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E. Chatzaki, M. Panagopoulou, M. Karaglani, I. Balgkouranidou, V. Vasilakakis, E. Biziota, T. Koukaki, E. Karamitrousis, E. Nena, I. Tsamardinos, G. Kolios, E. Lianidou, and S. Kakolyris, «Circulating cell free DNA in Breast cancer: size profiling, levels and methylation patterns lead to prognostic and predictive classifiers,» (to appear) Oncogene , 2018.
M. Adamou, G. Antoniou, E. Greasidou, V. Lagani, P. Charonyktakis, I. Tsamardinos, and M. Doyle, «Toward Automatic Risk Assessment to Support Suicide Prevention,» Crisis, 2018.
Background: Suicide has been considered an important public health issue for years and is one of the main causes of death worldwide. Despite prevention strategies being applied, the rate of suicide has not changed substantially over the past decades. Suicide risk has proven extremely difficult to assess for medical specialists, and traditional methodologies deployed have been ineffective. Advances in machine learning make it possible to attempt to predict suicide with the analysis of relevant data aiming to inform clinical practice. Aims: We aimed to (a) test our artificial intelligence based, referral-centric methodology in the context of the National Health Service (NHS), (b) determine whether statistically relevant results can be derived from data related to previous suicides, and (c) develop ideas for various exploitation strategies. Method: The analysis used data of patients who died by suicide in the period 2013–2016 including both structured data and free-text medical notes, necessitating the deployment of state-of-the-art machine learning and text mining methods. Limitations: Sample size is a limiting factor for this study, along with the absence of non-suicide cases. Specific analytical solutions were adopted for addressing both issues. Results and Conclusion: The results of this pilot study indicate that machine learning shows promise for predicting within a specified period which people are most at risk of taking their own life at the time of referral to a mental health service.
M. Tsagris, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «12Test Feature selection for high-dimensional temporal data,» BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 19, iss. 1, p. 17, 2018.
Feature selection is commonly employed for identifying collectively-predictive biomarkers and biosignatures; it facilitates the construction of small statistical models that are easier to verify, visualize, and comprehend while providing insight to the human expert. In this work, we extend established constrained-based, feature-selection methods to high-dimensional “omics” temporal data, where the number of measurements is orders of magnitude larger than the sample size. The extension required the development of conditional independence tests for temporal and/or static variables conditioned on a set of temporal variables. The algorithm is able to return multiple, equivalent solution subsets of variables, scale to tens of thousands of features, and outperform or be on par with existing methods depending on the analysis task specifics. The use of this algorithm is suggested for variable selection with high-dimensional temporal data.
K. Lakiotaki, N. Vorniotakis, M. Tsagris, G. Georgakopoulos, and I. Tsamardinos, «BioDataome: a collection of uniformly preprocessed and automatically annotated datasets for data-driven biology,» Database, vol. 2018, iss. bay011, 2018.
M. Adamou, G. Antoniou, E. Greassidou, V. Lagani, P. Charonyktakis, and I. Tsamardinos, «Mining Free-Text Medical Notes for Suicide Risk Assessment,» in SETN, 2018.
M. Adamou, G. Antoniou, E. Greassidou, V. Lagani, P. Charonyktakis, and I. Tsamardinos, «Towards Automatic Risk Assessment to Support Suicide Prevention,» Accepted to Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 2018.
M. Markaki, I. Tsamardinos, A. Langhammer, V. Lagani, K. Hveem, and O. D. Røe, «A Validated Clinical Risk Prediction Model for Lung Cancer in Smokers of All Ages and Exposure Types: A HUNT Study.,» EBioMedicine, 2018.
Lung cancer causes \textgreater1\textperiodcentered6 million deaths annually, with early diagnosis being paramount to effective treatment. Here we present a validated risk assessment model for lung cancer screening. The prospective HUNT2 population study in Norway examined 65,237 people aged \textgreater20years in 1995-97. After a median of 15\textperiodcentered2years, 583 lung cancer cases had been diagnosed; 552 (94\textperiodcentered7\%) ever-smokers and 31 (5\textperiodcentered3\%) never-smokers. We performed multivariable analyses of 36 candidate risk predictors, using multiple imputation of missing data and backwards feature selection with Cox regression. The resulting model was validated in an independent Norwegian prospective dataset of 45,341 ever-smokers, in which 675 lung cancers had been diagnosed after a median follow-up of 11\textperiodcentered6years. Our final HUNT Lung Cancer Model included age, pack-years, smoking intensity, years since smoking cessation, body mass index, daily cough, and hours of daily indoors exposure to smoke. External validation showed a 0\textperiodcentered879 concordance index (95\% CI [0\textperiodcentered866-0\textperiodcentered891]) with an area under the curve of 0\textperiodcentered87 (95\% CI [0\textperiodcentered85-0\textperiodcentered89]) within 6years. Only 22\% of ever-smokers would need screening to identify 81\textperiodcentered85\% of all lung cancers within 6years. Our model of seven variables is simple, accurate, and useful for screening selection.
M. Tsagris, G. Borboudakis, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «Constraint-based causal discovery with mixed data,» International Journal of Data Science and Analytics, 2018.
We address the problem of constraint-based causal discovery with mixed data types, such as (but not limited to) continuous, binary, multinomial and or-dinal variables. We use likelihood-ratio tests based on appropriate regression models, and show how to derive symmetric conditional independence tests. Such tests can then be directly used by existing constraint-based methods with mixed data, such as the PC and FCI algorithms for learning Bayesian networks and maximal ancestral graphs respectively. In experiments on simu-lated Bayesian networks, we employ the PC algorithm with different conditional independence tests for mixed data, and show that the proposed approach outperforms alternatives in terms of learning accuracy.
K. Siomos, E. Papadaki, I. Tsamardinos, K. Kerkentzes, M. Koygioylis, and C. Trakatelli, «Prothrombotic and Endothelial Inflammatory Markers in Greek Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Compared to Non-Diabetics,» Endocrinology & Metabolic Syndrome, vol. 6, iss. 1, 2017.
Objective: To evaluate specific factors of coagulation and endothelial inflammatory markers namely, thrombomodulin, soluble receptor of the protein C (sEPCR), factor VIII, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, Von Willebrandt factor, fibrinogen, fibrinogen dimers (d-dimers), high sensitivity C-reactive protein and homocysteine in a subset of Greek subjects with and without Type 2 (T2) Diabetes. Design: 84 subjects, of which 44 patients with T2 diabetes, were included in the randomized comparative prospective cross sectional study. The subjects were split into a Τ2 diabetics group and a group of healthy controls of similar age, anthropometric profiles and similar gender distribution. Results: A total of 47 variables and biomarkers together with indicators for metabolic profiles, clinical history, as well as detailed anthropometric profiles and traditional risk factors, were evaluated. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), Insulin, use of Sulfonylurea, high HBA1c and glucose levels, were clearly statistically differentiated in the two groups, while no other biomarkers including the new potential indicators were found to be different. High values of thrombomodulin and homocysteine were correlated with a rise in creatinine and thus seem to affect renal function in the diabetic patients group while in the non-diabetics group the correlations are different with sEPCR having a relative strong negative correlation in renal function as measured with The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease, in agreement with the latest international findings. Conclusions: The presence of T2 diabetes in conjunction with age clearly correlates with problems in renal function, thrombomodulin and homocysteine could serve as indicators for renal damage in diabetics but not in healthy individuals. sEPCR on the other hand could be a potential generic indicator for renal damage. Thrombomodulin and sEPCR as prothombotic agents, did not show any indication that they can be utilised as markers for the prevention and/or treatment of thrombotic complications in diabetic patients.
G. Papoutsoglou, G. Athineou, V. Lagani, I. Xanthopoulos, A. Schmidt, S. éliás, J. Tegnér, and I. Tsamardinos, «SCENERY: a web application for (causal) network reconstruction from cytometry data,» Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 37, p. D412–D416, 2017.
G. Orfanoudaki, M. Markaki, K. Chatzi, I. Tsamardinos, and A. Economou, «MatureP: prediction of secreted proteins with exclusive information from their mature regions,» Scientific Reports, vol. 7, iss. 1, p. 3263, 2017.
K. Tsirlis, V. Lagani, S. Triantafillou, and I. Tsamardinos, «On Scoring Maximal Ancestral Graphs with the Max-Min Hill Climbing Algorithm,» in 23d ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2017), 2017.
We consider the problem of causal struc-ture learning in presence of latent confounders. We pro-pose a hybrid method, MAG Max-Min Hill-Climbing (M 3 HC) that takes as input a data set of continuous variables, assumed to follow a multivariate Gaussian distribution, and outputs the best fitting maximal an-cestral graph. M 3 HC builds upon a previously proposed method, namely GSMAG, by introducing a constraint-based first phase that greatly reduces the space of struc-tures to investigate. We show on simulated data that the proposed algorithm greatly improves on GSMAG, and compares positively against FCI and cFCI, two well known constraint-based approaches for causal-network reconstruction in presence of latent confounders.
M. Tsagris, G. Borboudakis, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «Constraint-based Causal Discovery with Mixed Data,» in 23d ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2017), 2017.
V. Lagani, G. Athineou, A. Farcomeni, M. Tsagris, and I. Tsamardinos, «Feature Selection with the R Package MXM: Discovering Multiple, Statistically-Equivalent, Predictive Feature Subsets,» Journal of Statistical Software, vol. 80, iss. 7, 2017.
The statistically equivalent signature (SES) algorithm is a method for feature selection inspired by the principles of constrained-based learning of Bayesian Networks. Most of the currently available feature-selection methods return only a single subset of features, supposedly the one with the highest predictive power. We argue that in several domains multiple subsets can achieve close to maximal predictive accuracy, and that arbitrarily providing only one has several drawbacks. The SES method attempts to identify multiple, predictive feature subsets whose performances are statistically equivalent. Under that respect SES subsumes and extends previous feature selection algorithms, like the max-min parent children algorithm. SES is implemented in an homonym function included in the R package MXM, standing for mens ex machina, meaning ‘mind from the machine’ in Latin. The MXM implementation of SES handles several data-analysis tasks, namely classification, regression and survival analysis. In this paper we present the SES algorithm, its implementation, and provide examples of use of the SES function in R. Furthermore, we analyze three publicly available data sets to illustrate the equivalence of the signatures retrieved by SES and to contrast SES against the state-of-the-art feature selection method LASSO. Our results provide initial evidence that the two methods perform comparably well in terms of predictive accuracy and that multiple, equally predictive signatures are actually present in real world data.
S. Triantafillou, V. Lagani, C. Heinze-Deml, A. Schmidt, J. Tegner, and I. Tsamardinos, «Predicting Causal Relationships from Biological Data: Applying Automated Casual Discovery on Mass Cytometry Data of Human Immune Cells,» Triantafillou S, Lagani V, Heinze-Deml C, Schmidt A, Tegner J, Tsamardinos I. Predicting Causal Relationships from Biological Data: Applying Automated Causal Discovery on Mass Cytometry Data of Human Immune Cells. Scientific Reports. 2017;7:12724. doi:10., vol. 7, p. 12724, 2017.
Learning the causal relationships that define a molecular system allows us to predict how the system will respond to different interventions. Distinguishing causality from mere association typically requires randomized experiments. Methods for automated causal discovery from limited experiments exist, but have so far rarely been tested in systems biology applications. In this work, we apply state-of-the art causal discovery methods on a large collection of public mass cytometry data sets, measuring intra-cellular signaling proteins of the human immune system and their response to several perturbations. We show how different experimental conditions can be used to facilitate causal discovery, and apply two fundamental methods that produce context-specific causal predictions. Causal predictions were reproducible across independent data sets from two different studies, but often disagree with the KEGG pathway databases. Within this context, we discuss the caveats we need to overcome for automated causal discovery to become a part of the routine data analysis in systems biology.
I. Tsamardinos, E. Greasidou, M. Tsagris, and G. Borboudakis, «Bootstrapping the Out-of-sample Predictions for Efficient and Accurate Cross-Validation,» , 2017.
Cross-Validation (CV), and out-of-sample performance-estimation protocols in general, are often employed both for (a) selecting the optimal combination of algorithms and values of hyper-parameters (called a configuration) for producing the final predictive model, and (b) estimating the predictive performance of the final model. However, the cross-validated performance of the best configuration is optimistically biased. We present an efficient bootstrap method that corrects for the bias, called Bootstrap Bias Corrected CV (BBC-CV). BBC-CV’s main idea is to bootstrap the whole process of selecting the best-performing configuration on the out-of-sample predictions of each configuration, without additional training of models. In comparison to the alternatives, namely the nested cross-validation and a method by Tibshirani and Tibshirani, BBC-CV is computationally more efficient, has smaller variance and bias, and is applicable to any metric of performance (accuracy, AUC, concordance index, mean squared error). Subsequently, we employ again the idea of bootstrapping the out-of-sample predictions to speed up the CV process. Specifically, using a bootstrap-based hypothesis test we stop training of models on new folds of statistically-significantly inferior configurations. We name the method Bootstrap Corrected with Early Dropping CV (BCED-CV) that is both efficient and provides accurate performance estimates.
V. Lagani, S. Triantafillou, G. Ball, J. Tegner, and I. Tsamardinos, «Probabilistic computational causal discovery for systems biology,» Uncertainty in Biology, vol. 17, pp. 33-73, 2016.
G. Athineou, G. Papoutsoglou, S. Triantafullou, I. Basdekis, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «SCENERY: a Web-Based Application for Network Reconstruction and Visualization of Cytometry Data.,» Accepted for publication on the 10th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (PACBB 2016)., 2016.
Cytometry techniques allow to quantify morphological characteristics and protein abundances at a single-cell level. Data collected with these techniques can be used for addressing the fascinating, yet challenging problem of reconstructing the network of protein interactions forming signaling pathways and governing cell biological mechanisms. Network reconstruction is an established and well studied problem in the machine learning and data mining fields, with several algorithms already available. In this paper, we present the first web-oriented application, SCENERY, that allows scientists to rapidly apply state-of-the-art network-reconstruction methods on cytometry data. SCENERY comes with an easy-to-use user interface, a modular architecture, and advanced visualization functions. The functionalities of the application are illustrated on data from a publicly available immunology experiment.
O. D. Roe, M. Markaki, R. Mjelle, Pål. Sætrom, I. Tsamardinos, and V. Lagani, «Serum microRNAs/enriched pathways in lung cancer 1-4 years before diagnosis: A pilot study from the HUNT Biobank, Norway.,» in 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting, 2016.
V. Lagani, A. D. Karozou, D. Gomez-Cabrero, G. Silberberg, and I. Tsamardinos, «A comparative evaluation of data-merging and meta-analysis methods for reconstructing gene-gene interactions,» BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 17, iss. S5, p. 194, 2016.
We address the problem of integratively analyzing multiple gene expression, microarray datasets in order to reconstruct gene-gene interaction networks. Integrating multiple datasets is generally believed to provide increased statistical power and to lead to a better characterization of the system under study. However, the presence of systematic variation across different studies makes network reverse-engineering tasks particularly challenging. We contrast two approaches that have been frequently used in the literature for addressing systematic biases: meta-analysis methods, which first calculate opportune statistics on single datasets and successively summarize them, and data-merging methods, which directly analyze the pooled data after removing eventual biases. This comparative evaluation is performed on both synthetic and real data, the latter consisting of two manually curated microarray compendia comprising several E. coli and Yeast studies, respectively. Furthermore, the reconstruction of the regulatory network of the transcription factor Ikaros in human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) is presented as a case-study.
A. I. Robles, K. Standahl Olsen, D. W. Tsui, V. Georgoulias, J. Creaney, K. Dobra, M. Vyberg, N. Minato, R. A. Anders, A. Børresen‑Dale, J. Zhou, Pål. Saetrom, B. Schnack Nielsen, M. B. Kirschner, H. E. Krokan, V. Papadimitrakopoulou, I. Tsamardinos, and O. D. Røe, «Excerpts from the 1st international NTNU symposium on current and future clinical biomarkers of cancer: innovation and implementation, June 16th and 17th 2016, Trondheim, Norway,» Journal of Translational Medicine, vol. 14, 2016.
The goal of biomarker research is to identify clinically valid markers. Despite decades of research there has been disap‑ pointingly few molecules or techniques that are in use today. The » 1st International NTNU Symposium on Current and Future Clinical Biomarkers of Cancer: Innovation and Implementation » , was held June 16th and 17th 2016, at the Knowledge Center of the St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, under the auspices of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the HUNT biobank and research center. The Symposium attracted approximately 100 attendees and invited speakers from 12 countries and 4 continents. In this Symposium original research and over‑ views on diagnostic, predictive and prognostic cancer biomarkers in serum, plasma, urine, pleural fluid and tumor, circulating tumor cells and bioinformatics as well as how to implement biomarkers in clinical trials were presented. Senior researchers and young investigators presented, reviewed and vividly discussed important new developments in the field of clinical biomarkers of cancer, with the goal of accelerating biomarker research and implementation. The excerpts of this symposium aim to give a cutting‑edge overview and insight on some highly important aspects of clinical cancer biomarkers to‑date to connect molecular innovation with clinical implementation to eventually improve patient care.
N. Karathanasis, I. Tsamardinos, and V. Lagani, «omicsNPC: applying the NonParametric Combination methodology to the integrative analysis of heterogeneous omics data,» PloS one, p. e0165545, 2016.
A. Roumpelaki, G. Borboudakis, S. Triantafillou, and I. Tsamardinos, «Marginal causal consistency in constraint-based causal learning,» in Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), 2016.
Maximal Ancestral Graphs (MAGs) are proba-bilistic graphical models that can model the dis-tribution and causal properties of a set of vari-ables in the presence of latent confounders. They are closed under marginalization. Invariant pair-wise features of a class of Markov equivalent MAGs can be learnt from observational data sets using the FCI algorithm and its variations (such as conservative FCI and order independent FCI). We investigate the consistency of causal features (causal ancestry relations) obtained by FCI in different marginals of a single data set. In prin-ciple, the causal relationships identified by FCI on a data set D measuring a set of variables V should not conflict the output of FCI on marginal data sets including only subsets of V. In prac-tice, however, FCI is prone to error propagation, and running FCI in different marginals results in inconsistent causal predictions. We introduce the term of marginal causal consistency to de-note the consistency of causal relationships when learning marginal distributions, and investigate the marginal causal consistency of different FCI variations.Results indicate that marginal causal consistency varies for different algorithms, and is also sensitive to network density and marginal size.
S. Triantafillou and I. Tsamardinos, «Score based vs constraint based causal learning in the presence of confounders,» in Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), 2016.
P. Charonyktakis, M. Plakia, I. Tsamardinos, and M. Papadopouli, «On user-centric modular QoE prediction for voip based on machine-learning algorithms,» IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 2016.
The impact of the network performance on the quality of experience (QoE) for various services is not well-understood. Assessing the impact of different network and channel conditions on the user experience is important for improving the telecommunication services. The QoE for various wireless services including VoIP, video streaming, and web browsing, has been in the epicenter of recent networking activities. The majority of such efforts aim to characterize the user experience, analyzing various types of measurements often in an aggregate manner. This paper proposes the MLQoE, a modular algorithm for user-centric QoE prediction. The MLQoE employs multiple machine learning (ML) algorithms, namely, Artificial Neural Networks, Support Vector Regression machines, Decision Trees, and Gaussian Naive Bayes classifiers, and tunes their hyper-parameters. It uses the Nested Cross Validation (nested CV) protocol for selecting the best classifier and the corresponding best hyper-parameter values and estimates the performance of the final model. The MLQoE is conservative in the performance estimation despite multiple induction of models. The MLQoE is modular, in that, it can be easily extended to include other ML algorithms. The MLQoE selects the ML algorithm that exhibits the best performance and its parameters automatically given the dataset used as input. It uses empirical measurements based on network metrics (e.g., packet loss, delay, and packet interarrival) and subjective opinion scores reported by actual users. This paper extensively evaluates the MLQoE using three unidirectional datasets containing VoIP calls over wireless networks under various network conditions and feedback from subjects (collected in field studies). Moreover, it performs a preliminary analysis to assess the generality of our methodology using bidirectional VoIP and video traces. The MLQoE outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms, resulting in fairly accurate predictions.
G. Borboudakis and I. Tsamardinos, «Towards Robust and Versatile Causal Discovery forBusiness Applications,» in Accepted at the 22nd SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2016), 2016.
J. Goveia, A. Pircher, L. Conradi, J. Kalucka, V. Lagani, M. Dewerchin, G. Eelen, R. J. DeBerardinis, I. D. Wilson, and P. Carmeliet, «Meta-analysis of clinical metabolic profiling studies in cancer: challenges and opportunities,» EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2016.
V. Lagani, F. Chiarugi, S. Thomson, J. Fursse, E. Lakasing, R. W. Jones, and I. Tsamardinos, «Development and validation of risk assessment models for diabetes-related complications based on the DCCT/EDIC data,» Journal of Diabetes and its Complications 2015., vol. 29, iss. 4, pp. 479-487, 2015.
I. Tsamardinos, M. Tsagris, and V. Lagani, «Feature selection for longitudinal data,» Proceedings of the 10th conference of the Hellenic Society for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (HSCBB15), vol. 6, iss. 1, pp. 10-11, 2015.
A. Alexandridis, G. Borboudakis, and A. Mouchtaris, «Addressing the data-association problem for multiple sound source localization using DOA data estimates,» 23rd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), pp. 1551-1555, 2015.
In this paper, we consider the data association problem that arises when localizing multiple sound sources using direction of arrival (DOA) estimates from multiple microphone arrays. In such a sce- nario, the association of the DOAs across the arrays that correspond to the same source is unknown and must be found for accurate lo- calization. We present an association algorithm that finds the correct DOA association to the sources based on features extracted for each source that we propose. Our method results in high association and localization accuracy in scenarios with missed detections, reverber- ation, and noise and outperforms other recently proposed methods.
