Prototype of EN 301 549 Decision tree

The new European Standard EN 301 549 “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” is the response by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI to the European Commission’s Mandate 376. Today, ICT products and services are converging, and the boundaries between product categories are being constantly blurred. For that reason EN 301 549 has been drafted using a feature-based approach, instead of being based on product categories. The result is a standard that can be applied to any ICT product and service, by identifying applicable requirements depending on the features of the ICT. This demonstration presents ongoing work at the research group CETTICO of the Technical University of Madrid. CETTICO is developing a workgroup-based support tool where teams of people can annotate the result of performing a conformity assessment of a given ICT product or service according to the requirements of the EN. One of the functions of the tool is creating evaluation projects. During that task the user defines the features of the corresponding ICT product or service by answering questions presented by the tool. As a result of this process, the tool will create a list of applicable requirements and recommendations

Clause Construction: A Glimpse into Judicial and Arbitral Decision-Making

For decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that forcing a plaintiff to arbitrate—rather than allowing her to litigate—does not affect the outcome of a dispute. Recently, the Court has invoked this “parity assumption” to expand arbitral jurisdiction. Reasoning that it does not matter whether an arbitrator or a judge resolves a particular issue, the Justices have allowed arbitrators to decide important questions about the arbitral proceeding itself. The parity assumption has proven impossible to test. First, cases that are arbitrated differ from those that end up in the judicial system, complicating efforts to compare outcomes from each sphere. Second, arbitral awards are rarely published and thus remain shrouded in mystery. However, one important topic defies these limitations. Jurisdictions are divided over whether courts or arbitrators should perform a task known as “clause construction”—determining whether an arbitration clause that does not mention class actions permits such procedures. As a result, both judges and arbitrators have been weighing in on the same question. Moreover, because class members are entitled to notice of rulings that impact their rights, the American Arbitration Association requires arbitral clause-construction awards to be available to the public. For once, then, it is possible to assess how the two kinds of decisionmakers resolve the same issue. This Article capitalizes on this opportunity by analyzing a dataset of 150 recent judicial and arbitral clause-construction decisions. Its logit regression analysis concludes that arbitrators are nearly 64 times more likely than judges to allow class actions. This Article then uses its findings to propose a solution to the circuit split over clause construction and to inform the broader debate over the boundaries between judicial and arbitral power

