]> In this paper we present an architecture for decision making of software agents that allows the agent to behave autonomously. Our target area is computational agents—encapsulating various neural networks, genetic algorithms, and similar methods — that are expected to solve problems of different nature within an environment of a hybrid computational multi-agent system. The architecture is based on the vertically-layered and beliefdesire-intention architectures. Several experiments with computational agents were conducted to demonstrate the benefits of the architecture PhD_holder external It is well known that ontologies will become a key piece, as they allow making the semantics of Semantic Web content explicit. In spite of the big advantages that the Semantic Web promises, there are still several problems to solve. Those concerning ontologies include their availability, development and evolution. In the area of information retrieval, the dimension of document vectors plays an important role. Firstly, with higher index dimensions the indexing structures suffer from the "curse of dimensionality" and their efficiency rapidly decreases. Secondly, we may not use exact words when looking for a document, thus we miss some relevant documents. LSI is a numerical method, which discovers latent semantics in documents by creating concepts from existing terms. In this paper we present a basic method of mapping LSI concepts on given ontology (WordNet), used both for retrieval recall improvement and dimension reduction. We offer experimental results for this method on a subset of TREC collection, consisting of Los Angeles Times articles. PhD_holder external PhD_student from_UI PhD_student from_UI PhD_student from_MU PhD_student from_MU PhD_student from_MU PhD_student from_MU PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI from_MFF PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_UI PhD_student from_UI PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MFF PhD_holder from_MU PhD_holder from_MU PhD_holder from_MU PhD_holder from_MU The paper describes a method for relational data model estimation from input web data and usage of this method. It includes also its principal limitations and shows the model usage for a more effective storage into a repository. The repository is implemented as the universal relation. The properties of the model are described as well. Integration has been an acknowledged data processing problem for a long time. However, there is no universal tool for general data integration. Because various data descriptions, data heterogeneity, and machine unreadability, it is not easy way. Improvement in this situation could bring the Semantic Web. Its idea is based on machine understandable web data, which bring us an opportunity of better automated processing. The SemanticWeb is still a future vision, but there are already some features we can use. The paper describes how is integration solved in mediation integration system VirGIS and discusses use of nowadays Semantic Web features to improve it. According to the proposed changes, a new ontology that covers data used in VirGIS is presented. We present a design of cognitive system architecture with an internal world model. The internal world model is realized with the help of artificial mirror neurons. We consider generalized artificial mirror neurons acting both as a mechanism for assembling and learning multimodal sensorimotor information and as associative memory for invoking multimodal information given only some of its components. We show that within an artificial cognitive system a network of generalized mirror neurons can simultaneously serve as an internal world model recognized by the agent and as that of the agent`s position within this world. We also specify a self-organizing control mechanism, which is based on the basic operations over concepts that were essentially identified by the British 18th century philosopher David Hume. This control mechanism makes use of the internal world model constructed in agent`s interaction with real world and straightforwardly supports imitation learning. Building heavily on the properties of the generalized mirror net and on automatic abstract concept creation, we offer an algorithmic explanation of computational language acquisition, thinking and consciousness in our model. Rather than describing an implementation of the respective mechanisms, the aim of the paper is to establish a proof of the principle of algorithmic nature of higher cognitive functions. Moderní teorie kognitivních systémů pohlíží na tyto systémy jako na autonomní vtělené výpočetní systémy, které se situují v okolí prostřednictvím svých senzomotorických jednotek. Přesto zejména v kruzích počítačových teoretikù je opakovaně slyšet názory, že na kognici lze pořád možné pohlížet i "klasicky", jako na problém specifického zpracování dat a že tudíž vtělení není nezbytné pro zachycení podstaty kognice. Ukážeme, že takto zjednodušený pohled opomíjí podstatnou vlastnost kognitivních systémů - a sice jejich aktivní vliv na výběr či dokonce vznik vstupních dat. Bez této zpětné vazby si systém nemůže vytvořit svůj vnitřní model světa poznaný prostřednictvím svých akcí. Pro vysvětlení povahy zmíněného problému použijeme výpočetní model kognitivních systémů zavedený autorem v předchozích pracích. Tento model umožní na principielní úrovni přemýšlet o fungování algoritmických mechanizmů imitace, komunikace, vzniku řeči, myšlení a vědomí a tím přispět i k jejich pochopení v živých systémech. Abstract Logic is the foundational discipline of many sciences. Part mathematics, part philosophy and part computing science, logic remains a core intellectual study and is increasingly relevant to practical concerns. It spreads into planning, into program synthesis, into circuit design and into discourse analysis. It underpins the entire science of artiŻcial intelligence. In order to increase knowledge from the field of logic, I participated in the Logic Summer School. This report covers some information. The paper deals with expressing preferences in the framework of the relational data model. Preferences have usually a form of a partial ordering. Therefore the question arises how to provide the relational data model with such an ordering. PhD_student from_MFF PhD_student from_MFF PhD_student from_MFF DLT`04. International Conference on Developments in Language Theory /8./ DLT`04. International Conference on Developments in Language Theory /8./ We introduce so-called biomata which represent a novel approach to the construction of self-reproducing automata within the automata theory. The design of our automata has been motivated by the ideas of cellular biology on the origin of life. Unlike the von Neumann`s model our model replicates by fission and need not give much attention to the exact guiding of its own assemblage; rather, this process relies on self-assembly abilities of the respective parts produced by the biomaton from input objects not possessing such quality. The model represents an interesting fusion of computational and self-organizational processes.We believe that by capturing the basic aspects of the assumed origin of real life our modelling leads to a conceptually simpler and hence more plausible scenario of natural self-reproduction than the previous attempts did. Moderní teorie kognitivních systémů pohlíží na tyto systémy jako na autonomní vtělené výpočetní systémy, které se situují v okolí prostřednictvím svých senzomotorických jednotek. Přesto zejména v kruzích počítačových teoretiků je opakovaně slyšet názory, že na kognici lze pořád možné pohlížet i „klasicky“, jako na problém specifického zpracování dat a že tudíž vtělení není nezbytné pro zachycení podstaty kognice. Ukážeme, že takto zjednodušený pohled opomíjí podstatnou vlastnost kognitivních systémů − a sice jejich aktivní vliv na výběr či dokonce vznik vstupních dat. Bez této zpětné vazby si systém nemůže vytvořit svůj vnitřní model světa poznaný prostřednictvím svých akcí. Pro vysvětlení povahy zmíněného problému použijeme výpočetní model kognitivních systémů zavedený autorem v předchozích pracích. Tento model umožní na principielní úrovni přemýšlet o fungování algoritmických mechanizmů imitace, komunikace, vzniku řeči, myšlení a vědomí a tím přispět i k jejich pochopení v živých systémech. PDCS 2004 IASTED International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems (16.) PDCS 2004 IASTED International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems (16.) International Workshop on Challenges in Web