This work describes a methodology based on Evidence-Based Medicine for finding literature–based evidence for a clinical decision support system. As an illustration, we applied this method to parenteral nutrition therapy (PNT). PNT requires expertise and experience and is prone to errors. The Pico’s strategy was used to built structured clinical questions, which considered 11 PN clinical indications plus a PN nutrient (amino acid, glucose, lipid, electrolyte, trace elements and vitamins), and an outcome. 211 PICO strategies were structured, and 447 searches at PubMed were performed. The results were classified in levels of evidence and recommendation grades according to criteria of the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine.

This paper presents the overall evaluation of the Quantitative Evaluation Framework (QEF) approach which has been applied in an operational teaching environment for the last six years. During this period we have evaluated the difference between educational software systems that were developed using the Techno-Didactical Extension for Instruction/Learning Based on Computer (X-TEC) model and educational software systems using other models. The X-TEC model is used in the development of educational software in order to strengthen the potential quality of e-Learning systems. We selected the QEF approach for this evaluation to highlight the strengths and limitations of the X-TEC model. We adapted the approach in a way where the essential criteria are assessed in a pre-evaluation phase which will cover the general usage requirements. In this research project we conduct experiments with groups of students and teachers in Multimedia Information Systems classes of Oporto Polytechnic, to examine the influence of training in an instructional system design approach on their attitude to re-use this approach and on their performances in design, using this approach.

Game motif programming exercises (GM-Games) were developed to help novices develop complex client server game systems within their freshman year. GM-Games foster a strong work ethic in as much as they reproduce the challenges and excitement associated with game play; yet their purpose is the development of advanced programming skills. We have found that young people are just as interested in mastering programming skills as they are in mastering the shooting, racing or strategy skills required in many entertainment games. We describe in this paper how GM-Games imitate many of the aspects of game play.

In geologic interpretation of seismic reflection data, accurate identification of reflectors is the foremost step to ensure proper subsurface structural definition. Reflector information, along with other data sets, is a key factor to predict the presence of hydrocarbons. In this work, mathematic and pattern recognition theory was adapted to design two statistical and two syntactic algorithms which constitute a tool in semiautomatic reflector identification. The interpretive power of these four schemes was evaluated in terms of prediction accuracy and computational speed. Among these, the semblance method was confirmed to render the greatest accuracy and speed. Syntactic methods offer an interesting alternative due to their inherently structural search method.

EURIDICE is an EU funded project which deals with the development and implementation of new concepts in the area of intelligent Cargo. The goal of EURIDICE is to develop a free and open standards based platform for intelligent goods, by using distributed mobile systems. This paper will provide an overview about the architecture and key technologies.

In this paper we focused on developing a methodology to promote innovation through industry-university collaboration. So we analyzed two different scenarios. On one hand we have the traditional firm, that is striving to survive in the global knowledge-driven economic framework and on the other we have world class research universities that are trying to find the best way to put their knowledge in the market place, fostering spin-offs as well as promoting knowledge transfer to the traditional industry. We have analyzed the behavior of successful high-technology spin-offs, and knowledge transfer experiences worldwide. In particular, we have focused on the management paradigm of the “knowledge creating company”, proposed by Nonaka [11], since it is one of the models that best describes the organizational environment in such successful experiences. Finally, we present the methodology developed as a result of this study that is currently being applied in our State University

The aim of this paper is to reduce the media access delay in a WiMAX mesh network. We observe that as the number of subscriber stations (SS) in a neighborhood increases, the processes of transmission opportunity (TO) competition and 3- way handshake are easy to fail. This may degrade transmission efficiency and increase packet transmission delay. Besides, the minislot allocation defined in the WiMAX mesh mode may cause many lower priority services reserve earlier minislots than that of higher priority services like rtPS. This may cause great negative impact on delay-sensitive traffic. In this paper, we design a QoS classifier to enqueue packets according to different QoS service classes, present a dynamic holdoff exponent mechanism to reduce control subframe delay, and propose a Neighborhood-Based Minislot Allocation (NBMA) mechanism to reduce data subframe delay. Simulations show that the proposed methodology outperforms that of IEEE 802.16 and Baye’s DynExp in delay, jitter and throughput.

