Human Interactions in Electronic Institutions

Every social network has its own fixed, but different, set of rules that apply to all users. This reflects the fact that in real life every community has different norms depending on the relationships between its members. Unfortunately this has required people to create many different social networks that exist next to each other even though they have largely overlapping sets of members. In this paper we argue that Electronic Institutions (EI) solve this problem by allowing to create a generic social network in which users can set up their own sub-communities with their own particular norms and protocols. Electronic Institutions make it easy for users to specify these protocols and norms in a visual way, and adapt them when necessary. Furthermore we present a new framework on top of the existing EI architecture that allows humans to interact in any EI. It can generate a graphic user interface from the institution-specification without the requirement of any extra programming or design. However, it still allows designers to design a more sophisticated, domain specific GUI.This work is supported by the Agreement Technologies CONSOLIDER project, and CHIST-ERA project ACE, EU project 318770 PRAISE, and the CBIT project (TIN2010-16306).Peer Reviewe

Leveraging Diversity in Online Interactions

This paper addresses the issue of connecting people online to help them find support with their day-to-day problems. We make use of declarative norms for mediating online interactions, and we specifically focus on the issue of leveraging diversity when connecting people. We run pilots at different university sites, and the results show relative success in the diversity of the selected profiles, backed by high user satisfaction

Infrastructures to Engineer Open Agent Environments by Means of Electronic Institutions

Electronic institutions provide a computational analogue of human institutions to engineer open environments in which agents can interact in an autonomous way while complying with the norms of an institution. The purpose of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, we lightly survey our research on coordination infrastructures for electronic institutions in the last ten years. On the other hand, we highlight the research challenges in environment engineering that we have tackled during this journey as well as promising research paths for future research on the engineering of open environments for multi-agent systems.This paper has been partially funded by the following projects: TIN2012-38876-C02-01, PRAISE (FP7-318770), CollectiveMind (TEC2013-49430-EXP), ACE (Autonomic software engineering for online Cultural Experiences), and the Generalitat of Catalunya (2014 SGR 118)Peer reviewe

Collaborative Peer Assessment using PeerLearn

In this chapter we introduce the PeerLearn methodology and its associated tools. We base the design of pedagogical workflows for students on the definition of rubrics (using PeerAssess) as the starting element that drives the creation of lesson plans (using LessonEditor). These plans run over our web platform (Peer-Flow). Students can evaluate one another following given rubrics and teachers can accept (or not) marks produced by a collaborative assessment tool (COMAS). Experimental results show that PeerLearn provide students with a highly satisfying new pedagogical experience and increased learning outcomes. © 2015 The authors and IOS Press.Peer reviewe

Music Learning with Massive Open Online Courses

Steels, Luc et al.-- Editors: Luc SteelsMassive Open Online Courses, known as MOOCs, have arisen as the logical consequence of marrying long-distance education with the web and social media. MOOCs were confidently predicted by advanced thinkers decades ago. They are undoubtedly here to stay, and provide a valuable resource for learners and teachers alike. This book focuses on music as a domain of knowledge, and has three objectives: to introduce the phenomenon of MOOCs; to present ongoing research into making MOOCs more effective and better adapted to the needs of teachers and learners; and finally to present the first steps towards 'social MOOCs’, which support the creation of learning communities in which interactions between learners go beyond correcting each other's assignments. Social MOOCs try to mimic settings for humanistic learning, such as workshops, small choirs, or groups participating in a Hackathon, in which students aided by somebody acting as a tutor learn by solving problems and helping each other. The papers in this book all discuss steps towards social MOOCs; their foundational pedagogy, platforms to create learning communities, methods for assessment and social feedback and concrete experiments. These papers are organized into five sections: background; the role of feedback; platforms for learning communities; experiences with social MOOCs; and looking backwards and looking forward. Technology is not a panacea for the enormous challenges facing today's educators and learners, but this book will be of interest to all those striving to find more effective and humane learning opportunities for a larger group of students.Funded by the European Commission's OpenAIRE2020 project.Peer reviewe

ABC4MAS : Assembling business collaborations for MAS

ABC4MAS provides an environment to support the rapid assembly of agent-oriented business collaborations. ABC4MAS allows: (i) to set up a collaboration environment (CE) as a virtual organisation; (ii) to reach agreements within the CE to form short-term business collaborations; (iii) to enact business collaborations; and (iv) to track the performance of agents within business collaborations to build their trust and reputation within the CE.Peer Reviewe

BRAF mutations classes I, II, and III in NSCLC patients included in the SLLIP trial : The need for a new pre-clinical treatment rationale

