Representing sensorml and O&M files in android clients

Peer Reviewe

Reification and Truthmaking Patterns

Reification is a standard technique in conceptual modeling, which consists of including in the domain of discourse entities that may otherwise be hidden or implicit. However, deciding what should be rei- fied is not always easy. Recent work on formal ontology offers us a simple answer: put in the domain of discourse those entities that are responsible for the (alleged) truth of our propositions. These are called truthmakers. Re-visiting previous work, we propose in this paper a systematic analysis of truthmaking patterns for properties and relations based on the ontolog- ical nature of their truthmakers. Truthmaking patterns will be presented as generalization of reification patterns, accounting for the fact that, in some cases, we do not reify a property or a relationship directly, but we rather reify its truthmakers

Towards a marine sdi: A methodology to allow metadata interoperability

Peer Reviewe

The conceptual schema of Ethereum

There is an abundant literature on Ethereum, but as far as we know what is missing is its explicit conceptual schema. We present here the conceptual schema of Ethereum in UML. The schema should be useful to those that want to understand Ethereum. We also show that the schema is necessary for developing the schema of Ethereum–based DApps. We present a few population constraints, and show that they suffice for the specification at the conceptual level of what is understood by immutability of a blockchain. We also show that the well–known reification construct and an initial constraint suffice to specify at the conceptual level that the Ethereum blockchain stores the full state history.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Toward a molecular profile of self-representation

Feeling embodiment over our body or body part has a major role in the understanding of the self and control of self-actions. Even though it is crucial in our daily life, embodiment is not an homogenous phenotype across population, as quantified by implicit and explicit measures (i.e., neuroimaging or self-reports). Studies have shown differences in neuropathological conditions compared to healthy controls, but also across healthy individuals. We discuss examples of self-perception differences, and the molecular origin of embodiment, focusing on clinical cases, during the first and second section. We then discuss two important questions in this molecular-to-embodiment relationship: (i) which are the molecular levels (and their associated techniques) that can be relevant to embodiment, and (ii) which are the most adequate experiments to correlate molecular profiles and embodiment quantification across individuals. Potential answers for both questions will be outlined during the third and fourth sections, respectively, in order to design a framework to study the molecular profile of body embodiment

Adapting integrity checking techniques for concurrent operation executions

One challenge for achieving executable models is preserving the integrity of the data. That is, given a structural model describing the constraints that the data should satisfy, and a behavioral model describing the operations that might change the data, the integrity checking problem consists in ensuring that, after executing the modeled operations, none of the specified constraints is violated. A multitude of techniques have been presented so far to solve the integrity checking problem. However, to the best of our knowledge, all of them assume that operations are not executed concurrently. As we are going to see, concurrent operation executions might lead to violations not detected by these techniques. In this paper, we present a technique for detecting and serializing those operations that can cause a constraint violation when executed concurrently , so that, previous incremental techniques, exploiting our approach, can be safely applied in systems with concurrent operation executions guaranteeing the integrity of the data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Can lay health workers support the management of hypertension? Findings of a cluster randomised trial in South Africa.

Introduction: In low/middle-income countries with substantial HIV and tuberculosis epidemics, health services often neglect other highly prevalent chronic conditions, such as hypertension, which as a result are poorly managed. This paper reports on a study to assess the effect on hypertension management of lay health workers (LHW) working in South African rural primary healthcare clinics to support the provision of integrated chronic care. Methods: A pragmatic cluster randomised trial with a process evaluation in eight rural clinics assessed the effect of adding two LHWs supporting nurses in providing chronic disease care in each intervention clinic over 18 months. Control clinics continued with usual care. The main outcome measure was the change in the difference of percentage of clinic users who had elevated cardiovascular risk associated with high blood pressure (BP) before and after the intervention, as measured by two cross-sectional population surveys. Results: There was no improvement in BP control among users of intervention clinics as compared with control clinics. However, the LHWs improved clinic functioning, including overall attendance, and attendance on the correct day. All clinics faced numerous challenges, including rapidly increasing number of users of chronic care, unreliable BP machines and cuffs, intermittent drug shortages and insufficient space. Conclusion: LHWs improved the process of providing care but improved BP control required improved clinical care by nurses which was compromised by large and increasing numbers of patients, the dominance of the vertically funded HIV programme and the poor standards of equipment in clinics. Trial registration number: ISRCTN12128227.The Nkateko study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council under the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) Programme

Determinants of the risk of dying of HIV/AIDS in a rural South African community over the period of the decentralised roll-out of antiretroviral therapy: a longitudinal study.

Antiretroviral treatment (ART) has significantly reduced HIV mortality in South Africa. The benefits have not been experienced by all groups. Here we investigate the factors associated with these inequities. This study was located in a rural South African setting and used data collected from 2007 to 2010, the period when decentralised ART became available. Approximately one-third of the population were of Mozambican origin. There was a pattern of repeated circular migration between urban areas and this community. Survival analysis models were developed to identify demographic, socioeconomic, and spatial risk factors for HIV mortality. Among the study population of 105,149 individuals, there were 2,890 deaths. The HIV/TB mortality rate decreased by 27% between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. For other causes of death, the reduction was 10%. Bivariate analysis found that the HIV/TB mortality risk was lower for: those living within 5 km of the Bhubezi Community Health Centre; women; young adults; in-migrants with a longer period of residence; permanent residents; and members of households owning motorised transport, holding higher socioeconomic positions, and with higher levels of education. Multivariate modelling showed, in addition, that those with South Africa as their country of origin had an increased risk of HIV/TB mortality compared to those with Mozambican origins. For males, those of South African origin, and recent in-migrants, the risk of death associated with HIV/TB was significantly greater than that due to other causes. In this community, a combination of factors was associated with an increased risk of dying of HIV/TB over the period of the roll-out of ART. There is evidence for the presence of barriers to successful treatment for particular sub-groups in the population, which must be addressed if the recent improvements in population-level mortality are to be maintained