Ontology has been developed to offer a commonly agreed understanding of a domain that is required for knowledge representation, knowledge exchange and reuse across domains. Therefore, ontology organizes information into taxonomies of terms (i.e., concepts, attributes) and shows the relationships between them. In fact, it is considered to be helpful in reducing conceptual confusion for users who need to share applications of different kinds, so it is widely used to capture and organize knowledge in a given domain. Although ontologies are considered to provide a solution to data heterogeneity, from another point of view, the available ontologies could themselves introduce heterogeneity problems. In order to deal with these problems, ontologies must be available for sharing or reusing; therefore, semantic heterogeneity and structural differences need to be resolved among ontologies. This can be done, in some cases, by aligning or matching heterogeneous ontologies. Thus, establishing the relationships between terms in the different ontologies is needed throughout ontology alignment. Semantic interoperability can be established in ontology reconciliation. The original problem is called the ―ontology alignment‖. The alignment of ontologies is concerned with the identification of the semantic relationships (subsumption, equivalence, etc.) that hold between the constituent entities (which can be classes, properties, etc.) of two ontologies. In this thesis, an ontology alignment technique has been developed in order to facilitate communication and build a bridge between ontologies. An efficient mechanism has been developed in order to align entities from ontologies in different description languages (e.g. OWL, RDF) or in the same language. This approach tries to use all the features of ontologies (concept, attributes, relations, structure, etc.) in order to obtain efficiency and high quality results. For this purpose, several matching techniques have been used such as string, structure, heuristic and linguistic matchingtechniques with thesaurus support, as well as human intervention in certain cases, to obtain high quality results. The main aim of the work is to introduce a method for finding semantic correspondences among heterogeneous ontologies, with the intention of supporting interoperability over given domains. The approach brings together techniques in modelling, string matching, computation linguistics, structure matching and heuristic matching, in order to provide a semi-automatic alignment framework and prototype alignment system to support the procedure of ontology alignment in order to improve semantic interoperability in heterogeneous systems. This technique integrates some important features in matching in order to achieve high quality results, which will help when searching and exchanging information between ontologies. Moreover, an ontology alignment system illustrates the solving of the key issues related to heterogeneous ontologies, which uses combination-matching strategies to execute the ontology-matching task. Therefore, it can be used to discover the matching between ontologies. This thesis also describes a prototype implementation of this approach in many real-world case studies extracted from various Web resources. Evaluating our system is done throughout the experiments provided by the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative. The system successfully achieved 93% accuracy for ontology matching. Finally, a comparison between our system and well-known tools is achieved so that our system can be evaluated.

Sensors are used to convert physical quantity into numerical data. Various types of sensors can be coupled together to make a single node. A distributed array of these nodes can be deployed to collect environmental data by using appropriate sensors. Application of low powered short range radio transceivers as a communication medium between spatially distributed sensor nodes is known as wireless sensor network. In this thesis I build such a network by using Arduino, Raspberry Pi and XBee. My goal was to accomplish a prototype system so that the collected data can be stored and managed both from local and remote locations. The system was targeted for both indoor and outdoor environment. As a part of the development a controlling application was developed to manage the sensor nodes, wireless transmission, to collect and store data using a database management service. Raspberry Pi was used as base station and webserver. Few web based application was developed for configuring the network, real time monitoring, and database management. Whole system functions as a single entity. The use of open source hardware and software made it possible to keep the cost of the system low. The successful development of the system can be considered as a prototype which needs to be expanded for large scale environmental monitoring applications.

<p> In this research, we focus on identifying false identities in social networks. We performed a detailed study on different string matching techniques to identify user profiles with real or fake identity. In this thesis, we focus on a specific case study on sex offenders. Sex offenders are not supposed to be online on social networking sites in few states. To identify the existence of offenders in social networks, we ran experiments to compare datasets downloaded from Facebook and offender registries. To identify the most suitable string matching technique to solve this particular problem, we performed experiments on various methods and utilized the most appropriate technique, the Jaro-Winkler algorithm. The major contribution of our research is a weight based scoring function that is capable of identifying user records with full or partial data revealed in social networks. Based on our data samples created using metadata information of Facebook, we were able to identify the sex offender profiles with real identity and seventy percent of the sex offenders with partial information.</p>

