Background HIV treatment prescription is a complex process. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are a category of health information technologies that can assist clinicians to choose optimal... Show moreBackground HIV treatment prescription is a complex process. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are a category of health information technologies that can assist clinicians to choose optimal treatments based on clinical trials and expert knowledge. The usability of some CDSSs for HIV treatment would be significantly improved by using the knowledge obtained by treating other patients. This knowledge, however, is mainly contained in patient records, whose usage is restricted due to privacy and confidentiality constraints. Methods A treatment effectiveness measure, containing valuable information for HIV treatment prescription, was defined and a method to extract this measure from patient records was developed. This method uses an advanced cryptographic technology, known as secure Multiparty Computation (henceforth referred to as MPC), to preserve the privacy of the patient records and the confidentiality of the clinicians' decisions. Findings Our solution enables to compute an effectiveness measure of an HIV treatment, the average time-to-treatment-failure, while preserving privacy. Experimental results show that our solution, although at proof-of-concept stage, has good efficiency and provides a result to a query within 24 min for a dataset of realistic size. Interpretation This paper presents a novel and efficient approach HIV clinical decision support systems, that harnesses the potential and insights acquired from treatment data, while preserving the privacy of patient records and the confidentiality of clinician decisions. Show less
Production networks are integral to economic dynamics, yet dis-aggregated network data on inter-firm trade is rarely collected and often proprietary. Here we situate company-level production... Show moreProduction networks are integral to economic dynamics, yet dis-aggregated network data on inter-firm trade is rarely collected and often proprietary. Here we situate company-level production networks within a wider space of networks that are different in nature, but similar in local connectivity structure. Through this lens, we study a regional and a national network of inferred trade relationships reconstructed from Dutch national economic statistics and re-interpret prior empirical findings. We find that company-level production networks have so-called functional structure, as previously identified in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. Functional networks are distinctive in their over-representation of closed squares, which we quantify using an existing measure called spectral bipartivity. Shared local connectivity structure lets us ferry insights between domains. PPI networks are shaped by complementarity, rather than homophily, and we use multi-layer directed configuration models to show that this principle explains the emergence of functional structure in production networks. Companies are especially similar to their close competitors, not to their trading partners. Our findings have practical implications for the analysis of production networks and give us precise terms for the local structural features that may be key to understanding their routine function, failure, and growth. Show less
Synergievoordelen binnen industri le clusters zijn een belangrijk uitgangspunt in het Nederlandse klimaatbeleid. Tegelijkertijd zijn deze clusters in de praktijk soms moeilijk waarneembaar. Een... Show moreSynergievoordelen binnen industri le clusters zijn een belangrijk uitgangspunt in het Nederlandse klimaatbeleid. Tegelijkertijd zijn deze clusters in de praktijk soms moeilijk waarneembaar. Een netwerkanalyse maakt een clustergericht industriebeleid met focus op verduurzaming mogelijk.In het kort:● Een effectief transitiebeleid vereist een beter begrip van de werking van industrieclusters.● Verduurzaming van de industrie vraagt om inzicht in de samenhang en interactie binnen industrieclusters.● Een toepassing van netwerkanalyse op het industriecluster Zeeland laat zien dat er sprake is van een functioneel netwerk. Show less
We describe a series of experiments that compared 2D/3D input methods for selection and positioning tasks related to medical image analysis For our study, we chose a switchable P5 Glove Controller,... Show moreWe describe a series of experiments that compared 2D/3D input methods for selection and positioning tasks related to medical image analysis For our study, we chose a switchable P5 Glove Controller, which can be used to provide both 2DOF and 6DOF input control. Our results suggest that for both tasks the overall performance and accuracy can be improved when the input device with more degrees of freedom (DOF) is used for manipulation of the visualized medical data. 3D input turned out to be more beneficial for the positioning task than for the selection task In order to determine a potential source of the difference in the task completion time between 2D and 3D input, we also investigated whether there was a significant difference between 2DOF and 6DOF input methods with regard to the time spent on task-specific basic manipulations (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved Show less
