IT FUTURE TRENDS IN MEDICINE

   We are going to examine how IT is going to effect the trend of medicine in future. We are going to base our analogy scenarios. This is because the rate at which IT is fact growing in all dimensions of live we hold to the optimism that it is going to be innovative in most of these aspects of life- health not left out.




 Below are 10 trend in advancement in IT in health services.

1.  The electronic medical record.  All your health records will soon be stored electronically.  The don't live in a file at the doctor's office, radiologist or hospital anymore.  This "instantly accessible" tool will be a significant advance for care anywhere YOU may be.  Further, the emergence of the EMR will help drive superior care and less medical errors as computers can flag potential problems.

2.  The clinical cloud.  It's no longer only your music that will be downloadable.  But soon, your health record will be digital and follow you.  You CAT scan and ECG are a click away for any necessary viewing.

3. Retail Medicine.  Yep, it's already there.  But the medi-clinics on the corner will be replaced by chain-style medical offices that will appear in your local mall or big box store.  Even retail pharmacies will expand their service to include some medical care.

4. Smart phone monitoring.  Your smart phone will monitor your ECG, blood sugar, sleep patterns (to name a few) and alert you and your doctor when there's a problem.  It will track and record these trends and offer valuable diagnostic information.

5.  Expert engagement at a distance.  Distance is no longer an issue.  With video engagement and the medical cloud at hand, difficult (and even simple) cases can be evaluated by experts around the world.  Even surgical procedures by physicians thousands of miles away--with the help of robotic.

6.  Implantable devices.  Pain, depression, and common conditions that are generally treated with pills will be successfully managed with implantable devices that use both drugs and electric current to stimulate and normalize conditions with less toxicity and superior long-term management.

7. On-line office visits.  At-home diagnostic tools and data transfer to a physician's office will reduce the need for an actual office visit.  Video conferencing and these diagnostic tools will provide an accurate assessment, care and risk-management.

8.  The patient-doctor.  The empowered patient will learn to make informed decisions based upon new at-home tools and techniques.  We will measure our own blood chemistries and take and transmit our ECG's.  Our actions, guided by experts will allow us to be engaged and informed.

9.  Value driven intervention.  Cost will emerge as a key factor in care.  And value will be an important element.  Patients will be rewarded for seeking cost-effective care and value seekers "shop around" procedures like CAT scans on the basis of technology and cost.  Long gone will be the day of having a complex test without knowing or caring about the price.

OPERATION CARRIED OUT BY A ROBOT 

10. The vanishing private practice.  The economics of medicine are squeezing the solo practitioner.    Seeing "your" doctor at Wal-Mart may be more likely than that small practice in your home town.

LIKELY OUT COMES

This is going to have both negative and positive effects 

MERITS:

• It is going to solve the problem of distance as much of the diagnoses will be done online and with the help of robots 
• With the help of mobile sensitive devices, health problems will be able to be detected in patients who can not talk or have lost some sense to help them detect what could be wrong with them 
• Problems like heart failure will be solved with implanted devices such as radioactive batteries that will act as artificial pace maker of the heart 
• The is going to be more convenient in carrying out health activities because the problem of overcrowding will be avoided
•  The medical records of each person will be well saved in soft copies and easily available to them if need be

DEMERITS

• This is going to increase the rate of unemployment around the globe as many health center will be close as more of the work will be done online and by robots 
• Ones personal health records will not be that much private and secure as people may bridge the security and access them
• A lot of exposure to radiations may lead to some other kinds of infections in due cause as people will turn to use the computer much more and other electronic devices.

REFERENCES :

http://www.johnnosta.com/2011/12/the-big-think-the-future-of-healthcare-top-10-trends-that-are-changing-medicine/

MIGRATION FROM TRADITIONAL BUSINESSES TO DIGITAL FIRMS AND THE EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION.

