bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Business Technology Strategy for an Energy Information Company
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: February 2011

Entel1 produces information, data and knowledge, while supporting the energy industry. It sells this content to governments, universities, companies and non-government organizations (NGOs). It generates forecasts, analyzes energy trends and produces historical data; however, Entel needs to transform itself from a relatively traditional content company to one that exploits digital technology for greater market share and profitability. As the energy industry explodes, the company needs to re-think its products, services and client focus. Technology drives most of these challenges. In this paper, the author presents the business technology strategy developed at Entel. It’s an elaborate strategy that calls for the expansion of the overall business model as well as the identification of alternative processes and technologies that will enable the expanded business model.
ERP Systems in Hospitals
Authors: Escobar-Pérez Bernabé , Escobar-Rodríguez Tomás , Monge-Lozano Pedro
Published: February 2011

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate information from different departments in one common database for an entire organization. They have demonstrated their efficacy in a number of companies of different types. However, a problem arises in organizations with highly differentiated cultural areas; often such areas have traditionally had independent information systems and control over the interests of their area, such as hospitals. This case study analyzes the process of an ERP system implementation in a hospital. The study’s objective is to identify, by means of this qualitative research technique, the principal technological objectives that were set in the process of implementation, which of those objectives were achieved, and the deficiencies that have subsequently become evident.
Breast Cancer Diagnosis Using Optimized Attribute Division in Modular Neural Networks
Authors: Kala Rahul , Shukla Anupam , Tiwari Ritu
Published: February 2011

The complexity of problems has led to a shift toward the use of modular neural networks in place of traditional neural networks. The number of inputs to neural networks must be kept within manageable limits to escape from the curse of dimensionality. Attribute division is a novel concept to reduce the problem dimensionality without losing information. In this paper, the authors use Genetic Algorithms to determine the optimal distribution of the parameters to the various modules of the modular neural network. The attribute set is divided into the various modules. Each module computes the output using its own list of attributes. The individual results are then integrated by an integrator. This framework is used for the diagnosis of breast cancer. Experimental results show that optimal distribution strategy exceeds the well-known methods for the diagnosis of the disease.
DISMON
Authors: Lagares-Lemos Ángel M. , Lagares-Lemos Miguel , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , García-Crespo Ángel , Gómez-Berbís Juan Miguel
Published: February 2011

Information technology and, more precisely, the internet represent challenges and opportunities for medicine. Technology-driven medicine has changed how practitioners perform their roles in and medical information systems have recently gained momentum as a proof-of-concept of the efficiency of new support-oriented technologies. Emerging applications combine sharing information with a social dimension. This paper presents DISMON (Disease Monitor), a system based on Semantic Technologies and Social Web (SW) to improve patient care for medical diagnosis in limited environments, namely, organizations. DISMON combines Web 2.0 capacities and SW to provide semantic descriptions of clinical symptoms, thereby facilitating diagnosis and helping to foresee diseases, giving useful information to the company and its employees to increase efficiency by means of the prevention of injuries and illnesses, resulting in a safety environment for workers.
On the Study of Complexity in Information Systems
Authors: Courtney James , Merali Yasmin , Paradice David , Wynn Eleanor
Published: February 2011

This article addresses complexity in information systems. It defines how complexity can be used to inform information systems research, and how some individuals and organizations are using notions of complexity. Some organizations are dealing with technical and physical infrastructure complexity, as well as the application of complexity in specific areas such as supply chain management and network management. Their approaches can be used to address more general organizational issues. The concepts and ideas in this article are relevant to the integration of complexity into information systems research. However, the ideas and concepts in this article are not a litmus test for complexity. We hope only to provide a starting point for information systems researchers to push the boundaries of our understanding of complexity. The article also contains a number of suggested research questions that could be pursued in this area.
Pluralism, Realism, and Truth
Authors: Mingers John
Published: February 2011

The aim of this article is to outline some of the key themes that I believe are important, first, in applying the systems approach to produce high quality IS research in general and, second, to consider more specifically some of the questions and debates that are of interest within the philosophy of IS and of the systems approach. Four themes are identified: being systemic, being critical and realist, being pluralist in approach, and having a concern for truth and knowledge.
Information Systems Design and the Deeply Embedded Exchange and Money-Information Systems of Modern Societies
Authors: Swanson G.A.
Published: February 2011

