REST Web Services in Collaborative Work Environments

This paper presents a case study for the development of an integration framework in the area of collaborative work environments. This framework is based on REST Web services, and has been designed and implemented as part of the Laboranova European project.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Visualization tool for the TechNET planning system

The work described in this document has been carried out in the frame of the @LIS TechNET project, which aims to create a live network across Europe and Latin America as a new, virtual, and interactive learning environment, based on software-agent technology. The purpose of this document is to describe a visualization tool developed for the TechNET's planning system. As background, this document also briefly describes what mixed-initiative planning is.Postprint (published version

A decision-support system in ICZM for protecting the ecosystems: integration with the habitat directive

This paper describes a decision-support system based on landscape ecology and focused on the study of ecosystems\u27 health. System capabilities are illustrated with three cases of integrated coastal zone management(ICZM), in the Adriatic Sea (Italy): the lagoon of and the Rimini and Ancona coastal areas. Indicators and indices are developed with a focus on sub-regional and local problems in coastal management, with a multi- approach based on landscape and seascape ecology. Land-use changes of the coastal areas were detected by analyzing two sets of satellite images. Indices combining satellite imagery, socio-economic and environmental indicators, and landscape and seascape maps created, showing ecological changes, habitat loss and gaps in conservation policy. The approach used provides means for the identification of conflicts and for the assessment of sustainability. Results show that the lagoon of Venice plays an important role in mitigating and compensating the impacts of human activities, and needs to be protected and restored. The Rimini area shows high ecological footprint and development-intensity and low biocapacity. The Ancona area needs the protection of its natural coastal space from potential sources of anthropo-genic impacts to maintain its sustainability. A model of environment changes is critical for formulating effective environmental policies and management strategies. The developed decision-support system provides a suitability map per each area analyzed, which can be used in order to maximize different policy objectives and reduce coastal conflicts

A framework for the development and maintenance of adaptive, dynamic, context-aware information services

This paper presents an agent-based methodological approach to design distributed service-oriented systems which can adapt their behaviour according to changes in the environment and in the user needs, even taking the initiative to make suggestions and proactive choices. The highly dynamic, regulated, complex nature of the distributed, interconnected services is tackled through a methodological framework composed of three interconnected levels. The framework relies on coordination and organisational techniques, as well as on semantically annotated Web services to design, deploy and maintain a distributed system, using both a top-down and bottom-up approach. We present results based on a real use case: interactive community displays with tourist information and services, dynamically personalised according to user context and preferences.Preprin

Dynamic orchestration of distributed services on interactive community displays: the ALIVE approach

Interconnected service providers constitute a highly dynamic, complex, distributed environment. Multi-agent system design-methodologies have been try-ing to address this kind of environments for a long time. The European project ALIVE presents a framework of three interconnected levels that tackles this issue relying on organisation and coordination techniques, as well as on developments in the Web-services world. This paper presents initial results focused on a high-tech, real use case: interactive community displays with touristic information and services, dynamically personalized according to user preferences and local laws.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Citclops: Data Interpretation and Knowledge-based Systems Integration

Measuring the optical properties of water bodies (as indicators of, e.g., sewage impact, dissolved organic matter, sediment load or gross biological activity) is a way to assess their environmental status. The Citclops European project, in 2012-2015, developed systems to retrieve and use data on natural-water colour, transparency and fluorescence, using low-cost sensors combined with contextual information, taking into account existing experiences. This paper describes the general interpretation of data and delivery of information as carried out via the development of a decision support system named 'Citclops Data Explorer' and available from the main portal of the project

Concept sense disambiguation in concept maps using WordNet

In this report an unsupervised and knowledge-based algorithm for concept sense disambiguation in concept maps is proposed. Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge, based on concepts and labeled interconnections among them, forming propositions. The disambiguation process is carried combining Magnini’s domain, context information and the gloss. It’s supported in the Spanish WordNet lexical database and the lexical relations hypernyms-hyponyms, meronyms-holonyms and instance.Postprint (published version

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) for preventive management of COPD patients

