Interoperability Perspective Research Articles

IJCM_272A: Development of a Framework for Health Information Exchange and Interoperability in a group of Teaching Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

Background: Health information exchange (HIE) is the electronic exchange of data or information between healthcare institutions, despite the fact that, the format and context of the information may vary. A robust HIE, which provides the seamless networking is not currently available. The gap in research pertaining mainly to Indian scenario where this study will be proposed would provide the much-needed evidence. The proposed study aims to develop a comprehensive framework for Health information exchange and interoperability for a group of teaching hospitals. Objectives: To understand and assess the current state, barriers and challenges related to HIE and interoperability; understand the perspectives and challenges of HIE and Interoperability among healthcare providers. Methodology: A qualitative study would be carried out among healthcare stakeholders which will serve in understanding the perspective and challenges of HIE and interoperability and develop a comprehensive framework for HIE and interoperability. Results: Coordinated care among the healthcare providers can be increased and serves in reducing the lost to follow up of patients which promotes patient quality of life and lowers the rate of mortality and morbidity. This will facilitate the quick access to the patient critical information, leading to better – informed diagnosis and treatment plans. This framework will significantly elevate the quality of care, streamline operations, will contribute to a reduction in mortality and morbidity.

Assessment framework for Proof of Concept (PoC) in Industry 4.0 – an interoperability approach

ABSTRACT Large companies have been incessantly pursuing cost reduction, increased performance, and agility in decision-making to meet customers’ demands quickly. This paper presents a framework that allows efficient and agile implementation of Proofs of Concept, based on multicriteria evaluation from interoperability perspectives. The proposed model is based on a three-dimensional structure (cube) characterizing phases related to (i) the creation of a referential model, (ii) the evaluation of organizational maturity (diagnostic phase), and (iii) the proposition of a functional model. One case of an application with a high impact on the supply chain and logistics was used to evaluate the framework.

An Ontology-Based Approach to Enable Data-Driven Research in the Field of NDT in Civil Engineering

Although measurement data from the civil engineering sector are an important basis for scientific analyses in the field of non-destructive testing (NDT), there is still no uniform representation of these data. An analysis of data sets across different test objects or test types is therefore associated with a high manual effort. Ontologies and the semantic web are technologies already used in numerous intelligent systems such as material cyberinfrastructures or research databases. This contribution demonstrates the application of these technologies to the case of the 1H nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry, which is commonly used to characterize water content and porosity distribution in solids. The methodology implemented for this purpose was developed specifically to be applied to materials science (MS) tests. The aim of this paper is to analyze such a methodology from the perspective of data interoperability using ontologies. Three benefits are expected from this approach to the study of the implementation of interoperability in the NDT domain: First, expanding knowledge of how the intrinsic characteristics of the NDT domain determine the application of semantic technologies. Second, to determine which aspects of such an implementation can be improved and in what ways. Finally, the baselines of future research in the field of data integration for NDT are drawn.

Advances of ECG Sensors from Hardware, Software and Format Interoperability Perspectives

It is well-known that cardiovascular disease is one of the major causes of death worldwide nowadays. Electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor is one of the tools commonly used by cardiologists to diagnose and detect signs of heart disease with their patients. Since fast, prompt and accurate interpretation and decision is important in saving the life of patients from sudden heart attack or cardiac arrest, many innovations have been made to ECG sensors. However, the use of traditional ECG sensors is still prevalent in the clinical settings of many medical institutions. This article provides a comprehensive survey on ECG sensors from hardware, software and data format interoperability perspectives. The hardware perspective outlines a general hardware architecture of an ECG sensor along with the description of its hardware components. The software perspective describes various techniques (denoising, machine learning, deep learning, and privacy preservation) and other computer paradigms used in the software development and deployment for ECG sensors. Finally, the format interoperability perspective offers a detailed taxonomy of current ECG formats and the relationship among these formats. The intention is to help researchers towards the development of modern ECG sensors that are suitable and approved for adoption in real clinical settings.

A systematic survey on internet of things: Energy efficiency and interoperability perspective

AbstractWith the provision of rapid advancement in smart devices used in various technological fields exponentially increases the heterogeneity and energy consumption in internet of things (IoT). The technological leap in information and communication technology instigates the heterogeneity in smart devices, frameworks, architectures, communication technologies, and various industrial and nonindustrial applications. Therefore, a detailed taxonomy of IoT is proposed covering the diverse aspect of IoT lacking interoperability and energy efficiency. Existing research lacks the root causes of heterogeneity and energy consumption at the industrial and technological level. Keeping this in view, our research identified industrial integration and technological challenges. Moreover, we explore the effect on IoT devices when different types of energy harvesters are connected with IoT devices. Our comprehensive research addresses the various issues such as resource management, fog data analytics, energy consumption, heterogeneity, scalability, and the role of quality of service, data science, machine learning to accomplish interoperability and energy efficiency in IoT.

