ICEIS 2007 Abstracts

Area 1 - Databases and Information Systems Integration

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	116
Title:	TRANSFORMATION OF LEGACY BUSINESS SOFTWARE INTO CLIENT-SERVER ARCHITECTURES
Authors:	Thomas Rauber and Gudula Rünger
Abstract:	Business software systems in use contain specific knowledge which is essential for the enterprise using the software and the software has often grown over years. However, it is difficult to adapt these software systems to the rapidly changing hardware and software technologies. This so-called legacy problem is extremely cost intensive when a change in the software itself or the hardware platform is required due to a change in the business processes of the enterprise or the hardware technology. Thus, a common problem in business software is the cost effective analysis, documentation, and transformation of business software. In this paper, we concentrate on the transformation issue of software systems and propose an incremental process for transforming monolithic business software into client-server architectures. The internal logical structure of the software system is used to create software components in a flexible way. The transformation process is supported by a transformation toolset which preserves correctness and functionality.
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Paper Nr:	116
Title:	TRANSFORMATION OF LEGACY BUSINESS SOFTWARE INTO CLIENT-SERVER ARCHITECTURES
Authors:	Thomas Rauber and Gudula Rünger
Abstract:	Business software systems in use contain specific knowledge which is essential for the enterprise using the software and the software has often grown over years. However, it is difficult to adapt these software systems to the rapidly changing hardware and software technologies. This so-called legacy problem is extremely cost intensive when a change in the software itself or the hardware platform is required due to a change in the business processes of the enterprise or the hardware technology. Thus, a common problem in business software is the cost effective analysis, documentation, and transformation of business software. In this paper, we concentrate on the transformation issue of software systems and propose an incremental process for transforming monolithic business software into client-server architectures. The internal logical structure of the software system is used to create software components in a flexible way. The transformation process is supported by a transformation toolset which preserves correctness and functionality.
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Paper Nr:	121
Title:	INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION DURING MERGERS: INTEGRATION MODES TYPOLOGY AND INTEGRATION PATHS
Authors:	Gerald Brunetto
Abstract:	Today Information Systems (IS) integration constitutes one of the major success factors of mergers and acquisitions. This article draws on two case studies of firms having realized more than 10 mergers and acquisitions between 1990 and 2000. This paper shows the importance of carrying out an approach to understand IS integration process. This approach represents the necessity of using organizational configuration to define possible IS integration modes. Thus we show the importance of organizational, strategic and technological contingencies within the elaboration of integration mode.
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Paper Nr:	277
Title:	XML SCHEMA STRUCTURAL EQUIVALENCE
Authors:	Angela Duta, Ken Barker and Reda Alhajj
Abstract:	The Xequiv algorithm determines when two XML schemas are equivalent based on their structural organization. It calculates the percentages of schema inclusion in another schema by considering the cardinality of each leaf node and its interconnection to other leaf nodes that are part of a sequence or choice structure. Xequiv is based on the Reduction Algorithm (Duta et al., 2006) that focuses on the leaf nodes and eliminates intermediate levels in the XML tree.
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Paper Nr:	433
Title:	DETERMINING THE COSTS OF ERP IMPLEMENTATION
Authors:	Rob Kusters, Fred Heemstra and Arjan Jonker
Abstract:	The key question of the research reported here is 'which factors influence Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation costs'. A 'theoretical' answer to this question has been designed by studying the sparsely available literature on ERP implementation costs, and adding to this relevant items from the related fields of software cost estimation, COTS implementation cost estimation, and ERP implementation critical success factors. This result has been compared with empirical data that have been obtained from two large corporations. The combined result is a first attempt to define ERP implementation cost drivers.
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Paper Nr:	455
Title:	STATISTICS API: DBMS-INDEPENDENT ACCESS AND MANAGEMENT OF DBMS STATISTICS IN HETEROGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS
Authors:	Tobias Kraft and Bernhard Mitschang
Abstract:	Many of today’s applications access not a single but a multitude of databases running on different DBMSs. Federation technology is being used to integrate these databases and to offer a single query-interface to the user where he can run queries accessing tables stored on different remote databases. So, the optimizer of the federated DBMS has to decide what portion of the query should be processed by the federated DBMS itself and what portion should be executed at the remote systems. Thereto, it has to retrieve cost estimates for query fragments from the remote databases. The response of these databases typically contains cost and cardinality estimates but no statistics about the data stored in these databases. However, statistics are optimization-critical information which is the crucial factor for any kind of decision making in the optimizer of the federated DBMS. When this information is not available optimization has to rely on imprecise heuristics mostly based on default selectivities. To fill this gap, we propose Statistics API, a JAVA interface that provides DBMS-independent access to statistics data stored in databases running on different DBMSs. Statistics API also defines data structures used for the statistics data returned by or passed to the interface. We have implemented this interface for the three prevailing commercial DBMSs IBM DB2, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. These implementations are available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). This paper introduces the interface, i.e. the methods and data structures of the Statistics API, and discusses some details of the three interface implementations.
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Paper Nr:	456
Title:	DYNAMIC COMMIT TREE MANAGEMENT FOR SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURES
Authors:	Stefan Böttcher and Sebastian Obermeier
Abstract:	Whenever Service Oriented Architectures make use of Web service transactions and an atomic processing of these transactions is required, atomic commit protocols are used for this purpose. Compared to traditional client server architectures, atomicity for Web services and Web service composition is much more challenging since in many cases sub-transactions belonging to a global transaction are not known in advance. In this contribution, we present a dynamic commit tree that guarantees atomicity for transactions that invoke sub-transactions dynamically during the commit protocol’s execution. Furthermore, our commit tree allows the identification of obsolete sub-transactions that occur if sub-transactions are aborted and restart.
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Paper Nr:	459
Title:	A VIRTUALIZATION APPROACH FOR REUSING MIDDLEWARE ADAPTERS
Authors:	Ralf Wagner and Bernhard Mitschang
Abstract:	Middleware systems use adapters to integrate remote systems and to provide uniform access to them. Different middleware platforms use different adapter technologies, e.g. the J2EE platform uses J2EE connectors and federated database systems based on the SQL standard use SQL wrappers. However, a middleware platform cannot use adapters of a different middleware platform, e.g. a J2EE application server cannot use an SQL wrapper. Even if an SQL wrapper exists for a remote system that is to be integrated by a J2EE application server, a separate J2EE connector for that remote system has to be written. Tasks like that occur over and over again and require to invest additional resources where existing IT infrastructure should be reused. Therefore, we propose an approach that allows to reuse existing adapters. Reusing adapters is achieved by means of a virtualization tier that can handle adapters of different types and that provides uniform access to them. This enables middleware platforms to use each others adapters and thereby avoids the costly task of writing new adapters.
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Paper Nr:	462
Title:	XML INDEX COMPRESSION BY DTD SUBTRACTION
Authors:	Stefan Böttcher, Rita Hartel and Niklas Klein
Abstract:	Whenever XML is used as format to exchange large amounts of data or even for data streams, the verbose behavior of XML is one of the bottlenecks. While compression of XML data seems to be a way out, it is essential for a variety of applications that the compression result can be queried efficiently. Furthermore, for efficient path query evaluation, an index is desired, which usually generates an additional data structure. For this purpose, we have developed a compression technique that uses structure information found in the DTD to perform a structure-preserving compression of XML data and provides a compression of an index that allows for efficient search in the compressed data. Our evaluation shows that compression factors which are close to gzip are possible, whereas the structural part of XML files can be compressed even better.
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Paper Nr:	520
Title:	ONE-TO-MANY DATA TRANSFORMATION OPERATIONS - Optimization and Execution on an RDBMS
Authors:	Paulo Carreira, Helena Galhardas, João Pereira and Andrzej Wichert
Abstract:	The optimization capabilities of RDBMSs make them attractive for executing data transformations that support ETL, data cleaning and integration activities. However, despite the fact that many useful data transformations can be expressed as relational queries, an important class of data transformations that produces several output tuples for a single input tuple cannot be expressed in that way. To address this limitation a new operator, named data mapper, has been proposed as an extension of Relational Algebra for expressing one-to-many data transformations. In this paper we study the feasibility of implementing the mapper operator as a primitive operator on an RDBMS. Data transformations expressed as combinations of standard relational operators and mappers can be optimized resulting in interesting performance gains.
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Paper Nr:	528
Title:	MODELING DIMENSIONS IN THE XDW MODEL - A LVM-Driven Approach
Authors:	R. Rajugan, Elizabeth Chang and Tharam S. Dillon
Abstract:	Since the introduction of eXtensible Markup Language (XML), XML repositories have gained a foothold in many global (and government) organizations, where, e-Commerce and e-Business models have maturated in handling daily transactional data among heterogeneous information systems. Due to this, the amount of data available for enterprise decision-making process is increasing exponentially and are being stored and/or communicated in XML. This presents an interesting challenge to investigate models, frameworks and techniques for organizing and analyzing such voluminous, yet distributed XML documents for business intelligence in the form of XML warehouse repositories and XML marts. In our previous work, we proposed a Layered View Model (LVM) driven, conceptual modeling framework for the design and development of an XML Document Warehouse (XDW) model with emphasis on conceptual and logical semantics. There, we presented a view-driven framework to conceptually model and deploy meaningful XML FACT repositories in the XDW model. Here, in this paper, we look at the hierarchical dimensions and their theoretical semantics used to design, specify and define dimensions over an XML FACT repository in the XDW model. One of the unique properties of this LVM-driven approach is that the dimensions are considered as first-class citizens of the XDW conceptual model. Also, here, to illustrate our concepts, we use a real-world case study example; a logically grouped, geographically dispersed, XDW model in the context of a global logistics and cold-storage company.
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Paper Nr:	748
Title:	USING AN INDEX OF PRECOMPUTED JOINS IN ORDER TO SPEED UP SPARQL PROCESSING
Authors:	Sven Groppe, Jinghua Groppe and Volker Linnemann
Abstract:	SparQL is a query language developed by the W3C, the purpose of which is to query a data set in RDF representing a directed graph. Many free available or commercial products already support SparQL processing. Current index-based optimizations integrated in these products typically construct indices on the subject, predicate and object of an RDF triple, which is a single datum of the RDF data, in order to speed up the execution time of SparQL queries. In order to query the directed graph of RDF data, SparQL queries typically contain many joins over a set of triples. We propose to construct and use an index of precomputed joins, where we take advantage of the homogenous structure of RDF data. Furthermore, we present experimental results, which demonstrate the achievable speed-up factors for SparQL processing.
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Paper Nr:	929
Title:	MONITORING WEB DATA SOURCES USING TEMPORAL PROPERTIES AS AN EXTERNAL RESOURCES OF A DATA WAREHOUSE
Authors:	Francisco Araque , Alberto Salguero and Cecilia Delgado Negrete
Abstract:	Flexibility to react on rapidly changing general conditions of the environment has become a key factor for economic success of any company, and the WWW has become an important resource of information for this proposal. Nowadays most of the important enterprise has incorporated the Data Warehouse (DW) technology where the information retrieved from different sources, including the WWW, has been integrated. The quality of data provided to the decision makers depends on the capability of the DW system to convey in a reasonable time, from the sources to the data marts, the changes made at the data sources. If we use the data arrival properties of such underlying information sources, the DW Administrator can derive more appropriate rules and check the consistency of user requirements more accurately. In this paper we present an algorithm for data integration depending on the temporal characteristics of the data sources and an architecture for monitoring web sources on the WWW in order to obtain its temporal properties. In addition we show an example applied to tourism area where data integrated into DW can be used to schedule personalized travel as a value-added service for electronic commerce.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	33
Title:	FROM DATABASE TO DATAWAREHOUSE - A Design Quality Evaluation
Authors:	Maurizio Pighin and Lucio Ieronutti
Abstract:	Data warehousing provides tools and techniques for collecting, integrating and storing a large number of transactional data extracted from operational databases, with the aim of deriving accurate management information that can be effectively used for supporting decision processes. However, the choice of which attributes have to be considered as dimensions and which as measures heavily influences the effectiveness of a data warehouse. Since this is not a trivial task, especially for databases characterized by a large number of tables and attributes, an expert is often required for correctly selecting the most suitable attributes and assigning them the correct roles. In this paper, we propose a methodology based on the analysis of statistical and syntactical aspects that can be effectively used (i) during the data warehouse design process for supporting the selection of database tables and attributes, and (ii) then for evaluating the quality of data warehouse design choices. We also present the results of an experiment demonstrating the effectiveness of our methodology.
