Rapid early detection and control of Ebola virus disease (EVD) is contingent on accurate case definitions. Using an epidemic surveillance dataset from Guinea, we analyzed an EVD case definition developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used in Guinea. We used the surveillance dataset (March-October 2014; n = 2,847 persons) to identify patients who satisfied or did not satisfy case de...

BACKGROUND Novel immunosuppressive/modulating therapies with monoclonal antibodies (MABs) have been associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a potentially fatal disease of the brain caused by the JC virus. Taking the complex diagnostic testing and heterogeneous clinical presentation of PML into account, an agreed case definition for PML is a prerequisite for a thorough ...

At least since Skinner's [40] landmark article depicting the manufacturing function as the "missing link" in corporate strategic processes, a portion of the blame for inferior performance in many firms has been attributed to the subordinate strategic position of manufacturing. Further, it has been argued by many that part of the solution to misalignments between the capabilities possessed by ma...

The human practice of promising has fascinated or disturbed a wide range of philosophers. For Hume (1739, III.ii), promising was one of the crucial test cases for his theory of artificial virtues; Nietzsche (1886) went so far as to characterise man as the animal capable of promising. Explaining the moral force of promises has been and remained an important and difficult problem for moral philos...

This article discusses the basic philosophical and legal standards applied to defining the existential status of two artificial androids, the golem and the homunculus, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when their creation was actually considered possible and often believed to be an accomplished fact. It will also show how the historical definition of personhood has generally coincided wit...

1 Context and challenges Model checking is a technique used to verify that a certain system's design satisfies its requirements. Given some models of the design and system's requirements formulated as formal properties, the system model can be checked [1], and if properties are violated, the model checker provides the user with counter examples that represent execution sequences (traces) leadin...

We present a methodology and a tool for the problem of testing and verifying that a PDDL planning domain satisfies a set of requirements, a need that arises for instance in space missions. We first review and analyse coverage conditions for requirement-based testing, and present how test cases can be derived automatically from requirements. Additionally, we show how test cases can be translated...

In Computer Science, properties of formal theories that model real-world phenomena can be formally demonstrated using logic formal systems, e.g., given a proof of the best case complexity of a problem, or a demonstration of the soundness and completeness of a solution. Additionally, as in other Natural Sciences, characteristics of a theory can be empirically evaluated following the scientific m...