Living with the Semantic Gap: Experiences and remedies in the context of medical imaging

Semantic annotation of images is a key concern for the newly emerged applications of semantic multimedia. Machine processable descriptions of images make it possible to automate a variety of tasks from search and discovery to composition and collage of image data bases. However, the ever occurring problem of the semantic gap between the low level descriptors and the high level interpretation of an image poses new challenges and needs to be addressed before the full potential of semantic multimedia can be realised. We explore the possibilities and lessons learnt with applied semantic multimedia from our engagement with medical imaging where we deployed ontologies and a novel distributed architecture to provide semantic annotation, decision support and methods for tackling the semantic gap problem

Plan recognition for space telerobotics

Current research on space telerobots has largely focused on two problem areas: executing remotely controlled actions (the tele part of telerobotics) or planning to execute them (the robot part). This work has largely ignored one of the key aspects of telerobots: the interaction between the machine and its operator. For this interaction to be felicitous, the machine must successfully understand what the operator is trying to accomplish with particular remote-controlled actions. Only with the understanding of the operator's purpose for performing these actions can the robot intelligently assist the operator, perhaps by warning of possible errors or taking over part of the task. There is a need for such an understanding in the telerobotics domain and an intelligent interface being developed in the chemical process design domain addresses the same issues

Modelling the Semantic Web using a Type System

We present an approach for modeling the Semantic Web as a type system. By using a type system, we can use symbolic representation for representing linked data. Objects with only data properties and references to external resources are represented as terms in the type system. Triples are represented symbolically using type constructors as the predicates. In our type system, we allow users to add analytics that utilize machine learning or knowledge discovery to perform inductive reasoning over data. These analytics can be used by the inference engine when performing reasoning to answer a query. Furthermore, our type system defines a means to resolve semantic heterogeneity on-the-fly

Providing end-user facilities to simplify ontology-driven web application authoring

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Interacting with Computers. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Interacting with Computers, Interacting with Computers 17, 4 (2007) DOI: 10.1016/j.intcom.2007.01.006Generally speaking, emerging web-based technologies are mostly intended for professional developers. They pay poor attention to users who have no programming abilities but need to customize software applications. At some point, such needs force end-users to act as designers in various aspects of software authoring and development. Every day, more new computing-related professionals attempt to create and modify existing applications in order to customize web-based artifacts that will help them carry out their daily tasks. In general they are domain experts rather than skilled software designers, and new authoring mechanisms are needed in order that they can accomplish their tasks properly. The work we present is an effort to supply end-users with easy mechanisms for authoring web-based applications. To complement this effort, we present a user study showing that it is possible to carry out a trade-off between expressiveness and ease of use in order to provide end-users with authoring facilities.The work reported in this paper is being partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCyT), projects TIN2005-06885 and TSI2005-08225-C07-06

Conceptual information processing: A robust approach to KBS-DBMS integration

Integrating the respective functionality and architectural features of knowledge base and data base management systems is a topic of considerable interest. Several aspects of this topic and associated issues are addressed. The significance of integration and the problems associated with accomplishing that integration are discussed. The shortcomings of current approaches to integration and the need to fuse the capabilities of both knowledge base and data base management systems motivates the investigation of information processing paradigms. One such paradigm is concept based processing, i.e., processing based on concepts and conceptual relations. An approach to robust knowledge and data base system integration is discussed by addressing progress made in the development of an experimental model for conceptual information processing

Open semantic service networks

Online service marketplaces will soon be part of the economy to scale the provision of specialized multi-party services through automation and standardization. Current research, such as the *-USDL service description language family, is already defining the basic building blocks to model the next generation of business services. Nonetheless, the developments being made do not target to interconnect services via service relationships. Without the concept of relationship, marketplaces will be seen as mere functional silos containing service descriptions. Yet, in real economies, all services are related and connected. Therefore, to address this gap we introduce the concept of open semantic service network (OSSN), concerned with the establishment of rich relationships between services. These networks will provide valuable knowledge on the global service economy, which can be exploited for many socio-economic and scientific purposes such as service network analysis, management, and control