bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The In-Vivo Effect of Torque on Growth in Caudal Vertebrae
Authors: Rizza Robert  , Liu Xue Cheng  , Thometz John
Published: February 2025

Numerous studies involving axial distraction and compression of the spine indicate that longitudinal loading affects the vertebral growth plate as well as modulation of spinal growth. Furthermore, asymmetric loading is involved in curve progression as a result of vertebral bone changes and disc wedging. As with longitudinal loading, direct or indirect application of torque to the growth plate may have an influence as well. A study was undertaken to develop a fixture that may be applied in-vivo to generate controlled torsional loads and to examine the effect of such torsional loads on the growth plate in caudal vertebrae. It is shown that application of torque leads to curvature in the morphology of the growth plate, a reduced width (medial to lateral distance of the growth plate) and remarkably increased thickness (height of 3 physeal zones in the growth plate) and dramatically widened disc space.
Severe Spinal Deformity and Multiple Vertebral Collapses in Juvenile Cushing Syndrome: a Case Report
Authors: Pola Enrico  , Rossi Barbara  , Mormando Marilda  , Nasto Luigi Aurelio  , Colangelo Debora  , Casa Silvia Della  , Marinis Laura De  , Aulisa Lorenzo
Published: February 2025

Cushing's Syndrome (CS) is rare in adolescence but the pathological effects of excessive circulating glucocorticoids concentration on bone during the developmental age still represent a challenge for orthopedists. Only few reports describe the gravity of early developed damages of spine in young affected by CS. A 18-years-old woman suffering from Cushing's Disease presented aftermany years treatment of the primary disease referring severe back pain and worsening back deformity. Radiological investigations showed vertebral collapses a devastating thoraco-lumbar scoliosis of 80° Cobb. Lumbar dual X-ray absorptiometry Z-score values were very low and consistent with severe osteoporosis. The patient was treated with bracing, antiresorptive therapy, calcium and vitamin D supplementation, and followed-up with imaging investigations to screen for further fractures. The bone mineral density will be monitored until its normalization will allow to plane surgical treatment in case of progression of spinal deformity and collapses. Early diagnosis and treatment of hypercortisolism, periodical clinical and radiographic follow-up, and reatment for the bone damage are mandatory toprevent the devastating sequelae of secondary osteoporosis.
Biomechanical analysis of proximal junctional kyphosis: preliminary results
Authors: Cammarata M  , Wang X  , Mac-Thiong J-M  , Ce Aubin
Published: February 2025

Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) is a complication related to spinal instrumentation. Defined as a pathological kyphosis of levels above the upper instrumented vertebra, PJK is not yet fully understood although many studies have been conducted in this regard. The objective of this study is therefore to understand the influence of some biomechanical risk factors with respect to PJK. For this purpose, a biomechanical model has been developed and used to test three factors: the sagittal balance, the implant type used at the upper instrumented vertebra (UIV) and the proximal dissection (posterior ligaments disruption and joint capsule degeneration). The preliminary results showed that the PJK is correlated to both sagittal balance and the reduction of spinal stability due to posterior ligaments disruption and joint capsule degeneration.
Surgical Treatment of Neuromuscular Scoliosis: Current Techniques
Authors: Greggi T.  , Lolli F.  , Di Silvestre M.  , Martikos K.  , Vommaro F.  , Maredi E.  , Giacomini S.  , Baioni A.  , Cioni A.
Published: February 2025

41 consecutive patients surgically treated at Our Department by posterior only instrumented fusion from January 1995 to January 2009 were reviewed. There were 20 females and 21 males with a mean age of 15.8 years (range, 10 to 38). Diagnosis was: cerebral palsy (13 cases), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (7), spinal amyotrophy (7), myelomeningocele (5), poliomyelitis (3), Friedreich's ataxia (2), Escobar syndrome (2), Steinert's disease (1), Charcot Marie Tooth disease (1). Main scoliosis Cobb angle averaged 94.05° (range, 34° to 165°), the curve was thoracic in 19 cases, thoracolumbar or lumbar in 22 cases. Kyphosis (T5-T12) averaged 42.86° (range, 7° to 90°), lordosis was 33.57°. The fusion was extended to the lumbar tract in 23 patients, to the sacrum in the other 18. Our results showed that, in patients with neuromuscular scoliosis, posterior instrumented fusion is a safe and effective procedure and is the treatment of choice for patients with limited respiratory function, as in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. The surgery should be performed as early as possible, and the extension of the fusion to the sacrum should be avoided in patients with residual walking ability.
Correlation between in-brace radiographic correction and short time brace results
Authors: Zaina Fabio  , Donzelli Sabrina  , Lusini Monia  , Negrini Stefano
Published: February 2025