Information Retrieval and Integration International Workshop on Challenges in Web Information Retrieval and Integration Proceedings of International Workshop on Challenges in Web Information Retrieval and Integration (WIRI) 2005 Proceedings of International Workshop on Challenges in Web Information Retrieval and Integration PhD_student from_UI Learning from data with generalization capability is studied in the framework of minimization of regularized empirical error functionals over nested families of hypothesis sets with increasing model complexity. ForTikhonov`s regularization with kernel stabilizers, minimization over restricted hypothesis sets containing for a fixed integer n only linear combinations of all n-tuples of kernel functions is investigated. Upper bounds are derived on the rate of convergence of suboptimal solutions from such sets to the optimal solution achievable without restrictions on model complexity.The bounds are of the form 1/sqrt(n) multiplied by a term that depends on the size of the sample of empirical data, the vector of output data, the Gram matrix of the kernel with respect to the input data, and the regularization parameter. PhD_holder external A version of fuzzy description logic based on the basic (continuous t-norm based) fuzzy predicate logic BL is presented. Problems of satisfiability, validity and subsumption of concepts are discussed and reduced to problems of fuzzy propositional logic known to be decidable for any continuous t-norm. For Lukasiewicz t-norm some stronger results are obtained. Procedings of The 10th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications Procedings of The 10th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications Sborník z 10. ročníku semináře AKP 2005 (automatizace knihovnických procesů - 10.) Sborník z 10. ročníku semináře AKP 2005 (automatizace knihovnických procesů - 10.) Digitální knihovny (DK) přispívají k rozvoji Sémantického webu a současně mohou využívat jeho technologické prvky. Lze tak docílit kvalitnějšího řízení dat v DK a snazší integrace více DK, jakož i a zvýšení možnosti interakce s dalšími informačními zdroji. Ideou, stojící za Sémantickým webem, je rozšířit webové stránky značkováním, které podchytí alespoň část významu obsahu stránky. Toto sémantické značkování znamená přidání jistých metadat, která poskytují formální sémantiku obsahu webu. Projekty Sémantického webu vycházejí z technologií, které jsou vyvíjeny jako standardy. Patří sem jazyky XML, XML Schema, RDF a RDF Schema. Tyto jazyky slouží pro zápis metadat, z nichž část se organizuje v ontologiích. Další úroveň Sémantického webu využívá jazyky logiky. Základ zpracování v takto pojatém webu poskytují programy - softwaroví agenti. Cílem článku je uvést do technologií Sémantického webu a ukázat jejich uplatnění při vytváření DK Schema management is a basic problem in many database application domains such as data integration systems. Users need to access and manipulate data from several databases. In this context, in order to integrate data from distributed heterogeneous database sources, data integration systems demand the resolution of several issues that arise in managing schemas. In this paper, we present a brief survey of the problem of schema matching which is used for solving problems of schema integration processing. Moreover, we propose a technique for integrating and querying distributed heterogeneous XML schemas. Současné webové vyhledavače založené na technikách vyhledávání informací v textech nejsou schopny využít sémantické znalosti uvnitř webové stránky a tedy nemohou dát uspokojující odpovědi na uživatelské dotazy. Možným řešením se zdá být tzv. Sémantický web, který koncem 90. let popsal ve své vizi Tim Berners-Lee. Ideou, stojící za Sémantickým webem, je rozšířit webové stránky značkováním, které podchytí alespoň část významu obsahu stránky. Toto sémantické značkování znamená přidání jistých metadat, která poskytují formální sémantiku obsahu webu. Projekty Sémantického webu vycházejí z několika technologií, z nichž ty základní jsou již standardizovány nebo alespoň doporučovány. Patří sem jazyky XML, XML Schema, RDF a RDF Schema. Tyto jazyky slouží pro zápis metadat, z nichž některá se organizují v tzv. ontologiích. Další úroveň Sémantického webu využívá jazyky logiky. Základ zpracování v takto pojatém webu poskytují softwaroví agenti, tj. programy, které pracují autonomně a proaktivně. Cílem článku je uvést do technologií podporujících vytváření Sémantického webu, ukázat jeho architekturu a zmínit některé již rozpracované projekty směřující k vytváření inteligentních webových informačních služeb, personalizovaných webových míst a sémanticky zesílených vyhledávacích strojů. Methods of web data mining can be divided into several categories according to a kind of mined information and goals that particular categories set: Web structure mining (WSM), Web usage mining (WUM), and Web Content Mining (WCM). The objective of this paper is to propose a new WCM method of a page relevance ranking based on the page content exploration. The method, we call it Page Content Rank (PCR) in the paper, combines a number of heuristics that seem to be important for analysing the content of Web pages. The page importance is determined on the base of the importance of terms which the page contains. The importance of a term is specified with respect to a given query q and it is based on its statistical and linguistic features. As a source set of pages for mining we use a set of pages responded by a search engine to the query q. PCR uses a neural network as its inner classification structure. We describe an implementation of the proposed method and a comparison of its results with the other existing classification system – PageRank algorithm. PhD_holder external PhD_student from_UI Multi-agent systems typically utilize a non-blocking asynchronous communication in order to achieve required flexibility and adaptability. High performance computing techniques exploit the current hardware ability of overlapping asynchronous communication with computation to load the available computer resources efficiently. On the contrary, widely used parallel processes modeling methodologies do not often allow for an asynchronous communication description. At the same time those models do not allow their user to select the granularity level and provide only a fixed set of machine and algorithm description quantities. In this work we addressed this issue and designed a new parallel processes modeling methodology. Its main features include an open set of atomic operations that are calculated and predicted for the algorithm in question, and the computer aided semi-automatic measuring of operation counts and approximation of cost functions. This allows not only for tuning the model granularity as well as accuracy according to user needs, but also to reach a such description complexity that would be very difficult to obtain without any computer aid. PhD_holder PhD_student Since XML becomes a crucial format for representing information, it is necessary to establish techniques for managing XML documents. A possible solution can be found in storing XML data in (object-)relational databases. For this purpose most of the existing techniques often exploit an XML schema of the stored XML data, usually expressed in DTD. But the more complex today’s applications are, the more insufficient the DTD becomes and the necessity to use XML Schema language becomes more essential. The paper proposes an algorithm for mapping XML Schema structures to an object-relational database schema (defined by the SQL:1999 standard) using a (modified) DOM interface and an algorithm for storing the valid XML data into relations of the resulting schema. The main aim is to exploit object-oriented features XML Schema has and the advantages of object-relational databases and to preserve the structure as well as semantic constraints of the source schema in the target schema. PhD_holder PhD_student World Wide Web obsahuje data, která jsou pro počítačové programy nesrozumitelná. Následkem toho je na něm obtížné některé věci zautomatizovat. Nedostatky současného webu by měl odstranit sémantický web, ve kterém data budou mít přesně popsaný význam. Zlepšení může přinést také v oblasti integrace, která je v případě dat pocházejících z webu velmi obtížná. Tento článek se zabývá integrací webových dat. Zaměřuje se na relační data ve formátu XML a navrhuje postupy základních integračních operací. Multi-agent systems typically utilize a non-blocking asynchronous communication in order to