Searching for a Time Ontology for Semantic Web Applications

We present our experience on reusing time ontologies in Fund Finder, a semantic web application of the EU Esperonto project. On the one hand, we show a set of time ontologies implemented in different machine readable languages. Such ontologies are analyzed considering a series of features typical of time models (e.g., if they consider different granularities or different time zones). On the other hand, we present the specification of time modeling necessities for Fund Finder. Finally, we choose the ontology which fits best with the specifications

The integration of OntoClean in WebODE

Enterprises will only be interested in the use of ontologies if such ontologies are evaluated enough. Therefore, the development of ontology evaluation tools is a crucial matter. We have built the ODEClean module in the workbench for building ontologies named WebODE. ODEClean allows cleaning taxonomies following the OntoClean method, and WebODE provides technical support to the Methontology methodology for building ontologies. We approached the development of this module in two steps. Firstly, we have integrated the OntoClean method into the conceptualisation activity of Methontology. Secondly, we have designed and implemented ODEClean using a declarative approach for specifying the knowledge to be used on the evaluation. ODEClean uses: (a) the Top Level of Universals, (b) metaproperties based on philosophical notions, and (c) OntoClean evaluation axioms. The main advantage of this approach is that the system could easily allow the user relax or stress the evaluation of the taxonomy just selecting more or less meta-properties

Indaguen l'eficàcia dels bacteris per curar malalties

Mycobacterium vaccae és un bacteri que podria ser una bona eina en el tractament de la tuberculosi, la dermatitis atòpica, l'asma i el càncer. Hi ha dues variants colonials, una llisa i una altra rugosa. S'ha observat que la variant rugosa és més eficient. Segons aquest estudi, la diferència podria estar en la presència d'un poliéster a la superfície dels bacteris de la variant llisa.Mycobacterium vaccae es una bacteria que podría ser una buenaherramienta en el tratamiento de la tuberculosis, la dermatitis atópica, elasma y el cáncer. Hay dos variantes coloniales, una lisa y otra rugosa.Se ha observado que la variante rugosa es más eficiente. Según esteestudio, la diferencia podría estar en la presencia de un poliéster en lasuperficie de las bacterias de la variante lisa

Point defects on graphene on metals

Understanding the coupling of graphene with its local environment is critical to be able to integrate it in tomorrow's electronic devices. Here we show how the presence of a metallic substrate affects the properties of an atomically tailored graphene layer. We have deliberately introduced single carbon vacancies on a graphene monolayer grown on a Pt(111) surface and investigated its impact in the electronic, structural and magnetic properties of the graphene layer. Our low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy studies, complemented by density functional theory, show the existence of a broad electronic resonance above the Fermi energy associated with the vacancies. Vacancy sites become reactive leading to an increase of the coupling between the graphene layer and the metal substrate at these points; this gives rise to a rapid decay of the localized state and the quenching of the magnetic moment associated with carbon vacancies in free-standing graphene layers

An Environment for Development of Semantic Web Services

Semantic Web Services (SWSs) are specified in a semantic markup language to enable other services (and agents) to reason about their capabilities, in order to decide whether a SWS should be invoked or not. In this paper an environment for development and description of SWSs is presented. This environment, called ODE SWSDesigner, consists of a graphical interface, which allows users to carry out the design and characterization of SWSs at a conceptual level, and a set of software modules, which verify the design correctness and perform the translations from the graphical descriptions to the languages used to specify SWSs. ODE SWSDesigner provides support for a layer-based framework that we have proposed with the aim of enabling a language -independent development of SWSs. This framework is based on the use of problemsolving methods that are considered as highlevel specifications from which SWS descriptions can be generated and verified

Effects of fire and three fire-fighting chemicals on main soil properties, plant nutrient content and vegetation growth and cover after 10 years.

