Process Productivity Improvements through Semantic and Linked Data Technologies

Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: José María Álvarez Rodríguez.- Secretario: Rafael Valencia García.- Vocal: Alejandro Rodríguez Gonzále

Terminology as the basis for building engineering feature-based models

Satellite operations require the combined use of different tools to support engineering ctivities and to control the spacecraft. This communication is managed by the Monitoring and Control System (MCS) that receives telemetry data from the spacecraft and releases telecommands to keep the satellite's attitude and flight path. These complex systems are developed as open platforms that can be extended and customised to support mission-specific requirements and objectives. As a general rule, it can be stated that these software applications are good candidates for implementing variability mechanisms in a structured, planned way and that their functionality is a good candidate to analyse the feasibility of applying feature-based modelling techniques. This paper describes the use of terminology analysis to build a feature model to support requirements analysis for this type of software-based systems

Criteria for the selection of a semantic repository for managing SKOS data

In the last years, institutions and organizations have started paying attention to the semantic data technologies as a key component of their information management infrastructure. A key component in traditional information systems that is expected to have a great relevance in the Semantic Web and linked open data projects are knowledge organization systems: classifications, thesauri, list of subject headings, etc. W3C technical standards for the Semantic Web include the SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) specification for encoding and tagging these knowledge representation tools. The adaptation of an existing knowledge representation system to SKOS requires the conversion and tagging of the data. This is a task that can be easily done by the staff working at libraries, archives and documentation centers, but the conversion of existing materials to SKOS is not enough. Centers need to offer the capability of exploring and using these systems in different ways: e.g. direct search for end-users. To do that, entities need to select and deploy software tools for storing, managing and querying SKOS tools using the SPARQL standard. The complexity of the SPARQL language makes necessary to think on ways to make querying easier for end-users. This presentation describes the results of assessing two semantic repository tools – GraphDB and Virtuoso – to manage SKOS-based vocabularies and define query interfaces adapted to the relationships between concepts used in SKOS. The result of this research activity includes the design of two alternative query interfaces to help users interact with the SKOS tools when doing complex querie

Technical interoperability between semantic and descriptive standards: working with distributed thesauri through the Web

[Resumen] La presente comunicación describe un caso práctico donde se utiliza la especificación técnica SRU (Search/ Retrieve URL) para acceder a vocabularios controlados remotos codificados en SKOS, concretamente a los thesauri de Ingeniería publicados por el Ministerio de Fomento del Gobierno de España. SRU, diseñada por la Library of Congress para facilitar el acceso a bases de datos bibliográficas, es el resultado de la adaptación del protocolo Z39.50 a la World Wide Web. La comunicación propone un perfil de SRU que permite a los usuarios encargados de describir recursos interactuar con repositorios SKOS desde distintas herramientas de edición de metadatos. Los usuarios pueden consultar estos vocabularios y asignar descriptores a los registros que estén creando, con independencia del sistema de descripción que estén aplicando (EAD, MODS, MARCXML, etc.). Esta solución técnica también permite a los centros exponer y compartir sus vocabularios controlados, con lo que se amplía su visibilidad y se potencia su uso por otros centros y grupos de usuarios. Ampliar las posibilidades de reutilización de estos vocabularios controlados justifica en gran medida los costes derivados de su conversión al formato SKOS. Por otra parte, la utilización conjunta de protocolos técnicos abiertos y sistemas de metadatos públicos permite establecer un contexto en el que los vocabularios controlados y los sistemas de clasificación compartidos pueden llegar a constituir una capa de acceso unificada a repositorios y bases de datos distribuidos, donde se describan distintos tipos de materiales (bibliográficos, archivísticos, museísticos, etc.), a pesar de ser gestionadas por distintos centros e instituciones.[Abstract] This paper describes a practical experience where the SRU (Search/Retrieve URL) technical specification has been applied to access controlled vocabularies encoded in SKOS. The project has implemented in SKOS the thesauri on Engineering published by Ministerio de Fomento del Gobierno de España. The author proposes an SRU/CQL profile to allow users in charge of describing archival materials to interact with SKOS-based repositories from different archival description software tools. Users can access these vocabularies and assign descriptors to descriptive records regardless the metadata standard they are working with: EAD, MODS, MARCXML, etc. This technical solution gives centers the possibility of exposing and sharing their controlled vocabularies, giving more visibility to their thesauri so other users can take advantage of them. In addition, the use of open technical protocols, open metadata standards and common vocabularies and classification systems ensures the possibility of building a unified access layer to distributed repositories and databases managed by different centers and institutions

