Linked democracy : foundations, tools, and applications

Chapter 1Introduction to Linked DataAbstractThis chapter presents Linked Data, a new form of distributed data on theweb which is especially suitable to be manipulated by machines and to shareknowledge. By adopting the linked data publication paradigm, anybody can publishdata on the web, relate it to data resources published by others and run artificialintelligence algorithms in a smooth manner. Open linked data resources maydemocratize the future access to knowledge by the mass of internet users, eitherdirectly or mediated through algorithms. Governments have enthusiasticallyadopted these ideas, which is in harmony with the broader open data movement

Mathematics & Statistics 2017 APR Self-Study & Documents

UNM Mathematics & Statistics APR self-study report, review team report, response report, and initial action plan for Spring 2017, fulfilling requirements of the Higher Learning Commission

Linked Democracy

This open access book shows the factors linking information flow, social intelligence, rights management and modelling with epistemic democracy, offering licensed linked data along with information about the rights involved. This model of democracy for the web of data brings new challenges for the social organisation of knowledge, collective innovation, and the coordination of actions. Licensed linked data, licensed linguistic linked data, right expression languages, semantic web regulatory models, electronic institutions, artificial socio-cognitive systems are examples of regulatory and institutional design (regulations by design). The web has been massively populated with both data and services, and semantically structured data, the linked data cloud, facilitates and fosters human-machine interaction. Linked data aims to create ecosystems to make it possible to browse, discover, exploit and reuse data sets for applications. Rights Expression Languages semi-automatically regulate the use and reuse of content. ; Links information flow, social intelligence, rights management, and modelling with epistemic democracy Presents examples of regulatory and institutional desig

The science of scientific agendas: insights into the agenda setting process of researchers

Even though research agenda-setting is at the core of modern research and development activities, little is known regarding the process that leads to the definition of an agenda. The literature indirectly suggests that a series of both exogenous and endogenous factors may shape the preference of researchers concerning the research agendas they intend on pursuing – such as formal education, hierarchical position, working environment, incentives, scientific drive, creativity, risk tolerance, and personality. However, no study has been conducted in order to formally test these associations comprehensively. This project aims to identify the mechanisms underlying research agenda-setting through a multi-stage, multi-disciplinary approach. To this end, new instruments were developed – one focusing on evaluating the factors that influence research agenda setting, and another focusing on workplace related organizational aspects in the academia. Following this, Cluster Analysis was employed in order to determine the existence of overarching doctrines in terms of research agenda setting, and afterwards we explore how cognition can influence the process of research agenda setting. This was followed by an exploratory study on how the organizational setting influences these dynamics and how research agendas are also gendered. A second, more holistic, comprehensive and optimal revision of the initial research-agendas instrument concludes this project, resulting from lessons learned and knowledge acquired as the thesis was being developed. The thesis concludes with an overall discussion of the findings and its contribution to knowledge advancement, implications for practice and policymaking, and the limitations of the study, as well as an agenda for future studies.Apesar do processo de definição de agendas científicas estar no cerne da investigação e desenvolvimento de hoje em dia, pouco se sabe acerca do processo que leva à definição destas agendas. A literatura indirectamente sugere que uma série de factores endógenos e exógenos moldam a preferência dos investigadores no que toca à agenda de investigação que intencionam seguir – tais como educação formal, posição hierárquica, incentivos, ambição científica, criatividade, tolerância ao risco, e personalidade. No entanto, até à data nenhum estudo foi realizado de forma a formalmente testar estas relações de uma forma compreensiva. Este projecto tem como objectivo identificar os mecanismos subjacentes ao processo de definição de agendas científicas através de uma abordagem multi-fásica e multi-disciplinar. Para este fim, foram desenvolvidos novos instrumentos – um focado na avaliação dos factores que influenciam a definição de agendas científicas, e outro focado nos aspectos organizacionais da academia. De seguida, realizou-se uma análise de clusters de forma a identificar a existência de doutrinas gerais em termos de definição de agendas científicas. Seguiu-se um estudo exploratório relativamente ao contexto organizacional e a sua influência nestas dinâmicas, assim como o efeito do género nas agendas científicas. O projecto conclui com uma revisão mais holística do instrumento original, resultante das lições que foram aprendidas, assim como da informação que foi recolhida ao longo da tese. Esta tese termina com uma discussão geral dos seus resultados e implicações para o avanço do conhecimento, para a prática e desenvolvimento de políticas, assim como uma agenda para estudos futuros

Organizational strategy, technology and public participation in municipal planning

