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Intelligent selection and retrieval of multiple time-oriented records

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Abstract

Time-oriented domains with large volumes of time-stamped information, such as medicine, security information and finance, require useful, intuitive intelligent tools to process large amounts of time-oriented multiple-subject data from multiple sources. We designed and developed a new architecture, the VISualizatIon of Time-Oriented RecordS (VISITORS) system, which combines intelligent temporal analysis and information visualization techniques. The VISITORS system includes tools for intelligent selection, visualization, exploration, and analysis of raw time-oriented data and of derived (abstracted) concepts for multiple subject records. To derive meaningful interpretations from raw time-oriented data (known as temporal abstractions), we use the knowledge-based temporal-abstraction method. A major task in the VISITORS system is the selection of the appropriate subset of the subject population on which to focus during the analysis. Underlying the VISITORS population-selection module is our ontology-based temporal-aggregation (OBTAIN) expression-specification language which we introduce in this study. The OBTAIN language was implemented by a graphical expression-specification module integrated within the VISITORS system. The module enables construction of three types of expressions supported by the language: Select Subjects, Select Time Intervals, and Get Subjects Data. These expressions retrieve a list of subjects, a list of relevant time intervals, and a list of time-oriented subjects’ data sets, respectively. In particular, the OBTAIN language enables population-specification, through the Select Subjects expression, by using an expressive set of time and value constraints. We describe the syntax and semantics of the OBTAIN language and of the expression-specification module. The OBTAIN expressions constructed by the expression-specification module, are computed by a temporal abstraction mediation framework that we have previously developed. To evaluate the expression-specification module, five clinicians and five medical informaticians defined ten expressions, using the expression-specification module, on a database of more than 1,000 oncology patients. After a brief training session, both user groups were able in a short time (mean = 3.3 ± 0.53 min) to construct ten complex expressions using the expression-specification module, with high accuracy (mean = 95.3 ± 4.5 on a predefined scale of 0 to 100). When grouped by time and value constraint subtypes, five groups of expressions emerged. Only one of the five groups (expressions using time-range constraints), led to a significantly lower accuracy of constructed expressions. The five groups of expressions could be clustered into four homogenous groups, ordered by increasing construction time of the expressions. A system usability scale questionnaire filled by the users demonstrated the expression-specification module to be usable (mean score for the overall group = 68), but the clinicians’ usability assessment (60.0) was significantly lower than that of the medical informaticians (76.1).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Deutsche Telekom Labs at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Israel Ministry of Defense, BGU award no. 89357628-01. We thank all the clinicians and medical informaticians who contributed their time to the evaluation. We thank Ms. Efrat German for her work on the Tempura system, and Mr. Ido Hacham and Mr. Shahar Albia for their work on the Multi-TOQ system.

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  1. Department of Information Systems Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel

    Denis Klimov, Yuval Shahar & Meirav Taieb-Maimon

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  1. Denis Klimov
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  2. Yuval Shahar
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  3. Meirav Taieb-Maimon
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Correspondence to Denis Klimov.

Appendices

Appendix A.1: A XML-schema for Select Subjects expression

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Appendix A.2: A XML-schema for Select Time Intervals expression

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Appendix A.3: A XML-schema for Get Subject Data expression

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Appendix B.1: A pseudo-code description of the process of computing the Select Subjects expression by the Multi-TOQ module

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Appendix B.2: A pseudo-code description of the process of computing the Select Time Intervals expression by the Multi-TOQ module

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Klimov, D., Shahar, Y. & Taieb-Maimon, M. Intelligent selection and retrieval of multiple time-oriented records. J Intell Inf Syst 35, 261–300 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10844-009-0100-0

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