True Integration Research Articles

Intranet Meets Hospital Information Systems: The Solution to the Integration Problem?

Based on the results of an extensive market analysis and technology assessment, this paper summarizes the state of the art in web technology and compares it with the needs of integration in hospital information systems. Web technology and intranet have evolved to a core technology for distributed computing and distributed information systems. The advantage of platform independent distribution of information has led to euphoric visions of future integrated systems. However, true integration takes more than transparent access to heterogeneous information sources. To overcome the essential problems related to integration of autonomous systems it is important to find a common ontological basis for future component based systems.

“Managing” Interdisciplinary Materials Research at a University: Memoirs of an MRL Director

The virtues of interdisciplinarity are more often praised than practiced. The reasons are not difficult to identify. People from different disciplines must integrate a bit, loosening their individual departmental or disciplinary identities, and be willing to share their knowledge, facilities, and resources for commonly perceived objectives. Materials research is a wonderful example for interdisciplinarity. The tent is large and promising and beckons scientists and engineers from practically all areas of knowledge. MRS Bulletin represents this very quest. Despite the obvious attractions, universities and research laboratories have not been very successful in building truly interdisciplinary institutions. Many university departments have materials research only in name, but remain predominantly metallurgy-, chemistry-, chemical engineering-, or ceramics-oriented, the disciplines from where the new departments came into being, and the synergy that a true integration would unleash is absent. There are only a few examples of institutions where the pooling of knowledge and resources have succeeded and many are in the United States. This may not indeed be accidental as the United States still thrives by experimenting and institutions are also not that old to become the guardians of tradition. The University of Illinois is an example where materials research is perceived and practiced as a truly integrated discipline. In the following article, H.K. Birnbaum, who was director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory for over a decade, describes his experience in heading this institution.

Theoretical study of lesion detectability of MAP reconstruction using computer observers.

The low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in emission data has stimulated the development of statistical image reconstruction methods based on the maximum a posteriori (MAP) principle. Experimental examples have shown that statistical methods improve image quality compared to the conventional filtered backprojection (FBP) method. However, these results depend on isolated data sets. Here we study the lesion detectability of MAP reconstruction theoretically, using computer observers. These theoretical results can be applied to different object structures. They show that for a quadratic smoothing prior, the lesion detectability using the prewhitening observer is independent of the smoothing parameter and the neighborhood of the prior, while the nonprewhitening observer exhibits an optimum smoothing point. We also compare the results to those of FBP reconstruction. The comparison shows that for ideal positron emission tomography (PET) systems (where data are true line integrals of the tracer distribution) the MAP reconstruction has a higher SNR for lesion detection than FBP reconstruction due to the modeling of the Poisson noise. For realistic systems, MAP reconstruction further benefits from accurately modeling the physical photon detection process in PET.

Les politiques volontaristes d'éradication de l'habitat insalubre et précaire à l'île de la Réunion de 1946 à nos jours

The Determined Policies of Eradicating Insanitary and Run-Down Housing in the Island of Reunion from 1946 to Our day. Eliminating the forms of run-down housing in Reunion Island is a basic task to which the Public Authorities have vowed themselves since the departementalization of the territory, which was decided in 1946. The purpose of this article is to disclose the results of the efforts accomplished over the past forty years in spite of the strong population growth and the continued rural exodus. The author points out that the present tendancy is to go beyond the traditional programs, aiming above all to give better homes to people, and stressing a growing interest in achieving a true integration of the new population groups as regards collective life in city quarters.

