An ontology-based approach to define and manage B2B interoperability

Electronic business surely represents the new development perspective for world-wide trade. Together with the idea of ebusiness, and the exigency to exchange business messages between trading partners, the concept of business-to-business (B2B) integration arouse. B2B integration is becoming necessary to allow partners to communicate and exchange business documents, like catalogues, purchase orders, reports and invoices, overcoming architectural, applicative, and semantic differences, according to the business processes implemented by each enterprise. Business relationships can be very heterogeneous, and consequently there are variousways to integrate enterprises with each other. Moreover nowadays not only large enterprises, but also the small- and medium- enterprises are moving towards ebusiness: more than two-thirds of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) use the Internet as a business tool. One of the business areas which is actively facing the interoperability problem is that related with the supply chain management. In order to really allow the SMEs to improve their business and to fully exploit ICT technologies in their business transactions, there are three main players that must be considered and joined: the new emerging ICT technologies, the scenario and the requirements of the enterprises and the world of standards and standardisation bodies. This thesis presents the definition and the development of an interoperability framework (and the bounded standardisation intiatives) to provide the Textile/Clothing sectorwith a shared set of business documents and protocols for electronic transactions. Considering also some limitations, the thesis proposes a ontology-based approach to improve the functionalities of the developed framework and, exploiting the technologies of the semantic web, to improve the standardisation life-cycle, intended as the development, dissemination and adoption of B2B protocols for specific business domain. The use of ontologies allows the semantic modellisation of knowledge domains, upon which it is possible to develop a set of components for a better management of B2B protocols, and to ease their comprehension and adoption for the target users.

Localizzazione in tedesco dei siti web di tre aziende metalmeccaniche della Provincia di Forlì-Cesena

Il presente lavoro di tesi è dedicato alla localizzazione verso il tedesco dei siti web di tre aziende metalmeccaniche della provincia di Forlì-Cesena. Il lavoro prevede, inoltre, la revisione in tedesco del sito internet della rete d'impresa di cui fanno parte le suddette aziende e la traduzione in tedesco del relativo company profile. Il primo capitolo del presente lavoro offre un'introduzione teorica agli argomenti che verranno trattati nello specifico nei capitoli seguenti; in particolare fornisce un'introduzione alla localizzazione, di cui verranno analizzati i concetti ad essa correlati, la storia ed infine l'applicazione ai siti web commerciali, con una particolare attenzione alla cultura e al simbolismo nei siti web. Nella prima parte del secondo capitolo si fornisce una panoramica dell'industria del settore metalmeccanico sia in Italia che in Germania, in termini di imprese ed addetti e di livelli di importazioni ed esportazioni in entrambi i Paesi. Infine, la seconda parte del capitolo prevede l'analisi dei siti web paralleli di alcune aziende tedesche del settore, riguardante le particolarità strutturali, linguistiche e grafiche dei siti in questione. Il terzo capitolo è dedicato al tema della qualità della traduzione e della revisione: la prima parte del capitolo riguarda l'analisi degli standard di qualità professionali, in riferimento alle norme riconosciute a livello internazionale sul tema; la seconda parte del capitolo verte sui criteri di qualità della traduzione; la parte centrale del capitolo riguarda il processo di revisione e, infine, l'ultima parte del capitolo sarà costituita dall'analisi e dalla revisione del sito web www.coneng.it. Nel corso del quarto capitolo viene proposta la localizzazione in tedesco dei siti web di tre aziende metalmeccaniche della provincia di Forlì-Cesena, ovvero l'azienda Meccanica 2000 (www.meccanica2000.com), l'azienda Mancini MecService (www.mancinimecservice.it) e l'azienda MPC - Meccanica di Precisione Cesenate (www.mpcmeccanica.it). L'ultimo capitolo del lavoro è, infine, dedicato all'analisi e alla traduzione in tedesco del company profile della rete di imprese di cui fanno parte le tre aziende per cui è stata realizzata la localizzazione dei siti web in tedesco.

La traduzione turistica nel web: proposta di traduzione del sito turistico di Mamoiada

Questa tesi si incentra sulla traduzione dall’italiano all’inglese di un insieme di testi turistici estrapolati dal sito web www.mamoiada.org di Raffaele Ballore. Si tratta di uno dei pochi siti dedicati alla promozione del mio paese natale, Mamoiada. I testi che ho tradotto ricoprono diversi domini linguistici: si inizia fornendo delle informazioni tecniche su come raggiungere l’abitato, per poi proseguire con testi relativi alla storia, alle tradizioni e alle usanze tipiche, e concludersi con testi di carattere gastronomico. Mamoiada è un piccolo paese situato nell’entroterra della Sardegna, ricco di storia e tradizioni. Ha vissuto l’occupazione di diversi popoli, fra cui i Romani, ed è conosciuto per le sue feste, in particolare per il Carnevale. Chi si reca a Mamoiada si può inoltre deliziare il palato con i piatti tipici di cui si parlerà nei testi.