Cette thèse traite de l'usage de l'annotation socio-sémantique dans le cadre de la dé-mocratie électronique et plus particulièrement des débats en ligne. L'annotation socio-sémantique est utilisée ici comme solution de structuration des débats. La représentationdes données des débats est pensée pour faciliter la mise en place de méthodes d'extrac-tion et d'analyses du réseau social des utilisateurs, en particulier pour faciliter l'extractionde groupes d'opinions. La thèse est réalisée dans le contexte de l'ANR Intermed qui vise àproduire des outils d'aide à la concertation en ligne, en particulier pour la gestion de zonescôtiéres.En nous appuyant sur la tendance 2.0, nous définissons la notion de débat 2.0. Débat àgrande échelle, au moins l'échelle d'une collectivité territoriale, s'appuyant sur l'usage detechnologies du Web 2.0 pour faciliter les interactions entre les citoyens. Dans ce contexte,l'interopérabilité est un enjeu crucial. Si les annotations discursives s'inscrivent dans latendance 2.0 et permettent aux citoyens de discuter en ligne, le traitement des donnéesproduites en vue de structurer les débats, de synthétiser les discussions, de modérer, d'éva-luer la représentativité ... devient une tâche de plus en plus complexe avec l'augmentationde la quantité de données produites. Nous proposons d'utiliser les technologies du websémantique, et donc des annotations à la fois discursives et sémantiques (appelées anno-tations socio-sémantique), pour représenter les données produites par les citoyens dansun outil de débat 2.0 et pour faciliter l'interopérabilité de ces données, faciliter la créationd'autres services comme par exemple un service d'analyse du réseau social, un service derecommandation, un service de visualisation des débats ... Nous présentons donc un mé-canisme d'annotation structurant les discussions, fruit d'un processus incrémental d'im-plémentation et d'expérimentation sur le terrain. / This pdh deals with socio-semantic annotations for e-democracy and online debates. Socio-semantic annotation are used to structurate debates. Data representation was designed to facilitate social network analysis and community detection based on opinion mining. This phd was made during the ANR project Intermed wich has to develop e-participation tools for geolocalised planning.Based on Web 2.0 trend, we define debate 2.0 concept as great scale online debates. A debate 2.0 is a debate that involves at least an important part of the inhabitants of a county and that uses web 2.0 tools. Interoperability is a main challenge of debates 2.0. If discursive annotations are a web 2.0 way of interaction between citizen, to process data from citizen participation is a complicate and expensive task. We recommand to use web semantic technology and socio-semantic annotations to represent data produced by citizen. Il will increase interoperability and easiness to create new applications and features consuming this data. We propose an annotation mecanism to structurate discussions and we have developped a platform through an agile loop with on field experiment.

This research uses observation, interviews and content analysis to examine the perceived and actual risks arising from Internet use in eight educational establishments. The majority of staff interviewed expressed concern about online pornography and the dangers of web based chat rooms. Additionally staff were anxious about the risks posed by hate engendering sites, websites encouraging experimentation, copyright infringement and threats to network security. In considering these school Internet risk narratives I make a distinction between concern that the student is "at risk" and that they are "dangerous”, posing a threat to the institution. I point out that in the primary schools staff talked about students solely as being "at risk", whereas in secondary schools this concern was tempered with the view that students misusing the school Internet also posed a danger to the institution. In the post-16 college Internet risks were almost solely expressed in terms of the "dangerous student". While only a sparse student risk narrative existed, with a few students anxious about on-line pornography, chat-lines and security there was non-verbal evidence indicating that students were worried about being punished for misusing the Internet. In assessing the "student- at-risk", I argue that exposure to pornography via the school Internet was not likely to pose an actual risk, while undesirable others in chat rooms, hateful websites and sites encouraging experimentation all posed actual, though statistically remote, risks. Considering the Internet activities of the "dangerous student", I found little evidence to suggest that the issues of school image, staff authority and copyright should be a source of great concern, although I note that school network security was an actual risk which deserves more attention. Finally, I consider institutional attempts to control Internet use and alleviate some of these perceived and actual risks through the use of rhetoric, exclusion and surveillance.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in environmental management solutions, and they are being used with increasing frequency in environmental studies. The use of GIS technology in environmental studies provides a better way to manage, analyze, display and share the information. In this thesis, I automated a process for constructing GIS maps of odor complaints and inspections that have been used to study odor complaints in the vicinity of three landfills in Jefferson Parish. I provided an application that integrates daily environmental observation and monitoring data into a GIS and publishes the resulting maps through the Internet. The user's interaction with the web-based maps does not require any GIS expertise. A Webapplication was also implemented for managing the list of the constructed maps. The maps are deleted or updated through the manager application, a friendly interface application that does not require users to have any GIS technology knowledge.

The massive use of Internet-based connectivity of devices such as smartphones and sensors has led to the emergence of Internet of Things(IoT). Healthcare is one of the areas that IoT-based applications deployment is becoming more successful. However, the deployment of IoT in healthcare faces one major challenge, the selection of IoT devices by stakeholders (for example, patients, caregivers, health professionals and other government agencies) given an amount of available IoT devices based on a disease(for ex-ample, Asthma) or various healthcare scenarios (for example, disease management, prevention and rehabilitation). Since healthcare stakeholders currently do not have enough knowledge about IoT, the IoT devices selection process has to proceed in a way that it allows users to have more detailed information about IoT devices for example, Quality of Service (QoS) parameters, cost, availability(manufacturer), device placement and associated disease. To address this challenge, this thesis work proposes, develops and validates a novel Semantic sEnsor sElection system(iSEE) for healthcare. This thesis also develops iSEE system prototype and Smart Healthcare Ontology(SHO). A Java application is built to allow users for querying our developed SHO in an efficient way.The iSEE system is evaluated based on query response time and the result-set for the queries. Further, we evaluate SHO using Competency Questions(CQs). The conducted evaluations show that our iSEE system can be used efficiently to support stakeholders within the healthcare domain.

