bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Geography of Immigrants in Same-Sex Couples in the United States
Authors: Hoffmann Nathan Isaac , Velasco Kristopher
Published: February 2025

Where do LGBTQ+ immigrants settle in the United States? The policy landscape for same-sex couples in the U.S. has changed rapidly in recent years, and number of immigrants in same-sex couples have increased rapidly. But little is known about where these lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) immigrants choose to settle and enjoy their new rights. Do they behave more similarly to their straight immigrant counterparts and locate based on job opportunities and cost of living? Or do they gravitate toward more LGBTQ+-friendly cities and states, as U.S.-born LGB people do? How have these patterns changed over time, especially in conjunction with local policy changes relevant to LGBTQ+ people and immigrants? Using American Community Survey data from 2008-2023 and original datasets, this paper studies the geographic context of immigrants in same-sex couples in the U.S. We find that the distribution of immigrants in same-sex couples is expanding across the U.S. over time. These settlement patterns generally look more similar to fellow U.S.-born LGB Americans: locations with higher concentrations are more progressive, have more robust LGBTQ+ civic life, and have higher incomes. Yet immigrants in same-sex couples also live in more racially and ethnically diverse areas compared to U.S.-born Americans in same-sex couples. Our findings contribute to a fuller understanding of this rapidly growing population and its unique characteristics.
Policies and Provisions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Inclusive Education Context
Authors: Acharya Raju
Published: February 2025

This article delves into the policies and provisions designed to aid children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within inclusive classroom environments. Drawing upon a qualitative context analysis through an examination of international declarations and Nepal's national policies, it scrutinizes the legal frameworks and educational guidelines addressing the educational requirements of children with ASD. Key international documents such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Education for All (EFA), and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-CRPD) are analysed to discern their implications for inclusive education. Moreover, Nepal's national policies, including the National Education System Plan, National Policy and Action Plan Related to People with Disability, and the Inclusive Education Policy for Persons with Disabilities, are assessed to determine their alignment with global initiatives and effectiveness in promoting inclusive practices for children with ASD. The study emphasizes the pivotal role of these policies in shaping inclusive education environments, ensuring access to quality education, and fostering the rights of individuals with ASD to fully participate in society. Limited resources, inadequate support services, a shortage of trained teachers, and knowledge gaps among educators and stakeholders hinder the successful inclusion of students with ASD in mainstream classrooms Recommendations for policy implementation and future research directions are also deliberated to enhance support for children with ASD in inclusive classroom settings.
भाषा शिक्षणमा साहित्यिक विधाको प्रयोजन
Authors: चन्द Chand ललित प्रकाश Lalit Prakash
Published: February 2025

प्रस्तुत लेख भाषा शिक्षणमा साहित्यिक विधाको प्रयोजन शीर्षकसँग सम्वन्धित रहेको छ । यो लेख भाषा शिक्षणका सैद्धान्तिक स्वरूप ठम्याउनुका साथै विधा शिक्षणको उपयोगिता पत्ता लगाउनुजस्ता उद्देश्यमा केन्द्रित रहेको छ । गुणात्मक अनुसन्धान ढाँचाको प्रयोग गरिएको यस अध्ययनमा वर्णनात्मक अध्ययन विधिको प्रयोग गरी पुस्तकालयी कार्यको माध्यमबाट सामग्री सङ्कलन गरी अर्थापन  गरिएको छ  । यस पहिलोअध्ययनमा द्वितीय स्रोतका रुपमा भाषा शिक्षण र साहित्य शिक्षणसँग सम्वन्धित विभिन्न पाठ्यपुस्तक, विभिन्न पत्रपत्रिकामा प्रकाशित अनुसन्धानात्मक लेखलाई उपयोग गरिएको छ । साहित्यिक विधा शिक्षण रसपूर्ण हुने भएकाले तिनै विधाको उपयोग गर्दै विद्यार्थीहरुमा सुनाइ, बोलाइ, पढाइ र लेखाइ सिपको विकास गराउने र विद्यार्थीलाई  विभिन्न साहित्यिक विधाको ज्ञान दिई  सिर्जनात्मक क्षमताको विकास गराउन भाषा शिक्षणमा साहित्यिक  विधा शिक्षणको आवश्यकता रहेको यस लेखमा निष्कर्ष निकालिएको छ ।
Is the spleen a banned site for cancer metastases?
Authors: Djaldetti Meir
Published: February 2025

Clinical experience created the general concept that the spleen is an organ rarely affected by solid tumors metastases. Although there have been published series of spleen metastases discovered during surgery or post-mortem examination, the majority of papers on the subject deal with single occurrences. The spleen's anatomical, metabolic, and immunological properties have been proposed as possible explanations for this strange incidence. The possibility that palpation in the past was the main way to detect an enlarged spleen, versus the modern imaging techniques of today which made the task easily enough, could explain the potential that solid tumors metastasizing to the spleen are becoming more common. Notable the frequency of organs spreading to the spleen varies in the reports. The objective of this study was to analyze the cases and series of primary tumor-bearing organs that spread to the spleen and the significant contribution of imaging techniques for the early diagnosis of spleen metastases.
Criminal Law Enforcement to Combat Social Media-Based Prostitution
Authors: Fuadi Isnawan
Published: February 2025