Hypervideo on the Web: Models and Techniques for Video Integration

Hypermedia has proven to be a powerful way to structure and interact with multimedia information. In existing hypermedia frameworks, and particularly on the Web, different media types can be integrated in the same hyper document. Given its unique characteristics, true integration of video requires the definition of a more powerful model, denning the semantic of linking videos and other media, and taking into account its spatial and temporal properties. This paper presents the issues involved with providing hypervideo support on the Web. It reviews related work to derive the requirements for such support. These inform the definition of a hypervideo model, based on the Web hypermedia model, capturing video-specific characteristics. In particular, navigation concepts need to be revised in this richer and more complex context. The notion of link awareness is introduced, and several types denned, to help navigation in hypervideo. To support this model, extensions were made to HTML and tools were developed as extensions to existing Web tools, thus maintaining compatibility with existing documents and Web browsers. Some examples are shown to illustrate its functionality. The system is being used and validated in a project, on interactive multimedia for open and distance learning, where video plays a central role.

INTEGRATION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN EVOLVING REALITY IN PERSONALITY DISORDER

ABSTRACT Psychotherapy continues to be bedevilled by ideological schisms with practitioners apparently ignoring alternative conceptualizations and potentially superior interventions. However, I argue here that there is evidence of a rapprochement, both in theory and in practice, between cognitive therapy and psychoanalytic therapy, especially within the domain of personality disorder, which may lead to the development of integrative psychotherapy. Cognitive therapy has begun to encompass an interpersonal approach within its theoretical base. Similarly, psychoanalytic therapy increasingly uses an interpersonal formulation of the process of therapy. The therapeutic alliance is emphasized equally and process research suggests that interventions, when given by experienced practitioners, are not as dissimilar as‘brand‐named’ therapies imply. Continued refinement of process psychotherapy research could lead to true integration of efficacious therapeutic interventions. But translating research findings into practice will necessitate psychotherapists opening themselves up to each others’ ideas.

The Tower of Babel: communication and medicine: An essay on medical education and complementary-alternative medicine.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is constantly gaining in popularity. 2-6 Despite its widespread use, valid concerns have been raised regarding the integration of CAM into the health care system.7 Certainly, the gap between allopathy and CAM is very substantive. It pertains to methodology and rigorous applications of scientific standards of evidence, among other issues, as well as to the meaning and context of illness and health. At present, it remains unclear (1) whether a true integration of conventional and unconventional therapies is even possible, (2) what this integration would look like, and (3) whether we are ready for the new era of medicine that would then result. 8-10

An efficient algorithm for searching implicit AND/OR graphs with cycles

We present an efficient AO ∗ -like algorithm that handles cyclic graphs without neither unfolding the cycles nor looping through them. Its top-down search strategy is based on Mahanti and Bagchi's CF [J. ACM 32 (1985) 28], whereas its bottom-up revision process is inspired in Chakrabarti's REV ∗ [Artificial Intelligence 65 (1994) 329]. However, important modifications have been introduced in both algorithms to attain a true integration and gain efficiency. Proofs of correctness and completeness are included. Up to our knowledge, the resulting algorithm—called CFC REV ∗ —is the most efficient one available for this problem.

The Impact of an Integrated Solutions Philosophy on Control Systems at Papelera del Plata Paper Mill

Recently, La Papelera del Plata implemented the Paper Machine IT project in zarate, Buenos Aires. The integration of control system with supervisory sensor based systems, actuator systems, PLC systems and drives was considered the most important. True system integration requires system level interoperability. ABB has achieved this by offering a wide range of pulp & paper solutions built upon a common system platform.This paper describes how this project was executed and presents the results achieved by La Papelera del Plata paper mill through the application of integrated system solutions, on the Advant Open Control System (OCS) with Master software foundation.

