Bibliographic data provide well established means of the information resource description. Nowadays, there is obvious need to make this data more web-friendly and web-compatible, while web is mostly seen as the only place where people are seeking information. The proposed solution is to change the traditional bibliographic data representation format. Semantic Web initiative presents enhancement of the current web with machine processable data semantics (meaning). The main goal is to manage more effective information processing by web applications that brings up many benefits for web users. Linked data are seen as practical means to reach the semantic web vision. This initiative promotes best practices of publishing, connecting and sharing structural data on the web. This thesis reports the transformation of bibliographic records' format in case of Database of publishing activities at University of Economics, Prague (PCVSE). Benefits of linked data publishing model are demonstrated on the realized projects. The main part describes practical experiences gained during the implementation of RDF framework in phases of data modelling, interlinking and exposing the dataset. The linked data publishing model is seen there as an optimal web-compatible bibliographic data representation format.

With the increasing demand for online learning, well-designed computer online learning resources are indispensable. User interfaces evaluation has become a critical quality attribute of interactive software intended to meet the requirements of the user groups. It is this aspect of adaptations that make them critical for the study of evaluation of user interfaces. This study describes a preliminary evaluation of the user interface design of a new online learning resource (Open Learning System). The main objectives of the study are to investigate the effect of the interaction on the user (usability, efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction), to assess the extent of the system (resource) functionality and to identify specific problems in the design (aspects of design that cause unexpected results or confusion). This will form part of iterative design and testing process of the new interface, which seeks to evaluate the success of the interface within the framework of the fundamental HCI principles under guidelines of the constructivists learning approach. The Open Learning System (OLS) is grounded on the constructivist-based learning approach. The underlying philosophy of the system assumes when learners are engaged in a social learning context, they actively construct knowledge, therefore the resource is considered as a tool to support learning and not an end in itself. By so doing it is geared to provide greater access to information, support Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) using tools such as e-mail, chat and discussion foruI? and creating context for learners' work and peer review. A theoretical framework for evaluating the OLS was developed and proposed which comprised of the constructivist epistemology, Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL), the User Centred Design (UCD) approach and the Human Computer Interface (HCI) design principles. This integrated theoretical framework has been referred to as 'Designing-by-Constructivism' model. The study investigates the use of the OLS by two sets of users: staff members (module creators) and learners (module consumers). In view of the fact that the data collected is qualitative, the approach assumes the use of semi-structured questionnaires, evaluation matrix and interviews. The information/feedback gathered will assist the developers to do preliminary reviews. The study will also be useful to academics pursuing more HCI issues or those with an interest in developing learning resources. The main elements of the 'Designing-by-Constructivism' model were present in the resource. The results analysis indicates that the resource supports collaborative learning and the use of authentic activities in learning. This serves as an intrinsic motivation to most of the users. The results also show a high degree of user satisfaction and appreciation of OLS resource. Largely, the participants are satisfied that the overall OLS design met their needs. The major contribution being, "OLS is interactive and user friendly". However, some users have expressed the desire to have more tools incorporated into the resource, while others have expressed concern about difficulties in logging into the system. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

The objectives of this investigation were two-fold. The first was to determine the personal characteristics of Bibliographic Network Coordinators, both past and present; the second was to compare these identified characteristics with those of persons working in traditional library positions at comparable levels of responsibility.

The research journals and publications are great source of knowledge produced by the virtue of hard work done by researchers. Several digital libraries have been maintaining the records of such research publications in order for general people and other researchers to find and study the previous work done in the research field they are interested in. In order to make the search criteria effective and easier, all of these digital libraries keep a record/database to store the meta-data of the publications. These meta-data records are generally well design to keep the vital records of the publications/articles, which has the potential to give information about the researcher, their research activities, and hence the competence profile. This thesis work is a study and search of method for building the competence profile of researchers’ base on the records of their publications in the well-known digital libraries. The publications of researchers publish in different publication houses, so, in order to make a complete profile, the data from several of these heterogeneous digital libraries sources have to be integrated semantically. Several of the semantic technologies were studied in order to investigate the challenges of integration of the heterogeneous sources and modeling the researchers’ competence profile .An approach of on-demand profile creation was chosen where user of system could enter some basic name detail of the researcher whose profile is to be created. In this thesis work, Design Science Research methodology was used as the method for research work and to complement this research method with a working artifact, scrum- an agile software development methodology was used to develop a competence profile system as proof of concept.

