Non-relational Approaches Research Articles

Non-relational approach to developing knowledge bases of expert system prototype

Purpose. Use of a non-relational database management system is proposed while developing a database of a prototype of expert system with using a semantic model of the knowledge. Methodology. The study compares traditional relational approach with the proposed non-relational one in terms of the formation of certain queries. The following indices are used to compare efficiency of two management systems for the databases: particular query set (in MySQL and Cypher languages); runtime for the specified record size (i.e. their processing speed); ease of understanding: and software support of the queries. Findings. It has been identified that the graph model is a more expedient solution in the process of designing semantic networks and their development where complex hierarchical relationships between objects have to be stored and processed. Architecture of the graph database has been applied in terms of the specific example. A prototype of an expert system has been developed to demonstrate the capabilities of the created system of logical inference. The classifier of sciences was chosen as an example in the subject area. Originality. A prototype of the expert system, using the proposed non-relational approach, has been designed involving modern service-oriented architecture (SOA). The abovementioned helped separate the database from the inference engine and the user interface, facilitate perception as well as update and code debugging. Service-oriented architecture makes the system more flexible and robust. Practical value. The developed software is meant to develop both simple expert systems and medium-complex ones.

Perspectives on geography education in the Czech National Curriculum

The geography curriculum at primary and secondary schools in Czechia is undergoing a revision. This study aims to identify aspects of the current curriculum that may assist in the formulation of recommendations in the revised curriculum. We use a deductive content analysis approach based on Catling’s typology of perspectives on geography education. This typology follows in the tradition of geographical thought and describes, for example, the following categories: Globalist, Earthist, Interactionist, Placeist, and Environmentalist. The findings show inconsistencies and misalignment between the stipulated objectives of geography education and the attainment of targets in the analyzed documents. The Czech geography curriculum exhibits (a) frequent occurrences of the Globalist perspective at secondary-level schools, which emphasizes a simple and non-relational approach to teaching; (b) low congruence between the perspectives stipulated in the curriculum at individual school levels; and (c) low congruence between the perspectives stipulated in the objectives of geography education and in the expected outcomes for individual school levels. Our results attempt to provide implications for the implementation of a new national geography curriculum in Czechia.

Conceptualization and Non-Relational Implementation of Ontological and Epistemic Vagueness of Information in Digital Humanities

Research in the digital humanities often involves vague information, either because our objects of study lack clearly defined boundaries, or because our knowledge about them is incomplete or hypothetical, which is especially true in disciplines about our past (such as history, archaeology, and classical studies). Most techniques used to represent data vagueness emerged from natural sciences, and lack the expressiveness that would be ideal for humanistic contexts. Building on previous work, we present here a conceptual framework based on the ConML modelling language for the expression of information vagueness in digital humanities. In addition, we propose an implementation on non-relational data stores, which are becoming popular within the digital humanities. Having clear implementation guidelines allow us to employ search engines or big data systems (commonly implemented using non-relational approaches) to handle the vague aspects of information. The proposed implementation guidelines have been validated in practice, and show how we can query a vagueness-aware system without a large penalty in analytical and processing power.

A Synthetic Approach to the Grounds of Global Justice

This paper argues that neither the relational approach nor the non-relational approach to global justice is at once necessary and sufficient to deal with complex cases of global (in)justice. In this intervention in the dispute between relational and non-relational approaches, the aim of the paper is not to support one side and oppose the other, but to combine both approaches in order to arrive at a more robust approach. Using the strengths of the relational approach to compensate for the weaknesses of the non-relational approach and vice versa, the aim of the paper is to set out a mixed, combinatorial or synthetic approach that will be used to address complex cases of global (in)justice. Rather thandiscussing how the synthetic approach applies to a particular complex case of global (in)justice, the paper shows how a synthetic approach that intends to address complex cases of global (in)justice will look like. Perhaps, colloquially in Hegelian dialectics, the relational approach can be seen as a thesis, the non-relational approach as an antithesis and the combination of both approaches as a synthesis.

