Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Janus: From Workflows To Semantic Provenance And Linked Open Data, Paolo Missier, Satya S. Sahoo, Jun Zhao, Carole Goble, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Data provenance graphs are form of metadata that can be used to establish a variety of properties of data products that undergo sequences of transformations, typically specified as workflows. Their usefulness for answering user provenance queries is limited, however, unless the graphs are enhanced with domain-specific annotations. In this paper we propose a model and architecture for semantic, domain-aware provenance, and demonstrate its usefulness in answering typical user queries. Furthermore, we discuss the additional benefits and the technical implications of publishing provenance graphs as a form of Linked Data. A prototype implementation of the model is available for data produced …

Provenance Management In Parasite Research, Vinh Nguyen, Priti Parikh, Satya S. Sahoo, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

The objective of this research is to create a semantic problem solving environment (PSE) for human parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. As a part of the PSE, we are trying to manage provenance of the experiment data as it is generated. It requires to capture the provenance which is often collected through web forms used by biologists to input the information about experiments they conduct. We have created Parasite Experiment Ontology (PEO) that represents provenance information used in the project. We have modified the back end which processes the data gathered from biologists, generates RDF triples and serializes them into the triple …

Global Warming: Myths & Realities, Dennis Jaynes

Social Sciences

The topic of Global Warming has been surrounded with controversy since it was first proposed. From evidence that has come from years of studies, a majority of the world’s governments and scientists are in agreement that the Earth’s global temperatures are warming. However, there are others who are skeptical of the science; they spread their message by trying to discredit the scientists or have even gone as far as to cover it up. The intent of this paper is to examine the myths and compare them side by side with the latest scientific data to determine what is real and …

Distance-Based Measures Of Inconsistency And Incoherency For Description Logics, Yue Ma, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Inconsistency and incoherency are two sorts of erroneous information in a DL ontology which have been widely discussed in ontology-based applications. For example, they have been used to detect modeling errors during ontology construction. To provide more informative metrics which can tell the differences between inconsistent ontologies and between incoherent terminologies, there has been some work on measuring inconsistency of an ontology and on measuring incoherency of a terminology. However, most of them merely focus either on measuring inconsistency or on measuring incoherency and no clear ideas of how to extend them to allow for the other. In this paper, …

Some Trust Issues In Social Networks And Sensor Networks, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Pramod Anantharam, Cory Andrew Henson, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Trust and reputation are becoming increasingly important in diverse areas such as search, e-commerce, social media, semantic sensor networks, etc. We review past work and explore future research issues relevant to trust in social/sensor networks and interactions. We advocate a balanced, iterative approach to trust that marries both theory and practice. On the theoretical side, we investigate models of trust to analyze and specify the nature of trust and trust computation. On the practical side, we propose to uncover aspects that provide a basis for trust formation and techniques to extract trust information from concrete social/sensor networks and interactions. We …

Scientific Restraint: The Balance Between Progress And Safety, Richard Bell

Senior Honors Projects

Mankind’s collective scientific and technological knowledge has progressed, and is progressing, at such a rate that humanity is now well within its means to bring about widespread devastation by its own devices. The high stakes of many projects in diverse fields of study, including those in nuclear, genetic, and biotechnical sciences, necessitates an analysis of how to decide if risky experiments are worth pursuing. This is not a matter, so much, of what safeguards we put into place in dangerous experimental environments, but rather how to weigh potential loss versus potential gain. Even in the best laboratories, disaster can strike, …

Linked Sensor Data, Harshal Kamlesh Patni, Cory Andrew Henson, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

A number of government, corporate, and academic organizations are collecting enormous amounts of data provided by environmental sensors. However, this data is too often locked within organizations and underutilized by the greater community. In this paper, we present a framework to make this sensor data openly accessible by publishing it on the Linked Open Data (LOD) Cloud. This is accomplished by converting raw sensor observations to RDF and linking with other datasets on LOD. With such a framework, organizations can make large amounts of sensor data openly accessible, thus allowing greater opportunity for utilization and analysis.

Trust In Social And Sensor Networks, Pramod Anantharam, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Cory Andrew Henson, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Trust can be defined as the perception of the trustor about the degree to which the trustee would satisfy an expectation about a transaction constituting risk. Trust plays a pivotal role when the risk in believing incorrect information is high. With Web 2.0 where user generated content and real time interactions dominate, the openness of data contribution may hinder the quality of information we can get.

How Science Is Visually Portrayed In The Media: An Examination Of Science Times, Rachel Toyer, Larry Mullen

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This poster will illustrate preliminary findings of how science images are portrayed in the New York Times, specifically, the Science Times section that is published every Tuesday and has grown in readership and popularity. Science images, five issues per year, have been coded over the past 34 years since the Science Times section first appeared in print. Our work follows trends that observe types of images, how many images are present, and whether the image is a photo or graphic of some sort.

