Visual analysis of sensor logs in smart spaces: Activities vs. situations

Models of human habits in smart spaces can be expressed by using a multitude of representations whose readability influences the possibility of being validated by human experts. Our research is focused on developing a visual analysis pipeline (service) that allows, starting from the sensor log of a smart space, to graphically visualize human habits. The basic assumption is to apply techniques borrowed from the area of business process automation and mining on a version of the sensor log preprocessed in order to translate raw sensor measurements into human actions. The proposed pipeline is employed to automatically extract models to be reused for ambient intelligence. In this paper, we present an user evaluation aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach, by comparing it wrt. a relevant state-of-the-art visual tool, namely SITUVIS

Chatbots as a novel access method for government open data

IIn this discussion paper, we propose to employ chatbots as a user-friendly interface for open data published by organizations, specifically focusing on public administrations. Open data are especially useful in e-Government initiatives but their exploitation is currently hampered to end users by the lack of user-friendly access methods. On the other hand, current UX in social networks have made people used to chatting. Building on cognitive technologies, we prototyped a chatbot on top of the OpenCantieri dataset published by the Italian Ministero delle Infrastrutture e Trasporti, and we argue that such a model can be extended as a generally available access method to open data

Surveying human habit modeling and mining techniques in smart spaces

A smart space is an environment, mainly equipped with Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies, able to provide services to humans, helping them to perform daily tasks by monitoring the space and autonomously executing actions, giving suggestions and sending alarms. Approaches suggested in the literature may differ in terms of required facilities, possible applications, amount of human intervention required, ability to support multiple users at the same time adapting to changing needs. In this paper, we propose a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that classifies most influential approaches in the area of smart spaces according to a set of dimensions identified by answering a set of research questions. These dimensions allow to choose a specific method or approach according to available sensors, amount of labeled data, need for visual analysis, requirements in terms of enactment and decision-making on the environment. Additionally, the paper identifies a set of challenges to be addressed by future research in the field

Use of linear discriminant analysis to characterise three dairy cattle breeds on the basis of several milk characteristics

To characterise individuals of differents breeds on the basis of milk composition and to identify the best set of variablesa linear discriminant analysis (LDA), on 14 milk production traits, was performed on milk samples from 199 cows of differentbreeds (respectively, 127 subjects were Italian Friesians (IF), 62 were German Friesians (GF), and 10 were Jerseys(J) and all came from the same breeding farm in Tuscany. The variables were: test day milk yield (kg milk), % Fat, %Protein,% Lactose, % solid non fat (SNF), % total solid (TS), pH and titratable acidity (TA); five rheological variables: r,k20, a30, a45, and somatic cell counts /ml (SCC); and one hygiene-related variable: total bacterial count (TBC). The analysisperformed on the 14 variables, with regard to the three breeds, allowed us to identify 10 of these as variables usefulfor discrimination (leaving out kg milk, pH, a45, and TBC). The most important variables were the percentage of Fat andTS for the first canonical variate and SNF, Lactose and Protein for the second. Fat and TS play an important role sincethey present significant values (even if opposite sign) in the two variates. The resulting classification of subjects was satisfactory:79% of the Italian Friesians, 73% of German Friesians and 100% of the Jersey cows were classified correctly

HLXB9 gene expression, and nuclear location during in vitro neuronal differentiation in the SK-N-BE neuroblastoma cell line

Copyright @ 2014 Leotta et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Different parts of the genome occupy specific compartments of the cell nucleus based on the gene content and the transcriptional activity. An example of this is the altered nuclear positioning of the HLXB9 gene in leukaemia cells observed in association with its over-expression. This phenomenon was attributed to the presence of a chromosomal translocation with breakpoint proximal to the HLXB9 gene. Before becoming an interesting gene in cancer biology, HLXB9 was studied as a developmental gene. This homeobox gene is also known as MNX1 (motor neuron and pancreas homeobox 1) and it is relevant for both motor neuronal and pancreatic beta cells development. A spectrum of mutations in this gene are causative of sacral agenesis and more broadly, of what is known as the Currarino Syndrome, a constitutional autosomal dominant disorder. Experimental work on animal models has shown that HLXB9 has an essential role in motor neuronal differentiation. Here we present data to show that, upon treatment with retinoic acid, the HLXB9 gene becomes over-expressed during the early stages of neuronal differentiation and that this corresponds to a reposition of the gene in the nucleus. More precisely, we used the SK-N-BE human neuroblastoma cell line as an in vitro model and we demonstrated a transient transcription of HLXB9 at the 4th and 5th days of differentiation that corresponded to the presence, predominantly in the cell nuclei, of the encoded protein HB9. The nuclear positioning of the HLXB9 gene was monitored at different stages: a peripheral location was noted in the proliferating cells whereas a more internal position was noted during differentiation, that is while HLXB9 was transcriptionally active. Our findings suggest that HLXB9 can be considered a marker of early neuronal differentiation, possibly involving chromatin remodeling pathways

