Semantic Web technology - Ontologies

Federated Ontology Search for the Medical Domain

by Vasco Pedro

Semantic Web in Comparison to Web2.0

by Parth Agarwal

TAGS: Semantic Web, Ontology, RDF, Twine, Metadata, Semantic Publishing

The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined... more The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. It is also referred to as Web 3.0 and is an upcoming technology. The Semantic Web is a web of data. The Semantic Web is about two things: it is about common formats for integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources and about how the data relates to real world objects. Semantic Web can be considered a part of artificial intelligence as it puts into use Model theory, Web effect. Oracle, IBM, Adobe, Software AG, Mozilla and Yahoo! are some of the large corporations that have picked up this technology. This paper presents a comparison of Semantic Web and Web2.0 as well also discusses on the features and capabilities of Semantic Web.

From Marketing Mix to E-Marketing Mix: a Literature Overview and Classification

by Gandolfo Dominici

DOMINICI G. 2009.From Marketing Mix to E-Marketing Mix: a Literature Overview and Classification. International Journal of Business and Management Vol 4, No 9 pp. 17-24

The marketing mix paradigm, in its famous version of the 4Ps, went all the way through the evolution of marketing... more The marketing mix paradigm, in its famous version of the 4Ps, went all the way through the evolution of marketing theory: from the marketing concept, through relationship marketing, to digital economy, being object of discussion both in academic literature and managerial practice. If it is a fact that the 4Ps marketing mix is a milestone of marketing theory, it is also true that the evolution of business contexts has created, in many fields, the need to review the "controllable factors" which form the marketing mix. The digital business represents the more recent of the business contexts and the one with the greater needs of differentiation of the mix. Throughout this evolutionary process, researchers have always been divided between the "conservatives", who think the 4Ps paradigm is able to adapt to the environmental changes by including new elements inside each "P", and the "revisionists", who affirm that the 4Ps paradigm is obsolete and propose new paradigms. This paper aims to clarify these two different approaches to marketing mix evolution through a review of the main literature on e-marketing mix, focusing on the development of marketing mix theory for the digital context.

VisAVis: An Approach to an Intermediate Layer between Ontologies and Relational Database Contents

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

Co-authored with Dimitrios-Emmanuel Spanos, Michael Chalas, Emmanuel Solidakis and Nikolas Mitrou, In International CAISE Workshop on Web Information Systems Modeling (WISM'06), Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2006)

This paper introduces an approach to mapping relational database contents to ontologies. The current effort is... more This paper introduces an approach to mapping relational database contents to ontologies. The current effort is motivated by the need of including into the Semantic Web volumes of web data not satisfied by current search engines. A graphical tool is developed in order to ease the mapping procedure and export enhanced ontologies linked to database entities. Moreover, queries using semantic web query languages can be imposed to the database through its connection to an ontology. Using Protégé, we were able to map ontology instances into relational databases and retrieve results by semantic web query languages. The key idea is that, instead of storing instances along with the ontology terminology, we can keep them stored in a database and maintain a link to the dataset. Thus, on one hand we achieve smaller size ontologies and on the other hand we can exploit database contents harmonizing the semantic web concept with current wide-spread techniques and popular applications.

A context-aware middleware for real-time semantic enrichment of distributed multimedia metadata

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

Co-authored with Emmanuel Solidakis, Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Panagiotis Stathopoulos and Nikolas Mitrou, In Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications, Springer, special issue on Data Semantics for Multimedia Systems, 46(2): 425-461, doi:10.1007/s11042-009-0361-1

This paper investigates the problem of the real-time integration and processing of multimedia metadata collected by a... more This paper investigates the problem of the real-time integration and processing of multimedia metadata collected by a distributed sensor network. The discussed practical problem is the efficiency of the technologies used in creating a Knowledge Base in real-time. Specifically, an approach is proposed for the real-time, rule-based semantic enrichment of lower level context features with higher-level semantics. The distinguishing characteristic is the provision of an intelligent middleware-based architecture on which low level components such as sensors, feature extraction algorithms, data sources, and high level components such as application-specific ontologies can be plugged. Throughout the paper, Priamos, a middleware architecture based on Semantic Web technologies is presented, together with a stress-test of the system’s operation under two test case scenarios: A smart security surveillance application and a smart meeting room application. Performance measurements are conducted and corresponding results are exposed.

