Information Exchange Standards Research Articles

Knowledge-Driven Data Sharing Governance: Developing a data provenance model for constructing context-aware data sharing frameworks for linkage data within the All of Us Research Program.

Health data access and sharing in the U.S. have been hindered by complex privacy and security conditions, limiting research and improvement of health outcomes. This challenge is even greater in minority and sensitive populations - who would benefit most from integrative research. The All of Us Research Program is a National Institutes of Health funded initiative aiming to enhance health research through the analysis of lifestyle, environment, and genetics data from over one million participants, with a focus on communities historically underrepresented in biomedical research. The program is enhancing the utility of data by incorporating passive data streams, such as claims, electronic health records (EHRs), environmental, geocodes, mortality, and residential history. Further, through the use of national health information exchange standards, All of Us also aims to address technical challenges in linking EHRs from health information networks to deliver a more complete longitudinal participant record. However, such an initiative necessitates a thoughtful approach through data awareness, advancing data access in ways that preserve individual privacy while increasing scientific utility. Here, we describe our privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) and data privacy risk disclosure control strategy, emphasizing fit-for-purpose data provisioning. Our knowledge-driven data ecosystem architecture leverages a combination of PPRL, data provenance, and geocoding at multiple levels to support context-aware data sharing granular access control.

Personal Health Record implementation in rural primary care: A descriptive exploratory study using RE-AIM framework.

Demand is emerging for personal health records (PHRs), a patient-centric digital tool for engaging in shared decision-making and healthcare data management. This study uses a RE-AIM framework to explore rural patients and providers' perceptions prior to and following implementation of a PHR. Health care providers and their patients were recruited from early-adopter patient medical home clinics and a local patient advisory group. Focus groups were used to explore patient and provider pre-implementation perceptions of PHRs and post-implementation provider perspectives. Patients were invited through participating clinics to use the PHR. An implementation process evaluation was conducted. Multiple methods and data sources were used and included pre-/post-intervention patient surveys, provider interviews, and PHR/EHR administrative data. Both patient and provider focus groups described PHRs as providing a comprehensive health story and enhanced communication. Patients prioritized collection of health promotion data while providers endorsed health-related, clinical data. Both groups expressed the need for managing expectations and setting boundaries on PHR use. The evaluation indicated Reach: 16% of targeted patients participated and an additional 127 patients used the PHR as a tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Effectiveness: Patient satisfaction with use was neutral, with no significant changes to quality of life, self-efficacy, or patients' activation. Adoption: 44% of eligible clinics participated, primarily those operated publicly versus privately, in smaller communities, and farther from a regional hospital. Implementation: Despite system interoperability expectations, at time of roll out, information exchange standards had not been reached. Additional implementation complications arose from the onset of the pandemic. One clinic on-boarded additional patients resulting in a rapid spike in PHR use. Maintenance: All clinics discontinued PHR within the study period, citing several key barriers to use. RE-AIM offers a valuable process evaluation framework for a comprehensive depiction of impact, and how to drive future success. Interoperability, patient agency and control, and provider training and support are critical obstacles to overcome in PHR implementation.

Extended IFC-based information exchange for construction management of roller-compacted concrete dam

Building Information Modeling (BIM) plays a pivotal role in the construction management of dam engineering projects, which face challenges in data interoperability due to the absence of standardized data formats. While Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) offer a standardized digital representation of the built environment, it lacks the capability to accurately model the semantics of roller-compacted concrete dams. Therefore, this paper presents an extended IFC-based information exchange for the construction management of roller-compacted concrete dams, incorporating the development and validation of a prototype through a case study. The results indicate a significant enhancement in standardized information exchange for construction management compared to traditional practices. The approach facilitates BIM-assisted information exchange automation among stakeholders involved in roller-compacted concrete dam construction projects. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into dam construction management system prototyping and cross-platform collaboration.

