Daniela Luzi

Scientific and Technological Performance by Gender

The availability of sex-disaggregated data in the fields of research, technology and development is extremely important for supporting the growing political commitment to promote and monitor women participation in the different fields of S&T. During the late 1990s the European Commission identified as a priority the availability of this data. Even if scientific publications and patents are widely accepted indicators of scientific and technological performances, until now it has been impossible to measure bibliometric and patent output by gender in a large set of data. Starting from a feasibility study carried out for the European Commission on the whole set of patents published in 1998 by the European Patent Office and on 30,000 authors of items published in 1995 on scientific journals of international relevance, the paper demonstrates that it is possible to obtain robust gender indicators on S&T output.

E‐print archives: a new communication pattern for grey literature

E‐print archives are a new model for the diffusion of scientific information which exploits the interactive characteristics of networked communication. The aim of this paper is to outline current trends in their production and distribution, taking into consideration institutions which provide them and the submission procedures they use. Special attention is attached to differences in the down loading of documents and the updating of archives, as well as the way in which issues such as copyright and peer review are addressed by each archive.

When data sharing gets close to 100%: what human paleogenetics can teach the Open Science movement

This study analyzes data sharing regarding mitochondrial, Y chromosomal and autosomal polymorphisms in a total of 162 papers on ancient human DNA published between 1988 and 2013. The estimated sharing rate was not far from totality (97.6% ± 2.1%) and substantially higher than observed in other fields of genetic research (evolutionary, medical and forensic genetics). Both a questionnaire-based survey and the examination of Journals’ editorial policies suggest that this high sharing rate cannot be simply explained by the need to comply with stakeholders requests. Most data were made available through body text, but the use of primary databases increased in coincidence with the introduction of complete mitochondrial and next-generation sequencing methods. Our study highlights three important aspects. First, our results imply that researchers’ awareness of the importance of openness and transparency for scientific progress may complement stakeholders’ policies in achieving very high sharing rates. Second, widespread data sharing does not necessarily coincide with a prevalent use of practices which maximize data findability, accessibility, useability and preservation. A detailed look at the different ways in which data are released can be very useful to detect failures to adopt the best sharing modalities and understand how to correct them. Third and finally, the case of human paleogenetics tells us that a widespread awareness of the importance of Open Science may be important to build reliable scientific practices even in the presence of complex experimental challenges.

Toward a Model of Clinical Trials

In the paper some results of the modelling of the clinical trial (CT) process are presented. CT research is a complex process which includes the protocol editing, its use and implementation in the CT experimentation, and the evaluation of the results. To improve the medical research, it is necessary to consider the CT research process as a whole. We structured the CT research process in three subprocesses: a) clinical trial management; b) management of statistical units; and c) patient health care delivery process. Each process has different objectives and is enacted in different environments, carried out by its own agents and resources, and influenced by specific rules characterising each process. The model is supported by three perspectives on the CT process: functional, structural, and behavioural views.

The communication flow of research projects results

ConclusionsRIS-OSH is currently in a developmental stage. At the moment, the modules related to the presentation and evaluation of the proposals have been implemented using the relational database Access and will be tested by the documentation and information department. The results obtained so far are related to the identification of the GL documents produced during the project lifecycle and their function within the managerial and administrative process as well as documentation of the project. This has been obtained through the analysis of their information content and through the identification of the main steps of the process and of the actors, who are going to update the information on the project.Moreover, we propose a solution to the issue of relating the project description with its results based on the integration of the information contained in RISH-OSH and the GL database. This would provide the user with an information overview, which inserts the results within the context framework of a project, and enable these documents to be connected with others produced in different research projects. This would increase the visibility and the diffusion of the research results and improve their exploitation. Of course the technological transfer is a complex and difficult task which seeks to initiate the transformation from “information to knowledge” than in turn can lead to “new insights for wealth creation and improvements in the quality of life.”18

Different Contexts in Electronic Communication: Some Remarks on the Communicability of Scientific Knowledge.