BRAF V600 mutations have been found in 1-2% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment of dabrafenib plus trametinib and progression free survival (PFS) of 10.9 months. However, 50-80% of BRAF mutations in lung cancer are non-V600, and can be class II, with intermediate to high kinase activity and RAS independence, or class III, with impaired kinase activity, upstream signaling dependence, and consequently, sensitivity to receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitors. Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of 185 newly diagnosed advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients (Spanish Lung Liquid versus Invasive Biopsy Program, SLLIP, NCT03248089) was examined for BRAF and other alterations with a targeted cfDNA next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay (Guardant360®, Guardant Health Inc., CA, USA), and results were correlated with patient outcome. Cell viability with single or combined RAF, MEK, and SHP2 inhibitors was assessed in cell lines with BRAF class I, II, and III mutations. Out of 185 patients, 22 had BRAF alterations (12%) of which seven patients harbored amplifications (32%) and 17 had BRAF mutations (77%). Of the BRAF mutations, four out of 22 (18%) were V600E and 18/22 (82%) were non-V600. In vitro results confirmed sensitivity of class III and resistance of class I and II BRAF mutations, and BRAF wild type cells to SHP2 inhibition. Concomitant MEK or RAF and SHP2 inhibition showed synergistic effects, especially in the class III BRAF-mutant cell line. Our study indicates that the class of the BRAF mutation may have clinical implications and therefore should be defined in the clinical practice and used to guide therapeutic decision

Eficacia terapéutica del Apafill - G como material de implante en bolsas infraóseas de dientes monorradicales. Therapeutic effectiveness of Apafil-G as a material of implant for infra-osseous pocket of mono-radical teeth

El propósito de la siguiente investigación fue evaluar la eficacia del APAFILL - G como material de implante en defectos de dos y media y tres paredes de dientes monorradicales. El estudio incluyó veinte pacientes de uno y otro sexo, con edades que oscilan entre los 18 y 50 años que acudieron al servicio de Periodontología de la Clínica Estomatológica Docente "Ormani Arenado" de la Provincia de Pinar del Río, durante el periodo comprendido entre enero 2000 y enero del 2002. Para tratar el defecto óseo se utilizó como técnica quirúrgica colgajo periodontal de espesor total combinado con bisel interno, el material de implante se protegió con una capa de espuma de fibrina se evaluó el grado de inflamación gingival mediante el Índice Gingival de Löe y Silness, la profundidad de la bolsa mediante una sonda milimetrada y la movilidad dentaria según los criterios de Miller. Todos estos parámetros disminuyeron al final del tratamiento. Se utilizaron distintas pruebas para determinar diferencias estadísticas con un nivel de significación de p<0.01. se comprobó la eficacia del APAFILL - G como material de implante en defectos óseos de dos y media y tres paredes de dientes monorradicales. DeCS: HIDROXIAPATITA, PERIODONTITIS, APAFILL - G, IMPLANTES DENTALES, MATERIALES BIOCOMPATIBLES. ABSTRACT This research was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of APAFILL - G as dental implant material on defects of the two and half and three walls of monoradicular teeth. The study included 20 patients of box sex and ages ranging between 18 and 50 years old attending to Periodontology Service at Ormani Arenado Teaching Dentist Clinic, Pinar del Río Province during January 2000 - 2002. To treat the bone defect a total thickness periodontal flap combined with inner level was used as surgical technique, dental implant material was covered with a fibrin foamy layer, gingival inflammation was assessed using a millimetred probe and dental movility was evaluated according to Miller's criteria; at the end of the treatment all these parameters decreased. Different tests were used in order to determine the statistical differences with a level of significance of p < 0.01 proving the effectiveness of APAFILL - G as dental implant material on bone defects of two and half and three walls of monoradicular teeth. DeCS: HIDROXIAPATITE, PERIODONTITIS, APAFILL - G, DENTAL IMPLANT, BIOCOMPATIBILITY

Overt Cleft Palate Phenotype and TBX1 Genotype Correlations in Velo-cardio-facial/DiGeorge/22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Patients

Velo-cardio-facial syndrome/DiGeorge syndrome, also known as 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is the most common microdeletion syndrome, with an estimated incidence of 1/2,000 – 1/4,000 live births. Approximately 9–11% of patients with this disorder have an overt cleft palate (CP), but the genetic factors responsible for CP in the 22q11DS subset are unknown. The TBX1 gene, a member of the T-box transcription factor gene family, lies within the 22q11.2 region that is hemizygous in patients with 22q11DS. Inactivation of one allele of Tbx1 in the mouse does not result in CP, but inactivation of both alleles does. Based on these data, we hypothesized that DNA variants in the remaining allele of TBX1 may confer risk to CP in patients with 22q11DS. To test the hypothesis, we evaluated TBX1 exon sequencing (n = 360) and genotyping data (n = 737) with respect to presence (n = 54) or absence (n = 683) of CP in patients with 22q11DS. Two upstream SNPs (rs4819835 and rs5748410) showed individual evidence for association but they were not significant after correction for multiple testing. Associations were not identified between DNA variants and haplotypes in 22q11DS patients with CP. Overall, this study indicates that common DNA variants in TBX1 may be nominally causative for CP in patients with 22q11DS. This raises the possibility that genes elsewhere on the remaining allele of 22q11.2 or in the genome could be relevant