Information science, like economics, has developed as an analytic science. Such an approach introduces a significant conceptual distance between it and the measurable matter-energy processes that concern major models. Money-information processes are important determinants of the homeostasis of modern exchange-based societies. Their cybernetics may be approached from an abstract, holistic perspective or from a concrete, internal perspective. This discussion approaches certain aspects of social control from a concrete, internal perspective. From that perspective, it is argued that the irreducible unit of modern economic systems is the exchange. Highly complex economies are combinations of specific and observable exchanges. That complexity is facilitated by the introduction of money-information markers to temporally separate the reciprocating transfers of trades. The paper concerns the irreducible unit; internal control affected on societal components by exchange, money, and cybernetic variations and adjustment processes resulting from various money-information imbursements. Some implications for information systems design are considered.
A Conceptual Descriptive-Comparative Study of Models and Standards of Processes in SE, SwE, and IT Disciplines Using the Theory of Systems
Authors: Mora Manuel , Gelman Ovsei , O’Conner Rory , Alvarez Francisco , Macías-Lúevano Jorge
Published: February 2011

The increasing design, manufacturing, and provision complexity of high-quality, cost-efficient and trustworthy products and services has demanded the exchange of best organizational practices in worldwide organizations. While that such a realization has been available to organizations via models and standards of processes, the myriad of them and their heavy conceptual density has obscured their comprehension and practitioners are confused in their correct organizational selection, evaluation, and deployment tasks. Thus, with the ultimate aim to improve the task understanding of such schemes by reducing its business process understanding complexity, in this article we use a conceptual systemic model of a generic business organization derived from the theory of systems to describe and compare two main models (CMMI/SE/SwE, 2002; ITIL V.3, 2007) and four main standards (ISO/IEC 15288, 2002; ISO/IEC 12207, 1995; ISO/IEC 15504, 2005; ISO/IEC 20000, 2006) of processes. Description and comparison are realized through a mapping of them onto the systemic model.
The Systems Approach View from Professor Andrew P. Sage
Authors: Kljajic Miroljub , Mora Manuel
Published: February 2011

Andrew P. Sage is the Founding Dean Emeritus University Professor, and First American Bank Professor in the Systems Engineering and Operation Research Department at George Mason University in USA. Professor Sage is recognized as one of the shapers of the Systems Engineering discipline by his important academic, scientific and consulting contributions for advancing the scientific knowledge and the practice of Systems Engineering from 1960s in the topics of: Systems Integration and Architecting, Complex Adaptive Systems and Knowledge Management, Economic Systems Analysis, and Systems Management. Professor Sage is author or co-author from several books on Systems Engineering and of more than 100 papers in top journals and conferences. Professor Sage has been Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (January 1972 - December 1998), Editor of Automatica (July 1981 - June 1996) and Co-Editor in Chief (with W. B. Rouse) of Information, Knowledge, and Systems Management, IOS Press, from April 1999 at present. Currently, Professor Sage is the Editor In Chief of the International Council on Systems Engineering Journal Systems Engineering from, January 1998. He has received several international awards for his academic and professional activities such as: the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Pioneer Award (2002), the Eta Kappa Nu Eminent Member Award (2002) and the Third Millennium Medal IEEE (2000) among others. His formal education is a B.S.E.E. (The Citadel, 1955), a S.M.E.E. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1956), a Ph.D. (Purdue University, 1960), a D.Engr. (University of Waterloo, 1987, Honoris Causa) and a D.Engr. (Dalhousie University, 1997, Honoris Causa). His wisdom has been gained during more than 40 years doing teaching, research and consulting. In IJITSA journal, we are honored to present the system’s view and thoughts from Professor Sage with the goal to contribute in the systemic integration of the Information Systems, Systems Engineering and Software Engineering disciplines. IJITSA’s questions and Professor Sage’s views are presented in next paragraphs.
The View of Systems Thinking of Dr. James Courtney, Jr.
Authors: David Paradice
Published: February 2011

IJITSA is pleased to continue its interview series in this issue an interview by including the insights of Dr. James (Jim) Courtney, Jr. Dr. Courtney is Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He formerly was Tenneco Professor of Business Administration in the Information and Operations Management Department at Texas A&M University.
From Synergy to Symbiosis
Authors: Katos Vasilios , Stowell Frank , Bednar Peter
Published: February 2011

The objective of this article reflects upon the isomorphic relationship between ideas across disciplines. In this instance we are considering the value of a well established methodology, cross methodology, adopted from macroeconomics and ideas from political science. The cross methodology is used as a means of considering if the relationship between data collected for security proposes and individual privacy. We argue that this relationship is moving towards a symbiotic relationship and away from a synergistic one. In the article we present a model which we transform using system thinking and applying it within the context of security and privacy at the strategic level. The article is about the relationship between security, information and control and the effect that increased surveillance has upon individual privacy and freedom.
Model-Driven Engineering of Composite Service Oriented Applications
Authors: Karakostas Bill , Zorgios Yannis
Published: February 2011

