An intelligent energy management system for educational buildings

There is a wide variation in the energy consumption between different educational institutions due to the adoption of different management strategies and different levels of occupants’ environmental understanding. The presence of large amounts of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system causes a major consumption of energy in higher education institution (HEI) buildings. The main objective of this research is to investigate the use of ICT to optimize the energy consumption in HEI buildings and reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission. The first phase of the system has been implemented at King Saud University to measure energy consumption through sensors that read energy consumption of electrical appliances and devices every 10 seconds. The analysis of collected data allows us to develop and employ energy saving strategies that lead to a reduction in total energy consumption. Our preliminary results show that up to 17% of energy consumption can be reduced by simply dealing with standby energy loss of labs’ computers. The novelty of this research comes from the use of a functional database approach to deal with high volume of data and query performance and the incorporation of a timetabling system in energy management system

Proof Explanation in the DR-DEVICE System

Trust is a vital feature for Semantic Web: If users (humans and agents) are to use and integrate system answers, they must trust them. Thus, systems should be able to explain their actions, sources, and beliefs, and this issue is the topic of the proof layer in the design of the Semantic Web. This paper presents the design and implementation of a system for proof explanation on the Semantic Web, based on defeasible reasoning. The basis of this work is the DR-DEVICE system that is extended to handle proofs. A critical aspect is the representation of proofs in an XML language, which is achieved by a RuleML language extension

Probabilistic reasoning with a bayesian DNA device based on strand displacement

We present a computing model based on the DNA strand displacement technique which performs Bayesian inference. The model will take single stranded DNA as input data, representing the presence or absence of a specific molecular signal (evidence). The program logic encodes the prior probability of a disease and the conditional probability of a signal given the disease playing with a set of different DNA complexes and their ratios. When the input and program molecules interact, they release a different pair of single stranded DNA species whose relative proportion represents the application of Bayes? Law: the conditional probability of the disease given the signal. The models presented in this paper can empower the application of probabilistic reasoning in genetic diagnosis in vitro

The relevance of gender in the profession and practice of art therapy : a male perspective

The following research focuses on the relevance of gender in the profession and practice of art therapy. Women make up more than 80% of professionals in the field and this has prompted the question: "Why are so few men art therapists?" The issue of men's absence is investigated within a qualitative framework in part by asking: "What is the experience of a male art therapy intern like?" A heuristic approach outlined by Douglass and Moustakas, (1985) began with an "internal search to know" the meaning of my experience as the only male in an otherwise all female group of 11 art therapy interns. A review of the literature demonstrates that the social construction of gender is an important consideration in diagnosis and treatment considerations as well as the in professional history and present of art therapy. A survey comprised of 6 questions was designed to sample the perceptions of 17 professional and interning art therapists regarding the relevance of gender in their professional and practical experiences. The question: "why are there so few men art therapists?' was examined. The constant comparative procedure (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994) was used to make meaning of the data. Responses suggest that the socialization of gender is perceived to be an important factor involved in the absence of men from professional art therapy and that male and female respondents may perceive the relevance of gender in art therapy from distinct perspectives. Finally, 5 paintings were produced towards a creative synthesis of the data. The creative process and product in the final component of this study are discussed for their tacit, nonverbal rendering of the subject area towards a creative synthesis of the findings

Publishing artificial intelligence research papers: A tale of three journals

With the growth in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) research and the plethora of informatics journals, there is some confusion where to direct an AIM-related manuscript for peer review and possible pub- lication. As editors for three Elsevier biomedical informatics journals that publish AI-related papers, plus the publisher who oversees all three of these journals, we are aware of such confusion and felt it would be helpful to provide some guidance to prospective authors. Accordingly, we present this joint editorial that is being published in all three of our journals. Although there is some overlap among the types of papers that we publish, we offer here some advice on how best to select a preferred publication venue for your medical AI research papers

Publishing Artificial Intelligence Research Papers: A Tale of Three Journals

With the growth in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) research and the plethora of informatics journals, there is some confusion where to direct an AIM-related manuscript for peer review and possible publication. As editors for three Elsevier biomedical informatics journals that publish AI-related papers, plus the publisher who oversees all three of these journals, we are aware of such confusion and felt it would be helpful to provide some guidance to prospective authors. Accordingly, we present this joint editorial that is being published in all three of our journals. Although there is some overlap among the types of papers that we publish, we offer here some advice on how best to select a preferred publication venue for your medical AI research papers

Development and implementation of clinical guidelines : an artificial intelligence perspective

Clinical practice guidelines in paper format are still the preferred form of delivery of medical knowledge and recommendations to healthcare professionals. Their current support and development process have well identified limitations to which the healthcare community has been continuously searching solutions. Artificial intelligence may create the conditions and provide the tools to address many, if not all, of these limitations.. This paper presents a comprehensive and up to date review of computer-interpretable guideline approaches, namely Arden Syntax, GLIF, PROforma, Asbru, GLARE and SAGE. It also provides an assessment of how well these approaches respond to the challenges posed by paper-based guidelines and addresses topics of Artificial intelligence that could provide a solution to the shortcomings of clinical guidelines. Among the topics addressed by this paper are expert systems, case-based reasoning, medical ontologies and reasoning under uncertainty, with a special focus on methodologies for assessing quality of information when managing incomplete information. Finally, an analysis is made of the fundamental requirements of a guideline model and the importance that standard terminologies and models for clinical data have in the semantic and syntactic interoperability between a guideline execution engine and the software tools used in clinical settings. It is also proposed a line of research that includes the development of an ontology for clinical practice guidelines and a decision model for a guideline-based expert system that manages non-compliance with clinical guidelines and uncertainty.This work is funded by national funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2011"