Benchmarking the RDF(S) interoperability of ontology tools

The number of ontology tools, such as ontology editors and repositories, is constantly rising. Ideally, one could use them all seamlessly and thus benefit from all the functionalities they offer. As shown in previous EON workshops, interoperability among different development tools is not straightforward since ontology editors rely on specific internal knowledge models which are translated into common formats such as RDF(S). This paper addresses the urgent need for interoperability by providing an exhaustive set of RDF(S) benchmarks and demonstrating in an extensive field study the state-of-the-art of interoperability among six ontology tools. From the field study we have compiled a comprehensive set of best practices which may serve as guidelines. Tool developers benefit from having guidelines to design their import and export functionalities and a concrete set of benchmarks against which they can evaluate their import and export functionalities. Ontology engineers benefit from our work by having an overview to which extend interoperability is ensured for combinations of specific tools

Presentation and Outcomes After Medical and Surgical Treatment Versus Medical Treatment Alone of Spontaneous Infectious Spondylodiscitis: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

Study Design: Systematic literature review. Objectives: The aims of this study were to (1) describe the clinical features, disabilities, and incidence of neurologic deficits of pyogenic spondylodiscitis prior to treatment and (2) compare the functional outcomes between patients who underwent medical treatment alone or in combination with surgery for pyogenic spondylodiscitis. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using PubMed according to PRISMA guidelines. No year restriction was put in place. Statistical analysis of pooled data, when documented in the original report (ie, number of patients with desired variable and number of patients evaluated), was conducted to determine the most common presenting symptoms, incidence of pre- and postoperative neurologic deficits, associated comorbidities, infectious pathogens, approach for surgery when performed, and duration of hospitalization. Outcomes data, including return to work status, resolution of back pain, and functional recovery were also pooled among all studies and surgery-specific studies alone. Meta-analysis of studies with subgroup analysis of pain-free outcome in surgical and medical patients was performed. Results: Fifty of 1286 studies were included, comprising 4173 patients undergoing either medical treatment alone or in combination with surgery. Back pain was the most common presenting symptom, reported in 91% of patients. Neurologic deficit was noted in 31% of patients. Conclusion: Medical management remains first-line treatment of infectious pyogenic spondylodiscitis. Surgery may be indicated for progressive pain, persistent infection on imaging, deformity or neurologic deficits. If surgery is required, reported literature shows potential for significant pain reduction, improved neurologic function and a high number of patients returning to a normal functional/work status

The victorious English language: hegemonic practices in the management academy

This study explores hegemonic linguistic processes, that is, the dominant and unreflective use of the English language in the production of textual knowledge accounts. The authors see the production of management knowledge as situated in central or peripheral locations, which they examine from an English language perspective. Their inquiry is based on an empirical study based on the perspectives of 33 management academics (not English language speakers) in (semi) peripheral locations, who have to generate and disseminate knowledge in and through the English language. Although the hegemony of the center in the knowledge production process has long been acknowledged, the specific contribution of this study is to explore how the English language operates as part of the “ideological complex” that produces and maintains this hegemony, as well as how this hegemony is manifested at the local level of publication practices in peripherally located business and management schools

'Heaven starts at your parents' feet' : adolescent bowing to parents and associated spiritual attitudes

In a quantitative survey of religious attitudes and practices in a multi-religious sample of 369 school pupils aged between 13 and 15 in London, the practice of bowing to parents was found widespread in 22% of adolescents spanning several religious affiliations and ethnicities – especially Buddhists, Hindus and those of Indian, African and ‘Other Asian’ ethnicity. Whether an adolescent bowed correlated significantly with spiritual attitudes such as wanting to abstain from alcohol, hearing religious stories, being inspired by religious festivals and liking the idea of seeing God in everything. Findings suggest bowing to parents can have religious significance on all three levels of Jackson’s Interpretive Approach and therefore cannot be regarded as a ‘cultural accretion’ of religion. Study of bowing to parents could form a unifying exercise in shared values for study of religion in the plural classroom and facilitate community cohesion in certain religious membership groups

Familiäre Kavernome des Zentralnervensystems: Eine klinische und genetische Studie an 15 deutsche Familien

Zusammenfassung: 1928 beschrieb Hugo Friedrich Kufs erstmalig eine Familie mit zerebralen, retinalen und kutanen Kavernomen. Mittlerweile wurden über 300 weitere Familien beschrieben. Ebenfalls wurden drei Genloci 7q21-q22 (mit dem Gen CCM1), 7p15-p13 (Gen CCM2) und 3q25.2-q27 (Gen CCM3) beschrieben, in denen Mutationen zu Kavernomen führen. Das Genprodukt von CCM1 ist das Protein Krit1 (Krev Interaction Trapped 1), das über verschiedene Mechanismen mit der Angiogenese interagiert. Das neu entdeckte CCM2-Gen enkodiert ein Protein, das möglicherweise eine dem Krit1 ähnliche Funktion in der Regulation der Angiogenese hat. Das CCM3-Gen wurde noch nicht beschrieben. In dieser Arbeit werden sowohl die klinischen und genetischen Befunde bei 15 deutschen Familien beschriebe

