An Axiomatic Framework for Propagating Uncertainty in Directed Acyclic Networks

This paper presents an axiomatic system for propagating uncertainty in Pearl's causal networks, (Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems: Networks of Plausible Inference, 1988 [7]). The main objective is to study all aspects of knowledge representation and reasoning in causal networks from an abstract point of view, independent of the particular theory being used to represent information (probabilities, belief functions or upper and lower probabilities). This is achieved by expressing concepts and algorithms in terms of valuations, an abstract mathematical concept representing a piece of information, introduced by Shenoy and Sharer [1, 2]. Three new axioms are added to Shenoy and Shafer's axiomatic framework [1, 2], for the propagation of general valuations in hypertrees. These axioms allow us to address from an abstract point of view concepts such as conditional information (a generalization of conditional probabilities) and give rules relating the decomposition of global information with the concept of independence (a generalization of probability rules allowing the decomposition of a bidimensional distribution with independent marginals in the product of its two marginals). Finally, Pearl's propagation algorithms are also developed and expressed in terms of operations with valuations.Commission of the European Communities under ESPRIT BRA 3085: DRUM

Fuzzy cardinality based evaluation of quanti®ed sentences

Quantified statements are used in the resolution of a great variety of problems. Several methods have been proposed to evaluate statements of types I and II. The objective of this paper is to study these methods, by comparing and generalizing them. In order to do so, we propose a set of properties that must be fulfilled by any method of evaluation of quantified statements, we discuss some existing methods from this point of view and we describe a general approach for the evaluation of quantified statements based on the fuzzy cardinality and fuzzy relative cardinality of fuzzy sets. In addition, we discuss some concrete methods derived from the mentioned approach. These new methods fulfill all the properties proposed and, in some cases, they provide an interpretation or generalization of existing methods

Empleo del análisis por difracción de rayos-X para la determinación de la composición de los polvos de talco

Han sido estudiados doce polvos de talco procedentes de farmacias y dróguerías, realizando sobre ellos un análisis mineralógico cualitativo mediante difracción de Rayos X. Esta técnica ha resultado de una aplicación altamente satisfactoria. Las muestras están constituidas mayoritariamente por talco, aunque se detectan también: cuarzo, clorita, anfiboles, dolomita, calcita, caolinita, zincita y sasolita. Estos dos últimos son aditivos controlados por la casa fabricante, y el resto de las fases son impurezas minerales. La existencia de impurificantes indica que los talcos no han sido purificados y permite pensar que algunas de las especies minerales detectadas puedan ser nocivas para la piel.Twelve dusting powder tale which procede from pharmacies and drugstoresm have been studied by mineralogical analysis of X-Ray diffraction. The result obtained with this technique is very suggestive. In these samples the phase-constituent most abundant is the tale, although Quartz, Chlorite, Amphibole, Dolomite,' Calcite, Kaolinite, Zincite and Sassolite are found too. Zincite and sassolite are additives added for the maker laboratory, the rest of the phases detected are mineral impurities. The presence of these impurities suggests that the dusting-powder tale haven 't been purifield. Possibly sorne of these mineral impurities, are noxious for the topical use

Empleo del análisis por difracción de rayos-X para la determinación de la composición de los polvos de talco

Twelve dusting powder tale which procede from pharmacies and drugstoresm have been studied by mineralogical analysis of X-Ray diffraction. The result obtained with this technique is very suggestive. In these samples the phase-constituent most abundant is the tale, although Quartz, Chlorite, Amphibole, Dolomite, Calcite, Kaolinite, Zincite and Sassolite are found too. Zincite and sassolite are additives added for the maker laboratory, the rest of the phases detected are mineral impurities. The presence of these impurities suggests that the dusting-powder tale haven't been purifield. Possibly sorne of these mineral impurities, are noxious for the topical use.Han sido estudiados doce polvos de talco procedentes de farmacias y dróguerías, realizando sobre ellos un análisis mineralógico cualitativo mediante difracción de Rayos X. Esta técnica ha resultado de una aplicación altamente satisfactoria. Las muestras están constituidas mayoritariamente por talco, aunque se detectan también: cuarzo, clorita, anfiboles, dolomita, calcita, caolinita, zincita y sasolita. Estos dos últimos son aditivos controlados por la casa fabricante, y el resto de las fases son impurezas minerales. La existencia de impurificantes indica que los talcos no han sido purificados y permite pensar que algunas de las especies minerales detectadas puedan ser nocivas para la piel