N. Karathanasis, I. Tsamardinos, and P. Poirazi, «MiRduplexSVM: A high-Performing miRNA-duplex prediction and evaluation methodology,» PloS one, vol. 10, iss. 5, 2015.
I. Tsamardinos, A. Rakhshani, and V. Lagani, «Performance-estimation properties of cross-validation based protocols with simultaneous hyper-parameter optimization,» International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, vol. 8445, pp. 1-14, 2015.
V. Lagani, F. Chiarugi, D. Manousos, V. Verma, J. Fursse, M. Kostas, and I. Tsamardinos, «Realization of a service for the long-term risk assessment of diabetes-related complications,» Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, vol. 29, iss. 5, pp. 691-698, 2015.
K. Kerkentzes, V. Lagani, I. Tsamardinos, M. Vyberg, and O. Røe, «Hidden treasures in “ancient” microarrays: gene-expression portrays biology and potential resistance pathways of major lung cancer subtypes and normal,» Frontiers 2014, vol. 4, iss. 251, 2014.
G. T. Huang, I. Tsamardinos, V. Raghu, N. Kaminski, and P. V. Benos, «T-ReCS: stable selection of dynamically formed groups of features with application to prediction of clinical outcomes.,» Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB), pp. 431-442, 2014.
S. Triantafillou and I. Tsamardinos, «Constraint-based Causal Discovery from Multiple Interventions over Overlapping Variable Sets,» Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 16, pp. 1-47, 2014.
Scientific practice typically involves repeatedly studying a system, each time trying to unravel a different perspective. In each study, the scientist may take measurements under different experimental conditions (interventions, manipulations, perturbations) and measure different sets of quantities (variables). The result is a collection of heterogeneous data sets coming from different data distributions. In this work, we present algorithm COmbINE, which accepts a collection of data sets over overlapping variable sets under different experimental conditions; COmbINE then outputs a summary of all causal models indicating the invariant and variant structural characteristics of all models that simultaneously fit all of the input data sets. COmbINE converts estimated dependencies and independencies in the data into path constraints on the data-generating causal model and encodes them as a SAT instance. The algorithm is sound and complete in the sample limit. To account for conflicting constraints arising from statistical errors, we introduce a general method for sorting constraints in order of confidence, computed as a function of their corresponding p-values. In our empirical evaluation, COmbINE outperforms in terms of efficiency the only pre-existing similar algorithm; the latter additionally admits feedback cycles, but does not admit conflicting constraints which hinders the applicability on real data. As a proof-of-concept, COmbINE is employed to co-analyze 4 real, mass-cytometry data sets measuring phosphorylated protein concentrations of overlapping protein sets under 3 different interventions.
C. Papagiannopoulou, G. Tsoumakas, and I. Tsamardinos, «Discovering and Exploiting Entailment Relationships in Multi-Label Learning,» ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining 2015 (KDD), 2014.
I. Tsamardinos, A. Rakhshani, and V. Lagani, «Performance-estimation properties of cross-validation-based protocols with simultaneous hyper-parameter optimization,» 8th Hellenic Conference on Artificial Intelligence (SETN 2014)., vol. 8445, pp. 1-14, 2014.
N. Karathanasis, I. Tsamardinos, and P. Poirazi, «Don’t use a cannon to kill the miRNA mosquito,» Bioinformatics, vol. 30, iss. 7, pp. 1047-1048, 2014.
S. Triantafilou, I. Tsamardinos, and A. Roumpelaki, «Learning Neighborhoods of High Confidence in Constraint-Based Causal Discovery.,» Springer 2014, vol. 8754, pp. 487-502, 2014.
V. Lagani, G. Kortas, and I. Tsamardinos, «Biomarker signature identification in “omics” data with multi-class outcome,» Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 2013, 6(7), vol. 6, iss. 7, pp. 1-7, 2013.
P. Hunter, T. Chapman, P. Coveney, B. de Bono, V. Diaz, J. Fenner, A. Frangi, P. Harris, R. Hose, P. Kohl, P. Lawford, K. McCormack, M. Mendes, S. Omholt, A. Quarteroni, N. Shublaq, J. Skår, K. Stroetmann, J. Tegner, S. Thomas, I. Tollis, I. Tsamardinos, J. van Beek, and M. Viceconti, «A vision and strategy for the virtual physiological human: 2012 update,» Interface Focus, vol. 3, iss. 2, pp. 1-27, 2013.
N. Karathanasis, I. Tsamardinos, and P. Poirazi, «A bioinformatics approach for investigating the determinants of Drosha processing,» 13th IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (IEEE BIBE 2013), pp. 1-4, 2013.
I. Karakasilioti, I. Kamileri, G. Chatzinikolaou, T. Kosteas, E. Vergadi, A. R. Robinson, I. Tsamardinos, T. A. Rozgaja, S. Siakouli, C. Tsatsanis, L. J. Niedernhofer, and G. A. Garinis, «DNA damage triggers a chronic autoinflammatory response, leading to fat depletion in NER progeria,» Cell Metabolism, vol. 18, iss. 3, pp. 403-415, 2013.
G. L. Papadopoulos, E. Karkoulia, I. Tsamardinos, C. Porcher, J. Ragoussis, J. Bungert, and J. Strouboulis, «GATA-1 genome-wide occupancy associates with distinct epigenetic profiles in mouse fetal liver erythropoiesis,» Nucl. Acids Res, vol. 41, iss. 9, pp. 4938-4948, 2013.
V. Lagani, L. Koumakis, F. Chiarugi, E. Lakasing, and I. Tsamardinos, «A systematic review of predictive risk models for diabetes complications based on large scale clinical studies,» Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, vol. 27, iss. 4, pp. 407-413, 2013.
G. Borboudakis and I. Tsamardinos, «Scoring and searching over Bayesian networks with causal and associative priors,» Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), 2012.
S. Kleisarchaki, D. Kotzinos, I. Tsamardinos, and V. Christophides, «A Methodological Framework for Statistical Analysis of Social Text Streams,» International Workshop on Information Search, Integration and Personalization (ISIP 2012), vol. 146, pp. 101-110, 2012.
I. Tsamardinos, S. Triantafillou, and V. Lagani, «Towards integrative causal analysis of heterogeneous data sets and studies,» Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 13, iss. 1, pp. 1097-1157, 2012.
T. I. Brown L.E. and D. Hardin, «To feature space and back: Identifying top-weighted features in polynomial support vector machine models,» Intelligent Data Analysis, vol. 16, iss. 4, pp. 551-579, 2012.
I. Tsamardinos, G. Borboudakis, E. Christodoulou, and O. D. Røe, «Chemosensitivity Prediction of Tumours Based on Expression, miRNA, and Proteomics Data,» International Journal of Systems Biology and Biomedical Technologies (IJSBBT), vol. 1, iss. 2, pp. 1-19, 2012.
G. Borboudakis and I. Tsamardinos, «Incorporating causal prior knowledge as path-constraints in bayesian networks and maximal ancestral graphs,» Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2012, pp. 1799-1806, 2012.
V. Lagani, I. Tsamardinos, and S. Triantafillou, «Learning from Mixture of Experimental Data: A Constraint–Based Approach,» Artificial Intelligence: Theories and Applications: 7th Hellenic Conference on AI, vol. 7297, pp. 124-131, 2012.
A. P. Armen, I. Tsamardinos, N. Karathanasis, and P. Poirazi, «SVM-based miRNA: MiRNA∗ duplex prediction,» IEEE 12th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, BIBE 2012, pp. 181-186, 2012.
G. Borboudakis, S. Triantafillou, and I. Tsamardinos, «Tools and algorithms for causally interpreting directed edges in maximal ancestral graphs,» Sixth European Workshop on Probabilistic Graphical Models, (PGM 2012), 2012.
S. Dato, A. Montesanto, V. Lagani, B. Jeune, K. Christensen, and G. Passarino, «Frailty phenotypes in the elderly based on cluster analysis: a longitudinal study of two Danish cohorts. Evidence for a genetic influence on frailty,» Age, vol. 34, iss. 3, pp. 571-582, 2012.
S. Dato, M. Soerensen, A. Montesanto, V. Lagani, G. Passarino, K. Christensen, and L. Christiansen, «UCP3 polymorphisms, hand grip performance and survival at old age: Association analysis in two Danish middle aged and elderly cohorts,» Joint Meeting AGI-SIBV-SIGA, vol. 133, iss. 8, pp. 530-537, 2012.
I. Tsamardinos, V. Lagani, and D. Pappas, «Discovering multiple, equivalent biomarker signatures.,» proceedings of the 7th conference of the Hellenic Society for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, pp. 1-2, 2012.
G. Borboudakis, S. Triantafilou, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «A constraint-based approach to incorporate prior knowledge in causal models.,» Proceedings of the European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning (ESANN), 2011.
A. Armen and I. Tsamardinos, «A unified approach to estimation and control of the False Discovery Rate in Bayesian network skeleton identification.,» Proceedings of the European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning (ESANN), 2011.
E. G. Christodoulou, O. D. Røe, A. Folarin, and I. Tsamardinos, «Information-Preserving Techniques Improve Chemosensitivity Prediction of Tumours Based on Expression Profiles,» 12th Engineering Applications of Neural Networks (EANN) / 7th Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations (AIAI) joint conferences, Workshop on Computational Intelligence Applications in Bioinformatics (CIAB 2011), vol. 363, pp. 453-462, 2011.
L. Koumakis, F. Chiarugi, V. Lagani, and I. Tsamardinos, «Risk assessment models for diabetes complications: A survey of available online tools,» 2nd International ICST Conference on Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare (MobiHealth 2011), vol. 83, pp. 46-53, 2011.
V. Lagani, V. Kontogiannis, P. Argyropaidas, and C. Chronaki, «Use of SMS for Tsunami Early Warnings at a Table Top Exercise,» 4th ICST International Conference on eHealth (eHealth 2011), vol. 91, pp. 76-79, 2011.
C. Filippaki, G. Antoniou, and I. Tsamardinos, «Using constraint optimization for conflict resolution and detail control in activity recognition,» Second International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence 2011, vol. 7040, pp. 51-60, 2011.
V. Lagani, I. Tsamardinos, M. Grammatikou, and G. Garinis, «A Genome-Wide Study of the Effect of Aging on Level-2 Gene-Ontology Categories in Mice Using Mixed Models,» The 5th International Workshop on Data Mining in Functional Genomics and Proteomics: Current Trends and Future Directions, ECML PKDD 2011, pp. 1-10, 2011.
I. Tsamardinos, O. D. Roe, and V. Lagani, «Introducing Integrative Causal Analysis for Co-Analyzing Heterogeneous Studies with an Application to Methylation and Gene Expression Mesothelioma Cancer Data.,» 6th Conference of the Hellenic Society for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (HSCBB11), 2011.
