Web2.0, knowledge sharing and privacy in E-learning

Quand le E-learning a émergé il ya 20 ans, cela consistait simplement en un texte affiché sur un écran d'ordinateur, comme un livre. Avec les changements et les progrès dans la technologie, le E-learning a parcouru un long chemin, maintenant offrant un matériel éducatif personnalisé, interactif et riche en contenu. Aujourd'hui, le E-learning se transforme de nouveau. En effet, avec la prolifération des systèmes d'apprentissage électronique et des outils d'édition de contenu éducatif, ainsi que les normes établies, c’est devenu plus facile de partager et de réutiliser le contenu d'apprentissage. En outre, avec le passage à des méthodes d'enseignement centrées sur l'apprenant, en plus de l'effet des techniques et technologies Web2.0, les apprenants ne sont plus seulement les récipiendaires du contenu d'apprentissage, mais peuvent jouer un rôle plus actif dans l'enrichissement de ce contenu. Par ailleurs, avec la quantité d'informations que les systèmes E-learning peuvent accumuler sur les apprenants, et l'impact que cela peut avoir sur leur vie privée, des préoccupations sont soulevées afin de protéger la vie privée des apprenants. Au meilleur de nos connaissances, il n'existe pas de solutions existantes qui prennent en charge les différents problèmes soulevés par ces changements. Dans ce travail, nous abordons ces questions en présentant Cadmus, SHAREK, et le E-learning préservant la vie privée. Plus précisément, Cadmus est une plateforme web, conforme au standard IMS QTI, offrant un cadre et des outils adéquats pour permettre à des tuteurs de créer et partager des questions de tests et des examens. Plus précisément, Cadmus fournit des modules telles que EQRS (Exam Question Recommender System) pour aider les tuteurs à localiser des questions appropriées pour leur examens, ICE (Identification of Conflits in Exams) pour aider à résoudre les conflits entre les questions contenu dans un même examen, et le Topic Tree, conçu pour aider les tuteurs à mieux organiser leurs questions d'examen et à assurer facilement la couverture des différent sujets contenus dans les examens. D'autre part, SHAREK (Sharing REsources and Knowledge) fournit un cadre pour pouvoir profiter du meilleur des deux mondes : la solidité des systèmes E-learning et la flexibilité de PLE (Personal Learning Environment) tout en permettant aux apprenants d'enrichir le contenu d'apprentissage, et les aider à localiser nouvelles ressources d'apprentissage. Plus précisément, SHAREK combine un système recommandation multicritères, ainsi que des techniques et des technologies Web2.0, tels que le RSS et le web social, pour promouvoir de nouvelles ressources d'apprentissage et aider les apprenants à localiser du contenu adapté. Finalement, afin de répondre aux divers besoins de la vie privée dans le E-learning, nous proposons un cadre avec quatre niveaux de vie privée, ainsi que quatre niveaux de traçabilité. De plus, nous présentons ACES (Anonymous Credentials for E-learning Systems), un ensemble de protocoles, basés sur des techniques cryptographiques bien établies, afin d'aider les apprenants à atteindre leur niveau de vie privée désiré.

Information system evolvability, feedback and pattern languages

Information systems for business are frequently heavily reliant on software. Two important feedback-related effects of embedding software in a business process are identified. First, the system dynamics of the software maintenance process can become complex, particularly in the number and scope of the feedback loops. Secondly, responsiveness to feedback can have a big effect on the evolvability of the information system. Ways have been explored to provide an effective mechanism for improving the quality of feedback between stakeholders during software maintenance. Understanding can be improved by using representations of information systems that are both service-based and architectural in scope. The conflicting forces that encourage change or stability can be resolved using patterns and pattern languages. A morphology of information systems pattern languages has been described to facilitate the identification and reuse of patterns and pattern languages. The kind of planning process needed to achieve consensus on a system's evolution is also considered.