Ontology and Database Mapping: A Survey of Current Implementations and Future Directions

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

Co-authored with D.E. Spanos and N. Mitrou, In Journal of Web Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-24 (2008)

In this paper we discuss the problem of mapping relational database contents and ontologies. The motivation lies in... more In this paper we discuss the problem of mapping relational database contents and ontologies. The motivation lies in the fact that during the latest years, the evolution in Web echnologies rendered the addition of intelligence to the information residing on the Web a necessity. We argue that the addition of formal semantics to the databases that store the majority of information found in the Web is important, in order to make this information searchable, accessible and retrievable. The key technologies towards this direction are the Semantic Web and the ontologies. We analyze in this paper the approaches that have so far been presented in order to exploit the prospects that such collaboration promises. We set the theoretical and practical boundaries of the mapping problem, we delve into the tools that altogether comprise today’s state of the art, and we provide a discussion about the benefits and the drawbacks of the existing approaches. We discuss the feasibility and viability of applying the mappings in real world applications as well as the directions that the evolution of current implementations should follow. We conclude by presenting the requirements that should be met in order to provide a more powerful next generation of mapping frameworks.

Extracting semantic relations through the analysis of terms correlation in documents

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Sergio W Botero. Published in Brazilian Symposium in Information and Human Language Technology, 2009. In Portuguese.

Ontologies are important to organize and describe information, but are hard to create and maintain, which motivates... more Ontologies are important to organize and describe information, but are hard to create and maintain, which motivates the development of tools to help in this task. This article presents a strategy to extract, from a corpora of documents in a given domain, semantic elements expressing proximity relations between terms and concepts to help the construction of domain ontologies. The technique presented here, ACT, is based on linguistic processing, machine learning, and biclustering. Results show that concepts obtained by ACT are at least as good as those from similar techniques, such as LSI and NMF. In relation to those techniques, it additionally has the advantage of allowing the supervision by a domain expert.

Semantic Search and Browsing nei Beni Culturali

by Claudio Cortese

in "Bollettino del CILEA", 118, dicembre 2011, pp. 26-30

Exploring Manuscripts: Sharing Ancient Wisdoms across the Semantic Web

by Anna Jordanous

Co-authored with Mark Hedges, K. Faith Lawrence and Charlotte Tupman. For the ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence, Mining and Semantics (WIMS) June 13-15, 2012 Craiova, Romania

Recent work in digital humanities has seen researchers increasingly producing online editions of texts and... more Recent work in digital humanities has seen researchers increasingly producing online editions of texts and manuscripts,
particularly in adoption of the TEI XML format for online
publishing. The benefits of semantic web techniques are underexplored in such research, however, with a lack of sharing
and communication of research information. The Sharing
Ancient Wisdoms (SAWS) project applies linked data practices to enhance and expand on what is possible with these
digital text editions. Focussing on Greek and Arabic collections of ancient wise sayings, which are often related to
each other, we use RDF to annotate and extract semantic information from the TEI documents as RDF triples.
This allows researchers to explore the conceptual networks
that arise from these interconnected sayings. The SAWS
project advocates a semantic-web-based methodology, enhancing rather than replacing current workflow processes,
for digital humanities researchers to share their findings and
collectively benefit from each other's work.

Il Semantic Web per i beni culturali: esperienze pratiche al CILEA

by Claudio Cortese

Atti del workshop "AI & Cultural Heritage" - Palermo - 15 settembre 2011
(co-authored with G. Mantegari)

OGC catalogue services–OWL application profile of CSW

by Kristin Stock

Stock, Kristin (2009) OWL Application Profile for CSW 2.0. Open Geospatial Consortium Application Profile 09-010.

