Versioning vs Temporal modeling of Patient State

Nigam,

This is an interesting example...

> Have an example for this one: If the instance is of a the class "Tumor"
> then
> on giving treatment it changes in size, shape etc, and might ultimately
> disappear. On each visit we are observing a different version of the tumor
> instance [in Tom].

[VK] Clearly there is a longitudinal aspect to this as the state of the tumor
changes over time....

This could be modeled in two ways:

Tumor1.state = X at time T1
Tumor1.state = Y at time T2
...
Tumor1.state = "Non-existent" at time Tn

Essentially you are modeling state as a multivalued property or as a ternary
relationship (Tumor, state, Time)

Alternatively,

Tumor1, v1.state = X
Tumor1, v2.state = Y
...
Tumor1, vN.state = "Non-existent"


IMHO, the former representation conveys more information and meaning...
So, it may make sense not to confound versioning with temporal progression...

Look forward to the commounities thoughts on the issue.

Cheers,

---Vipul






THE INFORMATION TRANSMITTED IN THIS ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE PERSON OR ENTITY TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR PRIVILEGED MATERIAL.  ANY REVIEW, RETRANSMISSION, DISSEMINATION OR OTHER USE OF OR TAKING OF ANY ACTION IN RELIANCE UPON, THIS INFORMATION BY PERSONS OR ENTITIES OTHER THAN THE INTENDED RECIPIENT IS PROHIBITED.  IF YOU RECEIVED THIS INFORMATION IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENDER AND THE PRIVACY OFFICER, AND PROPERLY DISPOSE OF THIS INFORMATION.

Received on Thursday, 11 January 2007 21:34:11 UTC