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Open government is emerging as a core issue for increasing, on the one hand, participation of citizens, and, on the other hand, accountability, transparency, and the capability of delivering digital services by Public Administrations, with a consequent interest into public and social value as final outcomes. However, most of the open government initiatives actually concern the provision of public data under an open license and in an open and accessible format. From a policy as well as from a research point of view, open government raises a set of questions about how to manage and evaluate their quality, also considering the compliance with enforced legal frameworks, if any available focused specifically on open government issues. Thus, the paper discusses a quality-based framework for open government data compliance assessment, made up of quality dimensions and a set of criteria contributing to the measurement of a compliance index. The framework is then applied for the evaluation of the open government data initiatives of a sample of local public administrations in Italy.

In this chapter, we discuss the case of the instantiation and development of a methodology for e-Government initiatives design and planning in the specific context of Mediterranean Countries. The methodology aims to support the definition of strategy implementation roadmaps that consider the fitting of e-Government vision principles, policies and the context of intervention. Moreover, the methodology aims to provide a contribution to design science research on a societal scale, by dealing with the obstacles that Simon recognized as a “budget of obstacles or alternatively as a budget of planning requirements”, even with restraint and simplification typical of a complex decision making process. Taking these issues into account, the chapter discusses the case of the methodology application to an information systems integration initiative of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources in 2008–2009. The focus of the case is on problem representation and organizations in social design as challenges for information systems design on a societal scale.

In this paper we discuss the main issues considered in data and information quality and several factors influencing these issues. The main goal of the paper is exploratory, aiming to identify basic or key issues characterizing information quality (IQ) research and their impact on future information quality research perspectives in a context where information is increasingly diverse and represented according to several data models. The investigation considers several relevant topics related to data and information representation, access, and usage. We conclude the paper by discussing how philosophical studies on knowledge and truth can contribute to a better understanding of some key foundational problems that emerged in our analysis

Information growth asks Public Administrations for an effective control over their information asset. Furthermore, having a global representation of the core concepts of such an asset implies to manage large set of conceptual schemas. At the state of the art, the use of repositories of conceptual schemas aims to provide a structured, global and scalable representation of the core concepts managed in complex large scale information systems. In this paper we discuss several quality properties of repositories, analyzing them within a real, large scale experience.

PoliMaR-Web provides experts and ordinary Web users with a tool to discover suitable Web APIs among the ones published in repositories. Given a set of constraints, either soft or hard, semantic descriptions are extracted from repositories and heterogeneous sources available on the Web, and then matchmade to deliver a personalized ranked list of APIs. PoliMaR-Web performs at run time to ensure up-to-date answers.

The study of Y chromosome variation has helped reconstruct demographic events associated with the spread of languages, agriculture and pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa, but little attention has been given to the early history of the continent. In order to overcome this lack of knowledge, we carried out a phylogeographic analysis of haplogroups A and B in a broad dataset of sub-Saharan populations. These two lineages are particularly suitable for this objective because they are the two most deeply rooted branches of the Y chromosome genealogy. Their distribution is almost exclusively restricted to sub-Saharan Africa where their frequency peaks at 65% in groups of foragers. The combined high resolution SNP analysis with STR variation of their sub-clades reveals strong geographic and population structure for both haplogroups., This has allowed us to identify specific lineages related to regional pre-agricultural dynamics in different areas of sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, we observed signatures of relatively recent contact, both among Pygmies, and between them and Khoisan speaker groups from southern Africa, thus contributing to the understanding of the complex evolutionary relationships among African hunter-gatherers. Finally, by revising the phylogeography of the very early human Y chromosome lineages, we have obtained support for the role of southern Africa as a sink, rather than a source, of the first migrations of modern humans from eastern and central parts of the continent. These results open new perspectives on the early history of Homo sapiens in Africa, with particular attention to areas of the continent where human fossil remains and archaeological data are scant.