Introduction. In-brace radiographic correction is considered a reliable check of brace efficacy. The aim of this study was to correlate the in-brace correction with the short term results of treatment (6 months). Methods Design: pre-post study Population: 41 consecutive adolescent girls with idiopathic scoliosis who were prescribed a brace treatment (39 thoracic curves, 37±12°; 16 thoracolumbar, 38±13°; 12 lumbar, 31±8°. Risser 0-3). In-brace radiographic correction and 6 months treatment out of brace X-ray results were correlated, according to curve localization. The in-brace/out-of-brace ratio was calcutated, curves were grouped according to the Risser sign, the results (<10°, ≥10° out-of-brace), in-brace correction (<10°, ≥10°), the magnitude (<30°, 30°-45°, >45°). Statistical analysis: Correlation Coefficient.
Maternal age at birth: does it dictate the epigenotypic expression of the trunkal asymmetry of a child?
Authors: Grivas Theodoros B.  , Mihas Constantinos  , Mazioti Christina  , Zisis Nikolaos  , Sakellaropoulou Samantha  , Akriotis Antonios  , Burwell R. Geoffrey
Published: February 2025

Introduction. Trunkal back asymmetry is considered very important for the selection of children at risk of developing scoliosis. Traditionally, this asymmetry as thoracic or lumbar hump is the main indicator for referral of subjects with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) to clinics from school-screening programs. This asymmetry is also used as the most important sign for further assessment at scoliosis clinics. There are reports suggesting that an epigenetic risk factor for IS is maternal age at birth. However, the influence of maternal age on the development of trunkal asymmetry during growth has not been reported. This report aims to assess if maternal age at birth impacts trunkal asymmetry, and how this parameter may dictate the epigenotypic expression of the trunkal asymmetry of a child.
Corrective Exercises in Multimodality Therapy of Idiopathic Scoliosis in Children – Analysis of Six Weeks Efficiency – Pilot Study
Authors: Pugacheva N.
Published: February 2025

The program of the special corrective exercises according to Schroth method in H.R. Weiss modification was carried out in multimodality conservative therapy of idiopathic scoliosis in our clinic. Efficacy of the treatment was evaluated in 21 patients treated with the six week physiotherapy program. Initial state of musculoskeletal system and efficacy of therapy was evaluated with instrumental diagnostic techniques: the computer optical topography, the electromyography of paravertebral muscles and the stabilometry. According to the data of clinical investigation and instrumental testing the Schroth program of therapeutic exercises modified by H.-R.Weiss improves efficacy of therapy in children with idiopathic scoliosis.
Standards and Solutions for Architecture Based, Ontology Driven and Individualized Pervasive Health
Authors: Blobel Bernd
Published: February 2025

Based on the long-term work of scientific institutions and SDOs dedicated to system architectures, an interoperability framework is presented to help navigation through existing, emerging and even future standards for comprehensive interoperability of intelligent health and social care services. HL7 artifacts as well as work products of competing organizations are classified and semi-formally interrelated. The methodology is proven in many international standard development and health information systems implementation projects.
Architectural Analysis of Clinical Ontologies for pHealth Interoperability
Authors: Uribe Gustavo A.  , López Diego M.  , Blobel Bernd
Published: February 2025

Comprehensive interoperability between eHealth/pHealth systems requires properly represented shared knowledge. Formal ontologies allow specifying the semantics of health knowledge representation in a well-defined and unambiguous manner. The objective of this paper is to formally analyze – from a system-theoretical architectural perspective – existing clinical ontologies. The paper defines important ontology requirements for semantically interoperable pHealth/eHealth systems. Then, based on those requirements, 17 criteria are defined and used for analyzing 129 clinical ontologies. Statistical results confirm that most ontologies do not meet the defined criteria. OBO foundry defines a good approach to meet all defined criteria, but it does not cover yet the clinical domain as a whole. SNOMED CT was found the more comprehensive one, despite several restrictions.
JIM: a Novel and Efficient Accelerometric Magnitude to Measure Physical Activity
Authors: Carús Juan Luis  , Peláez Víctor  , López Gloria  , Lobato Vanesa
Published: February 2025

There are various techniques available to measure human physical activity (PA). Accelerometer based techniques claim to be non-invasive and easy to use. The signal magnitude area (SMA) is the most extended feature used to measure the physical activity. It is calculated by sampling and filtering an accelerometer signal of at least at 50 Hz. SMA has a proven and widely accepted linear relation with the energy expenditure. A novel magnitude called JIM, which is more efficient than SMA, is proposed in this paper. The jerk-based inactivity magnitude (JIM) is also calculated from the acceleration signal, but at a sampling rate of 1Hz, increasing the battery life of the measuring system. This magnitude gives the same information as the SMA (correlation of 95%) and is validated with a group of 39 users in free-living conditions for at least 24 hours.
The SWORD Tele-Rehabilitation System
Authors: Bento Virgílio F.  , Cruz Vítor T.  , Ribeiro David D.  , Colunas Márcio M.  , Cunha João P. S.
Published: February 2025