    Here, we are going to examine how small businesses have move to large firms with the help of internet connection. Also, we are going to look at some effects of globalization on these businesses. Particular we are going to examine how the internet has uplifted these businesses. We are going to answer the questions below to understand how internet has change the business world.

• How has internet connection change the business world?
• What are the principal payment system for e commerce ?
• How can internet connection facilitate internal business transactions?
• What are the major managerial problems caused by e commerce ?

With our understanding of all these, we are going to see how the internet has move small businesses to digital firms.

  AMAZON.COM

 Amazon is one of the biggest known seller of books in the world. This firm started as a small seller of books in the UK but over time and with the help of the internet it has become one of the major supplier of books in the world today. How did the achieve this?

1. Business-to-customers (B2C): They electronically retail directly to customers
2. Business- to- business (B2B): They electronically sale among  businesses 
3. Customers-to-Customers (C2C): They sell among customers
4. Mobile Commerce:

• use of hand held wireless devices for the purchase of books
• used in B2B and B2C e commerce transactions. 

      5.   Facilitate dynamic pricing

• real time interaction between buyers and sellers determines worth of  item 

      6.   Facilitate banner Ads 

• pop up Ads that users must click to close

    7.    Reduce transaction cost 

• reduce cost of finding buyers and delivering books 

IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE ORGANISATION

THE EFFECTS OF THE INTERNET ON THE INCOME 



THE NET MARKETPLACE 



 EASY ONLINE PAYMENTS


All these electronic techniques have move amazon from a small traditional business to a digital firm 

                        EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON THIS DIGITAL FIRM 

 We've seen such a growth in globalization and its tentacles will only keep spreading as time goes on
There’s no doubt about the benefits this brings us all in business. There is a permanent shift in the domain of knowledge that enables any individual from any country to access large databases of resources and information. What have been the results?

Rise in Competition  

This is the single biggest benefit of globalization all around the world. With enhanced competition from foreign brands and companies, industries of every nation are compelled to improve their standards and quality and customer satisfaction services. This benefits the customers and the economy as a whole, and raises the standard of living of everybody. This could be viewed as a negative impact by many, but no-one can deny the impact it has had.

Rise in Technology and Know How

The rise in knowledge levels of countries as newer cultures and technologies are opened to a particular area are clear, Their knowledge base also grows and expands simultaneously. As a result, they are better able to handle their primary and secondary industries, and this ultimately affects their tertiary sectors in a positive manner as well.

  With all these, Amazon is not left out from this orbit 

 REFERENCES:
http://www.m-t-d.co.uk/blog/the-effects-of-globalisation-on-business.htm
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:TAXGddc3V8cJ:elearning.algonquincollege.com/coursemat/milneb/ch04.ppt+&hl=en&gl=my&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjRYnLQOOka2F4Qbq1UEKCb8FIgJ8JVYigomknzQ1fQ66fgwMhxXgZTIBNbVo3lX11kHCxYnub58YOwYwmtCceCtB_IGOXRRuuCaKehzcIovAJt88fu4fsk9VSJ6T3ZJlOnV6Gq&sig=AHIEtbQxwayaz45MV3RD4aOiQoFqI6ox1w

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

 NANOTECHNOLOGY: This is science, technology from a very infinitesimal point of consideration that is thee nanoscale which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.
      Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering. Nanotechnology is not just a new field of science and engineering, but a new way of looking at and studying
                       BASIC CONCEPT OF NANOSCIENCE

It’s hard to imagine just how small nanotechnology is. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter. Here are a few illustrative examples:

•  There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch
• A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
• On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then one meter would be the size of the Earth

pictures of how nanaparticles are connected and look 

Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules. Everything on Earth is made up of atoms—the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses we live in, and our own bodies.

GRID COMPUTER:   Imagine several million computers from all over the world, and owned by thousands of different people. Imagine they include desktops, laptops, supercomputers, data vaults, and instruments like mobile phones, meteorological sensors and telescopes...