S. Triantafullou, I. Tsamardinos, and I. G. Tollis, «Learning causal structure from overlapping variable sets,» Proceedings of The Thirteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS), vol. 9, pp. 860-867, 2010.
I. Tsamardinos and G. Borboudakis, «Permutation testing improves Bayesian network learning,» Proceedings of the 2010 European Conference on Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases: Part III, vol. 6323, pp. 322-337, 2010.
V. Lagani and I. Tsamardinos, «Structure-based variable selection for survival data,» Bioinformatics, vol. 26, iss. 15, pp. 1887-1894, 2010.
K. Gkirtzou, I. Tsamardinos, P. Tsakalides, and P. Poirazi, «MatureBayes: a probabilistic algorithm for identifying the mature miRNA within novel precursors,» PloS one, vol. 5, iss. 8, pp. 1-14, 2010.
P. Hunter, P. V. Coveney, B. de Bono, V. Diaz, J. Fenner, A. F. Frangi, P. Harris, R. Hose, P. Kohl, P. Lawford, K. McCormack, M. Mendes, S. Omholt, A. Quarteroni, J. Skar, J. Tegner, S. Randall, I. G. Tollis, I. Tsamardinos, and M. van Beek, «A vision and strategy for the virtual physiological human in 2010 and beyond,» Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 368, iss. 1920, pp. 2595-2614, 2010.
F. Chiarugi, D. Emmanouilidou, and I. Tsamardinos, «The morphological classification of heartbeats as dominant and non-dominant in ECG signals,» Physiological Measurement, vol. 31, iss. 5, pp. 611-631, 2010.
C. F. Aliferis, A. R. Statnikov, I. Tsamardinos, S. Mani, and X. D. Koutsoukos, «Local causal and markov blanket induction for causal discovery and feature selection for classification part i: Analysis and extensions,» The Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 11, pp. 171-234, 2010.
In part I of this work we introduced and evaluated the Generalized Local Learning (GLL) framework for producing local causal and Markov blanket induction algorithms. In the present second part we analyze the behavior of GLL algorithms and provide extensions to the core methods. Specifically, we investigate the empirical convergence of GLL to the true local neighborhood as a function of sample size. Moreover, we study how predictivity improves with increasing sample size. Then we investigate how sensitive are the algorithms to multiple statistical testing, especially in the presence of many irrelevant features. Next we discuss the role of the algorithm parameters and also show that Markov blanket and causal graph concepts can be used to understand deviations from optimality of state-of-the-art non-causal algorithms. The present paper also introduces the following extensions to the core GLL framework: parallel and distributed versions of GLL algorithms, versions with false discovery rate control, strategies for constructing novel heuristics for specific domains, and divide-and-conquer local-to-global learning (LGL) strategies. We test the generality of the LGL approach by deriving a novel LGL-based algorithm that compares favorably to the state-of-the-art global learning algorithms. In addition, we investigate the use of non-causal feature selection methods to facilitate global learning. Open problems and future research paths related to local and local-to-global causal learning are discussed.
C. F. Aliferis, A. R. Statnikov, I. Tsamardinos, S. Mani, and X. D. Koutsoukos, «Local causal and markov blanket induction for causal discovery and feature selection for classification part ii: Analysis and extensions,» The Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 11, pp. 235-284, 2010.
C. F. Aliferis, A. R. Statnikov, I. Tsamardinos, J. S. Schildcrout, B. E. Shepherd, and J. F. E. Harrell, «Factors influencing the statistical power of complex data analysis protocols for molecular signature development from microarray data,» PloS one, vol. 4, iss. 3, pp. 1-7, 2009.
I. Tsamardinos and A. Mariglis, «Multi-source causal analysis: Learning Bayesian networks from multiple datasets,» Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations III, Proceedings of the 5TH IFIP Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations, vol. 296, pp. 479-490, 2009.
I. Tsamardinos and S. Triantafillou, «The possibility of integrative causal analysis: Learning from different datasets and studies,» Journal of Engineering Intelligent Systems, vol. 17, iss. 2-3, pp. 81-93, 2009.
L. Brown and I. Tsamardinos, «A Strategy for Making Predictions Under Manipulation.,» In JMLR: Workshop and Conference Proceedings, vol. 3, pp. 35-52, 2008.
I. Tsamardinos and L. Brown, «Bounding the False Discovery Rate in Local Bayesian Network Learning.,» Proceedings of the Twenty-Third AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 1100-1105, 2008.
F. Chiarugi, D. Emmanouilidou, I. Tsamardinos, and I. G. Tollis, «Morphological classification of heartbeats using similarity features and a two-phase decision tree,» Computers in Cardiology, pp. 849-852, 2008.
C. Aliferis, A. Statnikov, and I. Tsamardinos, «Challenges in the analysis of mass-throughput data: a technical commentary from the statistical machine learning perspective,» Cancer Informatics, vol. 2, pp. 133-162, 2006.
I. Tsamardinos, A. Statnikov, L. Brown, and C. Aliferis, «Generating Realistic Large Bayesian Networks by Tiling.,» In The 19th International FLAIRS Conference, pp. 592-597, 2006.
I. Tsamardinos, L. Brown, and C. Aliferis, «The max-min hill-climbing Bayesian network structure learning algorithm,» Machine learning, vol. 65, iss. 1, pp. 31-78, 2006.
A. Statnikov, I. Tsamardinos, Y. Dosbayev, and C. F. Aliferis, «GEMS: a system for automated cancer diagnosis and biomarker discovery from microarray gene expression data,» International journal of medical informatics, vol. 74, iss. 7-8, pp. 491-504, 2005.
L. Brown, I. Tsamardinos, and C. Aliferis, «A comparison of novel and state-of-the-art polynomial Bayesian network learning algorithms,» In Proceedings of the national conference on artificial intelligence, vol. 20, iss. 2, pp. 739-745, 2005.
Y. Aphinyanaphongs, I. Tsamardinos, A. Statnikov, D. Hardin, and C. F. Aliferis, «Text categorization models for high-quality article retrieval in internal medicine,» Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, vol. 12, iss. 2, pp. 207-216, 2005.
A. Statnikov, C. F. Aliferis, I. Tsamardinos, D. Hardin, and S. Levy, «A comprehensive evaluation of multicategory classification methods for microarray gene expression cancer diagnosis,» Bioinformatics, vol. 21, iss. 5, pp. 631-643, 2005.
M. Pollack and I. Tsamardinos, «Efficiently dispatching plans encoded as simple temporal problems,» Intelligent Techniques for Planning, pp. 296-319, 2005.
D. Hardin, I. Tsamardinos, and C. Aliferis, «A theoretical characterization of linear SVM-based feature selection,» The Twenty-First International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2004), pp. 48-55, 2004.
L. Brown, I. Tsamardinos, and C. Aliferis, «A novel algorithm for scalable and accurate Bayesian network learning,» in Proceedings of 11th World Congress in Medical Informatics (MEDINFO ’04), vol. 107, iss. 1, pp. 711-715, 2004.
A. Statnikov, C. Aliferis, and I. Tsamardinos, «Methods for multi-category cancer diagnosis from gene expression data: a comprehensive evaluation to inform decision support system development,» in Proceedings of the 11th World Congress in Medical Informatics (MEDINFO ’04), vol. 107, iss. 2, pp. 813-817, 2004.
L. Frey, D. Fisher, I. Tsamardinos, C. F. Aliferis, and A. Statnikov, «Identifying Markov blankets with decision tree induction,» The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM’03), pp. 59-66, 2003.
C. F. Aliferis, I. Tsamardinos, and A. Statnikov, «HITON: a novel Markov Blanket algorithm for optimal variable selection,» the American Medical Informatics Association meeting 2003 (AMIA 2003), pp. 21-25, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos, C. Aliferis, and A. Statnikov, «Time and sample efficient discovery of Markov blankets and direct causal relations,» The Ninth ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2003), pp. 673-678, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos, M. E. Pollack, and S. Ramakrishnan, «Assessing the probability of legal execution of plans with temporal uncertainty,» ICAPS03 Workshop on Planning under Un-certainty and Incomplete Information, pp. 110-118, 2003.
M. E. Pollack, L. Brown, D. Colbry, C. E. McCarthy, C. Orosz, B. Peintner, S. Ramakrishnan, and I. Tsamardinos, «Autominder: An intelligent cognitive orthotic system for people with memory impairment,» Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 44, iss. 3-4, pp. 273-282, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos and M. Pollack, «Efficient solution techniques for disjunctive temporal reasoning problems,» Artificial Intelligence, vol. 151, iss. 1-2, pp. 43-89, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos, T. Vidal, and M. Pollack, «CTP: A new constraint-based formalism for conditional, temporal planning,» Special Issue on Planning of Constraints Journal, vol. 8, iss. 4, pp. 365-388, 2003.
C. Aliferis, I. Tsamardinos, A. Statnikov, and L. Brown, «Causal Explorer: A Causal Probabilistic Network Learning Toolkit for Biomedical Discovery.,» International Conference on Mathematics and Engineering Techniques in Medicine and Biolog-ical Sciences (METMBS ’03), pp. 371-376, 2003.
C. F. Aliferis, I. Tsamardinos, P. Massion, A. Statnikov, and D. Hardin, «Why Classification Models Using Array Gene Expression Data Perform So Well: A Preliminary Investigation of Explanatory Factors.,» International Conference on Mathematics and Engineering Techniques in Medicine and Biological Sciences (METMBS ’03), pp. 47-53, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos, C. Aliferis, A. Statnikov, and E. Statnikov, «Algorithms for Large Scale Markov Blanket Discovery.,» FLAIRS conference, pp. 376-381, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos and C. Aliferis, «Towards Principled Feature Selection: Relevancy, Filters and Wrappers.,» in Ninth International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, AISTAT, 2003.
I. Tsamardinos, «A probabilistic approach to robust execution of temporal plans with uncertainty,» Proceedings of the 2nd Greek National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 2308, pp. 97-108, 2002.
M. E. Pollack, C. E. McCarthy, S. Ramakrishnan, and I. Tsamardinos, «Execution-time plan management for a cognitive orthotic system,» Plan-Based Control of Robotic Agents, vol. 2466, pp. 179-192, 2002.
M. E. Pollack, C. E. McCarthy, S. Ramakrishnan, I. Tsamardinos, L. Brown, S. Carrion, D. Colbry, C. Orosz, and B. Peintner, «Autominder: A planning, monitoring, and reminding assistive agent,» Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), 2002.
A. Berfield, P. K. Chrysanthis, I. Tsamardinos, M. E. Pollack, and S. Banerjee, «A scheme for integrating e-services in establishing virtual enterprises,» 12th International Workshop on Research Issues on Data Engineering (RIDE-02), pp. 134-142, 2002.
C. F. Aliferis, I. Tsamardinos, P. Mansion, A. Statnikov, and D. Hardin, «Machine learning models for lung cancer classification using array comparative genomic hybridization.,» 16th International FLAIRS Conference, pp. 67-71, 2002.
