ERCIM News No. 113 Special theme "Smart Farming"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 113 has just been published at https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/

The Special Theme "Smart Farming" was coordinated by the guest editors:

Mirco Boschetti (IREA-CNR) and Erwin Schoitsch (AIT)


The research & society section of this issue features the topic "Research Evaluation", edited in cooperation with Informatics Europe by the guest editors Hélène Kirchner (Inria) and Fabrizio Sebastiani (ISTI-CNR).

The section "Research and Innovation" reports on news about research activities and innovative developments from European research institutes.

This issue is also available for download in pdf and ePUB.


Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Next issue:
No. 114  July 2018
 Special Theme: "Human-Robot Interaction" 

Peter Kunz            
ERCIM Office
https://www.ercim.eu

RDF in the Political Domain: c/o Narayana, S., Varma, G.P.S. & Govardhan, A. (2013)

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

"Consider the scenario where user wishes to find semantic associations between two persons in the domain of ‘Politics’. Then concepts such as ‘Politician’, ‘Political Organization’, ‘Government Organization’ and ‘Legislation’ are considered to be more relevant whereas the concepts such as ‘Financial Organization’ and ‘Terrorist Organization’ are considered to be less relevant. So, user is provided facilities to define his context by selecting his interested regions from the ontology, and based on this context the associations are ranked. As an example consider the RDF graph shown in Figure 2. It shows that, the user has selected three regions belonging to ‘Political Organization’, ‘Politician’, and ‘Legislation’" (p.97).

Figure 2 is copied below.

Reference and Acknowledgement:
Narayana, S., Varma, G.P.S. & Govardhan, A. (2013) An Improved Technique for Ranking Semantic Associations. International Journal of Web & Semantic Technology. 4, 93–106. doi:10.5121/ijwest.2013.4407

Part of RDF graph: DOI : 10.5121/ijwest.2013.4407

ERCIM News No. 96 Special theme: "Linked Open Data"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 96 has just been published at
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en96

Special Theme: "Linked Open Data"
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en96/special/
Guest editors: Irini Fundulaki (Institute of Computer Science, FORTH) and Sören Auer (University of Bonn and Fraunhofer IAIS)

Keynote: "Linked Data: The Quiet Revolution" by Wendy Hall

This issue for download
pdf: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN96/EN96-web.pdf
epub: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN96/EN96.epub

Next issue: No. 97, April 2014 - Special Theme: "Cyber-Physical Systems"
(see the call at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News.
Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Best regards,
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor

--------------------------------------------------
An initiative for the ERCIM members: Call for Participation - identifying the emerging grand challenges in ICST http://kwz.me/74

mEDucator 3.0 | Open Linked Education - Melina+ (Drupal)

Checking through links yesterday I came across the mEDucator initiative and Melina+ [no longer available] which is part and noticed it is built using Drupal.

There is a thread on Drupal.org on science applications:

https://groups.drupal.org/science-applications

I posted in 2009 about the Science Collaboration Framework - SCF (for creating biomedical resources).

The link to SCF no longer works; there is an archive of this and other work that was part of Harvard's Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC).

So it's important to consider these initiatives at least in terms of their longevity, their scale and number of participants, as examples of funded research and as Drupal projects.

Drupal Education Camp Oxford (School's out)

Well it is over and it was a great experience. So many thanks to the Drupal Oxford Group, Finn @finnlewis and the sponsors. The boxes are all ticked: the sessions, lunches, St Catherines' College surroundings and staff (excellent), and as ever the Drupal Community. Amongst many really good sessions ...

Yesterday, Johan Gant listed the pros and cons of Migrating data into Drupal using the migrate module, when you might care to use it and when not. When not to use it is a definite take home (a take care). There's a potential overlap here with semantizing content in Drupal 7 which Philipp Schaffner explored today. His presentation included not just the relevant modules, but Drupal's core RDF status out of the box and how to extend this. Philipp's English is very good; I wish I could present in another language as well as he did.

Many of the 'take homes' have not changed. They are glaringly obvious: build your site get on with it. That aside in the previous efforts to enter content from the old website into Drupal (4.7, 5.x, 6.x ...) the decisions about style, fonts, colours have been and remain an enjoyable task. In Bring that designer over to the Drupal side of the force Tom Bamford provided a description of styling and a listing of resources. Definitely something to follow and use.

Martin Bush introduced his work as a lecturer Use of Drupal at London South Bank University and the creation of QuizSlides. I have an eye on the existing Quiz module. The QuizSlides' approach utilises Powerpoint as the basis for the quiz. Prior to this Martin outlined his course on Internet Technologies across lectures, labs, MCT and individual assignments. Speaking to him afterwards I mentioned how I would love to take my stuff (re. h2cm) and formalise it in a structured way. How could you link Hodges' model into nursing, informatics, and educational curricula?

