This work is focused on the analysis of contractual research in Czechia. The aim of the thesis is to clarify the role and nature of contractual research in the Czech regions. The theoretical framework is grounded in the theory of regional innovation systems and in the concept of knowledge bases. Particular attention is paid to the specific type of cooperation between the research institutions and firms. Through data analysis and network charts, regions are compared based on different characteristics. It turns out that the role and nature of contractual research across regions varies profoundly. Differences are found in the size and number of actors involved in contractual research. The embeddedness of companies in the transfer of knowledge, the openness of regional innovation systems and the field of specialisation are also studied. Using localization quotients, the intensity of representation of knowledge bases in the NUTS 3 regions is measured. Some regions are strongly oriented towards one of the bases, while in other regions the specialization is not pronounced. Finally, network analyses performed according to differentiated knowledge bases, identify the key actors in contractual research.

The aim of this thesis is to outline issues related to integration of Content Management Systems and Knowledge Bases based on semantic web technologies. The work begins with semantic technologies research and their use cases. The possibilities and proposals of integration of these technologies into CMS and collaborative wikis are discussed. As far as the most of open-source CMS are based on PHP platform tools written in PHP are insisted. CMS Joomla! and Ontopia Knowledge Suite integration is demonstrated in practical the part of the thesis. Possibility to communicate with different systems that allow HTTP requests is presented, too. Joomla! and OKS communication is through RESTful TMRAP protocol implemented in OKS. The query language used in this case is tolog. Communication with SPARQL endpoint or XML database is also demonstrated. Raw XML returned from Knowledge Base data source is transformed by XSLT into (X)HTML fragments. The transformations are user defined. Created demo application is included into SEWEBAR project. This application enables to incorporate results of semantically rich queries into analytical reports of data mining tasks within CMS Joomla! Interface.

In the context of the Semantic Web, ontologies based on Description Logics are gaining more and more importance for knowledge representation on a large scale. While the need arises for high quality ontologies with large background knowledge to enable powerful machine reasoning, the acquisition of such knowledge is only advancing slowly, because of the lack of appropriate tools. Concept learning algorithms have made a great leap forward and can help to speed up knowledge acquisition in the form of induced concept descriptions. This work investigated whether concept learning algorithms have reached a level on which they can produce results that can be used in an ontology engineering process. Two learning algorithms (YinYang and DL-Learner) are investigated in detail and tested with benchmarks. A method that enables concept learning on large knowledge bases on a SPARQL endpoint is presented and the quality of learned concepts is evaluated in a real use case. A proposal is made to increase the complexity of learned concept descriptions by circumventing the Open World Assumption of Description Logics.

The main goal of this work was to contribute to an understanding of the role of the knowledge bases in regional innovation systems and to identify whether the sizes of the different subsystems of regional innovation systems differ in relation to their economic and innovation maturity, and the structure of the knowledge bases is relevant. Work has also sought to identify factors limiting the more efficient interconnection of the two sub-systems of regional innovation systems and how these negative factors can be overcome. The analyses carried out have shown that economically and innovatively developed regions follow different trajectories in the composition of knowledge bases than less developed regions. More developed regions have more developed analytical knowledge base and less developer regions are more oriented on synthetic knowledge base. The analyses also revealed that regional innovation systems vary in size and internal structure of each subsystem. Advanced regions have a much more developed subsystem of knowledge exploitation, that is the demand side, while less developed and less innovative regions have more developed the supply side, that is, the knowledge generation subsystem. Trust, information exchange and shared strategic vision have proved to be among the key aspects that can...

