Data quality maintenance in Data Integration Systems

A Data Integration System (DIS) is an information system that integrates data from a set of heterogeneous and autonomous information sources and provides it to users. Quality in these systems consists of various factors that are measured in data. Some of the usually considered ones are completeness, accuracy, accessibility, freshness, availability. In a DIS, quality factors are associated to the sources, to the extracted and transformed information, and to the information provided by the DIS to the user. At the same time, the user has the possibility of posing quality requirements associated to his data requirements. DIS Quality is considered as better, the nearer it is to the user quality requirements. DIS quality depends on data sources quality, on data transformations and on quality required by users. Therefore, DIS quality is a property that varies in function of the variations of these three other properties. The general goal of this thesis is to provide mechanisms for maintaining DIS quality at a level that satisfies the user quality requirements, minimizing the modifications to the system that are generated by quality changes. The proposal of this thesis allows constructing and maintaining a DIS that is tolerant to quality changes. This means that the DIS is constructed taking into account previsions of quality behavior, such that if changes occur according to these previsions the system is not affected at all by them. These previsions are provided by models of quality behavior of DIS data, which must be maintained up to date. With this strategy, the DIS is affected only when quality behavior models change, instead of being affected each time there is a quality variation in the system. The thesis has a probabilistic approach, which allows modeling the behavior of the quality factors at the sources and at the DIS, allows the users to state flexible quality requirements (using probabilities), and provides tools, such as certainty, mathematical expectation, etc., that help to decide which quality changes are relevant to the DIS quality. The probabilistic models are monitored in order to detect source quality changes, strategy that allows detecting changes on quality behavior and not only punctual quality changes. We propose to monitor also other DIS properties that affect its quality, and for each of these changes decide if they affect the behavior of DIS quality, taking into account DIS quality models. Finally, the probabilistic approach is also applied at the moment of determining actions to take in order to improve DIS quality. For the interpretation of DIS situation we propose to use statistics, which include, in particular, the history of the quality models

Resolución de la integración en el diseño del Data Warehouse

Un Data Warehouse (en adelante DW) es una base de datos orientada a la toma de decisiones cuya información proviene de múltiples fuentes. En un sistema de DW puede existir heterogeneidad en las fuentes de tipo semántica (diferencias en cuanto a qué objetos del mundo real se representan), sintáctica (diferencias en el esquema) y conflictos de datos (inconsistencia entre datos de las distintas bases, que se corresponden). Por lo tanto, en el proceso de diseño del DW y en el de carga de los datos al mismo, es necesario resolver problemas de integración. En este trabajo se agrega a la propuesta de [Mar00] para diseño de DW, la posibilidad de diseñar el DW a partir de múltiples fuentes, resolviéndose los problemas de integración

Designing relational data warehouses through schema-transformation primitives

A Data Warehouse (DW) is a database that stores information oriented to satisfy decision-making request. It is a database with some particular features concerning the data it contains and its utilisation. The features od DWs cause the DW design process and strategies to be different from the ones for OLTP Systems. We address the DW design problem through a schema transformation approach. We propose a set of schema transformation primitives, which are high-level operations that transform relational sub-schemas into other relational sub-chemas. We also provide some tools that can help in DW design process: (a) the design trace, (b) a set of DW schema invariants, (c) a set of rules that specify how to correct schema-strategies dor designing the DW through application of primitives

Quality management in MSIS

This paper presents our first incursion in the problem of quality management in Multi-Source Information System (MSIS). We state the problem and experiment with the definition and classification of quality properties. We also experiment with a solution for the problem of quality evaluation in a MSIS considering a few selected properties

An overview of data warehouse design approaches and tecbniques

A Data Warehouse (DW) is a database that stores information oriented to satisfy decision-making requests. It ia a database with some particular features concerning the data it contains and its utilisation. The features of DWs cause the DW design process and strategies to be different frome the ones for OLTP Systems. This work presents a brief description of different approaches and techniques that address the DW design problem

Designing relational data warehouses through schema-transformation primitives : prototype

The logical design of a Data Warehouse (DW) is a task that requires the application of techniques and strategies that are specific of DW context. In [Mar00] we present a mechanism for designing DWs. Based in this mechanism we developed a prototype of a DW design tool. This tool offers, a graphical user interface that allows the designer to apply transformation primitives to a source schema constructing a DW schema, visualise the generated transformation trace, check DW schema invariants and apply consistency rules

Manejo de cambios en la calidad de las fuentes en sistemas de integración de datos

Los Sistemas de Integración de Datos (DIS) integran información desde un conjunto de Fuentes de Datos heterogéneas y autónomas, y proveen dicha información a un conjunto de Vistas de Usuario. Consideramos un sistema donde se toman en cuenta las propiedades de calidad. En las fuentes existen los valores reales de las propiedades de calidad y en el sistema integrado existen los valores requeridos de estas propiedades. En este tipo de sistema, considerando la gran cantidad posible de fuentes y su autonomía, aparece un nuevo problema: los cambios en la calidad de las fuentes. Los valores reales de los elementos de las fuentes pueden cambiar con mucha frecuencia y de forma impredecible. Nos interesan las consecuencias que pueden tener los cambios en la calidad de las fuentes sobre la calidad global del sistema, e incluso sobre el esquema del DIS y la forma de procesar su información. Analizamos estas consecuencias basándonos en las diferentes posibilidades existentes para manejar los cambios en los esquemas de las fuentes en sistemas de este tipo. Además estudiamos dos propiedades en particular; frescura y precisión, y definimos estrategias para el manejo de los cambios en estas propiedades