Towards Autonomous Materials–Challenges in Chemical Communication

AbstractCoordination of functions in multi‐body or multi‐component systems requires communication among its parts and is a prerequisite for achieving complex tasks. While electromagnetic (network) communication provides a key ingredient for modern robotics, its molecular equivalent is largely missing for soft robots. With advancements in programmed cargo release, DNA strand‐displacement reactions, enzymatic cascades, and genetic circuits, budding solutions to such chemical network communication have emerged with the potential to drive function in soft machines. In order for such chemical communication to be useful, however, new control concepts, (orthogonal) communication protocols, and molecular solutions should be found. Herein, we provide a critical perspective on the current state‐of‐the‐art chemical communication and identify key challenges towards autonomous soft materials, including signal processing, dealing with noise, switching signaling modalities, and limitations in time and length scales that determine material design. Building on an emerging body of examples, we illustrate gaps, synergies, and new concepts that may provide possible solutions to achieve standardized and reliable molecular information exchange for regulating (soft) robotic function.

The Evolution and Impact of Information Exchange Standards in International Tax Law Based on an Information Theory Perspective

The Evolution and Impact of Information Exchange Standards in International Tax Law Based on an Information Theory Perspective

Blockchain-Based Service-Oriented Architecture for Consent Management, Access Control, and Auditing

Continuity of care requires the exchange of health information among organizations and care teams. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes that subject of care should give explicit consent to the treatment of her personal data, and organizations must obey the individual’s will. Nevertheless, few solutions focus on guaranteeing the proper execution of consents. We propose a service-oriented architecture, backed by blockchain technology, that enables: (1) tamper-proof and immutable storage of subject of care consents; (2) a fine-grained access control for protecting health data according to consents; and (3) auditing tasks for supervisory authorities (or subjects of care themselves) to assess that healthcare organizations comply with GDPR and granted consents. Standards for health information exchange and access control are adopted to guarantee interoperability. Access control events and the subject of care consents are maintained on a blockchain, providing a trusted collaboration between organizations, supervisory authorities, and individuals. A prototype of the architecture has been implemented as a proof of concept to evaluate the performance of critical components. The application of subject of care consent to control the treatment of personal health data in federated and distributed environments is a pressing concern. The experimental results show that blockchain can effectively support sharing consent and audit events among healthcare organizations, supervisory authorities, and individuals.

МОЖЛИВОСТІ ТА ПЕРЕВАГИ ЕЛЕКТРОННОЇ КОМЕРЦІЇ В ПІДПРИЄМНИЦЬКІЙ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ

The development of information technologies has led to changes in the way of doing business.The organization of electronic information exchange between enterprises allows you to significantly increase the efficiency of your activities by reducing communication costs, reducing the number of personnel involved in processing incoming and outgoing documents, eliminating possible personnel errors, reducing the time required to organize a deal, ensures the speed and accuracy of receiving information, and high speed financial calculations.E-commerce levels the playing field, allowing both large and small companies to compete on pricing and product mix. It gives trading organizations access to the global market, which in most cases is inaccessible to small companies.At a first approximation, e-business can be characterized as the execution of orders, payment and delivery of goods and provision of services using standard network information exchange technologies. But e-commerce is a specific part of electronic business, which includes social relations regarding the purchase and sale of goods, services and information over the Internet using all the tools available on the network. Every year it develops and expands both in Ukraine and around the world and acquires new forms to which enterprises must quickly adapt in order to obtain competitive advantages and highly effective tools for promotion, and consumers to save time and savings when purchasing goods and services with a significant improvement in the quality of service, to the state in order to ensure international integration through a sufficiently effective form of commodity-monetary relations and to build a system of electronic governance.The presence of a high-quality Internet connection and free access to it ensured the active entry of electronic commerce not only into retail trade, but also into the sphere of services, financial services and public administration. The low purchasing power of the population forces consumers to look for cheaper places to buy, which leads them to Internet shopping sites. It is these two factors that ensure the stable growth of e-commerce volumes in recent years.Keywords: e-business, e-commerce, enterprises, Internet and technologies.