In spite of the growing interest verified in the field of technology-based interventions for Stroke rehabilitation, there is still no global solution that is both successful and suitable for a widespread use [1,2]. In this article, we present a novel tele-rehabilitation tool designed to be used for ambulatory patients, and developed towards the motor recovery of the patient's upper-limb. The SWORD system combines a movement quantification system that analyzes the quality of the motor task performed with a biofeedback console. The proposed structure defines the SWORD system as a complete tele-rehabilitation framework that enables a direct connection between clinical and ambulatory settings. Currently a randomized clinical trial is being designed in order to assess the effectiveness of the SWORD tele-rehabilitation system.
Dimension matching in Peer-to-Peer Data Warehousing
Authors: Bergamaschi Sonia  , Olaru Marius-Octavian  , Sorrentino Serena  , Vincini Maurizio
Published: February 2025

During the last decades, the Data Warehouse has been one of the main components of a Decision Support System (DSS) inside a company. Given the great diffusion of Data Warehouses nowadays, managers have realized that there is a great potential in combining information coming from multiple information sources, like heterogeneous Data Warehouses from companies operating in the same sector. Existing solutions rely mostly on the Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) approach, a costly and complex process. The process of Data Warehous integration can be greatly simplified by developing a method that is able to semi-automatically discover semantic relationships among attributes of two or more different, heterogeneous Data Warehouse schemas. In this paper, we propose a method for the semi-automatic discovery of mappings between dimension hierarchies of heterogeneous Data Warehouses. Our approach exploits techniques from the Data Integration research area by combining topological properties of dimensions and semantic techniques.
Context-Aware Twitter Validator (CATVal): A System to Validate Credibility and Authenticity of Twitter Content for use in Decision Support Systems
Authors: Saguna  , Zaslavsky Arkady  , Paris Cécile
Published: February 2025

Decision support systems (DSS) are beginning to use content sourced from social networks such as Twitter to provide decision makers with information to make timely and critical decisions. Misleading information obtained from Twitter can lead to adverse outcomes as well as cause trust issues within DSSs. In this paper, we propose and investigate a context-aware Twitter validator (CATVal) system to validate credibility and authenticity of Twitter content at run-time for use in DSS. We build, store and update a credibility index for Twitter users and verify user's context information each time a user tweets. The proposed system can benefit a DSS by providing credible and dependable information while detecting misleading and false information sourced from Twitter and possible other social media.
Electronic health information system implementation models – a review
Authors: Logan Julia
Published: February 2025

The implementation of clinical information systems and electronic medical records does not have a good track record. It is estimated that more than 50% of implementations fail. A review of electronic health information system (EHIS) models incorporating clinical information systems and electronic medical records was undertaken to determine the models developed and applied in health. Twenty one health and five non-health models were identified. The non-health models were included as a number of health models were derived form these. The findings and evaluation of the models has identified varying contents and results. The models identified were assessed to determine how these related to each other, whether models were tested and how, if benefits were identified and if costsavings were projected or realised. This review of EHIS implementation models has identified a need for clear definition of terms used, careful categorisation and for models to be comprehensive, extensive and rigorous if successful outcomes are to occur.
What do radiology incident reports reveal about in-hospital communication processes and the use of health information technology?
Authors: Stewart Michael J.  , Georgiou Andrew  , Hordern Antonia  , Dimigen Marion  , Westbrook Johanna I.
Published: February 2025

Background: There has been recent rapid growth in the use of medical imaging leading to concerns about an increase in unnecessary investigations, patient exposure to radiation, and incorrect diagnoses. Incident reporting systems provide a portal for staff to catalogue adverse events which occur within a hospital or department. Analysing incident reports can reveal trends and provide guidance for quality improvement efforts.
An information management system for patients with tuberculosis: Usability assessment with end-users
Authors: Darby Jonathan  , Black Jim  , Morrison David  , Buising Kirsty
Published: February 2025

Introduction: Information systems with clinical decision support (CDS) offer great potential to assist the co-ordination of patients with chronic diseases and to improve patient care. Despite this, few have entered routine clinical use.
Influencing factors for adopting personal health record (PHR)
Authors: Day Karen  , Gu Yulong
Published: February 2025

Background This paper reports on a small study in which we investigated factors influencing the adoption of Personal Health Records (PHRs), with specific reference to those linked to Electronic Health Records. Long term conditions are a growing concern in healthcare delivery, especially as the need for services outstrips resources. PHRs could be useful in supporting self-care of people with long term conditions, e.g. diabetes.
Managing collaboration across boundaries in health information technology projects
Authors: Garrety Karin  , Dalley Andrew  , McLoughlin Ian  , Wilson Rob  , Yu Ping
Published: February 2025

One reason that it is so difficult to build electronic systems for collecting and sharing health information is that their design and implementation requires clear goals and a great deal of collaboration among people from diverse social and occupational worlds. This paper uses empirical examples from two Australian health informatics projects to illustrate the importance of boundary objects and boundary spanning activities in facilitating the high degree of collaboration required for the design and implementation of workable systems.
Using Partial Automorphisms to Design Process Ontologies
Authors: Aameri Bahar
Published: February 2025