achieve required flexibility and adaptability. High performance computing techniques exploit the current hardware ability of overlapping asynchronous communication with computation to load the available computer resources efficiently. On the contrary, widely used parallel processes modeling methodologies do not often allow for an asynchronous communication description. At the same time those models do not allow their user to select the granularity level and provide only a fixed set of machine and algorithm description quantities. In this work we addressed this issue and designed a new parallel processes modeling methodology. Its main features include an open set of atomic operations that are calculated and predicted for the algorithm in question, and the computer aided semi-automatic measuring of operation counts and approximation of cost functions. This allows not only for tuning the model granularity as well as accuracy according to user needs, but also to reach a such description complexity that would be very difficult to obtain without any computer aid. We demonstrated that our approach gives good results on the parallel implementation of a selected generalized genetic algorithm. A model was constructed and its predictions compared with the reality on various computer architectures, including one parallel cluster machine. We also designed and implemented an open multi-agent system suitable for the above mentioned experiments and many others. This system synthesizes the areas of high performance computing, multi-agent systems and computational intelligence into an efficient and flexible means of running experiments. This paper describes an option to express our preferences in the framework of relational databases. Preferences have usually a form of a partial ordering. Therefore the question is how to deliver the semantics of ordering to a database system. The answer is quite straightforward. Příspěvek popisuje provedenou studii proveditelnosti databázově orientované části systému zajišťujícím automatickou extrakci dat z webových zdrojů (formáty XHTML, XML, CSV). Úkolem této části je transformace dat do automaticky vygenerovaného relačního modelu, který může být následně užit pro realizaci myšlenek sémantického webu. V úvodní části je uvedena motivace pro implementaci takového nástroje. Součástí příspěvku je i částečné ohlédnutí za již implementovanými metodami, které autor v současné době zpracovává. V poslední části je nastíněna fuzzyfikace problematiky. Advances in cellular mobile technology have engendered a new paradigm of computing, called mobile computing. New challenges have arisen and solutions are proposed based on various approaches. One of the most important challenges is security and now a day has been found ubiquitous in computing as whole. The paper is intended as a quick survey emphasizing security paradigm and also ad hoc networks are kept in mind and briefly discussed. This paper describes an approach for mediation of heterogeneous XML schemas. Such an approach is proposed as a tool for XML data integration system. A global XML schema is specified by the designer to provide a homogeneous view over heterogeneous XML data. An XML mediation layer is introduced to manage: (1) establishing appropriate mappings between the global schema and the schemas of the sources; (2) querying XML data sources in terms of the global schema. The XML data sources are described by XML Schema language. The former task is performed through a semi-automatic process that generates local and global paths. A tree structure for each XML schema is constructed and represented by a simple form. This is in turn used for assigning indices manually to match local paths to corresponding global paths. By gathering all paths with the same indices, the equivalent local and global paths are grouped automatically, and an XML Metadata Document is constructed. An XML Query Translator for the latter task is described to translate a global user query into local queries by using the mappings that are defined in the XML Metadata Document. International Workshop on Knowledge Grid and Grid Intelligence (2.) International Workshop on Knowledge Grid and Grid Intelligence (2.) A formalism for the logical description of computational agents and multi-agent systems is given. It is explained how it such a formal description can be used to configure and reason about multi-agent systems realizing computational intelligence models. A usage within a real software system Bang 3 is demonstrated. The logical description of multiagent systems opens Bang 3 for interaction with ontology based distributed knowledge systems like the Semantic Web or the Knowledge Grid. PhD_holder external A multi-agent system targeted toward the area of computational intelligence modeling is presented. The purpose of the system is to allow both experiments and high-performance distributed computations employing hybrid computational models. The focus of the system is the interchangeability of computational components, their autonomous behavior, and emergence of new models. PhD_holder PhD_student ITAT 2004, Workshop on Information Technologies - Applications and Theory ITAT 2004, Workshop on Information Technologies - Applications and Theory Příspěvek popisuje provedenou studii proveditelnosti databázově orientované části systému zajišťujícím automatickou extrakci dat z webových zdrojů (formáty XHTML, XML, CSV). Úkolem této části je transformace dat do automaticky vygenerovaného relačního modelu, který může být následně užit pro realizaci myšlenek sémantického webu. V úvodní části je uvedena motivace pro implementaci takového nástroje. Součástí příspěvku je i částečné ohlédnutí za již implementovanými metodami, které autor v současné době zpracovává. V poslední části je nastíněna fuzzyfikace problematiky. We discuss two approaches to supervised learning, namely regularization networks and RBF networks, and demonstrate their performance on experiments. We claim that the performance of these two models is comparable, so the RBF networks can be used as a cheaper alternative to regularization networks. PhD_holder PhD_student Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (Corpora-2004) Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (Corpora-2004) Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (Corpora-2004) Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (Corpora-2004) PhD_student from_MU This paper deals with a newly designed and developed system Manatee that can be employed to manage corpora, especially extremely large ones with billions of words, and enables the efficient evaluation of complex queries and the computation of advanced statistics. The main functions of the tool are presented here, together with the introduction of its web-based graphical user interface, Bonito. The sophisticated statistical processing is demonstrated in an example of computing of Word Sketches. Special attention is paid to the definition of the word sketches for Czech and problems connected to its free word order. This paper presents OASIS – a new tool that enables (semi)automatic conversion of existing knowledge bases, semantic networks, terminological databases and various other resources to complex ontologies into OWL. The tool is implemented as a client of DEB (Dictionary Editor and Browser) which is able to store, index and efficiently retrieve lexical data. The architecture is based on XML and related W3C standards (XSLT, XML Schema, XPath, DOM). The main feature which brings the efficiency of the transformation is the extension of a standard XSLT processor with the ability to obtain additional data from the server through the mechanism of nested queries. This technique allows formulation of complex constraints needed in the conversion to OWL PhD_holder external Semantic Web Workshop at 27th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference Semantic Web Workshop at 27th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference Discovering the complex relationships between entities is one way of benefitting from the Semantic Web. This paper discusses new approaches to implementing rho-operators into RDF querying engines which will enable discovering such relationships viable. The cornerstone of such implementation is creating an index which describes the original RDF graoh. The index is created by recursive application of a transformation of graph to forest of trees and then to each tree its extended signature is created. The signatures are accompanied by the additional information about transformed problematic