Will linked data benefit from inverse link traversal?

Query execution using link-traversal is a promising approach for retrieving and accessing data on the web. However, this approach finds its limitation when it comes to query patterns such as ?s rdf:type ex:Employee, where one does not know the subject URI. Such queries are quite useful for different application needs. In this paper, we conduct an empirical analysis on the use of such patterns in SPARQL query logs. We present different solution approaches to extend the current Linked Open Data principles with the ability for inverse link traversal. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches

Knowledge-rich Image Gist Understanding Beyond Literal Meaning

We investigate the problem of understanding the message (gist) conveyed by images and their captions as found, for instance, on websites or news articles. To this end, we propose a methodology to capture the meaning of image-caption pairs on the basis of large amounts of machine-readable knowledge that has previously been shown to be highly effective for text understanding. Our method identifies the connotation of objects beyond their denotation: where most approaches to image understanding focus on the denotation of objects, i.e., their literal meaning, our work addresses the identification of connotations, i.e., iconic meanings of objects, to understand the message of images. We view image understanding as the task of representing an image-caption pair on the basis of a wide-coverage vocabulary of concepts such as the one provided by Wikipedia, and cast gist detection as a concept-ranking problem with image-caption pairs as queries. To enable a thorough investigation of the problem of gist understanding, we produce a gold standard of over 300 image-caption pairs and over 8,000 gist annotations covering a wide variety of topics at different levels of abstraction. We use this dataset to experimentally benchmark the contribution of signals from heterogeneous sources, namely image and text. The best result with a Mean Average Precision (MAP) of 0.69 indicate that by combining both dimensions we are able to better understand the meaning of our image-caption pairs than when using language or vision information alone. We test the robustness of our gist detection approach when receiving automatically generated input, i.e., using automatically generated image tags or generated captions, and prove the feasibility of an end-to-end automated process

UML-B and Event-B: an integration of languages and tools

UML-B is a graphical front end for Event-B. It adds support for class-oriented modelling but retains the Event-B concept of a closed system characterized by families of spontaneous events. UML-B is similar to UML but is essentially a new notation based on a separate meta-model. We provide tool support for UML-B, including drawing tools and a translator to generate Event-B models. The tools are closely integrated with the Event-B verification tools so that when a drawing is saved the translator automatically generates the corresponding Event-B model. The Event-B verification tools (syntax checker and prover) then run automatically providing an immediate display of problems. We introduce the UML-B notation its tool support and its integration with Event-B

SAGA: A project to automate the management of software production systems

The SAGA system is a software environment that is designed to support most of the software development activities that occur in a software lifecycle. The system can be configured to support specific software development applications using given programming languages, tools, and methodologies. Meta-tools are provided to ease configuration. The SAGA system consists of a small number of software components that are adapted by the meta-tools into specific tools for use in the software development application. The modules are design so that the meta-tools can construct an environment which is both integrated and flexible. The SAGA project is documented in several papers which are presented

A novel augmented graph approach for estimation in localisation and mapping

This thesis proposes the use of the augmented system form - a generalisation of the information form representing both observations and states. In conjunction with this, this thesis proposes a novel graph representation for the estimation problem together with a graph based linear direct solving algorithm. The augmented system form is a mathematical description of the estimation problem showing the states and observations. The augmented system form allows a more general range of factorisation orders among the observations and states, which is essential for constraints and is beneficial for sparsity and numerical reasons. The proposed graph structure is a novel sparse data structure providing more symmetric access and faster traversal and modification operations than the compressed-sparse-column (CSC) sparse matrix format. The graph structure was developed as a fundamental underlying structure for the formulation of sparse estimation problems. This graph-theoretic representation replaces conventional sparse matrix representations for the estimation states, observations and their interconnections. This thesis contributes a new implementation of the indefinite LDL factorisation algorithm based entirely in the graph structure. This direct solving algorithm was developed in order to exploit the above new approaches of this thesis. The factorisation operations consist of accessing adjacencies and modifying the graph edges. The developed solving algorithm demonstrates the significant differences in the form and approach of the graph-embedded algorithm compared to a conventional matrix implementation. The contributions proposed in this thesis improve estimation methods by providing novel mathematical data structures used to represent states, observations and the sparse links between them. These offer improved flexibility and capabilities which are exploited in the solving algorithm. The contributions constitute a new framework for the development of future online and incremental solving, data association and analysis algorithms for online, large scale localisation and mapping