Towards engineering ontologies for cognitive profiling of agents on the semantic web

Research shows that most agent-based collaborations suffer from lack of flexibility. This is due to the fact that most agent-based applications assume pre-defined knowledge of agents’ capabilities and/or neglect basic cognitive and interactional requirements in multi-agent collaboration. The highlight of this paper is that it brings cognitive models (inspired from cognitive sciences and HCI) proposing architectural and knowledge-based requirements for agents to structure ontological models for cognitive profiling in order to increase cognitive awareness between themselves, which in turn promotes flexibility, reusability and predictability of agent behavior; thus contributing towards minimizing cognitive overload incurred on humans. The semantic web is used as an action mediating space, where shared knowledge base in the form of ontological models provides affordances for improving cognitive awareness

Riesz Transforms and Spectral Multipliers of the Hodge-Laguerre Operator

On $\mathbb{R}^d_+$, endowed with the Laguerre probability measure $\mu_\alpha$, we define a Hodge-Laguerre operator $\mathbb{L}_\alpha=\delta\delta^*+\delta^* \delta$ acting on differential forms. Here $\delta$ is the Laguerre exterior differentiation operator, defined as the classical exterior differential, except that the partial derivatives $\partial_{x_i}$ are replaced by the "Laguerre derivatives" $\sqrt{x_i}\partial_{x_i}$, and $\delta^*$ is the adjoint of $\delta$ with respect to inner product on forms defined by the Euclidean structure and the Laguerre measure $\mu_\alpha$. We prove dimension-free bounds on $L^p$, $1<p<\infty$, for the Riesz transforms $\delta \mathbb{L}_\alpha^{-1/2}$ and $\delta^* \mathbb{L}_ \alpha^{-1/2}$. As applications we prove the strong Hodge-de Rahm-Kodaira decomposition for forms in $L^p$ and deduce existence and regularity results for the solutions of the Hodge and de Rham equations in $L^p$. We also prove that for suitable functions $m$ the operator $m(\mathbb{L}^\alpha)$ is bounded on $L^p$, $1<p<\infty$.Comment: 49 page

Overcoming restrictive technologies in police call centres: A human agency perspective

Call centres in the police force are restrictive information systems which tend to present call operators with constraints that they need to overcome using their experience in order to offer better services to the public. This paper is looking at how elements of human agency come in to play and help users’ enactment against restrictive technologies. Information systems research on human agency has been mainly focused on the examination of whether agency lies within human or machines or both while in this paper we take a different approach and we clearly describe how human agency is enacted in practice. We use empirical data from contact centres and operational rooms of five UK police forces. After extensive observations we present how police call handlers manipulate digital information efficiently through human agency. The theoretical framework is based on the three elements of agency theory (iteration, projectivity and practical evaluation) The research findings assert that call handlers overcome the restrictions of the system by forming human-digital networks and using mental structures from their past experience in order to cope with the task at hand. The paper concludes by drawing implications for theory and practice and suggests future research directions

Building social capital through creative placemaking

Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Placemaking brings out the best of knowledge and skills while supporting a participatory process that challenges and empowers local communities to take ownership of the space planning process. Placemaking is the interplay of the needs and the aspirations of the community enacted in the design of the built environment. Moreover, the focus on planning and development rather than the opportunities arising from designing the spaces in the local community leads to the need for intervention by civic organisations to let the community take control of their own welfare. The motivation for this study arises from the need to decentralise power for the creation and circulation of local assets within the community. By using qualitative methods of research, the study aims to uncover the community-based challenges and their components and to discuss locally-driven solutions for the long-term viability and vitality of communities through the arts and culture. Arts and culture can play a powerful role in the design of this process by building social capital through community engagement. Social capital is the network of relationships among people within a society and the bridging of diverse people to function effectively (Claridge, 2004). Findings reveal that a community is enriched in four respects: community-led design, identity, social capital, productivity. For the realisation of such assets an engagement strategy is necessary and the research demonstrates that creative placemaking is a key catalyst of such a strategy. The research proposes a CURIOSITY framework, a participatory process leading local people to shape their community whilst also realising social capital. This paper has been organised to achieve the aim of this research through five objectives on the basis of four aspects that influence a community, addressing creative placemaking as a common element through all aspects

The biting and predaceous midges of Guadeloupe (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). I. Species of the subfamily Ceratopogoninae

We provide new records of biting and predaceous midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Guadeloupe in the subfamily Ceratopogoninae, including descriptions and illustrations of three new predaceous species in the genera, Parabezzia Malloch, Stilobezzia Kieffer and Palpomyia Meigen, respectively, and the first records of the New World predaceous genus, Amerohelea Grogan and Wirth, from the Caribbean region. We also provide the first Guadeloupe records of the biting midges, Culicoides (Anilomyia) decor (Williston), C. (Avaritia) pusillus Lutz, C. (Drymodesmyia) bredini Wirth and Blanton, C. (D.) poikilonotus Macfie, C. (Haematomyidium) hoffmani Fox, C. (Hoffmania) insignis Lutz, C. rangeli Ortiz and Mirsa and C. trilineatus Fox, and the predaceous midges, Brachypogon (Brachypogon) bifidus Spinelli and Grogan, B. (B.) telesfordi Spinelli and Grogan, B. (B.) woodruffi Spinelli and Grogan, Monohelea maya Felippe-Bauer, Huerta and Ibáñez-Bernal, Stilobezzia (Stilobezzia) diminuta Lane and Forattini, S. (S.) thomsenae Wirth, Amerohelea galindoi Grogan and Wirth, Bezzia (Bezzia) flinti Spinelli and Wirth, B. (Homobezzia) venustula (Williston) and Palpomyia insularis Spinelli and Grogan

Environmental epigenetics in zebrafish

It is widely accepted that the epigenome can act as the link between environmental cues, both external and internal, to the organism and phenotype by converting the environmental stimuli to phenotypic responses through changes in gene transcription outcomes. Environmental stress endured by individual organisms can also enforce epigenetic variations in offspring that had never experienced it directly, which is termed transgenerational inheritance. To date, research in the environmental epigenetics discipline has used a wide range of both model and non-model organisms to elucidate the various epigenetic mechanisms underlying the adaptive response to environmental stimuli. In this review, we discuss the advantages of the zebrafish model for studying how environmental toxicant exposures affect the regulation of epigenetic processes, especially DNA methylation, which is the best-studied epigenetic mechanism. We include several very recent studies describing the state-of-the-art knowledge on this topic in zebrafish, together with key concepts in the function of DNA methylation during vertebrate embryogenesis