De nombreux efforts ont été faits ces dernières années pour faciliter la gestion et la représentation des entités culturelles. Toutefois, il existe encore un grand nombre de systèmes souvent isolés et encore utilisés dans les institutions culturelles reposant sur des modèles non sémantiques qui rendent difficile la validation et l’enrichissement des données. Cette thèse a pour but de proposer de nouvelles solutions pour améliorer la représentation et l’enrichissement sémantique de données culturelles en utilisant les principes du Web Sémantique. Pour ce faire, la recherche est focalisée d’une part sur l’adoption de modèles plus sémantiques comme selon les principes de FRBR qui permet de représenter des familles bibliographiques complexes en utilisant un modèle entités associations avec différents niveaux d’abstraction. Toutefois, la qualité d’une telle transformation est cruciale et c’est pourquoi des améliorations doivent être faites au niveau de la configuration et de l’évaluation d’un tel processus. En parallèle, la thèse cherche à profiter de ces nouveaux modèles sémantiques pour faciliter l’interconnexion des données avec des sources externes comme celles du Linked Open Data ou des sources moins structurées (Sites Web, Flux). Cela doit permettre de générer des bases de connaissances thématiques plus en accord avec les besoins des utilisateurs. Cependant, l’agrégation d’informations depuis des sources hétérogènes implique des étapes d’alignement à la fois au niveau du schéma et au niveau des entités / Many efforts have been done these last two decades to facilitate the management and representation of cultural heritage data. However, many systems used in cultural institutions are still based on flat models and are generally isolated which prevents any reuse or validation of information. This Ph.D. aims at proposing new solutions for enhancing the representation and enrichment of cultural entities using the Semantic Web technologies. This work consists in two major steps to reach this objective. On the one hand, the research is focused on the metadata migration process to transform the schema of existing knowledge catalogs to new semantic models. This study is based on a real-world case study using the concepts from the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) which allows to generate graph-based knowledge bases. Yet, the quality of such a migration is the cornerstone for a successful adoption. Thus, several challenges related to the tuning and the evaluation of such a process must be faced. On the other hand, the research aims at taking advantage of these semantic models to facilitate the linkage of information with external and structured sources (e.g., Linked Open Data) and extracting additional information from other sources (e.g., microblogging) to build a new generation of thematic knowledge bases according to the user needs. However, in this case, the aggregation of information from heterogeneous sources requires additional steps to match and merge both correspondences at schema and instance level

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 55-57. / by Man-Kam Yip. / M.S.

No presente trabalho procura-se caracterizar biológica e ecologicamente o Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) no seu mais recente ambiente geográfico, isto é, nas Américas. São descritos aspectos relacionados com a chegada e dispersão da espécie no Continente Americano. Paralelamente, são discutidos aspectos relativos ao comportamento, biologia, bionomia, ecologia, hematofagia, interação com outras espécies do gênero Aedes, bem como a importância epidemiológica do Ae. albopictus. Esses aspectos foram descritos, por serem considerados importantes pela influência que exercem na competência vetora da espécie, bem como na sua adaptação ao ambiente antrópico. Ressaltando a importância epidemiológica deste vetor para a espécie humana, citam-se dados referentes à potencialidade do Ae. albopictus participar na transmissão de arboviroses. Assim, procura-se caracterizar a importância da possível participação do Ae. albopictus na veiculação do vírus dengue, febre amarela, bem como outros arbovírus que afetam o ser humano nas Américas. Paralelamente, discute-se a possibilidade do Ae. albopictus atuar como vetor da Dirofilaria immitis (Leidy) ao homem. / In the present work, biological and ecological features of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) are discussed based on literature records. The main focus of this study is the epidemiological importance of the presence of this species in Americas. Aspects relative to colonization and dispersion of Ae. albopictus in Americas are discussed. Dispersion, ethology, biology, ecology, haematophagy, bionomics as well as epidemiological importance, and relationships among Ae. albopictus and other members of the genus Aedes are discussed. These aspects are included because of their influence in the vector competence of Ae. albopictus, and also in its adaptation to the human environment. Because of the epidemiological importance of Ae. albopictus to humans, data relative to the potentiality of this species to participate in the transmission of arboviruses are discussed. In this sense, the importance of Ae. albopictus as vector of dengue, yellow fever, and other arboviruses that cause human diseases is described. Besides, it is discussed the potentiality of Ae. albopictus to act as a vector of Dirofilaria immitis (Leidy) to humans.