Artificial Intelligence in Government

The articles in this special section focus on government applications that use artificial intelligence (AI). The repercussions of artificial intelligence (AI) in government are broad and significant. The characteristics of these technologies will have an impact on almost everything in public organizations, from governance or the multidimensional perspective of interoperability, to the organizational or social implications linked to concepts like public value, transparency, or accountability. This special issue seeks to shed light on foundations and key elements to be taken into account for AI adoption by public organizations. Governments are the primary enablers of technology and market stimulators and regulators of general activities in our society. Governments have always sought the common good and, therefore, the advancement of public and collective interests. This is key to understanding, as a first step, why the principles of public-sector organizations do not always match those of the private sector. Public and private perspectives are very different, whether they be management, strategy, or policy.

Assessment of supply chain segmentation from an interoperability perspective

ABSTRACT Based on an integrative literature review, this study aims to verify the qualifying attributes of supply chain segmentation, that is, the requirements or competencies crucial for companies to maximise effectiveness of supply chain segmentation, and evaluate them from the perspective of interoperability (business, process, service, and data). Based on the definition of segmentation attributes and the perspective of interoperability, the attributes were evaluated by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to set priorities among the target attributes. The applicability of the proposed model is demonstrated through a case study of a company in the consumer goods industry. Generally, this study aims to assist managers and professionals to identify elements of relevance, as well as to support decision-making in terms of managing problems involving segmentation and enterprise interoperability in the supply chain.

멀티벤더 디지털변전소 운영을 위한 IEC 61850 기반 시스템 상호운용성 검증에 관한 연구

Korea utility has established about 60 digital substations since 2013 through a multi-vendor based system in which 4-6 manufacturing devices are selected from 30 registered manufacturers. It was initially determined that there would be no problem with compatibility when using electronic devices meeting IEC 61850, but since initial operation, there have been large and small obstacles at the site of the digital substation. These result from each different interpretation of data and communication messages except for device failures, and manufacturer’s own solution in the event of a trouble occurrence. This paper aims to analyze the incident phenomena that occurred at the site of digital substations from the perspective of interoperability among multi vendor, and presents interoperability verification methods that can be checked before applying digital substations, such as IEC 61850 conformance testing. In addition, by establishing a test-bed that can implement a new test method, applying devices currently registered for KEPCO, and finding interoperability problems of digital substation in the laboratory environment in advance, we intend to operate digital substations more stably.

Software engineering a forty years research retrospective

This paper presents author experience with software development during last forty years. It is divided into three eras: closed and open -systems and Internet of Everything, each covered by challenges, issues and solutions. The main stream is given from the interoperability perspective and flavored by security issues. Variety of applications domains, that author faced during his carrier, each with own challenges, is presented. Example include computer graphics systems, special-purpose solutions, business-to-business, business process management, e-government, and smart cities.

HDOMO: Smart Sensor Integration for an Active and Independent Longevity of the Elderly.

The aim of this paper is to present the main results of HDOMO, an Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) project that involved 16 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and 2 research institutes. The objective of the project was to create an autonomous and automated domestic environment, primarily for elderly people and people with physical and motor disabilities. A known and familiar environment should help users in their daily activities and it should act as a virtual caregiver by calling, if necessary, relief efforts. Substantially, the aim of the project is to simplify the life of people in need of support, while keeping them autonomous in their private environment. From a technical point of view, the project provides the use of different Smart Objects (SOs), able to communicate among each other, in a cloud base infrastructure, and with the assisted users and their caregivers, in a perspective of interoperability and standardization of devices, usability and effectiveness of alarm systems. In the state of the art there are projects that achieve only a few of the elements listed. The HDOMO project aims to achieve all of them in one single project effectively. The experimental trials performed in a real scenario demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of the system in extracting and processing data in real time to promptly acting, and in providing timely response to the needs of the user by integrating and confirming main alarms with different interoperable smart sensors. The article proposes a new technique to improve the accuracy of the system in detecting alarms using a multi-SO approach with information fusion between different devices, proving that this architecture can provide robust and reliable results on real environments.