Handling Real-World Context Awareness, Uncertainty and Vagueness in Real-Time Human Activity Tracking and Recognition with a Fuzzy Ontology-Based Hybrid Method

Human activity recognition is a key task in ambient intelligence applications to achieve proper ambient assisted living. There has been remarkable progress in this domain, but some challenges still remain to obtain robust methods. Our goal in this work is to provide a system that allows the modeling and recognition of a set of complex activities in real life scenarios involving interaction with the environment. The proposed framework is a hybrid model that comprises two main modules: a low level sub-activity recognizer, based on data-driven methods, and a high-level activity recognizer, implemented with a fuzzy ontology to include the semantic interpretation of actions performed by users. The fuzzy ontology is fed by the sub-activities recognized by the low level data-driven component and provides fuzzy ontological reasoning to recognize both the activities and their influence in the environment with semantics. An additional benefit of the approach is the ability to handle vagueness and uncertainty in the knowledge-based module, which substantially outperforms the treatment of incomplete and/or imprecise data with respect to classic crisp ontologies. We validate these advantages with the public CAD-120 dataset (Cornell Activity Dataset), achieving an accuracy of 90.1% and 91.07% for low-level and high-level activities, respectively. This entails an improvement over fully data-driven or ontology-based approaches.This work was funded by TUCS (Turku Centre for Computer Science), Finnish Cultural Foundation, Nokia Foundation, Google Anita Borg Scholarship, CEI BioTIC Project CEI2013-P-3, Contrato-Programa of Faculty of Education, Economy and Technology of Ceuta and Project TIN2012-30939 from National I+D Research Program (Spain). We also thank Fernando Bobillo for his support with FuzzyOWL and FuzzyDL tools

A Flexible Approach to the Multidimensional Model: The Fuzzy Datacube

As a result of the use of OLAP technology in new fields of knowledge and the merge of data from different sources, it has become necessary for models to support this technology. In this paper, we propose a new multidimensional model that can manage imprecision both in dimensions and facts. Consequently, the multidimensional structure is able to model data imprecision resulting from the integration of data from different sources or even information from experts, which it does by means of fuzzy logic

Composición mineralógica de los polvos de talco de uso tópico

Se ha realizado un estudio mineralógico semicuantitativo, de 12 polvos de talco de uso tópico lubricante; elegidos como muestra representativa de este tipo de productos en farmacias y droguerias españolas. El contenido de talco oscila entre 70-95%, con un contenido medio de 85,2 %. El talco medio contiene diversos impurificantes en las siguientes cantidades: 2,7 % de clorita, 3,3 % de calcita, 1,5 % de dolomita, 1 % de anfíboles, 0,72 % de cuarzo y 3,4 % de caolinita.It has been effectued a semicuantitative mineralogical analysis of 12 dusting powder talc to topic use. These samples were selected asmore representative of these products procedents from several spanish chemists. The content of tale is compressed· beneath 70 and 95 %. , with an average content of 85,2% . The medium tale content several impurities with following quantities: 2,7 % of chlorite, 3,3 % of calcite, 1,5 % of dolomite, 1 % of amphiboles, 0,72 % of quartz and 3,4 % of kaolinite

Hydrochars Derived from Spent Coffee Grounds as Zn Bio-Chelates for Agronomic Biofortification