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A Botânica é uma das áreas da Biologia e das Ciências e tem reconhecida importância no ensino, especialmente quando se pensa no Brasil, a nação com a maior diversidade de plantas do planeta. Porém, o país vive um cenário de urgências ambientais, que exigem medidas socioeducativas visando o desenvolvimento de atitudes e valores dos cidadãos que garantam maior respeito ao ambiente. Consequentemente, é possível depreender a relevância do tema Biodiversidade Vegetal na Educação, propiciando que os indivíduos adquiram conhecimentos que os tornem aptos a adotar comportamentos relacionados à conservação das espécies. Apesar desse contexto, o Ensino de Botânica tem enfrentado diferentes desafios. Dentre as possibilidades para minimizar tais dificuldades, a adequada formação docente tem sido apontada como uma das alternativas capazes de aprimorar a abordagem da temática. Pesquisas enfocando as Bases de Conhecimento (entendidas segundo os trabalhos de Shulman e colaboradores) podem ajudar nesse sentido, uma vez que reconhecem a existência de conhecimentos específicos da profissão docente e a necessidade de desenvovê-los adequadamente. Neste cenário, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo geral ampliar a compreensão sobre a formação de professores de Ciências, especialmente relacionada a um tema botânico (Biodiversidade Vegetal). Tendo em vista a crescente oferta de cursos à distância, julgamos pertinente abordá-los neste estudo. Diante disso, investigamos os conhecimentos base trabalhados em dois cursos de formação de professores de Ciências em EAD (Educação a Distância), oferecidos por universidades públicas do Estado de São Paulo. Como primeiro objetivo específico, buscamos identificar as bases de conhecimento abordadas nesses cursos de forma geral, e também empregando atenção especial nas disciplinas relacionadas à Botânica e também naquelas relacionadas à integração das tecnologias no ensino. Atividades presentes no Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA) foram utilizadas como dados de análise. Percebemos que ambos os cursos enfatizaram o desenvolvimento do Conhecimento de Conteúdo dos licenciandos, o que não consideramos um aspecto negativo. Entretanto, tendo em vista a importância dos diferentes conhecimentos base para o desenvolvimento docente (como o Conhecimento Pedagógico do Conteúdo, PCK; e o Conhecimento Tecnológico Pedagógico do Conteúdo, TPACK), em especial em Botânica e Biodiversidade Vegetal, acreditamos que uma abordagem mais equilibrada e integrada de tais conhecimentos em ambos os cursos investigados poderia promover uma formação mais adequada para o tema pesquisado. Como segundo objetivo específico, buscamos identificar as crenças das professoras-formadoras que elaboraram as aulas sobre Botânica/Biodiversidade Vegetal nos cursos investigados. Nosso intuito foi o de compreender as crenças destas sobre a formação de professores para essas temáticas em cursos à distância. Realizamos a análise das atividades presentes no AVA dos cursos (em especial as video aulas) e entrevistas. Identificamos que as aulas das formadoras foram coerentes com suas crenças sobre o processo de ensino-aprendizagem do tema investigado. Mais focada nos apectos conceituais, no caso das autoras envolvidas no Curso 1, e enfatizando o desenvolvimento do PCK, no caso da autora envolvida no Curso 2. Além disso, percebemos que o perfil das autoras, assim como a experiência acadêmica destas foram importantes para aquilo que consideraram necessário na formação de professores de Ciências à distância para os temas botânicos. Identificamos, ainda, algumas dificuldades e inquietações das formadoras com a modalidade EAD. O terceiro objetivo específico foi o de evidenciar as percepções dos licenciandos sobre o desenvolvimento de seus conhecimentos base ao longo de sua formação nos cursos, especialmente aqueles relacionados à Botânica e à Biodiversidade Vegetal. Elaboramos e aplicamos para cerca de 170 licenciandos um questionário com perguntas fechadas. Identificamos que a maioria dos estudantes tinham boas avaliações sobre o desenvolvimento de seus conhecimentos a partir dos respectivos cursos. Tal resultado não está sintonizado com a investigação que realizamos como primeiro objetivo específico, na qual verificamos que alguns conhecimentos base foram abordados de forma mais superficial. Buscamos identificar, como quarto objetivo específico, as bases de conhecimento mobilizadas por três licenciandos dos Cursos 1 e 2 ao planejarem sequências didáticas para o ensino da temática \"Biodiversidade Vegetal\" no Ensino Fundamental II. Por meio de diferentes instrumentos de coleta de dados (planos de aulas, questionários e entrevistas), identificamos que tais estudantes apresentaram bom desenvolvimento de alguns de seus conhecimentos base. Entretanto, também apresentaram lacunas nestes. Em nossa visão, essas últimas dificultaram a produção das sequências. Estas, por sua vez, apresentaram-se focadas em conteúdos mais conceituais e, muitas vezes, na transmissão de informações, sendo frequentes as aulas expositivas e o uso do livro didático como principal recurso didático. Assim, distanciaram-se em diversos aspectos dos indicadores esperados para sequências capazes de promover uma real mitigação da cegueira e analfabetismo botânicos. No entanto, ressaltamos que foram elaboradas por licenciandos, que ainda terão um longo percurso de aprimoramento de suas bases de conhecimento. Diante do que foi exposto, reforçamos a necessidade dos cursos de formação de professores de Ciências e, em especial, das disciplinas responsáveis pelos temas