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Background Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) provide valuable insight on patients’ well-being and facilitates communication between healthcare providers and their patients. The increased integration of the technology within the healthcare setting presents the opportunity to collect PROMs electronically, rather than on paper. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and Quality of My Life (QoML) are common PROMs collected from pediatric rheumatology patients. The objectives of this study are to (a) determine the equivalence of the paper and electronic forms (e-form) of CHAQ and QoML questionnaires; (b) identify potential benefits and barriers associated with using an e-form to capture PROMs; and (c) gather feedback on user experience. Methods Participants completed both a paper and an e-form of the questionnaires in a randomized order, following which they completed a feedback survey. Agreement of the scores between the forms were statistically analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (95 % Confidence Interval (CI)) and bias was assessed using a Bland-Altman plot. Completion and processing times of the forms were compared using mean and median measures. Quantitative analysis was performed to assess user experience ratings, while comments were qualitatively analyzed to identify important themes. Results 196 patients participated in this project. Scores on the forms had high ICC agreement > 0.9. New patients took longer than returning patients to complete the forms. Overall, the e-form was completed and processed in a shorter amount of time than the paper form. 83 % of survey respondents indicated that they either preferred the e-form or had no preference. Approximately 10 % of respondents suggested improvements to improve the user interface. Conclusions E-forms collect comparable information in an efficient manner to paper forms. Given that patients and caregivers indicated they preferred completing PROMs in this manner, we will implement their suggested changes and incorporate e-forms as standard practice for PROMs collection in our pediatric rheumatology clinic.

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis that began in 2020, countries all over the world had to develop new solutions in legislation to replace various traditionally physical operations with digital solutions. Estonia, with rules in the field of company law and in holding shareholders’ meetings, was no exception. In May 2020, new regulation was introduced into Estonian law, allowing shareholders to participate in meetings using digital means. Although electronic voting itself was already allowed under Estonian law before 2020, the new situation raised a number of legal issues. This article addresses these issues and possible solutions with regard to the legal perspective of electronic voting. As the law does not contain precise requirements for holding an electronic vote, there are many aspects that must be considered in order to comply with the general principles of company law, e.g., how to identify the person giving their vote, and how to ensure the security and reliability of electronic voting. Based on the analysis in this article, the procedure must ensure the identification of shareholders as well as the reliability of casting votes, but must also be proportionate for achieving these aims.

Background: Even in the era of digital technology, several hospitals still rely on paper-based forms for data entry for patient admission, triage, drug prescriptions, and procedures. Paper-based forms can be quick and convenient to complete but often at the expense of data quality, completeness, sustainability, and automated data analytics. Digital forms can improve data quality by assisting the user when deciding on the appropriate response to certain data inputs (eg, classifying symptoms). Greater data quality via digital form completion not only helps with auditing, service improvement, and patient record keeping but also helps with novel data science and machine learning research. Although digital forms are becoming more prevalent in health care, there is a lack of empirical best practices and guidelines for their design. The study-based hospital had a definite plan to abolish the paper form; hence, it was not necessary to compare the digital forms with the paper form. Objective: This study aims to assess the usability of three different interactive forms: a single-page digital form (in which all data input is required on one web page), a multipage digital form, and a conversational digital form (a chatbot). Methods: The three digital forms were developed as candidates to replace the current paper-based form used to record patient referrals to an interventional cardiology department (Cath-Lab) at Altnagelvin Hospital. We recorded usability data in a counterbalanced usability test (60 usability tests: 20 subjects×3 form usability tests). The usability data included task completion times, System Usability Scale (SUS) scores, User Experience Questionnaire data, and data from a postexperiment questionnaire. Results: We found that the single-page form outperformed the other two digital forms in almost all usability metrics. The mean SUS score for the single-page form was 76 (SD 15.8; P=.01) when compared with the multipage form, which had a mean score of 67 (SD 17), and the conversational form attained the lowest scores in usability testing and was the least preferred choice of users, with a mean score of 57 (SD 24). An SUS score of >68 was considered above average. The single-page form achieved the least task completion time compared with the other two digital form styles. Conclusions: In conclusion, the digital single-page form outperformed the other two forms in almost all usability metrics; it had the least task completion time compared with those of the other two digital forms. Moreover, on answering the open-ended question from the final customized postexperiment questionnaire, the single-page form was the preferred choice.

