6809 research outputs found
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Experience Knowledge Mechanisms and Representation
No full textDeliverable D5.3 focuses on creating a knowledge base repository consisting of cases and a similarity based semantic case retrieval mechanism. We studied thoroughly the state-of-the-art of experience knowledge mechanism and representation. We did in depth domain analysis with Marche Region to identify requirements for experience management in Public Administrations, particularly in the Titolo Unico process. This reconfirmed that Case Based Reasoning (CBR) is an appropriate approach for experience management as it reflects extremely well the way individuals use former, i.e. existing experience knowledge to solve problems at hand. Together with Marche Region we determined case descriptions and case content. In order to generalize the approach we enhanced case metadata by a standard of the National Insititute for Statistics (ISTAT). For implementation we built upon research on ontology based CBR performed in a Swiss national project. For the Learn PAd project the core CBR component of the FHNW ICEBERG Toolkit was reused and adapted to meet the specific requirements and to fit into the Learn PAd platform, i.e. into the ontology and recommender component. The Learn PAd ontology was enhanced by CBR concepts and similarity functions. For evaluation we inserted 12 former cases in the case base, formalized as instances in the Learn PAd ontology. Representatives of Marche Region created a new (fictitious) case and determined manually the three most similar cases from the case base. The similar cases suggested by the CBR were then compared to them. Based on the result we improved the similarity measures (e.g. weights of attributes) and did a second run. With the newly derived weight vector the ranking that the expert expected / recommended was achieved. This confirms the suitability of our similarity model and similarity functions but to avoid the risk of overturning it needs subsequent plausibility check with the expert. After this early evaluation, focussing on the achieved quality of recommended cases further evaluations will be done through simulation and the comprehensive demonstrator assessment
Ensuring action: identifying unclear actor specifications in textual business process descriptions
No full textIn many organisations, business process (BP) descriptions are available in the form of written procedures, or operational manuals. These documents are expressed in informal natural language, which is inherently open to different interpretations. Hence, the content of these documents might be incorrectly interpreted by those who have to put the process into practice. It is therefore important to identify language defects in written BP descriptions, to ensure that BPs are properly carried out. Among the potential defects, one of the most relevant for BPs is the absence of clear actors in action-related sentences. Indeed, an unclear actor might lead to a missing responsibility, and, in turn, to activities that are never performed. This paper aims at identifying unclear actors in BP descriptions expressed in natural language. To this end, we define an algorithm named ABIDE, which leverages rule-based natural language processing (NLP) techniques. We evaluate the algorithm on a manually annotated data-set of 20 real-world BP descriptions (1,029 sentences). ABIDE achieves a recall of 87%, and a precision of 56%. We consider these results promising. Improvements of the algorithm are also discussed in the paper
Modeling for Learning in Public Administrations - The Learn PAd Approach
No full textAbstract This chapter describes a modeling method that has been conceived to support learning in public administrations. The modeling method foresees the description of both procedures in the public administrations, and the working context of the civil servants. The approach relies on several model types that are used to organize and to relate the knowledge needed by civil servants in order to perform their daily activities. Each model instance describes a view on the concerns expressed by the model type it conforms to. These descriptions intend to provide an easy way for civil servants to retrieve knowledge when they need to learn specific aspects of a procedure, and to make collaboration easier in order to enable the emergence of knowledge related to the procedures themselves. Indeed, the method comes with an infrastructure that allows to automatically set up a wiki-based collaborative platform enabling collaboration and knowledge sharing among the stakeholders involved in the activities of a Public Administration. This chapter mainly reports on the modeling method that was conceived and developed within the FP7 EU research project Learn PAd. Learning aspects, while clearly relevant for the project, will not be directly discussed here
Geomorphic controls on elevational gradients of species richness
No full textElevational gradients of biodiversity have been widely investigated, and yet a clear interpretation of the biotic and abiotic factors that determine how species richness varies with elevation is still elusive. In mountainous landscapes, habitats at different elevations are characterized by different areal extent and connectivity properties, key drivers of biodiversity, as predicted by metacommunity theory. However, most previous studies directly correlated species richness to elevational gradients of potential drivers, thus neglecting the interplay between such gradients and the environmental matrix. Here, we investigate the role of geomorphology in shaping patterns of species richness. We develop a spatially explicit zero-sum metacommunity model where species have an elevation-dependent fitness and otherwise neutral traits. Results show that ecological dynamics over complex terrains lead to the null expectation of a hump-shaped elevational gradient of species richness, a pattern widely observed empirically. Local species richness is found to be related to the landscape elevational connectivity, as quantified by a newly proposed metric that applies tools of complex network theory to measure the closeness of a site to others with similar habitat. Our theoretical results suggest clear geomorphic controls on elevational gradients of species richness and support the use of the landscape elevational connectivity as a null model for the analysis of the distribution of biodiversity
Core Platform Implementation -- Second Version
No full textDeliverable D2.4 consists of a second and final version of the Learn PAd core platform. The deliverable is of software nature. In this accompanying documentation we provide a mapping of places and links from where the "official" released version of prototype at M27 can be retrieved, as well as instructions for experimenting it
Annual Progress and Financial Report - Second Year
No full textThis report summarizes the work carried out in the Learn PAd project during the current reporting period spanning over M13 to M24 (Feb 2015-Jan 2016). The report includes the following material: - Learn PAd publishable summary, updated to cover the two first years; - Learn PAd objectives for the current reporting period as described in the project\u27s Description of Work, with detailed reports of work progress and achievements at the individual Work Package level; - Deliverables and Milestones tables; - Learn PAd project management details and explanation of the use of resources, and Progress reporting, including detailed per-partner resource consumption, given as an appendix to the document
Italian classification method for fish in lakes. Method summary
No full textThe present document explains the structure of the Italian classification method used for Fish fauna in Italian lakes. The Lake Fish Index include 5 metrics which take into consideration community composition, abundances and age structure of key fish species, reproductive success of key fish species and accompanying fish species, presence of invasive alien species
Different performances of independent sediment biological proxies in tracking ecological transitions and tipping points in a small sub-alpine lake since the little ice age
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On the occurrence of the genus Leptanilla Emery, 1870 in Sardinia
No full textThe genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera Formicidae), represented worldwide by 47 species, shows a very peculiar geographical distribution. It is found in Africa, Spain, Italy, Corsica, Russia, India, Ceylon, Malaysia, Java, Japan and in the southwest of Australia. Currently, no species has been discovered in North and South America. Scarcity of records, mainly due to the difficulty in collecting the female castes, leaves many aspects of Leptanilla biology still poorly known
Similar life history trait combinations interact to determine species\u27 sensitivity to habitat fragmentation and climate change
No full textThe life history traits of species are known to be associated with species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat fragmentation and climate change. Species with certain traits are more likely to persist within altered ecosystems than others, but the sensitivity of species to these two global changes may also depend on the covariance among traits, with certain trait combinations likely to elevate the extinction risk for particular species