Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Drawing Card, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Although Drawing Card employs many of the standard conventions of a baseball novel, Mills' book also makes significant and surprising departures. Instead of telling the story of a player's experience in the game, the narrative derives primarily from the consequences of a dream denied. The novel also serves as a cultural history of Cleveland of the 1930s and 1940s with side trips to Sicily at various key points in the island's history.

Situation Analysis Of Somalia’S 2011 Famine, Ahmed Mohamed Askar

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

This CE examined the contributing factors of famine in Somalia and developed a situation analysis of Somalia’s 2011 famine. The situational analysis was developed using health and famine indicators. Data from geographic information system (GIS) was also used to supplement analysis to look for trends and patterns of the famine. I predicted that conflict was the leading factor in Somalia’s 2011 famine. I concluded that conflict exacerbated the famine situation in the south of Somalia but in the north (Somaliland) famine was due to climate and lack of permanent rivers and water sources.

Insights From Characterizing Extinct Human Gut Microbiomes, Raul Y. Tito, Dan Knights, Jessica Metcalf, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Lauren M. Cleeland, Fares Najar, Bruce Roe, Karl Reinhard, Kristin D. Sobolik, Samuel L. Belknap, Morris Foster, Paul Spicer, Rob Knight, Cecil M. Lewis Jr.

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Publications

In an effort to better understand the ancestral state of the human distal gut microbiome, we examine feces retrieved from archaeological contexts (coprolites). To accomplish this, we pyrosequenced the 16S rDNA V3 region from duplicate coprolite samples recovered from three archaeological sites, each representing a different depositional environment: Hinds Cave (~8000 years B.P.) in the southern United States, Caserones (1600 years B.P.) in northern Chile, and Rio Zape in northern Mexico (1400 years B.P.). Clustering algorithms grouped samples from the same site. Phyletic representation was more similar within sites than between them. A Bayesian approach to source-tracking was used to …

User Taglines: Alternative Presentations Of Expertise And Interest In Social Media, Hemant Purohit, Alex Dow, Omar Alonso, Lei Duan, Kevin Haas

Kno.e.sis Publications

Web applications are increasingly showing recommended users from social media along with some descriptions, an attempt to show relevancy - why they are being shown. For example, Twitter search for a topical keyword shows expert twitterers on the side for 'whom to follow'. Google+ and Facebook also recommend users to follow or add to friend circle. Popular Internet newspaper- The Huffington Post shows Twitter influencers/ experts on the side of an article for authoritative relevant tweets. The state of the art shows user profile bios as summary for Twitter experts, but it has issues with length constraint imposed by user …

Are Twitter Users Equal In Predicting Elections? A Study Of User Groups In Predicting 2012 U.S. Republican Primaries, Lu Chen, Wenbo Wang, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Existing studies on predicting election results are under the assumption that all the users should be treated equally. However, recent work [14] shows that social media users from different groups (e.g., “silent majority” vs. “vocal minority”) have significant differences in the generated content and tweeting behavior. The effect of these differences on predicting election results has not been exploited yet. In this paper, we study the spectrum of Twitter users who participate in the on-line discussion of 2012 U.S. Republican Presidential Primaries, and examine the predictive power of different user groups (e.g., highly engaged users vs. lowly engaged users, right-leaning …

The Ssn Ontology Of The W3c Semantic Sensor Network Incubator Group, Michael Compton, Payam Barnaghi, Luis Bermudez, Raul Garcia-Castro, Oscar Corcho, Simon Cox, John Graybeal, Manfred Hauswirth, Cory Andrew Henson, Arthur Herzog, Vincent Huang, Krzysztof Janowicz, W. David Kelsey, Danh Le Phuoc, Laurent Lefort, Myriam Leggieri, Holger Neuhaus, Andriy Nikolov, Kevin Page, Alexandre Passant, Amit P. Sheth, Kerry Taylor

Kno.e.sis Publications

The W3C Semantic Sensor Network Incubator group (the SSN-XG) produced an OWL 2 ontology to describe sensors and observations — the SSN ontology, available at http://purl.oclc.org/NET/ssnx/ssn. The SSN ontology can describe sensors in terms of capabilities, measurement processes, observations and deployments. This article describes the SSN ontology. It further gives an example and describes the use of the ontology in recent research projects.