Relational cost analysis

Establishing quantitative bounds on the execution cost of programs is essential in many areas of computer science such as complexity analysis, compiler optimizations, security and privacy. Techniques based on program analysis, type systems and abstract interpretation are well-studied, but methods for analyzing how the execution costs of two programs compare to each other have not received attention. Naively combining the worst and best case execution costs of the two programs does not work well in many cases because such analysis forgets the similarities between the programs or the inputs. In this work, we propose a relational cost analysis technique that is capable of establishing precise bounds on the difference in the execution cost of two programs by making use of relational properties of programs and inputs. We develop , a refinement type and effect system for a higher-order functional language with recursion and subtyping. The key novelty of our technique is the combination of relational refinements with two modes of typing-relational typing for reasoning about similar computations/inputs and unary typing for reasoning about unrelated computations/inputs. This combination allows us to analyze the execution cost difference of two programs more precisely than a naive non-relational approach. We prove our type system sound using a semantic model based on step-indexed unary and binary logical relations accounting for non-relational and relational reasoning principles with their respective costs. We demonstrate the precision and generality of our technique through examples.

Heidegger, McLuhan and Schumacher on Form and Its Aliens

This article uses the ideas of Marshall McLuhan (and to a lesser extent Martin Heidegger) to argue for a non-relational approach to architecture. The word ‘form’ is used throughout the arts and humanities, though in different ways depending on the term to which it is opposed: as in form vs. function, form vs. content, and form vs. matter. In his book The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Patrik Schumacher argues that form/function is the lead-distinction of the architectural profession. I hold that Schumacher cannot be right in this claim, since form and function are both too relational in character to form a true opposition.

Relational machine learning for electronic health record-driven phenotyping

ObjectiveElectronic health records (EHR) offer medical and pharmacogenomics research unprecedented opportunities to identify and classify patients at risk. EHRs are collections of highly inter-dependent records that include biological, anatomical, physiological, and behavioral observations. They comprise a patient’s clinical phenome, where each patient has thousands of date-stamped records distributed across many relational tables. Development of EHR computer-based phenotyping algorithms require time and medical insight from clinical experts, who most often can only review a small patient subset representative of the total EHR records, to identify phenotype features. In this research we evaluate whether relational machine learning (ML) using inductive logic programming (ILP) can contribute to addressing these issues as a viable approach for EHR-based phenotyping. MethodsTwo relational learning ILP approaches and three well-known WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) implementations of non-relational approaches (PART, J48, and JRIP) were used to develop models for nine phenotypes. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) coded EHR data were used to select training cohorts for the development of each phenotypic model. Accuracy, precision, recall, F-Measure, and Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUROC) curve statistics were measured for each phenotypic model based on independent manually verified test cohorts. A two-sided binomial distribution test (sign test) compared the five ML approaches across phenotypes for statistical significance. ResultsWe developed an approach to automatically label training examples using ICD-9 diagnosis codes for the ML approaches being evaluated. Nine phenotypic models for each ML approach were evaluated, resulting in better overall model performance in AUROC using ILP when compared to PART (p=0.039), J48 (p=0.003) and JRIP (p=0.003). DiscussionILP has the potential to improve phenotyping by independently delivering clinically expert interpretable rules for phenotype definitions, or intuitive phenotypes to assist experts. ConclusionRelational learning using ILP offers a viable approach to EHR-driven phenotyping.

Early Prediction of Coronary Artery Calcification Levels Using Machine Learning

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of death worldwide. In the U.S. CHD is responsible for approximated 1 in every 6 deaths with a coronary event occurring every 25 seconds and about 1 death every minute based on data current to 2007. Although a multitude of cardiovascular risks factors have been identified, CHD actually reflects complex interactions of these factors over time. Today’s datasets from longitudinal studies offer great promise to uncover these interactions but also pose enormous analytical problems due to typically large amount of both discrete and continuous measurements and risk factors with potential long-range interactions over time. Our investigation demonstrates that a statistical relational analysis of longitudinal data can easily uncover complex interactions of risks factors and actually predict future coronary artery calcification (CAC) levels — an indicator of the risk of CHD present subclinically in an individual — significantly better than traditional non-relational approaches. The uncovered long-range interactions between risk factors conform to existing clinical knowledge and are successful in identifying risk factors at the early adult stage. This may contribute to monitoring young adults via smartphones and to designing patient-specific treatments in young adults to mitigate their risk later.

Why should it matter that others have more? Poverty, inequality, and the potential of international human rights law

AbstractA concern with ensuring minimum standards of dignity for all and a doctrine based on the need to secure for everyone basic levels of rights have traditionally shaped the way in which international human rights law addresses poverty. Whether this minimalist, non-relational approach befits international law objectives in the area ofworldpoverty begs consideration. This article offers three justifications as to why global material inequality – and not just poverty – should matter to international human rights law. The article then situates requirements regarding the improvement of living conditions, a system of equitable distribution in the case of hunger, and in particular obligations of international cooperation, within the post-1945 international effort at people-centred development. The contextual consideration of relevant tenets serves to demonstrate that positive international human rights law can be applied beyond efforts at poverty alleviation to accommodate a doctrine of fair global distribution.