Urban Expansion and its impact on urban agriculture - remote sensing based change analysis of Kizinga and Mzinga Valley - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Urban agriculture is a phenomenon that can be observed world-wide, particularly in cities of devel- oping countries. It is contributing significantly to food security and food safety and has sustained livelihood of the urban and peri-urban low income dwe llers in developing countries for many years. Population increase due to rural-urban migration and natural - formal as well as informal - urbani- sation are competing with urban farming for available space and scarce water resources. A mul- titemporal and multisensoral urban change analysis over the period of 25 years (1982-2007) was performed in order to measure and visualise the urban expansion along the Kizinga and Mzinga valley in the south of Dar Es Salaam. Airphotos and VHR satellite data were analysed by using a combination of a composition of anisotropic textural measures and spectral information. The study revealed that unplanned built-up area is expanding continuously, and vegetation covers and agricultural lands decline at a fast rate. The validation showed that the overall classification accuracy varied depending on the database. The extracted built-up areas were used for visual in- terpretation mapping purposes and served as information source for another research project. The maps visualise an urban congestion and expansion of nearly 18% of the total analysed area that had taken place in the Kizinga valley between 1982 and 2007. The same development can be ob- served in the less developed and more remote Mzinga valley between 1981 and 2002. Both areas underwent fast changes where land prices still tend to go up and an influx of people both from rural and urban areas continuously increase the density with the consequence of increasing multiple land use interests.

Haptische, visuelle und olfaktorische Sprachen: Westnilotische Wahrnehmungen

Cet article traite des expressions de la perception sensuelle de l’ouest nilotique. La première partie de l’article présente une terminologie ophrésiologique en louo et burun et démontre que cette catégorie lexicale détient aussi une catégorie grammaticale particulière. Phénomènes très rares dans les langues du monde, les termes ophrésiologiques sont seulement présentés sous forme introductive pour encourager davantage les recherches futures. La seconde partie de l’article porte sur les descriptions des couleurs utilisées pour les animaux domestiques. Quand les modalités de l’économie changent, les noms utilisés pour les couleurs des animaux peuvent aussi être employés pour d’autres concepts culturels. La troisième partie de l’article montre que les classificateurs nominaux en mabaan (burun) expriment des principes concernant le toucher en tant que structure cognitive. En conséquence, différents procédés de grammaticalisation sont assumés et corrélés avec des ponctuations dans l’histoire culturelle et mentale des ancêtres des locuteurs de l’ouest nilotique.

Open Data and Earth Observations The Case of Opening Up Access to and Use of Earth Observation Data Through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems

Earth observations (EO) represent a growing and valuable resource for many scientific, research and practical applications carried out by users around the world. Access to EO data for some applications or activities, like climate change research or emergency response activities, becomes indispensable for their success. However, often EO data or products made of them are (or are claimed to be) subject to intellectual property law protection and are licensed under specific conditions regarding access and use. Restrictive conditions on data use can be prohibitive for further work with the data. Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is an initiative led by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) with the aim to provide coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained EO and information for making informed decisions in various areas beneficial to societies, their functioning and development. It seeks to share data with users world-wide with the fewest possible restrictions on their use by implementing GEOSS Data Sharing Principles adopted by GEO. The Principles proclaim full and open exchange of data shared within GEOSS, while recognising relevant international instruments and national policies and legislation through which restrictions on the use of data may be imposed.The paper focuses on the issue of the legal interoperability of data that are shared with varying restrictions on use with the aim to explore the options of making data interoperable. The main question it addresses is whether the public domain or its equivalents represent the best mechanism to ensure legal interoperability of data. To this end, the paper analyses legal protection regimes and their norms applicable to EO data. Based on the findings, it highlights the existing public law statutory, regulatory, and policy approaches, as well as private law instruments, such as waivers, licenses and contracts, that may be used to place the datasets in the public domain, or otherwise make them publicly available for use and re-use without restrictions. It uses GEOSS and the particular characteristics of it as a system to identify the ways to reconcile the vast possibilities it provides through sharing of data from various sources and jurisdictions on the one hand, and the restrictions on the use of the shared resources on the other. On a more general level the paper seeks to draw attention to the obstacles and potential regulatory solutions for sharing factual or research data for the purposes that go beyond research and education.