Demonstration: Dynamic Sensor Registration And Semantic Processing For Ad-Hoc Mobile Environments (Semmob), Pramod Anantharam, Gary Alan Smith, Josh Pschorr, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

SemMOB enables dynamic registration of sensors via mobile devices, search, and near real-time inference over sensor observations in ad-hoc mobile environments (e.g., fire fighting). We demonstrate SemMOB in the context of an emergency response use case that requires automatic and dynamic registrations of sensor devices and annotation of sensor observations, decoding of latitude-longitude information in terms of human sensible names, fusion and abstraction of sensor values using background knowledge, and their visualization using mash-up.

Using Social Influence To Predict Subscriber Churn, Derek Doran, Veena Mendiratta, Chitra Phadke, Dan Kushnir, Huseyin Uzunalioglu

Kno.e.sis Publications

The saturation of mobile phone markets has resulted in rising costs for operators to obtain new customers. These operators thus focus their energies on identifying users that will churn so they can be targeted for retention campaigns. Typical churn prediction algorithms identify churners based on service usage metrics, network performance indicators, and demographic information. Social and peer-influence to churn, however, is usually not considered. In this paper, we describe a new churn prediction algorithm that incorporates the influence churners spread to their social peers. Using data from a major service provider, we show that social influence improves churn prediction and …

Understanding User Triads On Facebook, Derek Doran, Alberta De La Rosa Algarin, Swapna S. Gokhale

Kno.e.sis Publications

Contemporary approaches that analyze user behavior on online social networks only consider interactions among dyads, which are pairs of directly connected users. A large body of sociological work, however, suggests that mutual connections among users can influence their activities, leading to differences between two- and three-way interactions. This paper explores the dynamics of triads among Facebook users based on the wall posts from the New Orleans regional network. Initially, each connection is categorized as a close friendship or an acquiantance, contingent on the number of wall posts exchanged. Subsequently, the impact of different types of connections comprising triads is examined …

How I Would Like Semantic Web To Be, For My Children., Raghava Mutharaju

Kno.e.sis Publications

Semantic Web, since its inception, has gone through lot of developments in its relatively nascent existence; right from people's perception, to the standards and to its adoption by the industry and more importantly by the scientific community. This impressive growth only seems to increase. In this paper, we project this growth to the next 10 years and highlight some of the facets on which Semantic Web could have a major impact on. We also present the challenges that Semantic Web and its community has to deal with in order to get there.

An Efficient Bit Vector Approach To Semantics-Based Machine Perception In Resource-Constrained Devices, Cory Andrew Henson, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

The primary challenge of machine perception is to define efficient computational methods to derive high-level knowledge from low-level sensor observation data. Emerging solutions are using ontologies for expressive representation of concepts in the domain of sensing and perception, which enable advanced integration and interpretation of heterogeneous sensor data. The computational complexity of OWL, however, seriously limits its applicability and use within resource-constrained environments, such as mobile devices. To overcome this issue, we employ OWL to formally define the inference tasks needed for machine perception – explanation and discrimination – and then provide efficient algorithms for these tasks, using bit-vector encodings …

Iexplore: Interactive Browsing And Exploring Biomedical Knowledge, Vinh Nguyen, Olivier Bodenreider, Jagannathan Srinivasan, Todd Minning, Thomas Rindflesch, Bastien Rance, Ramakanth Kavuluru, Himi Yalamanchili, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Satya S. Sahoo, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present iExplore, a Semantic Web based application that helps biomedical researchers study and explore biomedical knowledge interactively. iExplore uses the Biomedical Knowledge Repository (BKR), which integrates knowledge from various sources ranging from information extracted from biomedical literature (from PubMed) to many structured vocabularies in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). The current version of BKR provides a unified provenance representation for 12 million semantic predications (triples with a predicate connecting a subject and an object) derived from 87 vocabulary families in the UMLS and 14 million predications extracted from 21 million PubMed abstracts. To engage the domain experts in …

Privacy Preserving Boosting In The Cloud With Secure Half-Space Queries, Shumin Guo, Keke Chen

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper presents a preliminary study on the PerturBoost approach that aims to provide efficient and secure classifier learning in the cloud with both data and model privacy preserved.