Another key session for me was How we built a Virtual Learning Environment with Drupal 7 with Lee Willis. This is way beyond my purposes in the sense of scale but not in terms of - intended - user experience. Lee made some vital points about Drupal's educational potential and the lessons he and his colleagues have gleaned from projects to date. There is still great variation in the user interface of Drupal and this is compounded with the number of contributed modules used. Drupal is powerful in providing related navigable content, but this should not mean forcing an order on the learner. In addition to the need to plan the interface, another point Lee made also draws me to Drupal and reflects a central ethos of some psychological therapies. We learn best through self-discovery. So in addition to structured and unstructured content, there is a case for leveraging Drupal to facilitate discovery. (I've just thought of another post...)

As well as education, the keynote yesterday by Prof. David Upton was informative and entertainingly delivered (a lesson in itself) stressing the complexity of corporate scale IT projects and the problems (disasters) that can and do ensue. I did wonder (and nearly asked) if Prof. Upton had any views on a particular project he didn't mention. Which reminds me: I must cast an eye on the new NHS information strategy.

Reflections [VI] Conceptual Spaces At Work: Adams & Raubal - CSML

The final day of the CS@W conference started with a topic I was really anticipating as per a previous blog post. Ben Adams and Martin Raubal had indicated by email that CSML was a work in progress and a chat after their session emphasized the same. The existence of CSML and looking at some code examples holds great promise.

Direction in Lund, Sweden May 2012 by Peter Jones

The motivation for their work stems from geographical information systems [GIS] and how to formalise conceptual spaces. Palmer (1978) was cited as providing one form of representation. Palmer's mental model being matched with formal conceptual spaces. As per Gardenfors' book Minkowski's vector space is central to this work and informs a previous paper by Raubal (2004).

Way-finding provided an example: how there are different domains with semantic distances and weights that can change according to context. The facades of buildings and the contexts of day and night. What features stand out in terms of the shape, colour, visibility, area of buildings?

Adams and Raubal moved to differentiating topological relations that emphasise dynamic concepts. Piaget's contribution was noted in how we perceive conceptual change and the work of Torsten Hägerstrand whose time geography was illustrated (the geographical aspect of their work).

Behind CSML is a conceptual space algebra that is still being developed. On conceptual spaces and the semantic web, Adams and Raubal observed through their slides that:

Description logics are limited in ability to represent semantic content (RDF, OWL).
They fail to easily express
    Semantic similarity which plays an important role in cognitive categorization.
    Complex concept combinations.
Present Semantic Web technologies are restricted in their ability to answer queries and make inferences.

My BA(Philosophy and Computing Joint Hons.) project was on the application of semantic networks in nursing. The hard work was done for me in that it was directed by existing work in GRAIL. The dissertation I produced was essentially descriptive looking at nursing examples, identifying care issues and modelling them using is_a relationships. Among a great many slides and fascinating explanations Adams and Raubal note that:

Is-A, Instance-Of
Strong – based on topological relationships
Weak – based on similarity relationships

- so the advent of conceptual spaces, CSML and their efforts to engage with the existing semantic web community shows the ongoing dynamic of the semantic web's development. They are pursuing a reification of OWL 2 CS file to OWL 2:

Unique IRI for OWL classes, individuals, properties
Unique IRI for CS domains, concepts, and instances

There may be a future website to follow in addition to the CSML source. Questions followed about whole spaces, contrast classes and support vectors.

Reflecting back, my studies from 1996-97 and the examples produced - mobility... did not really even scratch the surface. Ben and Martin's work begs the question of trying to develop CSML examples that go beyond the surface(s) and enter the conceptual space (or spaces) that is Hodges' model.

Adams, B., Raubal, M. (2009). Conceptual Space Markup Language (CSML): Towards the Cognitive Semantic Web. ICSC '09 Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC, USA.

Conceptual Space Markup Language (CSML): Towards the Cognitive Semantic Web

I'll start May hopefully in tune with plans towards the month's end and attending Conceptual Spaces at Work.

The SCIENCES domain page has included Markup Languages (ML) for a great many years.

In the early versions of the h2cm website there were just two 'resource' pages. When the ongoing four page format arrived then markup languages had a place.

Looking at the programme for next month's Conceptual Spaces at Work the first session listed includes this reference:

Adams, B., Raubal, M. (2009). Conceptual Space Markup Language (CSML): Towards the Cognitive Semantic Web. ICSC '09 Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC, USA.

Abstract—CSML is a semantic markup language created for the publishing and sharing of conceptual spaces, which are geometric structures that represent semantics at the conceptual level. CSML can be used to describe semantics that are not captured well by the ontology languages commonly used in the Semantic Web. Measurement of the semantic similarity of concepts as well as the combination of concepts without shared properties are common human cognitive tasks. However, these operations present sources of difficulty for tools reliant upon set-theoretic and syllogistic reasoning on symbolic ontologies. In contrast, these operations can be modeled naturally using conceptual spaces. This paper describes the design decisions behind CSML, introduces the key component elements of a CSML document, and presents examples of its usage.