Farming options for The Netherlands explored by multi-objective modelling

Intensive agriculture in The Netherlands has a price in the form of environmental degradation and the diminution of nature and landscape values. A reorientation of farming is needed to find a new balance between economic goals and rural employment, and care for clean water and air, animal well-being, safe food, and the preservation of soil, landscape and biodiversity. The search for farm systems that meet such multiple goals requires a systematic combination of (a) agrotechnical, agroecological and agroeconomic knowledge, with (b) the stakeholders’ joint agreement on normative objectives, to arrive at conceptual new designs followed by (c) empirical work to test, adapt and refine these under real commercial farming conditions. In this paper explorative modelling at the whole farm level is presented as a method that effectively integrates component knowledge at crop or animal level, and outlines the consequences of particular choices on scientific grounds. This enables quantitative consideration of a broad spectrum of alternative farming systems, including very innovative and risky ones, before empirical work starts. It thus contributes to a transparent learning and development process needed to arrive at farm concepts acceptable to both entrepreneurs and society. Three case studies are presented to illustrate the method: dairy farming on sandy soils; highly intensified flower bulb industry in sensitive areas in the western Netherlands; and integrated arable farming. Trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives were assessed in all three cases, as well as virtual farm configurations that best satisfy specified priority settings of objectives. In two of the three cases the mutual reinforcement and true integration of modelling and on-farm empirical research appeared difficult, but for obvious reasons. Only in the flower bulb case was the explorative approach utilized to its full potential by involving a broad platform of stakeholders. The other two case studies lacked such formalised platforms and their impact remained limited. Three critical success factors for explorative modelling are identified: to cover a well-differentiated spectrum of possible production technologies; early timing of modelling work relative to empirical farm prototyping; and involvement of stakeholders throughout.

Organizing for Effective Marketing Communications in Higher Education: Restructuring for Your Competitive Edge in Marketing

ABSTRACT This paper posits that the structures, policies, and procedures of organizations in higher education and marketing today are archaic and do not adequately address the challenges and problems with solutions on a timely basis. The answer lies not in expanding resources, but rather through solutions than can be found by clearly and precisely integrating the institution's communications and marketing goals with its strategic and academic goals. The successful marketing structure will support the institutional profit centers, and more specifically, will focus on its primary profit center: student recruitment and retention. Effective market and communications plans, and resulting strategies, can be best accomplished through a task force concept that melds the capability to create and implement plans that effectively respond to those opportunities identified through an integrated marketing effort. The desired net result is the employment of all the resources and assets from development, alumni relations, communications, and admissions in a synergistic way that introduces and reinforces the institution's image in those key areas. Marketing and communications are not the central purposes of an organization; but they are critical functions and, as such, cannot be, as is done in many colleges today, relegated to the lowest rung of the organizational ladder. The process of restructuring and rebuilding can be successfully facilitated using techniques such as Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) that focus on reforming thinking and constituting new tasks. However, these tools and techniques can provide effective change only if the parties involved agree that change is required and can be achieved only through revolution, rather than evolution. While true integration is a lofty goal, it is critical in today's noisy marketplace because the more integrated and consistent an institution's marketing and communications activities are, the more likely it is to realize significant gains in its visibility and reputation.

Cancer Diagnostics Integrated With Therapeutics: A Comprehensive Approach to Managing the Disease.

Cancer Diagnostics Integrated With Therapeutics: A Comprehensive Approach to Managing the Disease.

Detectability of Gaussian noise by humans and simulated observers: A stimulus-level correlation analysis

The correlation between ratings made by humans and simulated observers in detecting the same acoustic stimuli was used to estimate the detection (critical) bandwidth, and the form of rectification, temporal integration, and sampling strategy used by the human hearing system. By using small-WT Gaussian noise, bandwidth (W) and duration (T<th>) were manipulated independently, resulting in 18 different combinations of bandwidth and duration for WT=1, 2, and 4. The pattern of correlation, as properties of the simulated observer were systematically varied, indicated the best correlated observer. This tended to be the full-linear observer, consisting of a bandpass filter (which was generally wider than the bandwidth of the signal), full-wave rectifier, and a full (true) integrator. The full-linear observer was slightly, but consistently, better at describing human performance than the energy or envelope detector.