c-Cbl mediates ubiquitination, degradation, and down-regulation of human protease-activated receptor 2

Mechanisms that arrest G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling prevent uncontrolled stimulation that could cause disease. Although uncoupling from heterotrimeric G-proteins, which transiently arrests signaling, is well described, little is known about the mechanisms that permanently arrest signaling. Here we reported on the mechanisms that terminate signaling by protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR(2)), which mediated the proinflammatory and nociceptive actions of proteases. Given its irreversible mechanism of proteolytic activation, PAR(2) is a model to study the permanent arrest of GPCR signaling. By immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting, we observed that activated PAR(2) was mono-ubiquitinated. Immunofluorescence indicated that activated PAR(2) translocated from the plasma membrane to early endosomes and lysosomes where it was degraded, as determined by immunoblotting. Mutant PAR(2) lacking intracellular lysine residues (PAR(2)Delta14K/R) was expressed at the plasma membrane and signaled normally but was not ubiquitinated. Activated PAR(2) Delta14K/R internalized but was retained in early endosomes and avoided lysosomal degradation. Activation of wild type PAR(2) stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of the ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase c-Cbl and promoted its interaction with PAR(2) at the plasma membrane and in endosomes in an Src-dependent manner. Dominant negative c-Cbl lacking the ring finger domain inhibited PAR(2) ubiquitination and induced retention in early endosomes, thereby impeding lysosomal degradation. Although wild type PAR(2) was degraded, and recovery of agonist responses required synthesis of new receptors, lysine mutation and dominant negative c-Cbl impeded receptor ubiquitination and degradation and allowed PAR(2) to recycle and continue to signal. Thus, c-Cbl mediated ubiquitination and lysosomal degradation of PAR(2) to irrevocably terminate signaling by this and perhaps other GPCRs.

Development and exploitation of a controlled vocabulary in support of climate modelling

There are three key components for developing a metadata system: a container structure laying out the key semantic issues of interest and their relationships; an extensible controlled vocabulary providing possible content; and tools to create and manipulate that content. While metadata systems must allow users to enter their own information, the use of a controlled vocabulary both imposes consistency of definition and ensures comparability of the objects described. Here we describe the controlled vocabulary (CV) and metadata creation tool built by the METAFOR project for use in the context of describing the climate models, simulations and experiments of the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The CV and resulting tool chain introduced here is designed for extensibility and reuse and should find applicability in many more projects.

Hydrolytic Activity of Free and Immobilized Cellulase

Cellulase is an enzymatic complex which synergically promotes the degradation of cellulose to glucose. The adsorption behavior of cellulase from Trichoderma reesei onto Si wafers or amino-terminated surfaces was investigated by means of ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a function of temperature. Upon increasing temperature from (24 +/- 1) to (60 +/- 1) degrees C, adsorption of cellulase became faster and more pronounced and the mean roughness of cellulase adsorbed layers increased. In the case of cellulase adsorbed onto Si wafers, Arrhenius`s plot allowed us to estimate the adsorption energy as 24.2 kJ mol(-1). The hydrolytic activity of free cellulase and cellulase immobilized onto Si wafers was tested using cellulose dispersions as substrates. The incubation temperature ranged from (37 +/- 1) to (60 +/- 1) degrees C. The highest efficiency was observed at (60 +/- 1) degrees C. The amount of glucose produced by free cellulase was similar to 20% higher than that obtained from immobilized cellulase. However, immobilizing cellulase onto Si wafers proved to be advantageous because they could be reused six times while retaining their original activity level. Such an effect was attributed to surface hydration, which prevents enzyme denaturation. The hydrolytic activity of cellulase immobilized onto amino-terminated surfaces was slightly lower than that observed for cellulase adsorbed onto Si wafers, and reuse was not possible.