This is an excellent source. CSML is a really significant development for me as Adams and Raubal highlight on the first page:

The computational foundation of the Semantic Web is the formal representation of concepts and their relationships using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) variants [5], [6]. These families of languages allow one to describe semantic relationships between concepts and ontologies, which can be queried using a first-order logic reasoner. An underlying assumption to these methods is the realist approach to semantics, which states that the meanings of concepts are in the real world. That is, there is a direct mapping between language terms and the world but there is no consideration of how individuals understand concepts differently. In contrast, cognitive semantics states that the meanings of terms are cognitive structures in people’s minds. This approach is of central importance for the Semantic Web, because web services interface with human users.

This isn't excellent or significant in the sense that the emergence of CSML demonstrates h2cm as a conceptual space.

Far from it.

Here and for h2cm CSML is obviously an essential tool to examine, understand and possibly extend. Anyone for PHP and XML (Drupal)? Reading the paper, it's clear that even thinking of applying CSML to Hodges' model demands answers to difficult and yet fascinating questions that involve nursing (theory, practice and values), informatics, philosophy and some maths too.

Image source:
http://www.lucs.lu.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/conceptual_spaces_wordl.png

Mental health follow-up II: Drupal ScienceCamp Cambridge 20-21st Jan 2012

After the birds of a feather (BoF) session in Cambridge last month I spent an hour chatting to Beatrice and Matthew Taylor who share my interest in mental health and Drupal.

Since that Sunday morning I've exchanged emails with them both and am sharing some points here raised by Matthew. ...

Matthew:
There are lots of things that I'd like to talk to you about. I've been browsing your pages on the Hodges' Model and I'm really impressed. You've done a huge amount of work.

PJ:
Thanks for that! A lot of the content in the website is quite dated and the HTML & styling reflects this, but positive feedback is always very welcome and I also greatly appreciate your bringing the repeated paragraph in the Michel Serres paper to my attention (corrected now).

Matthew:
It seems to me, on first reading, that you're looking at things from within an institutional setting and that I'm on the outside. However, I can see that there are ways in which the two perspectives could overlap and that the technology now exists that can facilitate the testing of the fit between different health models (and their creation in the first place).

PJ:
Yes, I'm looking at things from an institutional setting in terms of working within the NHS (with regular social care contact), being on the service side of the nurse education system, and working amid a mechanistic medical system that also seeks to be (psycho-)social in orientation. H2cm - Hodges' model however, helps to provide flexibility in the perspectives we can adopt.

In that respect I left the 'institution' in 1985 to work in the community. Your point Matthew is a very useful reminder about not taking things for granted and to what extent is 'community care' free of the institution? What has the institution (of old) become?

I suppose the other side to this is that you are not on the outside. Instead of pushed into the nooks and recesses of individual minds, we need positive mental health to be pushed into the open. The community, the commons, society. We need an infusion of insight to combat stigma and a misalignment - holistic asymmetry - in physical and mental health education and delivery.

Matthew:
As you probably gathered, the direction that I'm coming from is that of personally managed mental health care records. Here are some of the websites that I'm using as guides:

http://indivohealth.org/
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/

PJ:
These website are well worth knowing about - thanks very much. I'll explore them in more depth. Making enquiries (seeking guidance) on my research aims it was suggested to me just before Christmas (c/o Wolverhampton University) that my work seems to be more about ontology than a literature search. I've realised this for quite a while. Key attractions of Drupal include its RDF functionality and the examples provided by specific modules such as Neologism.

Matthew:
I'm currently building an ontology for mental health (from a virtual world perspective) using OBO edit http://oboedit.org . My objective is to embed the ontology in a Drupal website http://www.playsthething.org.uk/ that also exists to promote a conference on well-being.

PJ:
I'm clear that I'm not about to create a mental health record system, truly fascinating a project as that may be (especially in some sectors). There are proprietary and open source solutions out there. I'm also aware of problems with the uptake of Google's, the NHS's and Microsoft's respective attempts to engage with the self-maintained and managed e-record. Drupal's appeal for me also lies in e-learning and using Drupal educationally.

If you've a specific objective in mind Matthew then that immediately cuts through my concerns and that's excellent. I'm lost in my own bag of potential users and requirements. The thought of embedding a health ontology into Drupal is an exciting prospect. I wonder if there is a basic ontology that could fit with h2cm (as one or more conceptual spaces)?

Matthew:
I've been asked to guest edit a section of ArtsProfessional magazine, coming out in May, that will be focused on arts and well-being. I'm going to use it as the opportunity for launching the 'Moonshot for Mental Health' that I touched on at the Cambridge Drupal conference.