Now imagine that all of these computers can be connected to form a single, huge and super-powerful computer! This huge, sprawling, global computer is what many people dream "The Grid" will be.

this is how the idea of grid computer looks like.

 "The Grid" takes its name from an analogy with the electrical "power grid". The idea was that accessing computer power from a computer grid would be as simple as accessing electrical power from an electrical grid".

     Though the concept isn't new, it's also not yet perfected. Computer scientists, programmers and engineers are still working on creating, establishing and implementing standards and protocols. Right now, many existing grid computer systems rely on proprietary software and tools. Once people agree upon a reliable set of standards and protocols, it will be easier and more efficient for organizations to adopt the grid computing model. We may consider the server of an cyber cafe as a grid computer .

QUANTUM COMPUTERS: Quantum computing is the area of study focused on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the nature and behavior of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level. Development of a quantum computer, if practical, would mark a leap forward in computing capability far greater than that from the abacus to a modern day supercomputer, with performance gains in the billion-fold realm and beyond. The quantum computer, following the laws of quantum physics, would gain enormous processing power through the ability to be in multiple states, and to perform tasks using all possible permutations simultaneously. Current centers of research in quantum computing include MIT, IBM, Oxford University, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

quantum computer blueprint

                 brief history on the origin of quantum computers 

    The essential elements of quantum computing originated with Paul Benioff, working at Argonne National Labs, in 1981. He theorized a classical computer operating with some quantum mechanical principles. But it is generally accepted that David Deutsch of Oxford University provided the critical impetus for quantum computing research. In 1984, he was at a computation theory conference and began to wonder about the possibility of designing a computer that was based exclusively on quantum rules, then published his breakthrough paper a few months later. With this, the race began to exploit his ideas. However, before we delve into what he started, it is beneficial to have a look at the background of the quantum world. The biggest question in my mind and probably the minds of other is that how well is this going to be authentic and function? Lets keep our fingers cross until that time!

SEMANTIC WEB:   Semantic Web is focused on machines  unlike the web 2.0 which focus on humans. The Web requires a human operator, using computer systems to perform the tasks required to find, search and aggregate its information. It's impossible for a computer to do these tasks without human guidance because Web pages are specifically designed for human readers. The Semantic Web is a project that aims to change that by presenting Web page data in such a way that it is understood by computers, enabling machines to do the searching, aggregating and combining of the Web's information — without a human operator.

semantic web scenario.

WHO USES SEMANTIC WEB?

  It has taken years to put the pieces together that comprise the Semantic Web, including the standardization of RDF, the W3C release of the Web Ontology Language (OWL), and standardization on SPARQL, which adds querying capabilities to RDF. So with standards and languages in place, we can see Semantic Web technologies being used by early adopters.

Semantic Web technologies are popular in in areas such as research and life sciences where it can help researchers by aggregating data on different medicines and illnesses that have multiple names in different parts of the world.  On the Web, Twine is offering a knowledge networking application has been built with Semantic Web technologies. The Joost online television service also uses Semantic technology on the backend. Here Semantic technology is used to help Joost users understand the relationships between pieces of content, enabling them to find the types of content they want most. oracle offers a Semantic Web view of its Oracle Technology Network, called the OTN Semantic Web to name a few of those companies who are implementing Semantic Web technologies. Let us see how its works!

  FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

 Will the world cease to exist if technology stops to advance?

IS HANDING IT COMPLEXITY AN OPTION?

 GENERAL VIEW POINT 
  
        They issue of complexity is something that is unavoidable as far business and other relation projects are concern. Since much money and time is always invested in these IT projects, much has to be done to ensure that these projects are not a fiasco. But could this be avoided totally? If not what are the measures and procedures implemented to curb this hazard? So dealing with such a scenario is to accept the fact that does exist; if not at the moment, in the nearest future. Having in mind this, is going to do much good to your company.   

      Really avoiding complexity is not an option for CEO s but the choice comes when they have to respond to it. I do 100% abide with this statement because as  far as business is concern, there are a lot of uncertainties despite all the measures that could have been taken to avoid this. A good CEO having this kind of scenario in mind is going to make all necessary back up plans (plan B) so that nothing takes him/her unaware and found wanted. But then with their level of awareness and precaution how well do they handle it?.

  They cannot allow complexity to be a threatening force to either their profit nor to overwhelm their customers and employees. From my own point of view, treating complexity as it comes is a better way of handling it. As earlier said before, complexity is an unavoidable scenario so if one makes up his/her (CEO s) mind to expect this then he will obviously take precaution towards it happening in due course. It is often said that, “Prevention is better than cure” but in this case we have to do things the other way round. Trying to stop or avoid complexity is like trying to stop rain from falling. Why do I say so? This is because it something that is natural and is liable to happen at any time without any notification.

  But with good innovations and a good feasibility studies before embarking into a project of this nature and taking all necessary factors into account, one limits the probability of the project failing but then if it does occur how do we receive it?  It is by surprise or awareness? So again for as to me responding to it as it comes is the best decision.

 food for though :

 It doesn't matter how much you want. What really matters is how much you want it. The extent and complexity of the problem does not matter was much as does the willingness to solve it.

USABILITY IN SOFTWARE DESIGN

   

Like user centered design, usability in software design also put the user at the center of rather then the system.The term “usability” in the context of creating software represents an approach that puts the user, rather than the system, at the center of the process. This philosophy, called user-centered design, incorporates user concerns and advocacy from the beginning of the design process and dictates that the needs of the user should be foremost in any design decisions.

GENERAL VIEW:

      The most visible aspect of this approach is usability testing, in which users work and interact with the product interface and share their views and concerns with the designers and developers.All theses are done to enable the user to analysis the system and give their feedback  for any possible amendment.

WHY BORDER ?

  Yes really why border to include user centered design in our software design ?. As mentioned early, a good system no matter how tremendously sophisticated it is; if is shows some degree of complexity to the user, it will never be used to wide range and this will NOT satisfy its intended purpose. This will really be a massive fiasco and as we all know, IT is trying to fight again all these complexities in the latest innovations.

  With a better design comes better acceptance from users. The benefit of increased buy-in with retail software is obvious: increased sales. Acceptance is also important with software developed for internal use: increased buy-in leads to increased productivity and a diminished need for support. Visibly involving users from the beginning of development also shows them that you are interested in their concerns and needs, which increases their willingness to help you develop better software.

REFERENCES:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms997577.aspx
• http://www.usability.gov/basics/ucd/index.html

BASIC DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER DECIPLINES

 

   


OVERVIEW .

There are five major disciplines of studies that computing offers. There could be other disciplines but we are focus here just on the main five. These five disciplines are :

• 
• Computer Science
•  Software Engineering
• Information Systems
• Cognitive Science
• Computer Engineering

  

The summary of all the computer disciplines can be seen in the table. The degree to which a particular aspects is done is directly proportional to the number of plus (+) that accompany it.

Disciplines Aspects	Computer Science	Software Engineering	Information Systems	Cognitive Science	Computer Engineering
Organization issues and information system	+++	+	+++++	_	_
Application technologies	++	++	++++++	+	+
Software methods and technologies	+++	++++++	+++++	+	++
System infrastructure	++++++	++	++	_	+++
Computer hardware and architecture	_	_	_	_	++++++
Health related issues	+	+	++	++++	_

  

   For this statement- “Most CS people laugh at MIS/IT people,”and “MIS/IT people make more money and manage the CS folks.”there is no doubt that computer science has got more opportunities than IT as can be seen from the diagram below 

    On the issue of looking down of some members of an organisation is wrong absurd because each person is a master in his/her own field and area of work. Though i have no work experience to see how IT personnel make more money than CS personnel, but to the best of my knowledge; many IT personnel are CEO s  of their own companies. In a global nod, i think the issue of money making depends on the terms of the contract, working experience, longevity of service and lots more not only on the issue of "who is who".