An Approach to the Management of Multiple Aligned Multilingual Ontologies for a Geospatial Earth Observation System

by Kristin Stock

Stock, K. and Cialone, C. (2011). An Approach to the Management of Multiple Aligned Multilingual Ontologies for a Geospatial Earth Observation System. Presented at GeoS 2011: Fourth International Conference on Geospatial Semantics, Brest, France, 12-13 May 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 6631.

Ontologies are widely used, within and outside the geospatial context to support semantic search that is capable of... more Ontologies are widely used, within and outside the geospatial context to support semantic search that is capable of returning suitable resources. Some large, heterogeneous earth observation systems that are currently being developed in a multi-thematic environment require the support of multiple ontologies. Furthermore, some of the systems under current development operate in a multi-lingual environment, and it is desirable that multiple languages be supported by the systems themselves. This paper proposes a solution to this set of requirements using an architecture containing multiple and multilingual ontologies. Such ontologies are required to be related and the architecture described in this work, which adopts a spatial data infrastructure based on open geospatial standards, employs an algorithm for semantic search across the multiple multilingual ontologies aligned using the W3C Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS). It also provides an approach that is extendable by the addition of further ontologies if they are required for particular thematic purposes. A number of issues arose during phases of implementation, but the broad approach proved effective for supporting a large, heterogeneous, multilingual earth observation system.

From Here to Eternity: An Experiment Applying the e-Framework Infrastructure for Education and Research and the SUMO Ontology to Standards-based Geospatial …

by Kristin Stock

Stock, K., Butchart, B., Higgins, C. and Chen, Y. (2010). From Here to Eternity: An Experiment Applying the e-Framework Infrastructure for Education and Research and the SUMO Ontology to Standards-based Geospatial Web Services. International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructure Research, 5, 1-57.

A number of efforts have been made in recent years to define standards for the description of resources (including web... more A number of efforts have been made in recent years to define standards for the description of resources (including web services) in services oriented architectures. These standards often use description logic ontologies (for example, OWL-S) and are intended to be machine-readable. They have been
applied to geospatial web services to describe the functions that those services perform in a way that can be automatically interpreted by systems. By contrast, little effort has gone into the development of human readable descriptions of
resources in a services oriented architecture, other than using unstructured natural language. e-Framework is an infrastructure for the higher education environment that provides a typology of human-readable artefacts that can be used to describe resources, and provides an internal structure for those artefacts.
e-Framework has thus far not been used with geospatial information even though geospatial information has a number of important roles in education and research, and has a well-organised community of users and creators.

This paper applies the e-Framework infrastructure to OGC web services, and also recommends the refinement of e-Framework with the use of the SUMO Upper Level Ontology to define Service Genres, the most abstract level of artefacts in e-Framework. It then illustrates the ways in which the Open
Geospatial Consortium standards and specifications may be described in e-Framework. The work evaluates SUMO for e-Framework purposes, finding that its use for Service Genres is possible and offers a number of gains. It also evaluates e-Framework from a geospatial perspective, and shows that e-
Framework’s constraints on resource descriptions do not suit the large and complex nature of geospatial web services.

Ontology-Based Geospatial Approaches for Semantic Awareness in Earth Observation Systems

by Kristin Stock

Stock, K., Hobona, G., Granell, C. and Jackson, M. (2011). Ontology-Based Geospatial Approaches for Semantic Awareness in Earth Observation Systems. In Geospatial Semantics and the Semantic Web: Foundations, Algorithms and Applications, Naveen Ashish and Amit P. Sheth (eds). Semantic Web and Beyond, Volume 12, Springer.