botânicos e pela integração das tecnologias no ensino, se atentarem para o desenvolvimento dos conhecimentos base de forma integrada e equilibrada, visando auxiliar os futuros educadores no aprimoramento de seus PCK e TPACK. Acreditamos que este foco pode permitir que tais licenciandos sejam capazes de ministrar os conteúdos da Botânica, em especial, Biodiversidade Vegetal, de forma mais próxima àquilo que se espera do processo de ensino-aprendizagem adequado dessa temática na Educação Básica, possivelmente, contribuindo para a mitigação dos desafios dessa área. Além disso, julgamos importante que os programas de formação docente na modalidade à distância se atentem para as especificidades desta, visando garantir uma formação mais próxima e adequada para o perfil do público participante. Incentivamos que os encontros presenciais aconteçam, garantindo que aulas práticas presenciais façam parte da formação do educador de Ciências. Por fim, e sem esgotarmos as possibilidades, por se tratarem de cursos à distância, é importante que tais programas de formação aproveitem as potencialidades dessa modalidade, principalmente daquelas, referentes ao desenvolvimento dos conhecimentos tecnológicos dos futuros professores, assim como invistam na formação dos próprios formadores de professores / Botany is one of the areas of Biology and Science, being important on education, especially in Brazil, which has the greatest variety of plants on the world. However, this country has a worrying scenario related to environmental urgencies, which require socioeducational measures aimed at developing citizens\' attitudes and values to promote better environmental respect. Consequently, the theme Plant Biodiversity is important because it could allow individuals to develop knowledge that enables them to adopt behaviors related to plants conservation. Despite this context, the Teaching of Botany has faced different challenges. Among the possibilities to minimize such difficulties, to improve teacher training has been considerate as one of the good alternatives. Research focusing on knowledge bases (according to Shulman and colleagues) may help to improve teacher training because the authors recognize the existence of specific knowledge on teaching profession, that teachers need to develop properly. This research aims to increase the understanding of Science teacher training, especially related to Botany and Plant Biodiversity. Due to the growing number of Distance Education (DE) courses, we decidet to investigate them in this study. Therefore, we investigate the knowledge bases that were developed in two DE courses for initial training of science teachers, offered by public universities in the State of São Paulo. The first specific aim was identifying the knowledge bases that were present in these courses in general, and also with special attention in disciplines related to Botany and to integration of technologies in education. Activities in the Online Learning Environments were used as analysis data. We verified that both courses emphasized the development of Content Knowledge of the pre-service teachers. We did not consider this result as a negative aspect. However, due the importance of the development of different knowledge bases in teacher training courses (such as the Pedagogical Content Knowledge, PCK; and the Technological Pedagogical Knowledge of Content, TPACK), especially in Botany and Plant Biodiversity, we believe that a more balanced and integrated approach of these knowledge in both investigated courses could promote a more appropriate teacher training about Vegetal Biodiversity. The second specific aim was identifying the beliefs of the teacher-trainers\' that elaborated Botany/Plant Biodiversity classes of the investigated courses. Our intention was to understand their beliefs about teacher training for these subjects in DE courses. We analyzed the activities present in the Online Learning Environments of the courses (particularly the video lessons) and interviews. We identified that lessons of these trainers were coherent with their beliefs about the teaching-learning process of the investigated subject. The Course 1 trainers focused on the conceptual aspects and Curse 2 trainer emphasized the development of the PCK. In addition, we detected that the profile of the authors, as well as their academic experience, were important factors that influenced what they considered necessary to teacher training about Botany in DE courses. We also identified some difficulties and concerns of these trainers about the DE modality. The third specific aim was recognizing the perceptions of the pre-service teachers about the development of their knowledge bases throughout their training in their courses, especially, the knowledge bases related to Botany and to Plant Biodiversity. We prepared and applied a questionnaire with closed questions to around 170 pre-service teachers. We identified that most of these students had good evaluations about the development of their knowledge bases from the respective courses. This result is not similar with the ones that we obtained to the first specific aim of the present research, in which we verified that some knowledge bases was approached superficially. The fourth specific aim was detecting the knowledge bases mobilized by three pre-service teachers, of Courses 1 and 2, when they elaborated a didactic sequence about Plant Biodiversity to Elementary School. Different data collection instruments (lesson plans, questionnaires and interviews) were used and we identified that these pre-service teachers presented some positive aspects about the development of their