Township recreation patterns and the new order in South Africa

A successful and sustainable recreation system is dependent on local people's awareness and participation levels, as well as on the government's capacity to provide facilities. Recreation in many African (black) communities in South Africa has been plagued by apartheid‐related misfortunes. However, since the democratic changes starting in 1994, there has been a turn for the better. A conceptual understanding of community views is therefore important for the effective planning and development of recreation in South Africa. A study of the emerging recreation patterns of African residents in five townships in KwaZulu‐Natal was conducted. Findings indicate that there was a tendency to favour participation in more pleasure and entertainment‐related recreation pursuits as opposed to community‐based and nature‐based recreation activities. Township residents perceived issues of local empowerment and socio‐economic benefit as far more important than environmental sustainability. In addition, while most barriers to the integration of formerly white‐only recreation facilities in major towns have been eliminated, true social integration has yet to be achieved. The study concludes that local communities would benefit economically and environmentally from improved recreation delivery systems.

DEFORMED HARMONIC OSCILLATOR ALGEBRAS DEFINED BY THEIR BARGMANN REPRESENTATIONS

Deformed Harmonic Oscillator Algebras are generated by four operators, two mutually adjoint a and a†, and two self-adjoint N and the unity 1 such as: [Formula: see text] The Bargmann Hilbert space is defined as a space of functions, holomorphic in a ring of the complex plane, equipped with a scalar product involving a true integral. In a Bargmann representation, the operators of a Deformed Harmonic Oscillator Algebra act on a Bargmann Hilbert space and the creation (or the annihilation operator) is the multiplication by z. We discuss the conditions of existence of Deformed Harmonic Oscillator Algebras assumed to admit a given Bargmann representation.

Testing the problem syndrome among young males in boot camp: Use of theoretical elaboration with reciprocal relationships

The study discussed in this article is the first theoretical study of young people entering boot camp. The sample in the present study consisted of 326 males, ages 15 to 24, in the only boot camp in Arkansas. The purpose of the study was to test the problem syndrome argument by factor analysis of items measuring drug use, property crimes, and crimes against people to see if they loaded onto one factor or syndrome as proposed by the argument and examination of the same theoretical model to determine if it sufficed to explain these three types of problem behavior as assumed in the argument. The model consists of reciprocal relationships and represents an elaboration of social control theory with elements from social learning theory. Key words: boot camp; crimes against persons; drug use; property crimes Two recent national surveys, data from the 1995 Household Survey on Drug Use (Gfroerer, 1996) and the Monitoring the Future Study (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 1996) show a significant increase in illicit drug use among young people in this country. The sharp rise in prevalence rates of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogen, and methamphetamine use are of particular concern to many professionals because of the aversive outcomes associated with these drugs such as addiction, crime, spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and death (Akers, 1992; Decker & Rosenfeld, 1992; Leavitt, 1995; Lurigio & Davis, 1992; Stimmel, 1993). Despite the magnitude of youthful drug use and associated problems, the precise nature and sequence of processes leading to use and abuse of drugs remains uncertain (Akers, 1992; Leavitt, 1995). Yet effective intervention relies on theory as a guide for what motivations are most likely to lead to behavioral change (Andrews & Bonta, 1994). In fact, evidence indicates that programs based on useful theory are five times more effective than are those lacking an underlying theoretical framework (Izzo & Ross, 1990). Although drug users are entering boot camps in increasing numbers because of their high proportion among youths who qualify for boot camp programs, a thorough review of the literature indicates that there are no theoretical studies of people entering boot camps (Cronin, 1994; Zhang, 1998). The present investigation is the first theoretical study of people in boot camp, and it is relevant to program design in confirming what factors influence drug-using, criminal lifestyles. HYPOTHESIZED THEORETICAL MODEL The hypothesized model (see Figure 1) is constructed on the basis of conceptualizations in related literature on youthful offenders (see reviews, Akers, 1992, 1997; Bartol & Bartol, 1998; Elliott, Huizinga & Ageton, 1985; Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989; Walters, 1994) and on experiential knowledge of boot camps. (I have served as a participatory consultant and have carried out several research projects at this boot camp for about five years. The conceptualization also comes from extensive discussions with other professionals working in this boot camp for many years.) [Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The present study examines elements of control (Durkheim, 1897/1951; Hirschi, 1969) and social learning (Akers, 1992, 1997) theories thought to be the most useful to conceptual understanding and to program design. Also, reviews of the literature on boot camps suggest that these theories are likely to be the most useful to boot camp programs (Benda & Toombs, 1997; Benda, Toombs, & Whiteside, 1996; Cronin, 1994; Zhang, 1998). The model is constructed using theoretical elaboration (Thornberry, 1989) instead of attempting to fully integrate (see Akers, 1997) two theories that rest on contradictory assumptions about motivations for drug use and crime (see Agnew, 1995). A true integration of these theories would require resolution of differences in assumptions (see Hirschi, 1979), whereas theoretical elaboration requires that propositions of the hypothesized model be consistent (Thornberry, 1989). …