The study addresses a knowledge-gap in the long-term ecological consequences of fire and fire-fighting chemicals. Ten years after a prescribed fire and the application of three fire-fighting chemicals, their effects on the soil-plant system were evaluated. Five treatments were established: unburnt soils (US) and burnt soils treated with water alone (BS), foaming agent (BS+Fo), Firesorb (BS+Fi) and ammonium polyphosphate (BS+Ap). Soils (0-2 cm depth) and foliar material of shrubs (Erica umbellata, Pterospartum tridentatum and Ulex micranthus) and trees (Pinus pinaster) were analysed for total N, 15N, and soil-available and plant total macronutrients and trace elements. Soil pH, NH4 +-N and NO3 --N; pine basal diameter and height; and shrub cover and height were also measured. Compared with US plots, burnt soils had less nitrates and more Mo. Although differences were not always significant, BS+Ap had the highest levels of soil available P, Na and Al. Plants from BS+Ap plots had higher values of 15N (P. pinaster and E. umbellata), P (all species), Na (P. tridentatum and U. micranthus) and Mg (E. umbellata and P. tridentatum) than other treatments; while K in plants from BS+Ap plots was the highest among treatments for P. pinaster and the lowest for the shrubs. Pines in US plots were higher and wider than in burnt treatments, except for BS+Ap, where the tallest and widest trees were found, although half of them were either death (the second highest mortality after BS+Fi) or had a distorted trunk. BS+Ap was the treatment with strongest effects on plants, showing E. umbellata the lowest coverage and height, P. tridentatum the highest coverage, U. micranthus one of the lowest coverages and being the only treatment where Genista triacanthos was absent. Consequently, it is concluded that both fire and ammonium polyphosphate application had significant effects on the soil-plant system after 10 years.Peer reviewe

ODE-SWS: A Semantic Web Service Development Environment

Web Services (WS) are software modules that perform operations that are network-accessible through XML messaging. Web Services in the Semantic Web, that is, Semantic Web Services (SWS), should describe semantically their structure and capabilities to enable its automatic discovery, invocation and composition. In this work we present a development environment to design SWS in a language-independent manner. This environment is based on a framework that defines an ontology set to characterize how a SWS should be specified. The core ontology of this framework describes the SWS problem-solving behaviour and enables the SWS design at a conceptual level. Considering this framework, the SWS development environment is composed of (1) a graphical interface, in which the conceptual design of SWSs is performed, and (2) a tool set, which instantiates the framework ontologies according to the graphical model created by the user, verifies the completeness and consistency of the SWS through instance evaluation, and translates the SWS conceptual model description into SWS (and WS) languages, such as DAML-S, WSDL or UDDI. This tool set is integrated in the WebODE ontology engineering workbench in order to take advantage of its reasoning and ontology translation capabilities

Descubrimiento automático de mappings en un caso de uso real con altas exigencias de certeza

Los sistemas de integración de información resuelven las diferencias entre las fuentes, en la mayoría de los casos, mediante la creación de mappings, puentes semánticos entre los elementos de las fuentes. Hasta ahora se han propuesto comparadores para generar un conjunto de mappings para cada par de elementos de las fuentes a integrar, y se han realizado estudios experimentales con ellos. El valor añadido del presente trabajo frente a los trabajos experimentales anteriores es que se ha llevado a cabo en un caso real embebido en una aplicación real (en el dominio geográfico) con altas exigencias de certeza

Differentiation of Trichuris species using a morphometric approach

Trichuris trichiura is a nematode considered as the whipworm present in humans and primates. The systematics of the genus Trichuris is complex. Morphological studies of Trichuris isolated from primates and humans conclude that the species infecting these hosts is the same. Furthermore, numerous molecular studies have been carried out so far to discriminate parasite species from humans and Non-Human Primates using molecular techniques, but these studies were not performed in combination with a parallel morphological study. The hypothesised existence of more species of Trichuris in primates opens the possibility to revise the zoonotic potential and host specificity of T. trichiura and other putative new species of whipworms. In the present work, a study of Trichuris Roederer, 1761 (Nematoda:Trichuridae) parasitizing C. g. kikuyensis, P. ursinus, Macaca sylvanus, Pan troglodytes, and Sus scrofa domestica has been carried out using modern morphometric techniques in order to differentiate populations of Trichuris isolated from four species of captive NHP from different geographical regions, and swine, respectively. The results obtained revealed strong support for geometrical morphometrics as a useful tool to differentiate male Trichuris populations. Therefore, morphometrics in combination with other techniques, such as molecular biology analyses, ought to be applied to further the differentiation of male populations. On the other hand, morphometrics applied to female Trichuris species does not seem to contribute new information as all the measurements combinations of obtained from females always showed similar resultsMinistry of Economy,Industry and Competitiveness(CGL2017-83057)FEDER funds, the Junta de Andalucía (BIO-338)V Plan Propio de Investigación of the University of Sevill