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Paper Nr:	63
Title:	PTSM: A PORTLET SELECTION MODEL
Authors:	Mª Ángeles Moraga, Coral Calero, Mario Piattini and Oscar Díaz
Abstract:	The use of Web portals continues to rise, showing their importance in the current information society. The success of a portal depends on customers using and returning to it. Nowadays, it is very easy for users to change from one portal to another, so improving/assessing portal quality is a must. Hence, appropriate quality model should be available to measure and drive portal development. Specifically, this work focuses on portlet-based portals. Portlets are web components, and they can be thought as COTS but in a Web setting. This paper presents a portlet selection model that guides the portal developer in choosing the best portlet, among a set of portlets with similar functions for specified tasks and user objectives, in accordance to five quality measures, namely, functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency and reusability, and other three characteristics not related to the quality but important to carry out the selection.
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Paper Nr:	128
Title:	ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SEARCH SYSTEMS FOR HETEROGENEOUS CONTENT REPOSITORIES
Authors:	Trieu Chieu, Shyh-kwei Chen and Shiwa Fu
Abstract:	In larger enterprises, business documents are typically stored in disparate, autonomous content repositories with various formats. Efficient search and retrieval mechanisms are needed to deal with the heterogeneousness and complexity of this environment. This paper presents a general architecture and two industrial implementations of a service-based information system to perform search in Lotus Notes databases and data sources with Web service interfaces. The first implementation is based on a federated database system that maps the various schemas of the sources into a common interface and aggregates information from their native locations. This implementation offers the advantages of scalability and accessibility to real-time information. The second one is based on a one-index enterprise-scale search engine that crawls, parses and indexes the document contents from the sources. This latter implementation offers the ability of scoring the relevance ranking of documents and eliminating duplications in search results. The relative merits and limitations of both implementations will be presented.
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Paper Nr:	129
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE WORK PROCESSES
Authors:	Weidong Pan, Igor Hawryszkiewycz and Dongbai Xue
Abstract:	Improving knowledge work processes has become increasingly important for modern enterprises to maintain a competitive status in nowadays information society. This paper will propose a way to improve knowledge work processes through supportive services. A framework for supporting knowledge work processes will be presented where the best practices of knowledge work processes, developed by process organizers or derived from some successful applications, are described and stored in a database, and according to the description, software agents dynamically organize supportive services to guide process participants to advance process steps towards the efficient completion of a process. The paper will provide an overview of the method and explore the development of the main components in the framework.
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Paper Nr:	201
Title:	A METHOD FOR EARLY CORRESPONDENCE DISCOVERY USING INSTANCE DATA
Authors:	Indrakshi Ray and C. M. Geisterfer
Abstract:	Most of the research in database integration have focused on matching schema-level information to determine the correspondences between data concepts in the component databases. Such research relies on the availability of schema experts, schema documentation, and well – designed schemas – items that are often not available. We propose a method of initial instance-based correspondence discovery that greatly reduces the manual effort involved in the current integration processes. The gains are accomplished because the ensuing method uses only instance data (a body of database knowledge that is always available) to make its initial discoveries.
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Paper Nr:	246
Title:	UNASSSUMING VIEW-SIZE ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES IN OLAP - An Experimental Comparison
Authors:	Kamel Aouiche and Daniel Lemire
Abstract:	Even if storage was infinite, a data warehouse could not materialize all possible views due to the running time and update requirements. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate quickly, accurately, and reliably the size of views. Many available techniques make particular statistical assumptions and their error can be quite large. Unassuming techniques exist, but typically assume we have independent hashing for which there is no known practical implementation. We adapt an unassuming estimator due to Gibbons and Tirthapura: its theoretical bounds do not make unpractical assumptions. We compare this technique experimentally with stochastic probabilistic counting, LOGLOG probabilistic counting, and multifractal statistical models. Our experiments show that we can reliably and accurately (within 10%, 19 times out 20) estimate view sizes over large data sets (1.5 GB) within minutes, using almost no memory. However, only GIBBONS-TIRTHAPURA provides universally tight estimates irrespective of the size of the view. For large views, probabilistic counting has a small edge in accuracy, whereas the competitive sampling-based method (multifractal) we tested is an order of magnitude faster but can sometimes provide poor estimates (relative error of 100%). In our tests, LOGLOG probabilistic counting is not competitive. Experimental validation on the US Census 1990 data set and on the Transaction Processing Performance (TPC H) data set is provided.
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Paper Nr:	254
Title:	IMPLEMENTING SPATIAL DATA WAREHOUSE HIERARCHIES IN OBJECT-RELATIONAL DBMSs
Authors:	Elzbieta Malinowski and Esteban Zimányi
Abstract:	Spatial Data Warehouses (SDWs) allow to analyze historical data represented in a space supporting the decision-making process. SDW applications require a multidimensional view of data that includes dimensions with hierarchies and facts with associated measures. In particular, hierarchies are important since traversing them users can analyze detailed and aggregated measures. To better represent users’ requirements for SDWs, the conceptual model with spatial support should be used. Afterwards, the conceptual schema is translated to the logical and physical schemas. However, during the translation process the semantics can be lost. In this paper, we present the translation of spatial hierarchies from the conceptual to physical schemas represented in the MultiDimER model and Oracle 10g Spatial, respectively. Further, to ensure the semantic equivalence between the conceptual and the physical schemas, integrity constraints are exemplified mainly using triggers.
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Paper Nr:	387
Title:	SECURE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE BY POLICY ALGEBRA AND ERML
Authors:	Steve Barker and Paul Douglas
Abstract:	In this paper, we demonstrate how role-based access control policies may be used for secure forms of knowledge module exchange in an open, distributed environment. For that, we define an algebra that a security administrator may use for defining compositions and decompositions of shared information sources, and we describe a markup language for facilitating secure information exchange amongst heterogeneous information systems. We also describe an implementation of our approach and we give some performance measures, which offer evidence of the feasibility of our proposal.
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Paper Nr:	392
Title:	MAINTENANCE COST OF A SOFTWARE DESIGN - A Value-Based Approach
Authors:	Daniel Cabrero Moreno, Javier Garzás and Mario Piattini
Abstract:	Alternative valid software design solutions can give response to the same software product requirements. In addition, a great part of the success of a software project depends on the selected software design. However, there are few methods to quantify how much value will be added by each design strategy, and hence very little time is spent choosing the best design option. This paper presents a new approach to estimate and quantify how profitable is to improve a design solution. This will be achieved by estimating the maintenance cost of a software project using two main variables: The probability of change of each design artifact, and the cost associated to each change. Two techniques are proposed in this paper to support this approach: COCM (Change-Oriented Configuration Management) and CORT (Change-Oriented Requirement Tracing).
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Paper Nr:	399
Title:	THE CHALLENGES FACING GLOBAL ERP SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATIONS
Authors:	Paul Hawking, Andrew Stein and Susan Foster
Abstract:	Large global companies are increasing looking towards information systems to standardize business processes and enhance decision making across their operations in different countries. In particular these companies are implementing enterprise resource planning systems to provide this standardization. This paper is a review of literature which focuses on the use of ERP systems to support global operations. There are many technological and cultural challenges facing these implementations. However a major challenge faced by companies is the balance between centralization and localization.
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Paper Nr:	403
Title:	KNOWLEDGE-MASHUPS AS NEXT GENERATION WEBBASED SYSTEMS - Converging Systems Via Self-explaining Services
Authors:	Thomas Bopp, Birger Kühnel, Thorsten Hampel, Christian Prpitsch and Frank Lützenkirchen
Abstract:	Webservice-based architectures are facing new challenges in terms of convergence of systems. By example of a web service integration of a digital repository/library, systems of knowledge management in groups, and learning management systems this contribution shows new potentials of flexible, descriptive webservices. Digital libraries are understood in their key position as searching, structuring, and archiving instances of digital media and they actively provide services in this sense. The goal of this article is to introduce services suitable for everyday use for coupling different classes of systems. Conceptually, the requirements of a possible standard in the area of convergence of knowledge management, digital libraries, and learning management systems are discussed. The results are published and search services with negotiation capabilities with a low-barrier for adoption.
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Paper Nr:	437
Title:	EVIE - AN EVENT BROKERING LANGUAGE FOR THE COMPOSITION OF COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS PROCESSES
Authors:	Tony O’Hagan, Shazia Sadiq and Wasim Sadiq
Abstract:	Technologies that facilitate the management of collaborative processes are high on the agenda for enterprise software developers. One of the greatest difficulties in this respect is achieving a streamlined pipeline from business modeling to execution infrastructures. In this paper we present Evie - an approach for rapid design and deployment of event driven collaborative processes based on significant language extensions to Java that are characterized by abstract and succinct constructs. The new language is positioned within an overall framework that provides a bridge between a high level modeling tool and the underlying deployment environment.
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Paper Nr:	445
Title:	EXTRACTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF DATA FROM SEMI-STRUCTURED TEXT FILES USING A DECLARATIVE APPROACH
Authors:	Ricardo Raminhos and João Moura-Pires
Abstract:	The World Wide Web is a major source of textual information, with a human-readable semi-structured format, referring to multiple domains, some of them highly complex. Traditional ETL approaches following the development of specific source code for each data source and based on multiple domain / computer-science experts interactions, become an inadequate solution, time consuming and prone to error. This paper presents a novel approach to ETL, based on its decomposition in two phases: ETD (Extraction, Transformation and Data Delivery) and IL (Integration and Loading). The ETD proposal is supported by a declarative language for expressing ETD statements and a graphical application for interacting with the domain expert. When applying ETD mainly domain expertise is required, while computer-science expertise will be centered in the IL phase, linking the processed data to target system models, enabling a clearer separation of concerns. This paper presents how ETD has been integrated, tested and validated in a space domain project, currently operational at the European Space Agency for the Galileo Mission.
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Paper Nr:	446
Title:	A DOCUMENT REPOSITORY ARCHITECTURE FOR HETEROGENEOUS BUSINESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Authors:	Mohamed Mbarki, Chantal Soulé-Dupuy and Nathalie Vallès-Parlangeau
Abstract:	As part of business memories, document repositories should bring some solutions to ensure flexible and efficient uses of dematerialized information content. While the fields of repositories modeling, document integration and interrogation have independently attracted a huge amount of attention, few works have tried to propose a general architecture of document repository management. Thus we propose a repository architecture based on the integration of different complementary modules ensuring an efficient storage of fragmented digital documents and then flexible fragments exploitation. This paper presents also an implementation of such architecture of document repository.
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Paper Nr:	447
Title:	OLAP AGGREGATION FUNCTION FOR TEXTUAL DATA WAREHOUSE
Authors:	Franck Ravat, Olivier Teste and Ronan Tournier
Abstract:	For more than a decade, OLAP and multidimensional analysis have generated methodologies, tools and resource management systems for the analysis of numeric data. With the growing availability of semi-structured data there is a need for incorporating text-rich document data in a data warehouse and providing adapted multidimensional analysis. This paper presents a new aggregation function for keywords allowing the aggregation of textual data in OLAP environments as traditional arithmetic functions would do on numeric data. The AVG_KW function uses an ontology to join keywords into a more common keyword.
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Paper Nr:	448
Title:	EXTENSIBLE METADATA REPOSITORY FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Ricardo Ferreira and João Moura-Pires
Abstract:	Today’s Information Systems and Enterprise Applications require extensive use of Metadata information. In Information Systems, metadata helps in integration and modeling their various components and computational processes, while in Enterprises metadata can describe business and management models, human or physical resources, among others. This paper presents a light and no-cost extensible Metadata Repository solution for such cases, relying on XML and related technologies to store, validate, query and transform metadata information, ensuring common operational concerns such as availability and security yet providing easy integration. The feasibility and applicability of the solution is proved by a case study where an implementation is running in operational state.
