Interoperability between classification systems using metadata

The First on-Line conference on Metadata and Semantics Research Conference (MTSR'05): Approaches to advanced information systems, 21-30 November 2005Metadata are structures which catalogue, classify, describe and articulate electronic information. The Subject element of Dublin Core is used for c1assification systems and subject headings. There are five ways of applying semantic interoperability: interoperability between controlled vocabularies in the same language; between controlled vocabularies in different languages and classification systems; between subject headings and c1assification systems; between c1assification systems; and between languages. The relations between diverse types of standards or systems present diverse difficulties. The electronic information container, which is Internet, guarantees the trend to try and achieve the interoperability of content analysis, whether it be between c1assification systems, or subject headings. The organisation of information in a physical format has transferred its organisational forms to the structuring of electronic information. The digital formal transforms the organisational form itself. If, in information the message is the medium, in organisation the structure is the medium.Publicad

From the invalidity of a General Classification Theory to a new organization of knowledge for the millennium to come

Proceedings der 10. Tagung der Deutschen Sektion der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Wissensorganisation. Wien, 3-5 Juli 2006The idea of organizing knowledge and the determinism in classifícation structures implicitly involve certain limits which are translated into a General Theory on the Classifícation of Knowledge, given that classifícation responds to specific parameters and structures more than to a theoretical concept. The classifícation of things is a refiection of their classifícation by man, and this is what determines classifícation structures. The classifícation and organization of knowledge are presented to us as an artificial construct or as a useful fiction elaborated by man. Positivist knowledge reached its peak in the 20* century when science classifications and implemented classifícation systems based on the latter were to be gestated and Consolidated. Pragmatism was to serve as the epistemological and theoretical basis for science and its classifícation. If the classifícation of the sciences has given rise to clastification systems, the organisation and representation of knowledge has to currendy give rise to the context of the globalisation of electronic information in the hypertextual organisational form of electronic information where, if in information the médium ivas the message, in organisation the médium is the structure. The virtual reality of electronic information delves even deeper into it; the process is completed as the subject attempts to look for information. This information market needs standards of an international nature for documents and data. This body of information organization will be characterized by its dynamic nature. If formal and material structures change our concept of knowledge and the way it is structured, then this organization will undergo dynamic change along with the material and formal structures of the real world. The semantic web is a qualitative leap which can be glimpsed on tiie new knowledge horizon; the latter would be shaped with the full integration of contents and data, the language itself would include data and its rules of reason or representation system. The new organisation of knowledge points to a totally nCw conception; post-modern epistemology has yet to be articulated. In the 21 st century, the organization of electronic information is presenting a novel hypertextual, non-linear architecture that will lead to a new change in the paradigm for organization of knowledge for the mülennium to come.Publicad

University admission marks in Catalonia: Some highlights from the empirical research

The results of the examinations taken by graduated high school students who want to enrol at a Catalan university are here studied. To do so, the authors address several issues related to the equity of the system: reliability of grading, difficulty and discrimination power of the exams. The general emphasis is put upon the concurrent research and empirical evidence about the properties of the examination items and scores. After a discussion about the limitations of the exams' format and appropriateness of the instruments used in the study, the article concludes with some suggestions to improve such examinations.Admissions process, reliability of grading, index of difficulty, discrimination power

Simulation-based high-level synthesis of Nyquist-rate data converters using MATLAB/SIMULINK

This paper presents a toolbox for the simulation, optimization and high-level synthesis of Nyquist-rate Analog-to-Digital (A/D) and Digital-to-Analog (D/A) Converters in MATLAB®. The embedded simulator uses SIMULINK® C-coded S-functions to model all required subcircuits including their main error mechanisms. This approach allows to drastically speed up the simulation CPU-time up to 2 orders of magnitude as compared with previous approaches - based on the use of SIMULINK® elementary blocks. Moreover, S-functions are more suitable for implementing a more detailed description of the circuit. For all subcircuits, the accuracy of the behavioral models has been verified by electrical simulation using HSPICE. For synthesis purposes, the simulator is used for performance evaluation and combined with an hybrid optimizer for design parameter selection. The optimizer combines adaptive statistical optimization algorithm inspired in simulated annealing with a design-oriented formulation of the cost function. It has been integrated in the MATLAB/SIMULINK® platform by using the MATLAB® engine library, so that the optimization core runs in background while MATLAB® acts as a computation engine. The implementation on the MATLAB® platform brings numerous advantages in terms of signal processing, high flexibility for tool expansion and simulation with other electronic subsystems. Additionally, the presented toolbox comprises a friendly graphical user interface to allow the designer to browse through all steps of the simulation, synthesis and post-processing of results. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the toolbox, a 0.13)im CMOS 12bit@80MS/s analog front-end for broadband power line communications, made up of a pipeline ADC and a current steering DAC, is synthesized and high-level sized. Different experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2003-02355RAICONI

El Portafolio Europeo de las Lenguas

The European Language Portfolio (ELP) has been conceived as an educational product\ud intended to make more transparent the valué of qualifications and contents of courses which\ud language learners have attended throughout their uves and offers a wide panorama\ud concerning the student's perception of citizens and culture of the target language\ud community. Research has proved that, as a didactic instrument. the ELP can decidedly\ud contribute to enhance students' motivation and awareness of the importance of learning one\ud o more modern languages as well as increase learners' planning and self-assessment skills.\ud On the other hand, the ELP can help teachers to observe more closely their students' needs\ud and goals, negotiate educational objectives and stimulate motivation.El Portafolio Europeo de las Lenguas (PEL) ha sido concebido como un producto educativo\ud dirigido a hacer más transparente el valor de las calificaciones y los contenidos de los cursos\ud de idiomas en los que un estudiante ha participado a lo largo de toda su vida, ofreciendo\ud asimismo un amplio panorama sobre la percepción que el estudiante tiene de los ciudadanos\ud y la cultura de la comunidad a la que pertenece la lengua estudiada. Existen diferentes\ud estudios que prueban que el PEL, como herramienta didáctica, puede, por una lado,\ud contribuir de forma decisiva a incrementar la motivación del estudiante y su sensibilización\ud hacia la importancia del aprendizaje de lenguas modernas, así como a mejorar su capacidad\ud de planificación y autoevaluación. Por otro lado, el PEL también puede ayudar al\ud profesorado a observar más de cerca las necesidades de su alumnado, a negociar los\ud objetivos educativos y a estimular la motivación