Planning activities are a relevant instrument to carry out sustainable and valuable eGovernment initiatives. The set of expertise needed for the design of eGovernment systems ranges from social to legal, economic, organizational, and technological perspectives, which have to be faced in a unique framework. The aim of the eG4M framework is to bring out these issues with an integrated approach. In this paper we focus in particular on legal issues in the strategic planning phase, aiming to show their relevance for the choice of appropriate solutions in terms of legal framework and enterprise architecture for service provision. The paper provides an example of application of the framework on experiences carried out in Italy Planning activities are a relevant instrument to carry out sustainable and valuable eGovernment initiatives. The set of expertise needed for the design of eGovernment systems ranges from social to legal, economic, organizational, and technological perspectives, which have to be faced in a unique framework. The aim of the eG4M framework is to bring out these issues with an integrated approach. In this paper we focus in particular on legal issues in the strategic planning phase, aiming to show their relevance for the choice of appropriate solutions in terms of legal framework and enterprise architecture for service provision. The paper provides an example of application of the framework on experiences carried out in Italy. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.

Repositories of conceptual schemas have been proposed in literature to represent data managed in complex large scale information systems. In this paper we discuss concepts, constructs, methods and quality dimensions for repositories of conceptual schemas. In particular, the paper considers the two main state of the art paradigms to organize huge amounts of heterogeneous data: integration, to catch the resolution of heterogeneities among data, and abstraction, to enable representation of data at different levels of synthesis. Furthermore, in this paper we provide a formalization of all these issues, and investigate several quality dimensions of a repository.

Editorial

In medium-big enterprise it is quite typical that the database architecture is defined through a sequence of projects and realizations that result a number of different and sometime overlapping data sources. This trend is worsened by merger and acquisition activities that add in existing data archi-tecture new data sources from external organizations. Data fragmentation reduces significantly the possibility to exploit organizational information assets and it needs the building of a data integration architecture. This architecture allows the organization to access to data stored by heterogeneous data sources and to manage updates through a unified view of this data. In this paper we present an original framework able to support the evolution of data architecture by identi-fying the optimal solution that maximize the quality of the overall architecture within a given cost threshold. In partic-ular, we focus on Publish and Subscribe as solution for data architecture. Copyright 2010 ACM.

Integrated repositories of conceptual schemas provide organizations dealing with a large amount of data sources with an integrated view on the information they manage. Making schema repositories compliant with the Web and with the Web knowledge technologies has become crucial today. In this paper we present an approach to conceptual metadata management based on the design and the publication of repositories of linked Web schemas organized by abstraction. Schemas and schema mappings are represented in the repositories by means of a SKOS extension defined in the paper. The language makes the schemas reciprocally crosslinked, providing native Web-based browsing and search functionalities. Abstraction-based schema integration primitives provide the building blocks for the organization of the repositories: loose schema mappings are based on abstraction relations and the repository is organized into levels of abstraction; the design of the repository is based on the progressive abstraction and integration of source schemas. The approach is compliant with state-of-the-art tools developed in the semanticWeb, which provide tool support for the design and publication on theWeb of repositories of linked schemas. Copyright 2010 ACM.

This book aims to provide a comprehensive methodology for service-oriented information systems planning, with special emphasis on eGovernment initiatives. They present the eG4M methodology which structurally supports the development of optimal eGovernment plans, considering technological, organizational, legal, economic and social aspects alike. The approach is focused on two pillars: the quality of the provided services and related processes, and the quality of the data managed in the administrative processes and services. The book is written for public administrators, decision-makers, practitioners, ICT professionals and graduate students, providing a comprehensive perspective of the challenges, opportunities and decisions related to strategic and operational planning of service-oriented information systems in eGovernment

A conceptual framework for the automatic discovery of dependencies between data quality dimensions is described. Dependency discovery consists in recovering the dependency structure for a set of data quality dimensions measured on attributes of a database. This task is accomplished through the data mining methodology, by learning a Bayesian Network from a database. The Bayesian Network is used to analyze dependency between data quality dimensions associated with different attributes. The proposed framework is instantiated on a real world database. The task of dependency discovery is presented in the case when the following data quality dimensions are considered; accuracy, completeness, and consistency. The Bayesian Network model shows how data quality can be improved while satisfying budget constraints. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.