Background The use of information and communication technologies to manage chronic diseases allows the application of integrated care pathways, and the optimization and standardization of care processes. Decision support tools can assist in the adherence to best-practice medicine in critical decision points during the execution of a care pathway. Objectives The objectives are to design, develop, and assess a clinical decision support system (CDSS) offering a suite of services for the early detection and assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can be easily integrated into a healthcare providers' work-flow. Methods The software architecture model for the CDSS, interoperable clinical-knowledge representation, and inference engine were designed and implemented to form a base CDSS framework. The CDSS functionalities were iteratively developed through requirement-adjustment/development/validation cycles using enterprise-grade software-engineering methodologies and technologies. Within each cycle, clinical-knowledge acquisition was performed by a health-informatics engineer and a clinical-expert team. Results A suite of decision-support web services for (i) COPD early detection and diagnosis, (ii) spirometry quality-control support, (iii) patient stratification, was deployed in a secured environment on-line. The CDSS diagnostic performance was assessed using a validation set of 323 cases with 90% specificity, and 96% sensitivity. Web services were integrated in existing health information system platforms. Conclusions Specialized decision support can be offered as a complementary service to existing policies of integrated care for chronic-disease management. The CDSS was able to issue recommendations that have a high degree of accuracy to support COPD case-finding. Integration into healthcare providers' work-flow can be achieved seamlessly through the use of a modular design and service-oriented architecture that connect to existing health information systems

Modelo unificado para la integración entre ontologías y mapas conceptuales

El desarrollo y utilización de las ontologías, se está viendo cada vez más en ascenso, demostrando con ello su gran utilidad en los contextos en los que se necesite formalizar y compartir un conocimiento. Cada vez más se está requiriendo la creación de un ambiente que facilite la colaboración en el trabajo con las ontologías y hoy no están creadas las condiciones para esto. El proceso de elaboración de ontologías, las herramientas disponibles para su obtención y mantenimiento y los lenguajes de especificación que se están utilizando, tienen un alto grado de complejidad para su interpretación y amplia utilización por parte de personas no son expertas en el tema. Esto sugiere la utilización de herramientas más simple, que vinculada con las ontologías pueda ser comprendida y mejor aprovechadas por el hombre y que a su vez mantenga las capacidades para su interpretación computacionalmente. Los mapas conceptuales son una herramienta muy intuitiva para la representación del conocimiento que posee el hombre. Las facilidades que brinda en su elaboración, flexibilidad y estructura, lo han convertido en una herramienta muy útil para la gestión del conocimiento y la colaboración. La flexibilidad de los mapas conceptuales, lo convierte en una herramienta muy poco formal, a diferencia de las ontologías, sin embargo, se considera que esto no impide pensar que se puedan integrar con las ontologías y ser utilizados como un lenguaje de representación gráfico conceptual de estas. En esta investigación se propone la definición de un modelo que permite la integración entre las ontologías y los mapas conceptuales. El Modelo Unificado, como se le ha llamado, es resultado de la unificación de algunas características resultantes de análisis realizados a diferentes formas de representación del conocimiento de la Inteligencia Artificial y los mapas conceptuales. La características identificadas e integradas generó un conjunto de criterios que fundamentan la integración propuesta en ontologías y mapas conceptuales. Se proponen un conjunto de métodos que permiten la transformación del conocimiento representado en un mapa conceptual a OWL y viceversa, como implementación de este modelo. Son propuestas algunas especificaciones sintácticas y el uso de EuroWordnet en los procesos de transformación y se describen algunos ejemplos para un mayor entendimiento del modelo propuesto.Postprint (published version

Monitoring and Prognosis System Based on the ICF for People with Traumatic Brain Injury

The objective of this research is to provide a standardized platform to monitor and predict indicators of people with traumatic brain injury using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and analyze its potential benefits for people with disabilities, health centers and administrations. We developed a platform that allows automatic standardization and automatic graphical representations of indicators of the status of individuals and populations. We used data from 730 people with acquired brain injury performing periodic comprehensive evaluations in the years 2006-2013. Health professionals noted that the use of color-coded graphical representation is useful for quickly diagnose failures, limitations or restrictions in rehabilitation. The prognosis System achieves 41% of accuracy and sensitivity in the prediction of emotional functions, and 48% of accuracy and sensitivity in the prediction of executive functions. This monitoring and prognosis system has the potential to: (1) save costs and time, (2) provide more information to make decisions, (3) promote interoperability, (4) facilitate joint decision-making, and (5) improve policies of socioeconomic evaluation of the burden of disease. Professionals found the monitoring system useful because it generates a more comprehensive understanding of health oriented to the profile of the patients, instead of their diseases and injuries