Array CGH is a recently introduced technology that measures changes in the gene copy number of hundreds of genes in a single experiment. The primary goal of this study was to develop machine learning models that classify non-small Lung Cancers according to histopathology types and to compare several machine learning methods in this learning task. DNA from tumors of 37 patients (21 squamous carcinomas, and 16 adenocarcinomas) were extracted and hybridized onto a 452 BAC clone array. The following algorithms were used: KNN, Decision Tree Induction, Support Vector Machines and Feed-Forward Neural Networks. Performance was measured via leave-one-out classification accuracy. The best multi-gene model found had a leave-one-out accuracy of 89.2\%. Decision Trees performed poorer than the other methods in this learning task and dataset. We conclude that gene copy numbers as measured by array CGH are, collectively, an excellent indicator of histological subtype. Several interesting research directions are discussed.
I. Tsamardinos, M. Pollack, and P. Ganchev, «Flexible dispatch of disjunctive plans,» Proceedings of Sixth European Conference on Planning 2001 (ECP-01), pp. 417-422, 2001.
I. Tsamardinos, M. Pollack, and J. Horty, «Merging Plans with Quantitative Temporal Constraints, Temporally Extended Actions, and Conditional Branches.,» Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on AI Planning and Scheduling (AIPS 2000), Breckenridge, CO, April, 2000, pp. 264-272, 2000.
M. Pollack, I. Tsamardinos, and J. Horty, «Adjustable autonomy for a plan management agent,» Proceedings of the 1999 AAAI Spring Symposium on Adjustable Autonomy, 1999.
I. Tsamardinos, N. Muscettola, and P. Morris, «Fast transformation of temporal plans for efficient execution,» Proceedings of the 15th National Conference on Artificial Intelli-gence (AAAI’98), pp. 254-261, 1998.
N. Muscettola, P. Morris, and I. Tsamardinos, «Reformulating temporal plans for efficient execution,» Proceedings of the 6th Conference Principles of Knowledge Represen-tation and Reasoning (KR), pp. 444-452, 1998.
C. Bicchieri, M. Pollack, C. Rovelli, and I. Tsamardinos, «Bicchieri-The\_Potential\_for\_the\_Evolution\_of\_Co-operatin.pdf,» International Journal of Computer-Human Systems, vol. 48, iss. 1, pp. 9-29, 1998.
S. Orphanoudakis, M. Tsiknakis, C. Chronaki, S. Kostomanolakis, M. Zikos, and I. Tsamardinos, «Development of an Integrated Image Management and Communication System on Crete,» Proceedings of Computed Aided Radiology ’95, pp. 481-487, 1995.

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Re A. (A Minor) (Abduction)  1 FLR 365,  Fam Law 54; C. v C. (Minor) (Abduction: Rights of Custody Abroad)  2 All ER 465.
The children, both boys, were aged 9 and 7 1/2 at the date of the alleged second wrongful removal. They had lived in Greece all of their lives. The parents were separated.
On 1 September 1994 the mother took the children to England, her State of origin, to visit her family. The mother did not return. On 28 June 1995 the High Court granted the father's request that the children be returned to Greece under the Hague Convention. On 11 September 1995 the Greek court granted interim custody to the father with contact to the mother.
During a period of contact in September 1996 the mother again made an application to the English court and did not return the children to Greece. The father made a second application under the Convention. On 1 November 1996 the High Court refused the father's application on the grounds that the relevant parts of Article 13 had been made out.
Appeal dismissed and return refused; the standard required under Article 13(1)(b) to indicate the children would face a grave risk of psychological harm had been met.
The approach of the Convention is directed to the welfare of the child but the welfare test generally is to be applied in such a way as to enable the courts of the habitual residence of the child to make the decisions as to what is in the best interests of the child.
In this case the mother refused to return to Greece thus the children, if they were to return, would return alone and inevitably into the care of their father and paternal grandparents pending the hearing by the Greek court. In light of the reports before the court as to the state of mind of the children, it was difficult to override their wishes and feelings. The children had a particularly strong attachment to their mother. The father did not accept that the children had psychological problems. Consequently if the children returned they would not have received any help in the difficult period of adjustment. The court found a grave risk of psychological harm would exist if the children were returned.
Although some of the allegations by the children were found to be untrue, it did not detract from their underlying anxieties, nor to the strength of their feelings. In light of the conclusion on the question of grave risk that it was impossible in this case to separate the return to Greece from the return to the father. This was a situation where the objections of the children to a return to the State of habitual residence and to the parent were inextricably bound. It had never been suggested that the children be separated and therefore they must be considered together. The trial judge had accepted that both children were of sufficient maturity. The Court of Appeal expressed some hesitation about the younger boy but stated that the objections of the older boy, aged 9 1/2 at the time, were well-founded and should be given weight. In exercising its discretion the court noted that the situation facing the children was now very different from that at the time of the first wrongful removal. While it was proper that their views were overridden in 1995, this was no longer the case. Although the conduct of the abducting parent is of importance, there will be rare cases where the court has to look past that conduct to the manifest needs of the children concerned. The grave risk to the children of psychological harm if returned to Greece was of greater consequence than the importance of the court demonstrating its disapproval of the mother's behaviour by refusing to allow her to benefit from the retention.
On occasion an abducting parent will apply in the State of refuge for political asylum or refugee status. Where this has occurred, the State of the child's habitual residence has not normally been a Contracting State to the 1980 Hague Convention. Nevertheless the court seised of the non-Convention return must decide how to weigh general child abduction policy considerations against the actual (or possible) award of refugee status or asylum.
The Matter of the Children's Law Reform Act: Between S. Del Carmen Miranda de Martinez v. G. Martinez-Jarquin (18 July 1990), transcript, Ontario Court; Provincial Division (Canada) [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CA 368].
A Salvadorian abducting parent and children were awarded refugee status by the Canadian Immigration Board. In subsequent abduction proceedings the Ontario Court; Provincial Division held that the findings of the Board should be given significant weight but added that the issue it had to decide was different. It ruled that any perceived conflict between the refugee and child abduction issues should be resolved in favour of the policy enunciated by Ontario and embodied in the Hague Convention. Return ordered.
Kovacs v. Kovacs (2002), 59 O.R. (3d) 671 (Sup. Ct.) [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CA 760].
Hungarian mother and child of Roma origin applied for refugee status on arrival in Canada. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that an order for the return of a child could be made while a refugee claim on behalf of the child was pending. The Hague Convention required that applications for return be dealt with expeditiously. Convention applications could usually be completed within a few months. Refugee claims took a year or more. A refugee claim could not be allowed to defeat the aims of the Convention.
Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Garcia, 2007 FCA 75,  1 F.C.R. 322 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CA 727].
The Federal Court of Appeal decided that the non-return order of the Quebec Court of Appeal in respect of one of the children did not "directly contravene" the deportation order that had been made. Rather the latter ruling simply dismissed the father's application for return of the child - it did not include a specific order as to the child's place of residence. Moreover the finding of the Quebec Court of Appeal in the Hague Convention proceeding that the child had settled into his new environment was not sufficient to justify a stay of the deportation order under the IRPA, s. 50(a).
2008 QCSC 4762, Superior Court of Québec (District of Montreal), No: 500-04-048266-085 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/CA 925].
The mother's application for refugee status did not affect the application of the Hague Convention because the child in this case was an American citizen and had a right to live in the USA.
Re S. (Children) (Abduction: Asylum Appeal)  EWCA Civ 843,  1 WLR 2548 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 590].
'(1) During the period beginning when a person makes a claim for asylum and ending when the Secretary of State gives him notice of the decision on the claim, he may not be removed from, or required to leave, the United Kingdom.
The Court of Appeal accepted the father's argument that section 15 only bound the executive branch and as such did not create an exception to the obligations arising under Article 12 of the Hague Convention nor was it intended to circumscribe the duty and discretion of a judge exercising the wardship jurisdiction of the High Court.
The Court acknowledged that there was a potential question as to the extent to which a family court faced with an abduction case should be obliged to take account or comply with Article 33 of the UN Refugees Convention as a freestanding instrument. It did not give a definite answer but stated it was likely a family judge would at the least pay very careful attention to any credible suggestion that a child might be persecuted if he were returned to his country of origin or habitual residence before making any order that such a return should be effected. Nevertheless on the facts of the case the return order was upheld.
Re H. (Child Abduction: Mother's Asylum)  EWHC 1820,  2 FLR 1105 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 587].
The mother had already been granted refugee status when the father's non-Convention return application was heard. The High Court had to consider Article 33 of UN Refugees Convention.
Neither party sought to argue that the grant of refugee status was determinative, one way or the other, of the return application; rather the father argued that it should be given little weight, the mother substantial weight. In the balancing exercise of the factors for and against the return of the child the trial judge ultimately decided that a return order should be made.
Re F. (Children)(Abduction: Removal Outside Jurisdiction)  EWCA Civ. 854,  2 F.L.R. 1649 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 982].
Return ordered as after 3 years of failed asylum applications evidence was produced that the abducting mother would almost inevitably be deported. Consequently it was in the best interests of the children that they be ordered to return to their former State of habitual residence rather than being removed to the mother's State of nationality.
EM. (Lebanon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department  UKHL 64,  1 A.C. 1198 [INCADAT cite: HC/E/UKe 994].
Les enfants, deux garçons, étaient âgés de 9 et 7 ans ½ à la date du second déplacement dont le caractère illicite était allégué. Ils avaient passé toute leur vie en Grèce. Les parents étaient séparés.
Le 1er septembre 1994, la mère emmena les enfants en Angleterre, son État d'origine, pour y rendre visite à sa famille. Elle ne rentra pas. Le 28 juin 1995, la High Court accueillit la demande de retour du père en application de la Convention de La Haye. Le 11 septembre 1995, la juridiction grecque accorda provisoirement la garde des enfants au père, la mère ayant un droit de visite.
Pendant une période de visite et d'hébergement en septembre 1996, la mère saisit une nouvelle fois les juridictions anglaises et ne renvoya pas les enfants en Grèce. Le père forma une nouvelle demande de retour en application de la Convention. Le 1er novembre 1996, la High Court rejeta la demande du père au motif que les principales conditions de l'exception de l'article 13 étaient remplies.
Appel rejeté et retour refusé ; les conditions exigées par l'article 13 alinéa 1 b étaient remplies, qui indiquaient que les enfants étaient exposés à un risque grave de danger psychologique.
La Convention s’oriente vers le bien-être de l’enfant, mais le critère de l’intérêt de l’enfant doit généralement être appliqué de manière à permettre aux juridictions de l’Etat de résidence habituelle de répondre elles-mêmes à la question de l’intérêt supérieur de l’enfant.