Process ontologies play key roles in semantic integration and decision support systems for applications in manufacturing, enterprise modeling and e- commerce. In this paper, we propose a methodology for the design and verification of domain-specific process ontologies that are extensions of generic process ontologies. This allows us to evaluate the correctness of process ontologies with respect to the class of intended models for their respective domains. Our approach is based on the correspondence between the effects of activities in the process ontology and the partial automorphisms of models of the underlying domain ontology. We then investigate in detail the process ontology for the domain of chains (sets of disjoint linear orderings) using this methodology.
Digital Image Analysis in Breast Cancer: An Example of an Automated Methodology and the Effects of Image Compression
Authors: López Carlos  , Lejeune Marylène  , Bosch Ramon  , Korzynska Anna  , García-Rojo Marcial  , Salvadó Maria-Teresa  , Álvaro Tomás  , Callau Cristina  , Roso Albert  , Jaén Joaquín
Published: February 2025

In the current practice of pathology, the evaluation of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers represents an essential tool. The manual quantification of these markers is still laborious and subjective, and the use of computerized systems for digital image (DI) analysis has not yet resolved the problems of nuclear aggregates (clusters). Furthermore, the volume of DI storage continues to be an important problem in computer-assisted pathology. In the present study we have developed an automated procedure to quantify IHC nuclear markers in DI with a high level of clusters. Furthermore the effects of JPEG compression in the image analysis were evaluated. The results indicated that there was an agreement with the results of both methods (automated vs. manual) in almost 90% of the analyzed images. On the other hand, automated count differences increase as the compression level increase, but only in images with a high number of stained nuclei (>nuclei/image) or with high area cluster (>25μm2). Some corrector factors were developed in order to correct this count differences. In conclusion, the proposed automated procedure is an objective, faster than manual counting and reproducible method that has more than 90% of similarity with manual count. Moreover, the results demonstrate that with correction factors, it is possible to carry out unbiased automated quantifications on IHC nuclear markers in compressed DIs.
Evaluation of a Completely Automated Tissue-Sectioning Machine for Paraffin Blocks
Authors: Onozato Maristela L.  , Hammond Stephen  , Merren Mark  , Yagi Yukako
Published: February 2025

Tissue sectioning automation can be a resourceful tool in processing anatomic pathology specimens. The advantages of an automated system compared with the traditional manual sectioning rely on the consistency of the final sectioned material translated into invariable thickness, uniform orientation during serial sectioning and less tissue sectioning artifacts. This technical note presents the design of an automated tissue-sectioning device and compares the sectioned specimens with normal manual tissue sectioning performed by experienced histology technician.
eHealth Promotion and Social Innovation with Youth: Using Social and Visual Media to Engage Diverse Communities
Authors: Norman Cameron D.  , Yip Andrea L.
Published: February 2025

Social media and the multimedia networks that they support provide a platform for engaging youth and young adults across diverse contexts in a manner that supports different forms of creative expression. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience using eHealth promotion strategies to youth engagement, the Youth Voices Research Group (YVRG) and its partners have created novel opportunities for young people to explore health topics ranging from tobacco use, food security, mental health, to navigation of health services. Through applying systems and design thinking, the YVRG approach to engaging youth will be presented using examples from its research and practice that combine social organizing with arts-informed methods for creative expression using information technology. This presentation focuses on the way in which the YVRG has introduced interactive blogging, photographic elicitation, and video documentaries, alongside real-world social action projects, to promote youth health and to assist in research and evaluation. Opportunities and barriers including literacy and access to technology are discussed and presented along with emerging areas of research including more effective use of smartphones and social networking platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in health promotion and public health.
Game Design and e-Health: Serious Games Put to the Test
Authors: Garcia Pañella Oscar
Published: February 2025

Memorable experiences deliver intense usable moments with the support of different platforms and social networks. Higher degrees of motivation ensure efficiency and performance. Serious games deliver powerful and truthful experiences by providing the user with goals, challenges, problem-solving, and rules, besides a clear internal value and an interactive experience. Our software and hardware-based tools should have the power to teach and change us, while making us better problem-solvers and professionals.
A mutation test based approach to evaluating test suites for Web applications
Authors: Lacanienta Rogene  , Takada Shingo  , Tanno Haruto  , Zhang Xiaojing  , Hoshino Takashi
Published: February 2025

Web application testing is becoming increasingly important with Web applications becoming more prevalent. Many proposed test tools have been evaluated through experiments using programs that have been seeded with bugs. However, such bugs are seeded manually or seeded using past bug information, and as a result they are not seeded exhaustively. In this paper, we focus on mutation testing where bugs are systematically seeded. We propose a framework for evaluating test suites that have been generated for Web applications. We conducted an experiment where we applied the implemented framework to a sample application. We discuss the experimental results.
Macro and Micro Patterns in the Software Design Activity
Authors: Hernandez Jonatan  , Washizaki Hironori  , Fukazawa Yoshiaki
Published: February 2025