Integrating Complementary Health Practices Into Managed Care

Complementary practice going mainstream? Many health care plans are proving it as they acknowledge the consumer interest in complementary practices and know that in this consumer-driven health care marketplace they must meet the needs of their current and future members. The focus needs to be on complementary, not alternative, and for true integration to happen a lot of hurdles still need to be overcome. One of the key tenets of complementary practice is prevention. The health care system is beginning to reshape benefit packages and membership offerings to meet the consumer need for wider health care choices. This article explains the beginnings of the integration of complementary health practices into managed care. We are headed for revolutionary changes in the use of complemen tary practices as the consumer demands a health care system where East meets West! This article provides resources so readers can access the data and experience of others as we move to widen the boundaries of the health care s...

CONSIDERATIONS IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

It is crucial to the development of speech, language, academic, social, and vocational skills that children with a hearing loss be identified as early as possible with an intervention plan developed that encourages family inclusion and participation. Research indicates that early intervention is key to speech intelligibility and the development of age-appropriate language skills. Bess and colleagues found that without appropriate intervention, children with minimal hearing loss experience significant academic delay and social-emotional problems by the third grade. Because most children with an educationally significant hearing loss are in the mainstream of regular education, the best hope for true integration and inclusion is to implement a proactive management plan that prevents failure with its lifelong consequences.

From Bargmann representations to Deformed Harmonic Oscillator Algebras

Deformed Harmonic Oscillator Algebras (DHOA) are generated by four operators: two mutually adjoint a and a†, self-adjoint N, and the unity 1. The Bargmann-Hilbert space is defined as a space of functions, holomorphic in a ring of the complex plane, equipped with a scalar product involving a true integral. In a Bargmann representation, the operators of DHOA act on a Bargmann-Hilbert space, and the creation (or the annihilation operator) is the multiplication by z. We discuss conditions for the existence of DHOA assumed to admit a given Bargmann representation.

Positron Emission Tomography and Radioimmunotargeting: General Aspects

To optimize radioimmunotherapy, in vivo information on individual patients, such as radionuclide uptake, kinetics, metabolic patterns and optimal administration methods, is important. An overriding problem is to determine accurately the absorbed dose in the target organ as well as critical organs. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a superior technique to quantify regional kinetics in vivo with a spatial resolution better than 1 cm3 and a temporal resolution better than 10 s. However, target molecules often have distribution times of several hours to days. Conventional PET nuclides are not applicable and alternative positron-emitting nuclides with matching half-lives and with suitable labelling properties are thus necessary. Over many years we have systematically developed convenient production methods and labelling techniques of suitable positron nuclides, such as 110In(T½=1.15 h), 86Y(T½=14 h), 76Br(T½=16 h) and 124I(T½=4 days). 'Dose planning' can be done, for example, with 86Y- or 124I-labelled ligands before therapy, and 90Y- and 131I-labelled analogues and double-labelling, e.g. with a 86Y/90Y-labelled ligand, can be used to determine the true radioactivity integral from a pure beta-emitting nuclide. The usefulness of these techniques was demonstrated in animal and patient studies by halogen-labelled MAbs and EGF-dextran conjugates and peptides chelated with metal ions.