Usability in biometric recognition systems

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorBiometric recognition, which is a technology already mature, grows nowadays in several contexts, including forensics, access controls, home automation systems, internet, etc. Now that technology is moving to mobile scenarios, biometric recognition is being also integrated in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as a convenient solution for guaranteeing security, complementing other methods such as PIN or passwords. Nevertheless, the use of biometric recognition is not as spread as desired and it is still unknown for a wide percentage of the population. It has been demonstrated [1] that some of the possible reasons for the slow penetration of biometrics could be related to usability concerns. This could lead to various drawbacks like worst error rates due to systems misuses and it could end with users rejecting the technology and preferring other approaches. This Thesis is intended to cover this topic including a study of the current state of the art, several experiments analysing the most relevant usability factors and modifications to a usability evaluation methodology. The chosen methodology is the H-B interaction, carried out by Fernandez-Saavedra [2], based on the ISO/IEC 19795 [3], the HBSI [4], the ISO 9241-210 [5] and on Common Criteria [6]. Furthermore, this work is focused on dealing with accessibility concerns in biometric recognition systems. This topic, usually included into the usability field, has been addressed here separately, though the study of the accessibility has followed the same steps as the usability study: reviewing the state of the art, pointing and analysing the main influential factors and making improvements to the state of the art. The recently published standard EN 301 549 – “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” [7] has been also analysed. These two topics have been overcome through the well-known user-centric-design approach. In this way, first the influential factors have been detected. Then, they have been isolated (when possible) and measured. The results obtained have been then interpreted to suggest new updates to the H-B interaction. This 3-steps approach has been applied cyclically and the factors and methodology updated after each iteration. Due to technology and usability trends, during this work, all the systems/applications developed in the experiments have been thought to be mobile directly or indirectly. The biometric modalities used during the experiments performed in this Thesis are those pointed as suitable for biometric recognition in mobile devices: handwritten recognition signature, face and fingerprint recognition. Also, the scenarios and the applications used are in line with the main uses of biometrics in mobile environments, such as sign documents, locking/unlocking devices, or make payments. The outcomes of this Thesis are intended to guide future developers in the way of designing and testing proper usable and accessible biometrics. Finally, the results of this Thesis are being suggested as a new International Standard within ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC37 – Biometric Recognition, as standardization is the proper way of guaranteeing usability and accessibility in future biometric systems. The contributions of this Thesis include: • Improvements to the H-B interaction methodology, including several usability evaluations. • Improvements on the accessibility of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) products by means of the integration of biometric recognition systems • Adaptation and application of the EN 301 549 to biometric recognition systems.El reconocimiento biométrico, que es una tecnología ya madura, crece hoy en día en varios contextos, incluyendo la medicina forense, controles de acceso, sistemas de automatización del hogar, internet, etc. Ahora que la tecnología se está moviendo a los escenarios móviles, el reconocimiento biométrico está siendo también integrado en los teléfonos inteligentes, tabletas y otros dispositivos móviles como una solución conveniente para garantizar la seguridad, como complemento de otros métodos de seguridad como el PIN o las contraseñas. Sin embargo, el uso del reconocimiento biométrico es todavía desconocido para un amplio porcentaje de la población. Se ha demostrado [1] que algunas de las posibles razones de la lenta penetración de la biometría podrían estar relacionadas con problemas de usabilidad. Esto podría dar lugar a diversos inconvenientes, ofreciendo un rendimiento por debajo de lo esperado debido al mal uso de los sistemas y podría terminar con los usuarios rechazando la tecnología y prefiriendo otros enfoques. Esta tesis doctoral trata este tema incluyendo un estudio del estado actual de la técnica, varios experimentos que analizan los factores de usabilidad más relevantes y modificaciones a una metodología de evaluación de la usabilidad, la "H-B interaction" [2] basada en la ISO / IEC 19795 [3], el HBSI [4], la ISO 9241 [5] y Common Criteria [6]. Además, este trabajo se centra también en los problemas de accesibilidad de los sistemas de reconocimiento biométrico. Este tema, que por lo general se incluye en el campo de la usabilidad, se ha tratado aquí por separado, aunque el estudio de la accesibilidad ha seguido los mismos pasos que el estudio de usabilidad: revisión del estado del arte, análisis de los principales factores influyentes y propuesta de cambios en la metodología H-B interaction. Han sido también analizados los requisitos de accesibilidad para las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en Europa, bajo la norma EN 301 549 [7]. Estos dos temas han sido estudiados a través de un enfoque centrado en el usuario (User Centric Design - UCD). De esta manera, se han detectado los factores influyentes. A continuación, dichos factores han sido aislados (cuando ha sido posible) y medidos. Los resultados obtenidos han sido interpretados para sugerir nuevos cambios a la metodología H-B interaction. Este enfoque de 3 pasos se ha aplicado de forma cíclica a los factores y a la metodología después de cada iteración. Debido a las tendencias tecnológicas y de usabilidad, durante este trabajo, todos los sistemas / aplicaciones desarrolladas en los experimentos se han pensado para ser móviles, directa o indirectamente. Las modalidades utilizadas durante los experimentos realizados en esta tesis doctoral son las que se señalaron como adecuados para el reconocimiento biométrico en dispositivos móviles: la firma manuscrita, la cara y el reconocimiento de huellas dactilares. Además, los escenarios y las aplicaciones utilizadas están en línea con los principales usos de la biometría en entornos móviles, como la firma de documentos, el bloqueo / desbloqueo de dispositivos, o hacer pagos. Los resultados de esta tesis tienen como objetivo orientar a los futuros desarrolladores en el diseño y evaluación de la usabilidad y la accesibilidad en los sistemas de reconocimiento biométrico. Por último, los resultados de esta tesis doctoral se sugerirán como un nuevo estándar de ISO / IEC / JTC1 / SC37 - Biometric Recognition, ya que la normalización es la manera adecuada de garantizar la usabilidad y la accesibilidad en los futuros sistemas biométricos. Las contribuciones de esta tesis incluyen: • Mejora de la metodología de evaluación H-B interaction, incluyendo varias evaluaciones de usabilidad. • Mejora de la accesibilidad de los sistemas de información / electrónicos mediante la integración de sistemas biométricos y varias evaluaciones. • Adaptación y aplicación de la norma de accesibilidad EN 301 549 al campo de los sistemas biométricos.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y AutomáticaPresidente: Patrizio Campisi.- Secretario: Enrique Cabellos Pardo.- Vocal: Marcos Faundez Zanu