Current work towards making earth observation systems semantically aware attempts to improve user experience by... more Current work towards making earth observation systems semantically aware attempts to improve user experience by allowing more flexibility in the way that users interact with earth observation systems. Such improvements may occur directly by making data discovery more semantically-flexible, and indirectly in providing intelligent functionality that removes some of the load from users in interpretation of data and processes. Semantic awareness in earth observation systems may be addressed from four different angles: semantics and information modelling; semantic data management; semantic data discovery and semantic data processing. Each of these areas is the subject of ongoing and developing research in the broader geospatial community, has been applied in a number of different situations and systems, and presents particular challenges for earth observation systems. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is a large, global, heterogeneous earth observation system and provides a case study of the use of different methods for achieving semantic awareness in each of these four areas. Furthermore, an example architecture for an earth observation system that involves multiple aligned ontologies illustrates the challenges posed by real world, heterogeneous systems. In combination, the review of related work, applications and challenges in each of the four areas, together with the GEOSS case study and example architecture provide an indication of the state of the art in semantic research as it applies to earth observation system. Furthermore, this summary provides a hint towards the future for semantics in earth observation systems and the need for additional work in this area.

To Ontologise or Not To Ontologise: An Information Model for a Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure

by Kristin Stock

Stock, K., Reitsma, F., Ou, Y., Bishr, M., Ortmann, J., Stojanovic, T. and Robertson, A. (forthcoming). To Ontologise or Not to Ontologise: Foundations for an Ontology-Registry for a Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure. Computers and Geosciences.

A geospatial knowledge infrastructure consists of a set of interoperable components,
including software,... more A geospatial knowledge infrastructure consists of a set of interoperable components,
including software, information, hardware, procedures and standards, that work together
to support advanced discovery and access to geoscientific resources, including
publications, data sets and web services. Such advanced discovery is intended to support
scientists in finding resources that meet their needs, and focuses on representing the
semantic details of the scientific resources, including the detailed aspects of the science
that led to the resource being created.
This paper describes an information model for a geospatial knowledge infrastructure that
uses ontologies to represent these semantic details, including knowledge about domain
concepts, the scientific elements of the resource (analysis methods, theories, scientific
processes) and web services. This semantic information can be used to enable more
intelligent search over scientific resources, and to support new ways to infer and visualise scientific knowledge.
The work describes the requirements for semantic support of a knowledge infrastructure,
and analyses the different options for information storage based on the twin goals of
semantic richness and syntactic interoperability to allow communication between
different infrastructures. Such interoperability is achieved by the use of open standards,
and the architecture of the knowledge infrastructure adopts such standards, particularly
from the geospatial community. The paper then describes an information model that
uses a range of different types of ontologies, explaining those ontologies and their
content. The information model was successfully implemented in a working geospatial
knowledge infrastructure, but the evaluation identified some issues in creating the
ontologies.

To Ontologise or Not To Ontologise: An Information Model for a Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure

by Kristin Stock

Stock, K., Reitsma, F., Ou, Y., Bishr, M., Ortmann, J., Stojanovic, T. and Robertson, A. (forthcoming). To Ontologise or Not to Ontologise: Foundations for an Ontology-Registry for a Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure. Computers and Geosciences.

A geospatial knowledge infrastructure consists of a set of interoperable components,
including software,... more A geospatial knowledge infrastructure consists of a set of interoperable components,
including software, information, hardware, procedures and standards, that work together
to support advanced discovery and access to geoscientific resources, including
publications, data sets and web services. Such advanced discovery is intended to support
scientists in finding resources that meet their needs, and focuses on representing the
semantic details of the scientific resources, including the detailed aspects of the science
that led to the resource being created.
This paper describes an information model for a geospatial knowledge infrastructure that
uses ontologies to represent these semantic details, including knowledge about domain
concepts, the scientific elements of the resource (analysis methods, theories, scientific
processes) and web services. This semantic information can be used to enable more
intelligent search over scientific resources, and to support new ways to infer and visualise scientific knowledge.
The work describes the requirements for semantic support of a knowledge infrastructure,
and analyses the different options for information storage based on the twin goals of
semantic richness and syntactic interoperability to allow communication between
different infrastructures. Such interoperability is achieved by the use of open standards,
and the architecture of the knowledge infrastructure adopts such standards, particularly
from the geospatial community. The paper then describes an information model that
uses a range of different types of ontologies, explaining those ontologies and their
content. The information model was successfully implemented in a working geospatial
knowledge infrastructure, but the evaluation identified some issues in creating the
ontologies.