Composite applications integrate web services with other business applications and components to implement business processes. Model-driven approaches tackle the complexity of composite applications caused by domain and technology heterogeneity and integration requirements. The method and framework described in this paper generate all artefacts (workflow, data, user interfaces, etc.), required for a composite application from high level service oriented descriptions of the composite application, using model transformation and code generation techniques.
A Service Oriented Architecture for Coordination in Collaborative Environments
Authors: Valverde Beatriz Jiménez , Román Miguel Sánchez , Vela Francisco L. Gutiérrez , Rodríguez Patricia Paderewski
Published: February 2011

An important feature in collaborative environment is coordination, defined as the act of managing interdependencies between activities performed to achieve a goal. These interdependencies can be the result of loosely integrated collaborative activities (the use of coordination processes within the collaboration activities is not required) or tightly integrated collaborative activities (sophisticated coordination mechanisms are necessary). The existence of both activities along with the dynamic nature of these environments adds a greater complexity to the coordination that has not been taken into account in traditional collaborative systems. In this work, the authors present a partially Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) that defines and maintains dynamic coordination polities in collaborative systems based on coordination models.
Block Alliances in Formal Standard Setting Environments
Authors: Warner Alfred G.
Published: February 2011

This paper extends the examination of block alliances in standard setting from market-driven to formal or committee-based processes in the information and communications industry. Formal process block alliances are argued to emerge in anticipation of institutional failure, that is, from the prospect that formal standardization will not yield a timely or correct solution. These block alliances organize around particular or more general technology streams and have distinctive characteristics. These include a clear articulation and separation of marketing and technical specification roles. Finally, block alliances in formal standard setting exhibit a governance form corporate in nature and distinct from the star or clique forms exhibited in market-based alliances. Some potential causes of this are examined.
How High-Technology Start-Up Firms May Overcome Direct and Indirect Network Externalities
Authors: Pruett Mark , Lee Hun , Lee Ji-Ren , O’Neal Donald
Published: February 2011

This paper presents a conceptual model of strategic choice for high-technology start-up firms in the face of network externalities—the strength of the market’s preference for standardized technology. Our model suggests that the commercialization strategies followed by such a firm will depend on the type of network externalitites—direct versus indirect—as well as the degree of appropriability—the firm’s ability to retain the value of innovation. We offer a number of propositions generated by the model and discuss their implications.
Consortium Problem Redefined
Authors: Egyedi Tineke M.
Published: February 2011

This paper examines the standards consortium problem (i.e., lack democratic procedures) and the democratic rhetoric that surrounds it from a European perspective. The social shaping approach is used. The analysis addresses the organizational level (consortium procedures) and the actor network level (processes of meaning negotiation). The research method includes two in-depth case studies of consortium standardization: Java in ECMA and the Extended Markup Language (XML) in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The findings illustrate inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the way the consortium problem is defined. They indicate that the dominant rhetoric underestimates the openness of most industry consortia and overestimates the practical implications of the formal democratic procedures. This unbalanced portrayal and sustained indistinctness about what is meant by ‘democracy’ are part of the meaning negotiation that takes place in the actor network. Implicitly, the European actor network is still predominantly defined as an instrument of regulatory governance. This marginalizes the role of consortia. The paper offers several suggestions to redefine the consortium problem.
Standardization and Competing Consortia
Authors: van Wegberg Marc
Published: February 2011

The consortia movement in the standardization world has led to a fragmentation of standardization processes. This fragmentation is partly of a competitive nature, where rival coalitions support competing technologies. A critique on this movement is that it fragments technologies and multiplies the number of standards. The aim of supporting competing technologies may reflect experimentation with different technological paths. It may also, however, reflect differences in intellectual property rights of firms. From a user’s perspective, the competing technologies may represent spurious differences that increase uncertainty, and create transaction costs. The consortia do have a function for end users: Established industry-wide standard development organizations (SDOs) may be slow to act, bureaucratic, and inflexible to changes in users’ needs and new opportunities; consortia speed up the process of standardization. This paper argues that consortia do indeed tend to correct these coordination failures of the official SDOs. They do so at a cost, however, and because of this, industry-wide SDOs still have a role to play.
In Pursuit of Interoperability
Authors: Moseley Scott , Randall Steve , Wiles Anthony
Published: February 2011