Quantitative structure fate relationships for multimedia environmental analysis

Key physicochemical properties for a wide spectrum of chemical pollutants are unknown. This thesis analyses the prospect of assessing the environmental distribution of chemicals directly from supervised learning algorithms using molecular descriptors, rather than from multimedia environmental models (MEMs) using several physicochemical properties estimated from QSARs. Dimensionless compartmental mass ratios of 468 validation chemicals were compared, in logarithmic units, between: a) SimpleBox 3, a Level III MEM, propagating random property values within statistical distributions of widely recommended QSARs; and, b) Support Vector Regressions (SVRs), acting as Quantitative Structure-Fate Relationships (QSFRs), linking mass ratios to molecular weight and constituent counts (atoms, bonds, functional groups and rings) for training chemicals. Best predictions were obtained for test and validation chemicals optimally found to be within the domain of applicability of the QSFRs, evidenced by low MAE and high q2 values (in air, MAE≤0.54 and q2≥0.92; in water, MAE≤0.27 and q2≥0.92).Las propiedades fisicoquímicas de un gran espectro de contaminantes químicos son desconocidas. Esta tesis analiza la posibilidad de evaluar la distribución ambiental de compuestos utilizando algoritmos de aprendizaje supervisados alimentados con descriptores moleculares, en vez de modelos ambientales multimedia alimentados con propiedades estimadas por QSARs. Se han comparado fracciones másicas adimensionales, en unidades logarítmicas, de 468 compuestos entre: a) SimpleBox 3, un modelo de nivel III, propagando valores aleatorios de propiedades dentro de distribuciones estadísticas de QSARs recomendados; y, b) regresiones de vectores soporte (SVRs) actuando como relaciones cuantitativas de estructura y destino (QSFRs), relacionando fracciones másicas con pesos moleculares y cuentas de constituyentes (átomos, enlaces, grupos funcionales y anillos) para compuestos de entrenamiento. Las mejores predicciones resultaron para compuestos de test y validación correctamente localizados dentro del dominio de aplicabilidad de los QSFRs, evidenciado por valores bajos de MAE y valores altos de q2 (en aire, MAE≤0.54 y q2≥0.92; en agua, MAE≤0.27 y q2≥0.92)

A new wildland fire danger index for a Mediterranean region and some validation aspects