In Indonesia, social media's pervasive influence has led to the emergence of online prostitution, presenting complex challenges for law enforcement and criminal justice. Unlike traditional forms, online prostitution operates discreetly on digital platforms, complicating regulation and enforcement efforts. The research in this article uses normative legal research methods.  This research examines the socio-cultural, legal, and technological dimensions of this phenomenon, assessing the adequacy of existing legal frameworks and the efficacy of cyberpatrol units in addressing it. Insights aim to inform policy and law enforcement strategies to combat social media-based online prostitution effectively. The result of this research is the intersection of online prostitution and social media platforms presents a complex interplay between technology, commerce, and societal norms within digital environments. Leveraging the communicative potential of social media, individuals discreetly engage in commercial sex work, navigating a dynamic ecosystem that transcends geographical boundaries to create a global marketplace for commercial sexual services. Multimedia elements and specialized terminology tailored to the online sex industry augment the visibility of commercial sexual offerings and facilitate transactional negotiations. However, regulatory frameworks have not effectively addressed the challenges posed by online prostitution, creating a legal vacuum that hinders comprehensive law enforcement. This underscores the critical role of law enforcement agencies, such as the Cyber Police, in combating illicit activities in the digital sphere. By adopting a proactive and data-driven approach informed by social media analytics, law enforcement agencies can optimize their surveillance and intervention strategies to effectively combat online prostitution, safeguard vulnerable individuals, and uphold the integrity of digital platforms. Through continuous collaboration, capacity building, and innovative strategies, law enforcement agencies can mitigate the proliferation of cyber threats and ensure the safety and security of digital communities.
Implementasi Pasal 9 Undang-Undang Nomor 13 Tahun 2003 Tentang Ketenagakerjaan Melalui Baitul Arqamdi Universitas Muhammadiyah Sukabumi
Authors: Asti Sri Mulyanti  , Prahasti Suyaman Prahasti Suyaman , Leonita Siwiyanti Leonita Siwiyanti
Published: February 2025

Human Resources has an important role in creating organizational success which has the function of planning, organizing, directing and supervising, procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and termination of employment with the intention of achieving organizational goals in an integrated manner able to achieve success in achieving the vision and mission of the organization. The implementation of Law Number 13 of 2013 concerning Manpower is an important target of this study, to test the extent of the effectiveness of the policy. The method used in the study is normative juridical which focuses on the analysis of legislation. This approach aims to analyze the extent of the meaning and implications of the norms of laws and regulations that become a legal policy. So that with this approach it is possible to identify the relationship between these norms and the existing reality. Universitas Muhammadiyah Sukabumi through the Baitul Arqam program which is carried out regularly can implement the regulation to provide training and development for employees in improving performance towards work ethic
ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНА ОЦІНКА ТРАНСПОРТНО-КОМУНІКАЦІЙНОЇ СИСТЕМИ МІСТА
Authors: Осетрін М. М. , Тарасюк В. П.
Published: February 2025

В роботі визначено частку транспорту у структурі енергетичних витрат економіки України та встановлено структуруенергоспоживання для різних видів транспорту. Проаналізовано обсяг пасажирських перевезень на транспорті та встановлено місце автомобільного транспорту у цій системі перевезень. Розглянуто основні показники ефективності транспортної системи міста у взаємозв’язку з енергетичними витратами у її межах. Представлено структуру єдиної транспортної системи України та  розглянуто місце транспортних енерговитрат при здійсненні її техніко-економічної оцінки. Проаналізовано існуючі термінологічні поняття визначень «транспортна система» та «єдина транспортнасистема» та запропоновано використання нового терміну – транспортно-комунікаційна система міста. Визначено основні способи розрахунку витрат паливно-енергетичних ресурсів в межах транспортно-комунікаційної системи міста.
Повсякдення буковинського бомонду у ХІХ столітті
Authors: Ганусин Олена
Published: February 2025

Рецензія на книгу: Валявська К. У мереживі вальсу. Світське життя на Буковині (1848–1918). Чернівці: Книги – ХХІ, 2022. 320 с.
Image Construction of Ukrainians from Galicia and Bukovyna in Russian Empire Military Propaganda (1914 — 1917)
Authors: Bila Kateryna
Published: February 2025