A framework for interoperability assessment in crisis management

Abstract It is noticeable the growth of various types of concerns in large centers, whether by citizens or public officials. In that sense, an important dimension is crises management such as in cases of natural disasters. This scenario calls for a task force in an attempt to predict or solve emergencies, especially in managing and integrating public and private spheres, which in turn are centered on public authorities, service providers, citizens, volunteers and systems. In order to allow the exchange of information and joint actions of those involved entities, the fulfillment of interoperability requirements becomes a critical factor to promote improved performance of the actions taken in these situations. Based on the literature and related worldwide initiatives, the main concerns and attributes of crisis management are identified from the perspective of interoperability. Founded on this knowledge a framework that supports a Disaster Response Management System (DRMS) development cycle is proposed focusing on a diagnostic step based on a multi-criteria decision analysis techniques (MCDA) to assess potential interoperability of a public entity or locality. The proposed MCDA method facilitates the specification of integrated solutions for the public sector to meet interoperability requirements in disaster management (DM) scenarios. In this paper the assessment method was based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique (AHP), and applied to a company involved in the DM domain, responsible for the information technology infrastructure of a city in the south of Brazil. The findings show the main gaps of the entity under the interoperability perspective, allowing the identification of key areas for improvement of its DM capabilities coherent to the DRMS deployment process.

Reminiscing About 15 Years of Interoperability Efforts

Over the past fifteen years, our perspective on tackling information interoperability problems for web-based scholarship has evolved significantly. In this opinion piece, we look back at three efforts that we have been involved in that aptly illustrate this evolution: OAI-PMH, OAI-ORE, and Memento. Understanding that no interoperability specification is neutral, we attempt to characterize the perspectives and technical toolkits that provided the basis for these endeavors. With that regard, we consider repository-centric and web-centric interoperability perspectives, and the use of a Linked Data or a REST/HATEAOS technology stack, respectively. We also lament the lack of interoperability across nodes that play a role in web-based scholarship, but end on a constructive note with some ideas regarding a possible path forward.

Interoperable cross-domain semantic and geospatial framework for automatic change detection

With the increasingly diverse types of geospatial data established over the last few decades, semantic interoperability in integrated applications has attracted much interest in the field of Geographic Information System (GIS). This paper proposes a new strategy and framework to process cross-domain geodata at the semantic level. This framework leverages the semantic equivalence of concepts between domains through bridge ontology and facilitates the integrated use of different domain data, which has been long considered as an essential superiority of GIS, but is impeded by the lack of understanding about the semantics implicitly hidden in the data. We choose the task of change detection to demonstrate how the introduction of ontology concept can effectively make the integration possible. We analyze the common properties of geodata and change detection factors, then construct rules and summarize possible change scenario for making final decisions. The use of topographic map data to detect changes in land use shows promising success, as far as the improvement of efficiency and level of automation is concerned. We believe the ontology-oriented approach will enable a new way for data integration across different domains from the perspective of semantic interoperability, and even open a new dimensionality for the future GIS.

Linking building data in the cloud: Integrating cross-domain building data using linked data

Within the operational phase buildings are now producing more data than ever before, from energy usage, utility information, occupancy patterns, weather data, etc. In order to manage a building holistically it is important to use knowledge from across these information sources. However, many barriers exist to their interoperability and there is little interaction between these islands of information.As part of moving building data to the cloud there is a critical need to reflect on the design of cloud-based data services and how they are designed from an interoperability perspective. If new cloud data services are designed in the same manner as traditional building management systems they will suffer from the data interoperability problems.Linked data technology leverages the existing open protocols and W3C standards of the Web architecture for sharing structured data on the web. In this paper we propose the use of linked data as an enabling technology for cloud-based building data services. The objective of linking building data in the cloud is to create an integrated well-connected graph of relevant information for managing a building. This paper describes the fundamentals of the approach and demonstrates the concept within a Small Medium sized Enterprise (SME) with an owner-occupied office building.

A language for interoperability modeling and prediction

Interoperability, defined as the satisfaction of a communication need between two or more actors, is a sought after quality for enterprises in today's competitive environment. For a decision maker, understanding the effects of a changing market place and understanding how to adapt to the new environment is essential. Sustainable interoperability is an approach where such dynamic environments are considered, including how to adapt to the new environments. This paper presents a modeling language for describing architectures from an interoperability perspective and a formalism for inferring the degree of interoperability from the architecture models, thus supporting sustainable interoperability.The interoperability language is expressed as a Unified Modeling Language, UML, class diagram specifying classes, attributes, and relationships relevant for interoperability modeling. The class diagram is also augmented with a set of statements in the Object Constraint Language, OCL, supporting automated interoperability prediction.

