Telemedicine in Australia. Recent developments

There have been a number of important developments in Australia in the area of telemedicine. At the national level, the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs has been conducting the Inquiry into Health Information Management and Telemedicine. The Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council has supported the establishment of a working party convened by the South Australian Health Commission to prepare a detailed report on issues relating to telemedicine. State governments have begun a number of telemedicine projects, including major initiatives in New South Wales and Victoria and the extensive development of telepsychiatry services in Queensland. Research activities in high-speed image transmission have been undertaken by the Australian Computing and Communications Institute and Telstra, and by the Australian Navy. The matter of the funding of both capital and recurrent costs of telemedicine services has not been resolved, and issues of security and privacy of medical information are subject to discussion. The use of the Internet as a universal communications medium may provide opportunities for the expansion of telemedicine services, particularly in the area of continuing medical education. A need has been recognized for the coordinated evaluation of telemedicine services as cost-benefit considerations are seen to be very important.

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Improving medical student recruitment to neurosurgery

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/2019.5.jns1987 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 133 (3) ◽

pp. 848-854 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel Lubelski ◽

Roy Xiao ◽

Debraj Mukherjee ◽

William W. Ashley ◽

Timothy Witham ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Interest Group ◽

National Level ◽

Program Directors ◽

Student Recruitment ◽

Research Opportunities ◽

Research Activities ◽

Lecture Series ◽

Mentorship Programs

OBJECTIVENeurosurgery seeks to attract the best and brightest medical students; however, there is often a lack of early exposure to the field, among other possible barriers. The authors sought to identify successful practices that can be implemented to improve medical student recruitment to neurosurgery.METHODSUnited States neurosurgery residency program directors were surveyed to determine the number of medical student rotators and medical students matching into a neurosurgery residency from their programs between 2010 and 2016. Program directors were asked about the ways their respective institutions integrated medical students into departmental clinical and research activities.RESULTSComplete responses were received from 30/110 institutions. Fifty-two percent of the institutions had neurosurgery didactic lectures for 1st- and 2nd-year medical students (MS1/2), and 87% had didactics for MS3/4. Seventy-seven percent of departments had a neurosurgery interest group, which was the most common method used to integrate medical students into the department. Other forms of outreach included formal mentorship programs (53%), lecture series (57%), and neurosurgery anatomy labs (40%). Seventy-three percent of programs provided research opportunities to medical students, and 57% indicated that the schools had a formal research requirement. On average, 3 medical students did a rotation in each neurosurgery department and 1 matched into neurosurgery each year. However, there was substantial variability among programs. Over the 2010–2016 period, the responding institutions matched as many as 4% of the graduating class into neurosurgery per year, whereas others matched 0%–1%. Departments that matched a greater (≥ 1% per year) number of medical students into neurosurgery were significantly more likely to have a neurosurgery interest group and formal research requirements. A greater percentage of high-matching programs had neurosurgery mentorship programs, lecture series, and cadaver training opportunities compared to the other institutions.CONCLUSIONSIn recent decades, the number of applicants to neurosurgery has decreased. A major deterrent may be the delayed exposure of medical students to neurosurgery. Institutions with early preclinical exposure, active neurosurgery interest groups, research opportunities, and strong mentorship recruit and match more students into neurosurgery. Implementing such initiatives on a national level may increase the number of highly qualified medical students pursuing neurosurgery.

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Differential Image Compression for Telemedicine: A Novel Approach

Pakistan Journal of Engineering Technology & Science ◽

10.22555/pjets.v1i1.137 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Adnan Alam Khan ◽

Dr. Asadullah Shah ◽

Saghir Muhammad

Keyword(s):

Image Compression ◽

Medical Information ◽

Emerging Technologies ◽

Medical Images ◽

Image Transmission ◽

Medical Doctors ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

Compression Method ◽

Paramedical Staff ◽

Novel Approach

Telemedicine is one of the most emerging technologies of applied medical sciences. Medical information related to patients is transmitted and stored for references and consultations. Medical images occupy huge space; in order to transmit these images may delay the process of image transmission in critical times. Image compression techniques provide a better solution to combat bandwidth scarcity problems, and transmit same image in a much lower bandwidth requirements, more faster and at the same time maintain quality. In this paper a differential image compression method is developed in which medical images are taken from a wounded patient and are compressed to reduce the bit rate of these images. Results indicate that on average 25% compression on images is achieved with 3.5 MOS taken from medical doctors and other paramedical staff the ultimately user of the images.