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Paper Nr:	487
Title:	DISTRIBUTED APPROACH OF CONTINUOUS QUERIES WITH KNN JOIN PROCESSING IN SPATIAL DATA WAREHOUSE
Authors:	Marcin Gorawski and Wojciech Gębczyk
Abstract:	The paper describes realization of distributed approach to continuous queries with kNN join processing in a spatial telemetric data warehouse. Due to dispersion of the developed system, new structural members were distinguished - the mobile object simulator, the kNN join processing service and the query manager. Distributed tasks communicate using JAVA RMI. The kNN queries (k Nearest Neighbour) joins every point from one dataset with its k nearest neighbours in the other dataset. In our approach we use the Gorder method, which is a block nested loop join algorithm that exploits sorting, join scheduling and distance computation filtering to reduce CPU and I/O usage.
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Paper Nr:	498
Title:	REVISITING THE OLAP INTERACTION TO COPE WITH SPATIAL DATA AND SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS
Authors:	Rosa Matias and João Moura-Pires
Abstract:	In this paper we propose a new interface for spatial OLAP systems. Spatial data deals with data related to space and have a complex and specific nature bringing challenges to OLAP environments. Humans only understand spatial data through maps. We propose a new spatial OLAP environment compounded with the following elements: a map, a support table and a detail table. Those areas have synchronized granularity. We also extend OLAP operation to performed spatial analysis, for instance, spatial drill-down, spatial drill-up and spatial slice. We take special care in the spatial slice where we identify two main groups of operations: spatial-semantic slice and spatial-geometric slice.
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Paper Nr:	508
Title:	AN EXTENSIBLE RULE TRANSFORMATION MODEL FOR XQUERY OPTIMIZATION - Rules Pattern for XQuery Tree Graph View
Authors:	Nicolas Travers and Tuyêt-Trâm Dang-Ngoc
Abstract:	Efficient evaluation of XML Query Languages has become a crucial issue for XML exchanges and integration. Tree Pattern (Sihem et al., 2002; Jagadish et al., 2001; Chen et al., 2003) are now well admitted for representing XML Queries and a model - called TGV (Travers, 2006; Travers et al., 2006; Travers et al., 2007c) - has extended the Tree Pattern representation in order to make it more intuitive, respect full XQuery specification and got support to be manipulated, optimized and then evaluated. For optimization, a search strategy is needed. It consists in generating equivalent execution plan using extensible rules and estimate cost of plan to find the better one. We propose the specification of extensible rules that can be used in heterogeneous environment, supporting XML and manipulating Tree Patterns.
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Paper Nr:	736
Title:	AN INFORMATION SYSTEMS AUDITOR’S PROFILE
Authors:	Mariana Carroll and Alta Van Der Merwe
Abstract:	The increasing dependence upon Information Systems (IS) in the last few decades by businesses resulted in many concerns regarding auditing. Traditional IS auditing changed from auditing ‘around the computer’ to auditing through and with the computer. Technology is changing rapidly and so is the profession of IS auditing. As IS auditing is dependent on Information Technology (IT), it is essential that an IS auditor possesses IT and auditing knowledge to bridge the gap between the IT and auditing professions. In this paper we reflect on the auditor’s profile in this changing domain, where we first define the roles and responsibilities expected from IS auditors, describe the basic IT and audit knowledge required from IS auditors based on the roles and responsibilities identified, describe the soft skills required from IS auditors to successfully perform an IS audit assignment, define the main types of IS audit tools and techniques used most often to assist IS auditors in executing IS audit roles and responsibilities and lastly propose the IS auditor’s profile.
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Paper Nr:	742
Title:	ON CORRECTNESS CRITERIA FOR WORKFLOW EXCEPTION HANDLING POLICIES
Authors:	Belinda Carter and Maria Orlowska
Abstract:	Exception handling during the execution of workflow processes is a frequently addressed topic in the literature. Exception handling policies describe the desired response to exception events with respect to the current state of the process instance in execution. In this paper, we present insights into the definition and verification of such policies for handling asynchronous, expected exceptions. In particular, we demonstrate that the definition of exception handling policies is not a trivial exercise in the context of complex processes, and, while different approaches to defining and enforcing exception handling policies have been proposed, the issue of verification of the policies has not yet been addressed. The main contribution of this paper is a set of correctness criteria which we envisage could form the foundation of a complete verification solution for exception handling policies.
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Paper Nr:	745
Title:	PROBLEMS WITH NON-OPEN DATA STANDARDS IN SWEDISH MUNICIPALS - When Integrating and Adopting Systems
Authors:	Benneth Christiansson and Fredrik Svensson
Abstract:	Governments world-wide are applying information and communication technology in order to meet a broad range of citizen and organizational needs. When planning systems integration the choice should lead to the software that best suits the organizational needs, taking into account price, quality, ease of use, support, reliability, security and other characteristics considered important. This paper is based on experiences from the KOMpiere project which aims at modifying the open source licensed ERP-system Compiere for use in Swedish municipals. The overall goal of the project is to support and enhance the use of open source licensed software in the Swedish public sector and thereby enable municipals to lower their IT-related costs and gain strategic control over their own IT-environment. We discovered that at least some Swedish municipals don’t have free access to the data they are appointed to govern and protect. The software vendors have, by using non-open data standards, excluded the municipals from using their own data freely. Thereby denying Swedish municipals an open market. We have in this paper suggested the creation and usage of XML-based ODS for all systems in Swedish municipals.
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Paper Nr:	760
Title:	CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN DATA INTEGRATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Rahee Ghurbhurn, Philippe Beaune and Hugues Solignac
Abstract:	In this paper, we present a flexible architecture allowing applications and functional users to access heterogeneous distributed data sources. Our proposition is based on a multi-agent architecture and a domain knowledge model. The objective of such an architecture is to introduce some flexibility in the information systems architecture. This flexibility can be in terms of the ease to add or remove existing/new applications but also the ease to retrieve knowledge without having to know the underlying data sources structures. We propose to model the domain knowledge with the help of one or several ontologies and to use a multi-agent architecture maintain such a representation and to perform data retrieval tasks. The proposed architecture acts as a single point of entry to existing data sources. We therefore hide the heterogeneity allowing users and applications to retrieve data without being hindered by changes in these data sources.
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Paper Nr:	761
Title:	RELEVANT VALUES: NEW METADATA TO PROVIDE INSIGHT ON ATTRIBUTE VALUES AT SCHEMA LEVEL
Authors:	Sonia Bergamaschi, Mirko Orsini, Francesco Guerra and Claudio Sartori
Abstract:	Research on data integration has provided languages and systems able to guarantee an integrated intentional representation of a given set of data sources. A significant limitation common to most proposals is that only intentional knowledge is considered, with little or no consideration for extensional knowledge. In this paper we propose a technique to enrich the intension of an attribute with a new sort of metadata: the “relevant values”, extracted from the attribute values. Relevant values enrich schemata with domain knowledge; moreover they can be exploited by a user in the interactive process of creating/refining a query. The technique, fully implemented in a prototype, is automatic, independent of the attribute domain and it is based on data mining clustering techniques and emerging semantics from data values. It is parameterized with various metrics for similarity measures and is a viable tool for dealing with frequently changing sources, as in the Semantic Web context.
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Paper Nr:	777
Title:	ACTIVITY WAREHOUSE: DATA MANAGEMENT FOR BUSINESS ACTIVITY MONITORING
Authors:	Oscar Mangisengi, Mario Pichler, Dagmar Auer, Dirk Draheim and Hildegard Rumetshofer
Abstract:	Nowadays collecting checkpoint data of business process activities of transactions becomes important data resource for business analyst and decision-makers to support tactical decisions in general and strategic decisions in particular. In the context of business process-oriented applications, business activity monitoring (BAM) systems, which are predicted to play a major role in the future business-intelligence area is the most visible use of the current business needs. In this paper we address an approach to derive an activity warehouse model based on the BAM requirements. The implementation shows that data stored in activity warehouse is able to efficiently monitor the business process in real-time and provide a better real-time visibility of the business process.
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Paper Nr:	780
Title:	LEGACY SYSTEM EVOLUTION - A Comparative Study of Modernisation and Replacement Initiation Factors
Authors:	Irja Kankaanpää, Päivi Tiihonen, Jarmo J. Ahonen, Jussi Koskinen, Tero Tilus and Henna Sivula
Abstract:	Decisions regarding information system evolution strategy become topical as the organization’s information systems age and start to approach the end of their life cycle. An interview study was conducted in order to compare factors influencing modernization and replacement initiation. System age, obsolete technology and high operation or maintenance costs were identified as triggers for both modernization and replacement projects. The results show that the most prevalent individual reason for modernization initiative is business development. Common initiation factors for replacement projects were end of vendor support and system’s inability to respond to organization’s business needs.
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Paper Nr:	806
Title:	SOFTWARE COST ESTIMATION USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS WITH INPUTS SELECTION
Authors:	Efi Papatheocharous and Andreas Andreou
Abstract:	Software development is an intractable, multifaceted process encountering deep, inherent difficulties. Especially when trying to produce accurate and reliable software cost estimates, these difficulties are amplified due to the high level of complexity and uniqueness of the software process. This paper addresses the issue of estimating the cost of software development by identifying the need for countable entities that affect software cost and using them with artificial neural networks to establish a reliable estimation method. Input Sensitivity Analysis (ISA) is performed on predictive models of the Desharnais and ISBSG datasets aiming at identifying any correlation present between important cost parameters at the input level and development effort (output). The degree to which the input parameters define the evolution of effort is then investigated and the selected attributes are employed to establish accurate prediction of software cost in the early phases of the software development life-cycle.
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Paper Nr:	814
Title:	DQXSD: AN XML SCHEMA FOR DATA QUALITY - An XSD for Supporting Data Quality in XML
Authors:	Eugenio Verbo, Ismael Caballero and Mario Piattini
Abstract:	Traditionally, data quality management has mainly focused on both data source and data target. Increasingly, data processing to get a data product need raw data typically distributed among different data sources. However, if data quality is not preserved when transmitted, resulting data product and consequent information will not be of much value. It is necessary to improve exchange methods and means to get a better information process. This paper focus on that issue, proposing a new approach for assuring and transmitting data quality in the interchange. Using XML and related technologies, a document structure that considers data quality as a main topic is defined. The resulting schema is verified using several measures and comparing it to the data source.
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Paper Nr:	824
Title:	ENABLING CSCW SYSTEMS TO AUTOMATICALLY BIND EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE BASES
Authors:	Thomas Bopp, Jonas Schulte and Thorsten Hampel
Abstract:	The usage of CSCW systems for teaching, training, and research collaboration increases constantly, as it offers a time- and place -independent, as well as a cost-effective platform. The user’s search should not be restricted to local material; in fact, users benefit from different search environments, as, for example digital libraries to find appropriate working material. Searching and further processing of documents imply a media breach since the search cannot be invoked in current CSCW systems directly. This paper presents the first prototype of a CSCW system which enables users to search in external sources without media breach. To provide arbitrary search environments no restrictions to data formats or search functionalities are allowed. Hence we have enhanced search environments with self description capabilities in order to realize an automatic binding of search environments in CSCW systems. By search environments we address any system offering searchable knowledge bases, such as digital libraries or the CSCW system itself. Furthermore our concept supports local search and searching in different external sources at the same time.
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Paper Nr:	825
Title:	EXPOSING WORKFLOWS TO LOAD BURSTS
Authors:	Dmytro Dyachuk and Ralph Deters
Abstract:	Well defined, loosely coupled services are the basic building blocks of the service-orientated design-integration paradigm. Services are computational elements that expose functionality (e.g. legacy applications) in a platform independent manner and can be described, published, discovered, orchestrated and consumed across language, platform and organizational borders. Using service-orientation (SO) it is fairly easy to expose existing applications/resources and to aggregate them into novel services called composite services (CS). This aggregation is achieved by defining a workflow that orchestrates the underlying services in a manner consistent with the desired functionality. Since CS can aggregate atomic and other CS they foster the development of service layers and reuse of already existing functionality. But by defining workflows, existing services are put into novel contexts and exposed to different workloads, which in turn can result in unexpected behaviors. This paper examines the behavior of sequential workflows that experience short-lived load bursts. Using workflows of varying length, the paper reports on the transformations that loads experience as they are processed by providers.