Why Should it Matter that Others Have More? - Poverty, Inequality and the Potential of International Human Rights Law

A concern with ensuring minimum standards of dignity for all and a doctrine based on the need to secure for everyone basic levels of rights have traditionally shaped the way in which international human rights law addresses poverty. Whether this minimalist, non-relational approach befits international law objectives in the area of world poverty begs consideration. This paper offers three justifications as to why global material inequality – and not just poverty – should matter to international human rights law. The paper then situates requirements regarding the improvement of living conditions, a system of equitable distribution in the case of hunger, and in particular obligations of international cooperation, within the post-1945 international effort at people-centred development. The contextual consideration of relevant tenets serves to demonstrate that positive international human rights law can be applied beyond efforts at poverty alleviation to accommodate a doctrine of fair global distribution.

Grounds of Global Justice

This senior honors thesis, submitted to the Department of Government at Harvard University on March 13, explores the conditions that dictate when distributive justice might apply. In the first chapter, the author challenges so-called relational approaches to global justice, represented by Michael Blake, Thomas Nagel, and Andrea Sangiovanni, who each argue that justice can only apply when individuals share an institutionally-mediated relationship. The second chapter explores the possibility of a non-relational approach. This particular approach seeks to find a political basis for justice that is nevertheless not institutionalized. Physical interdependence among individual persons, the author argues, is sufficient to ground concern for global justice. The third chapter weighs in on the agents of justice, emphasizing the role of the basic global structure in parsing out associative and general duties.

Avoiding Cheap Grace: Medical Harm, Patient Safety, and the Culture(s) of Forgiveness

Dena Davis defines the job of the ethicist working on clinical issues as describing what real people really believe and how they really act. (2) If so, then insights from religion and related aspects of culture may help hospital administrators charged with meeting new standards for patient safety to recognize the restorative role that has long played between individuals and within communities and to incorporate into their systems for dealing with medical mistakes that lead to injury, death, or other trauma) What follows is a broad religious studies rather than a strictly theological or doctrinal perspective on forgiveness, one that incorporates insights from Jewish and Christian social ethics, ritual studies, sociology of medicine, and medical anthropology, as well as from clinicians themselves. That said, several concepts borrowed from Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer--cheap among them--are integral to my argument against what might be termed as self-interpreting principle. What mean here is a way of formulating so that its relational character--the actions that various actors undertake in relation to one another so can take place--is forgotten. This relational understanding of may be replaced by a cheap grace that, in formulating as automatic, either acknowledges no role for the injured person as agent of forgiveness, or assumes that this person should offer in the absence of disclosure, apology, accountability, compensation, or other goods that we might place under the principle of justice. In cases of medical harm, a cheap grace approach on the part of professional caregivers, including clinicians, chaplains, social workers, or pastors, may also place pressure on a patient and family to forgive automatically--by reminding them that good people are forgiving, or by assuring them that offering will bring them closure, or by telling them that, after all, nobody meant to harm them--even as the patient's and family's distress is prolonged because they do not know what really happened, or because there is no acknowledgment of their suffering by those directly responsible for it. In avoiding non-relational approaches to forgiveness, we must keep in mind that forgiveness is a Janus-faced word. It holds contradictory meanings--to engage and to detach--that are often conflated or insufficiently distinguished in everyday conversation as well as scholarly discourse. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the deepest meaning of is detachment. Forgiveness as cheap grace, as entitlement rather than outcome, ignores this deep meaning by refusing to ask what those harmed through medical mistakes may need in order to achieve detachment, or by pressuring them into engagement or acquiescence, even into a divine, salvific role, instead of allowing detachment to take place over time--in what the Christian Bible refers to as kairos, the appropriate time, as opposed to chronos, chronological time--once justice has been secured. (4) Arguing for a definition of after medical harm that holds detachment as the ultimate goal of the process does not mean that injured patients--or clinicians who have made errors--should simply be encouraged to detach from incidents of medical harm, and from their feelings concerning these incidents. Forgiveness entails more than detachment. Even in mundane interpersonal situations, forgiveness-as-detachment can be unsatisfying: after we have succeeded in emotionally detaching ourselves from a painful situation, we may still hesitate to say I forgive you if we believe that, by doing so, we are excusing bad behavior rather than affirming changed behavior. One caution about the Jewish and Christian traditions is in order: while they are powerful if not always acknowledged influences upon Western culture and Western medicine, they are not universal. …