Today it is very often necessary to print different documents from company information systems. These documents, that are designed to represent the company, contain information that is usually stored in databases. The goal of this thesis is to show the methods for the automatic conversion of data into formatted documents. My aim is to show some methods, how to automatically generate printouts and how to create templates for them in an easy way. For the purpose of this thesis, I've developed a small web application, which stands for an information system of a logistics company. The application allows creating documents with the help of templates. All documents are generated in generally common formats.

[pt] O crescente interesse em ambientes de aprendizado na Web incentiva pesquisas e torna evidente a importância do desenvolvimento de tecnologias e padrões que permitam ambientes, instrutores e participantes a criar, encontrar, consumir, reusar e compartilhar conteúdos instrucionais, conhecidos como objetos de aprendizagem ou learning objects. Padrões para metadados, objetos de aprendizagem e arquiteturas para prover suporte a estas tecnologias em sistema de ensino na web (learning management systems - LMS) são a chave para o sucesso do e-Learning. Neste sentido, o conceito de objetos de aprendizagem possui fundamental importância e concentra grande parte das pesquisas realizadas nesta área. Em paralelo, a observação de que o aprendizado na web ocorre através do auxílio de ferramentas e serviços que fazem parte dos LMS gera a reflexão sobre a atual modelagem e entendimento destes serviços. Com isso, este trabalho defende a modificação do conceito de learning objects, estendendo o atual, incorporando serviços à sua abrangência, sendo estes modelados com base na tecnologia de serviços web (web services). No final, é apresentado um framework para facilitar a adaptação de Learning Management Systems a este novo conceito de learning objects e o estudo de caso no Ambiente AulaNet. / [en] The increasing interest in web-based learning environments stimulates researches and evidences the importance of developing technologies and standards that allow environments, instructors and participants to create, find, consume, reuse, and to share instructional contents, known as learning objects. Metadata standards, learning objects and architectures to support these technologies in Learning Management Systems (LMS) are the key for the success of e-learning. In this context, the learning object concept has essential importance and concentrates the majority of the researches accomplished in this field. At the same time, observing that the learning in the web happens through the aid of tools and learning services which are part of LMS, leads to the reflection about the current modeling and understanding of these services. This work defends the modification of the learning objects concept, extending the current one by incorporating services to its extent, being these modeled as Web Services. Finally, a framework is presented in order to facilitate the adapting of the Learning Management Systems to the new concept of learning objects, as well as a case study in the AulaNet Environment.

Nos últimos anos, tornou-se muito mais fácil para os usuários criarem e disseminarem seus dados na Web. Neste contexto, uma grande quantidade de dados dos usuários é criada e utilizada de forma distribuída entre várias aplicações web. Essa distribuição de dados criou novas necessidades para o usuário, que agora precisa gerenciar dados que estão hospedados em diferentes sites e compartilhar dados entre sites de forma protegida. Entretanto, os mecanismos existentes na Web hoje não conseguem atender a essas necessidades e o usuário se vê obrigado a utilizar mecanismos que consomem muito tempo, causam replicação de dados, não são suficientemente seguros ou fornecem apenas um controle limitado sobre os seus dados. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é propor uma arquitetura centrada no usuário para gerenciamento de dados na Web e compartilhamento desses dados com aplicações web. A proposta dessa arquitetura é baseada em uma especificação detalhada dos requisitos do sistema usando um método específico para o ambiente Web. Para assegurar que o sistema proposto é seguro, é realizada uma análise para identificação das vulnerabilidades e das ameaças do sistema e geração um plano de mitigação. A viabilidade técnica de implementação da arquitetura proposta é mostrada por meio da implementação de um protótipo como prova de conceito. Ao final, mostra-se por meio desse protótipo que o sistema cumpre os objetivos e requisitos propostos. / In recent years, it became much easier for users to create and disseminate their data on the Web. In this context, a large amount of user data is created and used in a distributed way across multiple web applications. This data distribution has created new needs for the user, who now needs to manage data that is hosted on different sites and to securely share data between sites. However, existing mechanisms on the Web cannot meet these needs and the user is forced to use mechanisms that are time consuming, cause data replication, are not sufficiently secure or provide limited control over their data. The objective of this thesis is to propose a user-centric architecture for data management in the Web and data sharing across web applications. The proposed architecture is based on a detailed system requirements specification, which uses an appropriate method for the Web environment. To ensure system security, a threat and vulnerability analysis is performed and a mitigation plan is generated. The technical feasibility of implementing the proposed architecture is shown through the implementation of a proof of concept prototype. Finally, this prototype helps to show that the system meets the proposed objectives and requirements.