Semantic Quality Research Articles

Ontological Representation of Light Wave Camera Data to Support Vision-Based AmI

Recent advances in technologies for capturing video data have opened a vast amount of new application areas in visual sensor networks. Among them, the incorporation of light wave cameras on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environments provides more accurate tracking capabilities for activity recognition. Although the performance of tracking algorithms has quickly improved, symbolic models used to represent the resulting knowledge have not yet been adapted to smart environments. This lack of representation does not allow to take advantage of the semantic quality of the information provided by new sensors. This paper advocates for the introduction of a part-based representational level in cognitive-based systems in order to accurately represent the novel sensors' knowledge. The paper also reviews the theoretical and practical issues in part-whole relationships proposing a specific taxonomy for computer vision approaches. General part-based patterns for human body and transitive part-based representation and inference are incorporated to an ontology-based previous framework to enhance scene interpretation in the area of video-based AmI. The advantages and new features of the model are demonstrated in a Social Signal Processing (SSP) application for the elaboration of live market researches.

Web Service Selection Based on Ranking of QOS Using Associative Classification

With the explosive growth of the number of services published over the Internet, it is difficult to select satisfactory web services among the candidate web services which provide similar functionalities. Quality of Service (QoS) is considered as the most important non-functional criterion for service selection. But this criterion is no longer considered as the only criterion to rank web services, satisfying user's preferences. The similarity measure (outputs-inputs similarity) between concepts based on ontology in an interconnected network of semantic Web services involved in a composition can be used as a distinguishing criterion to estimate the semantic quality of selected services for the composite service. Coupling the semantic similarity as the functional aspect and quality of services allows us to further constrain and select services for the valid composite services. In this paper, we present an overall service selection and ranking framework which firstly classify candidate web services to different QoS levels respect to user's QoS requirements and preferences with an Associative Classification algorithm and then rank the most qualified candidate services based on their functional quality through semantic matching. The experimental results show that proposed framework can satisfy service requesters' non-functional requirements.

WEB SERVICE SELECTION BASED ON RANKING OF QOS USING ASSOCIATIVE CLASSIFICATION

With the explosive growth of the number of services published over the Internet, it is difficult to select satisfactory web services among the candidate web services which provide similar functionalities. Quality of Service (QoS) is considered as the most important non-functional criterion for service selection. But this criterion is no longer considered as the only criterion to rank web services, satisfying user’s preferences. The similarity measure (outputs–inputs similarity) between concepts based on ontology in an interconnected network of semantic Web services involved in a composition can be used as a distinguishing criterion to estimate the semantic quality of selected services for the composite service. Coupling the semantic similarity as the functional aspect and quality of services allows us to further constrain and select services for the valid composite services. In this paper, we present an overall service selection and ranking framework which firstly classify candidate web services to different QoS levels respect to user’s QoS requirements and preferences with an Associative Classification algorithm and then rank the most qualified candidate services based on their functional quality through semantic matching. The experimental results show that proposed framework can satisfy service requesters’ non-functional requirements.

Improving the quality of business process models through separation of generation tasks in collaborative modelling

We describe an experiment in which we test how the quality of collaboratively built IDEF0 and UML models is influenced by the collaboration process. Two collaborative modelling approaches were compared: a ‘free-form’ approach and an approach that singles out the concept elicitation phase by means of a specific ‘generation’ pattern. An error classification framework was used to compare the quality of the resulting models. We found that the semantic quality of UML models can be significantly improved by an explicitly separated generation task.

Multimedia access to mobile environments using indoor semantic maps

In this paper, we present a semantic map model in order to represent multimedia environments using mobile devices. Our approach makes it possible defining indoor maps and locating the objects of interest. This model is based on an Ontology, which defines both semantic qualities and graphic forms of the objects that exist in the multimedia environment (rooms, doors, cameras, ...). The semantic of the maps enables to query and to reason the map content automatically. For example, in this work, we solve the indoor routing adding a heuristic that exploits the topology of the interior spaces, which has been evaluated by obtaining a significant improvement in indoor spaces. In addition, the proposed Ontology includes the location and the remote services of the multimedia resources, such as ambient cameras and microphones. Thus, users can access in real time to multimedia resources through the maps displayed on mobile devices. The mobile applications have been developed, tested and measured both in light devices and hand-held computers.

