Process Discovery Enhancement with Trace Clustering and Profiling

The potential in process mining is progressively growing due to the increasing amount of event-data. Process mining strategies use event-logs to automatically classify process models, recommend improvements, predict processing times, check conformance, and recognize anomalies/deviations and bottlenecks. However, proper handling of event-logs while evaluating and using them as input is crucial to any process mining technique. When process mining techniques are applied to flexible systems with a large number of decisions to take at runtime, the outcome is often unstructured or semi-structured process models that are hard to comprehend. Existing approaches are good at discovering and visualizing structured processes but often struggle with less structured ones. Surprisingly, process mining is most useful in domains where flexibility is desired. A good illustration is the "patient treatment" process in a hospital, where the ability to deviate from dealing with changing conditions is crucial. It is useful to have insights into actual operations. However, there is a significant amount of diversity, which contributes to complicated, difficult-to-understand models. Trace clustering is a method for decreasing the complexity of process models in this context while also increasing their comprehensibility and accuracy. This paper discusses process mining, event-logs, and presenting a clustering approach to pre-process event-logs, i.e., a homogeneous subset of the event-log is created. A process model is generated for each subset. These homogeneous subsets are then evaluated independently from each other, which significantly improving the quality of mining results in flexible environments. The presented approach improves the fitness and precision of a discovered model while reducing its complexity, resulting in well-structured and easily understandable process discovery results.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of chitinase proteins in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and expression of CHI3L1 in activated astrocytes

ObjectiveAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex disease with numerous pathological mechanisms resulting in a heterogeneous patient population. Using biomarkers for particular disease mechanisms may enrich a homogeneous subset of patients. In this study, we quantified chitotriosidase (Chit-1) and chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), markers of glial activation, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma and determined the cell types that express CHI3L1 in ALS.MethodsImmunoassays were used to quantify Chit-1, CHI3L1 and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain levels in longitudinal CSF and matching plasma samples from 118 patients with ALS, 17 disease controls (DCs), and 24 healthy controls (HCs). Immunostaining was performed to identify and quantify CHI3L1-positive cells in tissue sections from ALS, DCs and non-neurological DCs.ResultsCSF Chit-1 exhibited increased levels in ALS as compared with DCs and HCs. CSF CHI3L1 levels were increased in ALS and DCs compared with HCs. No quantitative differences were noted in plasma for either chitinase. Patients with ALS with fast-progressing disease exhibited higher levels of CSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 than patients with slow-progressing disease. Increased numbers of CHI3L1-positive cells were observed in postmortem ALS motor cortex as compared with controls, and these cells were identified as a subset of activated astrocytes located predominately in the white matter of the motor cortex and the spinal cord.ConclusionsCSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 are significantly increased in ALS, and CSF Chit-1 and CHI3L1 levels correlate to the rate of disease progression. CHI3L1 is expressed by a subset of activated astrocytes predominately located in white matter.

Normative reference ranges for echocardiographic chamber dimensions in a healthy Central European population: results from the Czech post-MONICA survey

Background Normative reference values for echocardiographic chamber quantification are of great importance; however, this can be challenging. Our aim was to derive these values including degrees of abnormality from a random Central European population sample with a homogeneous subset of healthy subjects. Methods We analysed echocardiograms obtained in a randomly selected population sample during the Czech post-MONICA survey in 2007/2008. Overall, 1850 out of 2273 persons of the whole sample of three districts had adequate echocardiograms (81.4%). A healthy subgroup defined by the absence of known cardiovascular disease was used to define normal reference range limits (n = 575, median age 42 years [IQR 34–52], 57% females). The whole population sample with predefined percentile cut-offs was used to define degrees of abnormality. Results Left ventricular (LV) size tended to decrease with age, while LV mass increased with age in both males and females and in both the healthy and general populations. LV dimensions were larger in males, except for body surface area-indexed LV diameter. M-mode derived LV measurements were larger and LV mass higher compared to 2D measurements. Right ventricle basal dimension was larger in males. Conclusions Our study provides reference ranges for echocardiographic measurements obtained in a healthy subgroup derived from an epidemiological study of a Central European population. Where feasible, degrees of abnormality are provided based on the whole population sample including patients with disease. Our data show that age, gender and measurement method significantly affect cardiac dimensions and function and should be always taken into account.