En l’espèce, la mère refusait de rentrer en Grèce ; ainsi les enfants y seraient retournés seuls, le cas échéant, et se seraient inévitablement trouvés sous la responsabilité de leur père et de leurs grands-parents paternels jusqu’à l’instance au fond devant les juridictions grecques. A la lumière des rapports concernant l’état d’esprit des enfants, il était difficile d’aller outre leurs souhaits et leurs sentiments. Les enfants vouaient à leur mère un attachement particulièrement fort. Le père n’acceptait pas leurs difficultés psychologiques. Par conséquent, à leur retour, les enfants n’auraient reçu aucune aide pour surmonter la période de transition. La Cour estima que le retour aurait donc exposé les enfants à un risque grave de danger psychologique.
Bien que certaines allégations des enfants se soient révélées inexactes, cela ne changeait rien à leurs anxiétés sous-jacentes, ni à la force de leurs sentiments. A la lumière des conclusions atteintes quant à la question du risque grave, il était impossible de séparer le problème du retour en Grèce de celui du retour auprès de leur père. Il s’agissait d’une hypothèse dans laquelle l’opposition des enfants au retour dans l’Etat de résidence se trouvait inextricablement liée à celle du retour chez le parent victime. Il ne fut jamais proposé de séparer les enfants, donc leur sort devait être apprécié de la même façon. Le juge estima que les enfants disposaient tous deux d’une maturité suffisante. La Court of Appeal exprima quelques hésitations au regard de l’opposition du cadet, mais considéra que celle de l’aîné, âgé alors de 9 ans 1/2, était fondée et devait être prise en considération. Dans l’exercice de son pouvoir d’appréciation, la Cour estima que la situation des enfants était profondément différente de celle entourant le premier déplacement illicite. Alors qu’en 1995, il était approprié de ne pas tenir compte de leur opinion, ce n’était plus le cas désormais. Bien que le comportement du parent auteur de l’enlèvement soit important, il est de rares cas dans lesquels le juge doit passer outre ce comportement dans l’intérêt manifeste des enfants impliqués. Le risque grave de danger psychologique lié au retour des enfants en Grèce importait davantage que la manifestation par la Cour de sa désapprobation de l’attitude de la mère qui se serait traduit par le refus de lui accorder le bénéfice du non-retour.
Dans certaines affaires, le parent ayant emmené l'enfant a demandé l'asile politique ou un statut de réfugié dans l'État de refuge. Généralement dans ces affaires, l'État de la résidence habituelle de l'enfant n'était pas partie à la Convention de La Haye de 1980. Le tribunal saisi avait néanmoins dû mettre en balance les principes sous-tendant le traitement légal des enlèvements d'enfant et l'obtention (passée ou potentielle) du statut de réfugié par le parent ayant emmené l'enfant.
The Matter of the Children's Law Reform Act: Between S. Del Carmen Miranda de Martinez v. G. Martinez-Jarquin (18 July 1990), transcript, Ontario Court; Provincial Division (Canada) [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/CA 368].
Un parent avait emmené ses enfants au Canada. Originaires d'El Salvador, ils avaient obtenu le statut de réfugié au Canada. Une demande de retour fut introduite. Le juge indiqua qu'il convenait d'attacher une grande importance à la décision accordant le statut de réfugié et qu'il convenait de ne pas la remettre en cause. Toutefois, le juge estima que la demande dont il était saisi était de nature différente. Le juge décida que tout conflit entre les questions d'immigration et d'enlèvements d'enfants devait être résolu en faveur des principes auxquels la province de l'Ontario était attachée, lesquels sont incorporés dans la Convention de La Haye. Le retour fut ordonné.
Kovacs v. Kovacs (2002), 59 O.R. (3d) 671 (Sup. Ct.) [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/CA 760].
La mère, hongroise, et l'enfant d'origine Rome, demandèrent le statut de réfugié à leur arrivée au Canada. La cour décida qu'il était possible d'ordonner le retour d'un enfant alors même qu'on avait fait une demande d'asile en son nom. La Convention exigeait que les demandes de retour fassent l'objet d'un traitement rapide (quelques mois) alors que les demandes d'asile prenaient un an ou plus. Une demande d'asile ne devait pas empêcher l'application des principes de la Convention.
Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Garcia, 2007 FCA 75,  1 F.C.R. 322 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/CA 727].
La Cour d'appel fédérale jugea que la décision de non-retour de la Cour d'appel du Québec concernant un des enfants n'allait pas directement à l'encontre de l'ordre d'expulsion précédemment émis. En effet, la Cour d'appel du Québec s'est contentée de refuser la demande de retour faite par le père et n'a formulé aucun ordre spécifique quant au lieu de résidence de l'enfant. De plus, le jugement de la Cour d'appel du Québec pris en vertu de la Convention de la Haye et selon lequel l'enfant s'était intégré à son nouvel environnement n'était pas suffisant pour justifier un sursis à l'exécution de l'ordre d'expulsion émis conformément à la section 50(a) de la LIPR.
2008 QCSC 4762, Superior Court of Québec (District of Montreal), No: 500-04-048266-085 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/CA 925].
La demande de statut de réfugié de la mère n'a pas affecté la demande faite en vertu de la Convention de la Haye car l'enfant était en l'espèce de nationalité américaine et avait le droit de résider aux Etats-Unis.
Re S. (Children) (Abduction: Asylum Appeal)  EWCA Civ 843,  1 WLR 2548 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/UKe 590].
« (1) Entre le moment où le demandeur d'asile introduit sa demande et celui où le secrétaire d'État lui notifie la décision prise, il ne peut être expulsé du Royaume-Uni et on ne lui demander de quitter le territoire.
La cour d'appel indiqua que l'article 15 ne faisait pas exception aux obligations découlant de l'article 12 de la Convention de La Haye ni n'était de nature à affecter les obligations et pouvoirs des juges tutélaires.
Il fut reconnu que l'article 15 donnait effet dans le droit britannique aux dispositions de l'article 33 de la Convention des Nations Unies sur le statut des réfugiés de 1951. La cour estima cependant que le premier article n'avait pas un domaine d'application aussi vaste que celui de la Convention de 1951 et qu'on pouvait se poser la question de savoir dans quelle mesure un juge aux affaires familiales saisi d'une demande de retour était tenu de prendre en compte l'article 33 lui-même. La cour ne se prononça pas clairement sur ce point mais indiqua qu'il était probable qu'un juge aux affaires familiales accorderait toute son attention à toute suggestion laissant entendre qu'un enfant ferait l'objet de persécutions dans son État d'origine avant de décider d'ordonner ou non le retour de l'enfant dans cet État.
La cour d'appel releva par ailleurs que la mère ne pouvait de toute façon pas bénéficier de l'article 15 dans la mesure où elle avait déjà reçu notification de la décision du Secrétaire d'État.
Appel rejeté et retour ordonné ; il était dans l'intérêt supérieur des enfants de rentrer en Inde et les règles relatives aux demandeurs d'asile ne s'opposaient pas à cette solution.
Re H. (Child Abduction: Mother's Asylum)  EWHC 1820,  2 FLR 1105 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/UKe 587].
La mère avait obtenu le statut de refugié lorsque la demande de retour formée par le père sur un fondement non conventionnel fut entendue. La High Court a dû analyser l'article 33 de la Convention des Nations Unies de 1951 relative au statut des réfugiés.
Quoiqu'aucune des parties n'ait prétendu que l'obtention du droit d'asile par la mère impliquait une ordonnance de non-retour, la mère alléguait que le tribunal devait accorder une grande importance à sa situation tandis que le père estimait que cet élément ne devait pas avoir un poids fondamental.
Re F. (Children) (Abduction: Removal Outside Jurisdiction)  EWCA Civ. 854,  2 F.L.R. 1649 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/UKe 982].
La Cour ordonna le retour au Mozambique, attachant une grande importance à des éléments de preuve nouveaux qui révélaient la précarité de la présence de la mère en Angleterre; elle avait vu ses demandes d'asile rejetées pendant 3 ans. Les enfants n'avaient donc, de fait, aucune chance de rester au Royaume-Uni. En outre, renvoyer les enfants au Mozambique (l'État de leur résidence habituelle) dans le cadre de cette instance permettait d'éviter que la mère et les enfants soient déportés à la République démocratique du Congo, dont la mère était ressortissante.
E.M. (Lebanon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department  UKHL 64,  3 W.L.R. 931 [Référence INCADAT : HC/E/UKe 994].
Il s'agissait en l'espèce d'une affaire d'immigration. La demande d'asile de la mère avait été refusée, mais son argument selon lequel le retour aurait violé son droit et le droit de son enfant au respect de la vie familiale selon l'article 8 de la Convention européenne des Droits de l'Homme (CEDH) avait finalement prévalu. Toutefois il importe de noter qu'en l'espèce « le foyer » de l'enfant ne se composait que de sa mère puisque que le père n'avait eu aucun contact avec lui depuis sa naissance. Par une majorité de 4 contre 1, les juges ont estimé que le droit de la famille libanais, quoique de nature discriminatoire puisqu'il impose le transfert automatique de la responsabilité de l'enfant de la mère au père le jour de son 7e anniversaire, ne viole pas en principe la CEDH.
Los menores, ambos niños, tenían 9 y 7 años y medio a la fecha del segundo supuesto traslado ilícito. Habían vivido en Grecia toda su vida. Sus padres estaban separados.
El 1 de septiembre de 1994 la madre se llevó a los niños a Inglaterra, su Estado de origen, con el fin de visitar a su familia. La madre no regresó. El 28 de junio de 1995 el Tribunal Superior(High Court) hizo lugar a la solicitud del padre de restitución de los menores a Grecia en el marco del Convenio de la Haya. El 11 de septiembre de 1995 un Tribunal Griego otorgó custodia provisional al padre y derecho de visitas a la madre.
Durante un periodo de visitas la madre presentó una solicitud ante un Tribunal Inglés y no restituyó los menores a Grecia. El padre presentó una segunda solicitud para la restitución de los menores en el marco del Convenio de la Haya. El 1 de noviembre de 1996 el Tribunal Superior (High Court) rechazó la solicitud presentada por el padre basándose en que se habían planteado las partes más relevantes del artículo 13.
Apelación rechazada; restitución denegada; se probó la medida exigida en virtud del artículo 13 (1)(b), de que el menor enfrentaría un riesgo grave de daño psicológico y, por lo tanto, se rechazó la restitución.
El abordaje del Convenio apunta al bienestar del niño sin embargo el test de bienestar generalmente se aplica a fin de posibilitar que los tribunales de residencia habitual del niño tomen decisiones para beneficio del menor.
En este caso la madre se negó a regresar a Grecia, por lo tanto los niños, sí debían regresar lo harían solos e inevitablemente quedarían a cuidado del padre y de los abuelos paternos hasta la realización de la audiencia del tribunal Griego. A la luz de los informes presentados ante el tribunal respecto de los estados de ánimo de los niños, era muy difícil no considerar sus deseos y sentimientos. Los niños especialmente tenían un fuerte apego a su madre. El padre no aceptó que los niños tenían problemas psicológicos. Por consiguiente, si los niños regresaban no recibirían ningún tipo de apoyo durante el difícil periodo de conciliación. El tribunal sostuvo que si los niños regresaban con su padre enfrentarían un grave riesgo de daño psicológico.
