A semantic and agent-based approach to support information retrieval, interoperability and multi-lateral viewpoints for heterogeneous environmental databases

PhDData stored in individual autonomous databases often needs to be combined and interrelated. For example, in the Inland Water (IW) environment monitoring domain, the spatial and temporal variation of measurements of different water quality indicators stored in different databases are of interest. Data from multiple data sources is more complex to combine when there is a lack of metadata in a computation forin and when the syntax and semantics of the stored data models are heterogeneous. The main types of information retrieval (IR) requirements are query transparency and data harmonisation for data interoperability and support for multiple user views. A combined Semantic Web based and Agent based distributed system framework has been developed to support the above IR requirements. It has been implemented using the Jena ontology and JADE agent toolkits. The semantic part supports the interoperability of autonomous data sources by merging their intensional data, using a Global-As-View or GAV approach, into a global semantic model, represented in DAML+OIL and in OWL. This is used to mediate between different local database views. The agent part provides the semantic services to import, align and parse semantic metadata instances, to support data mediation and to reason about data mappings during alignment. The framework has applied to support information retrieval, interoperability and multi-lateral viewpoints for four European environmental agency databases. An extended GAV approach has been developed and applied to handle queries that can be reformulated over multiple user views of the stored data. This allows users to retrieve data in a conceptualisation that is better suited to them rather than to have to understand the entire detailed global view conceptualisation. User viewpoints are derived from the global ontology or existing viewpoints of it. This has the advantage that it reduces the number of potential conceptualisations and their associated mappings to be more computationally manageable. Whereas an ad hoc framework based upon conventional distributed programming language and a rule framework could be used to support user views and adaptation to user views, a more formal framework has the benefit in that it can support reasoning about the consistency, equivalence, containment and conflict resolution when traversing data models. A preliminary formulation of the formal model has been undertaken and is based upon extending a Datalog type algebra with hierarchical, attribute and instance value operators. These operators can be applied to support compositional mapping and consistency checking of data views. The multiple viewpoint system was implemented as a Java-based application consisting of two sub-systems, one for viewpoint adaptation and management, the other for query processing and query result adjustment

Exploration de la dynamique humaine basée sur des données massives de réseaux sociaux de géolocalisation : analyse et applications

Human dynamics is an essential aspect of human centric computing. As a transdisciplinary research field, it focuses on understanding the underlying patterns, relationships, and changes of human behavior. By exploring human dynamics, we can understand not only individual’s behavior, such as a presence at a specific place, but also collective behaviors, such as social movement. Understanding human dynamics can thus enable various applications, such as personalized location based services. However, before the availability of ubiquitous smart devices (e.g., smartphones), it is practically hard to collect large-scale human behavior data. With the ubiquity of GPS-equipped smart phones, location based social media has gained increasing popularity in recent years, making large-scale user activity data become attainable. Via location based social media, users can share their activities as real-time presences at Points of Interests (POIs), such as a restaurant or a bar, within their social circles. Such data brings an unprecedented opportunity to study human dynamics. In this dissertation, based on large-scale location centric social media data, we study human dynamics from both individual and collective perspectives. From individual perspective, we study user preference on POIs with different granularities and its applications in personalized location based services, as well as the spatial-temporal regularity of user activities. From collective perspective, we explore the global scale collective activity patterns with both country and city granularities, and also identify their correlations with diverse human culturesLa dynamique humaine est un sujet essentiel de l'informatique centrée sur l’homme. Elle se concentre sur la compréhension des régularités sous-jacentes, des relations, et des changements dans les comportements humains. En analysant la dynamique humaine, nous pouvons comprendre non seulement des comportements individuels, tels que la présence d’une personne à un endroit précis, mais aussi des comportements collectifs, comme les mouvements sociaux. L’exploration de la dynamique humaine permet ainsi diverses applications, entre autres celles des services géo-dépendants personnalisés dans des scénarios de ville intelligente. Avec l'omniprésence des smartphones équipés de GPS, les réseaux sociaux de géolocalisation ont acquis une popularité croissante au cours des dernières années, ce qui rend les données de comportements des utilisateurs disponibles à grande échelle. Sur les dits réseaux sociaux de géolocalisation, les utilisateurs peuvent partager leurs activités en temps réel avec par l'enregistrement de leur présence à des points d'intérêt (POIs), tels qu’un restaurant. Ces données d'activité contiennent des informations massives sur la dynamique humaine. Dans cette thèse, nous explorons la dynamique humaine basée sur les données massives des réseaux sociaux de géolocalisation. Concrètement, du point de vue individuel, nous étudions la préférence de l'utilisateur quant aux POIs avec des granularités différentes et ses applications, ainsi que la régularité spatio-temporelle des activités des utilisateurs. Du point de vue collectif, nous explorons la forme d'activité collective avec les granularités de pays et ville, ainsi qu’en corrélation avec les cultures globale