nodes breaking the tree structure. The components described by the signatures are assumed as a single node in the following step. The transitions between the signatures represent edges. Proceedings of Semantic Web Workshop at 27th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference Proceedings of Semantic Web Workshop at 27th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference Dialogue 2004 International Conference on the Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies Dialogue 2004 International Conference on the Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies Proceedings of the Dialogue 2004 International Conference on the Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies Proceedings of the Dialogue 2004 International Conference on the Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies Information Systems Development Advances in Theory, Practice and Education Information Systems Development Advances in Theory, Practice and Education PhD_holder PhD_student PhD_student from_UI Continuous t-norm based fuzzy predicate logic is surveyed as a generalization of classical predicate logic; then a kind of fuzzy description logic based on our fuzzy predicate logic is briefly described as a powerful but still decidable formal system of description logic dealing with vague (imprecise) concepts. The need of search mechanisms based on data content rather then attributes values has recently lead to formation of the metric-based similarity retrieval. The computational complexity of such retrieval and the large volume of processed data call for distributed processing. In this paper, we propose chiDistance, a distributed data structure for similarity search in metric spaces. The structure is based on the idea of a vectorbased index method iDistance which enables to transform the issue of similarity search into the one-dimensional range search problem. A Peerto-Peer system based on the Chord protocol is created to distribute the storage space and to parallelize the execution of similarity queries. In the experiments conducted on our prototype implementation we study the system performance concentrating on several aspects of parallelism of the range search algorithm. PhD_holder PhD_student 8th International DELOS Workshop on Future Digital Library Management Systems 8th International DELOS Workshop on Future Digital Library Management Systems The effort described in this paper introduces an indexing structure for path search in the graph structured data called rho-index. It is based on a graph segmentation S(G) that is meant to represent the indexed graph G in a simpler manor yet having similar properties as the graph G had. This is achieved using graph transformations and a special type of a matrix used to represent the transformed graph. PhD_holder PhD_student This paper describes the exhaustive results obtained within IST 290388 Project Balkanet, which went on 2001-2004. The attention is paid to the restructuring and final shaping the individual Balkan WordNets. In comparison with the EuroWordNet Project some new results have been obtained: The sets of Base Concepts have been extended and a set of the Balkanet 1. Common Synsets has been introduced (8,000 synsets). These were relinked to Princeton WordNet 2.0 (PWN) and converted to XML standard format, 2. The language specific synsets that do not have translation equivalents in PWN 2.0 have been established for Balkanet languages, 3. Valency frames have been developed for Czech, Bulgarian and Romanian, 4. Domains have been added to Balkanet WordNets and implemented in the VisDic browser, 5. Integrating derivational relations into Czech WordNet and adding semantic relations into Turkish WordNet exploiting Turkish derivational morphology, 6. Links to the SUMO/MILO Ontology were added to and implemented in VisDic. Proceedings of the GLDV (German Linguistische Daten Vorarbeitung) Conference Proceedings of the GLDV (German Linguistische Daten Vorarbeitung) Conference Kernel based learning methods are subject of great interest at present. We discuss two kernel based learning methods, namely the Regularization Networks (RN) and the Radial Basis Function Network (RBF networks). The RNs are derived from the regularization theory, had been studied thoroughly from a function approximation point of view, and therefore have very good theoretical background. The RBF networks represent a model of artificial neural networks with both neuro-physiological and mathematical motivation. In addition they may be treated as a generalised form of Regularization Networks, i.e. RN with increased number of kernel functions. We demonstrated the performance of both approaches on experiments, including both benchmark and real-life learning tasks. We claim that the performance of RN and RBF network is comparable in terms of generalisation error. The RN approach usually leads to solutions with higher model complexity (high number of base units). In this situations, the RBF networks can be used as a ’cheaper’ alternative. PhD_holder PhD_student Knowledge representation in geographic information systems (GIS) and associated data processing presents many challenges for researchers. To use ontologies as knowledge representation belongs to the most topical problems to solve. This involves ontology development as well as ontology re-usage. The goal of the research described in this paper is to develop a specific ontology for a given GIS area. Ontologies play an important role in knowledge representation. Among various fields, where ontologies can be useful, is the GIS data area. We consider data in a specific GIS domain and develop a new ontology. The result is described in this paper. In this paper we present an architecture for decision making of software agents that allows the agent to behave autonomously. Our target area is computational agents — encapsulating various neural networks, genetic algorithms, and similar methods — that are expected to solve problems of different nature within an environment of a hybrid computational multi-agent system. The architecture is based on the vertically-layered and belief-desire-intention architectures. Several experiments with computational agents were conducted to demonstrate the benefits of the architecture. PhD_holder external Web Data Management Practices: Emerging Techniques and Technologies Web Data Management Practices: Emerging Techniques and Technologies The retrieval of objects from a multimedia database employs a measure which defines a similarity score for every pair of objects. The measure should effectively follow the nature of similarity, hence, it should not be limited by the triangular inequality, regarded as a restriction in similarity modeling. On the other hand, the retrieval should be as efficient (or fast) as possible. The measure is thus often restricted to a metric, because then the search can be handled by metric access methods (MAMs). In this paper we propose a general method of non-metric search by MAMs. We show the triangular inequality can be enforced for any semimetric (reflexive, non-negative and symmetric measure), resulting in a metric that preserves the original similarity orderings (retrieval effectiveness). We propose the TriGen algorithm for turning any blackbox semimetric into (approximated) metric, just by use of distance distribution in a fraction of the database. The algorithm finds such a metric for which the retrieval efficiency is maximized, considering any MAM. Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Extending Database Technology EDBT 2006 Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Extending Database Technology EDBT 2006 Existujú v súčasnej informatike výzvy zrovnateľné s veľkými problémami, s ktorými je konfrontované ľudstvo v oblasti fyziky, biológie, či iných vedných a inžinierskych oblastí? Má súčasná informatika výskumné zámery svojim významom zrovnateľné s odhalením podstaty gravitácie? S cestou na Mars? S rozlúštením genetického kódu? V prednáške sa zamyslíme, ktoré problémy v informatike majú podobný charakter, prečo je dobré sústrediť sa na ich riešenie a aké riešenia sa rysujú. SOFTEC 2006, Odborná konferencia o víziách a trendoch v moderných informačných technológiách SOFTEC 2006, Odborná konferencia o víziách a trendoch v moderných informačných technológiách The chapter provides a survey of some clustering methods relevant to the clustering document collections and, in consequence, Web data. We start with classical methods of cluster analysis which seem to be relevant in approaching to cluster Web data. The graph clustering is also described since its methods contribute significantly to clustering Web data. A use of artificial neural networks for clustering has the same motivation. Based on previously presented material, the core of the chapter provides an overview of approaches to clustering in the Web environment. Particularly, we focus on clustering web search results, in which clustering search engines arrange the search results into groups around a common theme. We conclude with some general considerations concerning the justification of so many clustering algorithms and their application in the Web environment. euCognition, The European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems, Inaugural Meeting euCognition, The European Network for the Advancement of Artificial Cognitive Systems, Inaugural Meeting Basics of the DataPile structure for data handling systems have been theoretically designed and published. During implementation of such system, numerous problems which were not addressed during the theoretical design phase arose. In a real production environment, the applications connected to the DataPile core need special treatment and set important requirements on the data synchronization process. This article concerns with generating of differential data being distributed from the central DataPile storage to individual applications. It is shown that the synchronization part of DataPile-structured system can be implemented and run efficiently despite of the restrictions or limitations these individual applications impose. Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Databases and Applications (DBA 2006) Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Databases and Applications (DBA 2006) from_UI support from_MFF support IASTED International Conference on Databases and Applications (DBA 2006) as part of the 24th IASTED International Multi-Conference on Applied Informatics International Conference on Databases and Applications (DBA 2006) as part of the 24th IASTED International Multi-Conference on Applied Informatics Ontologies are commonly considered as one of the essential parts of the Semantic Web vision, providing a theoretical basis and implementation framework for conceptual integration and information sharing among various domains. In this paper, we present the main principles of a new ontology acquisition framework applied for semi-automatic generation of scientific portals. Extracted ontological relations play a crucial role in the structuring of the information at the portal pages, automatic classification of the presented documents as well as for personalisation at the presentation level. PhD_holder PhD_student A crucial point in automated data processing is the way in which the data are expressed. One possibility is to employ existing features of the Semantic Web - ontologies. Ontologies play an important role in a knowledge representation. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to provide more automated VirGIS system. VirGIS is an integration system that works with GIS (Geographical Information Systems) data. As a first step of our research, we describe its data using common Semantic Web techniques and build a VirGIS ontology. Recently, the significance of uncertain information representation has become obvious in the Semantic Web community. This paper presents an ongoing research of uncertainty handling in automatically created ontologies. Proposal of a specific framework is provided. The research is related to OLE (Ontology LEarning), a project aimed at bottom-up generation a nd merging of domain specific ontologies. Formal systems that underlie the uncertai nty representation are briefly introduced. We will discuss a universal internal form at of uncertain conceptual structures in OLE then. The proposed format serves as a basis for inference tasks performed among an ontology. These topics are outlined as motivations of our future work. The paper proposes a data structure modelling method, which aim is to estimate a structure model from a given input data set. The model can be seen as an estimate of data semantics ֠the obtained relations can be transformed into an RDF or OWL semantic web format documents to be included into the semantic web portfolio. The proposed method makes a connection between current web sources and the semantic web vision to be realized. Finally, the method usage and conversion rules are illustrated on an example. In the paper, we present a quality of service and energy aware communication protocol, called RollingBall. We do believe that QoS and energy awareness are two of the most important parameters in wireless sensor networks. The protocol is completely distributed with no centralized control. The key idea is to introduce a resistance calculation for every connection in the network. The resistance reflects the distance to the sink together with energy capabilities of particular sensor. While the resistance is continually re-calculated, packets are sent to the sink via an appropriate path. Such a scheme allows to spend minimum messages on network management, whereby sensor network lifetime is extended and throughput remains high. In MANETs and similar link-free networks of communicating objects there is no central authority for naming and connection management. Autoconfiguration of network nodes is therefore desirable and, building on approaches in IPv6, a number of ‘zero configuration’ networking protocols have been proposed for this case. Typically these protocols do not easily scale and have difficulty with network partitioning and merging. In this paper we propose a number of novel, decentralized techniques for name resolution in zero configuration protocols that are more flexible and yet lead to name extensions of smallest possible length, assuming that objects sufficiently mix within their ranges. Finally, the techniques are converted into a fully decentralized, scalable autoconfiguration protocol for use in ad hoc networks with directional antennas. The protocol is ‘lazy’ in the sense that name resolution is postponed until the moment that conflicts prevent the correct functioning of the communication structure. PhD_holder external In the area of information retrieval, the dimension of document vectors plays an important role. We may need to find a few words or concepts, which characterize the document based on its contents, to overcome the problem of the "curse of dimensionality", which makes indexing of highdimensional data problematic. To do so, we earlier proposed a Wordnet and Wordnet+LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) based model for dimension reduction. While LSI works on the whole collection, another procedure of feature extraction (and thus dimension reduction) exists, using binary factorization. The procedure is based on the search of attractors in Hopfield-like associative memory. Separation of true attractors (factors) and spurious ones is based on calculation of their Lyapunov function. Being applied to textual data the procedure conducted well and even more it showed sensitivity to the context in which the words were used. In this paper, we suggest that the binary factorization may benefit from the Wordnet filtration. PhD_holder external Integration has been an acknowledged data processing problem for a long time. However, there is no universal tool for general data integration. Because various data descriptions, data heterogeneity, and machine unreadability, it is not easy way. Improvement in this situation could bring the Semantic Web. Its idea is based on machine understandable web data, which bring us an opportunity of better automated processing. The SemanticWeb is still a future vision, but there are already some features we can use. The paper describes how is integration solved in mediation integration system VirGIS and discusses use of nowadays Semantic Web features to improve it. According to the proposed changes, a new ontology that covers data used in VirGIS is presented. Metoda odhadování struktury dat spojuje vizi sémantického webu a dnešní webové datové zdroje, které převážně neobsahují žádnou doprovodnou sémantiku prezentovaných informací. Aby bylo možné tyto zdroje použít pokročilými nástroji sémantického webu, je potřeba sémantiku prezentovaných dat alespoň odhadnout. Příspěvek popisuje takovou metodu, ukazuje její použití pro úlohy induktivního logického programování a jmenuje výhody použití pravidlových systémů pro její implementaci. The paper describes a possible treatment of sharing data in a large network of