In this paper we discuss the GovQual methodology for planning eGovernment initiatives in public administrations. In particular, the paper describes an application of the GovQual methodology for information systems integration at the Tunisian Ministry of agriculture and hydraulic resources. The key elements of the methodology are the multidisciplinary approach, which considers social, economical, organizational, juridical and technological issues in the identification and ranking of eGovernment projects, and the quality-driven strategy which considers the assessment of actual and future target quality values for services, processes, organizational systems, and technologies. GovQual aims to satisfy the requirements of the context where the methodology has been developed and tested such as e.g. the requirements of the countries involved in the methodology application during the eGovernment for Mediterranean Countries (eG4M) project and former preliminary experiences in the Italian Public Administrations.

Traditional data quality engineering techniques, often used and deployed within a single enterprise environment, are inadequate to cope with the rapid change of data, with a multitude of quality degrees, to be used in contemporary business models. The emerging cloud computing paradigm could potentially offer high-quality, composable data and techniques, under the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Data-asa-Service (DaaS) and crowdsourcing models, for data quality engineering and data publishing. However, so far how to utilize the potential of cloud computing models for data quality engineering has not been discussed. In this paper, we analyze requirements of data quality engineering and quality-aware data publishing processes in the cloud and we provide a conceptual architecture utilizing and supporting the SaaS, DaaS and crowdsourcing models for the realization of such processes.

In large organizations the database architecture is typically built through a series of projects and realizations that result in a number of heterogeneous and overlapping data sources. This trend is worsened by merger and acquisition activities that add new data sources from external organizations to the existing data architecture. Data fragmentation significantly reduces the possibility for an organization to exploit its information assets. A technology that partially alleviates these problems is data integration middleware that allows users to read-only access data stored in heterogeneous data sources through the presentation of a unified view of these data. In this paper we introduce a new concept to measure the improvement in information capacity enabled by data integration solutions, and propose an original framework which can support the evolution of the organization data architecture by identifying the optimal solution that maximizes such improvement within a given cost threshold.

Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, Roma 00185, ItaliaKEY WORDS microsatellites; autosomes; Y-chromosome; mtDNA; language; geographyABSTRACT In this study, we report the genetic varia-tion of autosomal and Y-chromosomal microsatellites in alarge Cameroon population dataset (a total of 11 popula-tions) and jointly analyze novel and previous genetic data(mitochondrial DNA and protein coding loci) taking geo-graphic and cultural factors into consideration. The com-plex pattern of genetic variation of Cameroon can in partbe described by contrasting two geographic areas (corre-sponding to the northern and southern part of the coun-try), which differ substantially in environmental, biologi-cal, and cultural aspects. Northern Cameroon populationsshow a greater within- and among-group diversity, a find-ing that reflects the complex migratory patterns and thelinguistic heterogeneity of this area. A striking reductionof Y-chromosomal genetic diversity was observed in somepopulations of the northern part of the country (Podokwoand Uldeme), a result that seems to be related to theirdemographic history rather than to sampling issues. Byexploring patterns of genetic, geographic, and linguisticvariation, we detect a preferential correlation betweengenetics and geography for mtDNA. This finding couldreflect a female matrimonial mobility that is less con-strained by linguistic factors than in males. Finally, weapply the island model to mitochondrial and Y-chromo-somal data and obtain a female-to-male migration Nm ra-tio that was more than double in the northern part of thecountry. The combined effect of the propensity to inter-populational admixture of females, favored by culturalcontacts, and of genetic drift acting on Y-chromosomal di-versity could account for the peculiar genetic patternobserved in northern Cameroon. Am J Phys Anthropol140:454–464, 2009.

Recognizer P systems with active membranes have proven to be able to solve computationally hard problems in a polynomial time. Hence it is interesting to investigate what features, such as electrical charges (polarizations) associated to membranes, evolution rules, communication rules, and strong or weak forms of division rules, are needed to achieve such a computational power. In this paper we show that polarizationless recognizer P systems with active membranes can solve the PSPACE-complete decision problem Quantified 3-sat, working in the maximally parallel way, by using only dissolution rules and a form of controlled strong division for non–elementary membranes.