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Paper Nr:	834
Title:	DOING THINGS RIGHT OR DOING THE RIGHT THINGS? - Proposing a Documentation Scheme for Small to Medium Enterprises
Authors:	Josephina Antoniou, Panagiotis Germanakos and Andreas Andreou
Abstract:	Coping with the initial and finest systems’ functionality and performance is indeed one of the major problems nowadays, due to the rapid increase and continuous change of customer demands. Hence, it is crucial to move on with a research analysis in an attempt to identify whether documentation, the most reliable source for preserving a software system’s quality over the years, is properly created, updated and used in Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) operating in small EU markets, focusing both on the development process and the maintenance activities. Henceforth, the main objective of this paper is to propose a minimum documentation set required to fulfill both the Software Engineering principles and the SME practical needs by comparing literature suggestions with empirical findings. In further support of our documentation set suggestion, we present and discuss the results of a small survey conducted in nine IT-oriented SME in Cyprus and Greece.
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Paper Nr:	843
Title:	OOPUS - A Production Planning Information System to Assure High Delivery Reliability Under Short-term Demand Changes and Production Disturbances
Authors:	Wilhelm Dangelmaier, Tobias Rust, Thomas Hermanowski, Daniel Brüggemann, Daniel Kaschula, Andre Döring and Thorsten Timm
Abstract:	Batch-sizing and scheduling is the central decision problem in the area of production planning. A special challenge in this context is to handle the big amount of data in an adequate time interval. To aggregate and to illustrate this data clearly, appropriate techniques are required. This paper presents a new approach to integrate a Production Planning Table visualized by a Gantt chart and a cumulative quantity table for maximum information transparency in production planning. The discussed solution is realized in OOPUS, an object-oriented tool for planning and control, which became the leading production planning system in two motor assembly plants of an international automobile manufacturer.
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Paper Nr:	858
Title:	USING FUZZY DATACUBES IN THE STUDY OF TRADING STRATEGIES
Authors:	Miguel Delgado, J. F. Núñez Negrillo, Eva Gibaja and Carlos Molina Fernández
Abstract:	A fuzzy multidimensional model can be used for exploratory analysis, modeling complex concepts that are very difficult to use in crisp ones. Some problems, as the edge problem, can be reduced using this approach. To hide the complexity of the fuzzy logic in this situation is important. In this paper we present an application of a fuzzy multidimensional model, that uses two layer representation to hide the complexity to the user, in the study of trading strategies.
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Paper Nr:	864
Title:	STAH-TREE - Hybrid Index for Spatio Temporal Aggregation
Authors:	Marcin Gorawski and Michał Faruga
Abstract:	This paper presents a new index that stores spatiotemporal data and provides efficient algorithms for processing range and time aggregation queries where results are precise values not an approximation. In addition, this technology allows to reach detailed information when they are required. Spatiotemporal data are defined as static spatial objects with non spatial attributes changing in time. Range aggregation query computes aggregation over set of spatial objects that fall into query window. Its temporal extension allows to define additional time constraints. Index name (i.e. STAH-tree) is English abbreviation and can be extended as Spatio-Temporal Aggregation Hybrid Tree. STAH-tree is based on two well known indexing techniques. R– and aR–tree for storing spatial data and MVB-tree for storing non-spatial attributes values. These techniques were extended with new functionality and adopted to work together. Cost model for node accesses was also developed.
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Paper Nr:	867
Title:	USING SEMANTIC WEB AND SERVICE ORIENTED TECHNOLOGIES TO BUILD LOOSELY COUPLED SYSTEMS - SWOAT – A Service and Semantic Web Oriented Architecture Technology
Authors:	Bruno Caires and Jorge Cardoso
Abstract:	The creation of loosely coupled and flexible applications has been a challenge faced by most organizations. This has been important because organization systems need to quickly respond and adapt to changes that occur in the business environment. In order to address these key issues, we implemented SWOAT, a ‘Service and Semantic Web Oriented Architecture Technology’ based middleware. Our system uses ontologies to semantically describe and formalize the information model of the organization, providing a global and integrated view over a set of database systems. It also allows interoperability with several systems using Web Services. Using ontologies and Web services, clients remain loosely coupled from data sources. As a result, data structures can be changed and moved without having to change all clients, internal or external to the organization.
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Paper Nr:	867
Title:	USING SEMANTIC WEB AND SERVICE ORIENTED TECHNOLOGIES TO BUILD LOOSELY COUPLED SYSTEMS - SWOAT – A Service and Semantic Web Oriented Architecture Technology
Authors:	Bruno Caires and Jorge Cardoso
Abstract:	The creation of loosely coupled and flexible applications has been a challenge faced by most organizations. This has been important because organization systems need to quickly respond and adapt to changes that occur in the business environment. In order to address these key issues, we implemented SWOAT, a ‘Service and Semantic Web Oriented Architecture Technology’ based middleware. Our system uses ontologies to semantically describe and formalize the information model of the organization, providing a global and integrated view over a set of database systems. It also allows interoperability with several systems using Web Services. Using ontologies and Web services, clients remain loosely coupled from data sources. As a result, data structures can be changed and moved without having to change all clients, internal or external to the organization.
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Paper Nr:	892
Title:	A XML-BASED QUALITY MODEL FOR WEB SERVICES CERTIFICATION
Authors:	José L. Dias Jr., J. O. G. da Cunha, Alexandre Alvaro, Roberto S. M. de Barros and Silvio Romero De Lemos Meira
Abstract:	Internet has made possible the development of software as services, consumed on demand and developed by third parties. In this sense, a quality model is necessary to enable evaluation and, consequently, reuse of the services by consumers. In this way, this paper proposes a quality model based on the ISO 9126 standard, defining a set of attributes and metrics for an effective evaluation of Web services. A XML-based representation model was created to support this quality model, and a security schema was proposed to guarantee integrity and authenticity of the model.
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Paper Nr:	897
Title:	PREFERENCE RULES IN DATABASE QUERYING
Authors:	Sergio Greco, Cristian Molinaro and Francesco Parisi
Abstract:	The paper proposes the use of preferences for querying databases. In expressing queries it is natural to express preferences among tuples belonging to the answer. This can be done in commercial DBMS, for instance, by ordering the tuples in the result. The paper presents a different proposal, based on similar approaches deeply investigated in the artificial intelligence field, where preferences are used to restrict the result of queries posed over databases. In our proposal a query over a database DB is a triple (q, P, Φ), where q denotes the output relation, P a Datalog program (or an SQL query) used to compute the result and Φ is a set of preference rules used to introduce preferences on the computed tuples. In our proposal tuples which are ”dominated” by other tuples do not belong to the result and cannot be used to infer other tuples. A new stratified semantics is presented where the program P is partitioned into strata and the preference rules associated to each stratum of P are divided into layers; the result of a query is carried out by computing one stratum at time and by applying the preference rules, one layer at time. We show that our technique is sound and that the complexity of computing queries with preference rules is still polynomial.
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Paper Nr:	903
Title:	DIMENSION HIERARCHIES UPDATES IN DATA WAREHOUSES - A User-driven Approach
Authors:	Cécile Favre, Fadila Bentayeb and Omar Boussaid
Abstract:	We designed a data warehouse for the French bank LCL meeting users' needs regarding marketing operations decision. However, the nature of the work of users implies that their requirements are often changing. In this paper, we propose an original and global approach to achieve a user-driven model evolution that provides answers to personalized analysis needs. We developed a prototype called WEDrik (data Warehouse Evolution Driven by Knowledge) within the Oracle 10g DBMS and applied our approach on banking data of LCL.
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Paper Nr:	924
Title:	TRANSACTION SERVICE COMPOSITION - A Study of Compatibility Related Issues
Authors:	Anna-Brith Arntsen and Randi Karlsen
Abstract:	Different application domains have varying transactional requirements. Such requirements must be met by applying adaptability and flexibility within transaction processing environments. ReflecTS is such an environment providing flexible transaction processing by exposing the ability to select and dynamically compose a transaction service suitable for each particular transaction execution. A transaction service (TS) can be seen as a composition of a transaction manager (T M) and a number of involved resource managers (RMs). Dynamic transaction service composition raises a need to examine issues regarding Vertical Compatibility between the components in a TS. In this work, we present a novel approach to service composition by evaluating Vertical Compatibility between a T M and RMs - which includes Property and Communication compatibility.
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Paper Nr:	926
Title:	SEMANTIC ORCHESTRATION MERGING - Towards Composition of Overlapping Orchestrations
Authors:	Clémentine Nemo, Mireille Blay, Michel Riveill and Günter Kniesel
Abstract:	Service oriented architectures foster evolution of enterprise information systems by supporting loose coupling and easy composition of services. Unfortunately, current approaches to service composition are inapplicable to services that share subservices or data. In this paper, we define overlapping orchestrations, analyze the problems that they pose to existing composition approaches and propose orchestration merging, a novel, interactive approach to composition of overlapping orchestrations based on their semantic.
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Paper Nr:	971
Title:	WFESelector - A Tool for Comparing and Selecting Workflow Engines
Authors:	Karim Baina
Abstract:	The task of selecting a workflow engine becomes more and more complex and risky. For this reason, organizations require a broad, and a clear vision of which workflow engines are, and will continue to be, suitable for changing requirements. This paper presents a workflow engines comparison model to analyze, compare, and select business process management modeling and enactment engines (Workflow Engines or WFEs) according to user specific requirements. After the description of the underlying model itself, we present the implementation of this workflow engines comparison model through our multi-criteria workflow engines comparison and selection prototype WFESelector. The later proposes two scenarios for selecting relevant WFE: either to express dynamically multi-criteria query upon a WFE evaluation database, or to browse the whole WFE classification through a reporting aggregation based dashboard. WFESelector is subsequently experimented to assess criteria satisfaction on a very large number of open source workflow engines (as numerous as 35).
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Paper Nr:	981
Title:	PIN: A PARTITIONING & INDEXING OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR OLAP
Authors:	Ricardo Santos and Jorge Bernardino
Abstract:	Optimizing the performance of OLAP queries in relational data warehouses (DW) has always been a major research issue. There are various techniques that can be used to achieve its goals, such as data partitioning, indexing, data aggregation, data sampling, redefinition of database (DB) schemas, among others. In this paper we present a simple and easy to implement method which links partitioning and indexing based on the features present in predefined major decision making queries to efficiently optimize a data warehouse’s performance. The evaluation of this method is also presented using the TPC-H benchmark, comparing it with standard partitioning and indexing techniques, demonstrating its efficiency with single and multiple simultaneous user scenarios.
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Paper Nr:	984
Title:	SIMPLIFIED QUERY CONSTRUCTION - (Queries Made as Easy as Possible)
Authors:	Brad Arshinoff, Damon Ratcliffe, Martin Saetre, Reda Alhajj and Tansel Ozyer
Abstract:	QMAEP- Queries Made as Easy as Possible, is intended to be a system that greatly simplifies the process of query construction for statisticians and researchers. This document is focused on the usability of the database query language and deals with visual representations of the query process, in specific the select query. Methods of integrating simple Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for building queries into pre-existing database forms is explored to provide users an intuitive method for query construction. This paper explores data mining as it pertains to clinical research with emphasis on simplifying the data extraction process from complex databases so as to accommodate analysis using important statistical software such as SASS, QMath and MS Excel.
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Paper Nr:	1050
Title:	THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS PROCESS INNOVATION - Towards a Research Program on Global Supply Chain Intelligence
Authors:	Charles Møller
Abstract:	Industrial supply chains today are globally scattered and nearly all organizations rely on their Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) for integration and coordination of their activities. In this context innovation in a global supply chain must be driven by advanced information technology. This paper proposes a research program on Global Supply Chain Intelligence. The paper argues that a conceptual framework for BPI is required to approach innovations in a global supply chain. A research proposal based on five interrelated topics is derived from the framework. The research program is intended to establish and to develop the conceptual framework for BPI further and to apply this framework in a global supply chain context.
