Towards automated calculation of evidence-based clinical scores

AIM To determine clinical scores important for automated calculation in the inpatient setting.METHODS A modified Delphi methodology was used to create consensus of important clinical scores for inpatient practice. A list of 176 externally validated clinical scores were identified from freely available internet-based services frequently used by clinicians. Scores were categorized based on pertinent specialty and a customized survey was created for each clinician specialty group. Clinicians were asked to rank each score based on importance of automated calculation to their clinical practice in three categories-"not important", "nice to have", or "very important". Surveys were solicited via specialty-group listserv over a 3-mo interval. Respondents must have been practicing physicians with more than 20% clinical time spent in the inpatient setting. Within each specialty, consensus was established for any clinical score with greater than 70% of responses in a single category and a minimum of 10 responses. Logistic regression was performed to determine predictors of automation importance.RESULTS Seventy-nine divided by one hundred and forty-four(54.9%) surveys were completed and 72/144(50%) surveys were completed by eligible respondents. Only the critical care and internal medicine specialties surpassed the 10-respondent threshold(14 respondents each). For internists, 2/110(1.8%) of scores were "very important" and 73/110(66.4%) were "nice to have". For intensivists, no scores were "very important" and 26/76(34.2%) were "nice to have". Only the number of medical history(OR = 2.34; 95%CI: 1.26-4.67; P < 0.05) and vital sign(OR = 1.88; 95%CI: 1.03-3.68; P < 0.05) variables for clinical scores used by internists was predictive of desire for automation. CONCLUSION Few clinical scores were deemed "very important" for automated calculation. Future efforts towards score calculator automation should focus on technically feasible "nice to have" scores.

A new burst assembly technique for supporting QoS in optical burst switching networks

This letter proposes a new burst assembly technique for supporting QoS in optical burst switching (OBS) networks. It consists of the adaptive-threshold burst assembly mechanism and QoS-based random offset-time scheme. The assembly mechanism, which is fit well to multi-class burst assembly, not only matches with IP QoS mechanism based on packet classification, and also utilizes fairly and efficiently assembly capacity. Based on token-bucket model and burst segment selective discard (BSSD), the offset-time scheme can smooth the traffic to support OBS QoS. The simulation results show that the technique can improve the performance in terms of packet loss probability (PLP).

Overview of SSRF phase-Ⅱ beamlines

The SSRF phase-Ⅱ beamline project was launched in 2016. Its major goal was to establish a systematic state-of-the-art experimental facility for third-generation synchrotron radiation to solve problems in cutting-edge science and technology.Currently, the construction is fully completed. All 16 newly built beamlines with nearly 60 experimental methods passed acceptance testing by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and are in operation.