Context-aware platforms consist of dynamic algorithms that take the context information into acco... more Context-aware platforms consist of dynamic algorithms that take the context information into account to adapt the behavior of the applications. The relevant context information is modeled in a context model. Recently, a trend has emerged towards capturing the context in an ontology, which formally models the concepts within a certain domain, their relations and properties. Although much research has been done on the subject, the adoption of
The fragmented and ever more specialized nature of today's railway systems makes it more and more... more The fragmented and ever more specialized nature of today's railway systems makes it more and more complex to operate. An increasing number of actors are involved in the operation of a railway service. Infrastructure management is being separated from the operational aspect. Apart from the traditional state-owned train operators, open access and private operators start using the same infrastructure as well. Additionally, an increasing number of information systems, such as for real-time passenger information and entertainment need to exchange information. Therefore, Information & Communication Technologies have an increasingly vital role to play in the operation of the railways. However, as the use of stand-alone information systems improves the efficient operation of a single railway stakeholder, due to the complex fragmented nature, there is a clear need to integrate and correlate the available
Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only ma... more Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only make calls with a button which is fixed to a wall of a room. Moreover, the system does not take into account various factors specific to a situation. In the future, there will be an evolution to a mobile button for each patient so that they can walk around freely and still make calls. The system would become person-oriented and the available context information should be taken into account to assign the correct nurse to a call. The aim of this research is (1) the design of a software platform that supports the transition to mobile and wireless nurse call buttons in hospitals and residential care and (2) the design of a sophisticated nurse call algorithm. This algorithm dynamically adapts to the situation at hand by taking the profile information of staff members and patients into account. Additionally, the priority of a call probabilistically depends on the risk factors, assigned to a patient. Methods: The ontology-based Nurse Call System (oNCS) was developed as an extension of a Context-Aware Service Platform. An ontology is used to manage the profile information. Rules implement the novel nurse call algorithm that takes all this information into account. Probabilistic reasoning algorithms are designed to determine the priority of a call based on the risk factors of the patient. Results: The oNCS system is evaluated through a prototype implementation and simulations, based on a detailed dataset obtained from Ghent University Hospital. The arrival times of nurses at the location of a call, the workload distribution of calls amongst nurses and the assignment of priorities to calls are compared for the oNCS system and the current, place-oriented nurse call system. Additionally, the performance of the system is discussed. Conclusions: The execution time of the nurse call algorithm is on average 50.333 ms. Moreover, the oNCS system significantly improves the assignment of nurses to calls. Calls generally have a nurse present faster and the workload-distribution amongst the nurses improves.
Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only ma... more Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only make calls with a button which is fixed to a wall of a room. Moreover, the system does not take into account various factors specific to a situation. In the future, there will be an evolution to a mobile button for each patient so that they can walk around freely and still make calls. The system would become person-oriented and the available context information should be taken into account to assign the correct nurse to a call. The aim of this research is (1) the design of a software platform that supports the transition to mobile and wireless nurse call buttons in hospitals and residential care and (2) the design of a sophisticated nurse call algorithm. This algorithm dynamically adapts to the situation at hand by taking the profile information of staff members and patients into account. Additionally, the priority of a call probabilistically depends on the risk factors, assigned to a patient.
International Journal of Web and Grid Services, 2008
Context information is becoming increasingly important in a world with more and more wireless dev... more Context information is becoming increasingly important in a world with more and more wireless devices that have to be in touch with the environment around them. In this paper, we focus on how this context information can be efficiently modelled by employing an ontology. This ontology can then be used by reasoning algorithms (e.g., Rules) which are based on this context information. This way, the algorithm is more sensitive to the varying conditions of the environment. This is illustrated with a use case which studies the transition from a place-oriented to a person-oriented nurse call system. The Context-aware Service Platform (CASP) context framework was extended to implement the use case. A web service interface was designed which allows the insertion or extraction of new information into the Knowledge Base. Finally, a simulation was set up to illustrate the advantages and the performance of the new person-oriented approach. He has authored or coauthored over 140 peer-reviewed papers and abstracts in international conference proceedings, journals and books about computational science and engineering, numerical analysis and computer science. His research interests include distributed scientific computing, machine learning and surrogate modelling of complex systems.