IFC-based information exchange for multi-agency response to indoor fire emergencies

During fire emergencies, inadequate and inefficient information provision may delay life-saving activities. To support emergency response, this study proposes an industry foundation class (IFC) based information exchange approach for multi-agency response to indoor fire emergencies. First, information required by occupants, facility managers and firefighters is identified and examined through a literature review and questionnaire surveys. The importance and familiarity of information are then assessed to clarify information sharing and collaboration in the practice. Next, this study extends properties of IFC4 Add2 by adding emergency information to support standardized information exchange. An add-in is created to enable automated parameter processing for information enrichment. The approach is validated through a case study, where relevant properties in an IFC data model are exchanged and supplied to emergency participants in real-time to facilitate response activities. The study's findings may shed light on role-centered emergency system prototyping, data-driven emergency simulations, and collaborative fire emergency response.

Health information exchange policy and standards for digital health systems in africa: A systematic review.

Lack of interoperability and integration between heterogeneous health systems is a big challenge to realize the potential benefits of eHealth. To best move from siloed applications to interoperable eHealth solutions, health information exchange (HIE) policy and standards are necessary to be established. However, there is no comprehensive evidence on the current status of HIE policy and standards on the African continent. Therefore, this paper aimed to systematically review the status of HIE policy and standards which are currently in practice in Africa. A systematic search of the literature was conducted from Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Scopus, Web of Science, and Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), and a total of 32 papers (21 strategic documents and 11 peer-reviewed papers) were selected based on predefined criteria for synthesis. Results revealed that African countries have paid attention to the development, improvement, adoption, and implementation of HIE architecture for interoperability and standards. Synthetic and semantic interoperability standards were identified for the implementation of HIE in Africa. Based on this comprehensive review, we recommend that comprehensive interoperable technical standards should be set at each national level and should be guided by appropriate governance and legal frameworks, data ownership and use agreements, and health data privacy and security guidelines. On top of the policy issues, there is a need to identify a set of standards (health system standards, communication, messaging standards, terminology/vocabulary standards, patient profile standards, privacy and security, and risk assessment) and implement them throughout all levels of the health system. On top of this, we recommend that the Africa Union (AU) and regional bodies provide the necessary human resource and high-level technical support to African countries to implement HIE policy and standards. To realize the full potential of eHealth in the continent, it is recommended that African countries need to have a common HIE policy, interoperable technical standards, and health data privacy and security guidelines. Currently, there is an ongoing effort by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) towards promoting HIE on the continent. A task force has been established from Africa CDC, Health Information Service Provider (HISP) partners, and African and global HIE subject matter experts to provide expertise and guidance in the development of AU policy and standards for HIE. Although the work is still ongoing, the African Union shall continue to support the implementation of HIE policy and standards in the continent. The authors of this review are currently working under the umbrella of the African Union to develop the HIE policy and standard to be endorsed by the head of states of the Africa Union. As a follow-up publication to this, the result will be published in mid-2022.

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ИНДИКАТОРОВ КОМПРОМЕТАЦИИ ДЛЯ СРЕДСТВ ЗАЩИТЫ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ И КИБЕРФИЗИЧЕСКИХ СИСТЕМ

Purpose of work: study of existing standards of compromise indicators and methods of their exchange for enrichment of protection systems of information and cyber-physical systems. Research method: systematic analysis of open sources of data on indicators of compromise, standards of their description and methods of exchange in the organization of cyberintelligence. The result obtained: the actual problems of proactive search of threats are formulated on the example of the application of open sources of indicators of compromise in the processing of event flows in security event management systems. The classification of indicators derived from internal sources is proposed. The main problems of processing dynamic threat data streams under changing attack vectors are formulated. It was found that the threat intelligence industry currently lacks a unified solution in terms of standardization of information exchange between different platforms, but there are a number of dominant standards and formats of such data exchange. In the course of preparing the review of existing, the tasks of identifying previously unknown attack methods based on the use of open sources of indicators of compromise in data processing in security incident management systems were considered and structured, and methods for their solution were proposed. Scientific novelty: the presented article is one of the first domestic works, devoted to the analysis of research in recent years in the field of organization of work with threat intelligence data sources. Reviewed and systematized the sources of indicators of compromise and proposed their classification. Formulated the main problems of processing dynamic threat data streams under conditions of variable attack vectors.