Enterprise information security, a review of architectures and frameworks from interoperability perspective

Abstract With the growth of ICT opportunities, the enterprises have realized the significance of interoperability as a competitive advantage. Thus, many enterprises have adopted the main strategy of rapidly changing their structures to support interoperability. On the other hand, interoperability is incompatible with information security. The Enterprise Information Security Architecture (EISA) offers a framework upon which business security requirements, the risks and the threats are analyzed and a portfolio of the best integrated enterprise security solutions is put together. Frameworks and models introduced in the past six years have examined different aspects of EISA. We realized the diversity of the mentioned approaches and in this paper, first, we develop two facets according to which these approaches are categorized. These facets are abstraction level (holistic vs. partial) and architectural viewpoint (managerial vs. technical). As interoperability is the primary focus of our study and it is a broad concept, we restrict our discussion to holistic frameworks and models. In this regard, we survey the prominent holistic approaches namely Gartner, SABSA, RISE frameworks, AGM-based model and intelligent Service-Oriented EISA. In the next step, we compare the mentioned frameworks from technical, organizational and semantic interoperability aspects. We conclude that none of the frameworks, not even those which are holistic, practical and greatly elaborated, have explored interoperability clearly. We assert that the competitive advantages offered by interoperability, justify the costs needed for implementing the incompatible concepts of interoperability and security along with each other. In addition, we suggest that the requirements which are common to both interoperability and security should be extracted and the significance of interoperability to EISA should be apprehended

Living longer independently – a healthcare interoperability perspective

Population ageing is driving the development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies. AAL solutions enhance the quality of life of older people, bringing the benefits of new technologies to their daily environment. Current healthcare IT and standards are working together to provide the building blocks needed to develop interconnected, interoperable, open AAL applications.

Giving an interoperable e-ID solution: Using foreign e-IDs in Austrian e-Government

Electronic identities (e-IDs) are of paramount importance for almost any e-Government application. Thus, many countries are working on their e-Government and e-ID strategies in order to improve access to governmental services for their citizens. However, facing a society of increasing mobility raises the requirements for e-Government and e-ID solutions. So providing e-Government services to native citizens only is no longer acceptable. E-Government and e-ID in particular have to be designed focusing on interoperability. The interoperability of e-IDs within the European Union is an especially open issue. The existing identity management solutions in member states have not been developed from the interoperability perspective. This article explains the Austrian e-ID approach and how foreign identities are already today incorporated into its e-Government framework.

Interconnecting Autonomous Medical Domains

In this article we discuss the technological challenges from a security and interoperability perspective toward enabling the interconnection of different medical domains. The emergence of networked infrastructures and electronic health records (EHRs) has brought new challenges in the field of medical informatics. Healthcare information needs to be accessible by authorized users only, while its fundamental security properties (namely, integrity, availability, and confidentiality) must be retained. It is concluded that international efforts are needed to enable the creation of a widely accepted EHR that will be able to be used between different countries to provide better health services and therefore improve the care of their traveling citizens.

Monitoring interactions in collaborative learning environments (CSCL): a tool kit for Synergeia

Starting from the early 90ies computer supported collaborative learning has gained new interest thanks to the diffusion of networks and social constructivism. In order to carry it into effect, it is possible to make use of generic tools (web forum, space for the uploading of materials, etc.) or of specific environments produced within the researches on CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning). While e-learning platforms pay much attention to tracing and readability of data and to interoperability standards, in the more specific field of CSCL critical elements remain unsolved in this regard: even if data are traced, they cannot be always easily read and consequently processed or exported for analysis purposes with other software (statistics, etc.). Synergeia, a well-known environment for net collaborative learning born of a European project, though allowing the tracing of users’ interactions, does not allow the extraction of this information for quantitative analyses or for the exportation outside the platform. This contribution, moving from experiences realized with this software in a university context, shows a specific tool (Slm – Synegeia Log Miner) which has been realized to extract important data for the monitoring and consequent evaluation of net collaborative interactions. The fitting of the specific tool is also the occasion to reflect on the indicators to be selected and on the interoperability perspectives linked to the format of this kind of data, through the identification of a generic data structure suitable for representing interactions in this sort of systems.