Semantic Web model representation and integration can be exploited to provide organizations that deal with a large amount of data sources with an integrated view on the overall information managed. In order to support semantic Web model representation and integration in the large users must be provided with light-weight languages to represent and integrate the models, in particular avoiding the design of complex Tbox axioms. Assuming to adopt at the frontend level graph-based Concept-to-Concept Relationship (CCR) representations, in this paper we question about two semantic issues. First, we inquire whether light-weight semantic Web languages such as RDFS and DL-Lite can be used to provide the semantics of individual CCR models. Second, we inquire whether these languages can be used to provide appropriate semantics for the mappings needed for model integration. Discussing a case study in the eGovernment domain we claim that both the answer are negative. Therefore, we propose a new semantic interpretation for CCR models and we define three main classes of integration and abstraction relations defining their semantics.

Conceptual schema integration can be exploited at the conceptual metadata level to provide organizations that deal with a large amount of data sources with an integrated view on the overall information managed. In this paper we discuss the kind of language that can be exploited for such conceptual-level integration tasks in the large, and we introduce the ER dialect called Abstract ERIA (AERIA). The introduction of such a language is based on theoretical considerations and on past experiences in conceptual schema integration. The language is provided with a Web compliant front-end concrete syntax based on OWL-DL to support the compact design of the schema and the definition of integration and abstraction relations between the schema elements. A formal semantic interpretation of the AERIA language is discussed; this interpretation allows for a translation of AERIA schemas into standard Web ontologies to support model reuse and exchange. Copyright 2009 ACM.

Multichannel Adaptive Information Systems (ISs) are becoming the new paradigm for building complex interorganization ISs based on the use of different devices, Web services, and XML specifications. Modeling Multichannel Adaptive ISs requires complex interactions between the users and the system front-end due to the different capabilities of existing devices. Unfortunately, the expressive power and effectiveness of visual languages have not been fully exploited in this new area. In this paper we address two related issues. First we propose a visual language that allows for adapting the presentation layer to different physical devices; then we describe a technique to evaluate possible tradeoffs between usability and other qualities of service in Web services design. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multichannel Adaptive Web Information Systems (WISs) are emerging as a new class of information systems, characterized by their powerful use of mobility and context-awareness. Different methodologies have been proposed so far for the analysis and design of Multichannel Adaptive WISs, specifically focused on the front-end layer or the back-end layer, but no methodology has aimed to cover all the lifecycle and to design all the components that characterize Multichannel Adaptive WIS. This paper fills such a gap, by presenting UM-MAIS (Unified Methodology for Multichannel Adaptive Information Systems), a new methodology that capitalizes on well-established existing methods. It supports the analysis and design of the various components of Multichannel Adaptive WISs (including the user's experience) in a comprehensive and unified manner with special emphasis on context modeling, personalization, and adaptation.

Data quality (DQ) is emerging as a new relevant area for the improvement of the effectiveness of organizations. Despites the consequences of poor quality of data are often experienced in everyday life of enterprises, very few organizations adopt specific methodologies for assessing and monitoring quality of their data. In this paper we present the first results of an Italian project whose goal is to produce an enhanced version of well known approaches to Basel II operational risk evaluation, with a significant relevance to information and data quality, and its effects on operational risk. In particular in this paper we focus on the definition of an assessment methodology and a supporting tool for DQ.

The book addresses systematically several issues related to data quality, namely concepts, dimensions, models, methodologies and techniques.

In this paper we describe the main results of a fifteen years research activity in the area of repositories of Entity-Relationship conceptual schemas. We first introduce a set of integration/abstraction primitives that are used in order to organize a large set of conceptual schemas in a repository. We describe the methodology conceived to produce the repository of schemas of central public administrations in Italy. Then we describe an heuristic methodology, applied in the production of the set of schemas of the public administrations of an italian region. We also compare the former exact methodology and the heuristic one according to their correctness, completeness, and efficiency. Finally, we show how such repositories can be used in eGovernment initiatives for planning activities and in the identification of projects. Further work highlights possible evolutions of the repositories toward enhanced semantic representations and usage.