The article deals with the «image of Ukrainians» of Galicia and Bukovyna create by the Russian Empire military propaganda during the First World War, and establish the ideological reason behind it. During the First World War the Russian Empire military propaganda in accordance with its strategic tasks intentionally depicted Ukrainians of Galicia and Bukovyna as poor and primitive people who are, nevertheless, good natured and hard-working. The media presented them as «victims» and amplified this image over whole Ukrainian population; in particular, it was applied to the peasants of the Western Ukraine. By design of the propagandists and the occupation government, the peasantry had to become the social backbone of Empire’s warfare; its opinion was easy to manipulate by promising them land plots or abolition of taxes. Peasants’ living conditions, which were undermined by war and poverty, aroused sympathy among the caring citizens, whose emotions the propaganda targeted.The main goal of the Russian military propaganda included mobilization of the Empire’s population, both military and economic. That’s why the Empire’s media landscape kept instigating to defence of «brotherly» Slavic nations, including the «lesser Russian brothers», the term applied to the Ukrainians of Galicia and Bukovyna. Such slogans gradually created the rhetoric of «justified» and defensive war, participation in it was a matter of honour and dignity, any contribution, either in the battlefield or through economic support was considered a deed worthy of respect.The propaganda attempted to advocate to compassion to the population in the territories, occupied by the Russian army. Simultaneously, the Empire’s censorship avoided to underline the Ukrainian identity, using obscure term «Russians» towards the population of the Western Ukraine instead. The Russian Empire’s ideology refrained from considering Ukrainians as a separate nation, as they were equated to Russians by using «Ruthenian» as the common term. The journalists frequently used such terms as «Ruthenian» Galicians, «Ruthenian» population of Bukovyna, the region was additionally marked by such historic terms as «Carpathian Rus» or «Red Rus».Such propaganda materials shaped an image of «unity» between Russian and Ukrainian cultures, household manners, and national clothes to justify the Empire’s attempts to claim those lands. By additionally manipulating the Orthodoxy, the propaganda imposed an idea of spiritual unanimity between the Russians and Ukrainians. In this way it established an illusion that the Ukrainians and Russians never had conflicts, had common spiritual goals and values, and thus there were no any differences between them.This propaganda stroke — «identity construction» — was an efficient tool for political and cultural manipulations of the Russian Empire government. It helped to authorize the Empire’s demands for Ukrainian lands by imposing ideas of «unification» and illusions of the «single Russian nation».
Adaptation of Clinical Practice Guidelines
Authors: Groot Perry  , Hommersom Arjen  , Lucas Peter
Published: February 2025

A rigorous development process of clinical practice guidelines through a systematic appraisal of available evidence is costly and time consuming. One way to reduce the costs and time, and avoid unnecessary duplication of effort of guideline development is by relying on a local adaptation approach of guidelines developed at the (inter)national level by expert groups. In this chapter we survey the work on guideline adaptation, which includes methodologies, case studies, assessment of effectiveness, and related work on guideline adaptation in the Artificial Intelligence community.
Formal Methods for Verification of Clinical Practice Guidelines
Authors: Hommersom Arjen  , Groot Perry  , Balser Michael  , Lucas Peter
Published: February 2025

Formal methods play an important role in the development of software and hardware systems. In recent years, there has been a growing interest to apply these methods in the area of medical guidelines and protocols. This paper summarises these efforts, compares the approaches and discusses the role of formal methods in this area.
Design and Implementation of Humanoid Programming System Powered by Deformable Objects Simulation
Authors: Ueda Ryohei  , Ogura Takashi  , Okada Kei  , Inaba Masayuki
Published: February 2025

This paper describes the design and implementation of a humanoid robot system that is capable of simulating deformable objects such as a cloth or a towel. Two key issues of the program system design are discussed: 1) adding dynamics to selected objects at the selected time. 2) the simple API for mesh creation of deformable objects. This system helps users to develop deformable object manipulation and recognition. Finally, a cloth recognition and motion generation carrying a mat using the developed system is presented.
Hardware and Software Architecture for Robust Autonomous Behavior of a Domestic Robot Assistant
Authors: Schmidt-Rohr Sven R.  , Lösch Martin  , Xue Zhixing  , Dillmann Rüdiger
Published: February 2025

We present a domestic robot assistant system designed around the objective to enable flexible and robust behavior in human centered environments. Emphasis is put on integration of different domains of abilities into a common framework to study techniques for robust and flexible human-robot interaction and general proactive decision making under uncertainty. The robotic system is designed to be fully autonomous and combines capabilities from the domains of navigation, object manipulation and multi-modal human-robot interaction. It is able to perform some typical missions in real world environments.
Ultrasound femoral anteversion (FAV) and tibial torsion (TT) after school screening for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS)
Authors: Burwell R.G.  , Aujla R.K.  , Kirby A.S.  , Moulton A.  , Dangerfield P.H.  , Freeman B.J.C.  , Cole A.A.  , Polak F.J.  , Pratt R.K.  , Webb J.K.
Published: February 2025

Torsion and counter-torsion in the spine are features of the three-dimensional deformity of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, Vertebral axial rotation has recently been found in the normal adult thoracic spine. Torsion in the lower limbs, femora and tibiae is a feature of normal human skeletal postnatal development. In recent years, femoral anteversion (FAV) and tibial torsion (TT) have been studied in normal children by imaging techniques, especially ultrasound. This paper reports summaries of the application of real-time ultrasound to FAV and TT of normal children and scoliosis school screening referrals. In the scoliosis girls and boys, the FAV decrease and FAV asymmetry compared with normals may result from abnormally increased femoral detorsion maturationally earlier with left-right asynchrony which, if repeated as a growth plate anomaly in the trunk (spine and/or periapical ribs), might initiate the AIS deformity, given other requirements. In scoliosis boys relative to girls, the TT decrease without asymmetry may result from sexually dimorphic maturation at knee tibial growth plates ? maturationally delayed TT with left-right synchrony.
Expression and significance of Sox9 in chondrocyte cells from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients
Authors: Huang A.  , Qiu Y.  , Sun G.
Published: February 2025