Wildland fires are the main cause of tree mortality in Mediterranean Europe and a major threat to Spanish forests. This paper focuses on the design and validation of a new wildland fire index especially adapted to a Mediterranean Spanish region. The index considers ignition and spread danger components. Indicators of natural and human ignition agents, historical occurrence, fuel conditions and fire spread make up the hierarchical structure of the index. Multi-criteria methods were used to incorporate experts¿ opinion in the process of weighting the indicators and to carry out the aggregation of components into the final index, which is used to map the probability of daily fire occurrence on a 0.5-km grid. Generalised estimating equation models, which account for possible correlated responses, were used to validate the index, accommodating its values onto a larger scale because historical records of daily fire occurrence, which constitute the dependent variable, are referred to cells on a 10-km grid. Validation results showed good index performance, good fit of the logistic model and acceptable discrimination power. Therefore, the index will improve the ability of fire prevention services in daily allocation of resources.The authors acknowledge the support received from the Ministry of Science and Innovation through the research project Modelling and Optimisation Techniques for a Sustainable Development, Ref. EC02008-05895-C02-01/ECON.Vicente López, FJD.; Crespo Abril, F. (2012). A new wildland fire danger index for a Mediterranean region and some validation aspects. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 21(8):1030-1041. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF11046S10301041218Aguado, I., Chuvieco, E., Borén, R., & Nieto, H. (2007). Estimation of dead fuel moisture content from meteorological data in Mediterranean areas. Applications in fire danger assessment. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(4), 390. doi:10.1071/wf06136Andrews, P. L., Loftsgaarden, D. O., & Bradshaw, L. S. (2003). Evaluation of fire danger rating indexes using logistic regression and percentile analysis. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 12(2), 213. doi:10.1071/wf02059Bradstock, R. A., Cohn, J. S., Gill, A. M., Bedward, M., & Lucas, C. (2009). Prediction of the probability of large fires in the Sydney region of south-eastern Australia using fire weather. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 18(8), 932. doi:10.1071/wf08133Buizza, R., & Hollingsworth, A. (2002). Storm prediction over Europe using the ECMWF Ensemble Prediction System. Meteorological Applications, 9(3), 289-305. doi:10.1017/s1350482702003031Carmel, Y., Paz, S., Jahashan, F., & Shoshany, M. (2009). Assessing fire risk using Monte Carlo simulations of fire spread. Forest Ecology and Management, 257(1), 370-377. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.09.039Castedo-Dorado, F., Rodríguez-Pérez, J. R., Marcos-Menéndez, J. L., & Álvarez-Taboada, M. F. (2011). Modelling the probability of lightning-induced forest fire occurrence in the province of León (NW Spain). Forest Systems, 20(1), 95. doi:10.5424/fs/2011201-9409Catry, F. X., Rego, F. C., Bação, F. L., & Moreira, F. (2009). Modeling and mapping wildfire ignition risk in Portugal. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 18(8), 921. doi:10.1071/wf07123CHUVIECO, E., & SALAS, J. (1996). Mapping the spatial distribution of forest fire danger using GIS. International journal of geographical information systems, 10(3), 333-345. doi:10.1080/02693799608902082Chuvieco, E., Cocero, D., Riaño, D., Martin, P., Martı́nez-Vega, J., de la Riva, J., & Pérez, F. (2004). Combining NDVI and surface temperature for the estimation of live fuel moisture content in forest fire danger rating. Remote Sensing of Environment, 92(3), 322-331. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2004.01.019Chuvieco, E., Aguado, I., Yebra, M., Nieto, H., Salas, J., Martín, M. P., … Zamora, R. (2010). Development of a framework for fire risk assessment using remote sensing and geographic information system technologies. Ecological Modelling, 221(1), 46-58. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.11.017Danson, F. M., & Bowyer, P. (2004). Estimating live fuel moisture content from remotely sensed reflectance. Remote Sensing of Environment, 92(3), 309-321. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2004.03.017Dasgupta, S., Qu, J. J., & Hao, X. (2006). Design of a Susceptibility Index for Fire Risk Monitoring. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 3(1), 140-144. doi:10.1109/lgrs.2005.858484Fairbrother, A., & Turnley, J. G. (2005). Predicting risks of uncharacteristic wildfires: Application of the risk assessment process. Forest Ecology and Management, 211(1-2), 28-35. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2005.01.026Finney, M. A. (2005). The challenge of quantitative risk analysis for wildland fire. Forest Ecology and Management, 211(1-2), 97-108. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2005.02.010Gouma, V., & Chronopoulou-Sereli, A. (1998). Wildland Fire Danger Zoning - a Methodology. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 8(1), 37. doi:10.1071/wf9980037Hernandez-Leal, P. A., Arbelo, M., & Gonzalez-Calvo, A. (2006). Fire risk assessment using satellite data. Advances in Space Research, 37(4), 741-746. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2004.12.053Li, L.-M., Song, W.-G., Ma, J., & Satoh, K. (2009). Artificial neural network approach for modeling the impact of population density and weather parameters on forest fire risk. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 18(6), 640. doi:10.1071/wf07136Maingi, J. K., & Henry, M. C. (2007). Factors influencing wildfire occurrence and distribution in eastern Kentucky, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(1), 23. doi:10.1071/wf06007Martell, D. L., Otukol, S., & Stocks, B. J. (1987). A logistic model for predicting daily people-caused forest fire occurrence in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 17(5), 394-401. doi:10.1139/x87-068Martínez, J., Vega-Garcia, C., & Chuvieco, E. (2009). Human-caused wildfire risk rating for prevention planning in Spain. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(2), 1241-1252. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.07.005Moffett, A., Garson, J., & Sarkar, S. (2005). MultCSync: a software package for incorporating multiple criteria in conservation planning. Environmental Modelling & Software, 20(10), 1315-1322. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2004.10.001Nieto, H., Aguado, I., Chuvieco, E., & Sandholt, I. (2010). Dead fuel moisture estimation with MSG–SEVIRI data. Retrieval of meteorological data for the calculation of the equilibrium moisture content. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150(7-8), 861-870. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.02.007Noble, B. F., & Christmas, L. M. (2007). Strategic Environmental Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options in the Canadian Agricultural Sector. Environmental Management, 41(1), 64-78. doi:10.1007/s00267-007-9017-yNúñez-Regueira, L. (1997). Calorific values and flammability of forest species in galicia. Continental high mountainous and humid Atlantic zones. Bioresource Technology, 61(2), 111-119. doi:10.1016/s0960-8524(97)00053-9Padilla, M., & Vega-García, C. (2011). On the comparative importance of fire danger rating indices and their integration with spatial and temporal variables for predicting daily human-caused fire occurrences in Spain. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 20(1), 46. doi:10.1071/wf09139Pendergast, J. F., Gange, S. J., Newton, M. A., Lindstrom, M. J., Palta, M., & Fisher, M. R. (1996). A Survey of Methods for Analyzing Clustered Binary Response Data. International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale de Statistique, 64(1), 89. doi:10.2307/1403425Pew, K. ., & Larsen, C. P. . (2001). GIS analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of human-caused wildfires in the temperate rain forest of Vancouver Island, Canada. Forest Ecology and Management, 140(1), 1-18. doi:10.1016/s0378-1127(00)00271-1Podur, J., Martell, D. L., & Csillag, F. (2003). Spatial patterns of lightning-caused forest fires in Ontario, 1976–1998. Ecological Modelling, 164(1), 1-20. doi:10.1016/s0304-3800(02)00386-1Preisler, H. K., Brillinger, D. R., Burgan, R. E., & Benoit, J. W. (2004). Probability based models for estimation of wildfire risk. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 13(2), 133. doi:10.1071/wf02061Preisler, H. K., Chen, S.-C., Fujioka, F., Benoit, J. W., & Westerling, A. L. (2008). Wildland fire probabilities estimated from weather model-deduced monthly mean fire danger indices. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 17(3), 305. doi:10.1071/wf06162Romero-Calcerrada, R., Novillo, C. J., Millington, J. D. A., & Gomez-Jimenez, I. (2008). GIS analysis of spatial patterns of human-caused wildfire ignition risk in the SW of Madrid (Central Spain). Landscape Ecology, 23(3), 341-354. doi:10.1007/s10980-008-9190-2Saaty, T. L. (1987). RANK GENERATION, PRESERVATION, AND REVERSAL IN THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY DECISION PROCESS. Decision Sciences, 18(2), 157-177. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1987.tb01514.xSahin, Y. G., & Ince, T. (2009). Early Forest Fire Detection Using Radio-Acoustic Sounding System. Sensors, 9(3), 1485-1498. doi:10.3390/s90301485López, A. S., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., & Burgan, R. E. (2002). Integration of satellite sensor data, fuel type maps and meteorological observations for evaluation of forest fire risk at the pan-European scale. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23(13), 2713-2719. doi:10.1080/01431160110107761Sharples, J. J., McRae, R. H. D., Weber, R. O., & Gill, A. M. (2009). A simple index for assessing fire danger rating. Environmental Modelling & Software, 24(6), 764-774. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.11.004Stocks, B. J., Lynham, T. J., Lawson, B. D., Alexander, M. E., Wagner, C. E. V., McAlpine, R. S., & Dubé, D. E. (1989). The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System: An Overview. The Forestry Chronicle, 65(6), 450-457. doi:10.5558/tfc65450-6Sturtevant, B. R., & Cleland, D. T. (2007). Human and biophysical factors influencing modern fire disturbance in northern Wisconsin. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(4), 398. doi:10.1071/wf06023Swets, J. (1988). Measuring the accuracy of diagnostic systems. Science, 240(4857), 1285-1293. doi:10.1126/science.3287615Vadrevu, K. P., Eaturu, A., & Badarinath, K. V. S. (2009). Fire risk evaluation using multicriteria analysis—a case study. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 166(1-4), 223-239. doi:10.1007/s10661-009-0997-3Vasilakos, C., Kalabokidis, K., Hatzopoulos, J., Kallos, G., & Matsinos, Y. (2007). Integrating new methods and tools in fire danger rating. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(3), 306. doi:10.1071/wf05091Verde, J. C., & Zêzere, J. L. (2010). Assessment and validation of wildfire susceptibility and hazard in Portugal. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10(3), 485-497. doi:10.5194/nhess-10-485-2010Wotton, B. M., & Martell, D. L. (2005). A lightning fire occurrence model for Ontario. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 35(6), 1389-1401. doi:10.1139/x05-071Yebra, M., Chuvieco, E., & Riaño, D. (2008). Estimation of live fuel moisture content from MODIS images for fire risk assessment. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 148(4), 523-536. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2007.12.00