Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey

As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning. Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.Comment: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Journal, 201

The next generation of the web: an organisational perspective

The web has revolutionised information sharing, management, interoperability and knowledge discovery. The union of the two prominent web frameworks, Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web is often referred to as Web 3.0. This paper explores the basics behind the two paradigms, assesses their influence over organisational change and considers their effectiveness in supporting innovative solutions. It then outlines the challenges of combining the two web paradigms to form Web 3.0 and critically evaluates the impact that Web 3.0 will have on the social organisation. The research carried out follows action research principles and adopts an investigative and reviewing approach to the emerging trends and patterns that develop from the web's changing use, examining the underpinning enabling technologies that facilitate access, innovation and organisational change

Internet based molecular collaborative and publishing tools

The scientific electronic publishing model has hitherto been an Internet based delivery of electronic articles that are essentially replicas of their paper counterparts. They contain little in the way of added semantics that may better expose the science, assist the peer review process and facilitate follow on collaborations, even though the enabling technologies have been around for some time and are mature. This thesis will examine the evolution of chemical electronic publishing over the past 15 years. It will illustrate, which the help of two frameworks, how publishers should be exploiting technologies to improve the semantics of chemical journal articles, namely their value added features and relationships with other chemical resources on the Web. The first framework is an early exemplar of structured and scalable electronic publishing where a Web content management system and a molecular database are integrated. It employs a test bed of articles from several RSC journals and supporting molecular coordinate and connectivity information. The value of converting 3D molecular expressions in chemical file formats, such as the MOL file, into more generic 3D graphics formats, such as Web3D, is assessed. This exemplar highlights the use of metadata management for bidirectional hyperlink maintenance in electronic publishing. The second framework repurposes this metadata management concept into a Semantic Web application called SemanticEye. SemanticEye demonstrates how relationships between chemical electronic articles and other chemical resources are established. It adapts the successful semantic model used for digital music metadata management by popular applications such as iTunes. Globally unique identifiers enable relationships to be established between articles and other resources on the Web and SemanticEye implements two: the Document Object Identifier (DOI) for articles and the IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) for molecules. SemanticEye’s potential as a framework for seeding collaborations between researchers, who have hitherto never met, is explored using FOAF, the friend-of-a-friend Semantic Web standard for social networks

Ontology-based Classification and Analysis of non- emergency Smart-city Events

Several challenges are faced by citizens of urban centers while dealing with day-to-day events, and the absence of a centralised reporting mechanism makes event-reporting and redressal a daunting task. With the push on information technology to adapt to the needs of smart-cities and integrate urban civic services, the use of Open311 architecture presents an interesting solution. In this paper, we present a novel approach that uses an existing Open311 ontology to classify and report non-emergency city-events, as well as to guide the citizen to the points of redressal. The use of linked open data and the semantic model serves to provide contextual meaning and make vast amounts of content hyper-connected and easily-searchable. Such a one-size-fits-all model also ensures reusability and effective visualisation and analysis of data across several cities. By integrating urban services across various civic bodies, the proposed approach provides a single endpoint to the citizen, which is imperative for smooth functioning of smart cities

NETQOS policy management architecture for flexible QOS provisioning in Future Internet

This paper is focussed on the NETQOS architecture for automated QoS policy provisioning, which can be used in Future Internet scenarios by the different actors (i.e. network operators, service providers, and users) for flexible QoS configuration over combinations of mobile, fixed, sensor and broadcast networks. The NETQOS policy management architecture opens the possibility to specify QoS policies on a "business" level using ontology descriptions and policy management interfaces, which are specific to the actors. The business level policy specifications are translated by the NETQOS system into intermediate and operational QoS policies for automated QoS configuration at the managed heterogeneous network and transport entities. NETQOS allows QoS policy specification and dependency analysis considering Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the actors, as well as automated policy provisioning and adaptation. The interaction of the NETQOS components is based on a common po licy repository. The particular focus of the paper is aimed to discuss ontology and actor oriented QoS policy specification and configuration for heterogeneous networks, as well as NETQOS QoS policy management interfaces at business level and automated translation of business QoS policies to intermediate and operational policy level

Semantic-Based Publish/Subscribe System in Social Network

The publish/subscribe model has become a prevalent paradigm for building distributed notification services by decoupling the publishers and the subscribers from each other. The semantics-based publish/subscribe system allows highly expressive descriptions of subscriptions and publications and thus is more appropriate for content dissemination when a finer level of granularity is necessary. In this paper we have designed and implemented a semantic-based publish/subscribe system that can be adapted into social networks where thousands of people can share their common interests through publications and subscriptions. We have described our ontology, defined publishers’ and subscribers’ data semantics or schema, provided a matching algorithm, portrayed the implementation and shown the result of an implemented publish/subscribe system that allows the users to publish and subscribe different kinds of news in a social network platform. Our experience shows that the semantic-based publish/subscribe system can enhance the current social networks by providing an effective content dissemination mechanism

Semantic technologies: from niche to the mainstream of Web 3? A comprehensive framework for web Information modelling and semantic annotation

Context: Web information technologies developed and applied in the last decade have considerably changed the way web applications operate and have revolutionised information management and knowledge discovery. Social technologies, user-generated classification schemes and formal semantics have a far-reaching sphere of influence. They promote collective intelligence, support interoperability, enhance sustainability and instigate innovation. Contribution: The research carried out and consequent publications follow the various paradigms of semantic technologies, assess each approach, evaluate its efficiency, identify the challenges involved and propose a comprehensive framework for web information modelling and semantic annotation, which is the thesis’ original contribution to knowledge. The proposed framework assists web information modelling, facilitates semantic annotation and information retrieval, enables system interoperability and enhances information quality. Implications: Semantic technologies coupled with social media and end-user involvement can instigate innovative influence with wide organisational implications that can benefit a considerable range of industries. The scalable and sustainable business models of social computing and the collective intelligence of organisational social media can be resourcefully paired with internal research and knowledge from interoperable information repositories, back-end databases and legacy systems. Semantified information assets can free human resources so that they can be used to better serve business development, support innovation and increase productivity