knowledge bases. However, they also presented gaps on them. In our view, theses gaps had difficulted the elaboration of the sequences. These sequences have been very focused on more conceptual contents and, often, in the transmission of information. Exposure lessons were also frequent for two pre-service teachers. Thus, these sequences were distanced in some ways from the expected indicator for sequences capable of promoting a real mitigation of botanical blindness and illiteracy. However, we highlight that they were elaborated by pre-service teachers, who will still have a long way to improve their knowledge bases. Based on our results, we emphasize that DE courses for initial training of Science teachers (and specially in the subjects about Botany and Integration of technologies in education) need to promote the development of knowledge bases in integrated and balanced ways, in order to help future educators in the development of their PCK and TPACK. We believe that this focus may allow pre-service teachers to be able to teach contents of Botany, especially Plant Biodiversity, approaching the appropriate teaching-learning process of this subject in Basic Education. It can, possibly, contribute to the mitigation of the challenges in this area. In addition, we believe that it is important that DE teacher training programs consider their specifics, aiming to certifying a closer and adequate training for the profile of their public. We encourage that face-to-face meetings, ensuring that the practical classes are part of the training of the Science educator, including about botanical subjects. Finally, and without exhausting the possibilities, we highlight that DE courses of teacher training programs need to use the potential resources this modality, especially those related to the development of the technological knowledge of future teacher, as well as investing in the training of teachers\' trainers

Knowledge bases are employed in a variety of applications, from natural language processing to semantic web search; alas, in practice, their usefulness is hurt by their incompleteness. To address this issue, several techniques aim at performing knowledge base completion, of which embedding models are efficient, attain state-of-the-art accuracy, and eliminate the need for feature engineering. However, embedding models predictions are notoriously hard to interpret. In this work, we propose model-agnostic methods that allow one to interpret embedding models by extracting weighted Horn rules from them. More specifically, we show how the so-called \"pedagogical techniques\", from the literature on neural networks, can be adapted to take into account the large-scale relational aspects of knowledge bases, and show experimentally their strengths and weaknesses. / Bases de conhecimento apresentam diversas aplicações, desde processamento de linguagem natural a pesquisa semântica da web; contudo, na prática, sua utilidade é prejudicada por não serem totalmente completas. Para solucionar esse problema, diversas técnicas focam em completar bases de conhecimento, das quais modelos de embedding são eficientes, atingem estado da arte em acurácia, e eliminam a necessidade de fazer-se engenharia de características dos dados de entrada. Entretanto, as predições dos modelos de embedding são notoriamente difíceis de serem interpretadas. Neste trabalho, propomos métodos agnósticos a modelo que permitem interpretar modelos de embedding através da extração de regras Horn ponderadas por pesos dos mesmos. Mais espeficicamente, mostramos como os chamados \"métodos pedagógicos\", da literatura de redes neurais, podem ser adaptados para lidar com os aspectos relacionais e de larga escala de bases de conhecimento, e mostramos experimentalmente seus pontos fortes e fracos.

Knowledge bases are employed in a variety of applications, from natural language processing to semantic web search; alas, in practice, their usefulness is hurt by their incompleteness. To address this issue, several techniques aim at performing knowledge base completion, of which embedding models are efficient, attain state-of-the-art accuracy, and eliminate the need for feature engineering. However, embedding models predictions are notoriously hard to interpret. In this work, we propose model-agnostic methods that allow one to interpret embedding models by extracting weighted Horn rules from them. More specifically, we show how the so-called \"pedagogical techniques\", from the literature on neural networks, can be adapted to take into account the large-scale relational aspects of knowledge bases, and show experimentally their strengths and weaknesses. / Bases de conhecimento apresentam diversas aplicações, desde processamento de linguagem natural a pesquisa semântica da web; contudo, na prática, sua utilidade é prejudicada por não serem totalmente completas. Para solucionar esse problema, diversas técnicas focam em completar bases de conhecimento, das quais modelos de embedding são eficientes, atingem estado da arte em acurácia, e eliminam a necessidade de fazer-se engenharia de características dos dados de entrada. Entretanto, as predições dos modelos de embedding são notoriamente difíceis de serem interpretadas. Neste trabalho, propomos métodos agnósticos a modelo que permitem interpretar modelos de embedding através da extração de regras Horn ponderadas por pesos dos mesmos. Mais espeficicamente, mostramos como os chamados \"métodos pedagógicos\", da literatura de redes neurais, podem ser adaptados para lidar com os aspectos relacionais e de larga escala de bases de conhecimento, e mostramos experimentalmente seus pontos fortes e fracos.

