Ontology-Based Quality Evaluation of Value Generalization Hierarchies for Data Anonymization

In privacy-preserving data publishing, approaches using Value Generalization Hierarchies (VGHs) form an important class of anonymization algorithms. VGHs play a key role in the utility of published datasets as they dictate how the anonymization of the data occurs. For categorical attributes, it is imperative to preserve the semantics of the original data in order to achieve a higher utility. Despite this, semantics have not being formally considered in the specification of VGHs. Moreover, there are no methods that allow the users to assess the quality of their VGH. In this paper, we propose a measurement scheme, based on ontologies, to quantitatively evaluate the quality of VGHs, in terms of semantic consistency and taxonomic organization, with the aim of producing higher-quality anonymizations. We demonstrate, through a case study, how our evaluation scheme can be used to compare the quality of multiple VGHs and can help to identify faulty VGHs.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, presented in the Privacy in Statistical Databases Conference 2014 (Ibiza, Spain

Synthetic Data Generation using Benerator Tool

Datasets of different characteristics are needed by the research community for experimental purposes. However, real data may be difficult to obtain due to privacy concerns. Moreover, real data may not meet specific characteristics which are needed to verify new approaches under certain conditions. Given these limitations, the use of synthetic data is a viable alternative to complement the real data. In this report, we describe the process followed to generate synthetic data using Benerator, a publicly available tool. The results show that the synthetic data preserves a high level of accuracy compared to the original data. The generated datasets correspond to microdata containing records with social, economic and demographic data which mimics the distribution of aggregated statistics from the 2011 Irish Census data.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 10 reference

Curso de especialización: Narratología y Narrativa de posguerra

En la presente investigación es el resultado del análisis narrativo de la novela Ciudad de Alado de Mauricio Ernesto Orellana Suárez, por medio del proceso de deconstrucción de la realidad, Fernando Gómez Redondo apoya con su teoría práctica, a través, de las tres instancias narrativas: historia, narración y relato procedente de la ficcionalidad y apoyado por el Lenguaje literario, lo cual nos permite evidenciar el discurso narrativo dentro de la novela. Intervienen otros puntos importantes fundamentales para entender la novela Ciudad de Alado, es decir, todo lo que engloba la instancia narrativa: Mediante la teoría se defines los ejemplos textuales, extraídos de cada uno de los capítulos de la obra, elementos tales como: El estilo, movimiento literario, género, trama, personajes, voz, modo, tiempo entre otros; por otro lado se aplican las categorías de la posguerra, el contexto de la novela en estudio, la intención del autor todo ello ayuda para una mayor comprensión del análisis narratológico de la novela en estudio. Palabras Claves: Instancia de la Narración ; Instancia del Relato ; Instancia de la Historia ; Ficcionalidad ; Novela de Posguerra

Obtención de “Snacks” de piña (Ananas Comosus) mediante las técnicas combinadas de Ventana de Refractancia y Fritura con Aire Caliente

Refractance Window (WR) and Hot Air-Frying (HAF) dried techniques, allows to obtain high nutritional and physicochemical quality fruit snacks. The aim of this work consisted on evaluating WR-AF dry techniques to obtain dehydrated pineapple snacks. MD2 variety pineapple pieces were cut into triangular shapes with 40 mm by side and 4 mm in thickness.For WR drying, three temperatures were set (70, 80 and 90 °C). For each one, a dry-out kinetics model was applied adopting 4 math models (Newton, Page; Wang & Singh, and Midilli). Also, color as in Luminosity (L*), total color changes (ΔΕ), water activity (aw), diffusion coefficient, and activation energy were determined. On dried samples under WR-HAF mixed method, drying curves were determined, as well as, L*, ΔΕ, aw and vitamin C. In total, four treatments were evaluated in the AF process at 100 °C; three of which were treated samples (TS) under WR, and one sample left untreated (UNTS). Results showed that the higher the drying temperature under WR, the greater the diffusion coefficient and lower the drying time. To reach 9 % (d.b) of humidity, treatments at 90, 80 and 70 °C required 90, 110 and 130 min, respectively. Midilli model adjusted better to drying kinetics. WR-HAF techniques allowed less drying time, higher vitamin C, and color retention compared to UNTS. Results demonstrated that combined WR-HAF is a feasible alternative to obtain pineapple snacks in shorter time while preserving high quality characteristics.Las técnicas de secado de Ventana de Refractancia (VR) y Fritura con Aire Caliente (AF), permiten obtener snacks de frutas de alta calidad nutricional y fisicoquímica. El propósito de este trabajo fue evaluar las técnicas de secado de WR-AF para obtener “snacks” de piña deshidratada. Se emplearon trozos de piña de la variedad MD2 con geometría triangular (40 mm de lado y 4 mm de espesor). En el secado por WR se emplearon tres temperaturas (70, 80 y 90 °C). Para cada temperatura se modeló la cinética de secado mediante cuatro modelos matemáticos (Newton, Page; Wang & Singh, y Midilli). Se determinó: color, en términos de Luminosidad (L*) y cambio total de color (ΔΕ), actividad de agua (aw), coeficientes de difusión y energía de activación. Para las muestras secadas en la combinación de las técnicas VR-AF, se determinaron las curvas de secado, L*, ΔΕ, aw y vitamina C. En total se realizaron 4 tratamientos en el secado con AF a 100 °C; tres de las cuales fueron muestras tratadas (MT) previamente por WR, y el otro fue muestra no tratada (MNT). Los resultados mostraron que, a mayor temperatura de secado por WR mayor fue el coeficiente de difusión y menor fue el tiempo de secado. Para un contenido de humedad de 9 % (d.b), los tratamientos a 90, 80 y 70 °C requirieron 90, 110 y 130 min de secado, respectivamente. El modelo de Midilli fue el que mejor ajustó las cinéticas de secado. Se observó que las técnicas de VR-AF permitieron obtener menor tiempo de secado, mayor retención de vitamina C y de color respecto a las MNT. Estos resultados indican que la técnica WR-AF es una alternativa viable para producir “snacks” de piña en tiempos mas cortos y con mayor conservación de las características de calidad.As técnicas de secagem de janela refrativa (JR) e fritura com ar quente (FAQ) permitem obter snacks de fruta de alta qualidade nutricional e físico-química. O propósito deste trabalho foi avaliar as técnicas de secagem JR-FAQ para a obtenção de “snacks” de abacaxi desidratado. Foram utilizadas peças de abacaxi da variedade MD2 com geometria triangular de (40 mm de lado e 4 mm de espessura). Na secagem JR, foram utilizadas três temperaturas (70, 80 e 90 ° C); para cada temperatura a cinética de secagem foi modelada por quatro modelos (Newton, Page, Wang & Singh e Midilli), a cor foi determinada em termos de Luminosidade (L *) e mudança total de cor (ΔE), atividade de água (aw), coeficientes de difusão e energia de ativação. Nas amostras secas na combinação JR-FAQ foram determinadas as curvas de secagem L, ΔE, aw e vitamina C. 4 tratamentos foram utilizados na secagem por FAQ a 100 °C, três tratamentos foram as amostras tratadas (MT) anteriormente por JR e o outro tratamento foi a amostra não tratada (MNT). Os resultados mostraram que quanto maior a temperatura de secagem por VR, maior o coeficiente de difusão e menor o tempo de secagem; para um conteúdo de umidade de 9% (bs) o tratamento de 90 ° C atingiu 90 min, a 80 ° C 110 min e a 70 ° C 130 min. O modelo Midilli foi o que melhor ajustou a cinética de secagem. Foi constatado que as técnicas JR-FAQ permitiram obter um menor tempo de secagem, maior retenção da vitamina C e da cor em relação ao MNT. Esses resultados indicam que a combinação JR-FAQ é uma alternativa viável para a produção de snacks de abacaxi com retenção de características de qualidade em tempos curtos.curtos. &nbsp

Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk–outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk–outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk–outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk–outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings In 2017, 34·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33·3–35·0) deaths and 1·21 billion (1·14–1·28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61·0% (59·6–62·4) of deaths and 48·3% (46·3–50·2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10·4 million (9·39–11·5) deaths and 218 million (198–237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7·10 million [6·83–7·37] deaths and 182 million [173–193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6·53 million [5·23–8·23] deaths and 171 million [144–201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4·72 million [2·99–6·70] deaths and 148 million [98·6–202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1·43 million [1·36–1·51] deaths and 139 million [131–147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4·9% (3·3–6·5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23·5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18·6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Gestión del conocimiento. Perspectiva multidisciplinaria. Volumen 9

El libro “Gestión del Conocimiento. Perspectiva Multidisciplinaria”, volumen 9, de la Colección Unión Global, es resultado de investigaciones. Los capítulos del libro, son resultados de investigaciones desarrolladas por sus autores. El libro es una publicación internacional, seriada, continua, arbitrada de acceso abierto a todas las áreas del conocimiento, que cuenta con el esfuerzo de investigadores de varios países del mundo, orientada a contribuir con procesos de gestión del conocimiento científico, tecnológico y humanístico que consoliden la transformación del conocimiento en diferentes escenarios, tanto organizacionales como universitarios, para el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas del quehacer diario. La gestión del conocimiento es un camino para consolidar una plataforma en las empresas públicas o privadas, entidades educativas, organizaciones no gubernamentales, ya sea generando políticas para todas las jerarquías o un modelo de gestión para la administración, donde es fundamental articular el conocimiento, los trabajadores, directivos, el espacio de trabajo, hacia la creación de ambientes propicios para el desarrollo integral de las instituciones

Characteristics of Adults in the Hepatitis B Research Network in North America Reflect Their Country of Origin and Hepatitis B Virus Genotype

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the US and Canada might be disproportionately affected. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network

4to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad. Memoria académica

Este volumen acoge la memoria académica de la Cuarta edición del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad, CITIS 2017, desarrollado entre el 29 de noviembre y el 1 de diciembre de 2017 y organizado por la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (UPS) en su sede de Guayaquil. El Congreso ofreció un espacio para la presentación, difusión e intercambio de importantes investigaciones nacionales e internacionales ante la comunidad universitaria que se dio cita en el encuentro. El uso de herramientas tecnológicas para la gestión de los trabajos de investigación como la plataforma Open Conference Systems y la web de presentación del Congreso http://citis.blog.ups.edu.ec/, hicieron de CITIS 2017 un verdadero referente entre los congresos que se desarrollaron en el país. La preocupación de nuestra Universidad, de presentar espacios que ayuden a generar nuevos y mejores cambios en la dimensión humana y social de nuestro entorno, hace que se persiga en cada edición del evento la presentación de trabajos con calidad creciente en cuanto a su producción científica. Quienes estuvimos al frente de la organización, dejamos plasmado en estas memorias académicas el intenso y prolífico trabajo de los días de realización del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad al alcance de todos y todas

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security