The activities of software analysis and design are important because they are the first steps in the software development. The objective of this paper is to identify the patterns that emerge during these activities. Identifying these patterns is important because we can imitate the patterns that increase our productivity and avoid the patterns that decrease our productivity. The patterns are made from sequences the logical actions “Create”, “Delete” and “Rename” applied on the elements of the design diagrams. These actions are collected when creating UML class diagrams with the open source modeling tool ArgoUML. The patterns found are of two types: micro-pattens and macro-patterns. These patterns were related to different design strategies such as top down, breadth first.
A Concept-Based Image Acquisition System with User-Driven Classification
Authors: Sotiropoulos D.N.  , Lampropoulos A.S.  , Tsihrintzis G.A.
Published: February 2025

We present a concept-based image image acquisition system which embodies the ability to extract a certain subset of images that are representatives of a user defined query concept. The system incorporates SVM - based incremental learning into the relevance feedback procedure in order to refine the discrimination function separating the images pertaining to the user defined query concept (relevant) and the rest images in the database (irrelevant).
Set-Labeled Diagrams for CSP Compilation
Authors: Niveau Alexandre  , Fargier Hélène  , Pralet Cédric
Published: February 2025

Knowledge compilation structures such as MDDs have been proposed as a way to compile CSPs, to make requests tractable online, in cases where solving is not possible. This paper studies the interest in relaxing two assumptions usually imposed on MDDs, static ordering and read-once property, using a new compilation structure called Set-labeled Diagrams, which are compiled by tracing the search tree explored by a CSP solver. The impact of read-once and static ordering is assessed by simply playing on the variable choice heuristics used during search in the CSP solver.
OCL Plus: Processes and Events in Object-Centred Planning
Authors: Shah Shahin  , Chrpa Lukáš  , Gregory Peter  , Mccluskey Thomas. L.  , Jimoh Falilat
Published: February 2025

An important area in AI Planning is the expressiveness of planning domain specification languages such as PDDL, and their aptitude for modelling real applications. This paper presents OCLplus, an extension of a hierarchical object centred planning domain definition language, intended to support the representation of domains with continuous change. The main extension in OCLplus provides the capability of interconnection between the planners and the changes that are caused by other objects of the world. To this extent, the concept of event and process are introduced in the Hierarchical Task Network (HTN), object centred planning framework in which a process is responsible for either continuous or discrete changes, and an event is triggered if its precondition is met. We evaluate the use of OCLplus and compare it with a similar language, PDDL+.
Identifying Geographic Events and Processes in Spatio-temporal Data
Authors: Campelo Claudio E.C.  , Bennett Brandon  , Dimitrova Vania
Published: February 2025

This paper presents an approach to identifying geographic events and processes in temporal series of topographic data. This approach is based on a novel ontological framework which encompasses coherent representations of time, space, events, processes and the geographic features which are said to participate in events and processes. The novelty of this model lies in several characteristics, which include: (i) it comprises a flexible method of representing attributed spatial-temporal data; (ii) it provides a mechanism for grounding the ontology upon the data; (iii) it takes into account how the phenomenon of temporal vagueness can affect the representation of geographic processes; (iv) its concepts are defined in a level of detail which enables reasoning.
Training Crisis Managers with PANDORA
Authors: Bacon Liz  , Cesta Amedeo  , Coraci Luca  , De Benedictis Gabriella Cortellessa Riccardo  , Grilli Sara  , Polutnik Jure  , Strickland Keith
Published: February 2025

This short paper introduces a novel use of timeline-based planning as the core element of a dynamic training environment for crisis managers called PANDORA. A trainer is provided with a combination of planning and execution functions that allow him/her to maintain and adapt a “lesson plan” as the basis for the interaction between the trainer and a class of trainees. The training session is based on the concept of Scenario, that is a set of events and alternatives deployed on a timeline-based system, that shapes an abstract plan proposed to trainees. Throughout a training session a continuous planning, execution, re-planning loop takes place, based around trainer observation of trainees and self-reporting by trainees, which provides analysis of both their behavioral and psychological changes. These, combined with the trainee decisions about what actions to take to manage the crisis, are used to maintain an updated model of each user. In addition the trainer has the ability to directly intervene in a training session to, for example, interject new scenario events. The training session is therefore managed through a combination of automated analysis of trainee behaviour and decisions, coupled with trainer input and direction.
Metaheuristic Aided Software Features Assembly
Authors: del Sagrado José  , del Águila Isabel M.  , Orellana Francisco J.
Published: February 2025

One significant task addressed during software development project is to determine which features should be covered by the application that is being developed. This problem is known as the Next Release Problem (NRP) and has been solved using metaheuristic search techniques. We show how to apply these techniques by its embedding into a requirement management tool as an assistant functionality. We have called this new utility MASA (Metaheuristic Aided Software Features Assembly).
Speeding Up 2-way Number Partitioning
Authors: Cerquides Jesús  , Meseguer Pedro
Published: February 2025

