Showing papers on "Semantic Web published in 2005"

Ontologies are us: a unified model of social networks and semantics

Abstract: In our work we extend the traditional bipartite model of ontologies with the social dimension, leading to a tripartite model of actors, concepts and instances We demonstrate the application of this representation by showing how community-based semantics emerges from this model through a process of graph transformation We illustrate ontology emergence by two case studies, an analysis of a large scale folksonomy system and a novel method for the extraction of community-based ontologies from Web pages

Web Service Semantics - WSDL-S

Abstract: The current WSDL standard operates at the syntactic level and lacks the semantic expressivity needed to represent the requirements and capabilities of Web Services. Semantics can improve software reuse and discovery, significantly facilitate composition of Web services and enable integrating legacy applications as part of business process integration. The Web Service Semantics technical note defines a mechanism to associate semantic annotations with Web services that are described using Web Service Description Language (WSDL). It is conceptually based on, but a significant refinement in details of, the original WSDL-S proposal [WSDL-S] from the LSDIS laboratory at the University of Georgia. In this proposal, we assume that formal semantic models relevant to the services already exist. In our approach, these models are maintained outside of WSDL documents and are referenced from the WSDL document via WSDL extensibility elements. The type of semantic information that would be useful in describing a Web Service encompass the concepts defined by the semantic Web community in OWL-S [OWL-S] and other efforts [METEOR-S, WSMO]. The semantic information specified in this document includes definitions of the precondition, input, output and effects of Web service operations. This approach offers multiple advantages over OWL-S. First, users can describe, in an upwardly compatible way, both the semantics and operation level details in WSDLa language that the developer community is familiar with. Secondly, by externalizing the semantic domain models, we take an agnostic approach to ontology representation languages. This allows Web service developers to annotate their Web services with their choice of ontology language (such as UML or OWL) unlike in OWL-S. This is significant because the ability to reuse existing domain models expressed in modeling languages like UML can greatly alleviate the need to separately model semantics. Finally, it is relatively easy to update the existing tooling around WSDL specification to accommodate our incremental approach. Status This is a technical note provided for discussion purposes and to elicit feedback on approaches to adding semantics to Web services descriptions. Table of

Named graphs, provenance and trust

Abstract: The Semantic Web consists of many RDF graphs nameable by URIs. This paper extends the syntax and semantics of RDF to cover such Named Graphs. This enables RDF statements that describe graphs, which is beneficial in many Semantic Web application areas. As a case study, we explore the application area of Semantic Web publishing: Named Graphs allow publishers to communicate assertional intent, and to sign their graphs; information consumers can evaluate specific graphs using task-specific trust policies, and act on information from those Named Graphs that they accept. Graphs are trusted depending on: their content; information about the graph; and the task the user is performing. The extension of RDF to Named Graphs provides a formally defined framework to be a foundation for the Semantic Web trust layer.