Although it is now widely accepted that growth is related strongly to the onset and progression of scoliosis, the pathomechanism or etiology of idiopathic scoliosis still is not clear. In mammals, most skeletal elements are formed through endochondral bone formation. Several studies demonstrate that Sox9 as the first transcription factor that is essential for chondrocyte differentiation and cartilage formation. To investigate a possible related molecular mechanism between pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and expression of Sox9 from chondrocyte level. The study include 15 AIS patients (13femals, 2males; mean age 13.1±0.7y) and 8 patients without scoliosis (5femals 3males; mean age 13.4±1.1y). The mean cobb angle of AIS patients was 50.7°±10.7, range from 40° to 72°. The chondrocytes from human iliac growth-plate were isolated, cultured and passaged in vitro. Then the expressive of Sox9 of chondrocyte from 2 groups were detected by using RT-PCR, Western blotting at p2 generation. Expression of Sox9 of chondrocyte increased obviously in AIS group as compared with control group (P<0.01), no matter from nucleic acid or protein level. The abnormal expression of the transcription factor Sox9 may be related to the molecular mechanism of the pathogenesis of AIS.
The SRS Outcome Questionnaire can discriminate between patients with spondylolisthesis and normal healthy adolescents
Authors: Parent S.  , Joncas J.  , Roy-Beaudry M.  , Beausejour M.  , Grimard G.  , Forcier M.  , Labelle H.
Published: February 2025

The SRS-22 has been shown to be able to discriminate between patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and normal healthy adolescents. The SRS-22 is currently used to evaluate adolescent patients with spondylolisthesis but its reliability and validity has not been evaluated for this condition. The objective of this study was to test the response of the SRS-22 in an adolescent population with spondylolisthesis. The validated SRS-22 was used in 113 patients with spondylolisthesis, 144 with AIS and 64 healthy controls. Reliability was assessed with the internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach α), concurrent validity was done by comparison with the SF-12 and discriminant validity using ANOVA on clinical variables. The SRS-22 showed a good global internal consistency and in all of its domains. Mean scores and significant differences can be found in table 1. The factorial structure was coherent with the original questionnaire, with 59% of explained variance. High correlation coefficients were obtained between SRS-22 and SF-12 corresponding domains. Young children had higher scores than older patients in Activity and Mental health. Grade 1 as well as high grade (≥50% slip) patients had lower scores than grade 2 patients in Total and Activity domains. Patients having conservative treatment were less active and less satisfied compared to untreated and surgical patients. Patients with associated scoliosis had lower scores than patients with no secondary condition but without any statistical significant difference. Scores showed differences between the spondylolithesis, AIS and healthy subjects confirming that the SRS-22 can discriminate between the 3 groups. The SRS-22 showed satisfactory reliability and validity for clinical use in adolescents with spondylolisthesis. The SRS-22 demonstrates a clear gradient in response between subjects with low grade and high grade spondylolisthesis, AIS patients and healthy controls.
An energy-based mechanobiological growth model for simulating vertebral progressive deformities under multi-direction loads
Authors: Lin H.  , Aubin C.-É.  , Villemure I.  , Parent S.
Published: February 2025

Mechanobiological growth is the biological process whereby bone growth is modulated by mechanical loading. In scoliosis, it is generally assumed that mechanobiological modulation is capable of inducing asymmetric growth of vertebrae which thus develops as spinal deformities. It is hypothesized that mechanobiological growth can be expressed as an energy-based model. The objective is to develop an energy-based mechanobiological bone growth model, which allows simulating progressive deformities of vertebrae under multi-direction loads. Mechanobiological growth model in the longitudinal direction was the product of an energy-triggered bone development index and of a longitudinal orientational coefficient. This coefficient was developed from the energy tensor, which associated bone tissue mechanosensing multi-direction loads with the mechanobiological modification. This model was integrated in a finite element model of T7 vertebra from a 18°thoracic Cobb angle scoliosis. A published growth model (Stokes and Laible, 1990), which represents the relationship between longitudinal stress and bone growth, as well as related experiments were used to evaluate this model. The two models were first calibrated under tension loading in order to adjust growth parameters to obtain equivalent responses for that loading condition. One-year longitudinal growth under compression and shear loads was then simulated and compared. Under compression, both models triggered retarded growth, with homogeneous distribution on the vertebral body. These reduced growth indicted similar magnitudes with a comparative ratio of 1.14 (energy model/Stokes model). Under shear loading, both models induced negligible growth modulation (<50μm/year). Simulations using the energy-based model agreed with the published model and relative experiments under longitudinal and shear loads. This model was able to simulate growth modulation under different loads. The energy-based model will further be used to associate complex loading environments to the potential asymmetric growth of vertebrae for studying the pathomechanism of spinal deformities.
A Multivariate Regression Model for Predicting the T2-T12 Kyphosis in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
Authors: Kadoury S.  , Cheriet F.  , Labelle H.
Published: February 2025