The Role Of Public Libraries And Their Future, Uma Devi Doraiswamy

DLTS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What Goes Around Comes Around - Improving Linked Open Data Through On-Demand Model Creation, Christopher Thomas, Wenbo Wang, Pankaj Mehra, Delroy H. Cameron, Pablo N. Mendes, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Web 2.0 has changed the way we share and keep up with information. We communicate through social media platforms and make the information we exchange to a large extent publicly available. Linked Open Data (LOD) follows the same paradigm of sharing information but also makes it machine accessible. LOD provides an abundance of structured information albeit in a less formally rigorous form than would be desirable for Semantic Web applications. Nevertheless, most of the LOD assertions are community reviewed and we can rely on their accuracy to a large extent. In this work we want to follow the Web 2.0 …

Dynamic Associative Relationships On The Linked Open Data Web, Pablo N. Mendes, Pavan Kapanipathi, Delroy H. Cameron, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

We provide a definition of context based on theme, time and location, and propose a mixed retrieval/extraction model for the dynamic suggestion of trending relationships to LOD resources.

Semantics-Empowered Text Exploration For Knowledge Discovery, Delroy H. Cameron, Pablo N. Mendes, Amit P. Sheth, Victor Chan

Kno.e.sis Publications

The interaction paradigm offered by most contemporary Web Information Systems is a search-and-sift paradigm in which users manually seek information using hyperlinked documents. This paradigm is derived from a document-centric model that gives users minimal support for scanning through high volumes of text. We present a novel information exploration paradigm based on a data-centric view of corpora, along with a prototype implementation that demonstrates the value in content-driven navigation. We leverage semantic metadata to link data in documents by exploiting named relationships between entities. We also present utilities for gathering user generated navigation trails, critical for knowledge discovery. We discuss …

Insights Into The Commons On Flickr, Jason Vaughan

Library Faculty Research

The Commons on Flickr, comprised of an international community of select libraries, museums, and archives, was a project initially launched in 2008 by the Library of Congress and Flickr. Primary goals of The Commons are to broaden exposure to rich cultural heritage photographs and to observe and participate in the communities of engagement and dialog enabled through The Commons. A survey was administered to all The Commons institutions during summer 2009, focusing on assessment of the overall satisfaction of current members and seeking additional details on participation goals, social interactions, staff time involvement, and general statistics. Members report a very …

Maturing International Cooperation To Address The Cyberspace Attack Attribution Problem, Jeff J. Mcneil

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

One of the most significant challenges to deterring attacks in cyberspace is the difficulty of identifying and attributing attacks to specific state or non-state actors. The lack of technical detection capability moves the problem into the legal realm; however, the lack of domestic and international cyberspace legislation makes the problem one of international cooperation. Past assessments have led to collective paralysis pending improved technical and legal advancements. This paper demonstrates, however, that any plausible path to meaningful defense in cyberspace must include a significant element of international cooperation and regime formation.

The analytical approach diverges from past utilitarian-based assessments to …

Challenges And Opportunities Of Creating Library Services For The Singapore Campus, Lateka Grays

Library Faculty Research

When the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, opened its Singapore campus, it was critical that library services be provided and integrated into the curriculum. The University Libraries team overcame many challenges to create a libraries services infrastructure to support the students. Work began with then-hospitality liaison librarian Cory Tucker and has been carried on by current hospitality liaison librarian Lateka Grays. Our greatest strengths were the expertise of the liaisons and the support of the university.

We faced challenges to our mission of establishing library services in three key areas: access, communication, and technology. We developed a list of questions …

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, And The Digital Revolution, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

Baron (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) offers a breezy overview of the ways that technology is shaping reading and writing practices. This book will be valued in the future as a well-contextualized survey of issues that surface among writers in the current online landscape.

Designing Successful Online Courses - Part 2, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Once again, our major goal is to provide faculty with consistent guidance through the many instructional decisions and design steps they need to pursue in this process. This process is a fantastic opportunity to craft a virtual learning space in which people can engaging in learning beyond the constraints of time and space.

Five Strategies For Successful Writing Of Reports And Essays, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Many people cannot get started with their literary projects because they do not know where to start. In this brief article, I share insight from years of teaching students and professionals of all ages how to prepare professional work.

Stem Talent: Moving Beyond Traditional Boundaries, Stephanie Pace Marshall

Publications & Research

The future well-being, prosperity and sustainability of our nation, the global community and our planet resides in igniting and nurturing decidedly different STEM minds that can advance both the new STEM frontier and the human future.