Preventing Sexual Harassment, Sexual Bullying, Sexual Abuse, Acquaintance Rape, And Date Rape Among Students At Middletown High School In Middletown, Ohio: A Teacher Resource Guide And A Student Awareness Pamphlet, Michelle Amrein

Master of Humanities Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Statistical Measures For Workload Capacity Analysis, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

A critical component of how we understand a mental process is given by measuring the effect of varying the workload. The capacity coefficient (Townsend and Nozawa, 1995 and Townsend and Wenger, 2004) is a measure on response times for quantifying changes in performance due to workload. Despite its precise mathematical foundation, until now rigorous statistical tests have been lacking. In this paper, we demonstrate statistical properties of the components of the capacity measure and propose a significance test for comparing the capacity coefficient to a baseline measure or two capacity coefficients to each other.

Computing Perception From Sensor Data, Payam Barnaghi, Frieder Ganz, Cory Andrew Henson, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper describes a framework for perception creation from sensor data. We propose using data abstraction techniques, in particular Symbolic Aggregate Approximation (SAX), to analyse and create patterns from sensor data. The created patterns are then linked to semantic descriptions that define thematic, spatial and temporal features, providing highly granular abstract representation of the raw sensor data. This helps to reduce the size of the data that needs to be communicated from the sensor nodes to the gateways or highlevel processing components. We then discuss a method that uses abstract patterns created by SAX method and occurrences of different observations …

Implementing Sierra, Leigh Ann Duncan

University Libraries' Staff Publications

Partnering with vendors for development and beta-testing of new software requires preparation, communication, and organization. These three libraries will explain their role as development partners moving to the Sierra integrated library system.

Recent Advances In Integrating Owl And Rules, Matthias Knorr, David Carral Martinez, Pascal Hitzler, Adila A. Krisnadhi, Frederick Maier, Cong Wang

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

As part of the quest for a unifying logic for the Semantic Web Technology Stack, a central issue is finding suitable ways of integrating description logics based on the Web Ontology Language (OWL) with rule-based approaches based on logic programming. Such integration is difficult since naive approaches typically result in the violation of one or more desirable design principles. For example, while both OWL 2 DL and RIF Core (a dialect of the Rule Interchange Format RIF) are decidable, their naive union is not, unless carefully chosen syntactic restrictions are applied.

We report on recent advances and ongoing work by …

A Tableau Algorithm For Description Logics With Nominal Schema, Adila Krisnadhi, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a tableau algorithm for the description logic ALCOV. This description logic is obtained by extending the description logic ALCO with the expressive nominal schema construct that enables DL-safe datalog with predicates of arbitrary arity to be covered within the description logic framework. The tableau algorithm provides a basis to implement a delayed grounding strategy which was not facilitated by earlier versions of decision procedures for satisfiability in expressive description logics with nominal schemas.

Patterns Of Metropolitan And Micropolitan Population Change: 2000 To 2010, Steven G. Wilson, David A. Plane, Paul J. Mackun, Thomas R. Fischetti, Justyna Goworowska, U.S. Census Bureau

Records of Dayton Together (MS-603)

Census Bureau report examining population change in the nation’s metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas between 2000 and 2010.

Bibliotheca Spices Up The Library Ebook Market, Sue Polanka

University Libraries' Staff Publications

Another ebook aggregator is about to enter the market, further whetting librarians' appetites and spicing up the market. This time, it is Bibliotheca, a global developer that supplies technologies designed to enhance library efficiency and the user experience (www.bibliotheca.com). More commonly known for its RFID and self-checkout systems, which it supplies to 3,000-plus libraries worldwide, Bibliotheca announced its intentions to support an open source ebook model in a press release on June 19, 2012, just before the American Library Association Annual Conference.

Reconciling Owl And Non-Monotonic Rules For The Semantic Web, Matthias Knorr, Pascal Hitzler, Frederick Maier

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

We propose a description logic extending SROIQ (the description logic underlying OWL 2 DL) and at the same time encompassing some of the most prominent monotonic and nonmonotonic rule languages, in particular Datalog extended with the answer set semantics. Our proposal could be considered a substantial contribution towards fulfilling the quest for a unifying logic for the Semantic Web. As a case in point, two non-monotonic extensions of description logics considered to be of distinct expressiveness until now are covered in our proposal. In contrast to earlier such proposals, our language has the 'look and feel' of a description logic …

Using Attribute Behavior Diversity To Build Accurate Decision Tree Committees For Microarray Data, Qian Han, Guozhu Dong