The Cloud-Enabled Architecture of the Clinical Data Repository in Poland

In this article, the authors, using information-systems modeling techniques, and considering current national legal regulations, present the cloud-enabled architecture of a clinical data repository. The patient’s medical record is an important carrier of information necessary for accurate diagnosis and selection of the correct treatment process. Therefore, it is not surprising that since the beginning of the development of computer technologies, databases have been built to enable the management of a patient’s medical records. These systems were most-often deployed locally at individual healthcare units, which carried certain limitations both in terms of the security and availability of the stored information, and the possibility of exchanging it with other clinics. However, recent developments in the standardization of medical information exchange in Poland, together with the revolution in cloud computing, have opened up completely new perspectives for clinical-data-repository implementations helping to make them far more sustainable. Although, the practical aspects of implementing clinical-documentation repositories are studied both in forums of European countries and also around the world; so far, no similar research was conducted with respect to Poland. This study tries to fill that gap by proposing a flexible multi-variant cloud-enabled architecture of the system providing the services of a clinical-data repository. The goal of the work was to propose such a system architecture that allows having a system that is either cloud-agnostic, that uses specifically selected cloud services, or that is even deployable locally. Thanks to the use of cloud computing services, the implemented system is characterized by high availability, scalability, and the possibility of exchanging data between medical institutions, which enables the improvement in the quality of medical processes for the whole Polish population.

Gender harmony: improved standards to support affirmative care of gender-marginalized people through inclusive gender and sex representation.

ObjectiveAccurate representation of clinical sex and gender identity in interoperable clinical systems is a major challenge for organizations intent on improving outcomes for sex- and gender-marginalized people. Improved data collection has been hindered by the historical approach that presumed a single, often binary, datum was sufficient. We describe the Health Level Seven International (HL7) Gender Harmony logical model that proposes an improved approach.Materials and MethodsThe proposed solution was developed via an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-certified collaborative balloted process. As an HL7 Informative Document, it is an HL7 International-balloted consensus on the subject of representing sex and representing gender in clinical systems based on work of the gender harmony project led by the HL7 Vocabulary Work Group.ResultsThe Gender Harmony Model is a logical model that provides a standardized approach that is both backwards-compatible and an improvement to the meaningful capture of gender identity, recorded sex or recorded gender, a sex for clinical use, the name to use, and pronouns that are affirmative and inclusive of gender-marginalized people.ConclusionMost clinical systems and current standards in health care do not meaningfully address, nor do they consistently represent, sex and gender diversity, which has impeded interoperability and led to suboptimal health care. The Gender Harmony Project was formed to create more inclusive health information exchange standards to enable a safer, higher-quality, and embracing healthcare experience. The Gender Harmony Model provides the informative guidance for standards developers to implement a more thorough technical design that improves the narrow binary design used in many legacy clinical systems.

Management of Metadata Types in Basic Cardiological Research.

Ensuring scientific reproducibility and compliance with documentation guidelines of funding bodies and journals is a topic of greatly increasing importance in biomedical research. Failure to comply, or unawareness of documentation standards can have adverse effects on the translation of research into patient treatments, as well as economic implications. In the context of the German Research Foundation-funded collaborative research center (CRC) 1002, an IT-infrastructure sub-project was designed. Its goal has been to establish standardized metadata documentation and information exchange benefitting the participating research groups with minimal additional documentation efforts. Implementation of the self-developed menoci-based research data platform (RDP) was driven by close communication and collaboration with researchers as early adopters and experts. Requirements analysis and concept development involved in person observation of experimental procedures, interviews and collaboration with researchers and experts, as well as the investigation of available and applicable metadata standards and tools. The Drupal-based RDP features distinct modules for the different documented data and workflow types, and both the development and the types of collected metadata were continuously reviewed and evaluated with the early adopters. The menoci-based RDP allows for standardized documentation, sharing and cross-referencing of different data types, workflows, and scientific publications. Different modules have been implemented for specific data types and workflows, allowing for the enrichment of entries with specific metadata and linking to further relevant entries in different modules. Taking the workflows and datasets of the frequently involved experimental service projects as a starting point for (meta-)data types to overcome irreproducibility of research data, results in increased benefits for researchers with minimized efforts. While the menoci-based RDP with its data models and metadata schema was originally developed in a cardiological context, it has been implemented and extended to other consortia at GÃűttingen Campus and beyond in different life science research areas.

