Parts, places, and perspectives : a theory of spatial relations based an mereotopology and convexity

This thesis suggests to carry on the philosophical work begun in Casati's and Varzi's seminal book Parts and Places, by extending their general reflections on the basic formal structure of spatial representation beyond mereotopology and absolute location to the question of perspectives and perspective-dependent spatial relations. We show how, on the basis of a conceptual analysis of such notions as perspective and direction, a mereotopological theory with convexity can express perspectival spatial relations in a strictly qualitative framework. We start by introducing a particular mereotopological theory, AKGEMT, and argue that it constitutes an adequate core for a theory of spatial relations. Two features of AKGEMT are of particular importance: AKGEMT is an extensional mereotopology, implying that sameness of proper parts is a sufficient and necessary condition for identity, and it allows for (lower- dimensional) boundary elements in its domain of quantification. We then discuss an extension of AKGEMT, AKGEMTS, which results from the addition of a binary segment operator whose interpretation is that of a straight line segment between mereotopological points. Based on existing axiom systems in standard point-set topology, we propose an axiomatic characterisation of the segment operator and show that it is strong enough to sustain complex properties of a convexity predicate and a convex hull operator. We compare our segment-based characterisation of the convex hull to Cohn et al.'s axioms for the convex hull operator, arguing that our notion of convexity is significantly stronger. The discussion of AKGEMTS defines the background theory of spatial representation on which the developments in the second part of this thesis are built. The second part deals with perspectival spatial relations in two-dimensional space, i.e., such relations as those expressed by 'in front of, 'behind', 'to the left/right of, etc., and develops a qualitative formalism for perspectival relations within the framework of AKGEMTS. Two main claims are defended in part 2: That perspectival relations in two-dimensional space are four- place relations of the kind R(x, y, z, w), to be read as x is i?-related to y as z looks at w; and that these four-place structures can be satisfactorily expressed within the qualitative theory AKGEMTS. To defend these two claims, we start by arguing for a unified account of perspectival relations, thus rejecting the traditional distinction between 'relative' and 'intrinsic' perspectival relations. We present a formal theory of perspectival relations in the framework of AKGEMTS, deploying the idea that perspectival relations in two-dimensional space are four-place relations, having a locational and a perspectival part and show how this four-place structure leads to a unified framework of perspectival relations. Finally, we present a philosophical motivation to the idea that perspectival relations are four-place, cashing out the thesis that perspectives are vectorial properties and argue that vectorial properties are relations between spatial entities. Using Fine's notion of "qua objects" for an analysis of points of view, we show at last how our four-place approach to perspectival relations compares to more traditional understandings.

Scheduling of guarded command based models

Formal methods provide a means of reasoning about computer programs in order to prove correctness criteria. One subtype of formal methods is based on the weakest precondition predicate transformer semantics and uses guarded commands as the basic modelling construct. Examples of such formalisms are Action Systems and Event-B. Guarded commands can intuitively be understood as actions that may be triggered when an associated guard condition holds. Guarded commands whose guards hold are nondeterministically chosen for execution, but no further control flow is present by default. Such a modelling approach is convenient for proving correctness, and the Refinement Calculus allows for a stepwise development method. It also has a parallel interpretation facilitating development of concurrent software, and it is suitable for describing event-driven scenarios. However, for many application areas, the execution paradigm traditionally used comprises more explicit control flow, which constitutes an obstacle for using the above mentioned formal methods. In this thesis, we study how guarded command based modelling approaches can be conveniently and efficiently scheduled in different scenarios. We first focus on the modelling of trust for transactions in a social networking setting. Due to the event-based nature of the scenario, the use of guarded commands turns out to be relatively straightforward. We continue by studying modelling of concurrent software, with particular focus on compute-intensive scenarios. We go from theoretical considerations to the feasibility of implementation by evaluating the performance and scalability of executing a case study model in parallel using automatic scheduling performed by a dedicated scheduler. Finally, we propose a more explicit and non-centralised approach in which the flow of each task is controlled by a schedule of its own. The schedules are expressed in a dedicated scheduling language, and patterns assist the developer in proving correctness of the scheduled model with respect to the original one.

Hiord: A type-free higher-order logic programming language with predicate abstraction

A new formalism, called Hiord, for defining type-free higherorder logic programming languages with predicate abstraction is introduced. A model theory, based on partial combinatory algebras, is presented, with respect to which the formalism is shown sound. A programming language built on a subset of Hiord, and its implementation are discussed. A new proposal for defining modules in this framework is considered, along with several examples.