Context-aware platforms consist of dynamic algorithms that take the context information into acco... more Context-aware platforms consist of dynamic algorithms that take the context information into account to adapt the behavior of the applications. The relevant context information is modeled in a context model. Recently, a trend has emerged towards capturing the context in an ontology, which formally models the concepts within a certain domain, their relations and properties. Although much research has been done on the subject, the adoption of
The fragmented and ever more specialized nature of today's railway systems makes it more and more... more The fragmented and ever more specialized nature of today's railway systems makes it more and more complex to operate. An increasing number of actors are involved in the operation of a railway service. Infrastructure management is being separated from the operational aspect. Apart from the traditional state-owned train operators, open access and private operators start using the same infrastructure as well. Additionally, an increasing number of information systems, such as for real-time passenger information and entertainment need to exchange information. Therefore, Information & Communication Technologies have an increasingly vital role to play in the operation of the railways. However, as the use of stand-alone information systems improves the efficient operation of a single railway stakeholder, due to the complex fragmented nature, there is a clear need to integrate and correlate the available
Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only ma... more Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only make calls with a button which is fixed to a wall of a room. Moreover, the system does not take into account various factors specific to a situation. In the future, there will be an evolution to a mobile button for each patient so that they can walk around freely and still make calls. The system would become person-oriented and the available context information should be taken into account to assign the correct nurse to a call. The aim of this research is (1) the design of a software platform that supports the transition to mobile and wireless nurse call buttons in hospitals and residential care and (2) the design of a sophisticated nurse call algorithm. This algorithm dynamically adapts to the situation at hand by taking the profile information of staff members and patients into account. Additionally, the priority of a call probabilistically depends on the risk factors, assigned to a patient. Methods: The ontology-based Nurse Call System (oNCS) was developed as an extension of a Context-Aware Service Platform. An ontology is used to manage the profile information. Rules implement the novel nurse call algorithm that takes all this information into account. Probabilistic reasoning algorithms are designed to determine the priority of a call based on the risk factors of the patient. Results: The oNCS system is evaluated through a prototype implementation and simulations, based on a detailed dataset obtained from Ghent University Hospital. The arrival times of nurses at the location of a call, the workload distribution of calls amongst nurses and the assignment of priorities to calls are compared for the oNCS system and the current, place-oriented nurse call system. Additionally, the performance of the system is discussed. Conclusions: The execution time of the nurse call algorithm is on average 50.333 ms. Moreover, the oNCS system significantly improves the assignment of nurses to calls. Calls generally have a nurse present faster and the workload-distribution amongst the nurses improves.
Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only ma... more Background: The current, place-oriented nurse call systems are very static. A patient can only make calls with a button which is fixed to a wall of a room. Moreover, the system does not take into account various factors specific to a situation. In the future, there will be an evolution to a mobile button for each patient so that they can walk around freely and still make calls. The system would become person-oriented and the available context information should be taken into account to assign the correct nurse to a call. The aim of this research is (1) the design of a software platform that supports the transition to mobile and wireless nurse call buttons in hospitals and residential care and (2) the design of a sophisticated nurse call algorithm. This algorithm dynamically adapts to the situation at hand by taking the profile information of staff members and patients into account. Additionally, the priority of a call probabilistically depends on the risk factors, assigned to a patient.
International Journal of Web and Grid Services, 2008
Context information is becoming increasingly important in a world with more and more wireless dev... more Context information is becoming increasingly important in a world with more and more wireless devices that have to be in touch with the environment around them. In this paper, we focus on how this context information can be efficiently modelled by employing an ontology. This ontology can then be used by reasoning algorithms (e.g., Rules) which are based on this context information. This way, the algorithm is more sensitive to the varying conditions of the environment. This is illustrated with a use case which studies the transition from a place-oriented to a person-oriented nurse call system. The Context-aware Service Platform (CASP) context framework was extended to implement the use case. A web service interface was designed which allows the insertion or extraction of new information into the Knowledge Base. Finally, a simulation was set up to illustrate the advantages and the performance of the new person-oriented approach. He has authored or coauthored over 140 peer-reviewed papers and abstracts in international conference proceedings, journals and books about computational science and engineering, numerical analysis and computer science. His research interests include distributed scientific computing, machine learning and surrogate modelling of complex systems.
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Papers by Tom Dhaene