The Semantic Web – ISWC 2005

Abstract: Invited Paper.- Using the Semantic Web for e-Science: Inspiration, Incubation, Irritation.- Semantic Acceleration Helping Realize the Semantic Web Vision or "The Practical Web".- Semantic Web Public Policy Challenges: Privacy, Provenance, Property and Personhood.- Research/Academic Track.- Constructing Complex Semantic Mappings Between XML Data and Ontologies.- Stable Model Theory for Extended RDF Ontologies.- Towards a Formal Verification of OWL-S Process Models.- Web Service Composition with Volatile Information.- A Large Scale Taxonomy Mapping Evaluation.- RDF Entailment as a Graph Homomorphism.- RitroveRAI: A Web Application for Semantic Indexing and Hyperlinking of Multimedia News.- Querying Ontologies: A Controlled English Interface for End-Users.- Semantic Browsing of Digital Collections.- Decentralized Case-Based Reasoning for the Semantic Web.- Finding and Ranking Knowledge on the Semantic Web.- Choreography in IRS-III - Coping with Heterogeneous Interaction Patterns in Web Services.- Bootstrapping Ontology Alignment Methods with APFEL.- A Strategy for Automated Meaning Negotiation in Distributed Information Retrieval.- On Applying the AGM Theory to DLs and OWL.- A General Diagnosis Method for Ontologies.- Graph-Based Inferences in a Semantic Web Server for the Cartography of Competencies in a Telecom Valley.- Ontology Design Patterns for Semantic Web Content.- Guidelines for Benchmarking the Performance of Ontology Management APIs.- Semantically Rich Recommendations in Social Networks for Sharing, Exchanging and Ranking Semantic Context.- On Partial Encryption of RDF-Graphs.- Seven Bottlenecks to Workflow Reuse and Repurposing.- On Logical Consequence for Collections of OWL Documents.- A Framework for Handling Inconsistency in Changing Ontologies.- Preferential Reasoning on a Web of Trust.- Resolution-Based Approximate Reasoning for OWL DL.- Reasoning with Multi-version Ontologies: A Temporal Logic Approach.- Piggy Bank: Experience the Semantic Web Inside Your Web Browser.- BRAHMS: A WorkBench RDF Store and High Performance Memory System for Semantic Association Discovery.- A Template-Based Markup Tool for Semantic Web Content.- Representing Web Service Policies in OWL-DL.- Information Modeling for End to End Composition of Semantic Web Services.- Searching Dynamic Communities with Personal Indexes.- RUL: A Declarative Update Language for RDF.- Ontologies Are Us: A Unified Model of Social Networks and Semantics.- OMEN: A Probabilistic Ontology Mapping Tool.- On the Properties of Metamodeling in OWL.- A Bayesian Network Approach to Ontology Mapping.- Ontology Change Detection Using a Version Log.- RelExt: A Tool for Relation Extraction from Text in Ontology Extension.- Containment and Minimization of RDF/S Query Patterns.- A String Metric for Ontology Alignment.- An Ontological Framework for Dynamic Coordination.- Introducing Autonomic Behaviour in Semantic Web Agents.- Combining RDF and Part of OWL with Rules: Semantics, Decidability, Complexity.- Benchmarking Database Representations of RDF/S Stores.- Towards Imaging Large-Scale Ontologies for Quick Understanding and Analysis.- Automatic Evaluation of Ontologies (AEON).- A Method to Combine Linguistic Ontology-Mapping Techniques.- Debugging OWL-DL Ontologies: A Heuristic Approach.- Rapid Benchmarking for Semantic Web Knowledge Base Systems.- Using Triples for Implementation: The Triple20 Ontology-Manipulation Tool.- A Little Semantic Web Goes a Long Way in Biology.- Provenance-Based Validation of E-Science Experiments.- Industrial Track.- Semantic Service Integration for Water Resource Management.- Towards a Killer App for the Semantic Web.- Enterprise Architecture Reference Modeling in OWL/RDF.- MediaCaddy - Semantic Web Based On-Demand Content Navigation System for Entertainment.- LKMS - A Legal Knowledge Management System Exploiting Semantic Web Technologies.- Definitions Management: A Semantics-Based Approach for Clinical Documentation in Healthcare Delivery.- Ubiquitous Service Finder Discovery of Services Semantically Derived from Metadata in Ubiquitous Computing.- Ontological Approach to Generating Personalized User Interfaces for Web Services.- On Identifying Knowledge Processing Requirements.- An Application of Semantic Web Technologies to Situation Awareness.- Task Knowledge Based Retrieval for Service Relevant to Mobile User's Activity.- Supporting Rule System Interoperability on the Semantic Web with SWRL.- Automated Business-to-Business Integration of a Logistics Supply Chain Using Semantic Web Services Technology.- A Semantic Search Engine for the International Relation Sector.- Gnowsis Adapter Framework: Treating Structured Data Sources as Virtual RDF Graphs.- Do Not Use This Gear with a Switching Lever! Automotive Industry Experience with Semantic Guides.- The Concept Object Web for Knowledge Management.- Semantic Web Challenge.- The Personal Publication Reader.- DynamicView: Distribution, Evolution and Visualization of Research Areas in Computer Science.- Oyster - Sharing and Re-using Ontologies in a Peer-to-Peer Community.- The FungalWeb Ontology: Semantic Web Challenges in Bioinformatics and Genomics.- CONFOTO: A Semantic Browsing and Annotation Service for Conference Photos.

Ontology design patterns for semantic web content

Abstract: The paper presents a framework for introducing design patterns that facilitate or improve the techniques used during ontology lifecycle. Some distinctions are drawn between kinds of ontology design patterns. Some content-oriented patterns are presented in order to illustrate their utility at different degrees of abstraction, and how they can be specialized or composed. The proposed framework and the initial set of patterns are designed in order to function as a pipeline connecting domain modelling, user requirements, and ontology-driven tasks/queries to be executed.

Description Logics as Ontology Languages for the Semantic Web

Abstract: The vision of a Semantic Web has recently drawn considerable attention, both from academia and industry. Description logics are often named as one of the tools that can support the Semantic Web and thus help to make this vision reality.