Quantity and degree assessment in an RDF.based semantic language

This paper introduces a semantic language developed with the objective to be used in a semantic analyzer based on linguistic and world knowledge. Linguistic knowledge is provided by a Combinatorial Dictionary and several sets of rules. Extra-linguistic information is stored in an Ontology. The meaning of the text is represented by means of a series of RDF-type triples of the form predicate (subject, object). Semantic analyzer is one of the options of the multifunctional ETAP-3 linguistic processor. The analyzer can be used for Information Extraction and Question Answering. We describe semantic representation of expressions that provide an assessment of the number of objects involved and/or give a quantitative evaluation of different types of attributes. We focus on the following aspects: 1) parametric and non-parametric attributes; 2) gradable and non-gradable attributes; 3) ontological representation of different classes of attributes; 4) absolute and relative quantitative assessment; 5) punctual and interval quantitative assessment; 6) intervals with precise and fuzzy boundaries

A First Order Predicate Logic Formulation of the 3D Reconstruction Problem and its Solution Space

This paper defines the 3D reconstruction problem as the process of reconstructing a 3D scene from numerous 2D visual images of that scene. It is well known that this problem is ill-posed, and numerous constraints and assumptions are used in 3D reconstruction algorithms in order to reduce the solution space. Unfortunately, most constraints only work in a certain range of situations and often constraints are built into the most fundamental methods (e.g. Area Based Matching assumes that all the pixels in the window belong to the same object). This paper presents a novel formulation of the 3D reconstruction problem, using a voxel framework and first order logic equations, which does not contain any additional constraints or assumptions. Solving this formulation for a set of input images gives all the possible solutions for that set, rather than picking a solution that is deemed most likely. Using this formulation, this paper studies the problem of uniqueness in 3D reconstruction and how the solution space changes for different configurations of input images. It is found that it is not possible to guarantee a unique solution, no matter how many images are taken of the scene, their orientation or even how much color variation is in the scene itself. Results of using the formulation to reconstruct a few small voxel spaces are also presented. They show that the number of solutions is extremely large for even very small voxel spaces (5 x 5 voxel space gives 10 to 10(7) solutions). This shows the need for constraints to reduce the solution space to a reasonable size. Finally, it is noted that because of the discrete nature of the formulation, the solution space size can be easily calculated, making the formulation a useful tool to numerically evaluate the usefulness of any constraints that are added.

New Knowledge Obtaining in Structural-predicate Models of Knowledge

An effective mathematical method of new knowledge obtaining on the structure of complex objects with required properties is developed. The method comprehensively takes into account information on the properties and relations of primary objects, composing the complex objects. It is based on measurement of distances between the predicate groups with some interpretation of them. The optimal measure for measurement of these distances with the maximal discernibleness of different groups of predicates is constructed. The method is tested on solution of the problem of obtaining of new compound with electro-optical properties.

An aspect-oriented approach to designing role-based access control services

Access control (AC) limits access to the resources of a system only to authorized entities. Given that information systems today are increasingly interconnected, AC is extremely important. The implementation of an AC service is a complicated task. Yet the requirements to an AC service vary a lot. Accordingly, the design of an AC service should be flexible and extensible in order to save development effort and time. Unfortunately, with conventional object-oriented techniques, when an extension has not been anticipated at the design time, the modification incurred by the extension is often invasive. Invasive changes destroy design modularity, further deteriorate design extensibility, and even worse, they reduce product reliability. ^ A concern is crosscutting if it spans multiple object-oriented classes. It was identified that invasive changes were due to the crosscutting nature of most unplanned extensions. To overcome this problem, an aspect-oriented design approach for AC services was proposed, as aspect-oriented techniques could effectively encapsulate crosscutting concerns. The proposed approach was applied to develop an AC framework that supported role-based access control model. In the framework, the core role-based access control mechanism is given in an object-oriented design, while each extension is captured as an aspect. The resulting framework is well-modularized, flexible, and most importantly, supports noninvasive adaptation. ^ In addition, a process to formalize the aspect-oriented design was described. The purpose is to provide high assurance for AC services. Object-Z was used to specify the static structure and Predicate/Transition net was used to model the dynamic behavior. Object-Z was extended to facilitate specification in an aspect-oriented style. The process of formal modeling helps designers to enhance their understanding of the design, hence to detect problems. Furthermore, the specification can be mathematically verified. This provides confidence that the design is correct. It was illustrated through an example that the model was ready for formal analysis. ^

[almost An Autobiography: A Study Of Social Scientists In Health Based On The Lattes Curriculum].

Among the various ways of adopting the biographical approach, we used the curriculum vitaes (CVs) of Brazilian researchers who work as social scientists in health as our research material. These CVs are part of the Lattes Platform of CNPq - the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, which includes Research and Institutional Directories. We analyzed 238 CVs for this study. The CVs contain, among other things, the following information: professional qualifications, activities and projects, academic production, participation in panels for the evaluation of theses and dissertations, research centers and laboratories and a summarized autobiography. In this work there is a brief review of the importance of autobiography for the social sciences, emphasizing the CV as a form of autobiographical practice. We highlight some results, such as it being a group consisting predominantly of women, graduates in social sciences, anthropology, sociology or political science, with postgraduate degrees. The highest concentration of social scientists is located in Brazil's southern and southeastern regions. In some institutions the main activities of social scientists are as teachers and researchers with great thematic diversity in research.