users. The mathematical model is based on weighted hypergraphs whose nodes and edges denote the users and their relations, respectively. Its flexibility guarantees to have basic relations between users robust under frequent changes in the network connections. Approach copes with the communication/computing issues from different point of view based on a structure evolution and its further optimization in sense of keeping the parallel space and time complexities low. Although the idea is aimed to the field of mobile computing, it can be generalized in straightforward way to other similar environment. An experimental application is also proposed and discussed in the paper. This paper presents BOLE — a new platform for bottomup generation and merging of bio-ontologies. In contrast to other ontology-learning systems that are currently available, BOLE can be characterized by the modular architecture enabling integrating and comparing various methods of the automatic acquisition of semantic relations. We introduce the architecture of the tool and discuss the methodology of the employed synthetic bottom-up approach. OLITE — the central component responsible for the automatic acquisition of semantic relations from texts is described in detail. The presented preliminary results prove the efficiency of the implemented framework. We also provide a brief comparative overview of other relevant approaches and outline the future work on representation of uncertain knowledge for bio-ontology merging. PhD_holder PhD_student During the implementation of an environmental accounting system in a company, one of the most important pieces of information to obtain is a detailed understanding about material flows (raw materials, semi-finished products, final products and wastes) and flows of different types of energy inputs (buying, selling and wastage) when thinking about the consequences on the company. The authors, in the article: 1) study the question of the quantification of the flows, and the accuracy of their measurement, 2) provide an environmental accounting statement, with help of standards and indices, statistical trends analysis. PhD_holder external Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem and Charles University - Environment Center, Prague Proceeding of the Environmental Accounting - Sustainable Development Indicators, International Conference EA-SDI 2005 Environmental Accounting - Sustainable Development Indicators Environmental Accounting - Sustainable Development Indicators, International Conference EA-SDI 2005, Collection of Abstracts Environmental Accounting - Sustainable Development Indicators, abstracts During the implementation of an environmental accounting system in a company, one of the most important pieces of information to obtain is a detailed understanding about material flows (raw materials, semi-finished products, final products and wastes) and flows of different types of energy inputs (buying, selling and wastage) when thinking about the consequences on the company. The authors, in the article: 1) study the question of the quantification of the flows, and the accuracy of their measurement, 2) provide an environmental accounting statement, with help of standards and indices, statistical trends analysis. PhD_holder external This paper presents OLE — a new platform for bottom-up generation and merging of ontologies. In contrast to other ontology-learning systems that are currently available, OLE can be characterized by the modular architecture enabling integrating and comparing various methods of the automatic acquisition of semantic relations. We introduce the architecture of the tool and discuss the methodology of the employed synthetic bottom-up approach. OLITE — the central component responsible for the automatic acquisition of semantic relations from texts is described in detail. The presented preliminary results prove the efficiency of the implemented framework. We also provide a brief comparative overview of other relevant approaches and outline the future work on representation of uncertain knowledge for ontology merging. PhD_holder PhD_student Proceedings of International Workshop on Text Mining Research, Practice and Opportunities Proceedings of International Workshop on Text Mining Research, Practice and Opportunities International Workshop on Text Mining Research, Practice and Opportunities International Workshop on Text Mining Research, Practice and Opportunities Příspěvek se zabývá problematikou získávání logických tvrzení z dat, tedy těmi metodami dobývání znalostí z dat (data mining), jejichž výsledky lze vyjádřit v jazyce nějaké formální logiky. Je podán velmi stručný přehled širokého spektra rozmanitých metod tohoto typu, jak metod vycházejících ze statistických přístupů, tak i metod spočívajících na principech strojového učení, a je poukázáno na specifický charakter metod založených na umělých neuronových sítích. Pro ilustraci jsou podrobněji popsány dvě konkrétní metody získávání logických tvrzení z dat. Jednou z nich je metoda Guha, která vychází z observační logiky a je pravděpodobně nejstarší metodou získávání pravidel z dat vůbec. Druhou je metoda založená na po částech lineárních vícevrstvých perceptronech. Ontologies play an important role in a knowledge representation. It involves ontology development as well as ontology re-use. Among various fields, where ontologies can be useful, is the GIS (Geographical Information System) data area. The goal of the research described in this paper is to develop a specific ontology for a given GIS domain. At first, we describe a general methodology and main tools for ontology development. Then a new ontology that covers data used in a VirGIS integration system is presented. The paper describes the VirGIS specified ontology as well as a list of spatio-temporal data ontologies that are available and possible to use for a general data features description. Odhadování struktury dat je jednou z možností, jak automatizovaným způsobem interpretovat data. Ta mohou být popsána pomocí modelu funkčních závislostí, vytváření takového modelu lze srovnat s některými technikami strojového učení. Tento příspěvek shrnuje vybrané základní techniky induktivního logického programování a analyzuje je z pohledu metody odhadování struktury dat. Ukazuje se, že techniky induktivního logického programování lze v některých případech převést právě odhadování struktury dat. The paper describes selected problems and possible solutions for the position management in mobile computing. A proposed scheme extends existing approaches. The main idea is to reduce amount of possible solutions given by a movement prediction algorithm by constrains ubiquitously found in the real-life. Existing solutions and possibilities for a future research are also described. We study and design multi-agent systems for computational intelligence modeling. Agents typically reside in a high-performance parallel environment, such as a cluster of computational nodes, and utilize a non-blocking asynchronous communication. The need of accurate predictions of run-time and other characterizations of complex parallel asynchronous processes bring us to design a new parallel model creation methodology. In this article our approach is briefly described and a test case is shown and discussed. 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent technology IAT 2005 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent technology IAT 2005 Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent technology IAT 2005 Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent technology IAT 2005 One of the areas of data integration covers systems that maintain co-herence among a heterogeneous set of databases. Such a system repeatedly col-lects data from the local databases, synchronizes them, and pushes the updates back. One of the key problems in this architecture is the conflict resolution. When data in a less relevant data source changes, it should not cause any data change in a store with higher relevancy. To meet such requirements, we propose a DataPile structure with following main advantages: effective storage of historical versions of data, straightfor-ward adaptation to global schema changes, separation of data conversion and replication logic, simple implementation of data relevance. Key usage of such mechanisms is in projects with following traits or require-ments: integration of heterogeneous data from sources with different reliability, data coherence of databases whose schema differs, data changes are performed on local databases and minimal load on the central database. 