No abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to describe TraceALL which is a Semantic Web (SW), ontology-based, service-oriented framework which aims to provide the necessary infrastructure enabling food industry (particularly SMEs) to implement traceability applications using an innovative generic framework. Design/methodology/approach -The framework builds upon the idea of the Semantic Web and provides an open and extensible underlying platform that allows different traceability interconnected applications to be designed and developed. More specifically, the framework provides a formal, ontology-based, general-purpose methodology to support knowledge representation and information modelling in traceability systems. Additionally, it suggests an open application framework based on widely used Semantic Web standards. Finally it provides a set of core services for storing, processing and retrieving traceability information in a scalable way. These components, taken together, facilitate the efficient development of next generation traceability applications. Findings -Based on a case study which the authors executed as a proof of concept and studying the relevant literature it was found that TraceALL facilitates the development of next generation traceability applications because, from a food safety perspective, it enables all stakeholders in the food supply chain to have an information trail that follows the product's physical trail, but at the same time is cost effective, easy to manage and applicable within a globalised, networked, interoperable economic environment. Originality/value -To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first food traceability system based completely on solid existing standards of the Semantic Web initiative. The authors consider that the inspiring analogy between resources such as those described in the Semantic Web initiative and the core traceability concept of a Traceable Resource Unit (TRU) is an extremely useful concept for developing cost-effective traceability applications that possess many key requirements, which are described in the paper.

Public authorities and national healthcare service providers across the European Union and beyond are increasingly under pressure to deliver better services with diminishing resources. Users, quite rightly, demand a high standard of service and increasingly also convenience focused on the needs of the users rather than how the services are organised to deliver them. Users, on the whole, also prefer to be supported in their homes, and be free to move as much as possible. While users without impairments and generally well provided for, there are increasingly also users who have special needs, including the aged and those with a range of physical and mental disabilities who are unable to make effective use of such services from their homes due to the lack of proactive and accessible services. The idea we promote in the chapter is to provide better support to users with disabilities and impairments from the comfort of their home by means of providing them with a set of scalable services which can be either offered for free or purchased through some central form of a marketplace repository

No abstract

No abstract