Publications

The paper presents a measurement framework for assessing the e-Governance maturity level of countries through the analysis of municipal websites. The paper also introduces the results of a survey carried out to apply and validate the framework. Applied to municipal websites of different countries, the framework considers websites content and design. For each country, the sample included three websites of local governments belonging to regions with low, medium and high population, respectively. The country measure was calculated based on the average obtained by the municipal websites adjusted by a correction factor based on the compliance of general features. The numerical values obtained by countries allow comparing their degree of e-Governance maturity and ranking them accordingly. The contribution of this paper is to present a novel approach for assessing e-Governance maturity of countries based on analyzing how electronic public services are delivered through municipal websites to citizens living in different populated areas.

We describe the early stages of the development and validation of a Bayesian network to assist in the detection of breast cancer. MammoNet integrates mammo­ graphic findings, demographic factors, and physical examination to determine the probability of malignancy. Conditional probabilities were obtained from the medical literature and from expert opinion. Problems (and solutions) encountered while developing the model are discussed. MammoNet is imple­ mented as a knowledge base of rules; problem­specific networks are constructed using a Bayesian network construction algorithm. The model's performance was evaluated with 77 cases drawn from a textbook and a clinical teaching file; MammoNet performed well, and achieved an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.881 (± 0.045).

Traditional methods of dental surgical skills training and assessment are being challenged by complications such as unavailability of expert supervision and the subjective manner of surgical skills assessment. This paper presents a dental surgical skills training system that provides a virtual reality environment with a haptic device for dental students to practice tooth preparation procedures. The system monitors important features of the procedures, objectively assesses the quality of the performed procedure and provides objective feedback on the user’s performance for each stage in the procedure. We evaluated the accuracy of the skill assessment with data collected from novice dental students as well as experienced dentists. The experimental results show high accuracy in classifying users into novice and expert. The evaluation of the system’s generated feedback also indicated a high acceptance rate.

We present a dental training system with a haptic interface that allows dental students or experts to practice dental procedures in a virtual environment. The simulator is able to monitor and classify the performance of an operator into novice or expert categories. The intelligent training module allows a student to simultaneously and proactively follow the correct dental procedures demonstrated by an intelligent tutor.

We have developed a virtual reality (VR) and an augmented reality (AR) dental training simulator utilizing a haptic device. The simulators utilize volumetric force feedback computation and real time modification of the volumetric data. They include a virtual mirror to facilitate indirect vision during a simulated operation. The AR environment allows students to practice surgery in correct postures by combining the 3D tooth and tool models with the real-world view and displaying the result through a video see-through head-mounted display (HMD). Preliminary results from an initial evaluation show that the system is a promising tool to supplement dental training and that there are advantages of the AR over the VR approach.

Dental students devote several years to the acquisition of sufficient psychomotor skills to prepare them for entry-level dental practice. Traditional methods of dental surgical skills training and assessment are being challenged by the complications such as the lack of real-world cases, unavailability of expert supervision and the subjective manner of surgical skills assessment. To overcome these challenges, we developed a dental training system that provides a VR environment with a haptic device for dental students to practice tooth preparation procedures. The system monitors important features of the procedure, objectively assesses the quality of the performed procedure using hidden Markov models, and provides objective feedback on the user’s performance for each stage in the procedure. Important features for characterizing the quality of the procedure were identified based on interviews with experienced dentists. We evaluated the accuracy of the skill assessment with data collected from novice dental students as well as experienced dentists. We also evaluated the quality of the system’s feedback by asking a dental expert for comments. The experimental results show high accuracy in classifying users into novice and expert, and the evaluation indicated a high acceptance rate for the generated feedback.

Objective
We present a dental training simulator that provides a virtual reality (VR) environment with haptic feedback for dental students to practice dental surgical skills in the context of a crown preparation procedure. The simulator addresses challenges in traditional training such as the subjective nature of surgical skill assessment and the limited availability of expert supervision.Methods and materials
We identified important features for characterizing the quality of a procedure based on interviews with experienced dentists. The features are patterns combining tool position, tool orientation, and applied force. The simulator monitors these features during the procedure, objectively assesses the quality of the performed procedure using hidden Markov models (HMMs), and provides objective feedback on the user's performance in each stage of the procedure. We recruited five dental students and five experienced dentists to evaluate the accuracy of our skill assessment method and the quality of the system's generated feedback.

Results
The experimental results show that HMMs with selected features can correctly classify all test sequences into novice and expert categories. The evaluation also indicates a high acceptance rate from experts for the system's generated feedback.

Conclusion
In this work, we introduce our VR dental training simulator and describe a mechanism for providing objective skill assessment and feedback. The HMM is demonstrated as an effective tool for classifying a particular operator as novice-level or expert-level. The simulator can generate tutoring feedback with quality comparable to the feedback provided by human tutors.

 The standard Galois connection between the relational and predicate-transformer models of sequential programming (defined in terms of weakest precondition) confers a certain similarity between them. This paper investigates the extent to which the important involution on transformers (which, for instance, interchanges demonic and angelic nondeterminism, and reduces the two kinds of simulation in the relational model to one kind in the transformer model) carries over to relations. It is shown that no exact analogue exists; that the two complement-based involutions are too weak to be of much use; but that the translation to relations of transformer involution under the Galois connection is just strong enough to support Boolean-algebra-style reasoning, a claim that is substantiated by proving properties of deterministic computations. Throughout, the setting is that of the guarded-command language augmented by the usual specification commands; and where possible algebraic reasoning is used in place of the more conventional semantic reasoning.

In this paper we propose to model a negotiator’s decision-making behavior, expressed as preferences between an offer/counter-offer gamble and a certain offer, by learning from implicit choices that can be inferred from observed negotiation actions. The agent’s actions in a negotiation sequence provide information about his preferences and risk-taking behavior. We show how offers and counter-offers in negotiation can be transformed into gamble questions providing a basis for inferring implicit preferences. Finally, we present the results of experiments and evaluation we have undertaken.

 This pap er introduces a normative principle for the behaviour of contemporary computing and communication systems and considers some of its consequences. The principle, named the principle of distribution, says that in a distributed multi-agent system control resides as much as possible with the individuals constituting the system, rather than in centralised agents; and when that is infeasible or becomes inappropriate due to environmental changes, control evolves upwards from the individuals to an appropriate intermediate level rather than b eing imp osed from above. The setting for the work is the dynamically changing global space resulting from ubiquitous communication. Accordingly the paper begins by determining the characteristics of the distributed multi-agent space it spans. It then fleshes out the principle of distribution, with examples from daily life as well as from Computer Science. The case is made for the principle of distribution to work at various levels of abstraction of system behaviour: to inform the high-level discussion that ought to precede the more low-level concerns of technology, protocols and standardisation but also to facilitate those lower levels. Of the more substantial applications of the principle of distribution, a technical example concerns the design of secure ad hoc networks of mobile devices, achievable without any form of centralised authentication or identication, but in a solely distributed manner. Here the context is how the principle can be used to provide new and provably secure protocols for genuinely ubiquitous communication. A second--more managerial--example concerns the distributed production and management of op en source software, and a third investigates some pertinent questions involving the dynamic restructing of control in distributed systems, important in times of disaster or malevolence.

 This document covers UNU-IIST's activities in 2008. It describes the implementation of UNU-IIST's research, development, and training projects, its reports and its publications.

 This document covers UNU-IIST activities in 2006. It describes the implementation of UNU-IIST's research, development, and training projects, its reports, and its publications.

 This document covers UNU-IIST's activities in 2007. It describes the implementation of UNU-IIST's research, development, and training projects, its reports and its publications