Search results
1 – 10 of 107Ceri Binding, Claudio Gnoli and Douglas Tudhope
The Integrative Levels Classification (ILC) is a comprehensive “freely faceted” knowledge organization system not previously expressed as SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization…
Abstract
Purpose
The Integrative Levels Classification (ILC) is a comprehensive “freely faceted” knowledge organization system not previously expressed as SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System). This paper reports and reflects on work converting the ILC to SKOS representation.
Design/methodology/approach
The design of the ILC representation and the various steps in the conversion to SKOS are described and located within the context of previous work considering the representation of complex classification schemes in SKOS. Various issues and trade-offs emerging from the conversion are discussed. The conversion implementation employed the STELETO transformation tool.
Findings
The ILC conversion captures some of the ILC facet structure by a limited extension beyond the SKOS standard. SPARQL examples illustrate how this extension could be used to create faceted, compound descriptors when indexing or cataloguing. Basic query patterns are provided that might underpin search systems. Possible routes for reducing complexity are discussed.
Originality/value
Complex classification schemes, such as the ILC, have features which are not straight forward to represent in SKOS and which extend beyond the functionality of the SKOS standard. The ILC's facet indicators are modelled as rdf:Property sub-hierarchies that accompany the SKOS RDF statements. The ILC's top-level fundamental facet relationships are modelled by extensions of the associative relationship – specialised sub-properties of skos:related. An approach for representing faceted compound descriptions in ILC and other faceted classification schemes is proposed.
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Andreas Vlachidis, Ceri Binding, Douglas Tudhope and Keith May
This paper sets out to discuss the use of information extraction (IE), a natural language‐processing (NLP) technique to assist “rich” semantic indexing of diverse archaeological…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to discuss the use of information extraction (IE), a natural language‐processing (NLP) technique to assist “rich” semantic indexing of diverse archaeological text resources. The focus of the research is to direct a semantic‐aware “rich” indexing of diverse natural language resources with properties capable of satisfying information retrieval from online publications and datasets associated with the Semantic Technologies for Archaeological Resources (STAR) project.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes use of the English Heritage extension (CRM‐EH) of the standard core ontology in cultural heritage, CIDOC CRM, and exploitation of domain thesauri resources for driving and enhancing an Ontology‐Oriented Information Extraction process. The process of semantic indexing is based on a rule‐based Information Extraction technique, which is facilitated by the General Architecture of Text Engineering (GATE) toolkit and expressed by Java Annotation Pattern Engine (JAPE) rules.
Findings
Initial results suggest that the combination of information extraction with knowledge resources and standard conceptual models is capable of supporting semantic‐aware term indexing. Additional efforts are required for further exploitation of the technique and adoption of formal evaluation methods for assessing the performance of the method in measurable terms.
Originality/value
The value of the paper lies in the semantic indexing of 535 unpublished online documents often referred to as “Grey Literature”, from the Archaeological Data Service OASIS corpus (Online AccesS to the Index of archaeological investigationS), with respect to the CRM ontological concepts E49.Time Appellation and P19.Physical Object.
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Douglas Tudhope, Ceri Binding, Dorothee Blocks and Daniel Cunliffe
The purpose of this paper is to explore query expansion via conceptual distance in thesaurus indexed collections
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore query expansion via conceptual distance in thesaurus indexed collections
Design/methodology/approach
An extract of the National Museum of Science and Industry's collections database, indexed with the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), was the dataset for the research. The system architecture and algorithms for semantic closeness and the matching function are outlined. Standalone and web interfaces are described and formative qualitative user studies are discussed. One user session is discussed in detail, together with a scenario based on a related public inquiry. Findings are set in context of the literature on thesaurus‐based query expansion. This paper discusses the potential of query expansion techniques using the semantic relationships in a faceted thesaurus.
Findings
Thesaurus‐assisted retrieval systems have potential for multi‐concept descriptors, permitting very precise queries and indexing. However, indexer and searcher may differ in terminology judgments and there may not be any exactly matching results. The integration of semantic closeness in the matching function permits ranked results for multi‐concept queries in thesaurus‐indexed applications. An in‐memory representation of the thesaurus semantic network allows a combination of automatic and interactive control of expansion and control of expansion on individual query terms.
Originality/value
The application of semantic expansion to browsing may be useful in interface options where thesaurus structure is hidden.
