Ontology modelling methodology for temporal and interdependent applications

The increasing adoption of Semantic Web technology by several classes of applications in recent years, has made ontology engineering a crucial part of application development. Nowadays, the abundant accessibility of interdependent information from multiple resources and representing various fields such as health, transport, and banking etc., further evidence the growing need for utilising ontology for the development of Web applications. While there have been several advances in the adoption of the ontology for application development, less emphasis is being made on the modelling methodologies for representing modern-day application that are characterised by the temporal nature of the data they process, which is captured from multiple sources. Taking into account the benefits of a methodology in the system development, we propose a novel methodology for modelling ontologies representing Context-Aware Temporal and Interdependent Systems (CATIS). CATIS is an ontology development methodology for modelling temporal interdependent applications in order to achieve the desired results when modelling sophisticated applications with temporal and inter dependent attributes to suit today's application requirements

Interactive situation modelling in knowledge intensive domains

Interactive Situation Modelling (ISM) method, a semi-methodological approach, is proposed to tackle issues associated with modelling complex knowledge intensive domains, which cannot be easily modelled using traditional approaches. This paper presents the background and implementation of ISM within a complex domain, where synthesizing knowledge from various sources is critical, and is based on the principles of ethnography within a constructivist framework. Although the motivation for the reported work comes from the application presented in the paper, the actual scope of the paper covers a wide range of issues related to modelling complex systems. The author firstly reviews approaches used for modelling knowledge intensive domains, preceded by a brief discussion about two main issues: symmetry of ignorance and system behaviour, which are often confronted when applying modelling approaches to business domains. The ISM process is then characterized and critiqued with lessons from an exemplar presented to illustrate its effectiveness

Interactive situation modelling in knowledge intensive domains

Interactive Situation Modelling (ISM) method, a semi-methodological approach, is proposed to tackle issues associated with modelling complex knowledge intensive domains, which cannot be easily modelled using traditional approaches. This paper presents the background and implementation of ISM within a complex domain, where synthesizing knowledge from various sources is critical, and is based on the principles of ethnography within a constructivist framework. Although the motivation for the reported work comes from the application presented in the paper, the actual scope of the paper covers a wide range of issues related to modelling complex systems. The author firstly reviews approaches used for modelling knowledge intensive domains, preceded by a brief discussion about two main issues: symmetry of ignorance and system behaviour, which are often confronted when applying modelling approaches to business domains. The ISM process is then characterized and critiqued with lessons from an exemplar presented to illustrate its effectiveness.

New Generation Sensor Web Enablement

Many sensor networks have been deployed to monitor Earth’s environment, and more will follow in the future. Environmental sensors have improved continuously by becoming smaller, cheaper, and more intelligent. Due to the large number of sensor manufacturers and differing accompanying protocols, integrating diverse sensors into observation systems is not straightforward. A coherent infrastructure is needed to treat sensors in an interoperable, platform-independent and uniform way. The concept of the Sensor Web reflects such a kind of infrastructure for sharing, finding, and accessing sensors and their data across different applications. It hides the heterogeneous sensor hardware and communication protocols from the applications built on top of it. The Sensor Web Enablement initiative of the Open Geospatial Consortium standardizes web service interfaces and data encodings which can be used as building blocks for a Sensor Web. This article illustrates and analyzes the recent developments of the new generation of the Sensor Web Enablement specification framework. Further, we relate the Sensor Web to other emerging concepts such as the Web of Things and point out challenges and resulting future work topics for research on Sensor Web Enablement

Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Towards cloud driven semantic annotation

Semantic Web Technologies have been an active research area for some time and they are concerned with the development of technological concepts and artefacts that can drive the much elusive semantic web. The idea of a semantic web is a web which comprises of data with well-defined meaning. It is also a web that is context-aware in nature, whereby web documents are easily understandable and able to be processed by machines based on the underlying meaning provided for the documents by making use of annotation data (i.e. metadata). While several concepts have been proposed to drive the semantic web, none has so far demonstrated potentials to transform the current Web 2.0 to a truly semantic Web 3.0. With the advent of diverse technological innovations such as internet of things, cloud computing, big data analytics, etc. it is pertinent to review the state-of-the-art for semantic annotation and how it can be impacted by any of these technologies. This paper provides a review of semantic annotation state-of-the-art and how cloud computing as a paradigm can impact on it. © 2017 IEEE