METEOR-S WSDI: A Scalable P2P Infrastructure of Registries for Semantic Publication and Discovery of Web Services

Abstract: Web services are the new paradigm for distributed computing. They have much to offer towards interoperability of applications and integration of large scale distributed systems. To make Web services accessible to users, service providers use Web service registries to publish them. Current infrastructure of registries requires replication of all Web service publications in all Universal Business Registries. Large growth in number of Web services as well as the growth in the number of registries would make this replication impractical. In addition, the current Web service discovery mechanism is inefficient, as it does not support discovery based on the capabilities of the services, leading to a lot of irrelevant matches. Semantic discovery or matching of services is a promising approach to address this challenge. In this paper, we present a scalable, high performance environment for Web service publication and discovery among multiple registries. This work uses an ontology-based approach to organize registries into domains, enabling domain based classification of all Web services. Each of these registries supports semantic publication and discovery of Web services. We believe that the semantic approach suggested in this paper will significantly improve Web service publication and discovery involving a large number of registries. This paper describes the implementation and architecture of the METEOR-S Web Service Discovery Infrastructure, which leverages peer-to-peer computing as a scalable solution.

Gumo: the general user model ontology

Abstract: We introduce the general user model ontology Gumo for the uniform interpretation of distributed user models in intelligent semantic web enriched environments. We discuss design decisions, show the relation to the user model markup language UserML and present the integration of ubiquitous applications with the u2m.org user model service.

Propagation Models for Trust and Distrust in Social Networks

Abstract: Semantic Web endeavors have mainly focused on issues pertaining to knowledge representation and ontology design. However, besides understanding information metadata stated by subjects, knowing about their credibility becomes equally crucial. Hence, trust and trust metrics, conceived as computational means to evaluate trust relationships between individuals, come into play. Our major contribution to Semantic Web trust management through this work is twofold. First, we introduce a classification scheme for trust metrics along various axes and discuss advantages and drawbacks of existing approaches for Semantic Web scenarios. Hereby, we devise an advocacy for local group trust metrics, guiding us to the second part which presents Appleseed, our novel proposal for local group trust computation. Compelling in its simplicity, Appleseed borrows many ideas from spreading activation models in psychology and relates their concepts to trust evaluation in an intuitive fashion. Moreover, we provide extensions for the Appleseed nucleus that make our trust metric handle distrust statements.

Survey of semantic annotation platforms

Abstract: The realization of the Semantic Web requires the widespread availability of semantic annotations for existing and new documents on the Web. Semantic annotations are to tag ontology class instance data and map it into ontology classes. The fully automatic creation of semantic annotations is an unsolved problem. Instead, current systems focus on the semi-automatic creation of annotations. The Semantic Web also requires facilities for the storage of annotations and ontologies, user interfaces, access APIs, and other features to fully support annotation usage. This paper examines current Semantic Web annotation platforms that provide annotation and related services, and reviews their architecture, approaches and performance.

Social networks applied

Abstract: Social networks have interesting properties. They influence our lives enormously without us being aware of the implications they raise. The authors investigate the following areas concerning social networks: how to exploit our unprecedented wealth of data and how we can mine social networks for purposes such as marketing campaigns; social networks as a particular form of influence, i.e.., the way that people agree on terminology and this phenomenon's implications for the way we build ontologies and the Semantic Web; social networks as something we can discover from data; the use of social network information to offer a wealth of new applications such as better recommendations for restaurants, trustworthy email senders, or (maybe) blind dates; investigation of the richness and difficulty of harvesting FOAF (friend-of-a-friend) information; and by looking at how information processing is bound to social context, the resulting ways that network topology's definition determines its outcomes.

Semantic Web Service Composition Planning with OWLS-Xplan ∗

Abstract: We present an OWL-S service composition planner, called OWLS-Xplan, that allows for fast and flexible composition of OWL-S services in the semantic Web. OWLS-Xplan converts OWL-S 1.1 services to equivalent problem and domain descriptions thatare specified inthe planning domain description language PDDL 2.1, and invokes an efficient AI planner Xplan to generate a service composition plan sequence that satisfies a given goal. Xplan extends an action based FastForward-planner with a HTN planning and re-planning component.

