Using prepared mixtures of ToxCast chemicals to evaluate non-targeted analysis (NTA) method performance

in Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry (2019), 411(4), 835-851

Using Prêt à Voter in Victorian State Elections

in Electronic Voting Technology Workshop/Workshop on Trustworthy Elections (2012)

The Prêt à Voter cryptographic voting system was designed to be flexible and to offer voters a familiar and easy voting experience. In this paper we present a case study of our efforts to adapt Prêt à ... [more ▼]

The Prêt à Voter cryptographic voting system was designed to be flexible and to offer voters a familiar and easy voting experience. In this paper we present a case study of our efforts to adapt Prêt à Voter to the idiosyncrasies of elections in the Australian state of Victoria. The general background and desired user experience have previously been described; here we concentrate on the cryptographic protocols for dealing with some unusual aspects of Victorian voting. We explain the problems, present solutions, then analyse their security properties and explain how they tie in to other design decisions. We hope this will be an interesting case study on the application of end-to-end verifiable voting protocols to real elections. [less ▲]

Using process data for assessment in Intelligent Tutoring Systems. A psychometrician’s, cognitive psychologist's, and computer scientist’s perspective.

in Sottilare, Robert A.; Graesser, Arthur C.; Hu, Xiangen (Eds.) et al Design recommendations for intelligent tutoring systems. Volume 5 (2017)

Using process data to explain group differences in complex problem solving

Scientific Conference (2018, April)

Using rule-based machine learning for candidate disease gene prioritization and sample classification of cancer gene expression data

in PLoS ONE (2012), 7(7), 39932-39932

Microarray data analysis has been shown to provide an effective tool for studying cancer and genetic diseases. Although classical machine learning techniques have successfully been applied to find ... [more ▼]

Microarray data analysis has been shown to provide an effective tool for studying cancer and genetic diseases. Although classical machine learning techniques have successfully been applied to find informative genes and to predict class labels for new samples, common restrictions of microarray analysis such as small sample sizes, a large attribute space and high noise levels still limit its scientific and clinical applications. Increasing the interpretability of prediction models while retaining a high accuracy would help to exploit the information content in microarray data more effectively. For this purpose, we evaluate our rule-based evolutionary machine learning systems, BioHEL and GAssist, on three public microarray cancer datasets, obtaining simple rule-based models for sample classification. A comparison with other benchmark microarray sample classifiers based on three diverse feature selection algorithms suggests that these evolutionary learning techniques can compete with state-of-the-art methods like support vector machines. The obtained models reach accuracies above 90% in two-level external cross-validation, with the added value of facilitating interpretation by using only combinations of simple if-then-else rules. As a further benefit, a literature mining analysis reveals that prioritizations of informative genes extracted from BioHEL’s classification rule sets can outperform gene rankings obtained from a conventional ensemble feature selection in terms of the pointwise mutual information between relevant disease terms and the standardized names of top-ranked genes. [less ▲]

Using simple relays to improve physical-layer security

in Communications in China (ICCC), 2012 1st IEEE International Conference on (2012)

This paper studies different uses of two cooperating relays to improve the secrecy rate of a wiretap channel. These two relays are assumed to perform only simple functions: either amplify-and-forward (AF ... [more ▼]

This paper studies different uses of two cooperating relays to improve the secrecy rate of a wiretap channel. These two relays are assumed to perform only simple functions: either amplify-and-forward (AF) or jamming. Complex functions such as decode-and-forward (DF) are not considered. We study three modes of cooperation: i) cooperative jamming (CJ), ii) AF-aided beamforming and iii) mixed AF-aided beamforming and CJ, all with individual relay power constraints. While i) is known in the literature, our efforts are spent on ii) and iii). In particular, for iii), we assume that the jamming signals in two communication stages are correlated, giving rise to improved performances. We also propose a heuristic approach for selecting the appropriate cooperating mode. Simulation results illustrate the performance gain of each scheme under different channel conditions and the effectiveness of the proposed mode selection method. [less ▲]

Using Space-based Data for Humanitarian Causes

in ROOM: The Space Journal (2018)

Using the Blockchain Technology for Trust Improvement of Processes in Logistics and Transportation

Doctoral thesis (2021)

This thesis address the general problem of safe and secure transport of dangerous goods (TDG). The TDG is very complicated to manage because of risk for the environment and human life. Currently, it ... [more ▼]