Measuring and improving data quality in an organization or in a group of interacting organizations is a complex task. Several methodologies have been developed in the past providing a basis for the definition of a complete data quality program applying assessment and improvement techniques in order to guarantee high data quality levels. Since the main limitation of existing approaches is their specialization on specific issues or contexts, this paper presents the Comprehensive Data Quality (CDQ) methodology that aims at integrating and enhancing the phases, techniques and tools proposed by previous approaches. CDQ methodology is conceived to be at the same time complete, flexible and simple to apply. Completeness is achieved by considering existing techniques and tools and integrating them in a framework that can work in both intra and inter organizational contexts, and can be applied to all types of data. The methodology is flexible since it supports the user in the selection of the most suitable techniques and tools within each phase and in any context. Finally, CDQ is simple since It is organized in phases and each phase is char-acterized by a specific goal and techniques to apply. The methodology is explained by means of a running example. © 2006 IEEE.

Conceptual relations among relational database schemata are investigated. Two different definitions of inclusion and a definition of equivalence between schemata are given. Several examples of practical situations adequately handled by our definitions are shown. Finally, necessary and sufficient conditions for inclusion and equivalence are proved for two classes of schemata, meaningful in the relational theory.

Il libro descrive in modo semplice un insieme di concetti che l'informatica ha elaborato negli ultimi 50 anni, e che sono diventati patrimonio culturale universale

In this paper we identify and discuss key topics characterizing recent information quality research and their impact on future research perspectives in a context where information is increasingly diverse. The investigation considers basic issues related to information quality definitions, dimensions, and factors referring to information systems, information representation, influence of the observer and of the task. We conclude the paper by discussing how philosophical studies can contribute to a better understanding of some key foundational problems that emerged in our analysis.

The paper discusses the concept of value of integration in two apparently distant research domains, database and service domains. In the area of virtual database integration, we address the problem of increased utility in an organization resulting from adopting data integration architectures, so to be able to querying an integrated database schema instead a set of local schemas. In the area of service design, we investigate the increased utility resulting from the reuse enabled in a set of production lines from the integration of their local service repositories, that are conceptual representations of services along with is-a and part-of relationships expressed among them. We define a concept of utility and value in a general fashion, and subsequently adapt utility and value to the two analyzed domains. The paper is concluded with real life case studies.

Many available services have been designed for a single-channel world, Web and Internet typically. In a real world scenario, an ever-growing number of users take advantage of different kinds of communication channels and devices. In this paper, we propose a methodology to formalize the re-design process of these services to support multi-channel access in different contexts. The methodology considers the channel characteristics, the location of users and the context of use to characterize the new services. It has been tested in a case study: the Italian National Project of Identification and Registration of Bovine Animals. Copyright 2004 ACM.

This chapter presents a first attempt to realize a methodological framework supporting the most relevant phases of the design of a value-added service. A value-added service is defined as a functionality of an adaptive and multichannel information system obtained by composing services offered by different providers. The framework has been developed as part of the multichannel adaptive information systems (MAIS) project. The MAIS framework focuses on the following phases of service life cycle: requirements analysis, design, deployment, and run-time use and negotiation. In the first phase, the designer elicits, validates, and negotiates service requirements according to social and business goals. The design phase is in charge of modeling services with an enhanced version of UML, augmented with new features developed within the MAIS project. The deployment phase considers the network infrastructure and, in particular, provides an approach to implement and coordinate the execution of services from different providers. In the run-time use and negotiation phase, the MAIS methodology provides support to the optimal selection and quality renegotiation of services and to the dynamic evaluation of management costs. The chapter describes the MAIS methodological tools available for different phases of service life cycle and discusses the main guidelines driving the implementation of a service management architecture called reflective architecture that complies with the MAIS methodological approach.

This paper presents a multidisciplinary methodology for developing public eProcurement (eProc.) projects in countries whose economy are either emerging, developing or in transition. The focus is on the first part of the methodology, namely eReadiness. Our aim is to bring out a number of issues, which are currently challenging many eGovernment projects through an integrated approach by encompassing sociological, economic, organizational, legal and technological factors.