Semantic structures of timbre emerging from social and acoustic descriptions of music

The perceptual attributes of timbre have inspired a considerable amount of multidisciplinary research, but because of the complexity of the phenomena, the approach has traditionally been confined to laboratory conditions, much to the detriment of its ecological validity. In this study, we present a purely bottom-up approach for mapping the concepts that emerge from sound qualities. A social media ( http://www.last.fm ) is used to obtain a wide sample of verbal descriptions of music (in the form of tags) that go beyond the commonly studied concept of genre, and from this the underlying semantic structure of this sample is extracted. The structure that is thereby obtained is then evaluated through a careful investigation of the acoustic features that characterize it. The results outline the degree to which such structures in music (connected to affects, instrumentation and performance characteristics) have particular timbral characteristics. Samples representing these semantic structures were then submitted to a similarity rating experiment to validate the findings. The outcome of this experiment strengthened the discovered links between the semantic structures and their perceived timbral qualities. The findings of both the computational and behavioural parts of the experiment imply that it is therefore possible to derive useful and meaningful structures from free verbal descriptions of music, that transcend musical genres, and that such descriptions can be linked to a set of acoustic features. This approach not only provides insights into the definition of timbre from an ecological perspective, but could also be implemented to develop applications in music information research that organize music collections according to both semantic and sound qualities.

A knowledge-based object modeling advisor for developing quality object models

Object models or class diagrams are widely used for capturing information system requirements in terms of classes with attributes and operations, and relationships among those classes. Although numerous guidelines are available for object modeling as part of requirements modeling, developing quality object models has always been considered a challenging task, especially for novice systems analysts in business environments. This paper presents an approach that can be used to support the development of quality object models. The approach is implemented as a knowledge-based system extension to an open source CASE tool to offer recommendations for improving the quality of object models. The knowledge component of this system incorporates an ontology of quality problems that is based on a conceptual model quality framework commonly found in object models, the findings of related empirical studies, and a set of analysis patterns. The results obtained from an empirical evaluation of the prototype demonstrate the utility of this system, especially with respect to recommendations related to the model completeness aspect of semantic quality.

Research Review

The quality of conceptual models directly affects the quality of the understanding of the application domain and the quality of the final software products that are ultimately based on them. This paper describes a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed conference and journal articles published from 1997 through 2009 on the quality of conceptual models written in UML, undertaken to understand the state-of-the-art, and then identify any gaps in current research. Six digital libraries were searched, and 266 papers dealing specifically with the quality of UML models were identified and classified into five dimensions: type of model quality, type of evidence, type of research result, type of diagram, and research goal. The results indicate that most research focuses on semantic quality, with relatively little on semantic completeness; as such, this research examines new modeling methods vs. quality frameworks and metrics, as well as quality assurance vs. understanding quality issues. The results also indicate that more empirical research is needed to develop a theoretical understanding of conceptual model quality. The classification scheme developed in this paper can serve as a guide for both researchers and practitioners.

Seeking Quality of Web Service Composition in a Semantic Dimension

Ranking and optimization of web service compositions represent challenging areas of research with significant implications for the realization of the “Web of Services” vision. “Semantic web services” use formal semantic descriptions of web service functionality and interface to enable automated reasoning over web service compositions. To judge the quality of the overall composition, for example, we can start by calculating the semantic similarities between outputs and inputs of connected constituent services, and aggregate these values into a measure of semantic quality for the composition. This paper takes a specific interest in combining semantic and nonfunctional criteria such as quality of service (QoS) to evaluate quality in web services composition. It proposes a novel and extensible model balancing the new dimension of semantic quality (as a functional quality metric) with a QoS metric, and using them together as ranking and optimization criteria. It also demonstrates the utility of Genetic Algorithms to allow optimization within the context of a large number of services foreseen by the “Web of Services” vision. We test the performance of the overall approach using a set of simulation experiments, and discuss its advantages and weaknesses.

Ant-inspired Framework for Automatic Web Service Composition

This paper presents a framework for automatic service composition which combines a composition graph model with an Ant Colony Optimization metaheuristic to find the optimal composition solution. The composition graph model encodes all the possible composition solutions that satisfy a user request. The graph will be further used as the search space for the ant-inspired selection method targeting the identification of the optimal composition solution. To identify the optimal composition solution we define a fitness function which uses the QoS attributes and the semantic quality as selection criteria. The proposed composition framework has been tested and evaluated on an extended version of the SAWSDL-TC benchmark.

Bio-inspired methods for selecting the optimal web service composition: Bees or cuckoos intelligence?

This paper analyses the impact of biological intelligence on the problem of selecting the optimal solution in Web service composition. Thus, we propose two selection methods, one inspired by the behaviour of bees searching for food and another one inspired by the behaviour of cuckoos searching for the nests where to lay eggs. The methods use a composition graph to search for the optimal solution. The quality of a composition is evaluated based on QoS and semantic quality. To comparatively analyse the proposed methods we implemented an experimental prototype and performed tests on a set of scenarios from trip planning.