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Paper Nr:	1059
Title:	MEDIATION FRAMEWORK FOR ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURES: - Application-driven Approach
Authors:	Leonid Kalinichenko, Dmitry Briukhov, Dmitry Martynov, Nikolay Skvortsov and Sergey Stupnikov
Abstract:	This position paper provides a short summary of results obtained so far on an application-driven approach for mediation-based EIS development. This approach has significant advantages over the conventional, information source driven approach. Basic methods for the application-driven approach are discussed including synthesis methods of canonical information models, unifying languages of various kinds of heterogeneous information sources in one extensible model, methods of identification of sources relevant to an application and their registration at the mediator applying GLAV techniques as well as ontological contexts reconciliation methods. Methodology of EIS application development according to the approach is briefly discussed emphasizing importance of a mediator consolidation phase by the respective community, application problem formulations in canonical model and their rewriting into the requests to the registered information sources. The technique presented is planned to be used in various EIS and information systems.
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Paper Nr:	1065
Title:	AN INSERTION STRATEGY FOR A TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL ACCESS METHOD
Authors:	Wendy Osborn and Ken Barker
Abstract:	This paper presents the 2DR-tree, a novel approach for accessing spatial data. The 2DR-tree uses nodes that are the same dimensionality as the data space. All spatial relationships between objects are preserved. A validity rule ensures that every node preserves the spatial relationships among its objects. The proposed insertion strategy adds a new object by recursively partitioning the space occupied by a set of objects. A performance evaluation shows the advantages of the 2DR-tree and identifies issues for future consideration.
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Paper Nr:	104
Title:	A NEW LOOK INTO DATA WAREHOUSE MODELLING
Authors:	Nikolay Nikolov
Abstract:	The dominating paradigm of Data Warehouse design is the star schema (Kimball, 1996). The main debate within the scientific community for years has been not whether this paradigm is really the only way, but, rather, on its details (e.g. “to snowflake or not to snowflake” – Kimball et al., 1998). Shifting the emphasis of the discourse entirely within the star schema paradigm prevents the search for better alternatives. We argue that the star schema paradigm is an artifact of the transactional perspective and does not account for the analytic perspective. The most popular formalized method for deriving the star schema (Golfarelli et al., 1998) underlines just that by taking only the entity-relationship-model (ERM) as an input. Although this design approach follows the natural data and work-flow, it does not necessarily offer the best performance. The main thrust of our argument is that the query model should be used on a par with the ERM as a starting point in the data warehouse design process. The rationale is that the end design should reflect not just the structure inherent in the data model, but also that of the expected workload. Such approach results in a schema which may look very different than the traditional star schema but the performance improvement it may achieve justifies going off-the-beaten track.
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Paper Nr:	214
Title:	A DATABASE INTEGRATION SYSTEM BASED ON GLOBAL VIEW GENERATION
Authors:	Uchang Park and Ramon Lawrence
Abstract:	Database integration is a common and growing challenge with the proliferation of database systems, data warehouses, data marts, and other OLAP systems in organizations. Although there are many methods of sharing data between databases, true interoperability of database systems requires capturing, comparing, and merging the semantics of each system. In this work, we present a database integration system that improves on the database federation architecture by allowing domain administrators to simply and efficiently capture database semantics. The semantic information is combined using a tool for producing a global view. Building the global view is the bottleneck in integration because there are few tools that support its construction, and these tools often require sophisticated knowledge and experience to operate properly. The technique and tool presented is simple and powerful enough to be used by all database administrators, yet expressive enough to support the majority of integration queries.
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Paper Nr:	258
Title:	TEXT ANALYTICS AND DATA ACCESS AS SERVICES - A Case Study in Transforming a Legacy Client-server Text Analytics Workbench and Framework to SOA
Authors:	E. Maximilien, Ying Chen, Ana Lelescu, James Rhodes, Jeffrey Kreulen and Scott Spangler
Abstract:	As business information is made available via the intranet and Internet, there is a growing need to quickly analyze the resulting mountain of information to infer business insights. For instance, analyzing a company’s patent database against another’s to find the patents that are cross-licensable. IBM Research’s Business Insight Workbench (BIW) is a text mining and analytics tool that allows end-users to explore, understand, and analyze business information in order to come up with such insight. However, the first incarnation of BIW used a thick-client architecture with a database back-end. While very successful, the architecture caused limitations in the tool’s flexibility, scalability, and deployment. In this paper we discuss our initial experiences in converting BIW into a modern Service-Oriented Architecture. We also provide some insights into our design choices and also outline some lessons learned.
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Paper Nr:	401
Title:	INCENTIVES AND OBSTACLES IN IMPLEMENTING INTER-ORGANISATIONAL INTEROPERABILITY
Authors:	Raija Halonen and Veikko Halonen
Abstract:	This paper explores the incentives and obstacles that rise when implementing interoperability in organizations. In the focus we have an inter-organizational information system that has interfaces with several information systems managed by different organizations. Inter-organizational information systems are often connected to the information systems that are aimed to support functionalities in the partnering organizations and that are implemented earlier, even several years earlier in the organizations. This complexity increases degrees of difficulty of the implementation projects. In this paper we argue that there are obstacles that are not noticed or understood in the very beginning when the idea of implementing a joint information system is emerged. On the other hand, we found that mutual trust is an important factor to support the interoperability between the organizations. We limit this paper to consider only inter-organizational information systems that are implemented to support pre-defined joint functionalities.
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Paper Nr:	412
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR MODEL-DRIVEN PATTERN MATCHING
Authors:	Ignacio G. Rodríguez De Guzmán, Macario Polo and Mario Piattini
Abstract:	Today, software technology is evolving to model engineering. Standards such as MOF and MDA and languages such as QVT and ATL are emerging to support this evolution from object paradigm to model engineering. At times, these standards and languages give rules and advices at a high level of abstraction, and concrete solutions and implementations are difficult to perform. As a consequence of this technological immaturity and the lack of documentation, many capabilities in this new field are not exploited. To this end, the authors in this paper propose a first step of providing a framework for performing Model-Driven Pattern Matching operations. Pattern matching based on models is an evolution of a traditional concept adapted to the model realm. In this respect, this kind of pattern matching seems to be promising not only for finding occurrences of given models in others, but also for giving meaning or sense to these patterns in order to undertake actions over the resulting matchings.
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Paper Nr:	431
Title:	MODELING OF AN ANALYTICAL DATABASE SYSTEM
Authors:	Alex S. Poletto and Jorge Rady De Almeida Júnior
Abstract:	This paper describes a modeling for constructing an analytical database, with the objective to store historical values and also the most recent values starting from operational databases. The first function of this modeling is to map operational database into analytical database, using their E-R diagrams. For that, we created ten steps, which will support the mapping. The second function is to make available mechanisms for generation, transport and storage of these historic data. For that, we specified triggers and procedures for each step.
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Paper Nr:	438
Title:	INDUCTION OF DATA QUALITY PROTOCOLS INTO BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Authors:	Shazia Sadiq, Maria Orlowska and Wasim Sadiq
Abstract:	Success of large projects may be compromised due to lack of governance and control of data quality. The criticality of this problem has increased manifold in the current business environment heavily dependent on external data, where such data may pollute enterprise databases. At the same time, it is well recognized that an organization’s business processes provide the backbone for business operations through constituent enterprise applications and services. As such business process management systems are often the first point of contact for dirty data. It is on the basis of this role that we propose that BPM technologies can and should be viewed as a vehicle for data quality enforcement. In this paper, we target a specific data quality problem, namely data mismatch. We propose to address this problem by explicitly inducting requisite data quality protocols in to the business process management system.
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Paper Nr:	513
Title:	AN OVERVIEW OF THE OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE DBPQL
Authors:	Markus Kirchberg
Abstract:	In this paper, we present a new approach to the integration of object-oriented programming languages, database programming languages and query languages. While object-oriented programming languages and languages that are supported by object database systems appear to be closely related, there are a number of significant differences that affect language design and implementation. Such issues include the degree of encapsulation, persistence, the in cooperation types and classes, inheritance, concurrency, NULL values, garbage collection etc. In this paper, we outline the respective challenges that affect language design and provide a brief overview of the integrated object-oriented database programming and querying language DBPQL.
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Paper Nr:	518
Title:	TOURISM INFORMATION AGGREGATION USING AN ONTOLOGY BASED APPROACH
Authors:	Miguel Gouveia and Jorge Cardoso
Abstract:	Aggregating related information, from different data sources, allows the creation of data repositories with very useful information. In the tourism domain, aggregating tourism products with related tourism attractions will add value to those products. The ability to create dynamic packages is another reason to aggregate tourism information. Defining an ontology, composed by the concepts to aggregate, is the first step to create tourism aggregation systems. In this paper we define the approach and the architecture that guides to the creation of aggregated solutions that provide valued tourism information and that allow the creation of dynamic packages.
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Paper Nr:	518
Title:	TOURISM INFORMATION AGGREGATION USING AN ONTOLOGY BASED APPROACH
Authors:	Miguel Gouveia and Jorge Cardoso
Abstract:	Aggregating related information, from different data sources, allows the creation of data repositories with very useful information. In the tourism domain, aggregating tourism products with related tourism attractions will add value to those products. The ability to create dynamic packages is another reason to aggregate tourism information. Defining an ontology, composed by the concepts to aggregate, is the first step to create tourism aggregation systems. In this paper we define the approach and the architecture that guides to the creation of aggregated solutions that provide valued tourism information and that allow the creation of dynamic packages.
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Paper Nr:	526
Title:	DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM - Applying the Incrementally Modular Abstraction Hierarchy to a Complex System
Authors:	Kenji Ohmori and Tosiyasu Kunii
Abstract:	The new methodology for software development is introduced and applied to an accounting system. The new method is called the incrementally modular abstraction hierarchy (IMAH). IMAH has an abstraction hierarchy from abstract to concrete levels. Invariants defined on an abstract level are kept on a concrete level, which allows adding modules incrementally on each hierarchical level and avoiding combinatorial explosion of the serious problem in software engineering, while climbing down abstraction hierarchy in designing and modeling a complex system. This paper shows how IMAH is applied in developing an accounting system, which is fundamental in enterprise systems and a suitable example of complex software systems. At first, very simple example recording only journal vouches to a database system is used to describe methodologies of IMAH. Then, it is described how this simple system is incrementally developed to a conventional complex accounting system.
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Paper Nr:	756
Title:	AN EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR SECURITIES BROKER’S RISK MANAGEMENT WITH DATA WAREHOUSING AND OLAP
Authors:	Yung-hsin Wang, Shing-han Li and Kuo-lung Sun
Abstract:	With the open domestic financial market, the targets of investment and money management are toward diversity. The competition from internationalization makes the stock market no more flourishing as usual. The risk of margin trading becomes important information that securities firms try to analyze and get controlled. According to current regulations and working process, this study constructs an executive information system with the application of data warehouse and online analytical processing (OLAP) to help securities brokers make decisions in the operation of risk management for margin purchase and short sale of securities. The result solves the problem that managers of margin trading usually face when using traditional account systems.
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Paper Nr:	762
Title:	A KOREAN SEARCH PATTERN IN THE LIKE OPERATION
Authors:	Sung C. Park, Eun Hyang Lo, Jong Chul Park and Young Chul Park
Abstract:	The string pattern search operator LIKE of SQL has been developed based on English such that each search pattern of English of the operator works for each character in the alphabet of English. For finding Korean, search patterns of the operator can be expressed by both the alphabet and syllables of Korean. As a phonetic symbol, each syllable of Korean is composed either of a leading sound and a medial sound or of a leading sound, a medial sound, and a trailing sound. By utilizing that characteristic of Korean syllables, in addition to the traditional complete-syllable based search pattern of Korean, this paper proposes an incomplete-syllable based search pattern of Korean, as a pattern of the operator LIKE, to find Korean syllables having specific leading sounds, specific medial sounds, or both specific leading sounds and medial sounds. Formulating predicates that are equivalent with the incomplete-syllable based search pattern of Korean by way of existing SQL expressions is cumbersome and might cause the portability problem of applications depending on the underlying character set of the DBMS.
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Paper Nr:	766
Title:	INTEGRATING ENTERPRISE DATA FOR DECISION SUPPORT IN CONSTRUCTION ORGANISATIONS
Authors:	Tanko Ishaya, James Chadband and Lucy Grierson
Abstract:	Information integration is one of the main problems to be addressed when designing a data warehouse for decision-making support. Possible inconsistencies and redundancies between data residing at the operational data sources needs to be resolved before migrating to a data warehouse, so that the data warehouse is able to provide an integrated and reconciled view of data within the organization. This paper presents a performance-oriented data warehouse as an integrated data for decision-making support within a construction organization. The process is based on a conceptual representation of the enterprise, which has been exploited both in the data integration phase of the warehouse information sources and during the decision-making activity from the information stored in the data warehouse. The application of the process has been supported by prototype software tools for data integration, reconciliation and analysis that provides some decision-making support.
