A Process Framework for Semantics-aware Tourism Information Systems

The growing sophistication of user requirements in tourism due to the advent of new technologies such as the Semantic Web and mobile computing has imposed new possibilities for improved intelligence in Tourism Information Systems (TIS). Traditional software engineering and web engineering approaches cannot suffice, hence the need to find new product development approaches that would sufficiently enable the next generation of TIS. The next generation of TIS are expected among other things to: enable semantics-based information processing, exhibit natural language capabilities, facilitate inter-organization exchange of information in a seamless way, and evolve proactively in tandem with dynamic user requirements. In this paper, a product development approach called Product Line for Ontology-based Semantics-Aware Tourism Information Systems (PLOSATIS) which is a novel hybridization of software product line engineering, and Semantic Web engineering concepts is proposed. PLOSATIS is presented as potentially effective, predictable and amenable to software process improvement initiatives

Developing Ontology Support for Human Malaria Control Initiatives

Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem in Sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and parts of America. In this paper, we discuss the development of the Human Malaria Control Ontology (HMCO) which contains general information on Malaria and epidemiological information that can help in the formulation of effective malaria control policies. The HMCO is aimed at providing interoperability support for the knowledge management of malaria control initiatives, and serve as an open semantic web infrastructure for malaria research and treatment

Developing Ontology Support for Human Malaria Control Initiatives

Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem in Sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and parts of America. In this paper, we discuss the development of the Human Malaria Control Ontology (HMCO) which contains general information on Malaria and epidemiological information that can help in the formulation of effective malaria control policies. The HMCO is aimed at providing interoperability support for the knowledge management of malaria control initiatives, and serve as an open semantic web infrastructure for malaria research and treatment

A Software Product Line Approach to Ontology-based Recommendations in E-Tourism Systems

This study tackles two concerns of developers of Tourism Information Systems (TIS). First is the need for more dependable recommendation services due to the intangible nature of the tourism product where it is impossible for customers to physically evaluate the services on offer prior to practical experience. Second is the need to manage dynamic user requirements in tourism due to the advent of new technologies such as the semantic web and mobile computing such that etourism systems (TIS) can evolve proactively with emerging user needs at minimal time and development cost without performance tradeoffs. However, TIS have very predictable characteristics and are functionally identical in most cases with minimal variations which make them attractive for software product line development. The Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) paradigm enables the strategic and systematic reuse of common core assets in the development of a family of software products that share some degree of commonality in order to realise a significant improvement in the cost and time of development. Hence, this thesis introduces a novel and systematic approach, called Product Line for Ontology-based Tourism Recommendation (PLONTOREC), a special approach focusing on the creation of variants of TIS products within a product line. PLONTOREC tackles the aforementioned problems in an engineering-like way by hybridizing concepts from ontology engineering and software product line engineering. The approach is a systematic process model consisting of product line management, ontology engineering, domain engineering, and application engineering. The unique feature of PLONTOREC is that it allows common TIS product requirements to be defined, commonalities and differences of content in TIS product variants to be planned and limited in advance using a conceptual model, and variant TIS products to be created according to a construction specification. We demonstrated the novelty in this approach using a case study of product line development of e-tourism systems for three countries in the West-African Region of Africa

Enhancing Election Monitoring and Observation using E-Messaging Tools

Election monitoring and observation are an integral part of an electoral process. They help to enhance the transparency and credibility of elections as well as the acceptance of results. Challenges faced by election monitoring and observation organizations include: the need for coordination and cooperation among observer groups; the need for follow-up on recommendations made after an election; the need to develop technologies appropriate for assessing e-voting technologies; and the need to develop commonly shared criteria for assessing democratic elections. In addition, challenges peculiar to Nigeria include: difficult terrain, poor Internet coverage, poor electricity and political instability bringing about insecurity. In this paper, we present contemporary e-messaging tools and initiatives that will help to address these challenges and thereby enhance the efficiency of election monitoring and observation missions

Process Framework for Subscriber Management and Retention in Nigerian Telecommunication Industry

in the global telecommunication industry. Hence, a dominant approach for subscriber management and retention is churn control, since it is cheaper to retain an existing subscriber than acquiring a new one. Predictive modeling employs the use of data mining techniques to identify patterns and provide a result that a group of subscribers are likely to churn in the near future. However, the effectiveness of subscriber retention strategy in an organization can be further boosted if the reason for churn and the timing of churn can also be predicted. In this paper, we propose a data mining process framework that can be used to predict churn, determine when a subscriber is likely to churn, provides the reason why a subscriber may churn, and recommend appropriate intervention strategy for customer retention using a combination of statistical and machine learning techniques. This experiment is carried out using data from a major telecom operator in Nigeria

CAES: A Model of an RBR-CBR Course Advisory Expert System

Academic student advising is a gargantuan task that places heavy demand on the time, emotions and mental resources of the academic advisor. It is also a mission critical and very delicate task that must be handled with impeccable expertise and precision else the future of the intended student beneficiary may be jeopardized due to poor advising. One integral aspect of student academic advising is course registration, where students make decisions on the choice of courses to take in specific semesters based on their current academic standing. In this paper, we give the description of the design, implementation and trial evaluation of the Course Advisory Expert System (CAES) which is a hybrid of a rule based reasoning (RBR) and case based reasoning (CBR). The RBR component was implemented using JESS. The result of the trial experiment revealed that the system has high performance/user satisfaction rating from the sample expert population conducted

Grid Computing: A Paradigm for Virtual Collaboration and Resource Sharing in a Global Context

The advent - of globalization has facilitated increased interdependence, integration between people and organizations in disparate locations. Grid computing which is a relatively new and evolving computing paradigm that facilitates coordinated resource sharing and collaborative problem solving is presented in thi s ! paper as a tool for improved academic and research collaboration in a global context

An Architectural Framework for Collaboration of Heterogeneous Communication Devices Using WAP and Mobile Device Augmented(MDA)Gateway Integration

Within the last couple of years, the challenge of displaying collaborative multimedia information has become very important with the large diversity of communication devices such as Personal Computers, laptops, notebooks and handheld devices. The shared data and information may be presented with different views depending on the communication device used by a particular collaborator. The use of various web tools (HTML, WML etc) offers some solutions to the problem but if the target application requires more complex features such as rich multimedia data than is manageable using HTML or WML format, something else need to be done. In this paper, we propose a framework that integrates WAP and MDA Gateway to support collaboration among virtual teams and nomadic workers using heterogeneous communication devices. We then discuss an approach for augmenting mobile device small screen capabilities with surrounding large screen display device