In today’s modern and digital society, electronic means of communication are used in all areas of life, including communication between shareholders of companies. The objective of this article is to determine whether – and if so which – modern-day electronic communication channels could be used by Estonian private and public limited companies for sending a notice of a general meeting, and also whether Estonian legislation is in accordance with the above-mentioned principles of the EU on this matter. To that end, the article begins with an analysis of the legal nature of a notice on convening a meeting and its communication. The article also analyses the requirements established in the Estonian legislation on convening a general meeting, comparing it with corresponding German and, to a lesser extent, British law. The hypothesis is that the applicable law in Estonia may currently impose unreasonable obstacles to the use of digital and flexible solutions for convening a meeting. Based on the analysis of the article, the main conclusion is that Estonian company law has not exercised all the possibilities for ensuring the use of flexible digital solutions regarding communication between a company and its shareholders, and therefore needs modernisation.

The article deals with the use of digital forms in the manufacturing environment to reduce the amount of printed paper and streamline the flow of information of production and logistic processes. The aim of this article is to point out the possibility of using simple and commonly available solutions to collect the necessary data. The problem is the need for higher computer skills of ordinary users. It can be used in both logistics and production environments. In a medium-sized company, the amount of paper printed using a printer may be approximately 19000 pcs per year, which consider checklists, forms, diaries of processes or maintenance. This quantity amounts to approximately 1140 EUR. The article focuses on the tools, which are commonly available software to smaller and larger companies in the manufacturing industry, and of course in other industries.

The paper shows the results of an applied research aimed at developing an operative methodology and its corresponding computational workflow for the design of resilient architectures able to responsively react to the variation of the environmental conditions. The proposed methodology consists in a form-searching process built-up by a series of consequential and interrelated phases aimed at reducing the energy needs of the building and improving indoor and outdoor comfort conditions. The analysis of the processes, above defining the limits and potentials of the chosen design approach, opens the debate on parametric tools that allow to systematically explore the space o design possibilities.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a criterion for global asymptotic stability of state-space direct-form digital filters employing saturation arithmetic. Design/methodology/approach – An elegant use of induced l ∞ approach (also known as a peak-to-peak approach) is made to develop a criterion for the overflow stability of state-space direct-form digital filters. Findings – The criterion not only guarantees asymptotic stability but also reduces the effect of external interference. The presented method yields better interference attenuation level as compared to a recently reported method. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Practical implications – Digital filters are important dynamical systems in signal processing which are used for the processing of discrete signals. During the implementation of higher-order digital filter in hardware or software, introduction of external interference is unavoidable. Therefore, stability analysis of digital filters in the presence of external interference is of much practical importance. Originality/value – The main result of the paper is reported for the first time and it is useful to establish the asymptotic stability of digital filters in the presence of external disturbances.

This study explores aspects of journalistic quality in complex digital stories. Based on a tailored overview of the potentials of online journalism and digital long form stories for journalistic quality, all available award-winning stories of the subcategory Interactive of the World Press Photo’s Digital Storytelling Contest from 2011 to 2021 (n = 31) are examined according to their structure and journalistic quality criteria using Grounded Theory. The findings add to the long and ongoing research history in journalism and communication studies on the question of what journalistic quality entails and can be used as a basis for further analyses focusing on the technological and structural nature of digital stories and high-quality journalism. The analysis revealed a differentiation between linear stories and chapter stories with linear elements. While a multimedia nature, continuous text and video content prevailed in both forms, they differed in terms of their complexity as well as certain expressions of quality criteria. Gamification and immersion emerged as new yet debatable aspects of journalistic quality in digital stories.

Context: Accurate assessment of periapical status is critical in diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation of healing. Novel imaging modalities like sonography offer promising results with reduced radiation risks. Aims: To evaluate the potential of ultrasound imaging technique together with the application of color Doppler to differentiate between periapical lesions of endodontic origin. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with periapical lesions of endodontic origin who were already scheduled for undergoing endodontic surgery were examined further using sonography. Color Doppler was performed to assess blood flow. Information on the size of the lesion, its content, and vascular supply was gained and recorded by means of ultrasound images. The sonographic images were analyzed and discussed with an expert sonologist, and a tentative diagnosis between a periapical cyst and periapical granuloma was made. Endodontic surgery and histopathological examination was done for each case and the results were compared. Results: The sonograms revealed the lesions within the bone in three dimensions and their contents, that is, fluids or tissues or blood vessels. Measurements of the periapical lesions in three dimensions were also obtained. Of the twenty cases studied, ultrasound could detect periapical granulomas in all 9 cases and radicular cysts in all 11 cases. Conclusion: Ultrasound imaging had the potential to be used for the evaluation of periapical lesions of endodontic origin. However, further studies are required to establish a definite correlation.

Information resources are available in various kinds of media and forms. To describe them there exists number of diverse metadata standards and schema. Metadata is crucial for preservation and archiving, organisation, resource discovery and information retrieval across platforms. As one metadata standard cannot be applicable for all the emerging media and document formats, a combination of them is used. In this context the present paper presents an overview on types of metadata standards and schemas, and also discusses on the issues and challenges in metadata creation, management, interoperability, and resource discovery.