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Anthropological analysis on recent covid-19 infection in Italy

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.1310 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

V A Sironi ◽

M A Riva

Keyword(s):

Medical Information ◽

National Level ◽

The Elderly ◽

Point Of View ◽

Cognitive Distortion ◽

Psychological Reactions ◽

Foreign Countries ◽

The Social ◽

Informative Role ◽

Globalized World

Abstract The recent epidemic caused by the Covid-19 virus, which originated in China and then spread rapidly, can rightly be defined as the real 'first' epidemic in the social era. In an increasingly globalized world other recent epidemics (but more circumscribed, even if severely more lethal, such as Ebola and Sars) have been experienced with less media and emotional involvement, while the recent epidemic due to the new coronavirus has generated deserving reactions of analysis from an anthropological and social point of view, rather than on a health aspect. In Italy the epidemic event provoked sometimes excessive and irrational psychological reactions (from an unjustified panic to an irresponsible underestimation) and a cognitive distortion on anthropological level (wrong perspective perception of the pathological event). It has also generated disproportionate social repercussions at national level (refusal of stay for subjects coming from the lands in which diseased people are present) and at international level (foreclosure of landing of Italian tourists in some foreign countries). There was also incorrect medical information (confusion between infected - asymptomatic and/or non-hospitalized paucisymptomatic -, real patients with important symptoms - hospitalized - and sometimes in need of intensive care, subjects - the elderly and carriers of other serious diseases - died not for but with the Covid-19 infection) generated and amplified also by the pounding informative role of the mass media and by the news (often inaccurate and generating fake-news) spread in real time through social media. Key messages Irrational reactions must be avoided. Correct medical information are indispensable.

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State e-Government Portals in Malaysia

International Journal of Electronic Government Research ◽

10.4018/jegr.2013040102 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 19-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aria Asadi Eskandar ◽

Murali Raman

Keyword(s):

Citizen Participation ◽

State Government ◽

National Level ◽

State Level ◽

Security And Privacy ◽

Review Of Literature ◽

Web Portal ◽

Government Service ◽

The Past ◽

Government Websites

Most of the international e-Government benchmarking studies have focused on national government websites such as portal of ministries at the national level. This paper examines the level of sophistication of e-Government websites for different states in Malaysia, as opposed to a national level assessment, both in terms of the breadth and depth of e-Government service offering. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge in relation to e-Government web portal assessment in two ways. First, studies pertaining to e-Government in Malaysia focus mainly on implementation issues at the Federal/National level– The authors examined State level implementation of e-Government services. Secondly, they used a predetermined instrument to assess the sophistication level of State government web portals, by consolidating different measurement items from our review of literature over the past ten years. The authors analyzed the website for a total of thirteen states in Malaysia, in relation to six different dimension measures of e-Government service offerings, as prescribed by literature. These six dimension measures are the extent of transparency, interactivity, usability and accessibility of the portal, citizen participation, security and privacy, and maturity level of services. A content analysis of the web portal was done, using a predetermined instrument developed based on our review of literature on this topic, in the past ten years. Their findings suggest that different State Governments in Malaysia demonstrate different levels of maturity in relation to the six dimensions measured.

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OPTIMISING ROAD LIGHTING TO REDUCE ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES

10.25039/x48.2021.op32 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

C.J. Robbins ◽

S. Fotios ◽

J. Uttley ◽

R. Rowe

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Light Level ◽

Traffic Crashes ◽

Road Traffic Crashes ◽

Road Lighting ◽

Road Users ◽

Ambient Light Level ◽

Vulnerable Road Users

Pedestrians and motorcyclists are vulnerable road users, being over represented in road traffic collisions (RTCs). One assumed benefit of road lighting is a reduction in RTCs after dark by countering the impairment to the visual detection of hazards that occur after dark. One way to optimise the use of road lighting is to light only those sections of road where light level, and hence visibility, is an important factor. The current study used change in ambient light level on RTCs to investigate those situations where improved vision is likely to have significant impact, and therefore the situations where road lighting is of better cost-benefit effectiveness. For both motorcyclist and pedestrian RTCs there was a significant increase in overall RTC risk in darkness compared to daylight, indicating that there may be an overall benefit of road lighting. While darkness was a particular detriment at junctions for motorcyclists and on high-speed roads for pedestrians, road lighting may not be effective mitigation in either case and therefore alternative ways of increasing conspicuity should be considered.