Research focused on public participation in municipal planning typically seeks to evaluate and improve methods for integrating community input into planning decision processes. Research in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance citizen engagement includes, for example, visual or geographical forms of engagement as well as approaches for adapting social technologies to public discursive methods. The continued development of social technologies coupled with increasingly large streams of citizen-generated data intensify both the potential and the perils of ICTs in public participation. Direct, real-time citizen communications lies in stark contrast to the increasing noise and information density in citizen communications and municipal data collection, for example. Such trends create dichotomies and emerging complexities that require new perspectives and models for examining the potential and barriers for citizen engagement in municipal planning decision processes. This research advances academic discourse surrounding public participation in municipal government by examining the organizational role and perspectives of municipal leaders. Key-informant interviews were conducted with 23 municipal leaders in Ontario, Canada. The findings informed the development of an inter-disciplinary component model that positions public participation as a strategic imperative. The component model was applied as a framework to generate insights from a second phase of research, namely a survey of municipal leaders across Canada. The survey findings identify broad deficiencies in municipal participatory capacity, as indicated by significant gaps between, for example, municipal leadership vision for an active, informed public in contrast to municipal structures, processes, analyses, and technologies in support of the vision. Finally, visualization methods were used to identify gaps and opportunities in municipal participatory capacity, and to compare the results across different types and sizes of Canadian municipalities. The organizational component model and visualization tools for public participation capacity developed in this thesis illustrate the interplay between structural organizational factors, managerial behaviors, and ICTs related to municipal public participation. These contributions suggest new approaches for municipal planners faced with the challenges of enhancing public participation capacity within their increasingly complex and information-rich contexts.

A study of the degree of alignment between mental health practitioners' understanding of patients, resident in secure mental health hospital settings, who have been abused in childhood and/or adolescence

Childhood abuse and neglect, as suffered by in-patients of medium secure psychiatric hospitals, is an under-researched clinical variable within the literature. Associated study and work in this area is considered to be a core skill of the forensic mental health nurse (FMHN), as well as of other clinicians working in such hospitals. The study undertook an examination of childhood abuse and neglect in three medium secure units (n= 117), finding that 41% of the sample suffered abuse/neglect in childhood/adolescence. An examination of a wide range of patient characteristics in the units was also conducted, findings included observations of 94% of patients having committed a violent index offence, and 81.2% of patients being diagnosed with schizophrenia. A hypothesis test conducted on this data revealed a significant relationship between the gender of patients and abuse/neglect suffered in childhood. A further analysis of inter-rater reliability was undertaken, of FMHN's and Nurse Consultants against a Benchmark nurse, in rating the severity of abuse suffered by inpatients. This revealed findings of both fair to moderate, and poor agreement, between the nurses, Nurse Consultants and Benchmark nurse. Allied study of a range of clinicians knowledge and opinions concerning agreement or disagreement with statements related to concepts of abuse, mental disorder and violence revealed mixed results, dependent upon either a quantitative analysis indicating no variation amongst the clinician's, or qualitative analysis identifying some specific differences. The study overall has concluded that the use of a mixed methodology is beneficial to examining consistency of agreement, and knowledge and opinions, regarding clinical phenomena amongst clinicians. The study makes recommendations in terms of adjustments to forensic educational curricula and clinical practice, regarding inclusion of more, and improved, information concerning childhood abuse and neglect

The evaluation of business relationships from the buyer's perspective : antecedents to the consideration set for supplier replacement in the South African advertising industry

Despite considerable research that has focused on the attributes associated with evaluating and selecting advertising agencies, and an emerging body of literature emphasizing customer loyalty and retention, advertising agency-client investigations have often analysed these attributes in isolation. This created the need for models that represent the interrelated effects that engender retention and loyalty, especially for services, whereby evaluative as well as relational factors can influence buyer responses. Addressing this gap, this research developed and described the construct of buyer consideration sets to gain a better understanding of business relationships. This is with specific reference to advertising agency replacement considerations in the South African environment. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a more complete, integrated view of customer retention and its determinants. A heuristic model was developed with consideration of theories that originate from the transactional cost theory, social exchange theory and economic and relational contract theories. This model was empirically tested using a mixed method approach. Data obtained from 116 respondents were subjected to factor and correlation analysis to explore the dimensionality of the retention construct. An important contribution of this study is the use of multi-item scales to measure and test retention. This research supports that retention is multidimensional and highlights the limitations of research that measure single factors related to retention. What started as a complex set of relationships has been defensibly and systematically simplified into a parsimonious model. This model postulates that retention is the result of a good working relationship between an advertiser and agency; service satisfaction; respect and support; clear terms of engagement; and conflict resolution. This work also offers insight into the nuances of each of these antecedents and offer new reliable scales for measurement of the items. In management practice, this model will provide advertisers with insights with regards to procurement decisions and supplier management. It can also provide valuable insight to agencies with regard to customer retention management. Findings of this study may also be extended to other high value professional service industries.Business Management and EntrepreneurshipD. Com. (Business Management