Yakima Sahaptin Bipartite Verb Stems

This paper investigates the Yakima Sahaptin bipartite construction and identifies the syntactic and semantic qualities of the morphemes that combine in these constructions. Four types of bipartite constructions in the language are identified and described: (1) change of state (COS): lexical prefix and COS stem; (2) caused motion: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem; (3) motion/location of an entity: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem; (4) manner of motion: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem. Additionally, less readily categorized outliers of bipartite constructions are discussed, including verbs with the causative prefixes shapá- and chá- and the formation of bipartite and tripartite stems based on the roots wíi- ‘go, go with speed’ and wyá- ‘while going’.

Measurement of the Quality of an FCO-IM Conceptual Data Model

Data models provide the foundation to organization's activities since they support the organization's systems and data. Therefore, the quality of the data models is foremost. We describe a methodology to measure the quality of conceptual data models created using a fact oriented data modeling called Fully Communication Oriented Information Modeling (FCO-IM). The measurement method is based on the framework to measure the quality of conceptual model by Lindland et al. Four components are to be considered in the measurement: domain, model, language, and audience interpretation. The quality are measured on three aspects: syntactic quality (measured by syntax correctness), semantic quality (measured by feasible validity and feasible completeness), and pragmatic quality (measured by feasible comprehension). The method is then used to determine the quality of several FCO-IM conceptual data models that were created using a pattern language of conceptual data models, a new method in data modeling that we are currently researching. The method contributes in data modeling area by providing a quantitative and instructive way of measuring the quality of conceptual data models, especially in FCO-IM.

Quality evaluation of health information system's architectures developed using the HIS-DF methodology.

Requirement analysis, design, implementation, evaluation, use, and maintenance of semantically interoperable Health Information Systems (HIS) have to be based on eHealth standards. HIS-DF is a comprehensive approach for HIS architectural development based on standard information models and vocabulary. The empirical validity of HIS-DF has not been demonstrated so far. Through an empirical experiment, the paper demonstrates that using HIS-DF and HL7 information models, semantic quality of HIS architecture can be improved, compared to architectures developed using traditional RUP process. Semantic quality of the architecture has been measured in terms of model's completeness and validity metrics. The experimental results demonstrated an increased completeness of 14.38% and an increased validity of 16.63% when using the HIS-DF and HL7 information models in a sample HIS development project. Quality assurance of the system architecture in earlier stages of HIS development presumes an increased quality of final HIS systems, which supposes an indirect impact on patient care.

Prescribed spatial prepositions influence how we think about time

Prepositions combine with nouns flexibly when describing concrete locative relations (e.g. at/on/in the school) but are rigidly prescribed when paired with abstract concepts (e.g. at risk; on Wednesday; in trouble). In the former case they do linguistic work based on their discrete semantic qualities, and in the latter they appear to serve a primarily grammatical function. We used the abstract concept of time as a test case to see if specific grammatically prescribed prepositions retain semantic content. Using ambiguous questions designed to interrogate one’s meaningful representation of temporal relations, we found that the semantics of prescribed prepositions modulate how we think about time. Although prescribed preposition use is unlikely to be based on a core representational organization shared between space and time, results demonstrate that the semantics of particular locative prepositions do constrain how we think about paired temporal concepts.

Characteristics of Domain Ontologies for Web Based Learning and their Application for Quality Evaluation

Domain ontology as an instrument for knowledge representation, sharing, reuse and interoperability takes an increasingly important role in the approaches for personalised intelligent e-learning architectures and systems. However, wider practical acceptance of domain ontology as an engineering product and as a part of web-based learning systems is still needed. We believe that one of the barriers for wider spreading of domain ontologies in different fields, including e-learning, is the problem of the design and maintenance of high quality ontologies. As the importance of the quality of learning resources is obvious, the quality of domain ontology for e-leaming is even more important, because ontology is intended to be re-used in design and implementation of various learning resources. In this paper, we analyse the quality-related characteristics of domain ontology. We propose a framework for evaluation of the quality of domain ontology for web-based learning. Further, we propose a model for ontology evaluation, based on its technical and complexity-related characteristics. We identify main conceptual (semantic) quality characteristics, and analyse the relationship between both types of ontology quality characteristics. Also we present an application of proposed framework to the evaluation of ontologies for web based learning.