This thesis is placed in the context of the ongoing debate on the issue whether second language acquisition occurs on the basis of innate language-specific learning mechanisms or general learning mechanisms. The author shares the view of scholars who propose that an innate knowledge base underlying first language acquisition does not extend to second language acquisition due to the lack of uniform success in the acquisition of native speaker competence, the possibility of fossilisation and the facilitative potential of form-focused instruction. It is, thus, assumed that the sequential second language acquisition process can be accounted for by general learning mechanisms. The key to these learning mechanisms is, firstly, the investigation of the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures for speech production in the context of M. Pienemann’s (1998a) Processability Theory and, secondly, the investigation of the nature of its acquisition process. Pienemann’s Processability Theory explains and predicts the sequential acquisition process of a second language as the result of the hierarchically ordered development of the processing procedures of the grammatical processor to grammatically encode conceptual information. It shares with Levelt’s (1989) theory of speech production the assumptions concerning the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures, which require further investigations for verification. Since the Processability Theory does not specify how the assumed knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is acquired, an investigation of the nature of its acquisition process is necessary. This investigation highlights the interdependence between the nature of the knowledge to be acquired and the nature of its acquisition process by demonstrating that the knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is predominantly implicit and, consequently, determines the implicit nature of its acquisition process. Such implicit knowledge is dissociated from explicit knowledge, which determines the explicit nature of its acquisition process. This investigation also demonstrates that explicit grammar teaching and practice in the context of the manipulation of the learners’ attentional orientation mediated by alertness may contribute to the implicit learning process under certain conditions. In conjunction with the provision of guidance by the Processability Theory in regard to the achievement of instructional focus and the independent finding that comprehensible input is needed in order for second language acquisition to occur, these results constitute the basis for the formulation of detailed instructional measures for the effective organisation of the sequential second language acquisition process. These measures are exemplified by their implementation for the initial stages of the acquisition of German as a second language. / PhD Doctorate

This thesis addresses the issues of coherent distributed knowledge production and sharing in the Life-science area. In spite of the continuously increasing computing and storage capabilities of computing infrastructures, the management of massive scientific data through centralized approaches became inappropriate, for several reasons: (i) they do not guarantee the autonomy property of data providers, constrained, for either ethical or legal concerns, to keep the control over the data they host, (ii) they do not scale and adapt to the massive scientific data produced through e-Science platforms. In the context of the NeuroLOG and VIP Life-science collaborative platforms, we address on one hand, distribution and heterogeneity issues underlying, possibly sensitive, resource sharing ; and on the other hand, automated knowledge production through the usage of these e-Science platforms, to ease the exploitation of the massively produced scientific data. We rely on an ontological approach for knowledge modeling and propose, based on Semantic Web technologies, to (i) extend these platforms with efficient, static and dynamic, transparent federated semantic querying strategies, and (ii) to extend their data processing environment, from both provenance information captured at run-time and domain-specific inference rules, to automate the semantic annotation of ''in silico'' experiment results. The results of this thesis have been evaluated on the Grid'5000 distributed and controlled infrastructure. They contribute to addressing three of the main challenging issues faced in the area of computational science platforms through (i) a model for secured collaborations and a distributed access control strategy allowing for the setup of multi-centric studies while still considering competitive activities, (ii) semantic experiment summaries, meaningful from the end-user perspective, aimed at easing the navigation into massive scientific data resulting from large-scale experimental campaigns, and (iii) efficient distributed querying and reasoning strategies, relying on Semantic Web standards, aimed at sharing capitalized knowledge and providing connectivity towards the Web of Linked Data.