Twenty years of the Italian Fanconi Anemia Registry: where we stand and what remains to be learned

The natural history of Fanconi anemia remains hard to establish because of its rarity and its heterogeneous clinical presentation; since 1994, the Italian Fanconi Anemia Registry has collected clinical, epidemiological and genetic data of Italian Fanconi Anemia patients. This registry includes 180 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of Fanconi anemia who have either been enrolled prospectively, at diagnosis, or later on. After enrollment, follow-up data were periodically collected to assess the clinical course, possible complications and long-term survival; the median follow up was 15.6 years. The main goal of the study was to describe the natural history of Fanconi anemia, focusing on the following variables: family history, disease presentation, development of hematological manifestations, development of malignancies, occurrence of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and survival. Typical morphological and/or hematological abnormalities and/or growth retardation were the most common manifestations at diagnosis; the majority of patients (77%) exhibited hematological abnormalities at the initial presentation, and almost all (96%) eventually developed hematological manifestations. More than half of the patients (57%) underwent a bone-marrow transplant. The occurrence of cancer was quite rare at diagnosis, whereas the cumulative incidence of malignancies at 10, 20 and 30 years was 5%, 8% and 22%, respectively, for hematological cancers and 1%, 15% and 32%, respectively, for solid tumors. Overall survival at 10, 20 and 30 years were 88%, 56% and 37%, respectively; the main causes of death were cancer, complications of the hematological presentation and complications of transplantation. These data clearly confirm the detrimental outcome of Fanconi anemia, with no major improvement in the past decades

Talleres virtuales prácticos para acercar chicas adolescentes a las ciencias de la computación en Uruguay: una experiencia

During the last decades the presence of women in the area of Computer Science has decreased in most countries. In the last years, at the Facultad de Ingeniería (School of Engineering), Universidad de la República, Uruguay, we have carried out several activities with the goal of bringing girls closer to Computer Science area, on the occasion of Girls in ICT Day. Through these activities, we intend to eliminate certain preconceived ideas and negative stereotypes that promote girls’ distancing from careers of this area. This paper presents the experience of the three virtual workshops carried out during 2021 (in virtual modality, due to the COVID-19 pandemic), which focused on programming, data, and geographic information systems, and the analysis of a set of virtual platforms considered for each workshop.Durante las últimas décadas la presencia de la mujer en las Ciencias de la Computación ha ido en decrecimiento en la mayoría de los países. En los últimos años, en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de la República, Uruguay, hemos realizado actividades para acercar a las adolescentes mujeres al área de Ciencias de la Computación, con motivo del Día de las Niñas en las TIC. A través de estas actividades se intenta derribar ideas preconcebidas y estereotipos negativos que distancian a las niñas de las carreras de esta área. En este artículo se presenta la experiencia de los tres talleres que se realizaron durante 2021 (en forma virtual debido a la pandemia de COVID-19), los cuales se enfocaron en programación, datos y sistemas de información geográfica, junto con el análisis de un conjunto de plataformas virtuales que se consideraron para cada taller

Randomized, direct comparison study of Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 versus multi-strained Bacillus clausii probiotics for the treatment of pediatric acute gastroenteritis

Background: The choice of an appropriate probiotic for pediatric acute gastroenteritis (PAGE) can be confusing. Our aim was to compare the efficacy and safety of 2 probiotics (Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 vs a 4-strain mixture of Bacillus clausii O/C, SIN, N/R, T) for the treatment of PAGE. Methods: A 2-arm parallel, randomized trial recruited children (6 months to 5 years old) with mild-moderate acute diarrhea, from 8 centers in Argentina. A total of 317 children were enrolled and blindly randomized to 5 days of either S boulardii CNCM I-745 (n = 159) or a 4-strain mixture of B clausii (n = 158), then followed for 7 days post-probiotic treatment. A stool sample was collected at inclusion for pathogen identification. The primary outcome was duration of diarrhea defined as the time from enrollment to the last loose stool followed by the first 24-hour period with stool consistency improvement. Secondary outcomes included frequency of loose stools/day, severity of diarrhea, number reporting no diarrhea at Day 6, time-to-first formed stool, recurrence of diarrhea by study end (Day 12) and safety outcomes. Results: Three hundred twelve (98%) children completed the study. S boulardii CNCM I-745 showed a significant reduction (P =.04) in the mean duration of diarrhea (64.6 hours, 95% confidence interval [CI] 56.5-72.8) compared to those given B clausii (78.0 hours, 95% CI 69.9-86.1). Both probiotics showed improvement in secondary outcomes and were well-tolerated. Conclusion: In this study, S boulardii CNCM I-745 demonstrated better efficacy than B clausii mix for reducing the duration of pediatric acute diarrhea.Fil: Altcheh, Jaime Marcelo. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones en Patologías Pediátricas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones en Patologías Pediátricas; ArgentinaFil: Carosella, Mabel V.. No especifíca;Fil: Ceballos, Ana. Instituto Médico Río Cuarto; ArgentinaFil: D'Andrea, Ulises. Instituto Médico Río Cuarto; ArgentinaFil: Jofre, Sandra M.. No especifíca;Fil: Marotta, Carolina. No especifíca;Fil: Mugeri, Domingo. No especifíca;Fil: Sabbaj, Liliana. No especifíca;Fil: Soto, Adriana. No especifíca;Fil: Josse, Constant. No especifíca;Fil: Montestruc, Francois. No especifíca;Fil: McFarland, Lynne V.. No especifíca