge Base Research Articles

The role of digital technologies in distance learning of medical students

Introduction. The digitalization of education makes it possible to supplement the known pedagogical methods and technologies with new means, thus raising their effectiveness. The goal of distance learning digital technologies is not only to maintain the level of vocational training, but also to increase it. To do this, it is necessary that these technologies: help inspire learning, stimulate involvement at all stages of the longitudinal dynamics of learning, pro-vide developmental and inspiring feedback. Materials and methods. The longitudinal dynamic characteristic of the learning process includes five stages — curiosity, immersion, involvement, significance, implementation. Each of them is important and valuable. Digital technologies make it possible to increase the efficiency of each of them. In the article, the authors share their experience of using digital technologies at all stages of the longitudinal dynamics of learning. Results. The use of digital technologies contributes to an increase in the level of vocational training by attracting new pedagogical methods into the educational process. The use of various digital programs allows to improve the skills of communication and coop-eration in the digital environment, search for information in open databases, and stimulate creative thinking when creating presentation materials relevant to educational topics. Modern technologies contribute to the involve-ment of students and the positive group dynamics of the educational process, which confirms the average score received by students at the State Final Attestation, includ-ing in 2020, and 2021. Conclusions. Digitalization of the educational process is a global change in traditional approaches to the educational process. Further prospects are to improve educational content, including the cre-ation of online courses, electronic knowledge bases. digi-tal analytical applications that allow, based on big data, to develop effective individual learning paths. The learning management system is also a support in the form of an electronic dean’s office, students’ personal accounts, and university department/chair. All together these will help to form a digital footprint (portfolio) of the student, which will be taken into account by the employer in the future.

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION CULTURE IN THE UNIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The article is devoted to the role of information culture in ensuring the effectiveness of knowledge management at the university. Based on the ideas of P. Drucker and I. Nonaka on the need for continuous self-education of the individual using professional collective experience in the process of practical training, means of improving the efficiency of knowledge management are considered, in particular, introduction of innovative leadership models, research activity expansion, creation of conditions for improving the system of advanced training, the formation of an electronic knowledge base as a reflection of the collective intellectual potential and labor market analytics with the subsequent involvement of advanced ideas to improve the professional competencies of graduates. In the knowledge management at the university, information culture performs a number of important functions: educational, ideological, communicative, technological, the function of preserving social memory. Proposed approaches to the analysis of information culture are: information (as a body of knowledge, skills and abilities to effectively meet information needs), communicative (the required level of communication competence), culturological (providing a holistic vision of the world based on the values of its spiritual development), technological (skills and abilities to work in the IT-sphere), methodological (methods of operating information arrays), management (effective management of information resources). The conclusions emphasize that the information culture at the university is formed by cognitive and epistemic expectations anticipated in the implementation of tasks and decision-making. The information culture of the university is based on organizational values, leadership, norms and conduct regarding the exchange and use of information, and the possibility of digital rethinking of knowledge management is largely determined by a clear organizational strategy aimed at innovation. Measures aimed at improving the level of students’ information culture mobilize analytical approaches in the evaluation of information, improve the quality of work with information resources and network systems, contribute to the generation of knowledge and their practical use in future professional experience.

PECULIARITIES OF DISTANCE LEARNING WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF POSTGRADUATE TRAINING OF DOCTORS IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE

To ensure high-quality distance learning at the Department of Emergency Medicine of the National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education named after P. L. Shupyk, a specialized course of thematic improvement is used, presented by digital lecture and practical material presented in limited access on an exchange server for students registered on the cycle. This form of education has a number of advantages both in terms of the convenience of the educational process for teachers and students, and the reduction of possible risks in case of adverse situations such as the epidemic threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance education provides quality and comprehensive training of the student without separation from daily activities, taking into account the individually most convenient place and time to access the electronic knowledge base of the cycle.
 Existing technologies of distance learning through the use of modern digital platforms, high-quality content of educational web resources, the introduction of an effective quality control system of knowledge give us the opportunity to adapt to new realities of the educational process and ensure consistently high quality of postgraduate medical education.

Перспективные направления развития и наполнения электронной базы знаний по проектированию судов

Перспективные направления развития и наполнения электронной базы знаний по проектированию судов

Generating knowledge from complex data sets in human experimental pain research

Pain has acomplex pathophysiology that is expressed in multifaceted and heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. This makes research on pain and its treatment apotentially data-rich field as large amounts of complex data are generated. Typical sources of such data are investigations with functional magnetic resonance imaging, complex quantitative sensory testing, next-generation DNA sequencing and functional genomic research approaches, such as those aimed at analgesic drug discovery or repositioning of drugs known from other indications as new analgesics. Extracting information from these big data requires complex data scientific-based methods belonging more to computer science than to statistics. Aparticular interest is currently focused on machine learning, the methods of which are used for the detection of interesting and biologically meaningful structures in high-dimensional data. Subsequently, classifiers can be created that predict clinical phenotypes from, e.g. clinical or genetic features acquired from subjects. In addition, knowledge discovery in big data accessible in electronic knowledge bases, can be used to generate hypotheses and to exploit the accumulated knowledge about pain for the discovery of new analgesic drugs. This enables so-called data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) approaches to be followed in pain research. This article highlights current examples from pain research to provide an overview about contemporary data scientific methods used in this field of research.