Analyzing the sagittal profile of a scoliotic spine on the X-ray image can be at times quite difficult due to several anatomical structures overlapping in the thoracic region and irregular dosage of the X-ray beam which hinders the visibility of the vertebrae. There exists a known correlation between preoperative kyphosis and lordosis, as well as between the 2D curvature of the main coronal thoracic spine and the sagittal thoracic kyphosis. A predictor built on the most reliable information extracted from the X-ray images may therefore be able to estimate the thoracic kyphosis measurement between the T2 and T12 vertebrae. The main thoracic Cobb angle (CMT) taken on the coronal X-ray image as well as on the lumbar lordosis (LTL/L) computed on the sagittal image was used to built a reliable predictor of the constrained thoracic kyphosis angle between T2 and T12 (KT2-T12) by training a quadratic multi-variant regression model by cross-validation. A database containing 732 scoliotic spines demonstrating several types of scoliotic deformities was used to train the proposed system. The database was separated into two parts, with training and testing subset of 366 scoliotic spines each. The cross-validation accuracy (ratio of correctly predicted angle within 1°) computed from the training dataset on 366 scoliotic spines was of 0.98. The accuracy on the testing datasets was of 0.78 for hypo-kyphotic curves (40 spines, kyphosis range 0–10°), 0.89 for normal kyphotic curves (257 spines, kyphosis range 10–40°) and 0.76 for hyper-kyphotic curves (69 spines, kyphosis >40°). This paper presents promising results for a multivariate regression model which is able to predict the sagittal thoracic kyphosis between T2 and T12 built on the thoracic Cobb and lumbar lordosis measures. Although the estimate is not perfectly accurate, it falls within a reasonable range to assess adequately the sagittal curve of the spine.
Stature and growth compensation for spinal curvature
Authors: Stokes I.A.F.
Published: February 2025

Spinal curvatures alter measured stature and may influence the evaluation of skeletal maturity and growth based on stature measurements. Methods: A dataset of calibrated measurements of vertebral positions of 407 radiographs in the frontal plane, together with clinically measured Cobb angles was used to determine the difference between spinal length and spinal height (‘height loss’) as a function of Cobb angles for radiographs indicating both single (N=182) and double (N=225) curves. Results: An apparently quadratic relationship: Height loss (mm)=1.0+0.066*Cobb+0.0084*Cobb*Cobb was found between height loss and each patient's mean Cobb angle for double curves. There was close agreement of the regression coefficients for single and double curves, and the present findings were very similar to the relationship reported by Ylikoski (Eur Spine J, 2003, 12:288–291). The relationships differed substantially from those proposed by Bjure (Clin Orthop, 1973 93:44–52) and by Brookenthal (SRS Exhibit 15, 2002). Discussion and Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that height loss (in mm) occurring with a 10 degrees increase in mean Cobb angle (for two curves) would be 1.1+0.16 times the mean Cobb angle (in degrees). For example, for a Cobb angle change from 30 to 40 degrees, the expected height loss would be 1.1+35*0.16 mm=6.7 mm. This assumes that height loss occurs only as a result of altered curvature, without alteration in disc height associated with an increase in scoliosis.
Clinical detectable tension in the growing body: new and revisited signs in clinical examination in children with postural problems and spinal deformities
Authors: van Loon P.J.M.
Published: February 2025

Unclear etiology in scoliotic and kyphotic deformities of the spine is responsible for uncertainty in treatment options. Normal all-day factors can be of importance. Newly developed or revisited clinical examination of sitting and supine children and consequent testing of neuro-muscular tightness shows to be useful in understanding the different spinal deformations and postural problems during growth and point to neuromuscular tension in growth. The goal is: -Better understanding of the role and individual characteristics of the central nervous system, especially the cord and roots in proper and improper growth of the human spine. -Clarifying that preservation of lordosis and good function at the thoracolumbar junction at the end of growth can be of value for normal configuration and function of the spine in adult life. -Present obvious important and consistent clinical observations in children in sitting and supine position with early and advanced adolescent deformities, by photographic studies and video fragments.
A Deterministic Crowding Evolutionary Algorithm for Optimization of a KNN-based Anomaly Intrusion Detection System
Authors: de Toro-Negro F.  , Garcìa-Teodoro P.  , Diáz-Verdejo J.E.  , Maciá-Fernandez G.
Published: February 2025

This paper addresses the use of an evolutionary algorithm for the optimization of a K-nearest neighbor classifier to be used in the implementation of an intrusion detection system. The inclusion of a diversity maintenance technique embodied in the design of the evolutionary algorithm enables us to obtain different subsets of features extracted from network traffic data that lead to high classification accuracies. The methodology has been preliminarily applied to the Denial of Service attack detection, a key issue in maintaining continuity of the services provided by business organizations.
Towards Business Interestingness in Actionable Knowledge Discovery
Authors: Luo Dan  , Cao Longbing  , Luo Chao  , Zhang Chengqi  , Wang Weiyuan
Published: February 2025