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Paper Nr:	771
Title:	A CONTINUOUS DATA INTEGRATION METHODOLOGY FOR SUPPORTING REAL-TIME DATA WAREHOUSING
Authors:	Ricardo Santos and Jorge Bernardino
Abstract:	A data warehouse provides information for analytical processing, decision making and data mining tools. As the concept of real-time enterprise evolves, the synchronism between transactional data and data warehouses, statically implemented, has been reviewed. Traditional data warehouse systems have static structures of their schemas and relationships between data, and therefore are not able to support any dynamics in their structure and content. Their data is only periodically updated because they are not prepared for continuous data integration. For these purposes, real-time data warehouses seem to be very promising. In this paper we present a methodology on how to adapt data warehouse schemas and user-end OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) queries for efficiently supporting real-time data integration. To accomplish this, we use techniques such as table structure replication and query predicate restrictions for selecting data, managing to enable continuous data integration in the data warehouse with minimum impact in query execution time. We demonstrate the functionality of the method by analyzing its impact in query performance using benchmark TPC-H executing query workloads while simultaneously performing continuous data integration at various insertion time rates.
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Paper Nr:	784
Title:	STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK - To Implement a Telecommunications Business Intelligence Solution in a Developing Country
Authors:	D. P. du Plessis and T. McDonald
Abstract:	Because no framework existed that considered both the technical and the human resource maturity of data warehousing and business intelligence in a company, a framework was developed to implement a business intelligence strategy. The framework consisted of the steps that had to be followed to grow business intelligence and data warehousing in a telecommunications company in a developing country. These steps were supported by two modules, the data warehousing lifecycle model and the business intelligence literacy and cultural maturity model, which formed part of the framework. All the components of the framework are discussed in detail.
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Paper Nr:	790
Title:	TOWARDS INDUSTRIAL SERVICE BUSINESS - Challenges in Designing ICT Support for the Networks of Companies
Authors:	Sauli Hiippavuori, Markus Hänninen, Samuli Pekkola and Kari Luostarinen
Abstract:	Traditional manufacturing business is changing its shape to service industry. In addition to products, manufacturers are also providing specialized knowledge-based services. Although ICT is an enabler for such operations, its support for the activities of the networks of companies is still quite unknown. In these settings, ICT-related challenges are multifold. In this paper findings from a case study on constructing ICT support for industrial service business are presented. Technological challenges in designing and implementing systems to support daily business operations of industrial service business are listed.
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Paper Nr:	813
Title:	A MULTI-VIEWS REPOSITORY FOR MULTI-STRUCTURED DOCUMENTS
Authors:	Karim Djemal
Abstract:	The diversity of use of digital documents has created new interests on archiving, storing and accessing the digital documents. These documents can have several structures and different interpretations of these structures. This paper presents an approach to process the multi-structured documents through repositories. So, we present the repository meta-model based on views. Integrating various views in a document repository allows a complete vision and a better targeted exploitation of these documents.
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Paper Nr:	819
Title:	MULTIDIMENSIONAL VECTOR ROUTING IN A P2P NETWORK
Authors:	Laurent Yeh, Georges Gardarin and Florin Dragan
Abstract:	P2P systems tend to be largely accepted as a common support for deploying massively distributed data management applications. Many multidimensional data P2P indexing techniques suffer from severe limitations regarding the number of data dimensions to be indexed. In this paper, we propose a new approach for indexing multidimensional data in a P2P architecture. It is based on an efficient query overlay network (the so-called routing layer) built from a new data structure named skip-zone. We index data pieces of large dimensions as vectors and we adopt the polyhedral algebra for splitting the domain of possible values into sub-domains. To manage the overlay network meta-data required for tracking the network evolution or for routing data at each peer, we propose an efficient distributed meta-data layer that works in cooperation with the routing layer. An evaluation outlines the main properties of our architecture versus those of similar systems. The insensibility of the vector dimension in our data model is a key advantage of our approach.
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Paper Nr:	848
Title:	MANAGING COMPLEX INFORMATION IN REACTIVE APPLICATIONS USING AN ACTIVE TEMPORAL XML DATABASE APPROACH
Authors:	Essam Mansour, Kudakwashe Dube and Bing Wu
Abstract:	Tasks, such as those in patient care practice, require constant monitoring of a dynamic context and environment based on best practices in the form of predefined experience-based information or knowledge. These applications could take the form of reactive applications. The problem of incorporating best practices into routines used in such tasks requires advanced approaches and methods for comprehensively managing complex information. This paper presents a generic and unified framework for Complex Information Management (CIM) in domains where best practices need to be incorporated into day-to-day work. The CIM framework is supported by a high level declarative language, called AIM. The approach adopted here uses the combined application of the event-condition-action (ECA) rule paradigm, a temporal mechanism, advanced DBMS features and XML technologies. Furthermore, the paper also presents the conceptual architecture for the complex information management system, AIMS. The main contribution of CIM framework and approach lays in managing the complex information by introducing multiple management planes under a unified framework.
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Paper Nr:	861
Title:	ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES ON COOPETITIVE FEDERATED INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Mirko Cesarini and Mario Mezzanzanica
Abstract:	In this paper we point out the organizational issues related to the set-up of a competitive federated information system. The joint exploitation of information owned by different, independent, even competing companies and public administrations may be carried out according to a “competitive model”. The term competition is used in management literature to refer to a hybrid behavior comprising competition and cooperation. We will show in this paper that the set-up of a competitive scenario raises organizational issues, which can be addressed by the creation of inter-firm personal relationships as well as by the firms decision makers active engagement.
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Paper Nr:	866
Title:	ON THE SEMI-AUTOMATIC VALIDATION AND DECOMPOSITION OF TERNARY RELATIONSHIPS WITH OPTIONAL ELEMENTS
Authors:	Ignacio Santos, Paloma Martínez and Dolores Cuadra
Abstract:	This paper analyzes the problems that concern the design of databases. CASE tools supply a resources kit for the design and creation of database in a DBMS (Database Management System). Sometimes, these tools only help to draw diagrams. Ideally, they would verify and validate DB design and transform it from Conceptual to Logical Model. In a last step, they would transform the Logical Model to a specific DBMS. Currently, commercial tools do not verify or validate the model in an optimal way. This paper is focused on the validation and checking of database schemas. This work specially analyzes the ternary or higher-order relationships when there are optional components.
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Paper Nr:	875
Title:	USABILITY ISSUES IN SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE
Authors:	Jaroslav Král and Michal Zemlicka
Abstract:	Usability is of a growing importance. It is crucial for the acceptance of software systems nowadays. Software usability in its classical sense is mainly the property of the user interface of a system. Usable interface should have at least three properties: it must be easily understood and remembered and not too laborious in use. We show that in SOA systems called confederation the first two properties should have the interfaces of constituent application services. It is a precondition for the usability of user system interface. The properties are crucially important for the software engineering aspects of confederations (scalability, modifiability, reuse of existing systems, stability) as well as for their functions, e.g. for business processes (flexibility, on-line modifiability, etc.). We discuss some standardization issues.
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Paper Nr:	909
Title:	A DATA WAREHOUSE ARCHITECTURE FOR INTEGRATING FIELD-BASED DATA
Authors:	Alberto Salguero, Francisco Araque and Ramón Carrasco
Abstract:	Spatial DataWarehouses (SDWs) combine DWs and Spatial Data Bases (SDBs) for managing significant amounts of historical data that include spatial location. Some spatial information can be seen as a continuous field, and the information of interest is obtained at each point of a space. The previously proposed extensions of the multidimensional data model, used in Data Warehousing, only deal with spatial objects. None of them consider field-based information. This paper presents a Data Warehouse architecture that automatically determines the best parameters for refreshing and integrating field-based data from different data sources.
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Paper Nr:	917
Title:	A METRICS PROPOSAL TO EVALUATE SOFTWARE INTERNAL QUALITY WITH SCENARIOS
Authors:	Anna Grimán, María A. Perez, Maryoly Ortega and Luis E. Mendoza
Abstract:	Software quality should be evaluated from different perspectives; we highlight the internal and external ones (ISO/IEC, 2002). Specially, internal quality evaluation depends on the software architecture (or design) and programming aspects rather than on the product behavior. On the other hand, architectural evaluation methods tend to apply scenarios for assessing the architecture respect to quality requirements; however, mainly scenarios aren’t effective enough to determine the level of satisfaction of the quality attributes. In practice, each scenario could need more than one measurement. Also, we need a quantitative way of comparing and reporting results. The main objective of this article is presenting a proposal of metrics grouped by quality characteristics and sub-characteristics, according to ISO 9126 standard, which can be applied to assess software quality based on architecture. Once selected the most important quality requirements, these metrics can be used directly, or in combination with quality scenarios, into an architectural evaluation method. Metrics proposed also consider some particular technologies, such as OO, distributed and web systems.
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Paper Nr:	930
Title:	A METHOD PROPOSAL FOR ARCHITECTURAL RELIABILITY EVALUATION
Authors:	Anna Grimán, María A. Perez, Luis E. Mendoza and Edumilis M. Ortega
Abstract:	Software quality characteristics, such as reliability, maintainability, usability, portability, among others, are directly determined by software architecture and, in consequence, it constitutes a very important artifact to be evaluated as soon as a general design is obtained. This article proposes a method to estimate software reliability by evaluating software architecture. Our method combines the strengths of three evaluation methods: ATAM (Kazman et al, 2000), DUSA (Bosch, 2000) and AEM (Losavio et al., 2004) obtained by identifying the main features needed in reliability architectural evaluation and studying several architectural mechanisms which promote this quality characteristic. Based on these features and the advantages of the studied methods and mechanism, we established phases, activities, roles, inputs/outputs, and artifacts; and we constructed a feasible method which can be applied in any organization interested in improving its software construction process and product.
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Paper Nr:	935
Title:	A WEB TOOL FOR WEB DOCUMENT AND DATA SOURCE SELECTION WITH SQLFI
Authors:	Marlene Gonçalves and Leonid Tineo
Abstract:	WWW is composed of a great volume of documents that are stored by several data sources. Normally, a user is interested in those documents that include certain keywords. However, these documents might be incomplete, ancient or huge, and therefore, the user would have to discard irrelevant ones. An ideal Web search tool might select the best documents in base on user criteria defined over quality parameters such as completeness, recentness, frequency of updates and granularity. Traditional query languages are very restrictive in expressing preference-based queries. Therefore new query languages, such as SQLf, are needed. We present a tool that allows the selection of the best data sources and documents in terms of user preferences. Documents and data sources are described according to quality parameters. User preferences are expressed by means of SQLf queries. Our tool contains a wizard to retrieve the best documents and data sources. Thus, the user is oriented by a set of steps where a preference query that involves quality parameters is built easily.
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Paper Nr:	950
Title:	MODEL-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT USING STANDARD TOOLS
Authors:	Julian Garrido, Mª Ángeles Martos and Fernando Berzal
Abstract:	This paper describes a model-driven software development tool suitable for the rapid development of enterprise applications. Instead of requiring new specialized development environments, our tool builds on top of a conventional programming platform so that it is suitable for the progressive adoption of model-driven development techniques within a software development organization.
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Paper Nr:	978
Title:	THE HAV DATA INTEGRATION APPROACH - The Mapping in HAV
Authors:	Fatima Boulçane
Abstract:	This paper provides an overview on a hybrid approach of heterogeneous data integration which we term Hybrid As View (HAV) and it focuses on the mapping between the global schema and source schemas through the partial schemas. The contribution of this approach is on two complementary axes: (i) to propose a multi-mediators architecture essentially made up of two types of components: specialized mediators and a global mediator. Each of the specialized mediators provides an integrated view of sources with the same model. The global mediator integrates the partial schemas provided by the set of the specialized mediators to provide an access on a uniform view represented by a global schema; (ii) to model the relation between the global schema and the sources through the partial schemas by combining the best of the two approaches Global As View (GAV) and Local As View (LAV).