Machine learning methods for discriminating natural targets in seabed imagery

The research in this thesis concerns feature-based machine learning processes and methods for discriminating qualitative natural targets in seabed imagery. The applications considered, typically involve time-consuming manual processing stages in an industrial setting. An aim of the research is to facilitate a means of assisting human analysts by expediting the tedious interpretative tasks, using machine methods. Some novel approaches are devised and investigated for solving the application problems. These investigations are compartmentalised in four coherent case studies linked by common underlying technical themes and methods. The first study addresses pockmark discrimination in a digital bathymetry model. Manual identification and mapping of even a relatively small number of these landform objects is an expensive process. A novel, supervised machine learning approach to automating the task is presented. The process maps the boundaries of ≈ 2000 pockmarks in seconds - a task that would take days for a human analyst to complete. The second case study investigates different feature creation methods for automatically discriminating sidescan sonar image textures characteristic of Sabellaria spinulosa colonisation. Results from a comparison of several textural feature creation methods on sonar waterfall imagery show that Gabor filter banks yield some of the best results. A further empirical investigation into the filter bank features created on sonar mosaic imagery leads to the identification of a useful configuration and filter parameter ranges for discriminating the target textures in the imagery. Feature saliency estimation is a vital stage in the machine process. Case study three concerns distance measures for the evaluation and ranking of features on sonar imagery. Two novel consensus methods for creating a more robust ranking are proposed. Experimental results show that the consensus methods can improve robustness over a range of feature parameterisations and various seabed texture classification tasks. The final case study is more qualitative in nature and brings together a number of ideas, applied to the classification of target regions in real-world sonar mosaic imagery. A number of technical challenges arose and these were surmounted by devising a novel, hybrid unsupervised method. This fully automated machine approach was compared with a supervised approach in an application to the problem of image-based sediment type discrimination. The hybrid unsupervised method produces a plausible class map in a few minutes of processing time. It is concluded that the versatile, novel process should be generalisable to the discrimination of other subjective natural targets in real-world seabed imagery, such as Sabellaria textures and pockmarks (with appropriate features and feature tuning.) Further, the full automation of pockmark and Sabellaria discrimination is feasible within this framework

Perinteisesti suojeltujen metsien rooli muuttuvissa luonnonvarainhallintajärjestelmissä Kenian Taitavuorilla