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Michael John Khoo, Jae-wook Ahn, Ceri Binding, Hilary Jane Jones, Xia Lin, Diana Massam and Douglas Tudhope
– The purpose of this paper is to describe a new approach to a well-known problem for digital libraries, how to search across multiple unrelated libraries with a single query.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a new approach to a well-known problem for digital libraries, how to search across multiple unrelated libraries with a single query.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach involves creating new Dewey Decimal Classification terms and numbers from existing Dublin Core records. In total, 263,550 records were harvested from three digital libraries. Weighted key terms were extracted from the title, description and subject fields of each record. Ranked DDC classes were automatically generated from these key terms by considering DDC hierarchies via a series of filtering and aggregation stages. A mean reciprocal ranking evaluation compared a sample of 49 generated classes against DDC classes created by a trained librarian for the same records.
Findings
The best results combined weighted key terms from the title, description and subject fields. Performance declines with increased specificity of DDC level. The results compare favorably with similar studies.
Research limitations/implications
The metadata harvest required manual intervention and the evaluation was resource intensive. Future research will look at evaluation methodologies that take account of issues of consistency and ecological validity.
Practical implications
The method does not require training data and is easily scalable. The pipeline can be customized for individual use cases, for example, recall or precision enhancing.
Social implications
The approach can provide centralized access to information from multiple domains currently provided by individual digital libraries.
Originality/value
The approach addresses metadata normalization in the context of web resources. The automatic classification approach accounts for matches within hierarchies, aggregating lower level matches to broader parents and thus approximates the practices of a human cataloger.
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The key questions explored in this volume converge around issues of educational governance in the context of globalization. The individual chapters each contribute to the goals of…
Abstract
The key questions explored in this volume converge around issues of educational governance in the context of globalization. The individual chapters each contribute to the goals of assessing the development of the educational agenda of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and providing evidence on the trajectories through which the organization’s programs and policies have directly and indirectly influenced and affected diverse educational systems. The chapter explores these issues in more depth, drawing on the perspectives presented in the volume’s individual chapters. The first section provides a discussion of the contexts that have given rise to the OECD as a key global education policy actor. Following this brief historical overview, some of the key findings raised by the volume’s authors are examined in the context of wider literature on global education policy. Collectively, the chapters raise important questions about the role of nation-states in educational planning, the scope and spatiality of international assessments such as PISA and TALIS, and the complexity of evidence and expertise in global, national, and local educational policy-making. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the volume’s work for the wider field of comparative and international education.
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Proposes to treat social law contracts by covering the two most important aspects of the contract of employment, and also the collective agreement. Covers the contract of…
Abstract
Proposes to treat social law contracts by covering the two most important aspects of the contract of employment, and also the collective agreement. Covers the contract of employment in full with all the integral laws explained as required, including its characteristics, written particulars, sources or regulations, with regard to employers, are also covered. Lengthy coverage of the collective agreement is also included, showing legal as well as moral (!) requirements, also included are cases in law that are covered in depth.
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Mathew Johnson, Eva Herman and Ceri Hughes
The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter – a top-down soft regulation initiative that has been framed as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter – a top-down soft regulation initiative that has been framed as a “movement” to promote good employment across the local area.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on 24 semi-structured interviews with policy officers, trade unions, employers and civil society actors and various professional and employer bodies who have been involved in the charter since its inception. The interview data are complemented by documentary analysis.
Findings
The findings underline the importance of institutional factors such as political access points and the mobilising structures of the state in creating a space for progressive employment policies such as charters to emerge. We also find that the framing of the charter as a mechanism to achieve both social justice and improved productivity allows diverse actors to engage, but at the same time this results in a degree of ambiguity over the normative and substantive reference points for “good employment”.
Originality/value
The article contributes to our understanding of the changing nature of top-down political initiatives that seek to change business practices by engaging a wide range of stakeholders as Allies not adversaries. We argue that while charters are a potentially useful demand side intervention, in the absence of significant workplace or grassroots engagement and without coordinated mechanisms of monitoring and enforcement, their effects on low wage labour markets will be limited.
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Renato Vieira, Paulo Carreira, Pedro Domingues and Antonio Aguiar Costa
Despite the continuous development of Building Information Modeling (BIM) standards, not all of its dimensions are supported to the same extent. This is the case of Building…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the continuous development of Building Information Modeling (BIM) standards, not all of its dimensions are supported to the same extent. This is the case of Building Automation Systems (BAS) in which the features that are limited mostly to physical setup of devices are supported. These are largely insufficient to support modeling automation scenarios. The purpose of this article is to clarify the gap in the state of the art and define the need for further developments.
Design/methodology/approach
This article explores the existing gap in the literature and discusses the hypothesis of extending BIM to a wider support of BA concepts. Based on an assessment of scientific and technical literature, this study elicits the information requirements of BA and performs a gap analysis with current BIM standards, such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC).
Findings
Our findings lead us to conclude that there is a lack of completeness regarding features from BAS automation and management levels. Furthermore, it is shown that IFC is the most adequate data model to cover BAS without losing its purpose, but there is still a considerable work that needs to be addressed in future research.
