An MPEG-7 scheme for semantic content modelling and filtering of digital video

Abstract Part 5 of the MPEG-7 standard specifies Multimedia Description Schemes (MDS); that is, the format multimedia content models should conform to in order to ensure interoperability across multiple platforms and applications. However, the standard does not specify how the content or the associated model may be filtered. This paper proposes an MPEG-7 scheme which can be deployed for digital video content modelling and filtering. The proposed scheme, COSMOS-7, produces rich and multi-faceted semantic content models and supports a content-based filtering approach that only analyses content relating directly to the preferred content requirements of the user. We present details of the scheme, front-end systems used for content modelling and filtering and experiences with a number of users

LRU-based algorithms for Web Cache Replacement

Caching has been introduced and applied in prototype and commercial Web-based information systems in order to reduce the overall bandwidth and increase system's fault tolerance. This paper presents a track of Web cache replacement algorithms based on the Least Recently Used (LRU) idea. We propose an extension to the conventional LRU algorithm by considering the number of references to Web objects as a critical parameter for the cache content replacement. The proposed algorithms are validated and experimented under Web cache traces provided by a major Squid proxy cache server installation environment. Cache and bytes hit rates are reported showing that the proposed cache replacement algorithms improve cache content

New directions in web data management 1

This volume addresses the major issues in Web data management related to technologies and infrastructures, methodologies and techniques as well as applications and implementations. Emphasis is placed on Web engineering and technologies, Web graph managing, searching and querying

Professional profiles and personality traits towards social network team building

Today’s increasing hurriedness in our way of life along with technology advances demand from businesses to react always in a faster mode, while maintaining or, better yet, improving the quality of their products and services. Towards that objective, businesses can gain benefits by employing redefined team-building processes through which teams will be generated in a more cohesive and efficient manner. Aiming at forming productive and effective teams, we present PROTEAS, a framework where professional profiles and personality traits are both taken into account in the teambuilding process. The professional portrait of users is drawn from their LinkedIn accounts, while hints for their personality are obtained by a well-defined questionnaire based on the Big Five Factor Model. The significance of personality is substantiated by recent research work where it has been proven that personality traits can play a vital role in group dynamics. Motivated by the latter, PROTEAS defines a series of variables where characteristics of team members (e.g. skills, education) are combined with personality traits towards identifying candidate teams. All candidates are evaluated via a weight-based algorithm which calculates pair-wise similarities among teams’ members and ranks the teams accordingly at the end. To assess the effectiveness of PROTEAS an academic setting has been chosen and through the experimentation a number of interesting observations occurred which are analogous to those of similar researches, confirming the significance of personality and professional compatibility between team members

Security model for XML data

The significance of XML technology for sharing data over the Internet is being rapidly recognised. In this paper, we examine the security problems related to XML data and present our approach, the XML Security model, for enforcing security policies in XML based Information systems. Our methodology has been based on the study of the XML data model, on the identification of the security requirements of XML Information systems and on the survey of security models which have been proposed to support the conventional data models (relational, object-oriented, hypertext etc). The proposed approach takes into account and exploits the specific characteristics of XML data and incorporates the flexibility of Role based Access Control policies

Effect of different levels of wheat straw soil surface coverage on weed flora in Vicia faba crops

The crop system implemented on organic farms requires that crop residues are incorporated into the soil following the end of wheat cultivation. This system leads to a reduction in soil moisture and the creation of favourable conditions for the emergence of weeds. In contrast, covering the soil with 60% crop residues was found to maintain soil moisture and lead to a reduction in dry weed mass, population density and population frequency as well as a reduction in population diversity, regardless of the initial weed flora before the implementation of different soil tillage systems. Finally, an increase in the prevalence of broad-leafed weeds was observed as the level of soil cover increased

Effects of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on human diabetic nephropathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a kidney dysfunction, which occurs due to elevated urine albumin excretion rate and reduced glomerular filtration rate. Studies in animals have shown that alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation can reduce the development of DN. OBJECTIVES: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effects of ALA supplementation on biological indices (albumin, creatinine etc.) indicative of human DN. METHODS: The searching procedure included the databases PubMed Central, Embase, Cochrane Library (trials) and Web of Science, (protocol registration: INPLASY 202060095). RESULTS: We found that ALA supplementation decreased urine albumin 24h excretion rate in patients with diabetes [standardized mean difference=-2.27; confidence interval (CI)=(-4.09)-(-0.45); I2=98%; Z=2.44; p=0.01]. A subgroup analysis revealed that the studies examining only ALA, did not differ from those examined ALA in combination with additional medicines (Chi-squared=0.19; p=0.66; I2=0%), while neither ALA nor ALA plus medication had an effect on urine albumin 24h excretion rate (p>0.05). Also, ALA supplementation decreased urine albumin mg/l [mean difference (MD)=-12.95; CI=(-23.88)-(-2.02); I2=44%; Z=2.32; p=0.02] and urine albumin to creatinine ratio [MD=-26.96; CI=(-35.25)-(-18.67); I2=0%; Z=6.37; p<0.01] in patients with diabetes. When the studies that examined ALA plus medication were removed, ALA supplementation had no effect on urine albumin mg/l (p>0.05), but did significantly decrease urine albumin to creatinine ratio [MD=-25.88, CI=(34.40-(-17.36), I2=0%, Z=5.95, p<0.00001]. CONCLUSION: The available evidence suggests that ALA supplementation does not improve biological indices that reflect DN in humans. Overall, we identified limited evidence and therefore, the outcomes should be considered with caution