Kno.e.sis Publications

DNA microarrays (gene chips), frequently used in biological and medical studies, measure the expressions of thousands of genes per sample. Using microarray data to build accurate classifiers for diseases is an important task. This paper introduces an algorithm, called Committee of Decision Trees by Attribute Behavior Diversity (CABD), to build highly accurate ensembles of decision trees for such data. Since a committee's accuracy is greatly influenced by the diversity among its member classifiers, CABD uses two new ideas to "optimize" that diversity, namely (1) the concept of attribute behavior–based similarity between attributes, and (2) …

Efficiency Estimates And Rankings Employing Data Envelopment And Stochastic Frontier Analyses: Evaluating The Management Of U.S. Public Colleges, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper estimates and compares operating efficiencies of publicly owned associate degree granting colleges in the United States using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Comparisons are based on panel data for 698 colleges over four academic years, 2005-09. Included are both constant and variable returns to scale DEA estimates along with half and truncated normal inefficiency SFA estimates. The values 0.56 vs. 0.45 represent the largest mean DEA-SFA efficiency differential. DEA results indicate that 13% of colleges are fully (100%) efficient while SFA puts that percentage at only 1.7%. Comparisons of rankings based on efficiency performance …

Bayesian Analyses Of The Survivor Interaction Contrast, Joseph W. Houpt, Andrew Heathcote, Ami Eidels, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Twitris+: Social Media Analytics Platform For Effective Coordination, Gary Alan Smith, Amit P. Sheth, Ashutosh Sopan Jadhav, Hemant Purohit, Lu Chen, Michael Cooney, Pavan Kapanipathi, Pramod Anantharam, Pramod Koneru, Wenbo Wang

Kno.e.sis Publications

Twitris+ is a Semantic Social Media analytics platform to provide technologies for analyzing large-scale social media streams across Spatio-Temporal-Thematic (STT) and People-Content-Network (PCN) dimensions. It provides holistic situational awareness from one interface and enables organizational actors to engage in well-coordinated ways for desired tasks during emergency response.

Productivity Growth And Efficiency Changes In Publicly Managed U.S. Comprehensive Universities: Data Envelopment Analysis And Malmquist Decompositions, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper uses data envelopment analysis and Malmquist index decompositions in estimating productivity and efficiency changes of comprehensive degree granting, publicly owned U.S. universities. Panel data for 247 universities is employed for the academic years 2005-09. Results indicate that universities incurred productivity regress on the order of 4% per annum. The regress was due to declines in technological change that overpowered the efficiency gains achieved by universities. The latter derived from both university management and scale efficiency improvements. The dynamics of annual changes suggest that the financial crisis worsened productivity regress but created positive efficiency changes. It will, however, be …

Spillover Effects Of Crimes In Neighboring States Of Mexico, Mingming Pan, Benjamin Widner, Carl E. Enomoto

Economics Faculty Publications

The recent surge in crime and drug-related violence in Mexico has had a profound effect on the Mexican economy. Thousands of businesses have closed in Ciudad Juarez, a city that borders the U.S., due to the violence that has erupted between drug cartels. It has been estimated by Rios (2007) that $4.3 billion of losses occur yearly to Mexico, due to illegal drug activity in the country. Using a spatial model, this paper analyzes the determinants of crime in Mexican states. It was found that high levels of total crime and drug-related violence in neighboring states of Mexico have spillover …

Bayesian Approaches To Assessing Architecture And Stopping Rule, Joseph W. Houpt, Andrew Heathcote, Ami Eidels, J. T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

Much of scientific psychology and cognitive science can be viewed as a search to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of perception, thought and action. Two processing attributes of particular interest to psychologists are the architecture, or temporal relationships between sub-processes of the system, and the stopping rule, which dictates how many of the sub-processes must be completed for the system to finish. The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) is a powerful tool for assessing the architecture and stopping rule of a mental process model. Thus far, statistical analysis of the SIC has been limited to null-hypothesis- significance tests. In this talk …

Trailblazers: Moving The Library Upstream In The Digital Distribution Process, Sue Polanka

University Libraries' Staff Publications

On Dec. 20, 2010, Jamie LaRue, director of Douglas County Libraries (DCL), asked his associate director of Information technology, Monique Sendze, "Suppose a patron walked in and wanted to donate an ebook to our library. Could they?" Sendze responded, "No, I don't think so." "So, what do we have to do to be able to accept a book?" wondered LaRue. Sendze said she would find out.

It took 18 months and $100,000, but they found the answer together-locally hosting ebook content. LaRue, Sendze, and the DCL staff set out on a mission. A mission to own, not lease, electronic books. …