• Publish/subscribe middleware
• Content-based routing
• Interoperability of heterogeneous systems
• Healthcare informatics

• Resume - in pdf format is available here
• Thesis - Master of Applied Science -  here
• Thesis - Bachelor of Science - here

Educational Background:

		PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering — August 2006-Now, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto
		M.A.Sc in Software Engineering — September 2004-August 2006, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University
		B.Sc. in Computer Engineering — September 2000-August 2004, Department of Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology.

In my current research, I am working on interoperable provision of clinical mined knowledge at the point of care. The focus is on the clinical knowledge that is obtained through some sort of Data Mining activities, e.g., diagnosis of a disease using a decision tree classifier; clustering of patients based on their risk factors; or gathering new knowledge in the form of association rules from volumes of past patients' cases and history. Interoperable, on the other hand, is a very common Software Engineering buzzword. In this context, it means the situation in which adaptation of the knowledge that is produced elsewhere, requires minimum effort at the Healthcare institutions that are eventually going to use it. My Master of Applied Science thesis on this topic is available here.

This research requires a true multi-disciplinary approach. The clinical knowledge is encoded using the PMML specification and used to guide the practitioner at decision points in the guideline flow. The clinical guideline model that is based on the Guideline Interchange Format3 (GLIF3) specification is extended to include data-mining-model-based decision making.

In the publication section, you can find more on this topic. Also in the tools and development section, you can have access to the Guideline Execution Environment (GEE) binaries and source code.

Past Research:

I have studied the application layer multicasting for multimedia streams. My research involved proposing a congestion control mechanism that takes advantage of special video encoding techniques (transcoding) to improve QoS measures. I implemented it in the Network Simulator-2 (ns-2) protocol stack and carried out performance and QoS simulation analyses. This work formed the basis of my Bachelor of Science thesis in Computer Engineering that I received from Sharif University of Technology in 2004.

I have also had a taste of mobile/embedded systems research and development experience. This involved adopting smartcards (Java cards) for patient identification and storage of his medical records, along with Java card-enabled handheld PCs that provide mobility for their caregivers.
 

Publications:

• R. Sherafat, "Interoperability of Data and Mined Knowledge in Clinical Decision Support Systems", Master of Applied Science in Software Engineering thesis, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, August 2006
   
• R. Sherafat, K. Sartipi, "Incorporating Data Mining Applications into Clinical Guidelines", The 19th IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems, 2006 (Abstract)
   
• R. Sherafat, K. Sartipi, "Data and Knowledge Interoperability in Distributed Healthcare Systems", The 13th Annual International Workshop on Software Technology and Engineering Practice, 2005 (Abstract)
   
• M. Kucera, R. Sherafat, "Empirical Analysis of the Use of Exception Handling", Technical report, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, June 2005
   
• R. Sherafat, S. Shayandeh, "Congestion Control of Video Stream Multicasting in Overlay Networks", Bachelor of science thesis, Department of Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, July 2004
   

Tools and development:

• GEE (Guideline Execution Environment):
  Guideline Execution Environment (GEE) is developed as an extending plug-in to the widely used Protégé ontology editor tool. The Guideline Interchange Format3 (GLIF3) is the base specification that has been extended to incorporate new data mining-based decision support features and constructs.
  Apart from GEE which is the execution platform on Protégé, a slot widget is also developed to handle guideline modeling accommodating the extended GLIF3 data mining features.
  
  These two plug-ins are written in Java and use the standard Protégé Ontology API to access the guidelines knowledge base.
   
• Simulation of an overlay networks congestion control mechanism for multicasting video streams in ns-2:
  The flexibility of overlay networks and the application layer .. makes them an ideal approach to handle complexities involved with the QoS requirements of video streams. In this simulation, I have studied and analyzed a congestion control approach with applications to video multicasting that took advantage of a special video encoding technique (transcoding) to improve QoS.
   

Presentations and Talks:

• July 2006, Interoperability of Data and Mined Knowledge in Clinical Decision Support Systems, Master of Applied Science defense presentation, McMaster University (ppt)
   
• June 2006, Incorporating Data Mining Applications into Clinical Guidelines, Computer-Based Medical Systems, 19th IEEE Computer-Based Medical Systems 2006, Salt Lake City, Utah (ppt)
   
• May 2006, Web Servers: The Engines that Drive the World Wide Web, Accelerated Students Workshop, McMaster University (ppt)
   
• October 2005, Interoperability & Knowledge Management in Healthcare, Communications and Information Technology Ontario, Ottawa (Presented by Dr. Kamran Sartipi - ppt)
   
• February 2005, Requirements Docuementation, CAS 703 course seminar, McMaster University (ppt)
   
• November 2004, Knuth-Bendix Completion Algorithm, CAS 701 course seminar, McMaster University (ppt)
   

Teaching Experience:

• Teaching assistant, Operating Systems, ECE 433 (Fall 2006, University of Toronto)
• Teaching assistant, Computer Networks and Computer Security, SE 4C03 (Winter 2006, McMaster University)
• Teaching assistant, Software Development for Computer/Electrical Engineering, SE 3M04 (Fall 2005, McMaster University)
• Teaching assistant, Computer Architecture, SE 3G03 (Fall 2004, McMaster University)
• Teaching assistant, Advanced Programming with C++, CE 244 (Fall 2002, Sharif University of Technology)
   

Graduate Courses (at McMaster University):

• ECE1747 - Parallel Programming (University of Toronto, Fall 2006)
• CSC2410 - Algorithms in Graph Theory (University of Toronto, Fall 2006)
• CSC2221 - Introduction to Distributed Computing (University of Toronto, Fall 2006)
• K712 - Healthcare Informatics (McMaster University, Winter 2006)(audited)
• CAS747 - Software Architecture and Reverse Engineering (McMaster University, Winter 2006)(audited)
• CAS701 - Logic and Discrete Mathematics In Software Engineering (McMaster University, Fall 2004)
• CAS702 - Data Structures and Algorithms (McMaster University, Fall 2004)
• CAS703 - Software Design (McMaster University, Winter 2005)
  View my CAS703 page here
• CAS704 - Real-Time Software Systems (McMaster University, Winter 2005)
• CS40712 - Digital Video Systems (Sharif University of Technology, Fall 2004)
   

• Hobbies:
  • hiking, swimming, ski, snowboard, roller bladding, cycling, camping, mountain climbing
• Some pictures