Browsing by Subject "Data"
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Item Open Access NatuReturn: An Environmental Management Tool(2019-04-11) Pietruszynski, DavidThe explosive growth in data analytics driven by software and computing innovation enables powerful tools for environmental managers who plan, execute, and monitor projects. In the past costly and frequently protracted impact studies were necessary as part of the initial planning for projects. In this study, a prototype tool was developed that assists environmental managers by predicting a project’s return-on-investment and providing a risk assessment using historical and current environmental data early in the planning process. By synthesizing this information, potential projects can be evaluated and compared, giving stakeholders a quantitative ability to set priorities and determine where to allocate limited funds. The goal of this feasibility study was the completion of a GIS-based tool that builds on the existing methods of ecosystem service modeling by adding cost, schedule (time), and risk. By using oyster reef restoration as an example, the complexity of the tool, the difficulty of assembling relevant and accurate data, the database management challenges, the usefulness of the tool in general environmental projects, and the tool’s scalability are examined.Item Open Access Optimizing the Integration of Health Apps with the Electronic Health Record by Quantifying Data Readiness and Interoperability(2021) Douthit, Brian JamesHealth apps are emerging as useful tools with the potential to deliver powerful health interventions, conduct research, and improve patient involvement in their care. While the development of health apps is gaining momentum, the ability to integrate these apps with electronic health records (EHRs) is limited, decreasing their potential impact on patient outcomes. Data exchange standards can facilitate the exchange of data between apps and EHRs, but these standards are not yet complete and will require collaboration, work, and time to be finalized and adopted. Prioritization of data standards development areas (that address health system needs and app requirements) and tools to assess the readiness of current EHR data will speed the integration of health apps with EHR systems. This dissertation 1) addresses priority areas for the development of data exchange standards, and 2) provides insights for health systems and app developers to assess for the readiness of apps to be implemented with a given EHR system in its current state. The products of this dissertation provide a framework to assess EHR data readiness for apps, outline priority areas to be developed in the United States Core Data for Interoperability standards specifications, and explore the associations between quantifiable characteristics of health apps and implementation feasibility.
Item Open Access Will Data Centers Have Enough Water? Quantifying Water Security for Data Service Centers(2019-04-26) Scott, Lauren; Stine, Melissa; Zhang, YinuoData centers use considerable amounts of water in comparison to other industries because water is a key component in their cooling systems that are used to maintain optimal temperatures for their servers. Since these servers run 24/7 it is imperative for the data center to acquire a reliable water supply and receive water without interruptions. Most centers choose to acquire their water from the local water utility, which incentives data centers to be built in locations with minimum water stress. However, researching and finding such ideal locations takes an extensive amount of time because the type of data needed to understand water stress and utility function within an area are difficult to come by. To make this process similar, this study created an online tool that compiled water utility related data to assist in the decision-making process of choosing new locations for data centers. This online tool, or dashboard, aggregated state required reports on public water systems (or water utilities) with over 3,300 connections for California, North Carolina, and Texas. Information ranged from water availability to types of water customers to paint a picture of the demands and stress the community has on the water supply and utility. Since the compiled data was based on a larger spatial scale (state level), there is not enough details or information in the data to make a definite decision on location; but the dashboard is a useful first-step tool that can be used to filter down location preferences and to see what types of information need more research.