Originality/value
BIM standards such as IFC position themselves as natural candidates for modeling and exchanging information regarding BA. However, the extent to which BIM supports automation features has never been rigorously analyzed. This article explores the existing gap in the literature and discusses the hypothesis of extending BIM to a wider support of BA concepts. Based on an assessment of scientific and technical literature, this study elicits the information requirements of BA and performs a gap analysis with current BIM standards such as IFC.
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Wieland Schwinger, Werner Retschitzegger, Andrea Schauerhuber, Gerti Kappel, Manuel Wimmer, Birgit Pröll, Cristina Cachero Castro, Sven Casteleyn, Olga De Troyer, Piero Fraternali, Irene Garrigos, Franca Garzotto, Athula Ginige, Geert‐Jan Houben, Nora Koch, Nathalie Moreno, Oscar Pastor, Paolo Paolini, Vicente Pelechano Ferragud, Gustavo Rossi, Daniel Schwabe, Massimo Tisi, Antonio Vallecillo, Kees van der Sluijs and Gefei Zhang
Ubiquitous web applications (UWA) are a new type of web applications which are accessed in various contexts, i.e. through different devices, by users with various interests, at…
Abstract
Purpose
Ubiquitous web applications (UWA) are a new type of web applications which are accessed in various contexts, i.e. through different devices, by users with various interests, at anytime from anyplace around the globe. For such full‐fledged, complex software systems, a methodologically sound engineering approach in terms of model‐driven engineering (MDE) is crucial. Several modeling approaches have already been proposed that capture the ubiquitous nature of web applications, each of them having different origins, pursuing different goals and providing a pantheon of concepts. This paper aims to give an in‐depth comparison of seven modeling approaches supporting the development of UWAs.
Design/methodology/approach
This methodology is conducted by applying a detailed set of evaluation criteria and by demonstrating its applicability on basis of an exemplary tourism web application. In particular, five commonly found ubiquitous scenarios are investigated, thus providing initial insight into the modeling concepts of each approach as well as to facilitate their comparability.
Findings
The results gained indicate that many modeling approaches lack a proper MDE foundation in terms of meta‐models and tool support. The proposed modeling mechanisms for ubiquity are often limited, since they neither cover all relevant context factors in an explicit, self‐contained, and extensible way, nor allow for a wide spectrum of extensible adaptation operations. The provided modeling concepts frequently do not allow dealing with all different parts of a web application in terms of its content, hypertext, and presentation levels as well as their structural and behavioral features. Finally, current modeling approaches do not reflect the crosscutting nature of ubiquity but rather intermingle context and adaptation issues with the core parts of a web application, thus hampering maintainability and extensibility.
Originality/value
Different from other surveys in the area of modeling web applications, this paper specifically considers modeling concepts for their ubiquitous nature, together with an investigation of available support for MDD in a comprehensive way, using a well‐defined as well as fine‐grained catalogue of more than 30 evaluation criteria.
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Bruno C. Matos, Carlos O. Cruz and Fernando A. Branco
This study aims to address gaps in the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) into procurement processes for construction works under the Portuguese Code of Public…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address gaps in the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) into procurement processes for construction works under the Portuguese Code of Public Contracts (CCP). The goal is to improve procurement procedures with practical recommendations benefiting both public and private sectors, and applicable in other countries, promoting efficient BIM use in construction projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved a literature review and expert interviews to identify opportunities within the CCP related to construction procurement that impact BIM implementation during construction works. It critically analyzed these insights and proposed specific adjustments to the CCP to enhance BIM application in public construction works.
Findings
The study provides practical recommendations to address two main gaps identified in the literature: the neglect of non-specific digitalization factors influencing BIM implementation, and the lack of consideration for specific constraints in public procurement, particularly those dictated by legal frameworks like the CCP. These recommendations aim to optimize traditional procurement provisions for public construction, thereby improving BIM utilization on-site.
Social implications
The study’s social implications include enhanced transparency and efficiency in construction processes, leading to reduced delays and costs for both stakeholders and the public. By optimizing BIM practices, public resources can be used more effectively in construction projects. The research may also accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies in the industry and improve urban development through better-planned and executed infrastructure projects. Additionally, the study’s recommendations could serve as a model for other countries, fostering the adoption of higher construction standards on a global scale.
Originality/value
The study’s original contribution lies in its comprehensive examination of public procurement procedures, particularly within the CCP context, to enhance the utilization of BIM during construction works. It uniquely identifies literature gaps and provides practical recommendations addressing non-specific digitalization factors and legal constraints in public procurement.
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