From the evolution of developing a pattern interestingness perspective, data mining has experienced two phases, which are Phase 1: technical objective interestingness focused research, and Phase 2: technical objective and subjective interestingness focused studies. As a result of these efforts, patterns mined are of significant interest to technical concern. However, technically interesting patterns are not necessarily of interest to business. In fact, real-world experience shows that many mined patterns, which are interesting from the perspective of the data mining method used, are out of business expectations when they are delivered to the final user. This scenario actually involves a grand challenge in next-generation KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases) studies, defined as actionable knowledge discovery. To discover knowledge that can be used for taking actions to business advantages, this paper addresses a framework that extends the evolution process of knowledge evaluation to Phase 3 and Phase 4. In Phase 3, concerns with objective interestingness from a business perspective are added on top of Phase 2, while in Phase 4 both technical and business interestingness should be satisfied in terms of objective and subjective perspectives. The introduction of Phase 4 provides a comprehensive knowledge actionability framework for actionable knowledge discovery. We illustrate applications in governmental data mining showing that the considerations and adoption of the framework described in Phase 4 has potential to enhance both sides of interestingness and expectation. As a result, knowledge discovered has better chances to support action-taking in the business world.
Model-Based Diagnosis of Discrete Event Systems with an Incomplete System Model
Authors: Zhao Xiangfu  , Ouyang Dantong
Published: February 2025

Model-based diagnosis of discrete event systems (DESs) is more and more active in artificial intelligence. However, there has been always a very restrictive assumption in the previous works that the model of a given DES is complete, including all nominal behaviors and all possible failure behaviors of the system. In order to relax this so restrictive assumption, in this paper, model-based diagnosis of a DES with an incomplete system model is investigated. A new concept of “P-synchronization product” of finite state automata is proposed, by which the P-diagnosis of the DES with an incomplete system model is easily put forward. It is also shown that the traditional synchronization product of finite state automata can be seen as a special situation of P-synchronization product. In addition, an ideal heuristic way from theoretical view to improve the P-synchronization product is discussed as well.
Groovy Neural Networks
Authors: Tidemann Axel  , Demiris Yiannis
Published: February 2025

The drum machine has been an important tool in music production for decades. However, its flawless way of playing drum patterns is often perceived as mechanical and rigid, far from the groove provided by a human drummer. This paper presents research towards enhancing the drum machine with learning capabilities. The drum machine learns user-specific variations (i.e. the groove) from human drummers, and stores the groove as attractors in Echo State Networks (ESNs). The ESNs are purely generative (i.e. not driven by an input signal) and the output is used by the drum machine to imitate the playing style of human drummers, making it a cost-effective way of achieving life-like drums.
An Efficient Student Model Based on Student Performance and Metadata
Authors: Faulhaber Arndt  , Melis Erica
Published: February 2025

This paper describes a new student model technology that combines evidences and knowledge about pedagogical and domain structure. Its structure is generated from the metadata available in the content representation of the adaptive web-based learning platform ACTIVEMATH (or other contents). The evidences are processed with Item Response Theory and Transferable Belief Model uncertainty methodologies. We summarize evaluation results for this student model.
Fast Set Bounds Propagation using BDDs
Authors: Gange Graeme  , Lagoon Vitaly  , Stuckey Peter J.
Published: February 2025

Set bounds propagation is the most popular approach to solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) involving set variables. The use of reduced ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) to represent and solve set CSPs is well understood and brings the advantage that propagators for arbitrary set constraints can be built. This can substantially improve solving. The disadvantages of BDDs is that creating and manipulating BDDs can be expensive. In this paper we show how we can perform set bounds propagation using BDDs in a much more efficient manner by generically creating set constraint predicates, and using a marking approach to propagation. The resulting system can be significantly faster than competing approaches to set bounds propagation.
Mixture of Gaussians Model for Robust Pedestrian Images Detection
Authors: Ruta Dymitr
Published: February 2025

Automated pedestrian detection is a forward looking challenge for future driver support systems in automotive industry. Such system would have to make safety critical decisions based on poor quality images shot in real-time from the unstable moving vehicles. The proposed system offers a simple yet very effective detection methodology based on mixture of Gaussians (MoG) aided by an Expectation-Maximisation (EM) clustering algorithm. The algorithm operates on a number of features built by aggregation of different variations of the first and second order pixel gradients related to the aggregated templates of pedestrian and non-pedestrian classes. For each class the algorithm fits a fixed number of clusters and using Gaussian kernels optimises the parameters of the Gaussian Mixture model such that the probabilities of belonging to the intraclass clusters is maximised. Given a new image the system instantly generates relative features and uses mixture model to build posterior probability densities for all clusters and after aggregation and renormalisation, posterior class probabilities. The system has been fine-tuned against its parameters and feature subsets and tested using almost 10000 real images provided by DaimlerChrysler. Reaching the testing performance in excess of 95% the model was announced the winner of the NISIS Competition 2007.
Approximate structure preserving semantic matching
Authors: Giunchiglia Fausto  , Yatskevich Mikalai  , McNeill Fiona  , Shvaiko Pavel  , Pane Juan  , Besana Paolo
Published: February 2025