The Effects of Curvature of Edge Screen on Subjective Feelings in Smartphone Usage

As the penetration rate of Smartphone grows high and the market gets saturated, the technological and aesthetic progress for manufacturers are heavily demanded to sustain their market share. To meet such demands, manufacturers continuously improve the design of their products. As the design of smartphone varies by manufacturers, there have been many existing researches to identify the relationships between various physical dimensions of smartphones and how users feel (Chowdhury, A., & Kanetkar, M., 2017; Lee, S., Kyung, G., Lee, J., Moon, S. K., & Park, K. J., 2016; Pereira, A., Miller, T., Huang, Y. M., Odell, D., & Rempel, D., 2013; Sung, K., Cho, J., & Freivalds, A., 2016). Recently, in accordance with the development and improvement of flexible displays, curved displays have been applied on smartphones with various curvatures. The popular one among them is the “edge screen” on smartphones, which refers to curved display implemented either on one single side or both sides. Considering that physical dimensions such as shape and size are the important features for customer satisfaction (Hwang, 2012; Ling, C., Hwang, W., and Salvendy, G., 2007), curvature of edge screen can influence on user comfort when the users carry out their tasks on their smartphones. However, such issue hasn’t been dealt in previous studies. Therefore, as a preliminary study, this study aimed to identify the relationships between curvatures of edge screens and subjective feelings in smartphone usage with various usage patterns using subjective evaluation experiment. In this laboratory study, 47 subjects assessed their subjective feelings (grip comfort, control comfort, stability, front visibility, side visibility) towards given samples with four different kinds of usage patterns. The samples were designed with a 5.5-inch flat display of 16:9 ratio (Samsung Galaxy Note 2) as a main screen along with a curved display of different radii of curvatures (R, unit: mm) on the right edge as an edge screen: 4R, 6R, 8R, and 10R. The usage patterns were defined according to which hands were used for grip and control: Grip with right hand and control with right thumb (usage pattern (a)), Grip with left hand and control with right index finger (usage pattern (b)), Grip with both hands and control with both thumbs (usage pattern (c)), and Grip with right hand without control (usage pattern (d)). The statistically significant results of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc analysis (Duncan’s test) showed that the sample with 4R curvature belonged to the third homogeneous subset (in descending order) for the front visibility while it belonged to the second homogeneous subset for the control comfort in usage pattern (b) and (c). Whereas the sample with 6R curvature belonged to the second homogeneous subset for the front visibility and the second homogeneous subset for the control comfort in usage pattern (b) and (c). In case of the sample with 8R curvature, it was within the first homogeneous subset throughout all analyses conducted. Lastly, the sample with 10R curvature was within the second homogeneous subset for the grip comfort in usage pattern (d). Therefore, it is concluded that the optimal radius of curvature for edge screens is 8R. Although there were some samples evaluated better than the 8R sample in descriptive manner, however, such results were not statistically significant. This study is expected to contribute towards the design of smartphones with edge screens in terms of better subjective feeling by various usage patterns. However, this study is yet a preliminary study which is based on a subjective evaluation. In the future research, more criteria of subjective feeling are needed to be evaluated to decide more precise optimal curvature. In addition, objective evaluation method such as analysis of muscle activity, motion tracking analysis, or behavior analysis could be applied to verify the reliability and validity of the result of this study.

Genetic Determinants of Disease Phenotype and Clinical Outcome in Myelodysplastic Syndromes with Ring Sideroblasts