Produção de zeólita analcima a partir de caulim amazônico

Na região norte do Brasil são encontradas grandes reservas minerais, as quais tem sido exploradas nas últimas décadas gerando normalmente grande volume de rejeito para o meio ambiente. No caso específico do caulim, o principal produto exportado é para cobertura de papel (commodity) que apresenta baixo valor agregado. Sua produção, também gera um rejeito volumoso composto essencialmente de caulinita, de elevada pureza, porem fora de especificação para cobertura de papel que é descartado e ou utilizado em outras aplicações menos nobre. Como as zeólitas são materiais mais nobres e apresentam na sua estrutura cristalina sílica e alumina este trabalho teve como um dos objetivos o desenvolvimento de processo de produção da zeólita analcima a partir de um rejeito de caulim menos nobre, diatomito e solução de hidróxido de sódio. Por outro lado, os métodos descritos na literatura para obtenção de zeólitas são desenvolvidos em meio alcalino e utilizam normalmente um excesso de hidróxido de sódio no meio reacional ocasionado problema econômico e ambiental. Assim este trabalho descreve o processo de síntese da zeólita analcima semi-contínuo, no qual o excesso de hidróxido utilizado foi recuperado e reutilizado em um novo ciclo de processo. O processo foi desenvolvido em cinco ciclos consecutivos em autoclave através da reação de caulim calcinado, diatomito como fonte de sílica adicional, solução aquosa de hidróxido de sódio fresco e solução de hidróxido de sódio reciclada. A reação do processo foi desenvolvida a 210 °C por 24 h. O produto obtido no final de cada ciclo foi a zeólita analcima caracterizada por fluorescência de raios X, difração de raios, análise termogravimétrica-térmica diferencial, e microscopia eletrônica de varredura. O processo de produção de analcima apresentou elevado rendimento e o reaproveitamento do hidróxido de sódio por meio de reciclo mostrou-se tecnicamente viável.

Reuse of Cyclodextrin Glycosyltransferase through Immobilization on Magnetic Carriers

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)

Interpreting Judgements using Knowledge Representation Methods and Computational Models of Argument

The goal of the present research is to define a Semantic Web framework for precedent modelling, by using knowledge extracted from text, metadata, and rules, while maintaining a strong text-to-knowledge morphism between legal text and legal concepts, in order to fill the gap between legal document and its semantics. The framework is composed of four different models that make use of standard languages from the Semantic Web stack of technologies: a document metadata structure, modelling the main parts of a judgement, and creating a bridge between a text and its semantic annotations of legal concepts; a legal core ontology, modelling abstract legal concepts and institutions contained in a rule of law; a legal domain ontology, modelling the main legal concepts in a specific domain concerned by case-law; an argumentation system, modelling the structure of argumentation. The input to the framework includes metadata associated with judicial concepts, and an ontology library representing the structure of case-law. The research relies on the previous efforts of the community in the field of legal knowledge representation and rule interchange for applications in the legal domain, in order to apply the theory to a set of real legal documents, stressing the OWL axioms definitions as much as possible in order to enable them to provide a semantically powerful representation of the legal document and a solid ground for an argumentation system using a defeasible subset of predicate logics. It appears that some new features of OWL2 unlock useful reasoning features for legal knowledge, especially if combined with defeasible rules and argumentation schemes. The main task is thus to formalize legal concepts and argumentation patterns contained in a judgement, with the following requirement: to check, validate and reuse the discourse of a judge - and the argumentation he produces - as expressed by the judicial text.

Control of recycle processes using neural networks combined with PID controller

This thesis is focused on the control of a system with recycle. A new control strategy using neural network combined with PID controller was proposed. The combined controller was studied and tested on the pressure control of a vaporizer inside a para-xylene production process. The major problems are the negative effects of recycle and the delays on instability and performance. The neural network was designed to move the process close to the set points while the PID accomplishes the finer level of disturbance rejection and offset reductions. Our simulation results show that during control, the neural network was able to determine the nonlinear relationship between steady state and manipulated variables. The results also show the disturbance rejection was handled by PID controller effectively.

