Using workflow technology to manage flexible e-learning services

Workflow technology provides a suitable platform to define and manage the coordination of business process activities. We introduce a flexible e-learning environment – called Flex-eL – that has been built upon workflow technology. The workflow functionality of Flex-eL manages the coordination of learning and assessment activities of the course process between students and teaching staff. It provides a unique environment for teachers to design and develop process-centric courses and to monitor student progress. It allows students to learn at their own pace while observing the learning guidelines and checkpoints modeled into the course process by teaching staff. We also report on the successful deployment of the concept and system for university courses and our experiences from the implementation

Trajectory-Based Spatiotemporal Entity Linking

Trajectory-based spatiotemporal entity linking is to match the same moving object in different datasets based on their movement traces. It is a fundamental step to support spatiotemporal data integration and analysis. In this paper, we study the problem of spatiotemporal entity linking using effective and concise signatures extracted from their trajectories. This linking problem is formalized as a k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) query on the signatures. Four representation strategies (sequential, temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal) and two quantitative criteria (commonality and unicity) are investigated for signature construction. A simple yet effective dimension reduction strategy is developed together with a novel indexing structure called the WR-tree to speed up the search. A number of optimization methods are proposed to improve the accuracy and robustness of the linking. Our extensive experiments on real-world datasets verify the superiority of our approach over the state-of-the-art solutions in terms of both accuracy and efficiency.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 15 table

Collaborative business process management through harmonized messaging

Workflow systems in specific and Business Process Management Technologies in general, have significantly contributed to overcoming some of the integration problems of intra and inter enterprise process control and monitoring. However, the complexity of the interactions between heterogeneous and autonomous systems with in the enterprise and often between trading partners in ever increasing. A number of initiatives and proposals are underway to provide solutions for process specification and communication. However, the focus is often on defining APIs and interfaces rather than the semantics of the underlying interactions. On the other hand messaging technologies are well positioned as the key enabling technology for facilitating these interactions. Although messaging systems have traditionally had a different agenda dominated by scalability and performance, we see a great potential in the enhancement of current messaging infrastructure, in its new role in facilitating complex, long running interactions for dynamic and collaborative processes operating in decentralized environments like the web. In this paper, we primarily present a vision for a technology aimed at providing a level of harmonization to multiple messages to form a single custom definable backbone. We will provide the foundation framework for the harmonized messaging technology and identify fundamental issues for the management of such complex interactions

Fatal complications associated with caesarean section in the bitch: post-mortem investigation of 17 cases.

This case series describes the post-mortem findings in 17 bitches (Canis lupus familiaris) with a recent (<7 days) history of caesarean section, most (94%) of which had undergone conservative caesarean section with preservation of the uterus. Brachycephalic breeds accounted for 71% of all cases, with the French Bulldog (35%, n = 6), English Bulldog (18%, n = 3) and Boston Terrier (12%, n = 2) overrepresented. Eleven animals (65%) died between 4 and 48 h after surgery, whereas six (35%) died during the procedure. The most common cause of death was septicaemia (41%, n = 7) associated with Streptococcus canis (29%, n = 5) and/or Escherichia coli (24%, n = 4). Other causes of death included brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS)-associated respiratory failure (24%, n = 4), haemorrhagic shock (18%, n = 3), inconclusive (12%, n = 2) and gastric dilatation and volvulus (6%, n = 1). Histopathological changes were seen in the uterus of 10 cases and included marked inflammation (60%, n = 6), marked haemorrhage (20%, n = 2) or both (20%, n = 2). Metritis was often characterized by fibrinonecrotic, neutrophilic to mixed inflammation, consistent with acute infection. However, prominent lymphohistiocytic infiltrates in two cases suggested that infection had been present prior to surgery. Peritonitis, myositis and panniculitis commonly (35%, n = 6) surrounded the incision sites. The presence of inflammation and bacterial colonies within multiple surgical sites suggested iatrogenic implantation of bacteria, potentially from the uterine lumen. Bacterial culture and isolation, as well as tape measurements for evaluation of conformational BOAS risk factors where applicable, are recommended as part of the routine post-mortem work-up for bitches that die shortly after caesarean section

A system of relational syllogistic incorporating full Boolean reasoning

We present a system of relational syllogistic, based on classical propositional logic, having primitives of the following form: Some A are R-related to some B; Some A are R-related to all B; All A are R-related to some B; All A are R-related to all B. Such primitives formalize sentences from natural language like `All students read some textbooks'. Here A and B denote arbitrary sets (of objects), and R denotes an arbitrary binary relation between objects. The language of the logic contains only variables denoting sets, determining the class of set terms, and variables denoting binary relations between objects, determining the class of relational terms. Both classes of terms are closed under the standard Boolean operations. The set of relational terms is also closed under taking the converse of a relation. The results of the paper are the completeness theorem with respect to the intended semantics and the computational complexity of the satisfiability problem.Comment: Available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10849-012-9165-

