Receiving and providing informal care:Does context matter?

Boer, A.H. de [Promotor]Woittiez, I.B. [Copromotor

Can Technological Artefacts Be Moral Agents?

In this paper we discuss the hypothesis that, ‘moral agency is distributed over both humans and technological artefacts’, recently proposed by Peter-Paul Verbeek. We present some arguments for thinking that Verbeek is mistaken. We argue that artefacts such as bridges, word processors, or bombs can never be (part of) moral agents. After having discussed some possible responses, as well as a moderate view proposed by Illies and Meijers, we conclude that technological artefacts are neutral tools that are at most bearers of instrumental value

Interactions between the oomycete Pythium arrhenomanes and the rice root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola in aerobic Asian rice varieties

Background: Aerobic rice fields are frequently infested by pathogenic oomycetes (Pythium spp.) and the rice root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola. Here, the interaction between Pythium arrhenomanes and Meloidogyne graminicola was studied in rice roots of two aerobic rice varieties. In different experimental set-ups and infection regimes, plant growth, rice yield, Pythium colonization, as well as establishment, development and reproduction of M. graminicola were studied. Results: In this study, it is shown that the presence of P. arrhenomanes delays the establishment, development and reproduction of M. graminicola compared to single nematode infected plants. The delay in establishment and development of M. graminicola becomes stronger with higher P. arrhenomanes infection pressure. Conclusions: Our data indicate that P. arrhenomanes antagonizes M. graminicola in the rice root and that the plant benefits from this antagonism as shown by the yield data, especially when either of the pathogens is present in high levels

Trace checking of Metric Temporal Logic with Aggregating Modalities using MapReduce

Modern complex software systems produce a large amount of execution data, often stored in logs. These logs can be analyzed using trace checking techniques to check whether the system complies with its requirements specifications. Often these specifications express quantitative properties of the system, which include timing constraints as well as higher-level constraints on the occurrences of significant events, expressed using aggregate operators. In this paper we present an algorithm that exploits the MapReduce programming model to check specifications expressed in a metric temporal logic with aggregating modalities, over large execution traces. The algorithm exploits the structure of the formula to parallelize the evaluation, with a significant gain in time. We report on the assessment of the implementation - based on the Hadoop framework - of the proposed algorithm and comment on its scalability.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, Extended version of the SEFM 2014 pape

The pathogenetic basis for a disease continuum in early- and late-onset ataxia-dystonia supports a unified genetic diagnostic approach

INTRODUCTION: Genetically inherited ataxic disorders are classified by their age of disease presentation into early- and late-onset ataxia (EOA and LOA, presenting before or after the 25th year-of-life). In both disease groups, comorbid dystonia co-occurs frequently. Despite overlapping genes and pathogenetic features, EOA, LOA and dystonia are considered as different genetic entities with a separate diagnostic approach. This often leads to diagnostic delay. So far, the possibility of a disease continuum between EOA, LOA and mixed ataxia-dystonia has not been explored in silico. In the present study, we analyzed the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying EOA, LOA and mixed ataxia-dystonia.METHODS: We analyzed the association of 267 ataxia genes with comorbid dystonia and anatomical MRI lesions in literature. We compared anatomical damage, biological pathways, and temporal cerebellar gene expression between EOA, LOA and mixed ataxia-dystonia.RESULTS: The majority (≈65%) of ataxia genes were associated with comorbid dystonia in literature. Both EOA and LOA gene groups with comorbid dystonia were significantly associated with lesions in the cortico-basal-ganglia-pontocerebellar network. EOA, LOA and mixed ataxia-dystonia gene groups were enriched for biological pathways related to nervous system development, neural signaling and cellular processes. All genes revealed similar cerebellar gene expression levels before and after 25 years of age and during cerebellar development.CONCLUSION: In EOA, LOA and mixed ataxia-dystonia gene groups, our findings show similar anatomical damage, underlying biological pathways and temporal cerebellar gene expression patterns. These findings may suggest the existence of a disease continuum, supporting the diagnostic use of a unified genetic approach.</p