Nowadays, users can easily access and download network attack tools, which often provide friendly interfaces and easily operated features, from the Internet. Therefore, even a naive hacker can also launch a large scale DoS or DDoS attack to prevent a system, i.e., the victim, from providing Internet services. In this paper, we propose an agent based intrusion detection architecture, which is a distributed detection system, to detect DoS/DDoS attacks by invoking a statistic approach that compares source IP addresses’ normal and current packet statistics to discriminate whether there is a DoS/DDoS attack. It first collects all resource IPs’ packet statistics so as to create their normal packet distribution. Once some IPs’ current packet distribution suddenly changes, very often it is an attack. Experimental results show that this approach can effectively detect DoS/DDoS attacks.

A new theoretical and methodological approach of the processing of information is presented. On line modifications in the structure of information, such as stretched, broken, re- unified, or stuck pieces of information can be characterized from linguistic markers. For that two kinds of detachability from the situation are analyzed in a cognitive interpretation of Culioli’s enunciative model. On one hand, the detachability linked to starting terms has for criterion the anaphora. It marks the categorization of external aggregates of information, their internalization, re-inscribing them at a subjective level, and their externalization, re-inscribing them in the spatio temporal environment. On the other hand, the detachability linked to modal terms marks a strategic reorganization of information. Both kinds of detachability are modelled by Culioli’s diagram involving different levels between parameters S (subjective space) and T (temporal space). The passages from one of these levels to another follow specific routes with loops and strange loops. This paper analyzes the modification of information at the highest subjective level in the verbal protocol of a 10-year- old solving the Tower of Hanoi puzzle for the first time. The generalization to other tasks and to interaction between intelligent agents results from the interactive characteristics of linguistic markers.

The Information Society and Education need to be combined in order to achieve successful active citizenship and economical development with a natural and mutual interdependency. Project eMapps.com game platform can be an example of cross- connected eLearning, mobile and life environment contribution to education. It can increase effectiveness of education both for educational needs in XXI Century and to create a basis for further research on ICT mediation in Information Society. The positive outcomes on learners motivation are explored by the scientific modelling of the future educational environment prototype as agent for building up the learning communities of common intelligence at internal, local and international level. The key finding of this paper is that an eMapps.com game platform prototype can be used to ensure that technology, pedagogy and social networking context are closely aligned in order to realise the educational stimulation in secondary education.

The globalization of the economy and the associated factors of increasing effectiveness in production, shortening innovation cycles, safeguarding high quality, etc. are continually augmenting the pressure on the production business. It has been possible to compensate somewhat for this pressure in recent years by relocating production to low-cost countries. However, in the medium term, the demands of workers in countries that are now still low cost will increase, and production costs will rise as a result, so the need for action will arise. Tools will be needed to increase efficiency in existing production processes. It also must be considered that production in high-cost countries definitely has its advantages, so these countries are becoming more and more feasible as production locations and will remain so in the long term. The degree of automation is already extremely high in these countries, so modifying production processes will not increase efficiency significantly.

Defense Modeling and Simulations require interoperable and autonomous federates in order to fully simulate complex behavior of war-fighters and to dynamically adapt themselves to various war-game events, commands and controls. In this paper, we propose a semantic web service based methodology to develop war-game simulations. Our methodology encapsulates war-game logic into a set of web services with additional semantic information in WSDL (Web Service Description Language) and OWL (Web Ontology Language). By utilizing dynamic discovery and binding power of semantic web services, we are able to dynamically reconfigure federates according to various simulation events. An ASuW (Anti-Surface Warfare) simulator is constructed to demonstrate the methodology and successfully shows that the level of interoperability and autonomy can be greatly improved.

Trust establishment in wireless ad hoc networks is a challenge because of its unique characteristics. These include the lack of a central authority and the autonomous, dynamic nature of these networks which result in poor connectivity and routing failure. Security can be provided by a certificate based model but key management is a difficulty in wireless ad hoc networks. A key management scheme is proposed which realizes certificate distribution and verification. The key management scheme occurs in an on-demand, fully distributive, wireless ad hoc network environment, establishing trust on the routing layer exclusively. Trust and route establishment are achieved simultaneously with reduced dependency between the security and routing mechanisms. Distribution and verification of keying material places delays upon the delivery of secure communication routes. Simulations show the overhead of the proposed scheme and that it has negligible impact on network performance while providing trust establishment for the network.

Agent Based Modeling (ABM) is a powerful method that has been used to simulate potential critical incidents in the infrastructure and built environments. This paper will discuss the modeling of some critical incidents currently simulated using ABM and how they may be expanded and improved by using better physiological modeling, psychological modeling, modeling the actions of interveners, introducing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and open source models.