|
http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol12/6/
 Bookmark this page
Send this article to a friend
| |
|
| Click the icon to view and/or download the PDF file.
Once you are in the PDF file, use your browser back button to return to this page.
| Abstract
Demographic and health surveillance (DS) systems monitor and document individual- and group-level processes in well-defined populations over long periods of time. The resulting data are complex and inherently temporal. Established methods of storing and manipulating temporal data are unable to adequately address the challenges posed by these data. Building on existing standards, a temporal framework and notation are presented that are able to faithfully record all of the time-related information (or partial lack thereof) produced by surveillance systems.
The Unified Timestamp isolates all of the inherent complexity of temporal data into a single data type and provides the foundation on which a Unified Timestamp class can be built. The Unified Timestamp accommodates both point- and interval-based time measures with arbitrary precision, including temporal sets. Arbitrary granularities and calendars are supported, and the Unified Timestamp is hierarchically organized, allowing it to represent an unlimited array of temporal entities. Author's affiliation
Justus Benzler
Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, South Africa
Samuel J. Clark
University of Washington, Seattle, United States Keywords
demographic surveillance, standardization, temporal databases, temporal integrity, timestamp, valid time Word count (Main text)
9500 Other Articles by the same author/authors (in Demographic Research)
Similar Articles (in Demographic Research)
|