Clinical decision support systems.

Clinical decision support (CDS) systems link patient data with an electronic knowledge base in order to improve decision-making and computerised physician order entry (CPOE) is a requirement to set up electronic CDS. The medical informatics literature suggests categorising CDS tools into medication dosing support, order facilitators, point-of-care alerts and reminders, relevant information display, expert systems and workflow support. To date, CDS has particularly been recognised for improving processes. CDS successfully fostered prevention of deep-vein thrombosis, improved adherence to guidelines, increased the use of vaccinations, and decreased the rate of serious medication errors. However, CDS may introduce errors, and therefore the term "e-iatrogenesis" has been proposed to address unintended consequences. At least two studies reported severe treatment delays due to CPOE and CDS. In addition, the phenomenon of "alert fatigue" - arising from a high number of CDS alerts of low clinical significance - may facilitate overriding of potentially critical notifications. The implementation of CDS needs to be carefully planned, CDS interventions should be thoroughly examined in pilot wards only, and then stepwise introduced. A crucial feature of CPOE in combination with CDS is speed, since time consumption has been found to be a major factor determining failure. In the near future, the specificity of alerts will be improved, notifications will be prioritised and offer detailed advice, customisation of CDS will play an increasing role, and finally, CDS is heading for patient-centred decision support. The most important research question remains whether CDS is able to improve patient outcomes beyond processes.

ETools for the standard classification of health and social services: eDESDE-LTC

Background: The DESDE-LTC is a standardized international classification of services that allows mapping of social and health care based on the European Service Mapping Schedule (ESMS) developed for mental health services. This system provides a standard description of the whole array of services available for a target population both at horizontal and at vertical level allowing for the basic information required to assess integrated care. It is based in coding the “minimum units of production of care” within services called Basic Inputs of Care (BSICs). These units are labeled using the most meaningful activity or “Main Type of Care” (MTC). DESDE-LTC has been extensively used in different sectors such as mental health, disability, elderly and long term care, performed in over 17 countries both in Europe and America. However this system requires extensive training and periodical update of the information gathered. Innovation: In order to overcome this problem several eTools have been developed in the last 4 years. eDESDE-LTC (www.edesdeproject.eu/) is an electronic knowledge base that contains all the information required to code and use the classification system in long term care. It includes the reference documents (conceptual framework, usability, dissemination and reports), a toolkit (coding system, glossary and assessment instrument), and an on-line training package. The use of this knowledge base proved useful as complementary to but not as a replacement of face-to-face World Congress on Integrated Care 2014, Sydney, November 23-26, 2014. International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 14, 8 December – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-116661– http://www.ijic.org/ training is the DESDE-LTC project (Salvador-Carulla et al, 2011) and in the subsequent REFINEMENT project (Amaddeo et al, 2013). The Refinement Toolkit (http://www.refinementproject.eu/) is a decision support system for Mental Health that includes four major sets of tools: FINCENTO (analysis of financing), REQUALIT (quality of mental health care), REPATO (Pathways of care) and REMAST (service provision). REMAST includes the Verona Socio-demographic Scale (SES) and DESDE-LTC apart from other service information and Atlases of care in several European regions. The REFINEMENT toolkit provides relevant information for system analysis in mental health and for a better understanding of service provision but the need of training has not been modified from the previous knowledge base. In 2014 the Regional Government of Andalucia funded the project DESDE-AND to develop a computer algorithm for automatic collection of data and coding of social services, following an integrated care approach. This research has allowed to test the usability of the coding system outside the health sector and to improve Conclusions: The DESDE-LTC has proven its feasibility for the standard assessment of services in different fields, including mental health, disabilities, ageing, long-term care and social services. This indicates the generalisability of this taxonomy for mapping integrated care. The development of different electronic knowledge-bases and computer algorithms for data completion will be a key factor for the dissemination and spreading of this system as well as its incorporation to Geographical Information Systems.

MetaPath: An electronic knowledge base for collating, exchanging and analyzing case studies of xenobiotic metabolism

The MetaPath knowledge base was developed for the purpose of archiving, sharing and analyzing experimental data on metabolism, metabolic pathways and crucial supporting metadata. The MetaPath system grew out of the need to compile and organize the results of metabolism studies into a systematic database to facilitate data comparisons and evaluations. Specialized MetaPath data evaluation tools facilitate the review of pesticide metabolism data submitted for regulatory risk assessments as well as exchange of results of complex analyses used in regulation and research. Customized screen editors called Composers were developed to automate data entry into MetaPath while also streamlining the production of agency specific study summaries such as the Data Evaluation Records (DER) used by the US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs. Efforts are underway through an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work group to extend the use of DER Composers as harmonized templates for rat metabolism, livestock residue, plant residue and environmental degradation studies.