Multicore and FPGA implementations of emotional-based agent architectures

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1307-6.Control architectures based on Emotions are becoming promising solutions for the implementation of future robotic agents. The basic controllers of the architecture are the emotional processes that decide which behaviors of the robot must activate to fulfill the objectives. The number of emotional processes increases (hundreds of millions/s) with the complexity level of the application, reducing the processing capacity of the main processor to solve complex problems (millions of decisions in a given instant). However, the potential parallelism of the emotional processes permits their execution in parallel on FPGAs or Multicores, thus enabling slack computing in the main processor to tackle more complex dynamic problems. In this paper, an emotional architecture for mobile robotic agents is presented. The workload of the emotional processes is evaluated. Then, the main processor is extended with FPGA co-processors through Ethernet link. The FPGAs will be in charge of the execution of the emotional processes in parallel. Different Stratix FPGAs are compared to analyze their suitability to cope with the proposed mobile robotic agent applications. The applications are set up taking into account different environmental conditions, robot dynamics and emotional states. Moreover, the applications are run also on Multicore processors to compare their performance in relation to the FPGAs. Experimental results show that Stratix IV FPGA increases the performance in about one order of magnitude over the main processor and solves all the considered problems. Quad-Core increases the performance in 3.64 times, allowing to tackle about 89 % of the considered problems. Quad-Core has a lower cost than a Stratix IV, so more adequate solution but not for the most complex application. Stratix III could be applied to solve problems with around the double of the requirements that the main processor could support. Finally, a Dual-Core provides slightly better performance than stratix III and it is relatively cheaper.This work was supported in part under Spanish Grant PAID/2012/325 of "Programa de Apoyo a la Investigacion y Desarrollo. Proyectos multidisciplinares", Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Domínguez Montagud, CP.; Hassan Mohamed, H.; Crespo, A.; Albaladejo Meroño, J. (2015). Multicore and FPGA implementations of emotional-based agent architectures. Journal of Supercomputing. 71(2):479-507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1307-6S479507712Malfaz M, Salichs MA (2010) Using MUDs as an experimental platform for testing a decision making system for self-motivated autonomous agents. Artif Intell Simul Behav J 2(1):21–44Damiano L, Cañamero L (2010) Constructing emotions. 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Proc IEEE 100(3):571–589Salichs MA, Malfaz M (2012) A new approach to modeling emotions and their use on a decision-making system for artificial agents. Affect Comput IEEE Trans 3(1):56–68Altera Corporation (2011) Stratix III device handbook, vol 1–2, version 2.2. http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-stx3.jsp . Accessed 14 Oct 2014.Altera Corporation (2014) Stratix IV device handbook, vol 1–4, version 5.9. http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-stratix-iv.jsp . Accessed 14 Oct 2014.Naouar MW, Monmasson E, Naassani AA, Slama-Belkhodja I, Patin N (2007) FPGA-based current controllers for AC machine drives: a review. IEEE Trans Ind Electr 54(4):1907–1925Intel Corporation (2014) Desktop 4th generation Intel Core Processor Family, Desktop Intel Pentium Processor Family, and Desktop Intel Celeron Processor Family, Datasheet, vol 1, 2March JL, Sahuquillo J, Hassan H, Petit S, Duato J (2011) A new energy-aware dynamic task set partitioning algorithm for soft and hard embedded real-time systems. 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In vivo biocompatibility assessment of (PTFE–PVDF–PP) terpolymer-based membrane with potential application for glaucoma treatment

The aim of the work was to evaluate the in vivo biological behaviour of polymeric membrane materials for glaucoma implants. The base material was biostable synthetic terpolymer (PTFE–PVDF–PP) with proved biocompability (PN-EN ISO 10993). The samples manufactured in the form a membrane were subjected to chemical and physical treatment to create an open pore system within the polymer matrix. As a porogenic phase biodegradable natrium alginate in a fibrous form was employed. The non-perforating deep sclerectomy technique was performed in a rabbit model. The clinical observations were made after 14 and 30 days. During the study clinical symptoms of a moderate degree were observed, and histopathological changes were typical for foreign body implantation. At the end stage of the study no significant difference in histopathological assessment was found between control and experimental group. Similarities observed in both groups and relatively mild histopathological changes in the tissue surrounding the implant indicate that the observed symptoms come from a deep scleral trauma caused by surgery, and not by the presence of the implant itself

Midwall Fibrosis Is an Independent Predictor of Mortality in Patients With Aortic Stenosis

ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to assess the prognostic significance of midwall and infarct patterns of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in aortic stenosis.BackgroundMyocardial fibrosis occurs in aortic stenosis as part of the hypertrophic response. It can be detected by LGE, which is associated with an adverse prognosis in a range of other cardiac conditions.MethodsBetween January 2003 and October 2008, consecutive patients with moderate or severe aortic stenosis undergoing cardiovascular magnetic resonance with administration of gadolinium contrast were enrolled into a registry. Patients were categorized into absent, midwall, or infarct patterns of LGE by blinded independent observers. Patient follow-up was completed using patient questionnaires, source record data, and the National Strategic Tracing Service.ResultsA total of 143 patients (age 68 ± 14 years; 97 male) were followed up for 2.0 ± 1.4 years. Seventy-two underwent aortic valve replacement, and 27 died (24 cardiac, 3 sudden cardiac deaths). Compared with those with no LGE (n = 49), univariate analysis revealed that patients with midwall fibrosis (n = 54) had an 8-fold increase in all-cause mortality despite similar aortic stenosis severity and coronary artery disease burden. Patients with an infarct pattern (n = 40) had a 6-fold increase. Midwall fibrosis (hazard ratio: 5.35; 95% confidence interval: 1.16 to 24.56; p = 0.03) and ejection fraction (hazard ratio: 0.96; 95% confidence interval: 0.94 to 0.99; p = 0.01) were independent predictors of all-cause mortality by multivariate analysis.ConclusionsMidwall fibrosis was an independent predictor of mortality in patients with moderate and severe aortic stenosis. It has incremental prognostic value to ejection fraction and may provide a useful method of risk stratification. (The Prognostic Significance of Fibrosis Detection in Cardiomyopathy; NCT00930735