Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

This chapter gives a brief overview the Joint Automatic Measurement and Evaluation System (JAMES).

JAMES is an experimental web service for creating and interpreting charts of child growth and development. The current version

  1. provides access to high-quality over 300 growth charts used by the Dutch youth health care;
  2. interchanges data coded according to the Basisdataset JGZ;
  3. screens for abnormal height, weight and head circumference;
  4. converts developmental data into the D-score;
  5. plot D-scores on special D-score charts;
  6. predicts future growth and development.

The service can be used by anyone interested in high-quality charts for monitoring and evaluating childhood growth and development. This chapter highlights the components of JAMES.

1.2 Architecture

JAMES provides its services through OpenCPU, an open system for scientific computing and reproducible research. The system allows for easy integration of growth charts into any HTTPS compliant client by means of OpenCPU’s API. The JAMES webservice is a RESTful Application Programming Interface (API).

The contents of the system consist of two parts:

  • JAMES: A collection of R packages that provides back-end functionality
  • JESSE: A gateway front-end JAMES that translates incoming and outcoming requests (not yet realised)

1.3 R packages

1.3.1 JAMES Active packages

Active packages reside on the JAMES server and provide all functionality.

Package Open Description
james Y Joint Automatic Measurement and Evaluation System
nlreferences Y Growth References for Children living in The Netherlands
centile Y Translate Measurements, Z-Scores and Centiles with the RIF format
chartbox Y Collection of Growth Charts
chartcatalog Y Catalog of JAMES Growth Charts
chartplotter N Analysing and Plotting Growth Curves
curvematching N Personalised Prediction by Matching Invididuals
donorloader N Loads Donor Data from Package or Database
brokenstick Y Broken Stick Model for Irregular Longitudinal Data
dscore Y D-Score for Child Development
bdsreader Y Read Data from the Basisdataset Jeugdgezondheidszorg
growthscreener Y Finding Children with Unusual Growth Patterns
jamesclient Y Client-side R Functions for JAMES
jamesdemodata Y Demo Data for JAMES

1.3.2 JAMES Support packages

Support packages produce half-fabricated materials, provide testing or store documentation.

Package Open Description
donordata N Longitudinal Data for Curve Matching
chartdesigner N Design Growth Charts for JAMES
gateway N Entry to TNO online analytic growth modules
jamesdocker N JAMES Docker API
bdsschema Y Data Exchange Tools for the Basisdataset JGZ
jamesdemo Y App to interact with the JAMES chart site
minihealth Y Mini Dossier for Individual Health Data
clopus N Growth reference library
jamesdocs Y JAMES Documentation

1.4 JESSE

1.5 JAMES servers