Clinflow:an interactive application for processing and exploring clinical data

Abstract. Clinical data is the most valuable resource in healthcare development, but it also comes with many challenges. When clinical researchers are required to combine medical expertise with statistical and programming knowledge, the need for data analysis tools arises. The aim of this thesis was to design ClinFlow, an application for clinical data processing and visualization based on user needs. R language and Shiny framework were selected for creating this tool. The goal was to give the means for the clinical researcher to conduct data analysis in an interactive environment, with no need for statistical programming knowledge. A case study using data from The Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of this application. The initial results achieved in this case study support the previous research of the DIPP study. ClinFlow shows potential for becoming a useful data analysis tool for clinical research

Development and characterization of the OSIRIS USASK Obsevatory

The OSIRIS instrument on board the Odin satellite uses limb viewing techniques to measure scattered sunlight and so determine the vertically resolved concentrations of atmospheric constituents including ozone. Initially, a proof of concept instrument was built and tested. This instrument, the Developmental Model, is now housed at the third floor clean room of the Physics Building on the University of Saskatchewan campus. The Developmental Model was incorporated into a system designed to monitor scattered sunlight above Saskatoon. The system was set up to transmit skylight to the Developmental Model using a fiber optic cable and to perform all measurements automatically and with minimal user interaction. The system was calibrated to determine the pixel to wavelength response. Characterizations of the point spread function and relative intensity response of the detector were also made. A shutter system was designed and constructed to measure the detector dark current. An enclosure was built on the top of the Physics Building to provide a weather proof environment and so allow data collection throughout the year. Zenith sky measurements were taken during twilight hours to provide information on the depth of absorption in the Chappuis band, an indicator of the total ozone column. The absorption depth was converted to a Dobson Unit measurement for the ozone column. Analysis of collected data provides two conclusions. The first is that a measurement set in the presence of clouds shows different signatures than a clear measurement set. The second conclusion is the detection of a diurnal trend in the total ozone column with greater amounts measured in the morning. The OSIRIS USASK Observatory is now operational and collecting data for future analysis of scattered sunlight measurements above Saskatoon

Conception et implémentation de systèmes résilients par une approche à composants

L'évolution des systèmes pendant leur vie opérationnelle est incontournable. Les systèmes sûrs de fonctionnement doivent évoluer pour s'adapter à des changements comme la confrontation à de nouveaux types de fautes ou la perte de ressources. L'ajout de cette dimension évolutive à la fiabilité conduit à la notion de résilience informatique. Parmi les différents aspects de la résilience, nous nous concentrons sur l'adaptativité. La sûreté de fonctionnement informatique est basée sur plusieurs moyens, dont la tolérance aux fautes à l'exécution, où l'on attache des mécanismes spécifiques (Fault Tolerance Mechanisms, FTMs) à l'application. A ce titre, l'adaptation des FTMs à l'exécution s'avère un défi pour développer des systèmes résilients. Dans la plupart des travaux de recherche existants, l'adaptation des FTMs à l'exécution est réalisée de manière préprogrammée ou se limite à faire varier quelques paramètres. Tous les FTMs envisageables doivent être connus dès le design du système et déployés et attachés à l'application dès le début. Pourtant, les changements ont des origines variées et, donc, vouloir équiper un système pour le pire scénario est impossible. Selon les observations pendant la vie opérationnelle, de nouveaux FTMs peuvent être développés hors-ligne, mais intégrés pendant l'exécution. On dénote cette capacité comme adaptation agile, par opposition à l'adaptation préprogrammée. Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une approche pour développer des systèmes sûrs de fonctionnement flexibles dont les FTMs peuvent s'adapter à l'exécution de manière agile par des modifications à grain fin pour minimiser l'impact sur l'architecture initiale. D'abord, nous proposons une classification d'un ensemble de FTMs existants basée sur des critères comme le modèle de faute, les caractéristiques de l'application et les ressources nécessaires. Ensuite, nous analysons ces FTMs et extrayons un schéma d'exécution générique identifiant leurs parties communes et leurs points de variabilité. Après, nous démontrons les bénéfices apportés par les outils et les concepts issus du domaine du génie logiciel, comme les intergiciels réflexifs à base de composants, pour développer une librairie de FTMs adaptatifs à grain fin. Nous évaluons l'agilité de l'approche et illustrons son utilité à travers deux exemples d'intégration : premièrement, dans un processus de développement dirigé par le design pour les systèmes ubiquitaires et, deuxièmement, dans un environnement pour le développement d'applications pour des réseaux de capteurs. ABSTRACT : Evolution during service life is mandatory, particularly for long-lived systems. Dependable systems, which continuously deliver trustworthy services, must evolve to accommodate changes e.g., new fault tolerance requirements or variations in available resources. The addition of this evolutionary dimension to dependability leads to the notion of resilient computing. Among the various aspects of resilience, we focus on adaptivity. Dependability relies on fault tolerant computing at runtime, applications being augmented with fault tolerance mechanisms (FTMs). As such, on-line adaptation of FTMs is a key challenge towards resilience. In related work, on-line adaption of FTMs is most often performed in a preprogrammed manner or consists in tuning some parameters. Besides, FTMs are replaced monolithically. All the envisaged FTMs must be known at design time and deployed from the beginning. However, dynamics occurs along multiple dimensions and developing a system for the worst-case scenario is impossible. According to runtime observations, new FTMs can be developed off-line but integrated on-line. We denote this ability as agile adaption, as opposed to the preprogrammed one. In this thesis, we present an approach for developing flexible fault-tolerant systems in which FTMs can be adapted at runtime in an agile manner through fine-grained modifications for minimizing impact on the initial architecture. We first propose a classification of a set of existing FTMs based on criteria such as fault model, application characteristics and necessary resources. Next, we analyze these FTMs and extract a generic execution scheme which pinpoints the common parts and the variable features between them. Then, we demonstrate the use of state-of-the-art tools and concepts from the field of software engineering, such as component-based software engineering and reflective component-based middleware, for developing a library of fine-grained adaptive FTMs. We evaluate the agility of the approach and illustrate its usability throughout two examples of integration of the library: first, in a design-driven development process for applications in pervasive computing and, second, in a toolkit for developing applications for WSNs

Ambiguity resolution in the pronominal domain in child Romanian

This paper explores the acquisition of antecedent preferences by typically-developing Romanian-speaking (pre)school children. It investigates the antecedent preferences for subject pronouns (pro, el ‘he’, this ‘acesta’) in the subjunctive complements of volitional verbs. The results indicate that children overwhelmingly associated pro with close antecedents. There was a slight preference for a close antecedent with the overt pronoun, while no preference was observed for the demonstrative pronoun. The children treated pro and the overt pronoun differently and were aware that each pronominal marked a distinct degree of accessibility, but the evidence pointed towards a delay in the acquisition of the exact degree of accessibility marked by the overt pronoun. The delay was even more marked for the acquisition of the demonstrative pronoun