Typical ontology matching applications, such as ontology integration, focus on the computation of correspondences holding between the nodes of two graph-like structures, e.g., between concepts in two ontologies. However, there are applications, such as web service integration, where we may need to establish whether full graph structures correspond to one another globally, preserving certain structural properties of the graphs being considered. The goal of this paper is to provide a new matching operation, called structure preserving matching. This operation takes two graph-like structures and produces a set of correspondences between those nodes of the graphs that correspond semantically to one another, (i) still preserving a set of structural properties of the graphs being matched, (ii) only in the case if the graphs are globally similar to one another. We present a novel approximate structure preserving matching approach that implements this operation. It is based on a formal theory of abstraction and on a tree edit distance measure. We have evaluated our solution with encouraging results.
Reinforcement Learning with Classifier Selection for Focused Crawling
Authors: Partalas Ioannis  , Paliouras Georgios  , Vlahavas Ioannis
Published: February 2025

Focused crawlers are programs that wander in the Web, using its graph structure, and gather pages that belong to a specific topic. The most critical task in Focused Crawling is the scoring of the URLs as it designates the path that the crawler will follow, and thus its effectiveness. In this paper we propose a novel scheme for assigning scores to the URLs, based on the Reinforcement Learning (RL) framework. The proposed approach learns to select the best classifier for ordering the URLs. This formulation reduces the size of the search space for the RL method and makes the problem tractable. We evaluate the proposed approach on-line on a number of topics, which offers a realistic view of its performance, comparing it also with a RL method and a simple but effective classifier-based crawler. The results demonstrate the strength of the proposed approach.
Gas Turbine Fault Diagnosis using Random Forests
Authors: Maragoudakis Manolis  , Loukis Euripides  , Pantelides Panayotis-Prodromos
Published: February 2025

In the present paper, Random Forests are used in a critical and at the same time non trivial problem concerning the diagnosis of Gas Turbine blading faults, portraying promising results. Random forests-based fault diagnosis is treated as a Pattern Recognition problem, based on measurements and feature selection. Two different types of inserting randomness to the trees are studied, based on different theoretical assumptions. The classifier is compared against other Machine Learning algorithms such as Neural Networks, Classification and Regression Trees, Naive Bayes and K-Nearest Neighbor. The performance of the prediction model reaches a level of 97% in terms of precision and recall, improving the existing state-of-the-art levels achieved by Neural Networks by a factor of 1.5%–2%.
Object Configuration Reconstruction from Descriptions using Relative and Intrinsic Reference Frames
Authors: Steinhauer H. Joe
Published: February 2025

We provide a technique to reconstruct an object configuration that has been described on site by only using intrinsic and relative frames of reference into an absolute frame of reference, as seen from the survey perspective.
Magic Agents: Using Information Relevance to Control Autonomy
Authors: van der Vecht B.  , Dignum F.  , Meyer J-J.Ch.
Published: February 2025

Autonomous agents are believed to have control over their internal state and over their behaviour. For that reason, an agent should control how and by whom it is being influenced. We introduce a reasoning component for BDI-agents that deals with the control over external influences, and we propose heuristics using local knowledge to process incoming stimuli. One of those heuristics is based on information relevance with respect to the agent's current plans and goals. We have developed a way to determine the relevance of information in BDI-agents using magic sets from database research as basis. The method presented shows a new application of magic sets by applying the theory in agent systems.
LRTA
Authors: Sadikov Aleksander  , Bratko Ivan
Published: February 2025

Recently we showed that under very reasonable conditions, incomplete, real-time search methods like RTA*work better with pessimistic heuristic functions than with optimistic, admissible heuristic functions of equal quality. The use of pessimistic heuristic functions results in higher percentage of correct decisions and in shorter solution lengths. We extend this result to learning RTA*(LRTA*) and demonstrate that the use of pessimistic instead of optimistic (or mixed) heuristic functions of equal quality results in much faster learning process at the cost of just marginally worse quality of converged solutions.
Distributed and Incremental Clustering Based on Weighted Affinity Propagation
Authors: Zhang Xiangliang  , Furtlehner Cyril  , Sebag Michèle
Published: February 2025

A new clustering algorithm Affinity Propagation (AP) is hindered by its quadratic complexity. The Weighted Affinity Propagation (WAP) proposed in this paper is used to eliminate this limitation, support two scalable algorithms. Distributed AP clustering handles large datasets by merging the exemplars learned from subsets. Incremental AP extends AP to online clustering of data streams. The paper validates all proposed algorithms on benchmark and on real-world datasets. Experimental results show that the proposed approaches offer a good trade-off between computational effort and performance.
Learning Process Behavior with EDY: an Experimental Analysis
Authors: Galassi Ugo
Published: February 2025

This paper presents an extensive evaluation, on artificial datasets, of EDY, an unsupervised algorithm for automatically synthesizing a Structured Hidden Markov Model (S-HMM) from a database of sequences. The goal of EDY is capturing the stochastic process by which the observed data was generated. The SHMM is a sub-class of Hidden Markov Model that exhibits a quasi-linear computational complexity and is well suited to real-time problems of process/user profiling. The datasets used for the evaluation are available on the webhttp://www.edygroup.di.unipmn.it
Integrating individual and social intelligence into module-based agents without central coordinator
Authors: Innocenti Bianca  , López Beatriz  , Salvi Joaquim
Published: February 2025