CompAS: A new approach to commonality and variability analysis with applications in computer assisted orthopaedic surgery

In rapidly evolving domains such as Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery (CAOS) emphasis is often put first on innovation and new functionality, rather than in developing the common infrastructure needed to support integration and reuse of these innovations. In fact, developing such an infrastructure is often considered to be a high-risk venture given the volatility of such a domain. We present CompAS, a method that exploits the very evolution of innovations in the domain to carry out the necessary quantitative and qualitative commonality and variability analysis, especially in the case of scarce system documentation. We show how our technique applies to the CAOS domain by using conference proceedings as a key source of information about the evolution of features in CAOS systems over a period of several years. We detect and classify evolution patterns to determine functional commonality and variability. We also identify non-functional requirements to help capture domain variability. We have validated our approach by evaluating the degree to which representative test systems can be covered by the common and variable features produced by our analysis.

Stud.IP and ILIAS in an EU-Funded Project for the Middle East

In autumn 2005 InWEnt (Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung/Capacity Building International gGmbH) on behalf of the EU invited to tender for three web based trainings (WBT). The precondition: either the open-source-platform Stud.IP or ILIAS should be used. The company data-quest decided not to offer the use of either Stud.IP or ILIAS, but both in combination - and won the contract. Several month later, the new learning environment with the combined powers of Stud.IP and ILIAS was ready to serve WBT-participants from all over the world. The following text describes the EU-Project "Efficient Management of Wastewater, its Treatment and Reuse in the Mediterranean Countries" (EMWater), the WBT concept and the experiences with the new Stud.IP-ILIAS-interface.

Not for Designers: On the Inadequacies of EU Design Law and How to Fix It

Design rights represent an interesting example of how the EU legislature has successfully regulated an otherwise heterogeneous field of law. Yet this type of protection is not for all. The tools created by EU intervention have been drafted paying much more attention to the industry sector rather than to designers themselves. In particular, modern, digitally based, individual or small-sized, 3D printing, open designers and their needs are largely neglected by such legislation. There is obviously nothing wrong in drafting legal tools around the needs of an industrial sector with an important role in the EU economy, on the contrary, this is a legitimate and good decision of industrial policy. However, good legislation should be fair, balanced, and (technologically) neutral in order to offer suitable solutions to all the players in the market, and all the citizens in the society, without discriminating the smallest or the newest: the cost would be to stifle innovation. The use of printing machinery to manufacture physical objects created digitally thanks to computer programs such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software has been in place for quite a few years, and it is actually the standard in many industrial fields, from aeronautics to home furniture. The change in recent years that has the potential to be a paradigm-shifting factor is a combination between the opularization of such technologies (price, size, usability, quality) and the diffusion of a culture based on access to and reuse of knowledge. We will call this blend Open Design. It is probably still too early, however, to say whether 3D printing will be used in the future to refer to a major event in human history, or instead will be relegated to a lonely Wikipedia entry similarly to ³Betamax² (copyright scholars are familiar with it for other reasons). It is not too early, however, to develop a legal analysis that will hopefully contribute to clarifying the major issues found in current EU design law structure, why many modern open designers will probably find better protection in copyright, and whether they can successfully rely on open licenses to achieve their goals. With regard to the latter point, we will use Creative Commons (CC) licenses to test our hypothesis due to their unique characteristic to be modular, i.e. to have different license elements (clauses) that licensors can choose in order to adapt the license to their own needs.”

