Information retrieval in documents using semantic criteria

The central problem of automatic retrieval from unformatted text is that computational devices are not adequately trained to look for associated information. However for complete understanding and information retrieval, a complete artificial intelligence would have to be built. This paper describes a method for achieving significant information retrieval by using a semantic search engine. The underlying semantic information is stored in a network of clarified words, linked by logical connections. We employ simple scoring techniques on collections of paths in this network to establish a degree of relevance between a document and a clarified search criterion. This technique has been applied with success to test examples and can be easily scaled up to search large documents.

Image semantic classification by using SVM

There exists an enormous gap between low-level visual feature and high-level semantic information, and the accuracy of content-based image classification and retrieval depends greatly on the description of low-level visual features. Taking this into consideration, a novel texture and edge descriptor is proposed in this paper, which can be represented with a histogram. Furthermore, with the incorporation of the color, texture and edge histograms searnlessly, the images are grouped into semantic classes using a support vector machine (SVM). Experiment results show that the combination descriptor is more discriminative than other feature descriptors such as Gabor texture.

Enabling information security culture : influences and challenges for Australian SMEs

An effective information security culture is vital to the success of information systems governance, risk management and compliance. Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) face special challenges developing an information security culture as they may lack the information security knowledge, skills and behaviours of large organisations. This paper reports the main findings from an interpretive study of key influences enabling an effective information security culture for Australian SMEs. The paper provides a framework depicting external and internal influences on SME information security culture and a set of key challenges in the Australian context. The findings highlight that SME owner attitudes and behaviour – in turn influenced by government involvement - strongly influence information security culture for Australian SMEs. A surprising finding is the potential influence of the Australian culture. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Semantic and layered protein function prediction from PPI networks

Background The past few years have seen a rapid development in novel high-throughput technologies that have created large-scale data on protein-protein interactions (PPI) across human and most model species. This data is commonly represented as networks, with nodes representing proteins and edges representing the PPIs. A fundamental challenge to bioinformatics is how to interpret this wealth of data to elucidate the interaction of patterns and the biological characteristics of the proteins. One significant purpose of this interpretation is to predict unknown protein functions. Although many approaches have been proposed in recent years, the challenge still remains how to reasonably and precisely measure the functional similarities between proteins to improve the prediction effectiveness.

Results We used a Semantic and Layered Protein Function Prediction (SLPFP) framework to more effectively predict unknown protein functions at different functional levels. The framework relies on a new protein similarity measurement and a clustering-based protein function prediction algorithm. The new protein similarity measurement incorporates the topological structure of the PPI network, as well as the protein's semantic information in terms of known protein functions at different functional layers. Experiments on real PPI datasets were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in predicting unknown protein functions.

Conclusion The proposed framework has a higher prediction accuracy compared with other similar approaches. The prediction results are stable even for a large number of proteins. Furthermore, the framework is able to predict unknown functions at different functional layers within the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequence (MIPS) hierarchical functional scheme. The experimental results demonstrated that the new protein similarity measurement reflects more reasonably and precisely relationships between proteins.

Intelligent assistant to re-configure parameter-driven systems

Parameter-Driven Systems (PDS) are widely used in commerce for large-scale applications. Reusability is achieved with a PDS design by relocating implicit control structures in the software and the storage of explicit data in database files. This approach can accommodate various user requirements without tedious modification of the software. In order to specify appropriate parameters in a system, knowledge of both business activities and system behaviour are required. For large, complex software packages, this task becomes time consuming and requires specialist knowledge, yet the consistency and correctness still cannot be guaranteed. My research studied the types of knowledge required and agents involved in the PDS customisation. The work also identified the associated problems and constraints. A solution is proposed and implemented as an Intelligent Assistant prototype than a manual approach. Three areas of achievement have been highlighted: 1. The characteristics and problems of maintaining parameter instances in a PDS are defined. It is found that the verification is not complete with the technical/structural knowledge alone, but a context is necessary to provide semantic information and related business activities (thus the implemented parameters) so that mainline functions can relate with each other. 2. A knowledge-based modelling approach has been proposed and demonstrated via a practical implementation. A Specification Language was designed which can model various types of knowledge in a PDS and encapsulate relationships. The Knowledge-Based System (KBS) developed verifies parameters based on the interpreted model of a given context. 3. The performance of the Intelligent Assistant prototype was well received by the domain specialist from the participating organisation. The modelling and KBS approach developed in my research offers considerable promise in solving practical problems in the software industry.

IMCE : integrated media creation environment

We discuss the design goals for an integrated media creation environment (IMCE) aimed at enabling the average user to create media artifacts with professional qualities. The resulting requirements are implemented and we demonstrate the efficacy of the resulting system with the generation of two simple home movies. The significance for the average user seeking to create home movies lies in the flexible and automatic application of film principles to the task, removal of tedious low-level editing by means of well-formed media transformations in terms of high-level film constructs (e.g., tempo), and content repurposing powered by those same transformations added to the rich semantic information maintained at each phase of the process.

Two-dimensional string notation for representing video sequences

Most current work on video indexing concentrates on queries which operate over high level semantic information which must be entirely composed and entered manually. We propose an indexing system which is based on spatial information about key objects in a scene. These key objects may be detected automatically, with manual supervision, and tracked through a sequence using one of a number of recently developed techniques. This representation is highly compact and allows rapid resolution of queries specified by iconic example. A number of systems have been produced which use 2D string notations to index digital image libraries. Just as 2D strings provide a compact and tractable indexing notation for digital pictures, a sequence of 2D strings might provide an index for a video or image sequence. To improve further upon this we reduce the representation to the 2D string pair representing the initial frame, and a sequence of edits to these strings. This takes advantage of the continuity between frames to further reduce the size of the notation. By representing video sequences using string edits, a notation has been developed which is compact, and allows querying on the spatial relationships of objects to be performed without rebuilding the majority of the scene. Calculating ranks of objects directly from the edit sequence allows matching with minimal calculation, thus greatly reducing search time. This paper presents the edit sequence notation and algorithms for evaluating queries over image sequences. A number of optimizations which represent a considerably saving in search time is demonstrated in the paper.

IMCE : integrated media creation environment

We discuss the design and implementation of an integrated media creation environment, and demonstrate its efficacy in the generation of two simple home movies. The significance for the average user seeking to create home movies lies in the flexible and automatic application of film principles to the task, removal of tedious low-level editing by means of wellformed media transformations in terms of high-level film constructs (e.g. tempo), and content repurposing powered by those same transformations added to the rich semantic information maintained at each phase of the process.

Acquisition of domain ontology from relational schemes based on reverse engineering

Acquisition of domain ontology from database has been of catholic concern. This paper, taking relational schemes as example, analyzes how to identify the information about the structure of relational schemes in legacy systems. Then, it presents twelve extraction rules, which facilitate the obtaining of terms and relations from the relational schemes. Finally, it uses the EER diagram to further obtain semantic information from relational schemes for refining ontology model. The development method of domain ontology based on reverse engineering is a supplement to forward engineering. The union of the two development methods is certainly beneficial for the designers of domain ontology. © 2009 IEEE.

Semantic data modelling and visualization using Noetica

Noetica is a tool for structuring knowledge about concepts and the reIationships between them. It differs from typical information systems in that the knowledge it represents is abstract, highly connected, and includes meta-knowledge (knowledge about knowledge). Noetica represents knowledge using a strongly typed graph data model. By providing a rich type system it is possible to represent conceptual information using formalized structures. A class hierarchy provides a basic classification for all objects. This allows for a consistency of representation that is not often found in `free' semantic networks, and gives the ability to easily extend a knowledge model while retaining its semantics. Visualization and query tools are provided for this data model. Visualization can be used to explore complete sets of link-classes, show paths while navigating through the database, or visualize the results of queries. Noetica supports goal-directed queries (a series of user-supplied goals that the system attempts to satisfy in sequence) and pathfinding queries (where the system finds relationships between objects in the database by following links).

Computer-aided design decision support: interfacing knowledge and information

Computer-aided design decision support has proved to be an elusive and intangible project for many researchers as they seek to encapsulate information and knowledge-based systems as useful multifunctional data structures. Definitions of ‘knowledge', ‘information', ‘facts', and ‘data' become semantic footballs in the struggle to identify what designers actually do, and what level of support would suit them best, and how that support might be offered. The Construction Primer is a database-drivable interactive multimedia environment that provides readily updated access to many levels of information aimed to suit students and practitioners alike. This is hardly a novelty in itself. The innovative interface and metadata structures, however, combine with the willingness of national building control legislators, standards authorities, materials producers, building research organisations, and specification services to make the Construction Primer a versatile design decision support vehicle. It is both compatible with most working methodologies while remaining reasonably future-proof. This paper describes the structure of the project and highlights the importance of sound planning and strict adhesion to library-standard metadata protocols as a means to avoid the support becoming too specific or too paradigmatic.

Information signalling of common stock repurchase announcements: Australian evidence

Stock repurchases (or share buy-backs) have become increasingly popular among Australian companies. One of the main aims of announcing a stock repurchase by a listed company is signalling the market that its shares are currently underpriced. When market reacts to the signal, price of the shares is expected to increase immediately after the announcement. While there are several ways of repurchasing shares, 'on-market buy-backs' is the most popular method of stock repurchases in Australia. Australian listed companies have announced more than two hundred on-market share buy-backs over the past three years. The aim of this paper is to examine the information signalling effects of these on-market buy-back announcements. If the signal is considered positively (negatively) by the market, the price of the repurchasing company's shares should increase (decrease) immediately after the announcement. If there is no information content in the announcement, the price will remain the same. In this study, signalling effect of share buy-back announcements was examined using most recent Australian data. The total population of on-market buy-back announcements during the period from January 1, 2000 to March 10, 2003 was included. The abnormal market return over the short-run (announcement day and 9 trading days centred on the announcement date) was computed using the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index as the reference portfolio. The daily Abnormal Returns (AR) and Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CAR) during the event period were computed. The results strongly support the information-signalling hypothesis of share buy..backs. Australian market generally considers announcement of on~market share repurchases as signalling of insider information that shares are currently underpriced.

Information integration in molecular bioscience

Integrating information in the molecular biosciences involves more than the cross-referencing of sequences or structures. Experimental protocols, results of computational analyses, annotations and links to relevant literature form integral parts of this information, and impart meaning to sequence or structure. In this review, we examine some existing approaches to integrating information in the molecular biosciences. We consider not only technical issues concerning the integration of heterogeneous data sources and the corresponding semantic implications, but also the integration of analytical results. Within the broad range of strategies for integration of data and information, we distinguish between platforms and developments. We discuss two current platforms and six current developments, and identify what we believe to be their strengths and limitations. We identify key unsolved problems in integrating information in the molecular biosciences, and discuss possible strategies for addressing them including semantic integration using ontologies, XML as a data model, and graphical user interfaces as integrative environments.

The ascent of asymmetric risk in information security: an initial evaluation

Dramatic changes in the information security risk landscape over several decades have not yet been matched by similar changes in organizational information security which is still mainly based on a mindset that security is achieved through extensive preventive controls. As a result, maintenance cost of information security is increasing rapidly, but this increased expenditure has not really made an attack more difficult. The opposite seems to be true, information security attacks have become easier to perpetrate and appear more like information warfare tactics. At the same time, the damage caused by a successful attack has increased significantly and may sometimes become critical to an organization. In this paper we evaluate one particular extremely asymmetric risk where a strongly motivated attacker unleashes a prolonged attack on an organization with the aim to do maximum damage, and suggest that the probability of such an attack is increasing. We discuss how preventive controls are unlikely to ever be effective against such an attack and propose more advanced strategies that aim to limit the damage when such an attack occurs. One crucial lesson to be learned for those organizations that are dependant on their information security, such as critical infrastructure organizations, is the need to deny motivated attackers access to any information about the success of their attack. Successful deception in this area is likely to significantly reduce any potential escalation of the incident.

How dynamic capabilities drive performance in the Indian IT industry : the role of information and co-ordination

This study examines key issues and effects of capability management on a fast-growing area of knowledge-intensive global business services – IT outsourcing and offshoring. An exploratory study is undertaken of Indian companies providing complex process-oriented offshore IT services to their global customers. The analysis of the data related to the service provider side shows that developing dynamic capabilities is strongly driven by management and top-clients and results in the development of business processes and in establishing a strategic partnership with the client organization. Key findings are that information exchange and coordination are the key to a leveraging firm performance.