Ring sideroblasts (RS) characterize a group of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) categorized in the WHO classification as refractory anemia with RS (RARS) or refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia and RS (RCMD-RS), according to the presence of 15% or more bone marrow RS and dysplasia in one or more myeloid lineages. A high prevalence of somatic mutations in SF3B1 was reported in MDS with RS [N Engl J Med 2011;365:1384-95], and recent unsupervised analyses suggested that MDS with SF3B1 mutation represent a homogeneous subset [Blood 2014 Jun 26]. In this study, we performed a comprehensive mutation analysis of genes implicated in myeloid disorders in a large and well-characterized cohort of myeloid neoplasms with 1% or more RS with the aim to identify mutation patterns that affect disease phenotype and clinical outcome. The study population consisted of 309 patients (pts), including: a) 244 with MDS, of whom 160 assigned to sideroblastic categories (RARS, RCMD-RS) and 84 to other WHO categories [34 RA or RCMD, 7 MDS with isolated del(5q), 20 RAEB-1, 23 RAEB-2]; b) 51 with myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPN: 9 CMML, 42 RARS-T); c) 14 with AML-MDS. SF3B1 mutations were observed in 151/244 pts with MDS and RS (62%). Within sideroblastic categories, SF3B1 mutation was found in 81/91 cases of RARS (89%), and 48/69 RCMD-RS (70%). Among pts classified in other MDS categories, significantly lower rate of SF3B1 mutations (22/84, P<.001) and higher prevalence of mutations in other RNA splicing factors (SRSF2, U2AF1, ZRSR2) (P<.001) were observed. Pts with MDS carrying SF3B1 mutation showed a limited pattern of recurrently co-mutated genes including those involved in DNA methylation (39%), chromatin modification (10%), and RUNX1 (5%). Variant allele frequencies (VAFs) analysis showed that in most cases (91%) SF3B1 mutation was in the dominant clone. Within SF3B1-negative MDS with RS, a significantly higher prevalence of mutations in TP53 was found (9/93, P=.001), 6 of 9 cases showing disease phenotype with multilineage dysplasia and no excess blasts. In a multivariable analysis, pts with SF3B1 mutation showed significantly better overall survival (OS) (HR .39, P=.001) and lower risk of disease progression (HR=.40, P=.024) compared with SF3B1-unmutated cases. The independent prognostic value of SF3B1 mutations was retained when the analysis was limited to sideroblastic categories (OS: HR=.32, P=.005; risk of progression: HR=.27, P=.036). Then, we focused on MDS associated with SF3B1 mutation (defined by SF3B1 mutation, no excess blasts or del(5q): 81 RARS, 48 RCMD-RS, 4 RA or RCMD) with the aim to identify genetic determinants of disease phenotype. We found that mutations in DNA methylation genes (TET2, DNMT3A) were significantly associated with multilineage dysplasia (P=.015). The analysis of VAFs showed that in 90% of cases there was no statistical evidence of subclonality of these gene mutations. When comparing pts with uni- or multilineage dysplasia, no significant difference was observed in hematological parameters. In addition, no significant effect of multilineage dysplasia was found on OS (P=.5) and risk of progression (P=.92). Taken together, these results suggest that MDS associated with SF3B1 mutation is indeed a homogeneous subset, and should be recognized as a distinct disease entity within MDS, irrespective of current WHO criteria. We then used Cox regression models in SF3B1-mutant MDS with the aim to identify mutation patterns associated with relevant clinical outcomes, including RBC transfusion-dependency, risk of disease progression and survival. We found that mutations in chromatin modifiers (ASXL1, EZH2) were significantly associated with development of transfusion-dependency (HR=3.85, P=.006). In addition, mutations in RUNX1 were significantly associated with worse OS (HR=6.98, P=.012) and increased risk of progression (HR=5.63, P=.023). Unambiguous statistical evidence of subclonality of these gene mutations was obtained in 46% of cases. In conclusion, this study shows that SF3B1 mutations identify a distinct subset of MDS with homogeneous features and favorable prognosis irrespective of current WHO classification criteria. Within MDS associated with SF3B1 mutation, concurrent or subclonal mutations in genes involved in DNA methylation, chromatin modification and RUNX1 account for variability in disease phenotype and clinical outcomes. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Relative Emphasis on Nine Values by a Group of College Students

The problems were the following: (a) the relative degree to which Ss emphasize 9 values and (b) the relationship between the emphases and demographic data pertaining to Ss. A questionnaire with paired comparisons of the values and demographic questions was administered to 139 students at Duke University. The results indicate the values were emphasized in the following order from high to low with significant differences ( p = .05): Self-interpretation; Self-actualization; Humanistic Support, Relationship as a homogeneous subset; Positive Evaluation of Suffering, Dedication, Support, Achievement as a homogeneous subset; Conformity. The relationships of demographic data to the choices were reported. One conclusion was that values which focus on Ss themselves received the highest emphases.