Competences of IT Architects

The field of architecture in the digital world uses a plethora of terms to refer to different kinds of architects, and recognises a confusing variety of competences that these architects are required to have. Different service providers use different terms for similar architects and even if they use the same term, they may mean something different. This makes it hard for customers to know what competences an architect can be expected to have.\ud \ud This book combines competence profiles of the NGI Platform for IT Professionals, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), as well as a number of Dutch IT service providers in a comprehensive framework. Using this framework, the book shows that notwithstanding a large variety in terminology, there is convergence towards a common set of competence profiles. In other words, when looking beyond terminological differences by using the framework, one sees that organizations recognize similar types of architects, and that similar architects in different organisations have similar competence profiles. The framework presented in this book thus provides an instrument to position architecture services as offered by IT service providers and as used by their customers.\ud \ud The framework and the competence profiles presented in this book are the main results of the special interest group “Professionalisation” of the Netherlands Architecture Forum for the Digital World (NAF). Members of this group, as well as students of the universities of Twente and Nijmegen have contributed to the research on which this book is based

Overview of methodologies for building ontologies

A few research groups are now proposing a series of steps and methodologies for developing ontologies. However, mainly due to the fact that Ontological Engineering is still a relatively immature discipline, each work group employs its own methodology. Our goal is to present the most representative methodologies used in ontology development and to perform an analysis of such methodologies against the same framework of reference. So, the goal of this paper is not to provide new insights about methodologies, but to put it all in one place and help people to select which methodology to use

Packaging biological cargoes in mesoporous materials: Opportunities for drug delivery

Introduction: Confinement of biomolecules in structured nanoporous materials offers several desirable features ranging from chemical and thermal stability, to resistance to degradation from the external environment. A new generation of mesoporous materials presents exciting new possibilities for the formulation and controlled release of biological agents. Such materials address niche applications in enteral and parenteral delivery of biologics, such as peptides, polypeptides, enzymes and proteins for use as therapeutics, imaging agents, biosensors, and adjuvants.Areas covered: Mesoporous silica Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15), with its unique, tunable pore diameter, and easily functionalized surface, provides a representative example of this new generation of materials. Here, we review recent advances in the design and synthesis of nanostructured mesoporous materials, focusing on SBA-15, and highlight opportunities for the delivery of biological agents to various organ and tissue compartments.Expert opinion: The SBA-15 platform provides a delivery carrier that is inherently separated from the active biologic due to distinct intra and extra-particle environments. This permits the SBA-15 platform to not require direct modification of the active biological therapeutic. Additionally, this makes the platform universal and allows for its application independent of the desired methods of discovery and development. The SBA-15 platform also directly addresses issues of targeted delivery and controlled release, although future challenges in the implementation of this platform reside in particle design, biocompatibility, and the tunability of the internal and external material properties. Examples illustrating the flexibility in the application of the SBA-15 platform are also discussed

Report on the Workshop held at the University of Leeds on 6 November organised on behalf of the Transport Sub-Committee of the Environment Committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council

The meeting was the second in a series of three; called to review the prospects for future development of the Special Programme in the Application of Information Technology to Transport set up by the Transport Sub-committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). The other seminars were: at University College London on Traffic Engineering Applications; held in July 1986; and at the University of Newcastle up Tyne, on Public Transport Information Systems, held in December 1986. The objectives of the workshop were to (i) review current perceptions of and future prospects for the role of expert systems in transport; and (ii) provide such feed-back to the SERC Transport Sub-committee as would assist it in forming a view about future work in this area. (Continues..

Report on the Workshop held at the University of Leeds on 6 November organised on behalf of the Transport Sub-Committee of the Environment Committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council

The meeting was the second in a series of three; called to review the prospects for future development of the Special Programme in the Application of Information Technology to Transport set up by the Transport Sub-committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). The other seminars were: at University College London on Traffic Engineering Applications; held in July 1986; and at the University of Newcastle up Tyne, on Public Transport Information Systems, held in December 1986. The objectives of the workshop were to (i) review current perceptions of and future prospects for the role of expert systems in transport; and (ii) provide such feed-back to the SERC Transport Sub-committee as would assist it in forming a view about future work in this area. (Continues..

Some Ideas and Examples to Evaluate Ontologies

The lack of methods for evaluating ontologies in laboratories can be an obstacle to their use in companies. This paper presents a set of emerging ideas in evaluation of ontologies useful for: (1) ontologies developers in the lab, as a foundation from which to perform technical evaluations; (2) end users of ontologies in companies, as a point of departure in the search for the best ontology for their systems; and (3) future research, as a basis upon which to perform progressive and disciplined investigations in this area. After briefly exploring some general questions such as: why, what, when, how and where to evaluate; who evaluates; and, what to evaluate against, we focus on the definition of a set of criteria useful in the evaluation process. Finally, we use some of these criteria in the evaluation of the Bibliographic-Data [5] ontology

Making Care Coordination a Critical Component of the Pediatric Health System: A Multidisciplinary Framework

Based on a literature review and interviews, proposes a framework for delivering pediatric care coordination that links health care, education, early child care, and family support. Discusses core functions and the need for an integrated infrastructure