Seamless Integration: Standardisation across Multiple Local Settings

The pressure towards tighter or “seamless” integration of health information systems is a recurring issue with both practical and analytical relevance. It taps into a discourse in the IS literature in general and organisation and management science in particular. Unfortunately, the prevailing perception of integration in the IS literature is as a predominantly technical issue. The CSCW literature, however, is attentive to the socio-technical aspects of integration. Building on this – but supplemented with recent elaborations in science studies – we aim at exploring the unintended consequences of information systems integration. A user-led perspective implies emphasising the tailoring to local needs based on in-depth studies of the micro practices. We argue, however, that the condition for such an approach is radically undermined by politically motivated, regional changes towards integration with implicated standardisation. Enforcing order in the form of standards across multiple local settings, seemingly a prerequisite for tight integration, simultaneously produces disorder or additional work in other locations for other users. Empirically, our study is based on a large, ongoing integration effort at the University hospital of Northern Norway, specifically studying work practices and perceptions across multiple laboratories.     

A Chip for an Implantable Neural Stimulator

This paper describes a chip for a multichannel neural stimulator for functional electrical stimulation (FES). The purpose of FES is to restore muscular control in disabled patients. The chip performs all the signal processing required in an implanted neural stimulator. The power and digital data transmission to the stimulator passes through a 5 MHz inductive link. From the signals transmitted to the stimulator, the chip is able to generate charge-balanced current pulses with a controllable length up to 256 s and an amplitude up to 2 mA, for stimulation of nerve fibers. The quiescent current consumption of the chip is approx. 650 A at supply voltages of 6–12 V, and its size is 3.9×3.5 mm². It has 4 output channels for use in a multipolar cuff electrode.     

Factors affecting the static shear strength of the prosthetic stem–bone cement interface

Debonding of the stem–cement interface has been implicated in the initiation of failure of cemented femoral stems. The objective of this work was to examine some of the parameters which influence the interface static shear strength, including surface finish, cement type, pre-treatments and porosity. Surface finish was found to have the greatest effect on the interface strength. Increasing the surface roughness by a factor of 100 increases the interface shear strength by a factor of 20. However, increasing the surface roughness above a certain value was found to have no additional affect. This was due to failure in the cement itself rather than at the cement–stem interface. There were significant differences between some of the different cement types regarding the interface strength. Pre-heating the stem produced a six fold reduction in cement porosity at the stem–cement interface, however, resulting in only a minor influence on the static interface strength. Generally, no significant correlation was found between the cement porosity and the static interfacial shear strength.     

Cranes for Building Construction Projects

Cranes have come to symbolize building construction itself. They perform indispensable services in moving materials and components vertically and horizontally. Used since antiquity, their history is interrelated with the development of new power sources that replaced man and mule, first steam and later internal combustion, diesel, and electric engines. Mobile cranes can be rapidly deployed to lift heavy loads. New models with telescoping booms and all-terrain travel capability, compact urban machines, and even hybrids with tower cranes are beginning to replace the familiar lattice boom truck cranes. Mobile cranes have dominated the North American market, but a cultural change appears to be taking place toward tower cranes for building projects. Tower cranes, common in Europe for decades, are globally gaining in popularity with surging real estate developments. Ideal for dense urban environments and coming with a small footprint, they are available in a growing diversity of sizes and configurations. Sophisticated electronic controls and operator assistance devices are enhancing their safe and productive operation. While cranes occupy a central role on midrise and high-rise building projects, they operate in conjunction with other types of supporting equipment that are an essential part of the overall equipment array on today’s industrialized construction sites.     

A Review of 25 Years of CSCW Research in Healthcare: Contributions, Challenges and Future Agendas

CSCW as a field has been concerned since its early days with healthcare, studying how healthcare work is collaboratively and practically achieved and designing systems to support that work. Reviewing literature from the CSCW Journal and related conferences where CSCW work is published, we reflect on the contributions that have emerged from this work. The analysis illustrates a rich range of concepts and findings towards understanding the work of healthcare but the work on the larger policy level is lacking. We argue that this presents a number of challenges for CSCW research moving forward: in having a greater impact on larger-scale health IT projects; broadening the scope of settings and perspectives that are studied; and reflecting on the relevance of the traditional methods in this field - namely workplace studies - to meet these challenges.     

A demonstration of level-anchored ratio scaling for prediction of grip strength

Level-anchored ratio scaling, such as the Borg CR10 scale^® and the Borg CR100 scale^®, uses verbal anchors in congruence with numbers to give ratio data together with natural levels of intensity. This presupposes that the anchors possess natural positions in the subjective dynamic range and also “numerical” inter-relations. In an experiment, subjects had to produce a force of handgrip corresponding to their conception of “Strong”, followed by a “Maximal” performance. By using the previously found relationship between “Strong” and “Maximal” of 1:2 together with knowledge of the exponent in the power S-R-function (R = c × Sⁿ) for grip strength, n = 1.8, predictions of individual maximal performances were obtained. The predicted values correlated 0.76 with, and deviated only 3% (ns) from, actual maximal performances of grip strength. This result –as previously also found for aerobic capacity–gives a strong support for the use of verbal anchors, so common in category scaling, also in “ratio scaling” and that the Borg CR-scales fulfill the requirements for ratio scales. For estimation of muscular strength, such as grip strength, this present study points to the value of using submaximal determinations as a compliment to maximal performances (e.g., to obtain measures of functional capacity). The results also support the increasingly common use of the CR-methodology in other ergonomic settings concerning suitable design of tools and equipment.     

Software Assumptions Lead to Preventable Errors

Undocumented assumptions are often the cause of serious software system failure. Thus, to reduce such failures, developers must become better at discovering and documenting their assumptions. In this article, we focus on common categories of assumptions in software, discuss methods for recognizing when developers are making them, and recommend techniques for documenting them.