Traditionally, conformance testing has been the domain of the telecommunications industry, while interoperability testing has mainly been limited to the Internet world. Many see these as either/or solutions, ignoring the fact that recent experience shows that both approaches have their strengths when used wisely. This paper discusses the merits and shortcomings of each approach and shows how they can usefully be combined to maximise the effectiveness of the testing process. This is especially relevant where testing is being treated as a potential branding issue by various fora. This paper is based on many years of practical experience of writing test specifications at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). It presents ETSI standardisation activities on testing, including the development of a generic interoperability testing methodology and the work being done by the Technical Committee Methods for Testing and Specification (MTS), the ETSI Protocol and Testing Competence Centre (PTCC), and the ETSI PlugtestsTM service.
Standardization and Innovation Policies in the Information Age
Authors: Krechmer Ken
Published: February 2011

In the information age, governmental policies in support of innovation are having a growing impact on trade and free market coordination. A balance between innovation and coordination is often achieved by market-sensitive standardization. Governmental policies that interfere with the balance that market-sensitive standardization can achieve are not usually successful. But governmental policies that recognize the changes occurring in the information age and support corresponding changes in innovation and standardization policies are needed.
Standardization in Enterprise Inter- and Intraorganizational Integration
Authors: Kosanke K.
Published: February 2011

The worldwide collaboration and cooperation of enterprises of all sizes have increased the need for interoperability standards, especially for businesses in global environments. Such standards are concerned with the communication aspects of information and communication technology (ICT), such as protocols, safety, and security, as well as the syntax and semantics of the communication content. Sender and receiver must be able to trust both the communication and the validity of its content. Both parties have to have the same understanding of the meaning of the exchanged information. Unfortunately, the standards are developed independently by different standards organizations using incompatible and inconsistent terminology, thereby hampering significantly the deployment of existing standards and the development of still missing ones. The paper presents existing standards in the area of enterprise inter- and intraorganizational integration and identifies shortcomings in the current standards, especially problems in the area of terminology.
Findings and Recommendations from a Pan-European Research Project
Authors: Schmitz Volker , Leukel Joerg
Published: February 2011

This paper describes the methodology of a European research project on e-catalog standards and presents its major findings by formulating recommendations for future standardization work. The comparative analysis of 14 standards was conducted within the CEN/ISSS Workshop eCAT that aims at setting the basis for harmonized e-catalog standards. As part of this workshop, we present a framework and a complementing set of criteria for assessing the quality of e-business standards. Eventually, we apply this methodology to our object of interest. The findings can be regarded as an assessment of the state of the art in e-catalog standardization. By identifying problems and obstacles that hinder a broader acceptance and diffusion of standards, we argue on more suitable, harmonized standards.
Comparing the Standards Lens with Other Perspectives on IS Innovations
Authors: Markus M. Lynne , Gelinas Jr. Ulric J.
Published: February 2011

Conceptual labels influence researchers’ observations and analytic insights. This article aims to clarify the contributions of standards label by contrasting it with other ways of viewing the same entity and applying it to the IT-enabled supply chain innovation of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR). Proponents have labeled CPFR not only as a standard but also, at different decreasing levels of abstraction, as a business philosophy, methodology, and set of technologies. By comparing the analytic leverage offered by the different labels, we conclude that there is value in combining the standards perspective with other conceptual lenses. The specific case of CPFR also raises an interesting question for future research: Can information systems innovations justifiably be considered standardized in practice, if they are not standardized at all relevant levels of abstraction?
Scope and Timing of Deployment
Authors: West Joel , Dedrick Jason
Published: February 2011

Here we present a qualitative study of how organizations do (or do not) adopt a new computer server platform standard; namely, Linux using PC-compatible hardware. While discussions of Linux typically focus on its open source origins, our respondents were interested primarily in low price. Despite this relative advantage in price, incumbent standards enjoyed other advantages identified by prior theory; namely, network effects and switching costs. We show when, how, and why such incumbent advantages are overcome by a new standard. We find that Linux adoption within organizations began for uses with a comparatively limited scope of deployment, thus minimizing network effect and switching costs disadvantages. We identify four attributes of information systems that potentially limit the scope of deployment: few links of the system to organizational processes, special-purpose computer systems, new uses, and replacement of obsolete systems. We also identify an organizational level variable—internal standardization—which increases scope of deployment and, thus, the attractiveness of the incumbent standard.
Factors Influencing the Lifetime of Telecommunication and Information Technology Standards
Authors: Blind Knut
Published: February 2011