Using ODP metadata to personalize search

Abstract: The Open Directory Project is clearly one of the largest collaborative efforts to manually annotate web pages. This effort involves over 65,000 editors and resulted in metadata specifying topic and importance for more than 4 million web pages. Still, given that this number is just about 0.05 percent of the Web pages indexed by Google, is this effort enough to make a difference? In this paper we discuss how these metadata can be exploited to achieve high quality personalized web search. First, we address this by introducing an additional criterion for web page ranking, namely the distance between a user profile defined using ODP topics and the sets of ODP topics covered by each URL returned in regular web search. We empirically show that this enhancement yields better results than current web search using Google. Then, in the second part of the paper, we investigate the boundaries of biasing PageRank on subtopics of the ODP in order to automatically extend these metadata to the whole web.

OntoQA: Metric-Based Ontology Quality Analysis

Abstract: As the Semantic Web gains importance for sharing knowledge on the Internet this has lead to the development and publishing of many ontologies in different domains. When trying to reuse existing ontologies into their applications, users are faced with the problem of determining if an ontology is suitable for their needs. In this paper, we introduce OntoQA, an approach that analyzes ontology schemas and their populations (i.e. knowledgebases) and describes them through a well defined set of metrics. These metrics can highlight key characteristics of an ontology schema as well as its population and enable users to make an informed decision quickly. We present an evaluation of several ontologies using these metrics to demonstrate their applicability.

QoS-Based service selection and ranking with trust and reputation management

Abstract: QoS-based service selection mechanisms will play an essential role in service-oriented architectures, as e-Business applications want to use services that most accurately meet their requirements. Standard approaches in this field typically are based on the prediction of services’ performance from the quality advertised by providers as well as from feedback of users on the actual levels of QoS delivered to them. The key issue in this setting is to detect and deal with false ratings by dishonest providers and users, which has only received limited attention so far. In this paper, we present a new QoS-based semantic web service selection and ranking solution with the application of a trust and reputation management method to address this problem. We will give a formal description of our approach and validate it with experiments which demonstrate that our solution yields high-quality results under various realistic cheating behaviors.

SemRank: ranking complex relationship search results on the semantic web

Abstract: While the idea that querying mechanisms for complex relationships (otherwise known as Semantic Associations) should be integral to Semantic Web search technologies has recently gained some ground, the issue of how search results will be ranked remains largely unaddressed Since it is expected that the number of relationships between entities in a knowledge base will be much larger than the number of entities themselves, the likelihood that Semantic Association searches would result in an overwhelming number of results for users is increased, therefore elevating the need for appropriate ranking schemes Furthermore, it is unlikely that ranking schemes for ranking entities (documents, resources, etc) may be applied to complex structures such as Semantic AssociationsIn this paper, we present an approach that ranks results based on how predictable a result might be for users It is based on a relevance model SemRank, which is a rich blend of semantic and information-theoretic techniques with heuristics that supports the novel idea of modulative searches, where users may vary their search modes to effect changes in the ordering of results depending on their need We also present the infrastructure used in the SSARK system to support the computation of SemRank values for resulting Semantic Associations and their ordering

Supporting rule system interoperability on the semantic web with SWRL

Abstract: Rule languages and rule systems are widely used in business applications including computer-aided training, diagnostic fact finding, compliance monitoring, and process control. However, there is little interoperability between current rule-based systems. Interoperation is one of the main goals of the Semantic Web, and developing a language for sharing rules is often seen as a key step in reaching this goal. The Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) is an important first step in defining such a rule language. This paper describes the development of a configurable interoperation environment for SWRL built in Protege-OWL, the most widely-used OWL development platform. This environment supports both a highly-interactive, full-featured editor for SWRL and a plugin mechanism for integrating third party rule engines. We have integrated the popular Jess rule engine into this environment, thus providing one of the first steps on the path to rule integration on the Web.

Towards semantically-interlinked online communities

Abstract: Online community sites have replaced the traditional means of keeping a community informed via libraries and publishing. At present, online communities are islands that are not interlinked. We describe different types of online communities and tools that are currently used to build and support such communities. Ontologies and Semantic Web technologies offer an upgrade path to providing more complex services. Fusing information and inferring links between the various applications and types of information provides relevant insights that make the available information on the Internet more valuable. We present the SIOC ontology which combines terms from vocabularies that already exist with new terms needed to describe the relationships between concepts in the realm of online community sites.

An ontology-based information retrieval model

Abstract: Semantic search has been one of the motivations of the Semantic Web since it was envisioned. We propose a model for the exploitation of ontology-based KBs to improve search over large document repositories. Our approach includes an ontology-based scheme for the semi-automatic annotation of documents, and a retrieval system. The retrieval model is based on an adaptation of the classic vector-space model, including an annotation weighting algorithm, and a ranking algorithm. Semantic search is combined with keyword-based search to achieve tolerance to KB incompleteness. Our proposal is illustrated with sample experiments showing improvements with respect to keyword-based search, and providing ground for further research and discussion.