9th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2005) 9th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2005) Proceedings of the 9th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems Proceedings of the 9th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems Ever increasing environmental demands from customers, authorities and governmental organizations as well as new business control functions are integrated to environmental management systems (EMSs). With a production of huge data sets and their processing in real-time applications, the needs for environmental data management have grown significantly. Current trends in database development and an associated research meet these challenges. The paper discusses recent advances in database technologies and attempts to highlight them with respect to requirements of EMSs. 19th Conference EnviroInfo (Informatics for Environmental Protection, Networking Environmental Information) 19th Conference EnviroInfo (Informatics for Environmental Protection, Networking Environmental Information) EUSFLAT - LFA 2005. Conference of the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology /13./, Recontres Francophones sur la Logique Floue et ses Applications /11./ EUSFLAT - LFA 2005. Conference of the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology /13./, Recontres Francophones sur la Logique Floue et ses Applications /11./ We present two original computational models - globular universe and autopoietic automata - capturing the basic aspects of an evolution: a construction of self-reproducing automata by self-assembly and a transfer of algorithmically modified genetic information over generations. Within this framework we show implementation of autopoietic automata in a globular universe. Further, we characterize the computational power of lineages of autopoietic automata via interactive Turing machines and show an unbounded complexity growth of a computational power of automata during the evolution. Finally, we define the problem of sustainable evolution and show its undecidability. Most of information retrieval systems depend on Boolean queries. The performance of an information retrieval system is usually measured in terms of two different criteria, precision and recall. This way, the optimization of any of its components is a clear example of a multiobjective problem. However, although evolutionary algorithms have been widely applied in the information retrieval area, in all of these applications both criteria have been combined in a single scalar fitness function by means of a weighting scheme. In this paper, we deal with using of Genetic algorithms in Information retrieval specially in optimizing of a Boolean query. PhD_holder external PhD_holder external We look for computational limits of artificial, natural and hybrid cognitive and intelligent systems. The common basis for such studies is offered by computationalism, i.e., the belief that cognitive or intelligent processes, respectively, are in essence computational processes. We show that in principle cognitive systems might exist whose computational power outperforms that of Turing machines and that even in practice we observe the rudiments of such systems. These results point to the fact that the so - called Church - Turing Thesis, dealing with the central position of Turing machines in the world of computations and algorithms, must be seen in the context of physical principles exploited by the cognitive systems, and in that of the communication scenario between the system and its environment. Popíšeme původní výpočetní modely – globulární vesmír a autopoietické automaty – které zachycují podstatné výpočetní aspekty evoluce: konstrukci sebereprodukčních evolučních automatů pomocí sebesestavování a přenos algoritmicky modifikovatelné genetické informace na potomka. V tomto rámci ukážeme neomezený růst výpočetní síly automatů během evoluce a pomocí interaktivního Turingova stroje chrakterizujeme výpočetní sílu rodových linií automatů. PhD_student from_UI PhD_student from_UI PhD_student from_UI PhD_student from_MFF PhD_holder from_UI PhD_holder from_MU PhD_holder from_MU PhD_holder from_MU from_UI support from_UI support from_UI support from_UI support from_MU support from_MU support from_MU support from_MU support from_MU support Recently XML is the standard format used for the exchange of data between information systems and is also frequently applied as a logical database model. If we use XML as a logical database model we need a conceptual model for the description of its semantics. However, XML as a logical database model has some special characteristics which makes existing conceptual models as E-R or UML unsuitable. In this paper, the current approaches to the conceptual modeling of XML data are described in an uniform style. A list of requirements for XML conceptual models is presented and described approaches are compared on the base of the requirements. Recently XML has achieved the leading role among languages for data representation and thus we can witness a massive boom of corresponding techniques for managing XML data. Most of the processing techniques however suffer from various bottlenecks worsening their time and/or space efficiency.We assume that the main reason is they consider XML collections too globally, involving all their possible features, although real data are often much simpler. Even though some techniques do restrict the input data, the restrictions are often unnatural. In this paper we analyze existing XML data, their structure and real complexity in particular.We have gathered more than 20GB of real XML collections and implemented a robust automatic analyzer. The analysis considers existing papers on similar topics, trying to confirm or confute their observations as well as to bring new findings. It focuses on frequent but often ignored XML items (such as mixed content or recursion) and relationship between schemes and their instances. PhD_holder PhD_student Much research work has recently focused on the problem of representing historical information in XML. This report describes a number of temporal XML data models and provides their comparison according to the following properties: time dimension (valid time, transaction time), support of temporal elements and attributes, querying possibilities, association to XML Schema/DTD, and influence on XML syntax. PhD_holder PhD_student Eight International Conference on Fuzzy Sets Theory and Applications Eight International Conference on Fuzzy Sets Theory and Applications Inconsistency and Incompleteness in Databases, International Workshop Collocated with the 10 th International Conference on Extending Database Technology Inconsistency and Incompleteness in Databases, International Workshop Collocated with the 10 th International Conference on Extending Database Technology We present an overview of our results on model theoretic and fixpoint semantics for a relational algebra using a model of many valued Datalog with similarity. Using our previous results on equivalence of our model and certain variant of generalized annotated programs, we base our querying on fuzzy aggregation operators (also called annotation terms, combining functions, utility functions). Using of fuzzy aggregation operators (distinct from database aggregations) enables us to reduce tuning of various linguistic variables. In practice we can learn fuzzy aggregator operators by an ILP procedure for every user profile. Our approach enables also integration of data from different sources via aggregation and similarity. Extending domains we discuss difference between fuzzy elements and fuzzy subsets. We also discuss an alternative, when all extensional data are stored crisp and fuzziness is in rules interpreting data, context and in user query. International Sympoium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems International Sympoium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems In this paper, a multi agent platform targeted toward the area of computational intelligence modeling is presented. We show the design of various computational agents creating multi agent systems, as well as the infrastructure capabilities. The focus of the system is the cooperation of agents, their interchangeability autonomous behavior, and emergence of new models. Two main areas of cooperation are presented: automated creation of a multi-agent system satisfying given constraints, and decision support for agent partner selection. It is demonstrated that