Aunque se concluyó que algunas de las declaraciones de los niños eran falsas, este hecho no resto importancia a sus ansiedades subyacentes, ni siquiera a la fuerza de sus sentimientos. A la luz de estas conclusiones, en cuanto a la cuestión del riesgo de daño, era muy difícil separar el regreso a Grecia del regreso con su padre. Esta fue una situación en la cual las objeciones, por parte de los niños respecto de ambos regresos: a su Estado de origen y con su padre, estaban inextricablemente vinculadas. Nunca se había sugerido que los niños fueran separados y por lo tanto debían permanecer juntos. El juez de primera instancia había aceptado que ambos niños tenían la madurez suficiente. El Tribunal de Apelaciones expresó dudas sobre el niño más pequeño pero dijo que las objeciones del niño mayor, de 9 años y medio, estaban muy bien fundadas y se les daría mayor importancia. Al ejercer su discreción, el tribunal señaló que la situación que enfrentaban los niños ahora era muy diferente a la situación en que se encontraban al momento del primer traslado ilícito. Aunque también era evidente que sus opiniones no habían sido consideradas en 1995, este ya no era el caso. Aunque la conducta del padre sustractor es importante, existirán casos atípicos en los que el tribunal tiene que restarle importancia a esa conducta para manifestar preocupación por las necesidades de los niños. El grave riesgo de daño psicológico que corrían los niños si regresaban a Grecia era más importante que la desaprobación del tribunal respecto del comportamiento demostrado por la madre al no habérsele concedido la retención.
En ocasiones un padre sustractor solicitará asilo político o la condición de refugiado en el Estado de refugio. Cuando esto ocurre, el Estado de residencia habitual del menor normalmente no es un Estado contratante del Convenio de La Haya de 1980. No obstante ello, el tribunal que conoce de la restitución a la que no se aplica el Convenio debe decidir cómo ponderar las consideraciones generales de política de sustracción de menores respecto del otorgamiento real (o posible) de la condición de refugiado o de asilo.
El Consejo de Inmigración Canadiense reconoció la condición de refugiado a un sustractor salvadoreño y a sus hijos. En procedimientos de sustracción subsiguientes, la sala provincial del Tribunal de Ontario sostuvo que se le debería dar un peso significativo a las conclusiones del Consejo, pero agregó que la cuestión que tenía que decidir era diferente. Declaró que todos los conflictos entre las cuestiones de la condición de refugiado y la sustracción de menores deberían resolverse a favor de la política enunciada por Ontario y consagrada en el Convenio de La Haya. La restitución fue ordenada.
Una madre húngara y un menor de origen rumano solicitaron la condución de refugiado al llegar a Canadá. El Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Ontario declaró que se podía dictar una orden de restitución de un menor mientras estuviera pendiente una solicitud de refugio en nombre del menor. El Convenio de La Haya requiere que las solicitudes de restitución sean tramitadas con celeridad. Usualmente las solicitudes de restitución en aplicación del Convenio pueden ser tramitadas en unos pocos meses, mientras que la solicitud de la condición de refugiado lleva un año o más. No se puede permitir que una solicitud de refugio frustre los objetivos del Convenio.
Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Garcia, 2007 FCA 75,  1 F.C.R. 322 [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/CA 727].
El Tribunal Federal de Apelaciones decidió que la orden de no restitución del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Quebec respecto de uno de los niños no contravenía directamente la orden de deportación que había sido dictada. Esta decisión más bien desestimaba la solicitud de restitución presentada por el padre: no incluía un pronunciamiento específico sobre el lugar de residencia del niño. Además, el hecho de que el Tribunal de Apelaciones de Quebec considerara que el niño se encontraba integrado a su nuevo medio no era suficiente para justificar suspender la decisión de deportación dictada conforme a la Ley sobre Inmigracion y Proteccion de los Refugiados (IRPA s. 50(a)).
2008 QCSC 4762, Superior Court of Québec (District of Montreal), No: 500-04-048266-085, [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/CA 925].
La solicitud de la madre para que se le reconociera la condición de refugiada no afectó la solicitud realizada en aplicación del Convenio de La Haya, porque el niño era estadounidense y tenía derecho a vivir en Estados Unidos.
"(1) Durante el período que comienza cuando una persona solicita asilo y que finaliza cuando el Secretario de Estado le notifica la decisión respecto de la solicitud, la persona no puede ser trasladada del Reino Unido, ni se le puede exigir que abandone el Reino Unido.
(2) El inciso (1) no impide (a) que se dicten directivas para su traslado durante ese período; (b) que se expida una orden de deportación durante ese período."
El Tribunal de Apelaciones aceptó el argumento del padre de que el artículo 15 solo era vinculante para el poder ejecutivo y como tal no creaba ninguna excepción a las obligaciones que surgen del artículo 12 del Convenio de La Haya ni estaba dirigido a circunscribir las obligaciones y la discreción de un juez que ejerza la función de tutor.
El Tribunal reconoció que existía un posible interrogante en cuanto al punto hasta el cual un tribunal de familia que conoce de una sustracción debería tener en cuenta o cumplir con el artículo 33 de la Convención sobre Refugiados de Naciones Unidas como instrumento autónomo. No brindó ninguna respuesta definitiva sino que estableció que era probable que un juez de familia al menos prestara muy cuidadosa atención a cualquier sugerencia creíble de que el menor pudiera sufrir persecuciones si fuera restituido a su país de origen o de residencia habitual antes de expedir una orden de que se debería efectuar dicho traslado. No obstante, en virtud de los hechos del caso, la orden de restitución fue confirmada.
Re H. (Child Abduction: Mother's Asylum)  EWHC 1820,  2 FLR 1105 [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/UKe 587].
Ya se le había otorgado el estado de refugiada a la madre cuando el tribunal dio tratamiento a la solicitud de presentada por el padre tendiente a la restitución no regulada por el Convenio. El Tribunal Superior tuvo que considerar el artículo 33 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Estatuto de los Refugiados de 1951.
Ninguna de las partes pretendió argumentar que el reconocimiento de la condición de refugiado era determinante, de un modo u otro, de la solicitud de restitución; en cambio, el padre argumentó que se le debería dar poco peso; la madre, peso substancial. En el ejercicio de evaluar los factores a favor y en contra de la restitución del menor, el juez de primera instancia finalmente decidió que se debía ordenar la restitución.
Re F. (Children)(Abduction: Removal Outside Jurisdiction)  EWCA Civ. 854,  2 F.L.R. 1649 [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/UKe 982].
La restitucion fue ordenada ya que después de 3 años de solicitudes de asilo fallidas se produjeron pruebas de que la madre sustractora sería casi inevitablemente deportada. En consecuencia, atendía al superior interés de los menores que se ordenara la restitución a su antiguo Estado de residencia habitual en lugar de trasladarlos al Estado de la nacionalidad de la madre.
EM. (Lebanon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department  UKHL 64,  1 A.C. 1198 [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/UKe 994].
Caso exclusivamente sobre inmigración. La solicitud de asilo de la madre fracasó, pero finalmente tuvo éxito en argumentar que una restitución conduciría a una violación a su derecho y el del menor a una vida familiar en virtud del artículo 8 del Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos (CEDH). Sin embargo, cabe observar que en los hechos la única "vida familiar" del menor era con la madre, dado que el padre no tenia ningún tipo de contacto con el menor desde el día de su nacimiento. Una mayoría del panel (4:1) sostuvo que el carácter discriminatorio del Derecho de familia libanés, que habría llevado a la transferencia automática del cuidado del menor de la madre al padre una vez que el menor cumpliera 7 años, no habría acarreado una violación de los derechos que prevé el Convenio.
Klentzeris v. Klentzeris  EWCA Civ 533,  2 FLR 996 [Referencia INCADAT: HC/E/UKe 931].

matches: v. v. v. EWCA EWCA v. UKHL v. v. v. EWCA EWCA v. UKHL v. EWCA v. UKHL v. EWCA


§ 269-4 Exemption reduced to zero.
§ 269-6 No exemption to be granted.
§ 269-7 Criteria for grant of exemption.
§ 269-8 Application for exemption.
§ 269-10 Information provided by applicants.
§ 269-12 Taxable property designated.
§ 269-13 Ad valorem levies and special assessments.
§ 269-14 Legislative intent; purpose.
§ 269-15 Collection of property taxes; tax lien sales.
§ 269-16 Filing of provisions.
§ 269-19 Imposition of tax.
§ 269-22 Disposition of revenues.
§ 269-23 Collection and enforcement; rules and regulations.
§ 269-24 Returns; filing and contents.
§ 269-26 Penalties and interest.
§ 269-28 Review of final determination.
§ 269-31 Review of proceedings for refunds.
§ 269-32 Limitation of additional tax.
§ 269-33 Powers of Village Treasurer.
§ 269-37 Findings of fact.
§ 269-40 Abolishment of Village as assessing unit.
§ 269-41 Abolishment of position of Assessor.
§ 269-42 Abolishment Board of Assessment Review.
§ 269-43 Taxes to be levied by the Town of Greenburgh.
§ 269-44 Copies to be filed.
§ 269-50 Registration; certificate of authority to collect.
§ 269-51 Administration and collection.
§ 269-52 Records to be kept.
§ 269-53 Filing of returns.
§ 269-54 Determination of tax; reviewability.
§ 269-55 Payment of taxes.
§ 269-56 Disposition of revenues.
§ 269-60 Penalties and interest.
§ 269-61 Returns to be secret.
§ 269-62 Notices and limitations of time.


complex, but the phrase as quoted presents the issue for our decision.
The parties, reflecting a similar division among various Courts of Appeals, disagree over the interpretation of the unless clause in the following circumstance. What if the State restoring the offender's rights forbids possession of some firearms, say pistols, but not others, say rifles? In one sense, he "may not ... possess ... firearms" under the unless clause because the ban on specified weapons is a ban on "firearms." In another sense, he can possess firearms under the unless clause because the state ban is not absolute. Compare, e. g., United States v. Estrella, 104 F.3d 3, 8 (CA1) (adopting former reading), cert. denied, 521 U. S. 1110 (1997), and United States v. Driscoll, 970 F.2d 1472, 14801481 (CA6 1992) (same), cert. denied, 506 U. S. 1083 (1993), with United States v. Qualls, 140 F.3d 824, 826 (CA9 1998) (en banc) (intermediate position), and United States v. Shoemaker, 2 F.3d 53, 55-56 (CA4 1993) (same), cert. denied, 510 U. S. 1047 (1994).
The Government contends the class of criminals who "may not ... possess ... firearms" includes those forbidden to have some guns but not others. On this reading, the restoration of rights is of no effect here, the previous offenses are chargeable, and petitioner's sentence must be enhanced. On appeal, the Government's position prevailed in the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and we now affirm its judgment.