An ontological approach to creating an Andean Weaving Knowledge Base

Andean textiles are products of one of the richest, oldest and continuous weaving traditions in the world. Understanding the knowledge and practice of textile production as a form of cultural heritage is particularly relevant in the Andean context due to erosion of clothing traditions, reuse of traditional textiles on commodities targeted at the tourism market, and loss of knowledge embedded in textile production. ``Weaving Communities of Practice'' was a pilot project that aimed to create a knowledge base of Andean weaving designed to contribute to curatorial practice and heritage policy. The research team gathered data on the chain of activities, instruments, resources, peoples, places and knowledge involved in the production of textiles, relating to over 700 textile samples. A major part of the project has been the modelling and representation of the knowledge of domain experts and information about the textile objects themselves in the form of an OWL ontology, and the development of a suite of search facilities to be supported by the ontology. This paper describes the research challenges faced in developing the ontology and search facilities, the methodology adopted, the design and implementation of the system, and the design and outcomes of a user evaluation of the system undertaken with a group of domain experts

Science Models as Value-Added Services for Scholarly Information Systems

The paper introduces scholarly Information Retrieval (IR) as a further dimension that should be considered in the science modeling debate. The IR use case is seen as a validation model of the adequacy of science models in representing and predicting structure and dynamics in science. Particular conceptualizations of scholarly activity and structures in science are used as value-added search services to improve retrieval quality: a co-word model depicting the cognitive structure of a field (used for query expansion), the Bradford law of information concentration, and a model of co-authorship networks (both used for re-ranking search results). An evaluation of the retrieval quality when science model driven services are used turned out that the models proposed actually provide beneficial effects to retrieval quality. From an IR perspective, the models studied are therefore verified as expressive conceptualizations of central phenomena in science. Thus, it could be shown that the IR perspective can significantly contribute to a better understanding of scholarly structures and activities.Comment: 26 pages, to appear in Scientometric

Measuring the impact and costs of a universal group based parenting programme : protocol and implementation of a trial

Background Sub-optimal parenting is a common risk factor for a wide range of negative health, social and educational outcomes. Most parenting programmes have been developed in the USA in the context of delinquency prevention for targeted or indicated groups and the main theoretical underpinning for these programmes is behaviour management. The Family Links Nurturing Programme (FLNP) focuses on family relationships as well as behaviour management and is offered on a universal basis. As a result it may be better placed to improve health and educational outcomes. Developed in the UK voluntary sector, FLNP is popular with practitioners, has impressed policy makers throughout the UK, has been found to be effective in before/after and qualitative studies, but lacks a randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence base. Methods/Design A multi-centre, investigator blind, randomised controlled trial of the FLNP with a target sample of 288 south Wales families who have a child aged 2-4 yrs living in or near to Flying Start/Sure Start areas. Changes in parenting, parent child relations and parent and child wellbeing are assessed with validated measures immediately and at 6 months post intervention. Economic components include cost consequences and cost utility analyses based on parental ranking of states of quality of life. Attendance and completion rates and fidelity to the FLNP course delivery are assessed. A nested qualitative study will assess reasons for participation and non-participation and the perceived value of the programme to families. By the end of May 2010, 287 families have been recruited into the trial across four areas of south Wales. Recruitment has not met the planned timescales with barriers including professional anxiety about families entering the control arm of the trial, family concern about video and audio recording, programme facilitator concern about the recording of FLNP sessions for fidelity purposes and delays due to the new UK research governance procedures. Discussion Whilst there are strong theoretical arguments to support universal provision of parenting programmes, few universal programmes have been subjected to randomised controlled trials. In this paper we describe a RCT protocol with quantitative and qualitative outcome measures and an economic evaluation designed to provide clear evidence with regard to effectiveness and costs. We describe challenges implementing the protocol and how we are addressing these

The wrong side of the tracks: Starting school in a socially disadvantaged London borough

Substantial evidence exists that social circumstances can affect children’s language development. As a result many children in socially deprived areas start school with delayed language, which may persist and adversely affect their attainment. We assessed the language of children in seven reception classes in a London (UK) borough and followed the progress of children with English as their first language (E1L) and with English as an additional language (EAL) during their first 2 years at school. Significant differences were found between schools. The effect of social factors on performance was reflected in a high correlation between the mean language score for each school and the percentage of children in the school receiving the pupil premium. Many of the children with EAL had very low scores reflecting their limited exposure to English prior to starting school. Most of these children attended schools where children with E1L also had low scores increasing the demands on the schools and their teachers. Children who had low initial scores made modest but significant progress during their reception year but failed to improve further during year 1 despite having non-verbal ability appropriate for their age. These results support previous findings that social deprivation can seriously delay language development, and that many children start school with weak communication skills. They add to previous findings by showing that the level of delay may differ substantially across schools in the same borough, by reporting data on children with EAL and by showing that children struggle to improve their abilities in the first 2 years of school

Developing Ontologies withing Decentralized Settings

This chapter addresses two research questions: “How should a well-engineered methodology facilitate the development of ontologies within communities of practice?” and “What methodology should be used?” If ontologies are to be developed by communities then the ontology development life cycle should be better understood within this context. This chapter presents the Melting Point (MP), a proposed new methodology for developing ontologies within decentralised settings. It describes how MP was developed by taking best practices from other methodologies, provides details on recommended steps and recommended processes, and compares MP with alternatives. The methodology presented here is the product of direct first-hand experience and observation of biological communities of practice in which some of the authors have been involved. The Melting Point is a methodology engineered for decentralised communities of practice for which the designers of technology and the users may be the same group. As such, MP provides a potential foundation for the establishment of standard practices for ontology engineering