title: A temporal extension to the parsimonious covering theory.
abstract: In this paper, parsimonious covering theory is extended in such a way that temporal knowledge can be accommodated. In addition to causally associating possible manifestations with disorders, temporal relationships about duration and the time elapsed before a manifestation comes into existence can be represented by a graph. Precise definitions of the solution of a temporal diagnostic problem as well as algorithms to compute the solutions are provided. The medical suitability of the extended parsimonious cover theory is studied in the domain of food-borne disease.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Computaçäo, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wainer
authors.forename: A de M
authors.initials: Ade M
authors.lastname: Rezende
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005506:Food Contamination; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical