An ontology for a Robot Scientist

Soldatova, L., Clare, A., Sparkes, A. and King, R. D. (2006) An ontology for a robot scientist. Bioinformatics 2006 22: 464-471

La Web Semántica y los archivos de televisión: estado de la cuestión

Se analizan y describen las principales líneas de trabajo de la Web Semántica en el ámbito de los archivos de televisión. Para ello, se analiza y contextualiza la web semántica desde una perspectiva general para posteriormente analizar las principales iniciativas que trabajan con lo audiovisual: Proyecto MuNCH, Proyecto S5T, Semantic Television y VideoActive.

Arsenic residues in predatory birds from an area of Britain with naturally and anthropogenically elevated arsenic levels

Birds of prey forage over large areas and so might be expected to accumulate contaminants which are elevated but heterogeneously distributed in the general environment. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that arsenic levels in raptors from a region with elevated environmental arsenic concentrations were higher than those in birds from an uncontaminated part of Britain. Arsenic concentrations in the liver, kidney and muscle of kestrels, Falco tinnunculus, sparrowhawks, Accipiter nisus, and barn owls, Tyto alba, from south-west (SW) England, an area with naturally and anthropogenically (through mining) elevated environmental arsenic concentrations, were compared with those in birds from SW Scotland, where no such geochemical anomaly exists. Arsenic residues in kestrels from SW England were approximately three times greater than those in birds from SW Scotland for the three tissue types analysed. This was not the case for the other species in which arsenic residues were similar in birds from both regions. It is suggested that differences between species in both diet and arsenic metabolism could explain why kestrels have elevated arsenic tissue burdens in response to general environmental contamination but sparrowhawks and barn owls do not.

Lead and arsenic in bones of birds of prey from Spain

The bones (humerus and/or femur) of 229 birds of prey from 11 species were analyzed for Pb and As to evaluate their exposure to Pb shot. The species with the highest mean Pb levels were red kite (Milvus milvus) and Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus), and the species with the lowest levels were Eurasian buzzard (Buteo buteo) and booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus). Red kite also had the highest mean As level, an element present in small amounts in Pb shot. Elevated bone Pb concentrations (>10 microg/g dry weight) were found in 10 birds from six species. Clinical signs compatible with lethal Pb poisoning and/or excessive bone Pb concentrations (>20 microg/g) were observed in one Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), one red kite, and one Eurasian griffon. Pb poisoning has been diagnosed in eight upland raptor species in Spain to date.

Almost nothing, almost anywhere: the metal shed in Ireland

This paper argues that the modern barn in Ireland is a complex social and architectural phenomena that is without, or has yet to find, a satisfactory discourse. Emerging in the middle third of the twentieth century, the modern barn – replete with corrugated iron and I-sections – continues to represent a presence in the Irish landscape whose ubiquity is as emphatic as its flexibility. It is, however, its universal properties that begin to suggest connections with wider narratives. The modernising aspects of the barn that appear in the 1920s and 30s begin to conflate with a rhetoric of architectural modernism which was simultaneously appearing across Europe. But while the relationship between high modernism’s critique of what it divined as the inspirational qualities of utilitarian buildings – Walter Gropius on grain silos, Le Corbusier on aircraft hangers etc. – has been well-documented, in Ireland this relationship perhaps contains another layer of complexity.
The barn’s consolidation as a modern type coincided with the search for a nation’s cultural identity after centuries of colonial rule. This tended to be an introspective vision that prioritised rural space over urban space, agriculture over industry, and imagined the small farm as a central tenet in the construction of a new State. This paper suggests that the twentieth-century barn – as a product of the mechanisation of agriculture promoted by the new administrations – is an iconic structure, emblematic of attempts to reconcile the contradictory forces and imagery of modernity with the mores of a traditional society. Moreover, given a cultural purview that was often ambivalent or even hostile to the ideologies and forms of modernity, the barn in Ireland is, perhaps, not so much the inspiration but the realisation of an architectural modernism in that country at its most pervasive, enduring and unself-conscious.

Dublin’s ephemeral and imaginary architectures

In 1989, the Irish architectural practice O’Donnell and Tuomey were commissioned to build a temporary pavilion to represent Ireland at the 11 Cities/11 Nations exhibition at Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. Citing Peter Smithson, John Tuomey suggested the pavilion, which drew inspirations from the forms and materials of the modern Irish barn, embodied an intention ‘not just to build but to communicate’. Its subsequent reassembly for the inauguration of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in the courtyard of the seventeenth-century Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin in 1991, drew comparisons between the urban sophistication of this colonial building, its svelte new refit, and the rural expression of O’Donnell + Tuomey’s barn. It was, one critic recently noted, as if ‘a wedding had been crashed by a country cousin who had forgotten to clean his boots’.
It has been argued that temporary or ephemeral pieces of architecture, unburdened by the traditional constraints of firmitas or utilitas, have the ability to offer a concise distillation of meaning and intention. Approaching the qualities of rhetoric, such architectures share similarities with the monument and yet differ in fundamental ways. Their rapid construction in lightweight materials can allow for an almost instantaneous negotiation of zeitgeist. And, unlike the monument, from the outset the space and form of these installations is designed to disappear.
This paper analyses the ephemeral architectures of Dublin in the modern period contextualising their qualities and intentions as they manifest themselves across colonial, post-colonial and contemporary epochs. It finds origins in the theatrical sets of the late eighteenth century and traces their movements into the semi-public sphere of the pleasure garden and finally into the theatre of the streets. It is here that temporary architecture in the city has been at its most potent, allowing the amplification or subversion of the meanings of much larger spaces. Historically, much of Dublin’s most conspicuous instances of ephemeral architecture have been realised as a means of articulating mass spectacle in political, religious or nationalistic events. And while much of this has sought to confirm dominant ideologies, it has also been possible to discern moments of opposition.
The contemporary period, however, has arguably witnessed a shift in ephemeral architectures from explicitly representing ‘positive ideologies’ towards something more oblique or nebulous. This turn towards abstraction in form and space has rendered an especially communicative form of architecture particularly elusive. By examining continuities within the apparent disjuncture between historical and contemporary examples, this paper begins to unpick the language of recent ephemeral architecture in Dublin and situate it within wider global trends where political and economic imperatives are often simultaneously obscured and expressed in public space by a vocabulary of universality. As Jurgen Habermas has suggested, the contemporary value given to the transitory and the ephemeral ‘discloses a longing for an undefiled, immaculate and stable present’.

Normdaten im Semantic Web - Konzept für eine Ontologie der Personennamendatei (PND)

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, ein Konzept für eine Darstellung der Personennamendatei(PND) in den Sprachen Resource Description Framework (RDF), Resource DescriptionFramework Schema Language (RDFS) und Web Ontology Language (OWL) zu entwickeln. Der Prämisse des Semantic Web folgend, Daten sowohl in menschenverständlicher als auch in maschinell verarbeitbarer Form darzustellen und abzulegen, wird eine Struktur für Personendaten geschaffen. Dabei wird von der bestehenden Daten- und Struktursituation im Pica-Format ausgegangen. Die Erweiterbarkeit und Anpassbarkeit des Modells im Hinblick auf zukünftige, im Moment gegebenenfalls noch nicht absehbare Anwendungen und Strukurveränderungen, muss aber darüber hinaus gewährleistet sein. Die Modellierung orientiert sich an bestehenden Standards wie Dublin Core, Friend Of A Friend (FOAF), Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) und Resource Description and Access (RDA).

Knowledge representation for data integration and exploration in translational medicine

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Bioinformática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Ontologies for reusing data cleaning knowledge

The emergence of new business models, namely, the establishment of partnerships between organizations, the chance that companies have of adding existing data on the web, especially in the semantic web, to their information, led to the emphasis on some problems existing in databases, particularly related to data quality. Poor data can result in loss of competitiveness of the organizations holding these data, and may even lead to their disappearance, since many of their decision-making processes are based on these data. For this reason, data cleaning is essential. Current approaches to solve these problems are closely linked to database schemas and specific domains. In order that data cleaning can be used in different repositories, it is necessary for computer systems to understand these data, i.e., an associated semantic is needed. The solution presented in this paper includes the use of ontologies: (i) for the specification of data cleaning operations and, (ii) as a way of solving the semantic heterogeneity problems of data stored in different sources. With data cleaning operations defined at a conceptual level and existing mappings between domain ontologies and an ontology that results from a database, they may be instantiated and proposed to the expert/specialist to be executed over that database, thus enabling their interoperability.

e-Recruitment: descrição e inferência sobre oferta e procura

Trabalho de Projeto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores

Var går gränsen? : vårdnadshavares uppfattning om lärares ansvarsområden.

Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka vårdnadshavares uppfattning om lärares ansvarsområden utöver undervisning. Ansvarsområdena som undersökts har namngetts tillgänglighet, fostran och lärares externa uppgifter. Med tillgänglighet avses kontakten mellan hem och skola, med fostran avses hemmets respektive skolans ansvar för fostran och med lärares externa uppgifter avses uppgifter som lärare har trots att uppgifterna enligt lag inte är en del av läraruppdraget. Skillnader i vårdnadshavares uppfattning har analyserats utgående från vårdnadshavares utbildningsgrad och familjesituation. Utgående från avhandlingens syfte har följande forskningsfrågor utformats: 1. Vad är vårdnadshavares uppfattning om ansvarområdena tillgänglighet, fostran och lärares externa uppgifter? 2. Hurdana skillnader finns det i vårdnadshavares uppfattning om lärares ansvarsområden utgående från vårdnadshavares utbildningsgrad? 3. Hurdana skillnader finns det i vårdnadshavares uppfattning om lärares ansvarsområden utgående från vårdnadshavares familjesituation? För att besvara ovanstående forskningsfrågor användes webbenkät som datainsamlingsmetod, vilket innebär att undersökningen är kvantitativ. Undersökningen har även kvalitativa inslag på grund av ett fåtal öppna frågor i webbenkäten. Forskningsansatsen är positivistisk. För att analysera materialet gjordes envägs variansanalys (one-way ANOVA) och engrupps t-test i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Respondenterna för undersökningen är vårdnadshavare till elever i årskurs tre och fyra i svenskspråkiga skolor från tre städer i Svenskfinland. Det totala antalet respondenter i undersökningen är 79. Resultatet visar att vårdnadshavarna uppfattar ansvarsområdet tillgänglighet vara mindre viktigt än det neutrala mittenvärdet samt att ansvaret för fostran och externa uppgifter inte enbart är lärarens. Vid analys av ansvarsområdena utgående från utbildningsgrad visar endast resultatet för analysen av ansvarsområdet tillgänglighet på signifikanta skillnader. Skillnaden kan ses mellan vårdnadshavarna med examen på andra stadiet respektive universitetsexamen. Resultatet visar dock att vårdnadshavarna med examen på andra stadiet anser att lärare har större ansvar för både fostran och externa uppgifter jämfört med vad vårdnadshavarna med yrkeshögskoleexamen respektive universitetsexamen gjorde. Vid analys av ansvarsområdena utgående från familjesituation visar resultatet inga signifikanta skillnader. Resultaten visar dock att vårdnadshavarna med äldre barn som går eller har gått i grundskolan anser att lärare har större ansvar för fostran jämfört med vad vårdnadshavarna vars barn är det första i grundskolan anser. Vid motsvarande analys av externa uppgifter anser vårdnadshavarna vars barn är det första i grundskolan att lärare har större ansvar.

Recueil d'instructions à divers ambassadeurs français, et autres pièces diplomatiques et historiques. (1535-1629).

Contient : Mémoires et instructions à divers ambassadeurs : au cardinal Du Bellay [Angleterre], 1535 (f. 1), — « aux évesque de Paris [cardinal Du Bellay] et sieur de La Guiche » [Angleterre], s. d. (f. 5), — à monsieur d'Oisel [Espagne], 1563 (f. 23 v), — à monsieur de Brèves [Constantinople], 1592 (f. 31), — au marquis de Coeuvres [Flandre], 1610 (f. 87), — « à monsieur de Schomberg, comte de Nanteuil » [Allemagne], s. d. (f. 98), — à Pierre de Gondi, évêque de Paris [Rome], 1576 (f. 121), — au « sieur de L'Aubespine le jeune » [Espagne], 1564 (f. 182), — « au sieur de Malras » [Rome], 1571 (f. 193 v), — au sieur de Schomberg [Allemagne], 1572 (f. 204 v), — au cardinal de Gondi [Rome], 1588 (f. 209), — à de Fresne-Forget [Espagne], 1589 (f. 221 v), — à monsieur de Loménie [Angleterre], 1595 (f. 283), et pièces diverses, instructions de la reine Élisabeth à son ambassadeur en France, et lettre de Henri IV, concernant l'ambassade de monsieur de Loménie (f. 287 v), — à monsieur de Sillery et au maréchal de Biron [Savoie], 1596 (f. 294 v), — au sieur de Chevrières [Savoie], 1607 (f. 308 v), — à monsieur de Vaucelas [Savoie], 1607 (f. 329), — à l'évêque de Bayonne [Bertrand d'Échaus], s. d. (f. 341), — au marquis de Coeuvres [Rome], 1618 (f. 371), — à monsieur de Béthune [Rome], 1624 (f. 391), — au marquis de Coeuvres [Suisse et Grisons], 1624 (f. 445), et pièce annexe (f. 471), — et au sieur de Sabran [Allemagne], 1629 (f. 491), et pièces annexes (f. 501) ; « Lettre de la reyne d'Angleterre [Élisabeth] au roy Henry quatriesme après sa conversion » ; Mémoire du cardinal de Richelieu au sieur Miron, s. d ; Pièces concernant les protestants de Béarn, 1545 ; Pièces concernant les relations diplomatiques entre la France et l'Angleterre ; Correspondance entre la Cour et monsieur de Saint-Sulpice, ambassadeur en Espagne, 1563-1564 ; Pièces concernant l'ambassade de monsieur de Forquevaux en Espagne ; « Mémoire touchant l'abbaye de Vaucelles » ; Lettres de monsieur de Fresne-Forget, ambassadeur en Espagne, à la Cour, 1589 ; Pièces relatives à la fuite en Flandre du prince du Condé, 1609 ; « Proposition de monsieur de Boissise, ambassadeur ... en Allemagne, faicte aux Estatz assemblez à Clèves », 1610

Recueil de pièces historiques, concernant principalement le règne de Louis XIII ; traités de paix, mémoires politiques, etc. (1574-1636).

Contient : Pièces concernant la Suisse et les relations diplomatiques de ce pays avec la France, 1574-1602 ; Traité de Monçon, 1626 ; État des revenus du roi d'Espagne, 1610 (f. 36), — et de ses dépenses (f. 46) ; État des revenus du roi de Portugal, 1610 (f. 53), — et de ses dépenses (f. 54 v) ; Mémoires sur la cour de Rome, au temps de Paul V ; Traité entre la France et les Pays-Bas, 1634 ; Pièces concernant les protestants de Béarn, 1620 ; Harangue de Villeroy aux États de la Ligue, 1593 ; « Extraict de quelques passages du livre intitulé L'homme d'Estat français vrayement catholicque, dédié au roy très-chrestien Louys-le-Juste, par le sieur de Chiremont » [Le Normant], 1626 ; Entrée de Louis XIII à La Rochelle, 1628 ; « Discours... fais par feu monsieur BACON, grand chancelier d'Angleterre » : « De la religion » et « De la superstition » ; Traité entre la Lorraine et la France, 1634 ; Traité avec les archiducs Albert et Isabelle, 1610 ; Traité de Prague entre l'Empire et la Saxe, 1635 ; « Harangue de monsieur d'Avaux aux États de Suède, assemblés à Stocholme » ; « Formula Stumsdorfianorum pactorum de induciis XXVI annorum inter... Poloniæ regem, magnumque ducem Lithuaniæ, etc., etc., regnum Poloniæ magnumque ducatum Lithuaniæ, ab una, et... reginam regnumque Sueciæ, etc., ab altera parte sancitis, XXIV articulis comprehensa », 1635 ; « Discours sur les moiens que tiennent les Espagnols pour parvenir à la monarchie de l'Europe, et ce que l'on peut faire pour les en empescher » ; « Conférence secrette de Henri-le-Grand, tenüe pour le sujet des moiens de parvenir à l'Empire... » ; « Sommaire déclaration des aydes et charges que les roys de France ont levées en leur royaume, et des inconvéniens et troubles advenus par aucunes violences et non accoustumées exactions, par VIGNER » [Nicolas VIGNIER, médecin] ; « Harangue faite au Roy, séant en son Parlement, par monsieur Bignon, son advocat-général », 1636 ; Mémoires sur la validité ou nullité du mariage de Gaston d'Orléans avec Marguerite de Lorraine, en latin

Recueil généalogique, concernant principalement les maisons d'Albret et de Bourbon.

Contient : « Mémoires et généalogie de la maison d'Albret... » [par Auguste GALLAND ; cf. mss. français 16779, fol. 100, et 16794, fol. 1] ; « Mémoires et généalogie de la maison d'Armagnac, justifiez par tiltres depuis l'an 1224 jusques à présent » [cf. mss. franç. 16779, fol. 146, et 16794, fol. 35] ; « Généalogie des seigneurs d'Albret, dressée sur tiltres par monsieur DOYENNARD » [Arnaud D'OIHENART ; cf. ms. français 16794, fol. 87] ; « Tiltres et mémoires de la maison de Caumont » [cf. mss. français 16779, fol. 212, et 16789, fol. 77] ; « Mémoires de la maison de Longueville » [cf. ms. français 16779, fol. 242] ; « Estat des biens du roy Henry IIIIe, lors de son advènement à la Couronne, avec origine et suite des princes de Béarn » ; « Généalogie des comtes de Foix, qui est transcrite dans l'histoire des comtes de Thoulouse » [cf. ms. français 18663, fol. 179 v° ] ; « Observations sur la généalogie des vicomtes de Béarn, dressée par monsieur DOYENNART » [Arnaud D'OIHENART ; cf. ms. français 18663, fol. 245] ; « Généalogie des anciens vicomtes de Lautrec, descendans des comtes de Thoulouze », par Arnaud D'OIHENART [cf. ms. français 18663, fol. 256] ; « Généalogie de la maison de Foix-Rabat » [cf. ms. français 18663, fol. 294] ; « Histoire généalogique de la maison de Bourbon, et autres qui sont entrées dans icelle, dressée sur les originaux par messire Jean-Jacques DE MESMES, seigneur DE ROISSY... » [cf. mss. français 16779, fol. 2, 23978, fol. 1, et 23979, fol. 1] ; Tableau généalogique de la maison d'Albret ; Tableau généalogique des maisons de Castillon, l'Escung, Andouins et d'Aydie