This paper explores how and to what extent the appearance and wide use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) may enhance scientific communication and knowledge. The first part analyses the general boundaries of scientific communication, focusing on the use of email. It summarises and develops the results of relevant international studies and surveys on computer‐mediated communication; it identifies, on the one hand, the principal social settings and contexts in which email is used and, on the other, the characteristic features which determine specific communication models. The analysis provides evidence of the various factors which determine the dynamics of electronic communication and which, more specifically, define the difference between business and scientific communication. The second part of the paper explores the close relationship between communication and knowledge in the scientific sector and the role played by ICTs. The assumption that ICTs ought to enhance the acquisition, sharing and transmission of scientific knowledge is questioned by the distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge: ICTs ultimately appear to provide a strong drive only to processes of explicit/coded knowledge handling. Nevertheless, exploring the main components of tacit knowledge in depth, and considering recent ICT‐based applications, it is possible to foresee new opportunities for the creation and dissemination of knowledge through networks.

Accessible Modelling of Complexity in Health (AMoCH) and associated data flows: asthma as an exemplar

Background Modelling is an important part of information science. Models are abstractions of reality. We use models in the following contexts: (1) to describe the data and information flows in clinical practice to information scientists, (2) to compare health systems and care pathways, (3) to understand how clinical cases are recorded in record systems and (4) to model health care business models. Asthma is an important condition associated with a substantial mortality and morbidity. However, there are difficulties in determining who has the condition, making both its incidence and prevalence uncertain. Objective To demonstrate an approach for modelling complexity in health using asthma prevalence and incidence as an exemplar. Method The four steps in our process are: Drawing a rich picture, following Checkland’s soft systems methodology; Constructing data flow diagrams (DFDs); Creating Unified Modelling Language (UML) use case diagrams to describe the interaction of the key actors with the system; Activity diagrams, either UML activity diagram or business process modelling notation diagram. Results Our rich picture flagged the complexity of factors that might impact on asthma diagnosis. There was consensus that the principle issue was that there were undiagnosed and misdiagnosed cases as well as correctly diagnosed. Genetic predisposition to atopy; exposure to environmental triggers; impact of respiratory health on earnings or ability to attend education or participate in sport, charities, pressure groups and the pharmaceutical industry all increased the likelihood of a diagnosis of asthma. Stigma and some factors within the health system diminished the likelihood of a diagnosis. The DFDs and other elements focused on better case finding. Conclusions This approach flagged the factors that might impact on the reported prevalence or incidence of asthma. The models suggested that applying selection criteria may improve the specificity of new or confirmed diagnosis.

Secondary uses of EHR systems: A feasibility study

This paper proposes a data warehouse architecture based on the Electronic Health Record (EHR) technological infrastructure developed in Italy. The adoption of EHRs can represent a possible solution to integrate data provided by different information sources transforming them into useful knowledge. This allows to define metrics and assessment of clinical performance as well as to take corrective actions to support better business decision-making. The paper describes the main advantages in the application of EHR for secondary purposes and reports the data warehouse design framework outlining its architecture as well as examples of business process dimensional models based on a set of clinical indicators defined to manage the intervention of patients with diabetes.

ATREUS: a model for the conceptual representation of a workflow

We propose a workflow conceptual model able to represent clinical and managerial activities within health-care structures, the ATREUS model. This model was defined taking into account the intrinsic difficulties and complexity of processes in the health-care domain. This model uses: hypergraphs to represent processes graphically; a textual representation which describes each activity; and a state diagram to control the activity development. The model allows a top-down refinement of processes.

A Clinical Data Warehouse Architecture based on the Electronic Healthcare Record Infrastructure

The development of clinical data warehouses is becoming increasingly important in the healthcare domain to support organizations in the improvement of decision-making, business processes as well as the communication between clinicians, patients and the administration. However, data and process integration is a big challenge considering the heterogeneous and distributed nature of healthcare information systems. This paper proposes a data warehouse architecture based on the Italian Electronic Health Record (EHR) technological infrastructure. It describes the main advantages in the application of EHR systems for secondary purposes and reports the data warehouse design framework outlining its architecture as well as a dimensional model based on a dashboard defined to manage the intervention of patients with diabetes. The adoption of EHR systems enhances interoperability given that these systems share standardized clinical data among multiple parties involved in different healthcare settings.