Several algorithms exist for optimally solving 2-way number partitioning. When the cardinality of the multiset to partition is high enough, solving algorithms have to relay on search techniques with low memory complexity. Currently, CKK is the reference of such algorithms. Here we propose a contribution to speed-up CKK. We detail how to consider terminal nodes with 4, 5, 6 or more numbers left, when the original CKK considers a node terminal when it contains 4 or less numbers left. Using this idea, we propose new CKK implementations, which provide savings up to 70% of execution time with respect to the original CKK algorithm. We provide experimental evidence of the benefits of this approach on random number partitioning instances with numbers of 35 bits.
Agent Strategies for ABA-based Information-seeking and Inquiry Dialogues
Authors: Fan Xiuyi  , Toni Francesca
Published: February 2025

Much research has been devoted to the use of argumentation to support inter-agent dialogues. Here, we contribute to this line of research by investigating the strategic behaviour of agents in argumentation-based dialogues, using Assumption-Based-Argumentation (ABA) as the underlying framework. We will focus on information-seeking and inquiry dialogues, giving formalisations thereof and showing how they can be supported by specific classes of strategy-move functions for agents to select suitable utterances.
Towards Generalizing the Success of Monte-Carlo Tree Search beyond the Game of Go
Authors: Gusmão António  , Raiko Tapani
Published: February 2025

Monte-Carlo Tree Search and specifically the variants of the UCT algorithm have been a break-through in AI of the board game Go. However, UCT has had limited applicability to other domains. We study the limitations of some of the existing variants of UCT in a small-scale Markov decision process (MDP), and propose new variants that can reduce those limitations. Our experiments show great improvements in performance against traditional UCT and comparable performance to estabilished reinforcement learning algorithm, thus opening possibilities for applying UCT in other problem domains.
Here, There, but Not Everywhere: An Extended Framework for Qualitative Constraint Satisfaction
Authors: Liu Weiming  , Li Sanjiang
Published: February 2025

Dealing with spatial and temporal knowledge is an indispensable part of almost all aspects of human activities. The qualitative approach to spatial and temporal reasoning (QSTR) provides a promising framework for spatial and temporal knowledge representation and reasoning. QSTR typically represents spatial/temporal knowledge in terms of qualitative relations (e.g., to the east of, after), and reasons with the knowledge by solving qualitative constraints. When formulating a qualitative constraint satisfaction problem (CSP), it is usually assumed that each variable could be “here, there and everywhere.” Practical applications e.g. urban planning, however, often require a variable taking values from a certain finite subset of the universe, i.e. require it to be 'here or there'. This paper extends the classic framework of qualitative constraint satisfaction by allowing variables taking values from finite domains. The computational complexity of this extended consistency problem is examined for five most important qualitative calculi, viz. Point Algebra, Interval Algebra, Cardinal Relation Algebra, RCC-5, and RCC-8. We show that the extended consistency problem remains in NP, but when only basic constraints are considered, the extended consistency problem for each calculus except Point Algebra is already NP-hard.
Fair Division of Indivisible Goods under Risk
Authors: Lumet Charles  , Bouveret Sylvain  , Lemaître Michel
Published: February 2025

We consider the problem of fairly allocating a set of m indivisible objects to n agents having additive preferences over them. In this paper we propose an extension of this classical problem, where each object can possibly be in bad condition (e.g broken), in which case its actual value is zero. We assume that the central authority in charge of allocating the objects does not know beforehand the objects conditions, but only has probabilistic information. The aim of this work is to propose a formal model of this problem, to adapt some classical fairness criteria to this extended setting, and to introduce several approaches to compute optimal allocations for small instances as well as sub-optimal good allocations for real-world inspired allocation problems of realistic size.
Hierarchical and Overlapping Co-Clustering of mRNA:miRNA Interactions
Authors: Pio Gianvito  , Ceci Michelangelo  , Loglisci Corrado  , D'Elia Domenica  , Malerba Donato
Published: February 2025

microRNAs (miRNAs) are an important class of regulatory factors controlling gene expressions at post-transcriptional level. Studies on interactions between different miRNAs and their target genes are of utmost importance to understand the role of miRNAs in the control of biological processes. This paper contributes to these studies by proposing a method for the extraction of co-clusters of miRNAs and messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Different from several already available co-clustering algorithms, our approach efficiently extracts a set of possibly overlapping, exhaustive and hierarchically organized co-clusters. The algorithm is well-suited for the task at hand since: i) mRNAs and miRNAs can be involved in different regulatory networks that may or may not be co-active under some conditions, ii) exhaustive co-clusters guarantee that possible co-regulations are not lost, iii) hierarchical browsing of co-clusters facilitates biologists in the interpretation of results. Results on synthetic and on real human miRNA:mRNA data show the effectiveness of the approach.
Complexity of Conditional Planning under Partial Observability and Infinite Executions
Authors: Rintanen Jussi
Published: February 2025

The computational properties of many classes of conditional and contingent planning are well known. The main division in the field is between probabilistic planning (typically infinite or unbounded executions, reward rather than goal-based, and focus on expected costs or rewards) and non-probabilistic planning (ignoring probabilities, focus on plans that reach goal states.) In this work, we address the middle ground between these problems: planning with infinite executions and designated goal states. We address worst case rather than expected costs measures for the problem we consider. We analyze the structure of the plans for two possible goal-based specifications such plans may have to satisfy, maintaining a goal property indefinitely as well as visiting a goal state infinitely often, and establish their complexity under different observability assumptions.
Strategic and Epistemic Reasoning for the Game Description Language GDL-II
Authors: Ruan Ji  , Thielscher Michael
Published: February 2025

The game description language GDL has been developed as a logic-based formalism for representing the rules of arbitrary games in general game playing. A recent language extension called GDL-II allows to describe nondeterministic games with any number of players who may have incomplete, asymmetric information. In this paper, we show how the well-known Alternating-time Temporal Epistemic Logic (ATEL) can be adapted for strategic and epistemic reasoning about general games described in GDL-II. We provide a semantic characterisation of GDL-II descriptions in terms of ATEL models. We also provide a syntactic translation of GDL-II descriptions into ATEL formulas, and we prove that these two characterisations are equivalent. We show that model checking in this setting is decidable by giving an algorithm, and we demonstrate how our results can be used to verify strategic and epistemic properties of games described in GDL-II.
Path-Constrained Markov Decision Processes: bridging the gap between probabilistic model-checking and decision-theoretic planning
Authors: Teichteil-Königsbuch Florent
Published: February 2025

Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) are a popular model for planning under probabilistic uncertainties. The solution of an MDP is a policy represented as a controlled Markov chain, whose complex properties on execution paths can be automatically validated using stochastic model-checking techniques. In this paper, we propose a new theoretical model, named Path-Constrained Markov Decision Processes: it allows system designers to directly optimize safe policies in a single design pass, whose possible executions are guaranteed to satisfy some probabilistic constraints on their paths, expressed in Probabilistic Real Time Computation Tree Logic. We mathematically analyze properties of PC-MDPs and provide an iterative linear programming algorithm for solving them. We also present experiments that illustrate PC-MDPs and highlight their benefits.
Improving Local Decisions in Adversarial Search
Authors: Wilson Brandon  , Zuckerman Inon  , Parker Austin  , Nau Dana S.
Published: February 2025

Until recently, game-tree pathology (in which a deeper game-tree search results in worse play) has been thought to be quite rare. We provide an analysis that shows that every game should have some sections that are locally pathological, assuming that both players can potentially win the game.
Enhancing predictability of schedules by task grouping
Authors: Wilson Michel  , Witteveen Cees  , Huisman Bob
Published: February 2025

An important problem in scheduling is ensuring predictability of solutions in case of execution delays. We propose a new method, task grouping, and apply it in combination with a precedence constraint posting algorithm to solve the resource-constrained project scheduling problem. Using this method tasks that must be executed sequentially can be grouped, but their definitive order is determined at execution time such that delays can sometimes be mitigated. As a consequence, our method generates a set of execution options for a schedule. Using the well-known PSPLIB instances, we show that our method can reduce the impact of delays on the predictability of schedule execution.
A Multi-objective Approach to Balance Buildings Construction Cost and Energy Efficiency
Authors: Fialho Álvaro  , Hamadi Youssef  , Schoenauer Marc
Published: February 2025

The issue of energy efficiency of buildings must be taken into account as early as possible in the life cycle of buildings, i.e., during the architectural phase. The orientation of the building, its structure, the choice of materials, windows and other openings, all these aspects participate to the future energy consumption profile in a complex and highly non-linear way. Furthermore, even though sustainability is today a major objective, the cost of the construction remains another decision factor that cannot be underestimated – and energy efficiency and cost are alas contradictory objectives. Thus the problem of designing efficient buildings is a multi-objective problem. This work tackles this problem using a state-of-the-art evolutionary multi-objective algorithm, HYPE, tightly linked to an energy con-sumption simulation program, EnergyPlus. Several parameters defining the design are considered, namely the orientation angle, the materials used for the thermal insulation of the walls, and the size of the windows in order to explore daylighting. In the end, a diverse set of Pareto optimal solutions (i.e., solutions offering optimal trade-offs between both objectives) are proposed to the decision maker. The approach is validated on five buildings of different categories, where energy savings of up to 20% compared to the original design are automatically obtained.
Electronic Nursing Documentation in a Paediatrics Hospital: Impact on Quality of Care by using OpenEHR, IHE and HL7
Authors: Oštir Majda  , Purkart Marinka  , Štih Anita  , Prinčič Biljana  , Orel Andrej
Published: February 2025

