KnowBaSICS-M: an ontology-based system for semantic management of medical problems and computerised algorithmic solutions

In this paper, an ontology-based system (KnowBaSICS-M) is presented for the semantic management of Medical Computational Problems (MCPs), i.e., medical problems and computerised algorithmic solutions. The system provides an open environment, which: (1) allows clinicians and researchers to retrieve potential algorithmic solutions pertinent to a medical problem and (2) enables incorporation of new MCPs into its underlying Knowledge Base (KB). KnowBaSICS-M is a modular system for MCP acquisition and discovery that relies on an innovative ontology-based model incorporating concepts from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). Information retrieval (IR) is based on an ontology-based Vector Space Model (VSM) that estimates the similarity among user-defined MCP search criteria and registered MCP solutions in the KB. The results of a preliminary evaluation and specific examples of use are presented to illustrate the benefits of the system. KnowBaSICS-M constitutes an approach towards the construction of an integrated and manageable MCP repository for the biomedical research community.     

Bone Density as a Marker of Response to Radiotherapy in Bone Metastatic Lesions: A Review of the Published Data

Metastases to the bone are presenting in a great percentage of patients with cancer, causing a variety of symptoms, affecting the quality of life and survival of patients. A multidisciplinary approach from different health providers is required for treatment, including radiation oncologists, medical oncologists and surgeons. The role of radiotherapy in the management of bone metastases has long been established through multiple randomized trials. The estimation of response to the therapy is subjective and is based on the palliation of the symptoms that the patients report. However, a quantification of the tumor burden and response to the treatment with the use of an objective method to measure those parameters is a clinical expectation in oncology. The change in bone density in affected areas (mainly lytic) after local radiotherapy, representing the cellular changes that have occurred, is a promising marker of response to treatment.     

The significance of attitudes towards evidence-based practice in information technology use in the health sector: an empirical investigation

The article investigates the relationship between attitudes towards evidence-based practice (EBP) and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in practice and demonstrates that the poor correlation reported in the literature is a methodological artifact rather than a substantive fact. Results are based on structured surveying of 1015 medical and nursing staff, drawn from 15 Greek hospitals. We used unfolding item response theory models to demonstrate that by placing the statements assessing attitude towards EBP and ICT self-reported use on a single attitude–behaviour continuum, behaviour statements have a systematically different location on the attitude–behaviour continuum from the attitude statements. Based on the latent probabilistic relation among attitudes towards EBP and ICT use, the practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Adaptive disk scheduling with workload-dependent anticipation intervals

Anticipatory scheduling (AS) of I/O requests has become a viable choice for block-device schedulers in open-source OS-kernels as prior work has established its superiority over traditional disk-scheduling policies. An AS-scheduler selectively stalls the block-device right after servicing a request in hope that a new request for a nearby sector will be soon posted. Clearly, this decision may introduce delays if the anticipated I/O does not arrive on time. In this paper, we build on the success of the AS and propose an approach that minimizes the overhead of unsuccessful anticipations. Our suggested approach termed workload-dependent anticipation scheduling (WAS), determines the length of every anticipation period in an on-line fashion in order to reduce penalties by taking into account the evolving spatio-temporal characteristics of running processes as well as properties of the underlying computing system. We harvest the spatio-temporal features of individual processes and employ a system-wide process classification scheme that is re-calibrated on the fly. The resulting classification enables the disk scheduler to make informed decisions and vary the anticipation interval accordingly, on a per-process basis. We have implemented and incorporated WAS into the current Linux kernel. Through experimentation with a wide range of diverse workloads, we demonstrate WAS benefits and establish reduction of penalties over other AS-scheduler implementations.     

Conventional vehicle display panels: the drivers' operative images and directions for their redesign

The proliferation of new displays in modern vehicles sets the challenge to revisit the design of the conventional display units, toward more simplified appearance. The present study aims to evaluate the usefulness of the information provided to the drivers by the conventional vehicle display units, in order to trace directions that would lead to a simplification of the future display panels. Based on the concept of operative images, two working hypotheses were formulated: (i) the experienced drivers have developed an operative image-reference (OI-R) for the display panel of their own vehicle(s), reflecting the relative importance they attribute to the information emitted by the various displays of the panel, and (ii) the experienced drivers' drawings of the display panel of their own vehicle will be guided by their OI-R for it - providing therefore traces of the content of their OI-R, while the less experienced drivers' drawings will be closer to the actual display panel of their own vehicle. The method of drawing from memory was used to obtain traces of the operative images of both experienced and less experienced non-professional drivers. The obtained 335 drawings were compared to the actual display panels, as to their overall resemblance and to specific features. The results of the data analysis are in accordance to our working hypotheses. Considering the main features of the experienced drivers' OI-R, directions for the simplification of the appearance of conventional display units are proposed.     

Handwritten document image segmentation into text lines and words

Two novel approaches to extract text lines and words from handwritten document are presented. The line segmentation algorithm is based on locating the optimal succession of text and gap areas within vertical zones by applying Viterbi algorithm. Then, a text-line separator drawing technique is applied and finally the connected components are assigned to text lines. Word segmentation is based on a gap metric that exploits the objective function of a soft-margin linear SVM that separates successive connected components. The algorithms tested on the benchmarking datasets of ICDAR07 handwriting segmentation contest and outperformed the participating algorithms.     

A model-driven software engineering workflow and tool architecture for servitised manufacturing

Modern manufacturing businesses increasingly engage in servitisation, by offering advanced services along with physical products, and creating “product–service systems”. Information Technology infrastructures, and especially software, are a critical part of modern service provision. However, software development in this context has not been investigated and there are no development methods or tools specifically adapted to the task of creating software for servitised businesses in general, or manufacturing in particular. In this paper, we define the requirements for software engineering in servitised manufacturing. Based on these, we describe a model-driven software engineering workflow for servitised manufacturing, supporting both structural and behavioural modelling of the service system. Furthermore, we elaborate on the architecture of an appropriate model-driven Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The proposed workflow and a prototype implementation of the IDE were evaluated in a set of industrial pilots, demonstrating improved communication and collaboration between participants in the software engineering process.     

ASTERIX: towards a scalable,semistructured data platform for evolving-world models

ASTERIX is a new data-intensive storage and computing platform project spanning UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego. In this paper we provide an overview of the ASTERIX project, starting with its main goal—the storage and analysis of data pertaining to evolving-world models. We describe the requirements and associated challenges, and explain how the project is addressing them. We provide a technical overview of ASTERIX, covering its architecture, its user model for data and queries, and its approach to scalable query processing and data management. ASTERIX utilizes a new scalable runtime computational platform called Hyracks that is also discussed at an overview level; we have recently made Hyracks available in open source for use by other interested parties. We also relate our work on ASTERIX to the current state of the art and describe the research challenges that we are currently tackling as well as those that lie ahead.