Ontologies and Methods for Interoperability of Engineering Analysis Models (EAMS) in an E-Design Environment

ABSTRACT ONTOLOGIES AND METHODS FOR INTEROPERABILITY OF ENGINEERING ANALYSIS MODELS (EAMS) IN AN E-DESIGN ENVIRONMENT SEPTEMBER 2007 NEELIMA KANURI, B.S., BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES PILANI INDIA M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Ian Grosse Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems to exchange and reuse information efficiently. This thesis presents new techniques for interoperating engineering tools using ontologies as the basis for representing, visualizing, reasoning about, and securely exchanging abstract engineering knowledge between software systems. The specific engineering domain that is the primary focus of this report is the modeling knowledge associated with the development of engineering analysis models (EAMs). This abstract modeling knowledge has been used to support integration of analysis and optimization tools in iSIGHT FD , a commercial engineering environment. ANSYS , a commercial FEA tool, has been wrapped as an analysis service available inside of iSIGHT-FD. Engineering analysis modeling (EAM) ontology has been developed and instantiated to form a knowledge base for representing analysis modeling knowledge. The instances of the knowledge base are the analysis models of real world applications. To illustrate how abstract modeling knowledge can be exploited for useful purposes, a cantilever I-Beam design optimization problem has been used as a test bed proof-of-concept application. Two distinct finite element models of the I-beam are available to analyze a given beam design- a beam-element finite element model with potentially lower accuracy but significantly reduced computational costs and a high fidelity, high cost, shell-element finite element model. The goal is to obtain an optimized I-beam design at minimum computational expense. An intelligent KB tool was developed and implemented in FiPER . This tool reasons about the modeling knowledge to intelligently shift between the beam and the shell element models during an optimization process to select the best analysis model for a given optimization design state. In addition to improved interoperability and design optimization, methods are developed and presented that demonstrate the ability to operate on ontological knowledge bases to perform important engineering tasks. One such method is the automatic technical report generation method which converts the modeling knowledge associated with an analysis model to a flat technical report. The second method is a secure knowledge sharing method which allocates permissions to portions of knowledge to control knowledge access and sharing. Both the methods acting together enable recipient specific fine grain controlled knowledge viewing and sharing in an engineering workflow integration environment, such as iSIGHT-FD. These methods together play a very efficient role in reducing the large scale inefficiencies existing in current product design and development cycles due to poor knowledge sharing and reuse between people and software engineering tools. This work is a significant advance in both understanding and application of integration of knowledge in a distributed engineering design framework.

BIOMEDICAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING AND EXTRACTION (BLUE-TEXT): A MINIMAL SYNTACTIC, SEMANTIC METHOD

Clinical text understanding (CTU) is of interest to health informatics because critical clinical information frequently represented as unconstrained text in electronic health records are extensively used by human experts to guide clinical practice, decision making, and to document delivery of care, but are largely unusable by information systems for queries and computations. Recent initiatives advocating for translational research call for generation of technologies that can integrate structured clinical data with unstructured data, provide a unified interface to all data, and contextualize clinical information for reuse in multidisciplinary and collaborative environment envisioned by CTSA program. This implies that technologies for the processing and interpretation of clinical text should be evaluated not only in terms of their validity and reliability in their intended environment, but also in light of their interoperability, and ability to support information integration and contextualization in a distributed and dynamic environment. This vision adds a new layer of information representation requirements that needs to be accounted for when conceptualizing implementation or acquisition of clinical text processing tools and technologies for multidisciplinary research. On the other hand, electronic health records frequently contain unconstrained clinical text with high variability in use of terms and documentation practices, and without commitmentto grammatical or syntactic structure of the language (e.g. Triage notes, physician and nurse notes, chief complaints, etc). This hinders performance of natural language processing technologies which typically rely heavily on the syntax of language and grammatical structure of the text. This document introduces our method to transform unconstrained clinical text found in electronic health information systems to a formal (computationally understandable) representation that is suitable for querying, integration, contextualization and reuse, and is resilient to the grammatical and syntactic irregularities of the clinical text. We present our design rationale, method, and results of evaluation in processing chief complaints and triage notes from 8 different emergency departments in Houston Texas. At the end, we will discuss significance of our contribution in enabling use of clinical text in a practical bio-surveillance setting.