WOCAT - World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies - Preliminary results from Eastern and Southern Africa

The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) is a program of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC), organized as a consortium of several international institutions. The overall goal of WOCAT is to contribute to sustainable utilization of soil and water. WOCAT collects and analyzes information on soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies and approaches world-wide, and presents the collected information in computer databases and decision support systems, and in the form of handbooks, reports and maps readily accessible to SWC specialists and policy-makers world-wide. WOCAT has prepared a framework for the evaluation of soil and water conservation and has started data collection. The paper presents preliminary results with promising SWC technologies and approaches used in Eastern and Southern Africa. The first finding is that hardly any promising SWC activities could be found on common grazing lands. Analysis of the cropland shows some of the bio-physical and socioeconomic conditions under which certain SWC technologies and approaches are used, including land use types, climatic zones and land tenure, and looks at issues such as participation and costs. Furthermore, classification criteria for SWC technologies and approaches are discussed.

Bajo los adoquines está la Pachamama : Territorialidad andina en el Gran La Plata [2008-2011]

Desde hace aproximadamente 20 años, se está viviendo un resurgimiento del movimiento indígena a nivel mundial y continental. El territorio juega un papel esencial para las numerosas organizaciones y comunidades que lo componen, en tanto articula el accionar de estos sujetos al espacio en un sentido procesual y relacional, a través de una concepción en la que la tríada territorio-territorialidad-territorialización, niega la dualidad cartesiana entre materia y espíritu y afirma que toda apropiación material es a la vez simbólica. Según la Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas 2004-2005, complementaria del Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2001 del INdEC, el 54 de las 600.329 personas que se autoreconocen como parte de alguno de los más de treinta pueblos aborígenes que habitan en Argentina, se encuentra en áreas urbanas. El interés de este trabajo es el entender cuáles son las modalidades de apropiación material y simbólica del espacio que llevan adelante la Organización Quechua-Aymara Hijos del Cóndor [Kunthurpa Churinkuna] en conjunto con la Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua de Cusco-Filial Regional Internacional "Berisso" [Qheswasimi Jamutána Kuraq Suntur Qosqo-Perusuyu], y la Comunidad Qolla Gran La Plata, todas pertenecientes al universo cultural andino, y activas en el ámbito de la capital bonaerense. Es decir, qué territorialidad específica construyen en el espacio urbano, en función de la recreación de su cultura ancestral [analizada a través del enfoque del control cultural], y atendiendo a su relación con sus estrategias políticas y sus condiciones socioeconómicas, que se ponen en juego en la configuración de determinados espacios de socialización. Se trata de una investigación que emplea el método etnográfico, con técnicas tales como la observación participante y la entrevista en profundidad

Escribirlo al fin : Visto al pasar. República, guerra y exilio de María del Carmen García Antón. Memoria desde el destierro en Argentina

Visto al pasar. República, guerra y exilio es el relato autobiográfico de una mujer que vivió la Guerra Civil desde el bando republicano y que se vio obligada a un exilio permanente en Argentina. El valor documental de su libro radica no solamente en la reconstrucción detallada que elabora de la vida y las costumbres durante los años del conflicto sino también en el testimonio que aporta el recuerdo de su experiencia junto a escritores y artistas hoy conocidos y celebrados. El libro, además, invita a una reflexión acerca de las estrategias de legitimación y de construcción de la identidad del sujeto en la autobiografía actual.

Bajo los adoquines está la Pachamama : Territorialidad andina en el Gran La Plata [2008-2011]

Desde hace aproximadamente 20 años, se está viviendo un resurgimiento del movimiento indígena a nivel mundial y continental. El territorio juega un papel esencial para las numerosas organizaciones y comunidades que lo componen, en tanto articula el accionar de estos sujetos al espacio en un sentido procesual y relacional, a través de una concepción en la que la tríada territorio-territorialidad-territorialización, niega la dualidad cartesiana entre materia y espíritu y afirma que toda apropiación material es a la vez simbólica. Según la Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas 2004-2005, complementaria del Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2001 del INdEC, el 54 de las 600.329 personas que se autoreconocen como parte de alguno de los más de treinta pueblos aborígenes que habitan en Argentina, se encuentra en áreas urbanas. El interés de este trabajo es el entender cuáles son las modalidades de apropiación material y simbólica del espacio que llevan adelante la Organización Quechua-Aymara Hijos del Cóndor [Kunthurpa Churinkuna] en conjunto con la Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua de Cusco-Filial Regional Internacional "Berisso" [Qheswasimi Jamutána Kuraq Suntur Qosqo-Perusuyu], y la Comunidad Qolla Gran La Plata, todas pertenecientes al universo cultural andino, y activas en el ámbito de la capital bonaerense. Es decir, qué territorialidad específica construyen en el espacio urbano, en función de la recreación de su cultura ancestral [analizada a través del enfoque del control cultural], y atendiendo a su relación con sus estrategias políticas y sus condiciones socioeconómicas, que se ponen en juego en la configuración de determinados espacios de socialización. Se trata de una investigación que emplea el método etnográfico, con técnicas tales como la observación participante y la entrevista en profundidad