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Recently, there has been growing interest in formalizing UML, thereby enabling rigorous analysis of its many graphical diagrams. Two obstacles currently limit the adoption and use of UML formalizations in practice. First is the need to verify the consistency of artifacts under formalization. Second is the need to validate formalization approaches against domain-specific requirements. Techniques from the emerging field of requirements traceability hold promise for addressing these obstacles. This paper contributes a technique called retrieval by construction (RBC), which establishes traceability links between a UML model and a target model intended to denote its semantics under formalization. RBC provides an approach for structuring and representing the complex one-to-many links that are common between UML and target models under formalization. RBC also uses the notion of value identity in a novel way that enables the specification of the link-retrieval criteria using generative procedures. These procedures are a natural means for specifying UML formalizations. We have validated the RBC technique in a tool framework called UBanyan, written in C++. We applied the tool to three case studies, one of which was obtained from the industry. We have also assessed our results using the two well-known traceability metrics: precision and recall. Preliminary investigations suggest that RBC can be a useful traceability technique for validating and verifying UML formalizations.

Many recommenders compute predictions by inferring the users’ preferences. However, in some cases, such as in e-education, the recommendations of pedagogical resources should rather be based on users’ memory. In order to estimate in real time and with low involvement what has been recalled by users, we designed a user study to highlight the link between gaze features and visual memory. Our protocol consisted in asking different subjects to remember a large set of images. During this memory test, we collected about 19 000 fixation points. Among other results, we show in this paper a strong correlation between the relative path angles and the memorized items. We then applied various classifiers and showed that it is possible to predict the users’ memory status by analyzing their gaze data. This is the first step so as to provide recommendations that fits users’ learning curve.

The DASH score is a universally accepted method for assessment of hand function. However, there are occasions when a pre-treatment DASH score is unavailable. This study provides a solution to this situation. An initial DASH score was obtained from all patients at the time of their first clinic visit. A second score was obtained at the time of final follow-up asking the patient to "Recall" their pre-treatment status. The two scores were compared with appropriate statistical analysis. Thirty-eight patients were included in the study and scores were obtained at an average time interval of 32 weeks (6–121 weeks). Excellent agreement was noted for the ability of the patient population to recall their scores with a group correlation of 0.86. This proves that the Recall DASH score is an excellent and useful research tool for use in hand surgery.

The Oxford Hip Score (OHS) and Oxford Knee Score (OKS) are validated, reliable and reproducible outcome measures, however their use retrospectively has not been examined. The aim of this prospective cohort study was to examine the accuracy and reliability of patients' ability to recall their OHS and OKS in a retrospective manner. A total of 137 patients undergoing primary hip (40) or primary knee (97) arthroplasty with a mean age of 70.8 years (range, 47–88) and a mean time to follow up of 27.2 months (range, 6–46) were included in the study. The mean retrospective OHS and OKS decreased compared to the pre-operative score (OHS = 1.6 ± SD, p = 0.36, OKS = 4.7 ± SD, p < 0.001). There was only a weak positive relationship between the actual pre-operative scores and the retrospective scores (OHS: r² = 0.30, OKS: r² = 0.19). Bland–Altman analysis demonstrated 95% limits of agreement between scores of -19.9 to 23.1 for the OHS and -15.3 to 24.8 for the OKS. This study shows that patients are poor at retrospectively recalling their pre-operative OHS and OKS and therefore these scores should not be used in a retrospective manner.

The objective of this research is to study the process of examining documents by computing comparisons between the representation of the information need (the queries) and the representations of the documents. Also, we will automate the process of representing information needs as user profiles by computing the comparison between the user profile and the representations of the documents.

We consider an automated process to be successful when it produces results similar to those produced by human comparison of the documents themselves with actual information need. Thus, we will compare ad-hoc retrieval and filtering retrieval tasks and examine the differences between them in terms of the information retrieval process.

We have selected 242 Arabic abstracts that were used by Hmeidi [7]. All these abstracts involve computer science and information systems. We have also designed and built a system to compare two different retrieval tasks: ad-hoc retrieval and filtering retrieval. Here, we define ad-hoc and filtering retrieval systems and illustrate the development strategy for each one. We compare the two tasks on the basis of recall/precision evaluation, system usability, domain search, ranking, construction complexity, and methodology. From this experiment, we conclude that ad-hoc retrieval gives better performance than filtering retrieval. We also consider the advantages of using filtering services in the information retrieval process.

In 2016, IKEA, the world-renowned Swedish furniture manufacturer, recalled some of its adult and children’s chests and dressers in US and Canada. But, despite the fact that IKEA also sold the same more than a million times in China, the products were not recalled there. Even if the company has more than 20 stores in the country, Chinese law did not force a recall. This case discusses the difference between legal and ethical decision-making at IKEA and asks whether ethical decisions are of importance in the People’s Republic in China.

Genetic programming, a form of genetic algorithm, has begun to be applied to a fuzzy information retrieval system in order to improve the formulation of weighted Boolean queries by means of relevance feedback. Our theoretical approach assembles together the concepts of information retrieval, fuzzy set theory, and genetic programming. Records (textual documents) in a database (collection) can be viewed as being represented by vectors of weights corresponding to the index terms that describe record topicality. A weighted Boolean query can be viewed as a parse tree and is a chromosome in terms of a genetic algorithm. Through the mechanisms of genetic programming, the weighted query is modified in order to improve system performance via precision and recall. Relevance feedback is incorporated, in part via user defined measures, over a trial set of records. The fitness of a candidate query can be expressed directly as a function of the perceived relevance of the retrieved set. Preliminary results based on some small testbeds are given. The form of the fitness function has a significant effect upon performance and the proper fitness functions take into account relevance based on topicality (and perhaps other factors³).