Preface: Language Change and the New Millennium

All linguists, at some time in their studies, run headlong into fundamental issues associated with language change, and I could not celebrate the ESJ 12th anniversary without investigating the English Language of the New Millennium. Change in languages over time seems to be an inevitable constant. All languages have undergone and, if not dead, are undergoing change. As Ferdinand de Saussure put it more than a century ago, “the linguistic river never stops flowing” (Course in General Linguistics, 1916:110). The English language has been no exception and continues to be widely discussed from different areas or branches of linguistics, such as generative, historical, variationist or corpus linguistics. There is, however, much that still needs to be investigated

Alien Registration- Newman, Leotta M. (Monticello, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33991/thumbnail.jp

Virulence profile comparison between LEE-negative Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from cattle and humans

For comparison purposes, the prevalence of 8 virulence markers was investigated, by PCR, in 153 cattle and 47 human Locus for Enterocyte Effacement (LEE)-negative Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated in Argentina. Also, their correlation with severe disease was established. The virulence markers studied comprises 5 fimbrial and nonfimbrial adhesin-encoding genes (fimA, iha, efa1, lpfAO113, and saa) and 3 toxin genes (cdt-V, subAB and astA) in addition to the Shiga toxins. The most prevalent virulence marker found was that encoded by the lpfAO113 gene (199/200, 99%). Comparatively, the lpfAO113, fimA, iha, saa, subAB, cdt-V and astA genes were detected in 100%, 92.8%, 85%, 52.9%, 36%, 11.8% and 9.8% of the cattle strains and in 97.9%, 95.7%, 89.4%, 40.4%, 32%, 17% and 10.6% of the human strains, respectively. All STEC strains were efa1 negative. The most prevalent profile observed among cattle and human STEC strains was lpfAO113 iha fimA. These results show that bovine LEE-negative STEC strains possessed genes encoding virulence factors present in human LEE-negative STEC strains that are associated with disease. Despite a great diversity of virulence profiles observed, further studies comparing wild type strains and their allelic mutants are needed to evaluate the role of each factor in the pathogenesis of LEE-negative STEC strains during human infections.Fil: Galli, Lucía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Miliwebsky, Elizabeth. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Irino, Kinue. Instituto Adolfo Lutz; BrasilFil: Leotta, Gerardo Anibal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Rivas, Marta. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; Argentin

Strategic planning of New Product development process in line to customer’s strategy: the role of collaborative platforms.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the use of collaborative plat- forms favors the alignment between the strategic planning of NPD projects andcustomers’ strategic goals. The paper addresses the challenge risen in NPD liter- ature, especially in the co-development setting. Design/Methodology/approach: Rooted in the paradigm of pragmatic con- structivism, this paper conceptualizes a learning method through which actors can use collaborative platforms to align the strategic planning of NPD project with customers’ objectives. Empirical research on a multinational company op- erating in the semiconductor industry demonstrates the method in action. Findings: The results show that the use of a collaborative platform enabled the sharing of information on NPD process and customer’s requests during thedifferent phases of NPD process. This influences the planning of the develop- ment, which varies depending on the customer goals in the different phases of NPD process. The interactions lead to revise the planning of NPD project in line with the changes experienced by the customer. Our study displays how the col- laborative platforms favor the learning process and foster the communication across organizations. Implications/Limitations: The paper answers various calls for research on creating more insights into the studies on co-development projects focused on thecustomer’s strategic perspective, highlighting the role played by collaborative platforms in favoring the learning process. Originality/Value: This paper tries to conceptualize a method to analyze the learning process in innovative projects, examining how a well-crafted NPD strat- egy requires a continuous alignment with the strategic goals of the customer