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Effect of Changing Match Format from Halves to Quarters on the Performance Characteristics of Male University Field Hockey Players

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21165490 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (16) ◽

pp. 5490

Author(s):

Elliot P. Lam ◽

Caroline D. Sunderland ◽

John G. Morris ◽

Laura-Anne M. Furlong ◽

Barry S. Mason ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

High Speed ◽

National Level ◽

Performance Characteristics ◽

Field Hockey ◽

Heart Rate Monitors ◽

Total Distance ◽

Random Intercept ◽

Hockey Players ◽

The Uk

The study examined whether the performance characteristics of male university field hockey players differed when the match format was 2 × 35 min halves compared to 2 × 2 × 17.5 min quarters. Thirty-five male university field hockey players (age 21.2 ± 3.0 years, height 1.81 ± 0.07 m, body mass 75.1 ± 8.9 kg), competing at national level in the UK, were monitored over 52 matches played across the 2018–2019 (2 × 35 min halves) and 2019–2020 (2 × 2 × 17.5 min quarters) seasons using 15 Hz Global Positioning System units and heart rate monitors. Total distance, high-speed running distance (≥15.5 km·h−1), accelerations (≥2 m·s−1), decelerations (≤−2 m·s−1), average heart rate and percentage of time spent at >85% of maximum heart rate were recorded during both match formats. Two-level random intercept hierarchal models (Match—level 1, Player—level 2) suggested that the change in format from 2 × 35 min halves (2018–2019 season) to 2 × 2 × 17.5 min quarters (2019–2020 season) resulted in a reduction in total distance and high-speed running distance completed during a match (by 221 m and 120 m, respectively, both p < 0.001). As no significant cross-level interactions were observed (between season and half), the change from 35 min halves to 17.5 min quarters did not attenuate the reduced physical performance evident during the second half of matches (total distance: −235 m less in second half; high-speed running distance: −70 m less in second half; both p < 0.001). Overall, the findings suggest that the change in match format did alter the performance characteristics of male university field hockey players, but the quarter format actually reduced the total distance and high-speed running distance completed during matches, and did not attenuate the reduction in performance seen during the second half of matches.

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Editorial: Thinking beyond the cost-benefit analysis: the wider impact of high-speed rail on local development

Belgeo ◽

10.4000/belgeo.18166 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marie Delaplace ◽

Frédéric Dobruszkes

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Cost Benefit Analysis ◽

Local Development ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Benefit Analysis ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

The Cost

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Phenomenon Identification and Ranking Exercise and a Review of Large-Scale Spray Modeling Technology

Heat Transfer: Volume 2 ◽

10.1115/ht2008-56371 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Alexander L. Brown ◽

Sam S. Yoon ◽

Richard A. Jepsen

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Large Scale ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Particle Surface ◽

Liquid Fuels ◽

Fire Propagation ◽

Research Activities ◽

Ranking Exercise ◽

Productive Research ◽

Multi Phase

We are engaged in efforts to model spray phenomena. Applications of principal interest include the high-speed impact of large vessels of fuel and the subsequent fire, fire suppression, solid propellant fires, pressurized pipe or tank rupture, and fire propagation for cascading liquid fuels. To help guide research and development efforts geared towards designing an appropriate spray modeling capability, a Phenomenon Identification and Ranking exercise was conducted. The summarized results of the exercise in tabular format, a Phenomenon Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT), are presented. The table forms the context for a textual literature review of the existing state of knowledge for modeling applications of interest. This exercise highlights some of the shortcomings in existing tools and knowledge, and suggests productive research activities that can help advance the modeling capabilities for the desired applications. Notable needs exist for research in high Weber number particle-surface impacts, particle collisions, multi-physics couplings, and low void fraction multi-phase coupling.

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Analysis of factors that influence the ICT adoption by SMEs in Colombia

Intangible Capital ◽

10.3926/ic.726 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 666 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Carlos Osorio-Gallego ◽

John Londoño-Metaute ◽

Esteban López-Zapata

Keyword(s):

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Empirical Work ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Security And Privacy ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Ict Adoption ◽

New Business ◽

Adoption Level ◽

The Impact

Purpose: The objective of this article is to analyze the factors that influence the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by SMEs in Colombia.Design/methodology: To prove empirically these hypotheses, we administered a questionnaire to a sample of 474 SMEs in Colombia regarding the adoption of ICT and independent variables identified in the literature. Then, we conducted a series of multiple regression models using the data we obtained.Findings: We developed a model that identifies a positive relation between new business opportunities that ICT offer and their adoption level. Likewise, this research identified that a lack of confidence in ICT's security and privacy, a perception of ICT cost-benefit unbalance have a negative impact on the implementation of these technologies.Research limitations/implications: This study has limitations that are inherent to cross-sectional research. These restrict the possibility of conducting dynamic analysis between independent and dependent variables. Likewise, the generalization of results is circumscribed to a geographical context and the type of enterprises surveyed.Practical implications: The results of this research provide valuable contributions to decision-making by SMEs' directors and to public policies that foster the implementation of ICT in SMEs based on an analysis of benefits and barriers found in this study.Originality/value: In view of a lack of empirical work that analyzes the implementation of technology in enterprises in emerging countries, this study provides a valuable contribution to the creation of knowledge when attempting to explain the implementation of ICT using a representative sample of SMEs in Colombia identifying the quantitative form of the impact of the benefits and barriers of these technologies.

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