TOWARD AN IDEAL PERFORMANCE OF CIRCLES ON POMMEL HORSE —CENTRIFUGAL FORCE AND MASS-CENTRE VELOCITY—

To advance mechanical understanding of circles on pommel horse, we analysed the centrifugal force and the kinematics of whole-body mass centre during circles performed by five high-scored and five low-scored gymnasts. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were recorded using a motion capture system and force plates set under a no-leg pommel horse. The results showed that the high-scored gymnasts kept a greater mass-centre velocity and centrifugal force during the single-hand support phases than the low-scored gymnasts. It also seemed to be a reasonable interpretation, however, that the double-hand support phases were more complicated and difficult from a mechanical standpoint. Even the high-scored gymnasts who participated in this study might have room for further improvement especially in the double-hand support phases

Developments in Aerospace Software Engineering practices for VSEs: An overview of the process requirements and practicesof integrated Maturity models and Standards

As part of the evolution of the Space market in the last years – globally referred to as Space 2.0 - small companies are playing an increasingly relevant role in different aerospace projects. Business incubators established by European Space Agency (ESA) and similar entities are evidence of the need of moving initiatives to small companies characterized by greater flexibility to develop specific activities. Software is a key component in most aerospace projects, and the success of the initiatives and projects usually depends on the capability of developing reliable software following well-defined standards. But small entities face some difficulties when adopting software development standards that have been conceived thinking on larger organizations and big programs. The need of defining software development standards tailored to small companies and groups is a permanent subject of discussion not only in the aerospace field, and has led in recent years to the publication of the ISO/IEC 29110 series of systems and software engineering standards and guides, aimed to solve the issues that Very Small Entities (VSEs) () – settings having up to twenty-five people -, found with other standards like CMMI or SPICE. This paper discusses the tailoring defined by different aerospace organizations for VSEs in the aerospace industry, and presents a conceptual arrangement of the standard based on meta-modeling languages that allow the extension and full customization with the incorporation of specific software engineering requirements and practices from ECSS (European Cooperation for Space Standardization)

Feminism and Women’s Fiction: A Reading of Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” and “The Lady of the House of Love”

Este ensayo aborda el análisis de dos relatos incluidos en The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (1979, La cámara sangrienta y otros cuentos), de Angela Carter: “The Bloody Chamber” (“La cámara sangrienta”) y “The Lady of the House of Love” (“La dama de la casa del amor”). La colección de relatos de Carter se inspira en conocidos cuentos populares que la autora re-escribe, creando versiones que al lector le resultan familiares y extrañas al mismo tiempo. La obra de Carter también está influida por el feminismo y desde esta perspectiva llevo a cabo mi análisis. Así pues, en la introducción se incluye una breve explicación del desarrollo del movimiento feminista con vistas a situar a Carter en el contexto de la llamada “Segunda ola” del feminismo. La lucha feminista contra el patriarcado se presenta aquí también en relación con la literatura, prestando especial atención a la manera en la que la escritura en general, y la re-escritura en particular, pueden ponerse al servicio del feminismo. A partir de esta premisa, analizo los dos relatos arriba mencionados comparándolos con las versiones tradicionales, conocidas sobre todo a través de la obra de Charles Perrault Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697, Los cuentos de Charles Perrault). De este modo, interpreto “The Bloody Chamber” y “The Lady of the House of Love” a la luz de las diferencias que los relatos de Carter presentan con respecto a sus dos intertextos principales —“Blue Beard” (“Barba Azul”) y “Sleeping Beauty” (“La Bella Durmiente”)— si bien considero también otros intertextos, como por ejemplo la literatura gótica. Se muestra de esta manera cómo Carter cuestiona la construcción de la femineidad en el sistema patriarcal, creando protagonistas que se apartan claramente de los estereotipos femeninos tan frecuentes en la literatura anterior y, especialmente, en los cuentos populares. Los dos relatos se analizan por separado, si bien en la sección con la que concluye el ensayo se relacionan los temas y estrategias que ambas historias comparten, al tiempo que se comentan también distintas opiniones expresadas por la crítica en relación con la obra de Carter