Previous studies have attributed both phytotoxicity and the capacity to mobilize nutrient elements to the presence of polyphenols and melanoidins in spent coffee grounds (SCG) and SCG-hydrochars obtained through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). This work aimed to evaluate SCG and two SCG-hydrochars obtained at 160 and 200 °C that were functionalized with Zn salts (bio-chelates), to achieve the in vitro biofortification of lettuce. Two application modes were established: (1) a fixed Zn concentration of 10 mg kg−1 of soil and (2) a fixed dose of 0.5% bio-product. Soil alone (control A) and commercial chelates (control B) were used as controls. Outcomes showed that SCG-hydrochars retain the capacity to mobilize Zn compared to SCG. However, the chelating capacity was reduced (Zn: 94%) and the toxicity was significantly increased (p < 0.05) with higher temperatures of HTC (200 °C). Both fresh and dry lettuce weights were less affected at doses of 0.5% of bio-product and registered a maximum increase of 136% of Zn in the plant content. The present study approaches the possibility of using these by-products as bioinorganic fertilizers at subtoxic doses, although more research is neededPY20_00585 from FEDER and RDPTC-2018 (AT17_6096_OTRI UGR) from the Andalusia n Ministry of Economic Transformation, Knowledge, Industry and Universities

Effectiveness of an intervention for improving drug prescription in primary care patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy:Study protocol of a cluster randomized clinical trial (Multi-PAP project)

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias ISCIII (Grant Numbers PI15/00276, PI15/00572, PI15/00996), REDISSEC (Project Numbers RD12/0001/0012, RD16/0001/0005), and the European Regional Development Fund ("A way to build Europe").Background: Multimorbidity is associated with negative effects both on people's health and on healthcare systems. A key problem linked to multimorbidity is polypharmacy, which in turn is associated with increased risk of partly preventable adverse effects, including mortality. The Ariadne principles describe a model of care based on a thorough assessment of diseases, treatments (and potential interactions), clinical status, context and preferences of patients with multimorbidity, with the aim of prioritizing and sharing realistic treatment goals that guide an individualized management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention that implements the Ariadne principles in a population of young-old patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. The intervention seeks to improve the appropriateness of prescribing in primary care (PC), as measured by the medication appropriateness index (MAI) score at 6 and 12months, as compared with usual care. Methods/Design: Design:pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial. Unit of randomization: family physician (FP). Unit of analysis: patient. Scope: PC health centres in three autonomous communities: Aragon, Madrid, and Andalusia (Spain). Population: patients aged 65-74years with multimorbidity (≥3 chronic diseases) and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs prescribed in ≥3months). Sample size: n=400 (200 per study arm). Intervention: complex intervention based on the implementation of the Ariadne principles with two components: (1) FP training and (2) FP-patient interview. Outcomes: MAI score, health services use, quality of life (Euroqol 5D-5L), pharmacotherapy and adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green, Haynes-Sackett), and clinical and socio-demographic variables. Statistical analysis: primary outcome is the difference in MAI score between T0 and T1 and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Adjustment for confounding factors will be performed by multilevel analysis. All analyses will be carried out in accordance with the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: It is essential to provide evidence concerning interventions on PC patients with polypharmacy and multimorbidity, conducted in the context of routine clinical practice, and involving young-old patients with significant potential for preventing negative health outcomes. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02866799Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Anti-tumour necrosis factor discontinuation in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: study protocol of a prospective, multicentre, randomized clinical trial

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who achieve remission with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs may have treatment withdrawn due to safety concerns and cost considerations, but there is a lack of prospective, controlled data investigating this strategy. The primary study aim is to compare the rates of clinical remission at 1?year in patients who discontinue anti-TNF treatment versus those who continue treatment. Methods: This is an ongoing, prospective, double-blind, multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Crohn?s disease or ulcerative colitis who have achieved clinical remission for ?6?months with an anti-TNF treatment and an immunosuppressant. Patients are being randomized 1:1 to discontinue anti-TNF therapy or continue therapy. Randomization stratifies patients by the type of inflammatory bowel disease and drug (infliximab versus adalimumab) at study inclusion. The primary endpoint of the study is sustained clinical remission at 1?year. Other endpoints include endoscopic and radiological activity, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, work productivity), safety and predictive factors for relapse. The required sample size is 194 patients. In addition to the main analysis (discontinuation versus continuation), subanalyses will include stratification by type of inflammatory bowel disease, phenotype and previous treatment. Biological samples will be obtained to identify factors predictive of relapse after treatment withdrawal. Results: Enrolment began in 2016, and the study is expected to end in 2020. Conclusions: This study will contribute prospective, controlled data on outcomes and predictors of relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after withdrawal of anti-TNF agents following achievement of clinical remission. Clinical trial reference number: EudraCT 2015-001410-1