Representing Concepts in Formal Ontologies: Compositionality vs. Typicality Effects

by marcello frixione

Co-authored with Antonio Lieto.
To appear in "Logic and Logical Philosophy"

The problem of concept representation is relevant for many subfields of cognitive research, including psychology and... more The problem of concept representation is relevant for many subfields of cognitive research, including psychology and philosophy, as well as artificial intelligence. In particular, in recent years it has received a great deal of attention within the field of knowledge representation, due to its relevance for both knowledge engineering as well as ontology-based technologies. However, the notion of concept itself turns out to be highly disputed and problematic. In our opinion, one of the causes of this state of affairs is that the notion of concept is, to some extent, heterogeneous, and encompasses different cognitive phenomena. This results in a strain between conflicting requirements, such as compositionality, on the one hand and the need to represent prototypical information on the other. In some ways artificial intelligence research shows traces of this situation. In this paper, we propose an analysis of this current state of affairs. Since it is our opinion that a mature methodology with which to approach knowledge representation and knowledge engineering should also take advantage of the empirical results of cognitive psychology concerning human abilities, we outline some proposals for concept representation in formal ontologies, which take into account suggestions from psychological research. Our basic assumption is that knowledge representation systems whose design takes into account evidence from experimental psychology (and which, therefore, are more similar to the human way of organizing and processing information) may therefore give better results in many applications (e.g. in the fields of information retrieval and semantic webs).

Ontology Evolution: State of the Art and Future Directions

by Tom Mens

Authors: Pieter De Leenheer, Tom Mens.
Chapter 5 of book Ontology Management: Semantic Web, Semantic Web Services, and Business Applications Edited by:Martin Hepp, Pieter De Leenheer, Aldo de Moor, York Sure. 131-176 Springer 2007.

The research area of ontology engineering seems to have reached a certain level of maturity, considering the vast... more The research area of ontology engineering seems to have reached a certain level of maturity, considering the vast amount of contemporary methods and tools for formalising and applying knowledge representation models. However, there is still little understanding of, and support for, the evolutionary aspects of ontologies. This is particularly crucial in distributed and collaborative settings such as the Semantic Web, where ontologies naturally co-evolve with their communities of use. For managing the evolution of single ontologies, established techniques from data schema evolution have been successfully adopted, and consensus on a general ontology evolution process model seems to emerge. Much less explored, however, is the problem of evolution of interorganisational ontologies. In this “complex” and dynamic setting, a collaborative change process model requires more powerful engineering, argumentation and negotiation methodologies, complemented by support for context dependency management.. It turns out that much can be learned from other domains where formal artefacts are being collaboratively engineered. In particular, the field of system engineering offers a wealth of techniques and tools for versioning, merging and evolving software artefacts, and many of these techniques can be reused in an ontology engineering setting. Based on this insight, this chapter gives a unified overview of the wide variety of models and mechanisms that can be used to support all of the above aspects of ontology evolution. The key remaining challenge is to construct a single framework, based on these mechanisms, which can be tailored for the needs of a particular environment.

Extending the Digital Archives of the Italian Psychology with Semantic Data

by Claudio Cortese

presented at Semantic Digital Archives International Workshop, 29 September 2011, Berlin (co-authored with G. Mantegari)

Una Biblioteca Digitale Semantica per il Comune di Milano

by Claudio Cortese

Bollettino del CILEA, giugno 2009, pp. 4-13 (co-authored with M. Barbera, E. Groppo, R. Zitarosa)