Using sensor ontologies to create reasoning-ready sensor data for real-time hazard monitoring in a spatial decision support system

In order to protect at-risk communities and critical infrastructure, hazard managers use sensor networks to monitor the landscapes and phenomena associated with potential hazards. This strategy can produce large amounts of data, but when investigating an often unstructured problem such as hazard detection it can be beneficial to apply automated analysis routines and artificial intelligence techniques such as reasoning. Current sensor web infrastructure, however, is not designed to support this information-centric monitoring perspective. A generalized methodology to transform typical sensor data representations into a form that enables these analysis techniques has been created and is demonstrated through an implementation that bridges geospatial standards for sensor data and descriptions with an ontology-based monitoring environment. An ontology that describes sensors and measurements so they may be understood by an SDSS has also been developed. These tools have been integrated into a monitoring environment, allowing the hazard manager to thoroughly investigate potential hazards

Gene Ontology annotations and resources.

The Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium (GOC, http://www.geneontology.org) is a community-based bioinformatics resource that classifies gene product function through the use of structured, controlled vocabularies. Over the past year, the GOC has implemented several processes to increase the quantity, quality and specificity of GO annotations. First, the number of manual, literature-based annotations has grown at an increasing rate. Second, as a result of a new 'phylogenetic annotation' process, manually reviewed, homology-based annotations are becoming available for a broad range of species. Third, the quality of GO annotations has been improved through a streamlined process for, and automated quality checks of, GO annotations deposited by different annotation groups. Fourth, the consistency and correctness of the ontology itself has increased by using automated reasoning tools. Finally, the GO has been expanded not only to cover new areas of biology through focused interaction with experts, but also to capture greater specificity in all areas of the ontology using tools for adding new combinatorial terms. The GOC works closely with other ontology developers to support integrated use of terminologies. The GOC supports its user community through the use of e-mail lists, social media and web-based resources

The Gene Ontology: enhancements for 2011

The Gene Ontology (GO) (http://www.geneontology.org) is a community bioinformatics resource that represents gene product function through the use of structured, controlled vocabularies. The number of GO annotations of gene products has increased due to curation efforts among GO Consortium (GOC) groups, including focused literature-based annotation and ortholog-based functional inference. The GO ontologies continue to expand and improve as a result of targeted ontology development, including the introduction of computable logical definitions and development of new tools for the streamlined addition of terms to the ontology. The GOC continues to support its user community through the use of e-mail lists, social media and web-based resources