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Article
Publication date: 11 January 2008

Martin Lehmann and Ole Fryd

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the development and the structure of a new international master on the subject of urban quality development and management…

1694

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the development and the structure of a new international master on the subject of urban quality development and management (UQDM), and explore the potential of the process and the outcome in serving as models adoptable by faculty at other universities.

Design/methodology/approach

The study has been carried out as action research. Using innovation and user‐producer interaction as the framework, the authors present the development process; the structure, contents and methodology of the programme; and report on their research findings.

Findings

UQDM is dependent on human resource development, institutionalised networks and confident exchange of knowledge, and must identify and incorporate multiple environmental, social, economic and cultural aspects. The authors find that at the core of innovative societies, an interlinkage exists between practice (business, civil society, governance) and theory (research, education). The case illustrates how a new curriculum takes time to develop and implement and how it relies on confidence and trust between partners, in this case cities and universities, before being able to plant the seed for a sustainable response to the needs of city administrations. University consortia may be particularly useful as providers of a broad framework and an enabling setting in which diffusion of innovation can occur.

Practical implications

The paper presents a successful approach to developing new curricula. Basing itself on user‐producer interaction within the framework of innovation and innovation theory, the programme addresses urban quality through a multi‐disciplinary and inter‐institutional collaboration between city administrations and universities. Per se, the approach is easily replicable but will require time, effort and dedication by all involved, both during development and in later execution.

Originality/value

The paper reports on a new, unique programme and further places the development of the curriculum and the curriculum itself explicitly in the context of user‐producer interaction and with innovation as the framework. While this framework is widely used both descriptively and prescriptively in product development, it has seemingly yet to be applied extensively for other types of developments, including university educations.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2009

Per Christensen, Mikkel Thrane, Tine Herreborg Jørgensen and Martin Lehmann

This article aims to discuss the contradiction between signing an agreement to work for sustainable universities and the lack of practical commitment in one case, namely at…

3661

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to discuss the contradiction between signing an agreement to work for sustainable universities and the lack of practical commitment in one case, namely at Aalborg University (AAU). Focus is placed both on the University's core processes such as education, research and outreach; on the necessary inputs and outputs related to transport, food and operation, and maintenance of buildings, and on the university's products counting published results of research and educated students and researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a desk study of official university documents from the period 1990 to 2007, and a number of student reports that have focused on the sustainability or environmental merits of the University.

Findings

Although adopting an environmental policy and signing the Copernicus Charter back in the early 1990s, AAU soon lost momentum. This was due to reasons defined as: the lack of commitment from top management, the missing acceptance from technical staff, and a narrow understanding of the university's environmental impacts. Obviously, a model of the environmental impacts should not only take into account the environmental impacts related to the impacts occurring in the present, e.g. related to the running and maintenance of buildings and laboratories, but also integrate considerations about the impacts in the processes (education, research and outreach). Thereby, the model shall provide the basis for more sustainable products, such as students considering aspects of sustainability in the solutions and approaches they apply in their future careers.

Research limitations/implications

This article forms the basis for future research identifying how universities can contribute to sustainable development in a more coherent way by implementing new policies and plans. The article takes its starting point in a general model of a university's environmental impacts involving key processes at the university, the related inputs and outputs (emissions), and the transformation of intermediate products such as high school students and existing research results into products such as graduate students, PhDs, and new research results.

Practical implications

The processes and the related inputs, outputs, intermediate products, and end‐products are analysed and discussed in order to illustrate the relevant environmental issues that need to be addressed by universities.

Originality/value

The paper identifies a number of key issues of sustainability that universities need to address and offers inspiration to staff and students on how to push these agendas at their home universities.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2012

Mohamed Morsey, Jens Lehmann, Sören Auer, Claus Stadler and Sebastian Hellmann

DBpedia extracts structured information from Wikipedia, interlinks it with other knowledge bases and freely publishes the results on the web using Linked Data and SPARQL. However…

2399

Abstract

Purpose

DBpedia extracts structured information from Wikipedia, interlinks it with other knowledge bases and freely publishes the results on the web using Linked Data and SPARQL. However, the DBpedia release process is heavyweight and releases are sometimes based on several months old data. DBpedia‐Live solves this problem by providing a live synchronization method based on the update stream of Wikipedia. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Wikipedia provides DBpedia with a continuous stream of updates, i.e. a stream of articles, which were recently updated. DBpedia‐Live processes that stream on the fly to obtain RDF data and stores the extracted data back to DBpedia. DBpedia‐Live publishes the newly added/deleted triples in files, in order to enable synchronization between the DBpedia endpoint and other DBpedia mirrors.

Findings

During the realization of DBpedia‐Live the authors learned that it is crucial to process Wikipedia updates in a priority queue. Recently‐updated Wikipedia articles should have the highest priority, over mapping‐changes and unmodified pages. An overall finding is that there are plenty of opportunities arising from the emerging Web of Data for librarians.

Practical implications

DBpedia had and has a great effect on the Web of Data and became a crystallization point for it. Many companies and researchers use DBpedia and its public services to improve their applications and research approaches. The DBpedia‐Live framework improves DBpedia further by timely synchronizing it with Wikipedia, which is relevant for many use cases requiring up‐to‐date information.

Originality/value

The new DBpedia‐Live framework adds new features to the old DBpedia‐Live framework, e.g. abstract extraction, ontology changes, and changesets publication.

Details

Program, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0033-0337

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 June 2017

Alexander Merz

The fundamental change in accounting rules for equity-based compensation (EBC) instituted by SFAS 123, SFAS 123r, and IFRS 2 has allowed for new insights related to a variety of…

Abstract

The fundamental change in accounting rules for equity-based compensation (EBC) instituted by SFAS 123, SFAS 123r, and IFRS 2 has allowed for new insights related to a variety of research questions. This paper discusses the empirical evidence generated in the wake of the new regulation and categorizes it into two broad streams. The first stream encompasses research on the changed use of EBC and the incentives provided. The second stream addresses how firms account for EBC, including the underreporting phenomenon and how it was affected by the mandatory recognition of EBC expenses. I discuss where research delivers unanimous findings versus contradictory results. Using these insights, I make recommendations for further research opportunities in the area of EBC.

Details

Journal of Accounting Literature, vol. 38 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-4607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 November 2016

Martin Eling and Werner Schnell

This paper aims to provide an overview of the main research topics in the emerging fields of cyber risk and cyber risk insurance. The paper also illustrates future research…

8268

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an overview of the main research topics in the emerging fields of cyber risk and cyber risk insurance. The paper also illustrates future research directions, from both academic and practical points of view.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conduct a literature review on cyber risk and cyber risk insurance using a standardized search and identification process that has been used in various academic articles. Based upon this selection process, a database of 209 papers is created. The main research results findings are extracted and organized in seven clusters.

Findings

The results illustrate the immense difficulties to insure cyber risk, especially due to a lack of data and modelling approaches, the risk of change and incalculable accumulation risks. The authors discuss various ways to overcome these insurability limitations, such as mandatory reporting requirements, pooling of data or public–private partnerships in which the government covers parts of the risk.

Originality/value

Despite its increasing relevance for businesses at present, research on cyber risk is limited. Many papers can be found in the IT domain, but relatively little research has been done in the business and economics literature. The authors illustrate where research stands currently and outline directions for future research.

Details

The Journal of Risk Finance, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1526-5943

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Alberto Nogales, Miguel Angel Sicilia-Urban and Elena García-Barriocanal

This paper reports on a quantitative study of data gathered from the Linked Open Vocabularies (LOV) catalogue, including the use of network analysis and metrics. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper reports on a quantitative study of data gathered from the Linked Open Vocabularies (LOV) catalogue, including the use of network analysis and metrics. The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into the structure of LOV and the use of vocabularies in the Web of Data. It is important to note that not all the vocabularies in it are registered in LOV. Given the de-centralised and collaborative nature of the use and adoption of these vocabularies, the results of the study can be used to identify emergent important vocabularies that are shaping the Web of Data.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is based on an analytical approach to a data set that captures a complete snapshot of the LOV catalogue dated April 2014. An initial analysis of the data is presented in order to obtain insights into the characteristics of the vocabularies found in LOV. This is followed by an analysis of the use of Vocabulary of a Friend properties that describe relations among vocabularies. Finally, the study is complemented with an analysis of the usage of the different vocabularies, and concludes by proposing a number of metrics.