If you'd like to write something for the magazine/website on the theme of arts and well-being (and why we need a moonshot for mental health) then just let me know. I can let you know more if you'd like to follow this up.

PJ:
I really would like to contribute, so although I work full-time please do f/w more details.

Last summer in Warrington at Disability Awareness Day (DAD) (July 15 for 2012) I came across (the magazine) Reflections. Specific examples of art were also displayed at this event at Walton Park by 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and others. There is so much more that the arts can offer in mental health and the residential care / nursing home sector.

Matthew:
I'd be delighted if you were able to promote a Drupal/MH meeting. I'll start putting something together. Let me know if you have any ideas.

PJ:
I will and would be pleased to assist. There may be scope for a venue in the NW - I could make enquiries at least. There is always Munich and the European Drupalcon this summer!

Thanks for getting in touch Matthew. Lovely to share and talk shop with you and Beatrice also. I hope we can meet again.

Matthew Taylor

...

Follow-up: Drupal ScienceCamp Cambridge 20-21st Jan 2012

Stefan van Hooft @_iCompute kindly took these notes for the Mental Health session, 10.45am 22 January 2012 (mentioned previously on W2tQ). Stefan captured the topics that were quickly and briefly raised among the seven attendees (contact details provided but withheld here). I have added some [additional comments] and my response follows:

--- Twitter hash tags ---
Mental Health #mhuk #ukmh [global mental health hash?]

RDF
Solr
Sparkle [SparQL]

• accessibility within website
• openair Open source mental health [OpenEHR]
• mental health record
• care plans
Who has access to information?

•  Set up a system, you can give and revoke others access to your data
• "Flourishing" or "In treatment"

Use Drupal:
     - distribution
     - accessibility
     -
Is there a Group on drupal.org about mental health?

Security is crucial!
Pubsubhubbup [ http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/ ]
Spartacus report
Burn out
#Nhssm, NHS social media

<->

Dear Stefan and All,

STEFAN'S SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL

I am interested in the application you showed, it reminds me of the STAR - SPIDER format and approach. I think there's a tool like this in forensic mental health - and no doubt other areas?

http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2010/06/carers-support-evidence-measures-and.html

At some point Stefan it would be good to feature your image based tool when suitably complete on my blog; do you have a video at all?

HODGES MODEL

If anyone is interested in receiving more details on Hodges model please let me know. This model looks simple but it is really powerful in terms of scope and application.

...

FUTURE MEETING

Matthew mentioned the possibility of a small gathering combining mental health and Drupal. I'd be pleased to help with publicity - twitter, FB, Linkedin and the blog and have links with many other groups.

DRUPAL HEALTH GROUP

Here is the link to the health care Drupal group:

http://groups.drupal.org/healthcare

- note at the top the link to Drupal health care sites.

openEHR

Here is openEHR which I mentioned:

http://www.openehr.org

RDF and related

http://drupal.org/project/neologism

Lovely to meet everyone and really pleased to have the chance to share an hour (after the meeting) with Beatrice and Matthew. It is very good that mental health and disability came up at a Drupal meet. I hope to attend Drupalcon Munich so maybe there is scope for a BoF meeting in the summer?

<->

Shortly I'll post some additional observations by Matthew Taylor another participant. There I'll expand on my requirements and expectations of Drupal.

Drupalcon 2008 Szeged, Hungary

I'm writing this from the Attila József Study and Information Centre here in the beautiful city of Szeged, southern Hungary - the venue for Drupalcon. The main sessions ended yesterday and today it's the code and documentation sprint.

There are a lot of heads buzzing and fingers itching to put new found pearls of Drupal wisdom into practice. The sense of 'community' here is amazing and as many people have said it's been an awesome experience (and a totally +ve distraction) for me.

All the main and birds of a feather sessions I've attended have been excellent in getting me to the point were I must make my fingers drupy from coding. I really need to get to publish a Drupal site and get some feedback about what people want to see, hear and think about. The suggestion of a 'beta' site is a great idea put to me this week.

The Drupal community also has an eye on the semantic web and several sessions have focussed on this essential trend. There are some modules here that could really support the learning and other objectives for Hodges' model:

• hierarchical select
• taxonomy manager

In addition to a talk on hierarchical select, yesterday there was an equally cool presentation on The Neologism Project:

Neologism is a simple web-based RDF Schema vocabulary editor and publishing system. Use it to create RDF classes and properties, which are needed to publish data on the Semantic Web.

So many challenges, much to think about and most of all much to do.

Many, many thanks to Dan, James and Mikelis for your help and support this past week - and the NW England Drupal crew.

Well I have to say it:

Drupal and this community of people absolutely Rock!

Now to check some documentation and listen in to code sprint.
Image sources: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/University_of_Szeged