Statistical analysis of the owl:sameAs network for aligning concepts in the linking open data cloud

The massively distributed publication of linked data has brought to the attention of scientific community the limitations of classic methods for achieving data integration and the opportunities of pushing the boundaries of the field by experimenting this collective enterprise that is the linking open data cloud. While reusing existing ontologies is the choice of preference, the exploitation of ontology alignments still is a required step for easing the burden of integrating heterogeneous data sets. Alignments, even between the most used vocabularies, is still poorly supported in systems nowadays whereas links between instances are the most widely used means for bridging the gap between different data sets. We provide in this paper an account of our statistical and qualitative analysis of the network of instance level equivalences in the Linking Open Data Cloud (i.e. the sameAs network) in order to automatically compute alignments at the conceptual level. Moreover, we explore the effect of ontological information when adopting classical Jaccard methods to the ontology alignment task. Automating such task will allow in fact to achieve a clearer conceptual description of the data at the cloud level, while improving the level of integration between datasets. <br/

A cross-linguistic database of phonetic transcription systems

Contrary to what non-practitioners might expect, the systems of phonetic notation used by linguists are highly idiosyncratic. Not only do various linguistic subfields disagree on the specific symbols they use to denote the speech sounds of languages, but also in large databases of sound inventories considerable variation can be found. Inspired by recent efforts to link cross-linguistic data with help of reference catalogues (Glottolog, Concepticon) across different resources, we present initial efforts to link different phonetic notation systems to a catalogue of speech sounds. This is achieved with the help of a database accompanied by a software framework that uses a limited but easily extendable set of non-binary feature values to allow for quick and convenient registration of different transcription systems, while at the same time linking to additional datasets with restricted inventories. Linking different transcription systems enables us to conveniently translate between different phonetic transcription systems, while linking sounds to databases allows users quick access to various kinds of metadata, including feature values, statistics on phoneme inventories, and information on prosody and sound classes. In order to prove the feasibility of this enterprise, we supplement an initial version of our cross-linguistic database of phonetic transcription systems (CLTS), which currently registers five transcription systems and links to fifteen datasets, as well as a web application, which permits users to conveniently test the power of the automatic translation across transcription systems

Linking design and manufacturing domains via web-based and enterprise integration technologies

The manufacturing industry faces many challenges such as reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. In order to meet these increasing demands, effective methods are need to support the early product development stages by bridging the gap of communicating early design ideas and the evaluation of manufacturing performance. This paper introduces methods of linking design and manufacturing domains using disparate technologies. The combined technologies include knowledge management supporting for product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, aggregate process planning systems, workflow management and data exchange formats. A case study has been used to demonstrate the use of these technologies, illustrated by adding manufacturing knowledge to generate alternative early process plan which are in turn used by an ERP system to obtain and optimise a rough-cut capacity plan

A spatial analysis of agriculture in the Republic of Ireland, 1991 to 2000

End of year projectBy linking farm census and administrative data from the CSO and DAF to a geographic information system and analysing the mapping output, this project shows the continued broad division of farming in the state into marginal farming areas in the north and west and more commercial farming areas in the south and east. While this division was compounded by the 1992 CAP reforms, and commercial farming became more spatially concentrated over the 1990s, the influence of the development in the non-farm economy, particularly in peri-urban rural areas across the state, provided local drivers of change that encouraged enterprise substitution to beef production, the farming system most readily combined by farm holders with another job. A full report on the mapping output will be produced in a forthcoming publication (see publications list)

Carbon Trading with Blockchain

Blockchain has the potential to accelerate the deployment of emissions trading systems (ETS) worldwide and improve upon the efficiency of existing systems. In this paper, we present a model for a permissioned blockchain implementation based on the successful European Union (EU) ETS and discuss its potential advantages over existing technology. We propose an ETS model that is both backwards compatible and future-proof, characterised by interconnectedness, transparency, tamper-resistance and high liquidity. Further, we identify key challenges to implementation of a blockchain ETS, as well as areas of future work required to enable a fully-decentralised blockchain ETS

Study of School Gates Employment Support Initiative (Research Report No 747)

A report of research carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions This report presents qualitative findings from the study of the School Gates Employment Initiative. This mostly involved qualitative research in 13 of the 25 pilot areas which included interviews with school heads, Regional Development Agency (RDA) leads, Jobcentre Plus, local authorities (LAs) and devolved administrations, parents and parent support staff in schools. It also involved two semi-structured group discussions with local partners at two practitioner events in November 2010, as well as a review of evidence presented in the Management Information (MI) and the quarterly reports from the pilot areas. The findings of this report strongly support the notion that schools, Jobcentre Plus and LA employment advisers can play a potentially important role in moving parents from low incomes towards work. School Gates’ reach to potential second earners and parents on low incomes, many of whom are not on benefits and are new customers to Jobcentre Plus, has been a key strength of the pilot. Many parents engaged in the pilot were also lone parents, some of whom were also not in receipt of benefits. In this way, many school sites have provided a critical mass of families within these target groups for Jobcentre Plus and other LA employment advisers to engage with

Beyond knowledge brokerage: an exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya

The recognition that innovation occurs in networks of heterogeneous actors and requires broad systemic support beyond knowledge brokering has resulted in a changing landscape of the intermediary domain in an increasingly market-driven agricultural sector in developing countries. This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation. Further, the study identified various organisational arrangements of innovation intermediaries with some organisations fulfilling a specialised innovation brokering role, even as other intermediaries take on brokering as a side activity, while still substantively contributing to the innovation process. Based on these findings we identify a typology of 4 innovation intermediation arrangements, including technology brokers, systemic brokers, enterprise development support and input access support. The results indicate that innovation brokering is a pervasive task in supporting innovation and will require policy support to embed it in innovation support arrangements. The paper is not normative about these arrangements

Smart City Development with Urban Transfer Learning

Nowadays, the smart city development levels of different cities are still unbalanced. For a large number of cities which just started development, the governments will face a critical cold-start problem: 'how to develop a new smart city service with limited data?'. To address this problem, transfer learning can be leveraged to accelerate the smart city development, which we term the urban transfer learning paradigm. This article investigates the common process of urban transfer learning, aiming to provide city planners and relevant practitioners with guidelines on how to apply this novel learning paradigm. Our guidelines include common transfer strategies to take, general steps to follow, and case studies in public safety, transportation management, etc. We also summarize a few research opportunities and expect this article can attract more researchers to study urban transfer learning