Findings

The most relevant insight is that unsurprisingly the vocabularies with more presence are those used to model Semantic Web data, such as Resource Description Framework, RDF Schema and OWL, as well as broadly used standards as Simple Knowledge Organization System, DCTERMS and DCE. It was also discovered that the most used language is English and the vocabularies are not considered to be highly specialised in a field. Also, there is not a dominant scope of the vocabularies. Regarding the structural analysis, it is concluded that LOV is a heterogeneous network.

Originality/value

The paper provides an empirical analysis of the structure of LOV and the relations between its vocabularies, together with some metrics that may be of help to determine the important vocabularies from a practical perspective. The results are of interest for a better understanding of the evolution and dynamics of the Web of Data, and for applications that attempt to retrieve data in the Linked Data Cloud. These applications can benefit from the insights into the important vocabularies to be supported and the value added when mapping between and using the vocabularies.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2018

Leila Zemmouchi-Ghomari, Kaouther Mezaache and Mounia Oumessad

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate ontologies with respect to the linked data principles. This paper presents a concrete interpretation of the four linked data principles…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate ontologies with respect to the linked data principles. This paper presents a concrete interpretation of the four linked data principles applied to ontologies, along with an implementation that automatically detects violations of these principles and fixes them (semi-automatically). The implementation is applied to a number of state-of-the-art ontologies.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a precise and detailed interpretation of the linked data principles in the context of ontologies (to become as reusable as possible), the authors propose a set of algorithms to assess ontologies according to the four linked data principles along with means to implement them using a Java/Jena framework. All ontology elements are extracted and examined taking into account particular cases, such as blank nodes and literals. The authors also provide propositions to fix some of the detected anomalies.

Findings

The experimental results are consistent with the proven quality of popular ontologies of the linked data cloud because these ontologies obtained good scores from the linked data validator tool.

Originality/value

The proposed approach and its implementation takes into account the assessment of the four linked data principles and propose means to correct the detected anomalies in the assessed data sets, whereas most LD validator tools focus on the evaluation of principle 2 (URI dereferenceability) and principle 3 (RDF validation); additionally, they do not tackle the issue of fixing detected errors.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Oscar Peña, Unai Aguilera and Diego López-de-Ipiña

– The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach toward automatically visualizing Linked Open Data (LOD) through metadata analysis.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach toward automatically visualizing Linked Open Data (LOD) through metadata analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

By focussing on the data within a LOD dataset, the authors can infer its structure in a much better way than current approaches, generating more intuitive models to progress toward visual representations.

Findings

With no technical knowledge required, focussing on metadata properties from a semantically annotated dataset could lead to automatically generated charts that allow to understand the dataset in an exploratory manner. Through interactive visualizations, users can navigate LOD sources using a natural approach, in order to save time and resources when dealing with an unknown resource for the first time.

Research limitations/implications

This approach is suitable for available SPARQL endpoints and could be extended for resource description framework dumps loaded locally.

Originality/value

Most works dealing with LOD visualization are customized for a specific domain or dataset. This paper proposes a generic approach based on traditional data visualization and exploratory data analysis literature.

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1988

Paul Nieuwenhuysen

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…

Abstract

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2004

Isabel María Rosa‐Díaz

The accuracy of consumer price knowledge is dependent on numerous factors. This study examined the effect of some variables related to consumers' attitudes towards prices and some…

8353

Abstract

The accuracy of consumer price knowledge is dependent on numerous factors. This study examined the effect of some variables related to consumers' attitudes towards prices and some demographic variables on price knowledge. Results showed that consumers were more knowledgeable about the relationships between the prices of competitor brands than about the actual prices in themselves. When certain error margins were allowed, the differences between absolute and relative price knowledge were not as evident. In addition, the accuracy of consumer knowledge of prices was found to be dependent on how much importance they placed on price, and it influenced subjects' perceptions of themselves as shoppers. In this study, women and people with low income level were more knowledgeable about prices. The statistical effects and relationships between these variables were analyzed taking into account the economic, social, and cultural setting in which the research was conducted.

Details

Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1061-0421

Keywords

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