Phylogenetics, Ancestral State Reconstruction, And A New Infrafamilial Classification Of The Pantropical Ochnaceae (medusagynaceae, Ochnaceae S.str., Quiinaceae) Based On Five Dna Regions.

Ochnaceae s.str. (Malpighiales) are a pantropical family of about 500 species and 27 genera of almost exclusively woody plants. Infrafamilial classification and relationships have been controversial partially due to the lack of a robust phylogenetic framework. Including all genera except Indosinia and Perissocarpa and DNA sequence data for five DNA regions (ITS, matK, ndhF, rbcL, trnL-F), we provide for the first time a nearly complete molecular phylogenetic analysis of Ochnaceae s.l. resolving most of the phylogenetic backbone of the family. Based on this, we present a new classification of Ochnaceae s.l., with Medusagynoideae and Quiinoideae included as subfamilies and the former subfamilies Ochnoideae and Sauvagesioideae recognized at the rank of tribe. Our data support a monophyletic Ochneae, but Sauvagesieae in the traditional circumscription is paraphyletic because Testulea emerges as sister to the rest of Ochnoideae, and the next clade shows Luxemburgia+Philacra as sister group to the remaining Ochnoideae. To avoid paraphyly, we classify Luxemburgieae and Testuleeae as new tribes. The African genus Lophira, which has switched between subfamilies (here tribes) in past classifications, emerges as sister to all other Ochneae. Thus, endosperm-free seeds and ovules with partly to completely united integuments (resulting in an apparently single integument) are characters that unite all members of that tribe. The relationships within its largest clade, Ochnineae (former Ochneae), are poorly resolved, but former Ochninae (Brackenridgea, Ochna) are polyphyletic. Within Sauvagesieae, the genus Sauvagesia in its broad circumscription is polyphyletic as Sauvagesia serrata is sister to a clade of Adenarake, Sauvagesia spp., and three other genera. Within Quiinoideae, in contrast to former phylogenetic hypotheses, Lacunaria and Touroulia form a clade that is sister to Quiina. Bayesian ancestral state reconstructions showed that zygomorphic flowers with adaptations to buzz-pollination (poricidal anthers), a syncarpous gynoecium (a near-apocarpous gynoecium evolved independently in Quiinoideae and Ochninae), numerous ovules, septicidal capsules, and winged seeds with endosperm are the ancestral condition in Ochnoideae. Although in some lineages poricidal anthers were lost secondarily, the evolution of poricidal superstructures secured the maintenance of buzz-pollination in some of these genera, indicating a strong selective pressure on keeping that specialized pollination system.

Ihwg-μnir: A Miniaturised Near-infrared Gas Sensor Based On Substrate-integrated Hollow Waveguides Coupled To A Micro-nir-spectrophotometer.

A miniaturised gas analyser is described and evaluated based on the use of a substrate-integrated hollow waveguide (iHWG) coupled to a microsized near-infrared spectrophotometer comprising a linear variable filter and an array of InGaAs detectors. This gas sensing system was applied to analyse surrogate samples of natural fuel gas containing methane, ethane, propane and butane, quantified by using multivariate regression models based on partial least square (PLS) algorithms and Savitzky-Golay 1(st) derivative data preprocessing. The external validation of the obtained models reveals root mean square errors of prediction of 0.37, 0.36, 0.67 and 0.37% (v/v), for methane, ethane, propane and butane, respectively. The developed sensing system provides particularly rapid response times upon composition changes of the gaseous sample (approximately 2 s) due the minute volume of the iHWG-based measurement cell. The sensing system developed in this study is fully portable with a hand-held sized analyser footprint, and thus ideally suited for field analysis. Last but not least, the obtained results corroborate the potential of NIR-iHWG analysers for monitoring the quality of natural gas and petrochemical gaseous products.

Can We Predict The Clinical Outcomes Of Genitourinary Trauma Patients And Offer Them An Evidence-based Support? The Case For Telemedicine Network.

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Iis--integrated Interactome System: A Web-based Platform For The Annotation, Analysis And Visualization Of Protein-metabolite-gene-drug Interactions By Integrating A Variety Of Data Sources And Tools.