ELECTRICA: ELEctronic knowledge base for Clinical care, Teaching and Research In Child Abuse

Child abuse is a highly significant public health issue with 4-16% of children being physically abused. The diagnosis is sensitive and challenging, with many radiologists dissatisfied with current levels of training and support. The literature shows a lack of prospective scientific research in this complex field. An ELEctronic knowledge base for Clinical care, Teaching and Research In Child Abuse (ELECTRICA) should solve many current problems. ELECTRICA will be populated with clinical information, radiographs and radiographic findings in children younger than 3 years of age presenting with injury (accidental or suspected abuse), to form a unique resource. This web-based tool will unify the investigative protocol in suspected abuse and support training and allow multicentre national and international collaborative research and provide robust evidence to support the legal process.

The virtual company: a re-configurable open shell for problem-based learning in industrial engineering

The interactive multimedia e-learning system (IMELS) is an e-learning courseware for industrial engineering developed at the University of Hong Kong. The system adopts a problem-based learning approach to the teaching and learning through the delivery of realistic case problems using interactive multimedia technology over the World-Wide-Web. The main features of the system include a multimedia portfolio of industrial engineering, an electronic knowledge base and the virtual company suit that presents the case problem that exists in two virtual enterprises. As the system is designed to enhance the effectiveness of teaching industrial engineers who will become more capable individuals to fit into their future careers through the exposition of vivid case problems in their learning process, one of the main features of the system is its ability to create computer-based material for case problems in a flexible and efficient manner. In this respect, the open-shell architecture of the virtual company, which consists of a client-based interface that runs on user PCs and a server-based repository, enables web-based materials to be loaded and organized in real time so that the content of individual virtual companies can be dynamically configured to cater for each case problem. Apart from the introduction of the IMELS, this paper focuses on the design and the functionality of the virtual company. The unique feature of the configurable animated entities will be explained and is illustrated with a case problem that exists in the GX Port Holdings Corporation virtual company.

Analysis of Metallized TeflonTM Thin-Film Materials Performance on Satellites

Laboratory and on-orbit performance data for two common thermal control materials, silver- and aluminum-backed (metallized) fluorinated ethyl-propylene, were collected from a variety of sources and analyzed. It is demonstrated that the change in solar absorptance α is a strong function of particulate radiation for these materials. Examination of additional data shows that the atomic-oxygen recession rate is a strong function of solar exposure with an induction period of between 25 to 50 equivalent solar hours. The relationships determined in this analysis were incorporated into an electronic knowledge base, the Spacecraft Materials Selector, under NASA Contract NAS8-98213. This tool is available from the NASA Space Environments and Effects program office.

Building reference strengths through peer training

What began as peer training instruction sessions for DePaul University librarians has grown into an electronic knowledge base available 24 × 7 for ongoing staff development. Using Blackboard course management software, DePaul University Libraries developed peer to peer instruction to keep communication open among staff members at all eight campus libraries while sharing subject expertise among librarians and sharpening skills needed in group and one‐on‐one instruction. In order to facilitate continued communication between librarians at different campuses at DePaul University, an annual program of structured peer training sessions was developed and implemented within the last two years to provide ongoing professional development.

AvGI, an index of genes transcribed in the salivary glands of the ixodid tick Amblyomma variegatum

Random clones from a cDNA library made from mRNA purified from dissected salivary glands of feeding female Amblyomma variegatum ticks were subjected to single pass sequence analysis. A total of 3,992 sequences with an average read length of 580 nucleotides have been used to construct a gene index called AvGI that consists of 2,109 non-redundant sequences. A provisional gene identity has been assigned to 39% of the database entries by sequence similarity searches against a non-redundant amino acid database and a protein database that has been assigned gene ontology terms. Homologs of genes encoding basic cellular functions including previously characterised enzyme activities, such as stearoyl CoA saturase and protein phosphatase, of ixodid tick salivary glands were found. Several families of abundant cDNA sequences that may code for protein components of tick cement and A. variegatum proteins which may contribute to anti-haemostatic and anti-inflammatory responses, and, one with potential immunosuppressive activity, were also identified. Interference with the function of such proteins might disrupt the life cycle of A. variegatum and help to control this ectoparasite or to reduce its ability to transmit disease causing organisms. AvGI represents an electronic knowledge base, which can be used to launch investigations of the biology of the salivary glands of this tick species. The database may be accessed via the World Wide Web at http://www.tigr.org/tdb/tgi.shtml.