In Taita Hills, south-eastern Kenya, remnants of indigenous mountain rainforests play a crucial role as water towers and socio-cultural sites. They are pressurized due to poverty, shortage of cultivable land and the fading of traditional knowledge. This study examines the traditional ecological knowledge of Taitas and the ways it may be applied within transforming natural resource management regimes. I have analyzed some justifications for and hindrances to ethnodevelopment and participatory forest management in light of recently renewed Kenyan forest policies. Mixed methods were applied by combining an ethnographic approach with participatory GIS. I learned about traditionally protected forests and their ecological and cultural status through a seek out the expert method and with remote sensing data and tools. My informants were: 107 household interviewees, 257 focus group participants, 73 key informants and 87 common informants in participatory mapping. Religious leaders and state officials shared their knowledge for this study. I have gained a better understanding of the traditionally protected forests and sites through examining their ecological characteristics and relation to social dynamics, by evaluating their strengths and hindrances as sites for conservation of cultural and biological diversity. My results show that, these sites are important components of a complex socio-ecological system, which has symbolical status and sacred and mystical elements within it, that contributes to the connectivity of remnant forests in the agroforestry dominated landscape. Altogether, 255 plant species and 220 uses were recognized by the tradition experts, whereas 161 species with 108 beneficial uses were listed by farmers. Out of the traditionally protected forests studied 47 % were on private land and 23% on community land, leaving 9% within state forest reserves. A paradigm shift in conservation is needed; the conservation area approach is not functional for private lands or areas trusted upon communities. The role of traditionally protected forests in community-based forest management is, however, paradoxal, since communal approaches suggests equal participation of people, whereas management of these sites has traditionally been the duty of solely accredited experts in the village. As modernization has gathered pace such experts have become fewer. Sacredness clearly contributes but, it does not equal conservation. Various social, political and economic arrangements further affect the integrity of traditionally protected forests and sites, control of witchcraft being one of them. My results suggest that the Taita have a rich traditional ecological knowledge base, which should be more determinately integrated into the natural resource management planning processes.Kaakkois-Keniassa sijaitsevien Taita vuorten alkuperäisvuoristosademetsillä on tärkeä rooli alueen vesitorneina ja sosiokulttuurisina paikkoina. Köyhyys, pula viljelymaasta ja perinnetiedon hiipuminen kohdistavat paineita metsiin. Tarkastelen tutkimuksessani Taitan asukkaiden ekologista perinnetietoa ja sen soveltamisen mahdollisuuksia alati muuntuvassa luonnonvarainhallinnassa. Olen analysoinut etnokehityksen ja osallistavan metsänhallinnan oikeutuksia ja esteitä hiljattain uusitun Kenian metsäpolitiikan valossa. Olen soveltanut monimenetelmällistä tutkimusotetta yhdistäen etnografisia ja osallistavan paikkatiedon menetelmiä. Perinteisesti suojeltujen metsien ekologiasta ja kulttuurisesta statuksesta opin etsi asiantuntija -menetelmän ja kaukokartoitusaineiston avulla. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimukseen osallistui 107 kotitalouksissa haastateltua henkilöä ja 257 fokusryhmäläistä sekä 73 perinneasiantuntijaa ja 87 tavallista kyläläistä . Myös uskonnolliset johtajat ja paikallisviranomaiset jakoivat näkemyksiään aiheesta. Valotan perinteisesti suojeltujen metsien ekologisia tunnusmerkkejä ja suhdetta yhteisödynamiikkaan samalla analysoiden niiden vahvuuksia ja heikkouksia kulttuurisen ja biologisen monimuotoisuuden suojelussa. Tulokseni osoittavat, että nämä metsät ovat tärkeä osa kompleksista sosioekologista järjestelmää, joka omaa symbolisen statuksen ja pitää sisällään pyhiä ja mystisiä elementtejä. Peltometsäviljelyvaltaisessa maisemassa yksilöiden ja yhteisöjen vaalimat metsät yhdistävät pirstaloituneita valtion metsiä toimien monien eläinlajien astinkivinä. Paikalliset perinne-ekspertit tunnistivat 255 kasvilajia ja nimesivät niille 220 käyttötarkoitusta. Maanviljelijät puolestaan nimesivät 161 kasvilajia ja niiden 108 hyödyllistä käyttötarkoitusta. Tutkituista perinteisesti suojelluista metsistä 47% sijaitsivat yksityismaalla, 23% yhteisömaalla ja 9% valtion suojelumetsissä. Suojelualueajattelu ei ole toimivaa yksityisillä tai yhteisöjen hallintaan luovutetuilla mailla. Perinteisesti suojellut metsät esittävät puolestaan haasteen yhteisöpohjaisen metsänhoidon periaatteelle: yhteisön jäsenten tasavertainen osallistuminen jää haaveeksi, koska rituaalipaikoista huolehtiminen on perinteisesti uskottujen asiantuntijoiden tehtävä. Nämä ekspertit ovat käyneet harvalukuisiksi. Pyhyyden voidaan selvästi nähdä myötävaikuttavan suojeluun, vaikkakaan nämä kaksi eivät ole täysin rinnastettavissa. Myös monenlaiset sosiaaliset, poliittiset ja taloudelliset asetelmat vaikuttavat metsien koskemattomuuden asteeseen, noitavoimien kontrolloinnin ollen yksi tärkeimmistä. Tulokset viittaavat Taitojen rikkaaseen ekologisen perinnetietoon, jota tulisi nykyistä määrätietoisemmin hyödyntää kestävän luonnonvarainhallinnan suunnittelussa

Análisis de datos etnográficos, antropológicos y arqueológicos: una aproximación desde las humanidades digitales y los sistemas complejos

La llegada de las Ciencias de la Computación, el Big Data, el Análisis de Datos, el Aprendizaje Automático y la Minería de Datos ha modificado la manera en que se hace ciencia en todos los campos científicos, dando lugar, a su vez, a la aparición de nuevas disciplinas tales como la Mecánica Computacional, la Bioinformática, la Ingeniería de la Salud, las Ciencias Sociales Computacionales, la Economía Computacional, la Arqueología Computacional y las Humanidades Digitales –entre otras. Cabe destacar que todas estas nuevas disciplinas son todavía muy jóvenes y están en continuo crecimiento, por lo que contribuir a su avance y consolidación tiene un gran valor científico. En esta tesis doctoral contribuimos al desarrollo de una nueva línea de investigación dedicada al uso de modelos formales, métodos analíticos y enfoques computacionales para el estudio de las sociedades humanas tanto actuales como del pasado.El Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación • Proyecto SimulPast – “Transiciones sociales y ambientales: simulando el pasado para entender el comportamiento humano” (CSD2010-00034 CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010). • Proyecto CULM – “Modelado del cultivo en la prehistoria” (HAR2016-77672-P). • Red de Excelencia SimPastNet – “Simular el pasado para entender el comportamiento humano” (HAR2017-90883-REDC). • Red de Excelencia SocioComplex – “Sistemas Complejos Socio-Tecnológicos” (RED2018-102518-T). La Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León • Subvención a la línea de investigación “Entendiendo el comportamiento humano, una aproximación desde los sistemas complejos y las humanidades digitales” dentro del programa de apoyo a los grupos de investigación reconocidos (GIR) de las universidades públicas de Castilla y León (BDNS 425389