Automated Analysis in Feature Modelling and Product Configuration

The automated analysis of feature models is one of the thriving topics of research in the software product line and variability management communities that has attracted more attention in the last years. A recent literature review reported that more than 30 analysis operations have been identi ed and di erent analysis mechanisms have been proposed. Product con guration is a well established research eld with more than 30 years of successful applications in di erent industrial domains. Our hypothesis, that is not really new, is that these two independent areas of research have interesting synergies that have not been fully explored. To try to explore the potential synergies systematically, in this paper we provide a rapid review to bring together these previously disparate streams of work. We de ne a set of research questions and give a preliminary answer to some of them. We conclude that there are many research opportunities in the synergy of these independent areas.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009- 07366Junta de Andalucía TIC-590

Constraint solving in uncertain and dynamic environments - a survey

International audienceThis article follows a tutorial, given by the authors on dynamic constraint solving at CP 2003 (Ninth International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming) in Kinsale, Ireland. It aims at offering an overview of the main approaches and techniques that have been proposed in the domain of constraint satisfaction to deal with uncertain and dynamic environments

HLA genetic diversity in Hungarians and Hungarian Gypsies: complementary differentiation patterns and demographic signals revealed by HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 in Central Europe

Systematic analyses of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) profiles in different populations may increase the efficiency of bone marrow donor selection and help reconstructing human peopling history. We typed HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 allele groups in two bone marrow donor cohorts of 2402 Hungarians and 186 Hungarian Gypsies and compared them with several Central-European, Spanish Gypsy, and Indian populations. Our results indicate that different European Gypsy populations share a common origin but diverged genetically as a consequence of founder effect and rapid genetic drift, whereas other European populations are related genetically in relation to geography. This study also suggests that while HLA-A accurately depicts the effects of genetic drift, HLA-B, and -DRB1 conserve more signatures of ancient population relationships, as a result of balancing selection

BSplines properties with Interval Analysis for Constraint Satisfaction Problem: Application in robotics.

International audienc

Model-Based Reconfiguration

. Knowledge-based configuration is both a successful application domain for AI techniques and and an active research area. An open issue in many practical domains is that of reconfiguration, typically exhibited by legacy systems that are to be extended, upgraded or simply altered. Standard configuration techniques are not necessarily suited to this task. We discuss the use of a diagnosis approach to reconfiguration. We present the differing application and representation requirements, develop a representation that is suitable for expressing the information about the required and configurable functionalities from the diagnosis point of view, present an example and discuss our experiences. 1. Introduction The automated configuration of technical systems is a successful application area for knowledge-based techniques. Initially, configuration research followed the mainstream of expert system research with the use of rule-based expert systems for configuration purposes (McD82), and rule-..

Infection by cytomegalovirus in patients with neonatal cholestasis Infecção por cytomegalovirus em pacientes com colestase neonatal

Background - Neonatal cholestasis syndrome with an intra or extrahepatic origin has been associated to viral infections. The participation of the cytomegalovirus in the etiopathogenesis of neonatal hepatitis has been already known for some time, but only recently there have been indications that this virus may be one of the possible etiological factors for extrahepatic biliary atresia. Aims - To assess the prevalence of infection by cytomegalovirus in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis and extrahepatic cholestasis. To compare the clinical characteristics of the intrahepatic cholestasis and extrahepatic cholestasis groups with the cytomegalovirus serological results. Patients and Methods - This study consisted of 76 patients with neonatal cholestasis who were admitted between January 1980 and January 1999 when they underwent a cytomegalovirus serologic study using the ELISA method. A case note was kept on each patient with the following data: age of patient at admission, serologic result for cytomegalovirus, history of maternal infection, prematurity, fetal distress, birth weight, ponderal gain, choluria and fecal acholia. The final anatomic diagnosis of cholestasis was based on the results of an abdominal ultrasonography, a liver biopsy and its evolution. The patients were then divided into two groups: group I - intrahepatic cholestasis and group II - extrahepatic cholestasis. Each of these groups were then divided into two subgroups: subgroup A - positive serology (IgM) for cytomegalovirus and subgroup B - negative serology (IgM) for cytomegalovirus. Results - The frequency of positive serology (IgM) for cytomegalovirus was 29.4% in children with intrahepatic cholestasis and 28.5% in children with extrahepatic cholestasis. In comparison with group IIB, group IIA presented a higher rate of maternal infection history. The patients in group IIA demonstrated a delayed access to the service in comparison with group IA. The groups did not demonstrate any significant differences regarding the onset age of jaundice, choluria and fecal acholia, birth weight and ponderal gain. Conclusions - The positive (IgM) seroprevalence for cytomegalovirus in children with intrahepatic cholestasis and extrahepatic cholestasis is high. The history of maternal infection was more common in extrahepatic cholestasis patients with positive serology for cytomegalovirus. There was a delay in the referral of these patients which resulted in a late diagnosis and surgical treatment.<br>Racional - A síndrome colestática neonatal, de origem intra ou extra-hepática, tem sido associada à presença de infecções virais. A participação do cytomegalovirus na etiopatogênese da hepatite neonatal já é conhecida há algum tempo e só recentemente esse vírus tem sido implicado como dos possíveis fatores etiológicos da atresia de vias biliares extra-hepática. Objetivos - Calcular a prevalência da infecção pelo cytomegalovirus em pacientes com colestase intra-hepática e colestase extra-hepática e comparar algumas características clínicas entre os grupos de colestase intra-hepática e colestase extra-hepática com o resultado de sorologia para cytomegalovirus. Casuística e Métodos - Participaram do estudo 76 pacientes com colestase neonatal admitidos durante o período de janeiro de 1980 a janeiro de 1999 que realizaram pesquisa sorológica para cytomegalovirus pelo método ELISA. Para todos esses pacientes foi elaborada uma ficha contendo os seguintes dados: idade do paciente na admissão, resultado de sorologia para cytomegalovirus, história de infecção materna, prematuridade, sofrimento fetal, peso de nascimento, ganho ponderal, colúria e acolia fecal. O diagnóstico anatômico final da colestase fundamentou-se no resultado de ultra-sonografia abdominal, biopsia hepática e evolução. Dessa forma, os pacientes foram divididos em dois grupos: I - colestase intra-hepática e II - colestase extra-hepática. Cada um desses grupos foi dividido em dois subgrupos: A - com sorologia positiva (IgM) para cytomegalovirus e B - com sorologia negativa (IgM) para cytomegalovirus. Resultados - A freqüência observada de sorologia positiva (IgM) para cytomegalovirus nas crianças com colestase intra-hepática e colestase extra-hepática foi de 29,4% e 28,5%, respectivamente. O grupo IIA apresentou percentual maior de história de infecção materna quando comparado ao grupo IIB. Os pacientes do grupo IIA apresentaram acesso mais tardio ao Serviço em relação àqueles do grupo IA. Não foram observadas diferenças significativas entre os grupos em relação à idade de início da icterícia, colúria e acolia fecal, bem como em relação ao peso de nascimento e ganho ponderal. Conclusões - A prevalência de sorologia positiva (IgM) para cytomegalovirus em crianças com colestase intra-hepática e colestase extra-hepática é alta. A história de infecção materna é mais comum nos pacientes com colestase extra-hepática e sorologia positiva para cytomegalovirus. Nesses pacientes, o encaminhamento foi mais tardio com atraso no diagnóstico e no tratamento cirúrgico