Robots are complex entities that can be modeled as multi-agent systems. The multi-agent paradigm provides an integrated intelligence framework such as a path planning agent that uses search techniques interacts with a fuzzy-based agent that moves the robot to a given location. Agent coordination is required to achieve the appropriate global behavior. When there is no central agent that coordinates the overall architecture, the intelligence required for social interaction should therefore be deployed at the agent level. In such a situation, individual intelligence (how to reach a goal) and social intelligence (how to collaborate or compete for resource with other agents) should be integrated at the agent level. In this paper we propose the use of module-based agents to achieve this integration. The whole multi-agent robot architecture, ARMADiCo, has been implemented with several module-based agents and tested on a Pioneer 2DX of ActivMedia. Some preliminary results are shown and discussed.
A Conceptual Model for Analysis Method of Extracting Unexpected Obstacles of Embedded Systems
Authors: Katamine Keiichi  , Shinyashiki Yasufumi  , Mise Toshiro  , Hashimoto Masaaki  , Ubayashi Naoyasu  , Nakatani Takako
Published: February 2025

This paper proposes a conceptual model for analysis method of extracting unexpected obstacles in order to improve the quality of embedded systems. Although embedded software has become increasingly large in scale and complexity, companies are requiring the software to be developed with in shorter periods of time. This trend in the industry has resulted in the oversight of unexpected obstacles and consequently has affected the quality of embedded software. In order to prevent the oversight of unexpected obstacles, we have already proposed two methods for requirements analysis: the Embedded Systems Improving Method (ESIM) using an Analysis Matrix, and a method that uses an Information Flow Diagram (IFD). However, these analysis methods have been developed separately. This paper proposes the conceptual model including both methods, and clarifies abstraction mechanisms of expert engineers for extracting unexpected obstacles of embedded systems. It also describes a case study and discussion of the domain model.
STAH-TREE: Quality Tests of Hybrid Index for Spatio-Temporal Aggregation
Authors: Gorawski Marcin  , Gorawski Michał  , Faruga Michał
Published: February 2025

This paper presents a new method for storage and access to spatiotemporal data. That is spatial objects that have some non-spatial attributes updated asynchronously. An example of such objects may be water meters. Proposed method is a hybrid of well documented dedicated solutions for spatial, temporal, spatial aggregate and temporal aggregate data processing. Thanks to that it was possible to achieve high performance for detailed and aggregate query processing without usage of approximation. Index name (i.e. STAH-tree) is English abbreviation and can be extended as Spatio-Temporal Aggregation Hybrid Tree. Part of this work aims in creation of cost model checked against experimental results of system performance. Some other experiments that verify system behavior were also performed.
Adaptive System for the Integration of Recommendation Methods with Social Filtering Enhancement
Authors: Kazienko Przemysław  , Kołodziejski Paweł
Published: February 2025

We try to find the new application for recommender systems: online social networks. The innovative system for personalized and adaptive integration of recommendation methods is presented. The unique idea of the social filtering for network members is introduced and incorporated into recommender system.
Estimation of Similarity between Colour Images
Authors: Benecki Paweł  , Świtoński Adam
Published: February 2025

The paper describes and compares content-based global and local feature image retrieval techniques, which can be applied to estimate similarity between colour images. The database of 150 colour images with manually specified model similarity of each pair was prepared. The comparison of the analyzed methods was based on examining model and calculated similarities, which should be alike.
Trans-eCare: Creating a Transparant Data Exchange Platform
Authors: Buysse Heidi  , Coorevits Pascal  , Thienpont Geert  , De Moor Georges
Published: February 2025

Home health care (HHC) organizations as well as hospitals encounter information-tracking problems regarding their patients. When a patient is admitted to the hospital, it is not always possible/easy to find out if this person already had HHC and if so, by which organization it was provided. HHC organizations also not always know to which hospital a person is admitted. At discharge, although discharge documents exist, HHC organizations not always receive the necessary information. However, sharing information between the different care-partners involved is important, among others for the continuity of care. Hospitals will gain better insight in the provided home care before admission, and HHC organizations will get a more complete and direct insight in the course of care at the hospital. In doing so, they are better prepared to provide the necessary care for the patient admitted to the hospital or returning at home. Discussion with the partners involved in the IBBT-Trans-eCare project resulted in tracking the current problems, defining goals and presenting a solution to meet the defined problems.
eHealth services and Directive on Electronic Commerce 2000/31/EC
Authors: Van Gyseghem Jean-Marc
Published: February 2025

We often restrict the analysis of eHealth services to a concept of privacy. In this article, we'll demonstrate that other legislation can apply to those services as Directive 2000/31/EC on Ecommerce. By creating telematic networks or infrastructure, eHealth services are offering information services. But what are the consequences with such concept? What are the duties and rights for the actors of the network(s)? We'll try to answer to some questions, even if it won't be exhaustive.