This book introduces novel methods and approaches for semantic integration. In addition to developing ground-breaking new methods for ontology alignment, the author provides extensive explanations of up-to-date case studies. It includes a thorough investigation of the foundations and provides pointers to future steps in ontology alignment with conclusion linking this work to the knowledge society.

Ontologies are viewed as the silver bullet for many applications, but in open or evolving systems, different parties can adopt different ontologies. This increases heterogeneity problems rather than reducing heterogeneity. This book proposes ontology matching as a solution to the problem of semantic heterogeneity, offering researchers and practitioners a uniform framework of reference to currently available work. The techniques presented apply to database schema matching, catalog integration, XML schema matching and more.

Ontologies tend to be found everywhere. They are viewed as the silver bullet for many applications, such as database integration, peer-to-peer systems, e-commerce, semantic web services, or social networks. However, in open or evolving systems, such as the semantic web, different parties would, in general, adopt different ontologies. Thus, merely using ontologies, like using XML, does not reduce heterogeneity: it just raises heterogeneity problems to a higher level. Euzenat and Shvaiko’s book is devoted to ontology matching as a solution to the semantic heterogeneity problem faced by computer systems. Ontology matching aims at finding correspondences between semantically related entities of different ontologies. These correspondences may stand for equivalence as well as other relations, such as consequence, subsumption, or disjointness, between ontology entities. Many different matching solutions have been proposed so far from various viewpoints, e.g., databases, information systems, and artificial intelligence. The second edition of Ontology Matching has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the most recent advances in this quickly developing area, which resulted in more than 150 pages of new content. In particular, the book includes a new chapter dedicated to the methodology for performing ontology matching. It also covers emerging topics, such as data interlinking, ontology partitioning and pruning, context-based matching, matcher tuning, alignment debugging, and user involvement in matching, to mention a few. More than 100 state-of-the-art matching systems and frameworks were reviewed. With Ontology Matching, researchers and practitioners will find a reference book that presents currently available work in a uniform framework. In particular, the work and the techniques presented in this book can be equally applied to database schema matching, catalog integration, XML schema matching and other related problems. The objectives of the book include presenting (i) the state of the art and (ii) the latest research results in ontology matching by providing a systematic and detailed account of matching techniques and matching systems from theoretical, practical and application perspectives.

It is investigated how biologically-inspired optimisation methods can be used to compute alignments between ontologies. Independent of particular similarity metrics, the developed techniques demonstrate anytime behaviour and high scalability. Due to the inherent parallelisability of these population-based algorithms it is possible to exploit dynamically scalable cloud infrastructures - a step towards the provisioning of Alignment-as-a-Service solutions for future semantic applications.

Information systems development underwent many changes as systems transitioned onto web-based forums. Complemented by advancements in security and technology, internet-based systems have become an information mainstay. The Handbook of Research on Contemporary Perspectives on Web-Based Systems is a critical scholarly resource that examines relevant theoretical frameworks, current practice guidelines, industry standards, and the latest empirical research findings in web-based systems. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as data integration, mobile applications, and semantic web, this publication is geared toward computer engineers, IT specialists, software designers, professionals, researchers, and upper-level students seeking current and relevant research on the prevalence of these systems and advancements made to them.

The LNCS Journal on Data Semantics is devoted to the presentation of notable work that, in one way or another, addresses research and development on issues related to data semantics. The scope of the journal ranges from theories supporting the formal definition of semantic content to innovative domain-specific applications of semantic knowledge. The journal addresses researchers and advanced practitioners working on the semantic web, interoperability, mobile information services, data warehousing, knowledge representation and reasoning, conceptual database modeling, ontologies, and artificial intelligence. Volume XV results from a rigorous selection among 25 full papers received in response to two calls for contributions issued in 2009 and 2010. In addition, this volume contains a special report on the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative, an event that has been held once a year in the last five years and has attracted considerable attention from the ontology community. This is the last LNCS transactions volume of the Journal on Data Semantics; the next issue will appear as a regular Springer Journal, published quarterly starting from 2012.

This is the second of a two-volume set that constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Symposium on Human Interface 2007, held in Beijing, China in July 2007. It covers communication and collaboration, knowledge, learning and education, mobile interaction, interacting with the world wide web and electronic services, business management and industrial applications, as well as environment, transportation and safety.