Babak Akhgar

Conceptual Structures for Discovering Knowledge

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Conceptual Structures, ICCS 2011, held in Derby, UK, in July 2011. The 18 full papers and 4 short papers presented together with 12 workshop papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The volume also contains 3 invited talks. ICCS focuses on the useful representation and analysis of conceptual knowledge with research and business applications. It advances the theory and practice in connecting the users conceptual approach to problem solving with the formal structures that computer applications need to bring their productivity to bear. Conceptual structures (CS) represent a family of approaches that builds on the successes of artificial intelligence, business intelligence, computational linguistics, conceptual modelling, information and Web technologies, user modelling, and knowledge management. Two of the workshops contained in this volume cover CS and knowledge discovery in under-traversed domains and in task specific information retrieval. The third addresses CD in learning, teaching and assessment.

Secure ICT Services for Mobile and Wireless Communications: A Federated Global Identity Management Framework

The paper reports on the current research activities related to the delivery of a federated global identity management framework for provisioning secure ICT services; this represents a significant step towards the development of global federated security services for the Web, Grid and particularly for future Mobile and Wireless communication (ICT platforms). The overall aim of the research is to provide seamless traversal to access distributed resources in the heterogeneous Web, Grid, and particularly Mobile and Wireless spaces. Furthermore, in order to consider the value and usefulness of the Trust-ME framework its strategic impact is assessed in terms of its proposed application to a real world integrated scenarios in three distinct domains of telecommunications, surveillance and virtual gaming.

A study of encrypted, tunneling models in virtual private networks

The concept of virtual private networks offers a simple and cheap alternative to dedicated secure networks in corporate networks and Internet environments. The choice, however, of authentication and encryption techniques and protocols affect issues such as data throughput and performance throughout the network. This paper looks into two virtual private network models within a corporate network. Two operating system platforms are implemented in this investigation; Novell Netware and Windows 2000. Performance of the two arrangements is, subsequently, analyzed and evaluated.

Simulating strategic information systems planning process using fuzzy cognitive map

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) is one of the key factors in modern information age. Proposition of different methods for strategic information system planning baffle the organisations about using which of them. The problem here is the complexity of dealing with strategic information system planning due to superabundant factors engaged in it. In this paper the applications of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), as decision making and modelling tool, in SISP context have been discussed. The objective is to simulate and represent the factors affecting the planning process which is considered both a tool and a need in todays competitive society. The resulting SISP fuzzy cognitive map gives a clear perception of factors affecting the planning process and their relations which help decision-makers and planners analyse and come to their related decisions and plans.

Surveillance and falsification implications for open source intelligence investigations

Legitimacy of surveillance is crucial to safeguarding validity of OSINT data as a tool for law-enforcement agencies.

Environmental Scanning and Knowledge Representation for the Detection of Organised Crime Threats

ePOOLICE aims at developing an efficient and effective strategic early warning system that utilises environmental scanning for the early warning and detection of current, emergent and future organised crime threats. Central to this concept is the use of environmental scanning to detect ‘weak signals’ in the external environment to monitor and identify emergent and future threats prior to their materialization into tangible criminal activity. This paper gives a brief overview of the application of textual concept extraction and categorization, and the Semantic Web technologies Formal Concept Analysis and Conceptual Graphs as part of the systems technological architecture, describing their benefits in aiding effective early warning.

Combining Big Social Media Data and FCA for Crisis Response

The use of social media is now prevalent in all aspects of society. Each and every major news event is accompanied by a stream of real-time social media posts, creating a vast and ever changing data supply - a hallmark of big data. The aim of the ATHENA project is to turn this stream of information into a vital resource for the public and first responders during a crisis. ATHENA recognizes that citizens are currently under-utilized in crises and that they are often willing to engage in the response effort. Social media provides a robust platform for this interaction. Due to the volume and fast paced nature of the incoming data streams, the challenges for ATHENA system are how to integrate and process this data and then how to transform it into intelligence to be used by law enforcement agencies and the public alike. This paper introduces potential applications within the ATHENA project, in particular, those based on a technique known as formal concept analysis.

Creating corroborated crisis reports from social media data through formal concept analysis

During a crisis citizens reach for their smart phones to report, comment and explore information surrounding the crisis. These actions often involve social media and this data forms a large repository of real-time, crisis related information. Law enforcement agencies and other first responders see this information as having untapped potential. That is, it has the capacity extend their situational awareness beyond the scope of a usual command and control centre. Despite this potential, the sheer volume, the speed at which it arrives, and unstructured nature of social media means that making sense of this data is not a trivial task and one that is not yet satisfactorily solved; both in crisis management and beyond. Therefore we propose a multi-stage process to extract meaning from this data that will provide relevant and near real-time information to command and control to assist in decision support. This process begins with the capture of real-time social media data, the development of specific LEA and crisis focused taxonomies for categorisation and entity extraction, the application of formal concept analysis for aggregation and corroboration and the presentation of this data via map-based and other visualisations. We demonstrate that this novel use of formal concept analysis in combination with context-based entity extraction has the potential to inform law enforcement and/or humanitarian responders about on-going crisis events using social media data in the context of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Towards a model for the integration of knowledge management in law enforcement agencies

As law enforcement agencies are presented with ever growing repositories of data upon which to conduct their intelligence and investigative initiatives, the requirement to effectively manage knowledge grows. The following paper explores the use of knowledge management within law enforcement in terms of defining knowledge in policing, the various forms in which knowledge exists in society and organisations, and the potential barriers to the integration of knowledge management practices in the law enforcement domain. The paper clarifies the role of knowledge in organisational behaviour and the rationale behind its importance in contemporary law enforcement practices before discussing the concepts around practical scenarios, and outlining a number of example approaches to integration.

Performance of multimedia applications with IPSec tunneling

The concept of virtual private networks offers a simple and cheap alternative to dedicated secure networks in corporate networks and Internet environments. The choice, however, of authentication and encryption techniques and protocols affect issues such as data throughput and performance throughout the network. This paper looks into the effects of video and audio streaming on performance, while deploying secure communications. Two operating system platforms are implemented in this investigation: Novell Netware and Windows 2000. Performance of the two arrangements is, subsequently, analyzed and evaluated.