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Paper Nr:	997
Title:	UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Wahab Hamou-Lhadj
Abstract:	Information systems are in the process of undergoing significant transformations triggered by the Internet technology. However, most existing systems suffer from poor to non-existent documentation, which makes the maintenance process a daunting task even for a skilled software engineer. As a result, software engineers are often faced with the inevitable problem of understanding different aspects of the system before undertaking a simple maintenance task. This paper describes ongoing research in the area of program comprehension that aims at investigating efficient techniques for the understanding of the dynamics of software systems with a particular emphasis on information systems. The proposed approach is based on the analysis of system’s execution traces. The long-term objective is to create effective tool support for software engineers working on maintenance tasks.
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Paper Nr:	1046
Title:	ONE-TO-MANY DATA TRANSFORMATIONS - As Relational Operations
Authors:	Paulo Carreira
Abstract:	Transforming data is a fundamental operation in data management activities like data integration, legacy data migration, data cleaning, and extract-transform-load processes for data warehousing. Since data often resides on relational databases, data transformations are often implemented as relational queries that aim at leveraging the optimization capabilities of most RDBMSs. However, due to the limited expressive power of Relational Algebra, several important classes of data transformations cannot be specified as SQL queries. In particular, SQL is unable to express data transformations that require the dynamic creation of several tuples for each tuple of the source relation. This paper proposes to address this class of data transformations, common in data management activities, by extending Relational Algebra with a new relational operator named data mapper. A starting contribution of this work consists of studying the formal aspects of the mapper operator focusing on its formal semantics and expressiveness. A further contribution consists of supporting a cost-based optimization of data transformations expressions combining mappers with standard relational operators. To that end, a set of algebraic rewriting rules and different physical execution algorithms are being developed.
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Paper Nr:	1057
Title:	A DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM KERNEL FOR IMAGE COLLECTIONS
Authors:	Liana Stanescu, Dumitru Burdescu, Cosmin Stoica and Marius Brezovan
Abstract:	The paper presents a single-user, relational DBMS kernel, for managing visual information. The functions of this multimedia DBMS are: creating/deleting databases and tables, adding constrains, inserting, updating, deleting records, text based querying and content based visual querying using the color characteristics. The originality character of this DBMS is given by two aspects: the first aspect refers to the Image data type that permits binary storage of images and extracted color information represented by the color histogram with maximum 166 colors; the second aspect refers to the visual interface for building content-based image query using color characteristics, that generates a modified SELECT command that will be sent to kernel for execution. This DBMS has as advantages the low cost and easiness in usage, being recommended in medical or art domains where large amounts of visual information are collected, managed and queried.
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Paper Nr:	1102
Title:	TIMING BEHAVIOR ANOMALY DETECTION IN ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Matthias Rohr, Simon Giesecke and Wilhelm Hasselbring
Abstract:	Business-critical enterprise information systems (EIS) have to satisfy high availability requirements. In order to achieve the required availability, automatic failure detection and diagnosis techniques must be used. A major cause of failures in EIS are software faults in the application layer. In this paper, we propose to use anomaly detection to diagnose failures in the application layer of EIS. Anomaly detection aims to identify unusual system behavior in monitoring data. These anomalies can be valuable indicators for availability or security problems, and support failure diagnosis. In this paper we outline the basic principles of anomaly detection, present the state of the art, and typical application challenges. We outline a new approach for anomaly detection in Enterprise Information Systems that addresses some of these challenges.
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Area 2 - Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Systems

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	273
Title:	NAMED ENTITY RECOGNITION IN BIOMEDICAL LITERATURE USING TWO-LAYER SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINES
Authors:	Feng Liu, Yifei Chen and Bernard Manderick
Abstract:	In this paper, we propose a named entity recognition system for biomedical literature using two-layer support vector machines. In addition, we employ a post-processing module called a boundary check module to eliminate some boundary errors, which can lead to improved system performance. Our system doesn’t make use of any external lexical resources and hence it is a fairly simple system. Furthermore, with carefully designed features and introducing a second layer, our system can recognize named entities in biomedical literature with fairly high accuracy, which can achieve the precision of 83.5%, recall of 80.8% and balanced Fβ=1 score of 82.1%, an approximate state of the art performance for the moment.
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Paper Nr:	450
Title:	IMPROVING CONTENT-ORIENTED XML RETRIEVAL BY APPLYING STRUCTURAL PATTERNS
Authors:	Philipp Dopichaj
Abstract:	XML is the perfect format for storing (mostly) textual documents in a knowledge management system; its flexibility enables users to store both highly structured data and free text in the same document. For knowledge management, it is important to be able to search the free-text parts effectively; users need to find the information that helps them solve their problem without having to wade through much information that is not relevant for their problem. Content-oriented XML retrieval addresses this challenge: In contrast to traditional information retrieval, documents are not considered atomic units, that is, elements such as sections or paragraphs can be returned. One implication of this is that results can overlap (for example a paragraph and the surrounding section). Although overlapping results are undesirable in the final retrieval result as presented to the user, they can help to improve the quality of the final result: We take advantage of overlaps by applying patterns to small sub trees of the retrieval result (result contexts); matching patterns adjust the retrieval status values of the involved node in order to promote the best results. We demonstrate on the INEX 2005 test collection that this post processing can lead to a significant improvement in retrieval quality.
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Paper Nr:	808
Title:	DELINEATING TOPIC AND DISCUSSANT TRANSITIONS IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Authors:	Noriko I. Y., Xavier Llora, David E. Goldberg, Yuichi Washida and Hiroshi Tamura
Abstract:	In this paper, we propose some methodologies for delineating topic and discussant transitions in online collaborative environments, more precisely, focus group discussions for product conceptualization. First, we propose KEE (Key Elements Extraction) algorithm, an algorithm for simultaneously finding key terms and key persons in a discussion. Based on KEE algorithm, we propose approaches for analyzing two important factors of discussions: discussion dynamics and emerging social networks. Examining our approaches using actual network-based discussion data generated by real focus groups in a marketing environment, we report interesting results that demonstrate how our approaches could effectively discover knowledge in the discussions.
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Paper Nr:	916
Title:	IMPRECISE EMPIRICAL ONTOLOGY REFINEMENT - Application to Taxonomy Acquisition
Authors:	Vit Novacek
Abstract:	The significance of uncertainty representation has become obvious in the Semantic Web community recently. This paper presents new results of our research on uncertainty incorporation into ontologies created automatically by means of Human Language Technologies. The research is related to OLE (Ontology LEarning) – a project aimed at bottom-up generation and merging of ontologies. It utilises a proposal of expressive fuzzy knowledge representation framework called ANUIC (Adaptive Net of Universally Interrelated Concepts). We discuss our recent achievements in taxonomy acquisition and show how even simple application of the principles of ANUIC can improve the results of initial knowledge extraction methods.
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Paper Nr:	1038
Title:	A DISTRIBUTED MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM TO SOLVE AIRLINE OPERATIONS PROBLEMS
Authors:	Antonio J.M. Castro and Eugénio Oliveira
Abstract:	An airline schedule very rarely operates as planned. Problems related with aircrafts, crew members and passengers are common and the actions towards the solution of these problems are usually known as operations recovery or disruption management. The Airline Operations Control Center (AOCC) tries to solve these problems with the minimum impact in the airline schedule, with the minimum cost and, at the same time, satisfying all the required safety rules. Usually, each problem is treated separately and some tools have been proposed to help in the decision making process of the airline coordinators. In this paper we present the implementation of a Distributed Multi-Agent System (MAS) that represents the several roles that exist in an AOCC. This MAS deals with several operational bases and for each type of operation problems it has several specialized software agents that implements heuristic solutions and other solutions based in operations research mathematic models and artificial intelligence algorithms. These specialized agents compete to find the best solution for each problem. We present a real case study taken from an AOCC where a crew recovery problem is solved using the MAS. Computational results using a real airline schedule are presented, including a comparison with a solution for the same problem found by the human operators in the Airline Operations Control Center. We show that, even in simple problems and when comparing with solutions found by human operators in the case of this airline company, it is possible to find valid solutions, in less time and with a smaller cost.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	24
Title:	SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE DIFFUSION
Authors:	Mounir Kehal
Abstract:	Formats to handle knowledge of innovative organizations may prove to be complex, as such is assumed to be one of the main variables whilst a distinguishing factor of such organizations to survive within a marketplace. Their main asset is the knowledge of certain highly motivated individuals that appear to share a common vision for the continuity of the organization. Satellite technology is a good example of that. From early pioneers to modern day mini/micro satellites and nanotechnologies, one can see a large amount of risk at every stage in the development of a satellite technology, from inception to design phase, from design to delivery, from lessons learnt from failures to those learnt from successes, and from revisions to design and development of successful satellites. In their groundbreaking book The Knowledge Creating Company (1995), Nonaka et al laid out a model of how organisational knowledge is created through four conversion processes, being from: tacit to explicit (externalisation), explicit to tacit (internalisation), tacit to tacit (socialisation), and explicit to explicit (combination). Key to this model is the authors’ assertion that none are individually sufficient. All must be present to fuel one another. However, such knowledge creation and diffusion was thought to have manifested and only applied within large organizations and conglomerates. Observational (questionnaire-based) and systematic (corpus-based) studies – through case study elicitation experiments and analysis of specialist text, can support research in knowledge management. Organizations that manufacture, use, and maintain satellites depend on a continuous exchange of ideas, criticisms, and congratulations. One can regard such organisations from NASA to SSTL as amongst a class of knowledge-based organizations. Through selective use of the previously stated approaches, and concise reporting for the purposes of this paper we are to show how knowledge flows in a finite organisational setting and could be modelled by specialist text.
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Paper Nr:	54
Title:	A NEW FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER FOR TRADING ON THE STOCK MARKET
Authors:	Francesco M. Raimondi, Salvatore Pennacchio, Pietro Via and Marianna Mulè
Abstract:	A common problem that financial operators often meet in their own work is to make, at the right moment, the operational choices on the Stock Market. Once the Market to act on has been chosen, the financial operator has to decide when and how to operate on it, in order to achieve a profit. The problem that we are going to deal with is the planning of an automatic decisional system for the management of long positions on bull market. First, a trading system (TS) will be implemented pointing its features out. Then a fuzzy logic implementation of the TS will be introduced (FTS). The fuzzy system will be optimized by the genetic algorithms. Finally, the two different implementations of the trading system will be compared using some performance indexes.
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Paper Nr:	54
Title:	A NEW FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER FOR TRADING ON THE STOCK MARKET
Authors:	Francesco M. Raimondi, Salvatore Pennacchio, Pietro Via and Marianna Mulè
Abstract:	A common problem that financial operators often meet in their own work is to make, at the right moment, the operational choices on the Stock Market. Once the Market to act on has been chosen, the financial operator has to decide when and how to operate on it, in order to achieve a profit. The problem that we are going to deal with is the planning of an automatic decisional system for the management of long positions on bull market. First, a trading system (TS) will be implemented pointing its features out. Then a fuzzy logic implementation of the TS will be introduced (FTS). The fuzzy system will be optimized by the genetic algorithms. Finally, the two different implementations of the trading system will be compared using some performance indexes.
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Paper Nr:	57
Title:	EXPLANATION GENERATION IN BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MODELS - With a Case Study in Competition Benchmarking
Authors:	Hennie Daniels and Emiel Caron
Abstract:	In this paper, we describe an extension of the methodology for explanation generation in financial knowledge-based systems. This offers the possibility to automatically generate diagnostics to support business decision tasks. The central goal is the identification of specific knowledge structures and reasoning methods required to construct computerized explanations from financial data and models. A multi-step look-ahead algorithm is proposed that deals with so-called cancelling-out effects. The extended methodology was tested on a case-study conducted for Statistics Netherlands involving the comparison of financial figures of firms in the Dutch retail branch. The analysis is performed with a diagnostic software application which implements our theory of explanation. Comparison of results of the method described in (Daniels and Feelders, 2001) with the results of the extended method clearly improves the analyses when cancelling-out effects are present in the data.