Orientador: Eduardo Ismael Murguia Marañon / Banca: Solange Ferraz de Lima / Banca: Mariângela Spotti Lopes Fujita / Resumo: A presente pesquisa aborda o documento fotográfico no âmbito de sua descrição em arquivos e bibliotecas. Tem o objetivo de fazer uma possível comparação entre as normas AACR2, utilizadas para a descrição bibliográfica nas bibliotecas e a norma ISAD (G) que, por sua vez, é o conjunto de regras para que seja obtida a descrição arquivística. Para tanto, parte-se do conceito de documento, passando por seu papel nos arquivos e bibliotecas e transitando pela história da fotografia. Inicialmente o objeto é contextualizado para se passar à apresentação das regras do AACR2 e da ISAD (G), até a catalogação eletrônica que é possível através da utilização do formato MARC 21. Desse modo, são descritos alguns dos elementos que o documento fotográfico traz em sua composição e em seu suporte, pois é através de suas diversas características físicas que se encontram parte das peculiaridades que instigam inúmeras discussões a seu respeito. Diante da referida base teórica, uma análise panorâmica das regras expostas durante o trabalho é feita a partir dos modos de representação de cada uma: para a biblioteconomia, sua ficha que materializa o ato da descrição e disponibiliza o item no acervo e, para a arquivologia, seus instrumentos de pesquisa que, da mesma forma, oferecem aos usuários um quadro não só do material como de todo o contexto de seu acervo. Por fim, chega-se a uma aproximação de pontos nas duas normas que merecem atenção e aprofundamento por parte de pesquisadores e de profissionais que lidam com o documento fotográfico. Sob a luz dos princípios arquivísticos e da teoria do tratamento biblioteconômico, reflete-se sobre a descrição de forma geral e nesta quando aplicada a um documento que carrega particularidades e é alvo de debates que repercutem na sua disponibilização para os usuários e em seu estudo de forma geral. / Abstract: This work boards the photographic document in the scope of its description in archives and libraries. The objective is to make possible the comparison between the AACR2 rules, utilized for bibliographic description in libraries and the ISAD (G) norm, which are the rules to obtain an archivist description. Departing from document concept, passing by his function in archives and libraries and passing by photography history. This is the object context in a first moment, leading to the presentation of AACR2 rules and ISAD (G), until the electronic cataloguing which is possible by the use of MARC 21 format. This way, some elements of photographic document bring in its composition and support is described, because through his various physical characteristics we found part of the particularities that instigate countless discussions about it. In front of the referred theoric basis, a panoramic analysis of the present rules is made following the representation ways for each one: for the librarianship, its cards materialize the description act and make available the item in the collection and, to archival science, its tools of research which, in the same way, offer to the users a view not only of the material but his context in the collection. At last, is reached an approach of points in the two norms worthily attention and a profound study by researchers and professionals working the photographic document. Under archivist's principles and librarian treatment theory, there is a consideration about description in general form and its application in a document with peculiarities and when the document is target of discussions that reflect in availability to the users an its studies generally. / Mestre

This study evaluates the content coverage of Google Scholar and three commercial databases (Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Bibliography of the History of Art and Art Full Text/Art Index Retrospective) on the subject of art history. Each database is tested using a bibliography method and evaluated based on Péter Jacsó’s scope criteria for online databases. Of the 472 articles tested, Google Scholar indexed the smallest number of citations (35%), outshone by the Arts & Humanities Citation Index which covered 73% of the test set. This content evaluation also examines specific aspects of coverage to find that in comparison to the other databases, Google Scholar provides consistent coverage over the time range tested (1975-2008) and considerable access to article abstracts (56%). Google Scholar failed, however, to fully index the most frequently cited art periodical in the test set, the Artforum International. Finally, Google Scholar’s total citation count is inflated by a significant percentage (23%) of articles which include duplicate, triplicate or multiple versions of the same record.