High-throughput screening of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions brings important perspectives in the Systems Biology field, as the analysis of these interactions provides new insights into protein/gene function, cellular metabolic variations and the validation of therapeutic targets and drug design. However, such analysis depends on a pipeline connecting different tools that can automatically integrate data from diverse sources and result in a more comprehensive dataset that can be properly interpreted. We describe here the Integrated Interactome System (IIS), an integrative platform with a web-based interface for the annotation, analysis and visualization of the interaction profiles of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest. IIS works in four connected modules: (i) Submission module, which receives raw data derived from Sanger sequencing (e.g. two-hybrid system); (ii) Search module, which enables the user to search for the processed reads to be assembled into contigs/singlets, or for lists of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest, and add them to the project; (iii) Annotation module, which assigns annotations from several databases for the contigs/singlets or lists of proteins/genes, generating tables with automatic annotation that can be manually curated; and (iv) Interactome module, which maps the contigs/singlets or the uploaded lists to entries in our integrated database, building networks that gather novel identified interactions, protein and metabolite expression/concentration levels, subcellular localization and computed topological metrics, GO biological processes and KEGG pathways enrichment. This module generates a XGMML file that can be imported into Cytoscape or be visualized directly on the web. We have developed IIS by the integration of diverse databases following the need of appropriate tools for a systematic analysis of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions. IIS was validated with yeast two-hybrid, proteomics and metabolomics datasets, but it is also extendable to other datasets. IIS is freely available online at: http://www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br/lnbio/IIS/.

Cluster Analysis To Identify Elderly People's Profiles: A Healthcare Strategy Based On Frailty Characteristics.

The new social panorama resulting from aging of the Brazilian population is leading to significant transformations within healthcare. Through the cluster analysis strategy, it was sought to describe the specific care demands of the elderly population, using frailty components. Cross-sectional study based on reviewing medical records, conducted in the geriatric outpatient clinic, Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). Ninety-eight elderly users of this clinic were evaluated using cluster analysis and instruments for assessing their overall geriatric status and frailty characteristics. The variables that most strongly influenced the formation of clusters were age, functional capacities, cognitive capacity, presence of comorbidities and number of medications used. Three main groups of elderly people could be identified: one with good cognitive and functional performance but with high prevalence of comorbidities (mean age 77.9 years, cognitive impairment in 28.6% and mean of 7.4 comorbidities); a second with more advanced age, greater cognitive impairment and greater dependence (mean age 88.5 years old, cognitive impairment in 84.6% and mean of 7.1 comorbidities); and a third younger group with poor cognitive performance and greater number of comorbidities but functionally independent (mean age 78.5 years old, cognitive impairment in 89.6% and mean of 7.4 comorbidities). These data characterize the profile of this population and can be used as the basis for developing efficient strategies aimed at diminishing functional dependence, poor self-rated health and impaired quality of life.

Ssr-based Genetic Diversity And Structure Of Garlic Accessions From Brazil.

Garlic is a spice and a medicinal plant; hence, there is an increasing interest in 'developing' new varieties with different culinary properties or with high content of nutraceutical compounds. Phenotypic traits and dominant molecular markers are predominantly used to evaluate the genetic diversity of garlic clones. However, 24 SSR markers (codominant) specific for garlic are available in the literature, fostering germplasm researches. In this study, we genotyped 130 garlic accessions from Brazil and abroad using 17 polymorphic SSR markers to assess the genetic diversity and structure. This is the first attempt to evaluate a large set of accessions maintained by Brazilian institutions. A high level of redundancy was detected in the collection (50 % of the accessions represented eight haplotypes). However, non-redundant accessions presented high genetic diversity. We detected on average five alleles per locus, Shannon index of 1.2, HO of 0.5, and HE of 0.6. A core collection was set with 17 accessions, covering 100 % of the alleles with minimum redundancy. Overall FST and D values indicate a strong genetic structure within accessions. Two major groups identified by both model-based (Bayesian approach) and hierarchical clustering (UPGMA dendrogram) techniques were coherent with the classification of accessions according to maturity time (growth cycle): early-late and midseason accessions. Assessing genetic diversity and structure of garlic collections is the first step towards an efficient management and conservation of accessions in genebanks, as well as to advance future genetic studies and improvement of garlic worldwide.

[diet Quality And Associated Factors Among The Elderly: A Population-based Study In Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil].

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of diet among the elderly and associations with socio-demographic variables, health-related behaviors, and diseases. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 1,509 elderly participants in a health survey in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil. Food quality was assessed using the Revised Diet Quality Index (DQI-R). Mean index scores were estimated and a multiple regression model was employed for the adjusted analyses. The highest diet quality scores were associated with age 80 years or older, Evangelical religion, diabetes mellitus, and physical activity, while the lowest scores were associated with home environments shared with three or more people, smoking, and consumption of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. The findings emphasize a general need for diet quality improvements in the elderly, specifically in subgroups with unhealthy behaviors, who should be targeted with comprehensive strategies.