This thesis address the general problem of safe and secure transport of dangerous goods (TDG). The TDG is very complicated to manage because of risk for the environment and human life. Currently, it suffers from a lack of efficiency, trust, and t ransparency. In this thesis, we propose a novel method to specify the workflow aspects of TDG by considering all TDG process stages during its entire lifecycle. This method aims to facilitate the specifications of the TDG workflow management system that is entirely based on existing regulatory frameworks ensuring the compliance, trust, and transparency of all underlying processes. The proposed system design method is based on the so-called model-driven architecture (MDA) approach and enhancing it to consider blockchain properties. The first stage is the formal analysis of the process of TDG and its alignment with the regulatory frameworks. The proposed design method aims, at this stage, to allow the formal definition and verification of the design of the system with regard to the regulatory frameworks. The next stages of the method rely strongly on the model transformation that is a salient aspect of the proposed design method. Model transformation allows to automatically discover peer system components and authorized interactions. The last stage of the whole model transformations is the specification of digital twin profiles for all potential s t akeholders. All the interactions in the real world between stakeholders are transformed into interactions in the digital world, while the interactions with the environment are achieved through the use of IoT. The proposed approach enables interactions between components of the systems (digital twins, IoT devices, etc.) only if this is compliant with the regulatory framework. Thanks to blockchain technology, our design method allows improving trust and transparency in the process of TDG from the perspective of stakeholder collaborations. Smart contract technological capabilities are also a cornerstone of the proposed solution. This thesis also contributes to improving the semantic of smart contracts to capture supply chain management specifications as well as dangerous goods specificities in terms of t ransportation. Dynamic concepts related to the supply chain management of dangerous goods such as time-related and geographic constraints, digital certification, anomaly detection and multi-party smart contract, managing emergencies, and shared responsibility have been addressed at the level of the smart contract. In particular, this thesis proposes applying temporal logic for the formal specification and verification of smart contracts. This thesis proposes an integrated approach for blockchain and IoT to support the dynamic aspects in the supply chain of dangerous goods. Data collected from various IoT devices along the physical supply chain (goods, vehicles, country borders, etc.) are transmitted to the blockchain and further processed by the system following the workflow logic that was specified and automatically triggering related smart contracts and corresponding actions. The last contribution in this thesis is the implementation of a proof-of-concept system to validate the different aspects of the contribution, namely the design method, the trust and transparency assurance, and the automatic triggering of actions and information flows. [less ▲]

Using the Empowerment Scale with unemployed people in lifelong learning: Is the tool sound and useful?

in Psychology Research (2016), 6(11), 648-659

Empowerment is a widely used construct in research on social work, mental health and community interventions, but has only been exploited indirectly with the unemployed. But job finding is an important ... [more ▼]

Empowerment is a widely used construct in research on social work, mental health and community interventions, but has only been exploited indirectly with the unemployed. But job finding is an important dimension of empowerment and could be used to test the accuracy of the concept and of its measures. The Making Decisions Empowerment Scale was used with 97 unemployed people who had been jobless for 6 months. Even though the psychometric qualities of the 5 subscales and the total scale were mixed, convergent and discriminant validity with several adaptive and non-adaptive dimensions could be established for the global scale and for the Esteem, Power, Control and, to a lesser degree, the Activism subscales. The results were only marginally better for the 28 items global scale compared to the 9 items Esteem scale. Empowerment could be adequately modelled by using three dimensions: change coping, depression, and chance control of unemployment. Comparing 6 months later those who had found a job with the still unemployed, the 2 groups differed significantly on 2 of the 5 subscales (Activism and Control) though not on the total empowerment scale, nor on the other psychometric scales. The results throw some doubt on the accuracy of an aggregate measure that sums up divergent dimensions. Instead, it is proposed that more specific and individualized constructs be used, at least in unemployment research. [less ▲]

Using the Intergeo Platform for Teaching and Research

in Bardini, Caroline; Fortin, Philippe; Oldknow, Adrian (Eds.) et al Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching (2009)

The main objective of the Intergeo Project (http://i2geo.net) is to make digital content for mathematics teaching in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. So far, Intergeo provides an Internet ... [more ▼]

The main objective of the Intergeo Project (http://i2geo.net) is to make digital content for mathematics teaching in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. So far, Intergeo provides an Internet platform that offers content in a searchable and metadata-tagged form. In particular, teachers can search for suitable content based on the key concepts and themes of their curriculum. Once found, the content can be used either directly on the web or using the software of choice. Another very important aspect is that all material used in the classroom should adhere to certain pedagogical and mathematical quality standards. Intergeo facilitates the evaluation of material by means of a quality-testing framework that aids teachers and researchers in assessing the educational value of the digital content. The questionnaire used for this can be answered both quickly as well as in depth. In this workshop we will show how to use the platform and how to participate in the project as a user or by becoming an associate partner. Also, we will help software and tool authors to be able to read and write the new standard format for interactive geometry, i2g. [less ▲]