This article presents the results of an explorative study for the lifetimes and survival rates of formal standards in telecommunication and information technology. The analysis reveals that the survival rate depends on the dynamic development of technologies and on country-specific characteristics. In a second step, we tried to identify factors influencing the lifetimes of standards. In general, standards replacing an already existing document have an expected survival time compared to documents without a predecessor. Standards with a successor document have, as anticipated, a shorter expected lifetime. Finally, the increased speed of technological change reduces the lifetimes of standards. Based on these first insights, we derive the following recommendations. First, standardisation bodies should adapt their standard maintenance according to the specific requirements of technologies and the related markets, but should also harmonise their processes at the international level in order to avoid frictions for the development of technologies and markets.
Network Operators' Requirements and the Structure of Telecommunications Standards
Authors: Rysman Marc , Simcoe Tim
Published: February 2011

This article uses citations to patents disclosed in the standard setting process to measure the technological significance of voluntary standard setting organizations (SSOs). We find that SSO patents are outliers in several dimensions and importantly, are cited far more frequently than a set of control patents. More surprisingly, we find that SSO patents receive citations for a much longer period of time. Furthermore, we find a significant correlation between citation and the disclosure of a patent to an SSO, which may imply a marginal impact of disclosure. These results provide the first empirical look at patents disclosed to SSO’s, and show that these organizations both select important technologies and play a role in establishing their significance.
U.S. and EU Regulatory Competition and Authentication Standards in Electronic Commerce
Authors: Brzeziński Krzysztof M.
Published: February 2011

Network Operators (NOs) are an important class of users of telecommunications standards, and it is reasonable to expect that their needs should be reflected in these standards. The generic task of a NO is network development, for which a particular class of company standards—the Operator’s Requirements (ORs)—are used. It is argued that the current approach to developing and using ORs is costly, inefficient and error-prone. We propose that the “external” standards, developed by the Standards Development Organizations, be extended with a new part, called Embedded Capability Relations, which would constitute a formalized, common base for individual ORs. We propose a concrete notation for this new part and discuss its features in the context of the current methodology for the formulation of standards.
Teaching Standards to Engineers
Authors: Krechmer Ken
Published: February 2011

This article focuses on the training needed by technical experts, and explores the type of academic course work as well as training that they need in the field of standards and standardization.
A Step Towards the Adoption of Standards Within the UK Ministry of Defence
Authors: Thomas Josephine W. , Probets Steve , Dawson Ray , King Tim
Published: February 2011

This article seeks to identify the factors that have impacted the adoption of ISO 10303, the Standard for the Exchange of Product Data (STEP), within the UK Ministry of Defence. The analysis presented in this article is based on Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory and the theory surrounding the Economics of Standards. Using a case study approach, the results indicate that several DOI and economic factors have impacted the adoption of STEP. These findings offer insights into some of the technological, organizational, and environmental influences on standards adoption. It is envisioned that these results will make a contribution towards the body of knowledge surrounding the factors and barriers critical to the adoption of standards like STEP, and enable more effective development and adoption of these standards.
IPR Policy of the DVB Project
Authors: Eltzroth Carter
Published: February 2011

The DVB Project is a European-based standards forum that for close to 15 years has been developing specifications for digital video broadcasting, many now implemented worldwide. Its IPR policy has several novel elements. These include “negative disclosure,” the obligation of each member to license IPRs essential to DVB specifications unless it gives notice of the unavailability of the IPR. This approach contrasts with the more common rule (e.g., within ANSI accredited bodies) calling for IPR disclosure and confirmation of availability on FR&ND terms. Other notable features of the IPR policy of DVB are arbitration and fostering of patent pooling. This article provides a commentary on the DVB’s IPR policy and on its application. It also describes the work of the DVB in resolving IPR “gateway” issues when the perceived dominance of technology contributors, notably through control over IPRs, risked, in the view of some members, distorting new digital markets. In two cases, DVB has created a licensing mechanism to dispel these concerns. In addition to the quality of its technical work, DVB’s success lies in its novel IPR policy and its ability to achieve consensus to resolve gateway issues.
Is Accreditation Important in Standards Work?
Authors: Best Karl F.
Published: February 2011

Among the hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations which develop standards there is a wide range of organizational structures, practices and policies, and levels of recognition or accreditation. But accredited and unaccredited standards organizations, commonly referred to as “SDOs” and “SSOs” respectively, are more alike than usually thought, and over the past decade have been converging in their practices and recognition of each others’ work. One may ask what the difference is between these organizations, as accreditation by itself is not a valid distinguishing feature – many unaccredited organizations are fully qualified to become accredited and would do so if only they saw the need or benefit. Standards used for such important technical advances as the World Wide Web come from unaccredited organizations, and users of standards seem to care little if the work was done in an accredited environment or not. So does accreditation matter?
The First ITU-T Kaleidoscope Conference
Authors: Jakobs Kai
Published: February 2011