Modelling religious signalling

The origins of human social cooperation confound simple evolutionary explanation. But from Darwin and Durkheim onwards, theorists (anthropologists and sociologists especially) have posited a potential link with another curious and distinctively human social trait that cries out for explanation: religion. This dissertation explores one contemporary theory of the co-evolution of religion and human social cooperation: the signalling theory of religion, or religious signalling theory (RST). According to the signalling theory, participation in social religion (and its associated rituals and sanctions) acts as an honest signal of one's commitment to a religiously demarcated community and its way of doing things. This signal would allow prosocial individuals to positively assort with one another for mutual advantage, to the exclusion of more exploitative individuals. In effect, the theory offers a way that religion and cooperation might explain one another, but which that stays within an individualist adaptive paradigm. My approach is not to assess the empirical adequacy of the religious signalling explanation or contrast it with other explanations, but rather to deal with the theory in its own terms - isolating and fleshing out its core commitments, explanatory potential, and limitations. The key to this is acknowledging the internal complexities of signalling theory, with respect to the available models of honest signalling and the extent of their fit (or otherwise) with religion as a target system. The method is to take seriously the findings of formal modelling in animal signalling and other disciplines, and to apply these (and methods from the philosophy of biology more generally) to progressively build up a comprehensive picture of the theory, its inherent strengths and weaknesses. The first two chapters outline the dual explanatory problems that cooperation and religion present for evolutionary human science, and surveys contemporary approaches toward explaining them. Chapter three articulates an evolutionary conception of the signalling theory, and chapters four to six make the case for a series of requirements, limitations, and principles of application. Chapters seven and eight argue for the value of formal modelling to further flesh out the theory's commitments and potential and describe some simple simulation results which make progress in this regard. Though the inquiry often problematizes the signalling theory, it also shows that it should not be dismissed outright, and that it makes predictions which are apt for empirical testing

Die Qualität von Organisationen : ein kommunikationsbasierter Messansatz

The goal of this research is to develop an understanding of what causes organizations and information systems to be “good” with regard to communication and coordination. This study (1) gives a theoretical explanation of how the processes of organizational adaptation work and (2) what is required for establishing and measuring the goodness of an organization with regard to communication and coordination. By leveraging concepts from cybernetics and philosophy of language, particularly the theoretical conceptualization of information systems as social systems and language communities, this research arrives at new insights. After discussing related work from systems theory, organization theory, cybernetics, and philosophy of language, a theoretical conceptualization of information systems as language communities is adopted. This provides the foundation for two exploratory field studies. Then a formal theory for explaining the adaptation of organizations via language and communication is presented. This includes measures for the goodness of organizations with regard to communication and coordination. Finally, propositions stemming from the theoretical model are tested using multiple case studies in six information system development projects in the financial services industry.Zielsetzung der hier vorgestellten Forschung ist es, ein Verständnis für die Güte von Organisationen und Informationssystemen im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination zu entwickeln. Diese Studie gibt (1) eine theoretische Erklärung zur Funktionsweise organisatorischer Anpassungsprozesse und (2) Handlungsanleitungen zur Messung der Güte einer Organisation im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination. Dies geschieht durch die Nutzung von Konzepten der Kybernetik und der Sprachphilosophie, insbesondere der Formalisierung von Informationssystemen als soziale Systeme und Sprachgemeinschaften. Nach der Diskussion bestehender Ansätze in der Systemtheorie, der Organisationstheorie, der Kybernetik und der Sprachphilosophie wird die Konzeptualisierung von Informationssystemen als Sprachgemeinschaften übernommen. Diese bildet die Grundlage für zwei explorative Feldstudien. Im Anschluss wird eine Theorie zur Erklärung der Anpassung von Organisationen durch Sprache und Kommunikation vorgestellt. Dies beinhaltet Maße für die Güte von Organisationen im Hinblick auf Kommunikation und Koordination. Schließlich werden anhand dieses theoretischen Modells Hypothesen aufgestellt und in einer multiplen Fallstudie in sechs Informationssystementwicklungsprojekten in der Finanzdienstleistungsindustrie überprüft