Does Ecuador Comply with International Tax Information Exchange Standards Required to Apply the Multilateral Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters?

The exchange of tax information is essential to prevent fraud and tax evasion. Accordingly, states and international organizations have developed international conventions regarding the exchange of tax information. One example is the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Some States, including Ecuador, have signed and ratified this Convention. However, it is unclear whether Ecuador currently meets almost all Convention's requirements.In this article, I investigated the Ecuadorian regulations and showed that Ecuador complies with most of the Convention’s standards. However, Ecuador does not have a specific comprehensive law that regulates information exchange. Therefore, Ecuador should develop policies and norms that exclusively regulate tax information exchange to facilitate practical information exchanging with other tax authorities.

Human-centered development of an electronic health record-embedded, interactive information visualization in the emergency department using fast healthcare interoperability resources.

Develop and evaluate an interactive information visualization embedded within the electronic health record (EHR) by following human-centered design (HCD) processes and leveraging modern health information exchange standards. We applied an HCD process to develop a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) application that displays a patient's asthma history to clinicians in a pediatric emergency department. We performed a preimplementation comparative system evaluation to measure time on task, number of screens, information retrieval accuracy, cognitive load, user satisfaction, and perceived utility and usefulness. Application usage and system functionality were assessed using application logs and a postimplementation survey of end users. Usability testing of the Asthma Timeline Application demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in time on task (P < .001), number of screens (P < .001), and cognitive load (P < .001) for clinicians when compared to base EHR functionality. Postimplementation evaluation demonstrated reliable functionality and high user satisfaction. Following HCD processes to develop an application in the context of clinical operations/quality improvement is feasible. Our work also highlights the potential benefits and challenges associated with using internationally recognized data exchange standards as currently implemented. Compared to standard EHR functionality, our visualization increased clinician efficiency when reviewing the charts of pediatric asthma patients. Application development efforts in an operational context should leverage existing health information exchange standards, such as FHIR, and evidence-based mixed methods approaches.

Understanding the positive outcomes of discharge planning interventions for older adults hospitalized following a fall: a realist synthesis

BackgroundOlder adults hospitalized following a fall often encounter preventable adverse events when transitioning from hospital to home. Discharge planning interventions developed to prevent these events do not all produce the expected effects to the same extent. This realist synthesis aimed to better understand when, where, for whom, why and how the components of these interventions produce positive outcomes.MethodsNine indexed databases were searched to identify scientific papers and grey literature on discharge planning interventions for older adults (65+) hospitalized following a fall. Manual searches were also conducted. Documents were selected based on relevance and rigor. Two reviewers extracted and compiled data regarding intervention components, contextual factors, underlying mechanisms and positive outcomes. Preliminary theories were then formulated based on an iterative synthesis process.ResultsTwenty-one documents were included in the synthesis. Four Intervention-Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations were developed as preliminary theories, based on the following intervention components: 1) Increase two-way communication between healthcare providers and patients/caregivers using a family-centered approach; 2) Foster interprofessional communication within and across healthcare settings through both standardized and unofficial information exchange; 3) Provide patients/caregivers with individually tailored fall prevention education; and 4) Designate a coordinator to manage discharge planning. These components should be implemented from patient admission to return home and be supported at the organizational level (contexts) to trigger knowledge, understanding and trust of patients/caregivers, adjusted expectations, reduced family stress, and sustained engagement of families and professionals (mechanisms). These optimal conditions improve patient satisfaction, recovery, functional status and continuity of care, and reduce hospital readmissions and fall risk (outcomes).ConclusionsSince transitions are critical points with potential communication gaps, coordinated interventions are vital to support a safe return home for older adults hospitalized following a fall. Considering the organizational challenges, simple tools such as pictograms and drawings, combined with computer-based communication channels, may optimize discharge interventions based on frail patients’ needs, habits and values.Empirically testing our preliminary theories will help to develop effective interventions throughout the continuum of transitional care to enhance patients’ health and reduce the economic burden of avoidable care.

