Exploring user and system requirements of linked data visualization through a visual dashboard approach

One of the open problems in SemanticWeb research is which tools should be provided to users to explore linked data. This is even more urgent now that massive amount of linked data is being released by governments worldwide. The development of single dedicated visualization applications is increasing, but the problem of exploring unknown linked data to gain a good understanding of what is contained is still open. An effective generic solution must take into account the user’s point of view, their tasks and interaction, as well as the system’s capabilities and the technical constraints the technology imposes. This paper is a first step in understanding the implications of both, user and system by evaluating our dashboard-based approach. Though we observe a high user acceptance of the dashboard approach, our paper also highlights technical challenges arising out of complexities involving current infrastructure that need to be addressed while visualising linked data. In light of the findings, guidelines for the development of linked data visualization (and manipulation) are provided

Highly focused document retrieval in aerospace engineering : user interaction design and evaluation

Purpose – This paper seeks to describe the preliminary studies (on both users and data), the design and evaluation of the K-Search system for searching legacy documents in aerospace engineering. Real-world reports of jet engine maintenance challenge the current indexing practice, while real users’ tasks require retrieving the information in the proper context. K-Search is currently in use in Rolls-Royce plc and has evolved to include other tools for knowledge capture and management. Design/methodology/approach – Semantic Web techniques have been used to automatically extract information from the reports while maintaining the original context, allowing a more focused retrieval than with more traditional techniques. The paper combines semantic search with classical information retrieval to increase search effectiveness. An innovative user interface has been designed to take advantage of this hybrid search technique. The interface is designed to allow a flexible and personal approach to searching legacy data. Findings – The user evaluation showed that the system is effective and well received by users. It also shows that different people look at the same data in different ways and make different use of the same system depending on their individual needs, influenced by their job profile and personal attitude. Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on a specific case of an enterprise working in aerospace engineering. Although the findings are likely to be shared with other engineering domains (e.g. mechanical, electronic), the study does not expand the evaluation to different settings. Originality/value – The study shows how real context of use can provide new and unexpected challenges to researchers and how effective solutions can then be adopted and used in organizations.</p

The pharmaceutical care and the rejected constitutional reform: what might have been and what is

This study analyzes the current state of legislation pertaining to pharmaceutical/health care in a period of normative ferment characterized by continuous changes, after countless discussions that have been held on a proposed constitutional reform (rejected by the will of the people at the end of 2016). After a general reflection on the division of legislative powers between the State and its Regions, in the light of attempts to bring about a reform, we will analyse specific problems: from the recent, but in some ways already defined as historic, approval of the new Essential Levels of Care (LEC), the approval of the 2017 Budget Law (concerning important items such as the purchase of drugs), until we reach the Draft Law on competition which is in the process of being approved. All this is taking place in the context of loyal, unavoidable cooperation between State, Regions and local institutions, in the spirit of the ascendancy of the right to health over economic/financial interests in the country

El endeudamiento de las empresas argentinas en una economía en crisis (1983-1991)

The significant number of banking credits granted to the Argentinean firms during the period 1983-1991 makes it necessary to study the causes of this serious debt. This article analyses the weakness of the self-financing rate and the effect of external support, as well as the effects related with the economic environment that encouraged this debt. Agency and information theories, at the macroeconomic level, are used to fulfil this objective.Argentinean firms, indebtedness, economic crisis, autofinancing

Affective graphs: the visual appeal of linked data

The essence and value of Linked Data lies in the ability of humans and machines to query, access and reason upon highly structured and formalised data. Ontology structures provide an unambiguous description of the structure and content of data. While a multitude of software applications and visualization systems have been developed over the past years for Linked Data, there is still a significant gap that exists between applications that consume Linked Data and interfaces that have been designed with significant focus on aesthetics. Though the importance of aesthetics in affecting the usability, effectiveness and acceptability of user interfaces have long been recognised, little or no explicit attention has been paid to the aesthetics of Linked Data applications. In this paper, we introduce a formalised approach to developing aesthetically pleasing semantic web interfaces by following aesthetic principles and guidelines identified from literature. We apply such principles to design and develop a generic approach of using visualizations to support exploration of Linked Data, in an interface that is pleasing to users. This provides users with means to browse ontology structures, enriched with statistics of the underlying data, facilitating exploratory activities and enabling visual query for highly precise information needs. We evaluated our approach in three ways: an initial objective evaluation comparing our approach with other well-known interfaces for the semantic web and two user evaluations with semantic web researchers

Food safety on board tankers. Results of analysis from ‘Healthy Ship’ project

Background: Microbiological monitoring of surfaces used for food preparation, as required by the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan, is important in risky conditions as those observed in the kitchens of ships. Limits to introduce a classification of risk levels and methods to adopt in conditions as those occurring in tankers have not been investigated. This paper presents the results of the “Healthy Ship” project on HACCP monitoring of surfaces used in food preparation on Italian flag tankers.  Materials and methods: Microbiological monitoring was carried out on 19 tankers between 2013 and 2017. Food handlers were also trained on board ship according to HACCP standards. Contact plates (ISO 18593:2004 compliant) were used to determine the colonies and bacterial charge according to the Wirtanen and Salo’s method.  Results: A total of 1074 samples, 108 before the first course, 168 after the first course, 390 during the period of refresher (2015–2016), and 408 after the refresher training, were obtained from the three main kitchen surfaces: the worktop, cutting board, and kitchen sink. A good level of hygiene was observed in 56.9% of all samples, 0.1% were classified as adequate, and the remaining 43% as poor. The highest contamination was observed on the cutting board and kitchen sink and involved the total aerobic count. The only surface with inadequate levels of hygiene was the worktop. A reduction of contaminated samples was noted after training.  Conclusions: Our results suggest that continuous training should be provided for personnel responsible for handling foodstuffs on board ships.

Prototyping tangibles : exploring form and interaction

In order to better explore the opportunities for tangible interaction in new areas such as the home or cultural heritage sites, we used multiple rapidly-developed prototypes that take advantage of existing technology. Physical prototypes allow us to give form to ideas and to evaluate the integration of form and function, two core components of tangible interaction. We discuss potentials and pitfalls when using off-the-shelf digital devices (by embedding a device, cracking it open and building on it, or collating board and parts) through six prototypes developed in two studies. Hacking devices to materialize our ideas proved excellent for fast prototyping. Technology imposed constraints and prompted different design solutions than initially intended offering unexpected ways to engage. On the basis of this experience we outline a process and offer guidelines for the fast prototyping of tangible interactions

Active document enrichment using adaptive information extraction from text

The traditional process of document annotation for knowledge identification and extraction in the Semantic Web (SW) is complex and time consuming, as it requires manual annotation by domain experts. There is currently a strong interest in Text Mining technologies (and in particular in Human Language-based Technologies), for reducing the burden of text annotation for Knowledge Management (KM). In this poster we present Melita, an annotation interface that uses Adaptive Information Extraction from texts for reducing the burden of text annotation.peer-reviewe