EVENT REPORT: Recently, the ITU-T has started to increase their efforts in the field of co-operation with academia. A consultation meeting of ITU-T and representatives of numerous Universities in early 2007 concluded that one suitable way ahead would be the organisation of a series of academic conferences, addressing issues of mutual interest. As a result, the first ITU-T Kaleidoscope conference took place in Geneva, 12-13 May 2008. To highlight the forwardlooking character of the event, it was themed on ‘Innovations in NGN’.
Interpreting and Enforcing the Voluntary FRAND Commitment
Authors: Brooks Roger G. , Geradin Damien
Published: February 2011

Although often debated as though it were public law, a FRAND undertaking is a private contract between a patent-holder and an SSO. Applying ordinary principles of contract interpretation to the case of ETSI IPR policy reveals that “interpretations” of FRAND advocated by some authors—including cumulative royalty limits, royalties set by counting patents, or a prohibition on capture by the patent-holder of any gains created by standardization—cannot be correct. Rather, a FRAND obligation leaves wide latitude to private parties negotiating a license. However, this does not mean that a FRAND commitment has no substance to be enforced by courts. In this paper, the authors review how, consistent with both contract principles and established judicial method, courts can enforce a contractual obligation to offer licenses on FRAND terms, without becoming IPR price regulators. Similarly, ordinary principles of contract interpretation reveal that the “non-discriminatory” portion of FRAND cannot be interpreted to be coextensive with common “most favored nations” provisions, but instead contemplates substantial latitude for private parties to negotiate terms suited to their particular situations.
Standardising the Internet of Things
Authors: Jakobs Kai , Wagner Thomas , Reimers Kai
Published: February 2011

The paper reports findings of a project that aimed at making initial recommendations on how the standards setting processes for the Internet of Things can be adapted to provide for a level playing field for all stakeholders. To this end, the opinions of experts in the field were compiled through a survey and a ‘study with Delphi elements’.
Experience Report
Authors: Blake M. Brian , Singh Lisa , Williams Andrew B. , Norman Wendell , Silva Amy L.
Published: February 2011

Organizations are beginning to apply data mining and knowledge discovery techniques to their corporate data sets, thereby enabling the identification of trends and the discovery of inductive knowledge. Since traditional transaction databases are not optimized for analytical processing, they must be transformed. This article proposes the use of modular components to decrease the overall amount of human processing and intervention necessary for the transformation process. Our approach configures components to extract data-sets using a set of “extraction hints.” Our framework incorporates decentralized, generic components that are reusable across domains and databases. Finally, we detail an implementation of our component-based framework for an aviation data set.
E-Portfolio to Promote the Virtual Learning Group Communities on the Grid
Authors: Gouarderes Guy , Conte Emilie
Published: February 2011

In Vocational and Educational Training (VET), new trends are toward social learning and, more precisely, toward informal learning. In such settings, this article introduces a process — the e-Qualification — to manage informal learning on the ELeGI “Learning Grid Infrastructure.” It argues that this process must occur in a social context, such as virtual communities. On the one hand, it describes their necessary characteristics and proprieties that lead to the creation of a new kind of virtual community: the Virtual Learning Grid Community (VLGC). On the other hand, e-Qualification cannot occur without the help of a kind of user’s profile, called e-portfolio. Moreover, the e-portfolio is also a process, used to manage the Virtual Learning Grid Communities. The e-Qualification and Virtual Learning Grid Communities’ management will probably rely on the cooperation of different distributed, autonomous, goal-oriented entities, called Mobile Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Agents. Furthermore, we hope that implementing these services will decrease the lack of informal learning treatment on the grid and will become the basis for new services on the Learning Grid.
Integration of Libre Software Applications to Create a Collaborative Work Platform for Researchers at GET
Authors: Berger Olivier , Bac Christian , Hame Benoît
Published: February 2011

Libre software provides powerful applications ready to be integrated for the build up of platforms for internal use in organisations. We describe the architecture of the collaborative work platform which we have integrated and designed for researchers at GET. We present the elements we have learned during this project in particular, with respect to contribution to external libre projects, in order to better ensure the maintainability of the internal applications, and to phpGroupware as a framework for specific applications development.
eDAR Algorithm for Continuous KNN Queries Based on Pine
Authors: Safar Maytham , Ebrahimi Dariush
Published: February 2011

The continuous K nearest neighbor (CKNN) query is an important type of query that continuously finds the KNN to a query point on a given path. In this article we focus on moving queries issued on stationary objects in spatial network database (SNDB). The result of this type of query is a set of intervals (defined by split points) and their corresponding KNNs. This means that the KNN of an object travelling on one interval of the path remains the same all through that interval until it reaches a split point where its KNNs change. Existing methods for CKNN are based on Euclidean distances. In this article, we propose a new algorithm for answering CKNN in SNDB where the important measure for the shortest path is network distances rather than Euclidean distances. We propose DAR and eDAR algorithms to address CKNN queries based on the progressive incremental network expansion (PINE) technique. Our experiments show that the eDAR approach has better response time, and requires fewer shortest distance computations and KNN queries than approaches that are based on VN3 using IE.
Web Data Warehousing Convergence
Authors: Le D. Xuan , Rahayu J. Wenny , Taniar David
Published: February 2011

This article proposes a data warehouse integration technique that combines data and documents from different underlying documents and database design approaches. The well-defined and structured data such as relational, object-oriented and object relational data, semi-structured data such as XML, and unstructured data such as HTML documents are integrated into a Web data warehouse system. The user specified requirements and data sources are combined to assist with the definitions of the hierarchical structures, which serve specific requirements and represent a certain type of data semantics using object-oriented features including inheritance, aggregation, association, and collection. A conceptual integrated data warehouse model is then specified based on a combination of user requirements and data source structure, which creates the need for a logical integrated data warehouse model. A case study is then developed into a prototype in a Web-based environment that enables the evaluation. The evaluation of the proposed integration Web data warehouse methodology includes the verification of correctness of the integrated data, and the overall benefits of utilizing this proposed integration technique.
Studying and Analysis of a Vertical Web Page Classifier Based on Continuous Learning Naïve Bayes (CLNB) Algorithm
Authors: Ali H. A. , Desouky Ali I.El , Saleh Ahmed I.
Published: February 2011

Recently it will be more valued to build vertical classifiers to classify pages related to a specific domain and compensate those classifiers with novel learning techniques to achieve better performance. The contribution of this paper is three edged; firstly, a novel continuous learning technique is introduced. Secondly, the paper presents a new trend for Web page classification by presenting the domain-oriented classifiers. A new way of applying Bayes and K-Nearest Neighbor algorithms is introduced in order to build Domain Oriented (DONB) and (DOKNN) classifiers. The third contribution is combining both disciplines by introducing a novel classification strategy. Such strategy adds the continuous learning ability to Bayes theorem to build a (CLNB) classifier. It allows the classifier to adapt itself continuously for achieving better performance, and overcome the problem of overfitting. Experimental results have shown that CLNB demonstrates significant performance improvement over both DONB and DOKNN where its accuracy goes beyond 94.1% after testing 1000 pages.
A Multi-Agent Temporal Constraint Satisfaction System Based on Allen's Interval Algebra and Probabilities
Authors: Shakshuki Elhadi , Trudel André , Xu Yiqing
Published: February 2011

We present a multi-agent distributed temporal scheduling system based on probabilistic Interval Algebra networks (i.e., PIA networks). The overall goal is to make each agent’s network consistent and optimal. Each agent is independent and has sole control over its network. But, it must communicate and coordinate with other agents when modifying or updating shared edges. We present an algorithm which allows the agents to collaboratively solve and recommend a temporal schedule. At the agent level, this schedule is optimal under the given local constraints. Although the global solution may not be optimal, we try to generate near optimal ones. Note that our distributed system is not centrally controlled. We use our system to solve scheduling problems from a university problem domain. We also describe the implementation of our proposed system which uses Java, JXTA, and JGraph.
A Survey of Web Service Discovery Systems
Authors: Le Duy Ngan , Soong Goh Angela Eck
Published: February 2011

Web services form the core of e-business and hence, have experienced a rapid development in the past few years. This has led to a demand for a discovery mechanism for Web services. Discovery is the most important task in the Web service model because Web services are use-less if they cannot be discovered. A large number of Web service discovery systems have been developed. Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) is a typical mechanism that stores indexes to Web services but it does not support semantics. Semantic Web service discovery systems that have been developed include systems that support matching Web services using the same ontology, systems that support matching Web services using different ontologies, and systems that support limitations of UDDI. This chapter presents a survey of Web service discovery systems, focusing on systems that support semantics. The article also elaborates on open issues relating to such discovery systems.
A Multiagent Approach for Configuring and Explaining Workflow of Semantic Web Services
Authors: Furtado Vasco , Ayres Leonardo , Fernandes Gustavo
Published: February 2011

In this article, we describe a multiagent application that configures Semantic Web services following a design problem solving method. For that, a propose-and-revise strategy was modeled and implemented in OWL-S. The other contribution of this method is the extension of OWL-S for recording the service execution flow followed by the agent. The trace of the agent’s reasoning is stored in node sets represented in a proof markup language, which make up a framework for explanations on the Web. The proposed approach is shown to be useful in the context of e-business where the workflow definition of services is automatically performed by the agents in order to configure a computer from a customer order.
Employing Graph Network Analysis for Web Service Composition
Authors: Gekas John , Fasli Maria
Published: February 2011

The Web services paradigm has enabled an increasing number of providers to host remotely accessible services. However, the true potential of such a distributed infrastructure can only be reached when such autonomic services can be combined together as parts of a workflow, in order to collectively achieve combined functionality. In this article, we present our work in the area of automatic workflow composition among Web services with semantically described functionality capabilities. For this purpose, we use a set of heuristics derived from the connectivity structure of the service repository in order to effectively guide the composition process. The methodologies presented in this article have been inspired by research in areas such as graph network analysis, social network analysis, and bibliometrics. In addition, we present comparative experimentation results in order to evaluate the presented techniques.
A Semantic Web-based Approach for Context-Aware User Query formulation and Information Retrieval
Authors: Hoang Hahn H. , Nguyen Tho M. , Tjoa A M.
Published: February 2011

Formulating unambiguous queries in the Semantic Web applications is a challenging task for users. This article presents a new approach in guiding users to formulate clear requests based on their common nature of querying for information. The approach known as the front-end approach gives users an overview about the system data through a virtual data component which stores the extracted metadata of the data storage sources in the form of an ontology. This approach reduces the ambiguities in users’ requests at a very early stage and allows the query process to effectively perform in fulfilling users’ demands in a context-aware manner. Furthermore, the approach provides a powerful query engine, called context-aware querying, that recommends the appropriate query patterns according to the user’s querying context.
The Impact of Ontology on the Performance of Information Retrieval
Authors: Indrawan Maria , Loke Seng W.
Published: February 2011

The debate on the effectiveness of ontology in solving semantic problems has increased recently in many domains of information technology. One side of the debate accepts the inclusion of ontology as a suitable solution. The other side of the debate argues that ontology is far from an ideal solution to the semantic problem. This article explores this debate in the area of information retrieval. Several past approaches were explored and a new approach was investigated to test the effectiveness of a generic ontology such as WordNet in improving the performance of information retrieval systems. The test and the analysis of the experiments suggest that WordNet is far from the ideal solution in solving semantic problems in the information retrieval. However, several observations have been made and reported in this article that allow research in ontology for the information retrieval to move towards the right direction.
Localized User Interface for Improving Cell phone Users' Device Competency
Authors: Krisnawati Lucia D. , Restyandito
Published: February 2011

This study tried to examine how cell phone users who undergo a technology leap acquire their procedural knowledge of operating a cell phone and to find out which factors can improve their device competency. Using interviews, usability tests, and a questionnaire, this study found out that many respondents use unstructured means such as asking other cell phone users or rote learning in gaining their procedural knowledge. Some factors influencing users’ device competencies that were found in this study are classified into three categories: user interface design, culture, and the users themselves. In order to improve users’ device competency, elements in those three categories must be integrated. One realization of such integration is the attempt of localizing user interface through the user’s culture, not the culture where the cell phone is designed and manufactured.
Interoperability in Web-Based Geospatial Applications
Authors: Sikder Iftikhar U. , Gangopadhyay Aryya , Shampur Nikhil V.
Published: February 2011

This paper characterizes the requirements of geographic information systems (GIS) middleware and its components for dynamic registering and discovering of spatial services specifically for collaborative modeling in environmental planning. The paper explores the role of Web services with respect to implementation standard and protocols and identifies implementation features for exposing distributed GIS business logic and components via Web services. In particular, the paper illustrates applications of the interoperability specifications of Open GIS Consortium’s (OGC) Web mapping service and (WMS), Web processing standards (WPS) with respect to implementation feature. The paper demonstrates a prototype implementation of collaborative environmental decision support systems (GEO-ELCA- Exploratory Land Use Change Assessment) where Web service-enabled middleware adds core functionality to a Web mapping service. The application demonstrates how individual workspace-based namespaces can be used to perform Web mapping functionality.