The acuity of illness of sick children requiring care in hospital is increasing. There are many more children now with disabilities and complicated long term illnesses. Respiratory illness is the commonest cause of morbidity in young children. Nurses have a pivotal role in the anticipation of and/or early identification of the sick child with potential or actual respiratory failure through the assessment and measurement of the child's pattern of breathing, including rate, rhythm and effort. It should also be conducted and interpreted in association with other clinical assessments, for example cardiovascular. Record keeping is an essential part of nursing care because it details the patient journey through the healthcare process. Good quality record keeping can improve the quality of patient care and for this reason nurses must seek to ensure that their documentation practices meet high standards. Poor standards of documentation were a contributory factor in the failure to detect patients who were clinically deteriorating. In this article we searched for evidence whether electronic health records has positive impact on quality of nursing care and present our experiences with electronic nursing documentation in the field of respiratory assessment of the children and young people.
A System-Theoretical, Architecture-Based Approach to Ontology Management
Authors: Blobel Bernd  , Brochhausen Mathias  , González Carolina  , Lopez Diego M.  , Oemig Frank
Published: February 2025

Comprehensive interoperability between distributed eHealth/pHealth environments requires that the systems involved are based on a common architectural framework and share common knowledge. The paper deals with the representation of systems by related ontologies. Therefore, the architectural principles ruling the system design and the interrelations of its components also rule the design of those ontologies and their management as exemplified.
Classification of Ischaemic Episodes with ST/HR Diagrams
Authors: Faganeli Pucer Jana  , Demšar Janez  , Kukar Matjaž
Published: February 2025

Coronary artery disease is the developed world's premier cause of mortality and the most probable cause of myocardial ischaemia. More advanced diagnostic tests aside, in electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis it manifests itself as a ST segment deviation, targeted by both exercise ECG and ambulatory ECG. In ambulatory ECG, besides ischaemic ST segment deviation episodes there are also non-ischaemic heart rate related episodes which aggravate real ischaemia detection. We present methods to transform the features developed for the heart rate adjustment of ST segment depression in exercise ECG for use in ambulatory ECG. We use annotations provided by the Long-Term ST Database to plot the ST/HR diagrams and then estimate the overall and maximal slopes of the diagrams in the exercise and recovery phase for each ST segment deviation episode. We also estimate the angle at the extrema of the ST/HR diagrams. Statistical analysis shows that ischaemic ST segment deviation episodes have significantly steeper overall and maximal slopes than heart rate related episodes, which indicates the explored features' utility for distinguishing between the two types of episodes. This makes the proposed features very useful in automated ECG analysis.
IT behind a Platform for Translational Cancer Research – Concept and Objectives
Authors: Steffens Michael  , Husmann Gabriele  , Koca Mithat  , Lablans Martin  , Komor Martina  , Zeissig Sylke  , Emrich Katharina  , Brandts Christian  , Serve Hubert  , Blettner Maria  , Ückert Frank
Published: February 2025

The German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK) and the Rhine-Main Translational Cancer Research Network (RM-TCRN) are designed to exploit large population cohorts of cancer patients for the purpose of bio-banking, clinical trials, and clinical cancer registration. Hence, the success of these platforms is heavily dependent on the close interlinking of clinical data from cancer patients, information from study registries, and data from bio-banking systems of different laboratories and scientific institutions. This article referring to the poster discusses the main challenges of the platforms from an information technology point of view, legal and data security issues, and outlines an integrative IT-concept concerning a decentralized, distributed search approach where data management and search is in compliance with existing legislative rules.
Virtual Medical Record Implementation for Enhancing Clinical Decision Support
Authors: Gomoi Valentin-Sergiu  , Dragu Daniel  , Stoicu-Tivadar Vasile
Published: February 2025

Development of clinical decision support systems (CDS) is a process which highly depends on the local databases, this resulting in low interoperability. To increase the interoperability of CDS a standard representation of clinical information is needed. The paper suggests a CDS architecture which integrates several HL7 standards and the new vMR (virtual Medical Record). The clinical information for the CDS systems (the vMR) is represented with Topic Maps technology. Beside the implementation of the vMR, the architecture integrates: a Data Manager, an interface, a decision making system (based on Egadss), a retrieving data module. Conclusions are issued.
Development and Management of Public Health Education System Against Emerging Infectious Diseases
Authors: Koh Myungja  , Dev Parvati  , Lee Eun-Jung  , Koo Byung-Ki  , Lee Kyung-Oak  , Ha Kukhwa  , Yang Heesun  , Kang Gilwon  , Lee Youngsung
Published: February 2025

With recent spread of infectious diseases, worldwide emergency strategies against them have been made. As one of such efforts we planned to develop an educational program for public health manpower using IT, and produced 4 to 8 minute-long flash animations of the following subjects selected by Education Training Expert Committee: Self-care guideline on H1N1; Instruction for medical hospital; Prevention of hospital acquired infections; Method of sampling & transporting. Demonstrative education using an online education system was conducted targeting 10 doctors working in a rural health center to evaluate the developed animations. They received good marks in the factors of credibility and accuracy, but needed to improve in that of interaction with educatees. Our suggestion is that we use the result of our study as a prototype of education contents on infectious diseases, and modify its contents accordingly when a specific disease breaks out.