Petitioner Gerald Caron has an extensive criminal record, including felonies. In Massachusetts state court, he was convicted in 1958 of attempted breaking and entering at night and, in 1959 and 1963, of breaking and entering at night. In California state court, he was convicted in 1970 of assault with intent to commit murder and attempted murder.
brandished the rifle in his face, and pointed it at his wife, his daughters, and his 3-year-old grandson. Police officers disarmed and arrested petitioner.
In September 1993, a federal agent called on petitioner at home to determine if he had other unlawful firearms. Petitioner said he had only flintlock or other antique weapons (not forbidden by law) and owned no conventional firearms. Federal law, the agent told him, forbade his possession of firearms and was not superseded by state law. In December 1993, agents executed a search warrant at petitioner's house, seizing six rifles and shotguns and 6,823 rounds of ammunition.
A federal jury convicted petitioner of four counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition after having been convicted of a serious offense. See 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(1). The District Court enhanced his sentence because he was at least a three-time violent felon, based on his one California and three Massachusetts convictions. See § 924(e). Petitioner claimed the court should not have counted his Massachusetts convictions because his civil rights had been restored by operation of Massachusetts law. Massachusetts law allowed petitioner to possess rifles or shotguns, as he had the necessary firearm permit and his felony convictions were more than five years old. Mass. Gen. Laws §§ 140:123, 140:129B, 140:129C (1996). The law forbade him to possess handguns outside his home or business. See §§ 140:121, 140:131, 269:10.
At first, the District Court rejected the claim that Massachusetts had restored petitioner's civil rights. It held civil rights had to be restored by an offender-specific action rather than by operation of law. The First Circuit disagreed, vacating the sentence and remanding the case. United States v. Caron, 77 F.3d 1, 2, 6 (1996) (en banc). We denied certiorari. 518 U. S. 1027 (1996). On remand, the District Court, interpreting the unless clause of the federal statute, disregarded the Massachusetts convictions.
It ruled Massachusetts law did not forbid petitioner's possession of firearms because he could possess rifles. 941 F. Supp. 238, 251-254 (Mass. 1996). Though Massachusetts restricted petitioner's right to carry a handgun, the District Court considered the restriction irrelevant because his case involved rifles and shotguns. See ibid. The First Circuit reversed, counting the convictions because petitioner remained subject to significant firearms restrictions. We granted certiorari. 522 U. S. 1038 (1998).
"to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce." 18 U. S. C. § 922(g).
Three-time violent felons who violate § 922(g) face enhanced sentences of at least 15 years' imprisonment. § 924(e)(1). "Violent felony" is defined to include burglary and other crimes creating a serious risk of physical injury. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). This term includes petitioner's previous offenses discussed above.
Not all violent felony convictions, however, count for purposes of § 922(g) or § 924(e). Until 1986, federal law alone determined whether a state conviction counted, regardless of whether the State had expunged the conviction.
"What constitutes a conviction of such a crime shall be determined in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held. Any conviction which has been expunged, or set aside or for which a person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored shall not be considered a conviction for purposes of this chapter, unless such pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms." § 921(a)(20).
The first sentence and the first clause of the second sentence define convictions, pardons, expungements, and restorations of civil rights by reference to the law of the convicting jurisdiction. See Beecham v. United States, 511 U. S. 368, 371 (1994).
Aside from the unless clause, the parties agree Massachusetts law has restored petitioner's civil rights. As for the unless clause, state law permits him to possess rifles and shotguns but forbids him to possess handguns outside his home or business. The question presented is whether the handgun restriction activates the unless clause, making the convictions count under federal law.
dress the point agree. See Caron, 77 F. 3d, at 2; McGrath v. United States, 60 F.3d 1005, 1008 (CA2 1995), cert. denied, 516 U. S. 1121 (1996); United States v. Hall, 20 F.3d 1066, 1068-1069 (CAlO 1994); United States v. Glaser, 14 F.3d 1213, 1218 (CA7 1994); United States v. Thomas, 991 F.2d 206, 212-213 (CA5), cert. denied, 510 U. S. 1014 (1993); United States v. Dahms, 938 F.2d 131, 133-134 (CA9 1991); United States v. Essick, 935 F.2d 28, 30-31 (CA4 1991); United States v. Cassidy, 899 F.2d 543, 550, and n. 14 (CA6 1990).
Second, the District Court ruled, and petitioner urges here, that the unless clause allows an offender to possess what state law permits him to possess, and nothing more. Here, petitioner's shotguns and rifles were permitted by state law, so, under their theory, the weapons would not be covered by the unless clause. While we do not dispute the common sense of this approach, the words of the statute do not permit it. The unless clause is activated if a restoration of civil rights "expressly provides that the person may not ... possess ... firearms." 18 U. S. C. § 921(a)(20). Either the restorations forbade possession of "firearms" and the convictions count for all purposes, or they did not and the convictions count not at all. The unless clause looks to the terms of the past restorations alone and does not refer to the weapons at issue in the present case. So if the Massachusetts convictions count for some purposes, they count for all and bar possession of all guns.
The phrase "may not ... possess ... firearms," then, must be interpreted under either of what the parties call the two "all-or-nothing" approaches. Either it applies when the State forbids one or more types of firearms, as the Government contends; or it does not apply if state law permits one or more types of firearms, regardless of the one possessed in the particular case.
Under the Government's approach, a state weapons limitation on an offender activates the uniform federal ban on possessing any firearms at all. This is so even if the guns the offender possessed were ones the State permitted him to have. The State has singled out the offender as more dangerous than law-abiding citizens, and federal law uses this determination to impose its own broader stricture.
Although either reading creates incongruities, petitioner's approach yields results contrary to a likely, and rational, congressional policy. If permission to possess one firearm entailed permission to possess all, then state permission to have a pistol would allow possession of an assault weapon as well. Under this view, if petitioner, in violation of state law, had possessed a handgun, the unless clause would still not apply because he could have possessed a rifle. Not only would this strange result be inconsistent with any conceivable federal policy, but it also would arise often enough to impair the working of the federal statute. Massachusetts, in this case, and some 15 other States choose to restore civil rights while restricting firearm rights in part. The permissive reading would make these partial restrictions a nullity under federal law, indeed in the egregious cases with the most dangerous weapons. Congress cannot have intended this bizarre result.
for this caution is borne out by petitioner's rifle attack on the Miller family, in which petitioner used a gun permitted by state law. Any other result would reduce federal law to a sentence enhancement for some state-law violations, a result inconsistent with the congressional intent we recognized in Dickerson. Permission to possess one gun cannot mean permission to possess all.
Congress responded to our ruling in Dickerson by providing that the law of the State of conviction, not federal law, determines the restoration of civil rights as a rule. While state law is the source of law for restorations of other civil rights, however, it does not follow that state law also controls the unless clause. Under the Government's approach, with which we agree, the federal policy still governs the interpretation of the unless clause. We see nothing contradictory in this analysis. Restoration of the right to vote, the right to hold office, and the right to sit on a jury turns on so many complexities and nuances that state law is the most convenient source for definition. As to the possession of weapons, however, the Federal Government has an interest in a single, national, protective policy, broader than required by state law. Petitioner's approach would undermine this protective purpose.
As a final matter, petitioner says his reading is required by the rule of lenity, but his argument is unavailing. The rule of lenity is not invoked by a grammatical possibility. It does not apply if the ambiguous reading relied on is an implausible reading of the congressional purpose. See United States v. Shabani, 513 U. S. 10, 17 (1994) (requiring use of traditional tools of statutory construction to resolve ambiguities before resorting to the rule of lenity). For the reasons we have explained, petitioner's reading is not plausible enough to satisfy this condition.
JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA and JusTICE SOUTER join, dissenting.
The only limitation that Massachusetts law imposed on petitioner's possession of firearms was that he could not carry handguns outside his home or business. See ante, at 311. In my view, Massachusetts law did not "expressly provid[e]" that petitioner "may not ... possess ... firearms," 18 U. S. C. § 921(a)(20), and thus petitioner cannot be sentenced as an armed career criminal under § 924(e). Because the Court holds to the contrary, I respectfully dissent.
*Petitioner was "entitled to" a firearm identification card five years after his release from prison. See Mass. Gen. Laws § 140:129B (1996); see also Commonwealth v. Landry, 6 Mass. App. 404, 406, 376 N. E. 2d 1243, 1245 (1978) (firearm identification card can be obtained as a "matter of right").
sessing only certain firearms (handguns) in only certain places (outside his home or office), Massachusetts law did not expressly provide that petitioner could not possess firearms.
The plain meaning of § 921(a)(20) thus resolves this case.
The Court, however, rejects this plain meaning on the basis of "a likely, and rational, congressional policy" of prohibiting firearms possession by all ex-felons whose ability to possess certain firearms is in any way restricted by state law. Ante, at 315. According to the Court, Congress could not have intended the "bizarre result" that a conviction would not count as a violent felony if a State only partially restricts the possession of firearms by the ex-felon. But this would not be a bizarre result at all. Under § 921(a)(20), state-law limitations on firearms possession are only relevant once it has been established that an ex-felon's other civil rights, such as the right to vote, the right to seek and to hold public office, and the right to serve on a jury, have been restored. See 77 F.3d 1, 2 (CA1 1996). In restoring those rights, the State has presumably deemed such ex-felons worthy of participating in civic life. Once a State makes such a decision, it is entirely rational (and certainly not bizarre) for Congress to authorize the increased sentences in § 924(e) only when the State additionally prohibits those ex-felons from possessing firearms altogether.
weapons possessions that are already illegal under state law. And such a purpose is consistent with the statutory direction that state law controls what constitutes a conviction for a violent felony.
I believe that the plain meaning of the statute is that Massachusetts did not "expressly provid[e]" that petitioner "may not ... possess ... firearms." At the very least, this interpretation is a plausible one. Indeed, both the Government and the Court concede as much. See Brief for United States 16 ("grammatically possible" to read statute to say that its condition is not satisfied if the State does permit its felons to possess some firearms); ante, at 316 (this "reading is not plausible enough"). Accordingly, it is far from clear under the statute that a prior state conviction counts as a violent felony conviction for purposes of § 924(e) just because the State imposes some restriction, no matter how slight, on firearms possession by ex-felons. The rule of lenity must therefore apply: "[T]he Court will not interpret a federal criminal statute so as to increase the penalty that it places on an individual when such an interpretation can be based on no more than a guess as to what Congress intended." Ladner v. United States, 358 U. S. 169, 178 (1958). Ex-felons cannot be expected to realize that a federal statute that explicitly relies on state law prohibits behavior that state law allows.
The Court rejects the rule of lenity in this case because it thinks the purported statutory ambiguity rests on a "grammatical possibility" and "an implausible reading of the congressional purpose." Ante, at 316. But the alleged ambiguity does not result from a mere grammatical possibility; it exists because of an interpretation that, for the reasons I have described, both accords with a natural reading of the statutory language and is consistent with the statutory purpose.
possess ... firearms." This interpretation is, at the very least, a plausible one, and the rule of lenity must apply. I would therefore reverse the judgment below.