Implementation of Resilient Self-Healing Microgrids with IEC 61850-Based Communications

Due to the high penetration of distributed energy resources (DER) and emerging DER interconnection and interoperability requirements, fast and standardized information exchange is essential for stable, resilient, and reliable operations in microgrids. This paper proposes fast fault detection, isolation, and restoration (F-FDIR) for microgrid application with the IEC 61850 Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) communication considering the communication/system failure. GOOSE provides a mechanism for lightweight low latency peer-to-peer data exchange between devices, which reduces the restoration time compared to conventional client-server communication paradigm. The proposed mitigation method for the communication/system failure can find an available restoration scenario and reduce the overall process time. Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testbed is designed and implemented with real time digital simulator, microgrid control system, and protection and control intelligent electric devices (IEDs) for the validation. The experimental results show that the proposed F-FDIR and IEC 61850 models can enhance the reliability and interoperability of the microgrid operation and enable self-healing microgrids.

Ontology Modelling and Standardized Information Exchange with Content Delivery Applications in Technical Communication

Ontologies are a technology recently used in technical communication (TC) to model information into a multidimensional net. They expand the modelling by taxonomy of metadata in TC. Any kind of relation between multiple classes and instances can be established. These ontologies can appear in the form of semantic correlation rules (SCR), which represent the connection between the metadata of the objects. SCR are used in connection with component content management systems (CCMS), semantic modelling systems (SMS) and content delivery portals (CDP) to deliver the appropriate amount of content in a more precise manner to the end user. In general, Ontology tools, CCMS and CDP are not based on the same ecosystem and therefore, they do not always work together effortlessly. A solution to this problem are exchange formats like the intelligent information Request and Delivery Standard (iiRDS), which enable a standardized information exchange between supported systems. Another solution would be compound information systems (CIS) like ONTOLIS, which combine a CCMS, CDP and SMS all in one. This paper aims to investigate the effect of SCR in the CDP of a CIS like ONTOLIS and to evaluate the use of exchange formats like iiRDS.

Concept and Architecture for Information Exchange between Digital Twins of the Product (CPS) and the Production System (CPPS)

The Digital Twin concept and CPS- and IIoT-based approaches are increasingly important topics concerning future Industry 4.0 architectures. They offer high potential for dynamical aspects in intelligent production planning and control as well as part traceability and documentation. Standardized information exchange is an upcoming requirement among the whole supply chain. This paper presents a concept for a Digital Twin architecture based on motor production in the automotive industry. The key aspect is an information exchange structure for Digital Twins of products and production systems that are combined using principles of Dynamic Aggregation.

Generic Attribute Scoring for Information Decay in Threat Information Sharing Platform

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) has gained massive attention to collect hidden knowledge for a better understanding of the various cyber-attacks and eventually paving the way for predicting the future of such attacks. The information exchange and collaborative sharing through different platforms have a significant contribution towards a global solution. While CTI and the information exchange can help a lot in focusing and prioritizing on the use of the large volume of complex information among different organizations, there exists a great challenge ineffective processing of large count of different Indicators of Threat (IoT) which appear regularly, and that can be solved only through a collaborative approach. Collaborative approach and intelligence sharing have become the mandatory element in the entire world of processing the threats. In order to covet the complete needs of having a definite standard of information exchange, various initiatives have been taken in means of threat information sharing platforms like MISP and formats such as SITX. This paper proposes a scoring model to address information decay, which is shared within TISP. The scoring model is implemented, taking the use case of detecting the Threat Indicators in a phishing data network. The proposed method calculates the rate of decay of an attribute through which the early entries are removed.