Leadership in virtual teams during the Covid-19 pandemic

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an accelerated shift to remote work has obstructed traditional working models and methods and advanced adoption of virtual and hybrid work models. Digital-based businesses have been shown to survive without the need for a physical office; it opens the door for new challenges, skills, and opportunities for leaders to thrive in a virtual environment. Critical considerations for e-leaders to address are communication, technology, diversity, trust, and distance. Individual and organizational adaptation to this new reality requires e-leaders to embrace new skills such as communication, building trust, change management, ICT tools, and emotional intelligence to stay competitive in a fast-phased and constantly changing virtual environment. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research in understanding virtual leadership challenges and skills within the private sector during Covid-19. There is also limited information on how leadership has changed or evolved since the pandemic's beginning and its transition to remote work until today's ‘new normal’. Prior research focuses more on the employees’ experiences in a virtual-only environment, overlooking the leaders’ perspectives. This research aims to investigate the leadership evolution during Covid-19, focusing on challenges faced by leaders and the skills required to lead effectively in a virtual environment during crisis times. The objectives are to identify the skills required by successful leaders in leading their teams and to examine the challenges faced by leaders managing virtual teams during the pandemic as well as investigate how virtual leadership may have evolved from the start of the pandemic until the present day. The research was a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. Eight interviewees who have been leading remote teams during the pandemic participated in the study. The data analysis was based on qualitative content- and thematic analysis. Furthermore, the study was abductive and exploratory in nature. The results of this thesis suggest that effective leadership in a virtual environment re-quires general adaptability and flexibility in communication and management styles. Commitment in several areas, such as trust building, good command of handling ICT tools, upholding boundaries in work-life balance, and showing empathy and understanding, were other critical factors of effective leadership. Further, change management and emotional intelligence were mentioned as crucial for success in virtual leadership. All in all, the research suggests that e-leadership during the pandemic has become more complicated, which requires a broad set of skills to address any imminent challenges and the need to adapt to an emerging virtual environment. Some implications for leaders include doubling down on open communication a priority and making it a priority, building trust with employees through consistent meetings, maintaining a balance between work and personal life, and being adaptable to any emerging e-leadership challenges or skills in the virtual environment.Covid-19-pandemian vuoksi etätyöhön siirtyminen on nopeutunut, mikä on muokannut ja monimuotoistanut perinteisiä työskentelymalleja ja -menetelmiä ja edistänyt virtuaalisten ja hybridityömallien käyttöönottoa. On osoitettu, että digitaalisiin liiketoimintoihin perustuvat yritykset voivat selviytyä ilman fyysistä toimistoa, ja tämä avaa uusia haasteita, taitoja ja mahdollisuuksia johtajille menestyä virtuaalisessa ympäristössä. E-johtajien on tärkeää käsitellä viestintää, teknologiaa, monimuotoisuutta, luottamusta ja etäisyyttä. Yksilöiden ja organisaatioiden sopeutuminen tähän uuteen todellisuuteen edellyttää e-johtajilta uusien taitojen, kuten viestinnän, luottamuksen rakentamisen, muutosjohtamisen, tietotekniikan työkalujen ja tunneälyn, omaksumista kilpailukyvyn säilyttämiseksi nopeasti muuttuvassa ja jatkuvasti muuttuvassa virtuaalisessa ympäristössä. Siitä huolimatta yksityissektorin virtuaalijohtamisen haasteiden ja taitojen ymmärtämisessä on vähän tutkimusta Covid-19-aikana. Tieto siitä, miten johtajuus on muuttunut tai kehittynyt pandemian alusta ja etä-työhön siirtymisestä nykyiseen "uuteen normaaliin", on myös rajallista. Aiemmat tutkimukset keskittyvät enemmän työntekijöiden kokemuksiin vain virtuaalisessa ympäristössä ja jättävät huomiotta johtajien näkökulmat. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää johtajuuden kehitystä Covid-19-aikana keskittyen johtajien kohtaamiin haasteisiin ja kriisiaikoina virtuaalisessa ympäristössä tehokkaasti johtamiseen tarvittaviin taitoihin. Tavoitteina ovat tunnistaa menestyksekkäiden johtajien tarvitsemat taidot johtaessaan tiimejään ja tarkastella pandemian aikana virtuaalitiimejä johtavien johtajien kohtaamia haasteita sekä selvittää, miten virtuaalinen johtajuus on voinut kehittyä pandemian alusta nykypäivään. Tutkimus oli laadullinen tutkimus, joka perustui puolistrukturoituihin haastatteluihin. Kahdeksan haastateltavaa, jotka ovat johtaneet etätiimejä pandemian aikana osallistui tutkimukseen. Aineiston analyysi perustui laadulliseen sisältö- ja teema-analyysiin. Lisäksi tutkimus oli abduktiivinen ja tutkiva luonteeltaan. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tehokas johtaminen virtuaalisessa ympäristössä edellyttää yleistä sopeutumiskykyä ja joustavuutta viestinnässä ja johtamistyyleissä. Sitoutuminen useilla alueilla, kuten luottamuksen rakentaminen, hyvä tietotekniikan työkalujen käsittelytaito, työ- ja yksityiselämän tasapainon ylläpitäminen sekä empatian ja ymmärryksen osoittaminen, olivat muita tehokkaan johtajuuden kriittisiä tekijöitä. Lisäksi muutosjohtaminen ja tunneäly mainittiin ratkaiseviksi menestykselle virtuaali- johtamisessa. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimus viittaa siihen, että e-johtajuus pandemian aikana on muuttunut monimutkaisemmaksi, mikä edellyttää laajaa taitojoukkoa käsitelläkseen kaikkia mahdollisia haasteita ja sopeutuakseen nousevaan virtuaaliseen ympäristöön. Johtajille tarkoitetut joitain seurauksia ovat avoimen viestinnän kaksinkertaistaminen ja sen asettaminen etusijalle, luottamuksen rakentaminen työntekijöihin säännöllisten tapaamisten avulla, työ- ja henkilökohtaisen elämän välisen tasapainon ylläpitäminen sekä mukautumiskyky kaikkiin nouseviin e-johtajuuden haasteisiin tai taitoihin virtuaalisessa ympäristössä