such a system is able to assist in building hybrid artificial intelligence models based on data in a distributed environment. Moderní databáze Moderní databáze Dateso 2006 Annual International Workshop on DAtabases, TExts, Specifications and Objects Dateso 2006 Annual International Workshop on DAtabases, TExts, Specifications and Objects Recently XML is the standard format used for the exchange of data between information systems and is also frequently applied as a logical database model. If we use XML as a logical database model we need a conceptual model for the description of its semantics. However, XML as a logical database model has some special characteristics which makes existing conceptual models as E-R or UML unsuitable. In this paper, the current approaches to the conceptual modeling of XML data are described in an uniform style. A list of requirements for XML conceptual models is presented and described approaches are compared on the base of the requirements. It is shown that learning from data modelled as minimaization of error functionals can be reformulated in terms of inverse problems. This reformulation allows to characterize optimal input-output functions of networks with kernel units. Recently XML is the standard format used for the exchange of data between information systems and is also frequently applied as a logical database model. If we use XML as a logical database model we need a conceptual model for the description of its semantics. In this paper, we describe our work on a new conceptual model for XML called XSEM created as a combination of several approaches applied in the area of conceptual modeling for XML. XML Prague 2006 XML Prague 2006 At present the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is used almost in all spheres of human activities. Its popularity results especially from the fact that it is a self-descriptive metaformat that allows to define the structure of XML data using other powerful tools such as DTD or XML Schema. Consequently, we can witness a massive boom of techniques for managing, querying, updating, exchanging, or compressing XML data. On the other hand, for majority of the XML processing techniques we can find various spots which cause worsening of their time or space efficiency. Probably the main reason is that most of them consider XML data too globally, involving all their possible features, though the real data are often much simpler. If they do restrict the input data, the restrictions are often unnatural. In this contribution we discuss the level of complexity of real XML collections and their schemes, which turns out to be surprisingly low. We involve and compare results and findings of existing papers on similar topics as well as our own analysis and we try to ¯nd the reasons for these tendencies and their consequences. Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems (IPMU 2006) Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems (IPMU 2006) TAM06 TAM06 In this paper we study learning with Regularization Networks (RN). RN are feedforward neural networks with one hidden layer. Since they have a very good theoretical background, we study their practical aspects and applicability. On experiments we demonstrate the role of the regularization parameter, compare RN with different kernels and parameter settings on benchmark data sets. Then we apply RN to a problem of a flow rate prediction, real data from Czech river Sázava are used. All experiments were made using the system Bang. ESWC`06 - 3rd European Semantic Web Conference ESWC`06 - 3rd European Semantic Web Conference The significance of uncertainty representation has become obvious in the Semantic Web community recently. This paper presents our research on uncertainty handling in automatically created ontologies. A new framework for uncertain information processing is proposed. The research is related to OLE (Ontology LEarning) - a project aimed at bottom-up generation and merging of domain-specific ontologies. Formal systems that underlie the uncertainty representation are briefly introduced. We discuss the universal internal format of uncertain conceptual structures in OLE then and offer a utilisation example then. The proposed format serves as a basis for empirical improvement of initial knowledge acquisition methods as well as for general explicit inference tasks. LREC 2006 - 5th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation LREC 2006 - 5th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation Current Semantic Web implementation efforts pose a number of challenges. One of the big ones among them is development and evolution of specific resources—the ontologies—as a base for representation of the meaning of the web. This paper deals with the automatic acquisition of semantic relations from the text of scientific publications (journal articles, conference papers, project descriptions, etc.). We also describe the process of building of corresponding ontological resources and their application for semi–automatic generation of scientific portals. Extracted relations and ontologies are crucial for the structuring of the information at the portal pages, automatic classification of the presented documents as well as for personalisation at the presentation level. Besides a general description of the portal generating system, we give also a detailed overview of extraction of semantic relations in the form of a domain–specific ontology. The overview consists of presentation of an architecture of the ontology extraction system, description of methods used for mining of semantic relations and analysis of selected results and examples. International Multiconference on Computer Science and Information Technology CSIT 2006 International Multiconference on Computer Science and Information Technology CSIT 2006 Ontology learning is one of the essential topics in the scope of an important area of current computer science and artificial intelligence - the upcoming Semantic Web. As the Semantic Web idea comprises semantically annotated descendant of the current world wide web and related tools and resources, the need of vast and reliable knowledge repositories is obvious. Ontologies present well defined, straightforward and standardised form of these repositories. There are many possible utilisations of ontologies - from automatic annotation of web resources to domain representation and reasoning tasks. However, the ontology creation process is very expensive, time-consuming and unobjective when performed manually. So a framework for automatic acquisition of ontologies would be very advantageous. In this work we present such a framework called OLE (an acronym for Ontology LEarning) and current results of its application. The main relevant topics, state of the art methods and techniques related to ontology acquisition are discussed as a part of theoretical background for the presentation of the OLE framework and respective results. Moreover, we describe also preliminary results of progressive research in the area of uncertain fuzzy ontology representation that will provide us with natural and reasonable instruments for dealing with inconsistencies in empiric data as well as for reasoning. Main future milestones of the ongoing research are debated as well. ISD’ 06 Conference ISD’ 06 Conference Proceedings of ACM MIR 2006 (a workshop at ACM Multimedia 2006) Proceedings of ACM MIR 2006 (a workshop at ACM Multimedia 2006) Doktorandský den 06 Doktorandský den 06 Integration has been an acknowledged problem for a long time. With the aim at combining data from different sources, data integration usually provides a unified global view over these data. A crucial part of the task is the establishment of the connection between the global view and the local sources. Two basic approaches have been proposed for this purpose: Global As View (GAV) and Local As View (LAV).With the Semantic Web and its data description means, there is also another possibility - to employ ontologies for the relationship description in an integration system. Information Retrieval (IR) as a process of searching relevant information is a significant discipline of a data processing field. European Summer School in Information Retrieval ESSIR provides students, academic and industrial researchers and developers a grounding in the core objects of IR (models, architectures, algorithms), as well as covering some current topics, e.g. information retrieval from the Web. We have participated its 5th year that was held at Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland.