Using Ontology Research in Semantic Web Applications

In the light of improving the World Wide Web, researchers are working towards the Semantic Web. Ontologies and ontology-based applications are its basic ingredients. Several ontological environments, categorizations and methodologies can be found in the literature. This paper shows how we have investigated the state of the art in these areas in an ontology building process that is the basis for an application developed at the later stage in an events organisation domain

Depositions for Discovery: the New Virginia Rule

Important amendments to its Rules, effective April 1, 1961, were recently adopted by the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. Perhaps the change of most interest to trial lawyers was the revision of Rule 3:23 relating to D\u27epositions and Discovery in Actions at Law

Superconducting and structural properties of plasma sprayed YBaCuO layers deposited on metallic substrates

The properties of plasma sprayed Y-Ba-Cu-O coatings deposited on metallic substrates are studied. Stainless steel, nickel steels and pure nickel are used as substrate. Y-Ba-Cu-O deposited on stainless steel and nickel steel reacts with the substrate. This interaction can be suppressed by using an yttria-stabilized zirconia (YsZ) diffusion barrier. However, after heat treatment the Y-Ba-Cu-O layers on YsZ show cracks perpendicular to the surface. As a result the critical current density is very low. The best results are obtained for Y-Ba-Cu-O deposited on pure nickel; here no cracks perpendicular to the surface are observed. The critical current increases with the anneal temperature but annealing for longer than 10 h does not seem to improve the superconducting properties any further

Virginia\u27s New Long Arm Statute

At its recent 1964 session, the General Assembly of Virginia enacted a statute which will widely expand the jurisdiction of our courts over nonresidents. The purpose of this brief editorial is to call attention to the new law, to provide a copy of it for our readers, and to make a few rather cursory comments on its significance

Collateral Attack on Foreign, Ex Parte Divorce Decrees: A Virginia Case

Ten years ago it was reported that a bill had been introduced in the Nevada legislature to grant divorces by slot machine. The divorce seeker would punch the machine once a day for 42 days, to establish residence, then insert 200 silver dollars. As the divorce popped out of a slot, colored lights would flash, wheels spin, and a jukebox would play America. The bill did not pass. But the liberality of existing divorce laws of Nevada and several other divorce-mill States has attracted many divorce seekers from all parts of the country, including Virginia. The migratory divorces so obtained have given rise to difficult Conflict of Laws problems, one of which will be briefly discussed here

Third Party Actions under Workmen\u27s Compensation Act

At common law any person who wrongfully injures another, intentionally or negligently, is liable to compensate such other person for his damages if the injured person is himself free from contributory fault. If the tortfeasor is a servant, acting within the scope of his employment, his employer (or master) is also liable to answer for the wrong under the long-established doctrine of respondeat superior,with certain exceptions in which immunity is granted to the state, or subdivisions thereof, and to charitable institutions. The trend in modern times has been to narrow, or to entirely abolish, such immunity. By the Federal Tort Claims Act, for example, the United States has waived its governmental immunity and there has been an increasing demand for the adoption of similar statutes by the several States

Derivation and verification of empirical catchment response time equations for medium to large catchments in South Africa

Published ArticleDespite uncertainties and errors in measurement, observed peak discharges are the best estimate of the true peak discharge from a catchment. However, in ungauged catchments, the catchment response time is a fundamental input to all methods of estimating peak discharges; hence, errors in estimated catchment response time directly impact on estimated peak discharges. In South Africa, this is particularly the case in ungauged medium to large catchments where practitioners are limited to use empirical methods that were calibrated on small catchments not located in South Africa. The time to peak (TP), time of concentration (TC) and lag time (TL) are internationally the most frequently used catchment response time parameters and are normally estimated using either hydraulic or empirical methods. Almost 95% of all the time parameter estimation methods developed internationally are empirically based. This paper presents the derivation and verification of empirical TP equations in a pilot scale study using 74 catchments located in four climatologically different regions of South Africa, with catchment areas ranging from 20 km2 to 35 000 km2. The objective is to develop unique relationships between observed TP values and key climatological and geomorphological catchment predictor variables in order to estimate catchment TP values at ungauged catchments. The results show that the derived empirical TP equation(s) meet the requirement of consistency and ease of application. Independent verification tests confirmed the consistency, while the statistically significant independent predictor variables included in the regressions provide a good estimation of catchment response times and are also easy to determine by practitioners when required for future applications in ungauged catchments. It is recommended that the methodology used in this study should be expanded to other catchments to enable the development of a regional approach to improve estimation of time parameters on a national-scale. However, such a national-scale application would not only increase the confidence in using the suggested methodology and equation(s) in South Africa, but also highlights that a similar approach could be adopted internationally