Rewrite Closure and CF Hedge Automata

We introduce an extension of hedge automata called bidimensional context-free hedge automata. The class of unranked ordered tree languages they recognize is shown to be preserved by rewrite closure with inverse-monadic rules. We also extend the parameterized rewriting rules used for modeling the W3C XQuery Update Facility in previous works, by the possibility to insert a new parent node above a given node. We show that the rewrite closure of hedge automata languages with these extended rewriting systems are context-free hedge languages

Challenges and opportunities of lifelog technologies: a literature review and critical analysis

In a lifelog, data from various sources are combined to form a record from which one can retrieve information about oneself and the environment in which one is situated. It could be considered similar to an automated biography. Lifelog technology is still at an early stage of development. However, the history of lifelogs so far shows a clear academic, corporate and governmental interest. Therefore, a thorough inquiry into the ethical aspects of lifelogs could prove beneficial to the responsible development of this field. This article maps the main ethically relevant challenges and opportunities associated with the further development of lifelog technologies as discussed in the scholarly literature. By identifying challenges and opportunities in the current debate, we were able to identify other challenges and opportunities left unmentioned. Some of these challenges are partly explained by a blind spot in the current debate. Whilst the current debate focuses mainly on lifelogs held by individuals, lifelogs held by governmental institutions and corporations pose idiosyncratic ethical concerns as well. We have provided a brief taxonomy of lifelog technology to show the variety in uses for lifelogs. In addition, we provided a general approach to alleviate the ethical challenges identified in the critical analysis

Proof Theory, Transformations, and Logic Programming for Debugging Security Protocols

We define a sequent calculus to formally specify, simulate, debug and verify security protocols. In our sequents we distinguish between the current knowledge of principals and the current global state of the session. Hereby, we can describe the operational semantics of principals and of an intruder in a simple and modular way. Furthermore, using proof theoretic tools like the analysis of permutability of rules, we are able to find efficient proof strategies that we prove complete for special classes of security protocols including Needham-Schroeder. Based on the results of this preliminary analysis, we have implemented a Prolog meta-interpreter which allows for rapid prototyping and for checking safety properties of security protocols, and we have applied it for finding error traces and proving correctness of practical examples

Deduction with XOR Constraints in Security API Modelling

We introduce XOR constraints, and show how they enable a theorem prover to reason effectively about security critical subsystems which employ bitwise XOR. Our primary case study is the API of the IBM 4758 hardware security module. We also show how our technique can be applied to standard security protocols

A review of contemporary work on the ethics of ambient assisted living technologies for people with dementia

Ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies can provide assistance and support to persons with dementia. They might allow them the possibility of living at home for longer whilst maintaining their comfort and security as well as offering a way towards reducing the huge economic and personal costs forecast as the incidence of dementia increases worldwide over coming decades. However, the development, introduction and use of AAL technologies also trigger serious ethical issues. This paper is a systematic literature review of the on-going scholarly debate about these issues. More specifically, we look at the ethical issues involved in research and development (R&D), clinical experimentation, and clinical application of AAL technologies for people with dementia and related stakeholders. In the discussion we focus on: 1) the value of the goals of AAL technologies, 2) the special vulnerability of persons with dementia in their private homes, 3) the complex question of informed consent for the usage of AAL technologies

Systematic determination of the mosaic structure of bacterial genomes: species backbone versus strain-specific loops

BACKGROUND: Public databases now contain multitude of complete bacterial genomes, including several genomes of the same species. The available data offers new opportunities to address questions about bacterial genome evolution, a task that requires reliable fine comparison data of closely related genomes. Recent analyses have shown, using pairwise whole genome alignments, that it is possible to segment bacterial genomes into a common conserved backbone and strain-specific sequences called loops. RESULTS: Here, we generalize this approach and propose a strategy that allows systematic and non-biased genome segmentation based on multiple genome alignments. Segmentation analyses, as applied to 13 different bacterial species, confirmed the feasibility of our approach to discern the 'mosaic' organization of bacterial genomes. Segmentation results are available through a Web interface permitting functional analysis, extraction and visualization of the backbone/loops structure of documented genomes. To illustrate the potential of this approach, we performed a precise analysis of the mosaic organization of three E. coli strains and functional characterization of the loops. CONCLUSION: The segmentation results including the backbone/loops structure of 13 bacterial species genomes are new and available for use by the scientific community at the URL:

Ethics of AAL for people with dementia

Ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies can provide assistance and support to vulnerable persons, including those who suffer from dementia. They might allow these persons the possibility of living at home for longer whilst still maintaining their comfort, safety and security. However, the development, introduction and use of AAL technologies also trigger serious ethical issues. This presentation will provide an overview of the ongoing scholarly debate about these issues. We address the question of what ethical issues are involved in the various stages of research and development, clinical experimentation, and clinical application of AAL technologies for people with dementia (PwD) and other related stakeholders? The presentation will focus specifically on the value of the goals of AAL for persons with dementi

Assessing the Performance of Single-Copy Genes for Recovering Robust Phylogenies

International audienc