A contour tree based spatio-temporal data model for oceanographic applications

To present the spatio/temporal data from oceanographic modeling in GIS has been a challenging task due to the highly dynamic characteristic and complex pattern of variables, in relation to time and space. This dissertation focuses the research on spatio-temporal GIS data model applied to oceanographic model data, especially to homogeneous iso-surface data. The available spatio-temporal data models are carefully reviewed and characteristics in spatial and temporal issues from oceanographic model data are discussed in detail. As an important tool for data modeling, ontology is introduced to categorize oceanographic model data and further set up fundamental software components in the new data model. The proposed data model is based on the concept of contour tree. By adding temporal information to each node and arc of the contour tree, and using multiple contour trees to represent different time steps in the temporal domain, the changes can be stored and tracked by the data model. In order to reduce the data volume and increase the data quality, the new data model integrates spatial and temporal interpolation methods within it. The spatial interpolation calculates the data that fall between neighboring contours at a single time step. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) is applied as the main algorithm and the Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR) is used to enhance the spatial interpolation performance. The temporal interpolation calculates the data that are not recorded, which fall between neighboring contour trees for adjacent time steps. The “linear interpolation” algorithm is preferred to the “nearest neighbor’s value” and “spline” interpolation methods, for its modest accuracy and the simple implementation scheme. In order to evaluate the support functions of the new data model, a case study is presented with the motivation to show how this data model supports complicated spatio-temporal queries in forecasting applications. This dissertation also showcases some work in contour tree simplification. A new simplification algorithm is introduced to reduce the data complexity. This algorithm is based on the branch decomposition method and supports temporal information integrated into contour trees. Three types of criteria parameters are introduced to run different simplification methods for various applications

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In modern organisations business process modelling has become fundamental due to the increasing rate of organisational change. As a consequence, an organisation needs to continuously redesign its business processes on a regular basis. One major problem associated with the way business process modelling (BPM) is carried out today is the lack of explicit and systematic reuse of previously developed models. Enabling the reuse of previously modelled behaviour can have a beneficial impact on the quality and efficiency of the overall information systems development process and also improve the effectiveness of an organisation’s business processes. In related disciplines, like software engineering, patterns have emerged as a widely accepted architectural mechanism for reusing solutions. In business process modelling the use of patterns is quite limited apart from few sporadic attempts proposed by the literature. Thus, pattern-based BPM is not commonplace. Business process patterns should ideally be discovered from the empirical analysis of organisational processes. Empiricism is currently not the basis for the discovery of patterns for business process modelling and no systematic methodology for collecting and analysing process models of business organisations currently exists. The purpose of the presented research project is to develop a methodological framework for achieving reuse in BPM via the discovery and adoption of patterns. The framework is called Semantic Discovery and Reuse of Business Process Patterns (SDR). SDR provides a systematic method for identifying patterns among organisational data assets representing business behaviour. The framework adopts ontologies (i.e., formalised conceptual models of real-world domains) in order to facilitate such discovery. The research has also produced an ontology of business processes that provides the underlying semantic definitions of processes and their constituent parts. The use of ontologies to model business processes represents a novel approach and combines advances achieved by the Semantic Web and BPM communities. The methodological framework also relates to a new line of research in BPM on declarative business processes in which the models specify what should be done rather than how to ‘prescriptively’ do it. The research follows a design science method for designing and evaluating SDR. Evaluation is carried out using real world sources and reuse scenarios taken from both the financial and educational domains