Founding territorial sciences

International audienceThe “Founding Territorial Sciences” conference marked the birth of the International College of Territorial Sciences (CIST), a new research body devoted to the study of space and territory. The purpose of the conference was to answer the following question: Although the concept of territory is central to recent social changes, are we justified in seeking to establish the “territorial sciences” as a new academic field or discipline?To answer this question, we need to address a number of other issues. These include:– the issues raised by interdisciplinary research in other countries; if we want to develop an international network, we will need to ensure that similar initiatives are underway in other countries and that they are compatible with the research projects of the CIST;– the issues surrounding the questions addressed by researchers in the territorial sciences; though it has defined an initial set of research questions, the GIS may need to explore other avenues;– the issues surrounding the nature of the “territorial sciences”: should the territorial sciences be defined as an interdisciplinary field, i.e. as a set of disciplines brought together to understand the territorial dimension of their objects of study? Or should they be defined as an emerging discipline, the key concepts, principles and methods of which will need to be defined?The new field covers a wide range of disciplines extending well beyond the humanities and social sciences. The main theoretical and methodological challenges are to foster links between the humanities and social sciences and the life and earth sciences, the health sciences and the engineering sciences (modeling, complex systems, etc.). For example, the lack of collaboration between physicists and mathematicians working on climate change models and humanities and social science researchers concerned with the territorial impact of climate change has created a gap between global and local approaches.Finally, beyond the confines of academia, what is the proper relationship between the territorial sciences and territorial development strategies and practices?Le colloque « Fonder les sciences du territoire » a constitué le lancement scientifique du GIS CIST. Il devait répondre à cette question : nous savons que le territoire est au cœur d’un grand nombre des transformations des sociétés contemporaines, mais pour autant avons-nous raison de vouloir fonder les « sciences du territoire » ? Cela supposait de répondre à d’autres questions préalables :– sur la confrontation aux expériences interdisciplinaires étrangères dans le domaine. Si l’on veut constituer un réseau international, encore faut-il s’assurer de l’existence d’initiatives similaires à l’étranger et du degré de compatibilité avec elles ;– sur les thématiques des sciences du territoire, le GIS ayant lancé de premiers axes de travail mais devant rester ouvert à d’autres axes possibles ;– sur la nature de ces « sciences du territoire » : doivent-elles être conçues comme un champ multidisciplinaire c’est-à-dire comme un ensemble de disciplines scientifiques que l’on confronterait pour comprendre, de manière minimalement harmonisée, la dimension territoriale de leurs objets propres ? Ou doit-on aller jusqu’à considérer qu’il s’agirait d’une discipline scientifique émergente, dont il faudra alors définir les concepts, les lois et les méthodes d’analyse ?Le spectre des disciplines concernées est large, très au-delà des SHS. Car c’est dans la confrontation des SHS avec les sciences de la vie et de la terre, les sciences de santé et les sciences de l’ingénieur (modélisation, systèmes complexes…) que les enjeux théoriques et méthodologiques sont les plus grands. Par exemple le manque d’échanges entre les physiciens ou mathématiciens qui conçoivent les modèles du changement climatique, et les SHS dédiées à l’impact territorial de ce changement climatique, se traduit par une insuffisante interaction entre les analyses globales et locales.Enfin, au-delà des disciplines scientifiques, comment les sciences du territoire devraient-elles se situer par rapport aux pratiques du développement territorial

Tracing back Communities. An Analysis of Ars Electronica's Digital Communities archive from an ANT perspective

Since long before the popularization of the Web, community-making has been a significant driving force for the development of the Internet. As a consequence, in mid 1990s online communities became a key object of study at the intersection of social sciences, organizational studies and computer sciences. Today, about fifteen years after these early studies, the concept \u2018online community\u2019 seems to be at stake. As a matter of fact, while communitarian ties enabled by digital media are more and more invocated, in late 2000s the Internet is revealing itself as a much more bureaucratic and profit-oriented domain than ever, to the point that it is not clear whether there exist online ties that are specific enough to be called \u2018communitarian\u2019. In order to analyse such an opaque and unstable object of study as current techno-social assemblages, innovative methods specifically developed to study fuzzy objects have to be devised and some epistemological questions have to be addressed. This research starts indeed from the impasse that the digital communitarian culture is experiencing at the end of the 2000s and borrows some epistemological insights from the Actor-Network Theory. By analyzing the entry forms submitted to the world\u2019s leading competition for digital communities, Prix Ars Electronica, this research thus calls into question some \u2018black-boxed\u2019 concepts like \u2018cyberculture\u2019, \u2018digital revolution\u2019, \u2018empowerment\u2019 and \u2018online community\u2019 itself. On one hand, the results bring into question both leading sociological positions and hype-generated commonplaces. On the other hand, the results offer evidence to those arguments according to which current ICT developments represent the beginning of a new phase of technological enclosure