Debugging OWL ontologies

Abstract: As an increasingly large number of OWL ontologies become available on the Semantic Web and the descriptions in the ontologies become more complicated, finding the cause of errors becomes an extremely hard task even for experts. Existing ontology development environments provide some limited support, in conjunction with a reasoner, for detecting and diagnosing errors in OWL ontologies. Typically these are restricted to the mere detection of, for example, unsatisfiable concepts. We have integrated a number of simple debugging cues generated from our description logic reasoner, Pellet, in our hypertextual ontology development environment, Swoop. These cues, in conjunction with extensive undo/redo and Annotea based collaboration support in Swoop, significantly improve the OWL debugging experience, and point the way to more general improvements in the presentation of an ontology to new users.

Automatic composition of transition-based semantic web services with messaging

Abstract: In this paper we present Colombo, a framework in which web services are characterized in terms of (i) the atomic processes (i.e., operations) they can perform; (ii) their impact on the "real world" (modeled as a relational database); (iii) their transition-based behavior; and (iv) the messages they can send and receive (from/to other web services and "human" clients). As such, Colombo combines key elements from the standards and research literature on (semantic) web services. Using Colombo, we study the problem of automatic service composition (synthesis) and devise a sound, complete and terminating algorithm for building a composite service. Specifically, the paper develops (i) a technique for handling the data, which ranges over an infinite domain, in a finite, symbolic way, and (ii) a technique to automatically synthesize composite web services, based on Propositional Dynamic Logic.

Thresher: automating the unwrapping of semantic content from the World Wide Web

Abstract: We describe Thresher, a system that lets non-technical users teach their browsers how to extract semantic web content from HTML documents on the World Wide Web. Users specify examples of semantic content by highlighting them in a web browser and describing their meaning. We then use the tree edit distance between the DOM subtrees of these examples to create a general pattern, or wrapper, for the content, and allow the user to bind RDF classes and predicates to the nodes of these wrappers. By overlaying matches to these patterns on standard documents inside the Haystack semantic web browser, we enable a rich semantic interaction with existing web pages, "unwrapping" semantic data buried in the pages' HTML. By allowing end-users to create, modify, and utilize their own patterns, we hope to speed adoption and use of the Semantic Web and its applications.

The Semantic Grid: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract: Grid computing offers significant enhancements to our capabilities for computation, information processing, and collaboration, and has exciting ambitions in many fields of endeavor. We argue that the full richness of the Grid vision, with its application in e-Science, e-Research, or e-Business, requires the "Semantic Grid." The Semantic Grid is an extension of the current Grid in which information and services are given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. To this end, we outline the requirements of the Semantic Grid, discuss the state of the art in achieving them, and identify the key research challenges in realizing this vision.

A semantic Web services architecture

Abstract: The semantic Web services initiative architecture (SWSA) committee has created a set of architectural and protocol abstractions that serve as a foundation for semantic Web service technologies. This article summarizes the committee's findings, emphasizing its review of requirements gathered from several different environments. We also identify the scope and potential requirements for a semantic Web services architecture.

A uniform integration of higher-order reasoning and external evaluations in answer-set programming

Abstract: We introduce HEX programs, which are nonmonotonic logic programs admitting higher-order atoms as well as external atoms, and we extend the well-known answer-set semantics to this class of programs. Higher-order features are widely acknowledged as useful for performing meta-reasoning, among other tasks. Furthermore, the possibility to exchange knowledge with external sources in a fully declarative framework such as Answer-Set Programming (ASP) is nowadays important, in particular in view of applications in the Semantic Web area. Through external atoms, HEX programs can model some important extensions to ASP, and are a useful KR tool for expressing various applications. Finally, complexity and implementation issues for a preliminary prototype are discussed.

Geospatial semantics: why, of what, and how?

Abstract: Why are notions like semantics and ontologies suddenly getting so much attention, within and outside geospatial information communities? The main reason lies in the componentization of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into services, which are supposed to interoperate within and across these communities. Consequently, I look at geospatial semantics in the context of semantic interoperability. The paper clarifies the relevant notion of semantics and shows what parts of geospatial information need to receive semantic specifications in order to achieve interoperability. No attempt at a survey of approaches to provide semantics is made, but a framework for solving interoperability problems is proposed in the form of semantic reference systems. Particular emphasis is put on the need and possible ways to ground geospatial semantics in physical processes and measurements.