Relação entre traços de ansiedade e atenção através de Tarefas de Stroop

Segundo o modelo cognitivo, pessoas ansiosas alocam seus recursos atencionais a estímulos ameaçadores, mantendo-se em estado de hipervigilância e preocupação. Esta suposição foi testada através do desempenho dos participantes nas tarefas de Stroop. No primeiro estudo, 60 estudantes universitários, divididos em função do grau de ansiedade, realizaram as tarefas de Stroop clássico e de Stroop emocional. Os resultados mostram que o tempo para nomear cores de palavras ameaçadoras aumenta com a ansiedade. No segundo estudo, procurou-se determinar se substantivos concretos ou abstratos têm efeitos diferenciados sobre o desempenho na tarefa de Stroop. Os resultados mostram que o tempo de nomeação de cores de palavras concretas, ameaçadoras ou não, é maior do que de palavras abstratas. Os resultados confirmam a suposição acima, sobretudo para palavras ameaçadoras concretas e apontam para a importância da qualidade semântica dos estímulos na tarefa de Stroop.

Characterizing and Differentiating the Semantic Qualities of Auditory Tones for Products

Traditionally, sounds in user interfaces have served the practical purpose of providing feedback for control operations and informing users of various system states. The purpose of the present study was to explore properties of sounds that are not primarily functional in nature, but might be useful for characterizing and differentiating products based upon semantic qualities. Twenty nine short tonal sequences were created exhibiting a variety of musical properties. Each tonal sequence was evaluated by thirty five participants using a set of twenty three bipolar attribute rating scales intended to capture a range of semantic qualities. Results of a principal components factor analysis revealed four factors: elegance, sturdiness, complexity and activity. These results provide a conceptual framework for describing and differentiating among audio tones based upon their semantic qualities. Physical properties of sounds associated with each factor were also identified providing a design tool for creating new tones to fit a desired semantic profile.

How potential users of music search and retrieval systems describe the semantic quality of music

AbstractA large‐scale study was set up aiming at the clarification of the influence of demographic and musical background on the semantic description of music. Our model for rating high‐level music qualities distinguishes between affective/emotive, structural and kinaesthetic descriptors. The focus was on the understanding of the most important attributes of music in view of the development of efficient search and retrieval systems. We emphasized who the users of such systems are and how they describe their favorite music. Particular interest went to inter‐subjective similarities among listeners. The results from our study suggest that gender, age, musical expertise, active musicianship, broadness of taste and familiarity with the music have an influence on the semantic description of music.

Some Questions on the Original Version of Gluck and Angiolini's Don Juan

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. For detailed information, see Bruce A. Brown, Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991). 2. Christoph Willibald Gluck, Don Juan: Pantomimisches Ballett. ed. Robert Haas (Vienna, 1923). Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, 30th year, part 2, Vol. 60. Christoph Willibald Gluck: Don Juan/Semiramis: Ballets Pantomimes, ed. Richard Engländer (Kassel and Basel: Bärenreiter, 1966), Chr. W. Gluck, Sämtliche Werke, Vol. II, No. 1. 3. Staatsbibliothek Berlin (Mus. Ms. 7827). 4. These can be found in Brussels (Bibliothèque Royal), Munich (Baverische Staatsbibliothek), and Dresden (Sächsische Landesbibliothek). 5. More details about the sources will be found in the preface to the forthcoming edition of this version in the Gluck-Gesamtausgabe,Vol. II, No. 2. 6. Karl Graf Zinzendorf, Die Jugendtagebücher (1752–1763), ed. Maria Breunlich and Marieluise Mader (Vienna: Böhlau, 1997), pp. 239ff. 7. A set of instrumental parts for Galeotti's Don Juan is to be found in the Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen. 8. Theatralkalender, Vienna, 1772, p. 198. 9. Charles LePicq, Il Convitato di Pietro, as performed with Great applause at the King's Theatre, London, [1785]. 10. The description is to be found in Otto Bacher, Geschichte der Oper in Frankfurt im 18. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt, 1926), p. 40. 11. A detailed bibliography of all scenarios and playbills is given in the critical report of the forthcoming edition of Don Juan in the Gluck-Gesamtausgabe. 12. The sources are a score at the State Library in Regensburg, a set of instrumental parts in the University library of Münster, and the so-called Parisian scenario (or Pariser Szenar), in the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire, Paris, and the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. These stage directions have all been included in the musical text of the forthcoming new critical edition of Don Juan. 13. Klaus Hortschansky, Parodie und Entlehnung im Schaffen Christoph Willibald Glucks, in Analecta Musicologica, Vol. 13 (Cologne, 1973), p. 298.