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Paper Nr:	61
Title:	A CONNECTIONIST APPROACH IN BAYESIAN CLASSIFICATION
Authors:	Luminita State, Catalina Cocianu, Panayiotis Vlamos and Viorica Stefanescu
Abstract:	The research reported in the paper aims the development of a suitable neural architecture for implementing the Bayesian procedure in solving pattern recognition problems. The proposed neural system is based on an inhibitive competition installed among the hidden neurons of the computation layer. The local memories of the hidden neurons are computed adaptively according to an estimation model of the parameters of the Bayesian classifier. Also, the paper reports a series of qualitative attempts in analyzing the behavior of a new learning procedure of the parameters an HMM by modeling different types of stochastic dependencies on the space of states corresponding to the underlying finite automaton. The approach aims the development of some new methods in processing image and speech signals in solving pattern recognition problems. Basically, the attempts are stated in terms of weighting processes and deterministic/non deterministic Bayesian procedures.
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Paper Nr:	65
Title:	A MULTI-AGENT ARCHITECTURE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT - Information Fusion, Data Mining and Decision Making
Authors:	Marina V. Sokolova and Antonio Fernández-Caballero
Abstract:	The paper introduces an approach to creating a multi-agent architecture for environmental impact assessment upon human health. As the indicators of the environmental impact we assume water pollution, indexes of traffic and industrial activity, wastes and solar radiation; and as the human health indicator we take morbidity. All the data comprise multiple heterogeneous data repositories. The general structure of the architecture is represented. Thus, the proposed system is logically and functionally divided into three layers, solving the tasks of information fusion, pattern discovery through data mining, and decision support making, respectively, which are discussed. The discovered patterns will be used as a foundation for real-time decision making, which should be of great importance for adequate and effective management by responsible municipal and state government authorities.
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Paper Nr:	120
Title:	HEAVYWEIGHT ONTOLOGY MATCHING - A Method and a Tool Based on the Conceptual Graphs Model
Authors:	Frederic Furst and Francky Trichet
Abstract:	Managing multiple ontologies is now a core question in most of the applications that require semantic interoperability. The Semantic Web is surely the most significant application of this report: the current challenge is not to design, develop and deploy domain ontologies but to define semantic correspondences among multiple ontologies covering overlapping domains. In this paper, we introduce a new approach of ontology matching named axiom-based ontology matching. As this approach is founded on the use of axioms, it is mainly dedicated to heavyweight ontologies (an heavyweight ontology is a lightweight ontology, i.e. an ontology simply based on a hierarchy of concepts and a hierarchy of relations, enriched with axioms used to fix the semantic interpretation of concepts and relations), but it can also be applied to lightweight ontologies as a complementary approach to the current techniques based on the analysis of natural language expressions, instances and/or taxonomical structures of ontologies. This new matching paradigm is defined in the context of the Conceptual Graphs model (CG), where the projection (i.e. the main operator for reasoning with CG which corresponds to homomorphism of graphs) is used as a means to semantically match the concepts and the relations of two ontologies through the explicit representation of the axioms in terms of conceptual graphs. We also introduce an ontology of representation dedicated to the reasoning of heavyweight ontologies at the meta-level.
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Paper Nr:	229
Title:	RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORKS APPROACH TO THE DETECTION OF SQL ATTACKS
Authors:	Jaroslaw Skaruz, Franciszek Seredynski and Pascal Bouvry
Abstract:	In the paper we present a new approach based on application of neural networks to detect SQL attacks. SQL attacks are those attacks that take advantage of using SQL statements to be performed. The problem of detection of this class of attacks is transformed to time series prediction problem. SQL queries are used as a source of events in a protected environment. To differentiate between normal SQL queries and those sent by an attacker, we divide SQL statements into tokens and pass them to our detection system, which predicts the next token, taking into account previously seen tokens. In the learning phase tokens are passed to recurrent neural network (RNN) trained by backpropagation through time (BPTT) algorithm. Teaching data are shifted by one token forward in time with relation to input. The purpose of the testing phase is to predict the next token in the sequence. All experiments were conducted on Jordan and Elman networks using data gathered from PHP Nuke portal. Experimental results show that the Jordan network outperforms the Elman network predicting correctly queries of the length up to ten.
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Paper Nr:	237
Title:	THE IMPORTANCE OF AGGREGATION OPERATOR CHARACTERISTICS IN MARKETING RESEARCH
Authors:	Kris Brijs, Benoît Depaire, Koen Vanhoof, Tom Brijs and Geert Wets
Abstract:	Our paper demonstrates that aggregation operator characteristics count as a promising avenue for applied fuzzy set research. It is shown by means of two cases that these characteristics are particularly valuable as proxies for hard to measure domain knowledge within the fields of customer satisfaction and country-of-origin. More in detail, the uninorm’s neutral element could be identified as a useful asset for representing customers’ expectations while the OWA operator’s orness contributes to the quantification of consumers’ degree of optimism when evaluating products coming from abroad. Both theoretical and empirical validation is provided to support the basic assumption that aggregation operator characteristics enable us to obtain superior consumer information with substantial managerial relevance.
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Paper Nr:	238
Title:	IMPLEMENTING PRIORITIZED REASONING IN LOGIC PROGRAMMING
Authors:	Luciano Caroprese, Irina Trubitsyna and Ester Zumpano
Abstract:	Prioritized reasoning is an important extension of logic programming and is a powerful tool for expressing desiderata on the program solutions in order to establish the best ones. This paper discusses the implementation of the case of preference relation among atoms and introduces a system, called CHOPPER, realizing choice optimization recently proposed in (Caroprese et al., 2007). CHOPPER supports the ASOCh and ASOFCh semantics based on the concept of “choice”, as a set of preference rules describing common choice options in different contexts, and the ASO semantics (Brewka et al., 2003), which valuates each preference rule separately. This paper outlines the architecture of the system, discusses aspects of the choice identification strategies and of the feasibility of choice options. Moreover, the comparison of the proposed approach with the other implementation approaches proposed in the literature is provided.
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Paper Nr:	242
Title:	AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SIGNIFICANT VARIABLES FOR TRADING STRATEGIES
Authors:	M. D. Calvo-Flores, J. F. Núñez Negrillo, Eva Gibaja and Carlos Molina Fernández
Abstract:	Nowadays, stock market investment is governed by investment strategies. An investment strategy consists in following a fixed philosophy over a period of time, and it can have a scientific, statistical or merely heuristic base. No method currently exists which is capable of measuring how good an investment strategy is either objectively or realistically. Through the use of Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining tools we have studied the different investment strategies of an important Spanish management agency and extracted a series of significant characteristics to describe them. Our objective is to evaluate and compare investment strategies in order to be able to use those which produce a peak return in our investment.
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Paper Nr:	245
Title:	MOBILE DECISION MAKING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT - Supporting Geoarchaeologists in the Field
Authors:	Martin Blunn, Julie Cowie, David Cairns, Clare Wilson and Donald Davidson
Abstract:	There is a professional responsibility placed upon archaeologists to record all possible information about a given excavated site of which soil analysis is one important but frequently marginalised aspect. This paper introduces SASSA (Soil Analysis Support System for Archaeologists), whose primary goal is to promote the wider use of soil analysis techniques through a selection of ‘web based’ software tools. A description is given of the field tool developed which supports both the recording of soil related archaeological data in a comprehensive manner and provide a means of inferring information about the site under investigation. Insight is gained through a user evaluating numerous decision trees relating to pertinent archaeological questions. Whilst the field tool is capable of working in isolation, it offers a superior experience when operated in unison with a Wiki. A brief discussion of the use of the Wiki application within the SASSA project is presented.
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Paper Nr:	245
Title:	MOBILE DECISION MAKING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT - Supporting Geoarchaeologists in the Field
Authors:	Martin Blunn, Julie Cowie, David Cairns, Clare Wilson and Donald Davidson
Abstract:	There is a professional responsibility placed upon archaeologists to record all possible information about a given excavated site of which soil analysis is one important but frequently marginalised aspect. This paper introduces SASSA (Soil Analysis Support System for Archaeologists), whose primary goal is to promote the wider use of soil analysis techniques through a selection of ‘web based’ software tools. A description is given of the field tool developed which supports both the recording of soil related archaeological data in a comprehensive manner and provide a means of inferring information about the site under investigation. Insight is gained through a user evaluating numerous decision trees relating to pertinent archaeological questions. Whilst the field tool is capable of working in isolation, it offers a superior experience when operated in unison with a Wiki. A brief discussion of the use of the Wiki application within the SASSA project is presented.
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Paper Nr:	255
Title:	MODELLING HUMAN REASONING IN INTELLIGENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Authors:	Vadim Vagin and Alexander Eremeev
Abstract:	Methods of analogy-based solution searches in intelligent decision support systems are considered. The special attention is drawn to methods based on a structural analogy that use the analogy of properties and relations and take the context into account. Besides the problem of concept generalization is viewed. Several algorithms based on the rough set theory are compared and the possibility to use them for generalization of data stored in real-world databases is tested.
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Paper Nr:	396
Title:	MULTI-AGENT BUILDING CONTROL IN SHARED ENVIRONMENT
Authors:	Bing Qiao, Kecheng Liu and Chris Guy
Abstract:	Multi-agent systems have been adopted to build intelligent environment in recent years. It was claimed that energy efficiency and occupants’ comfort were the most important factors for evaluating the performance of modern work environment, and multi-agent systems presented a viable solution to handling the complexity of dynamic building environment. While previous research has made significant advance in some aspects, the proposed systems or models were often not applicable in a “shared environment”. This paper introduces an ongoing project on multi-agent for building control, which aims to achieve both energy efficiency and occupants’ comfort in a shared environment.
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Paper Nr:	415
Title:	APPLYING INTEGRATED EXPERT SYSTEM IN NETWORK MANAGEMENT
Authors:	Antonio Martin, Carlos León de Mora, Juan I. Guerrero and Francisco J. Molina
Abstract:	The management of modern telecommunications networks is becoming an increasingly demanding task that is difficult to implement using present traditional methods even assisted by conventional automation techniques. Integration of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology into existing and future network management system may resolve some of the difficulties. The goal of this research is to develop an integrated expert system for management network applications. The emphasis of this research is to provide a broad view of intelligent systems by capturing the knowledge of human experts and using a modular approach that integrates the knowledge management and network resources specifications. For this purpose, an extension of OSI management framework specifications language has been added and investigated. The advantage of integrating both is that a large problem can be broken down into smaller and manageable sub-problems/modules. Through modification of existing resources or addition of new resources, the integrated expert system can be conveniently expanded in the future to cover the latest research findings and updated standards of network communications.
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Paper Nr:	417
Title:	AN ATTITUDE BASED MODELING OF AGENTS IN COALITION
Authors:	Madhu Goyal
Abstract:	One of the main underpinning of the multi-agent systems community is how and why autonomous agents should cooperate with one another. Several formal and computational models of cooperative work or coalition are currently developed and used within multi-agent systems research. The coalition facilitates the achievement of cooperation among different agents. In this paper, a mental construct called attitude is proposed and its significance in coalition formation in a dynamic fire world is discussed. This paper presents ABCAS (Attitude Based Coalition Agent System) that shows coalitions in multi-agent systems are an effective way of dealing with the complexity of fire world. It shows that coalitions explore the attitudes and behaviors that help agents to achieve goals that cannot be achieved alone or to maximize net group utility.
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Paper Nr:	418
Title:	A QUALITATIVE EXPERT KNOWLEDGE APPROACH TO RENDERING OPTIMIZATION
Authors:	Vallejo-fernández David, González-morcillo Carlos and Luis Jiménez Linares
Abstract:	The rendering process allows the developer to obtain a raster 2D image from the definition of a 3D scene. This process is computationally intensive if the source scene has a certain complexity or high-quality images are required. Therefore, a lot of time is spent and many computational resources are needed. In this paper, a novel approach called QUEKARO (standing for a QUalitative Expert Knowledge Approach to Rendering Optimization) is presented for adjusting some relevant parameters involved in the rendering process by using expert systems. This way, the developer can obtain optimized results which reduce the time spent in the rendering process and, in most cases, do not affect the final quality of the raster 2D image. These results will be exposed on the result section, in which different optimizations will be studied. As we discuss on the final section of this paper, the use of expert systems in the rendering process involves a novel approach which reduces drastically the resources used and provides us with a high-scalable system. Using these arguments, we will justify the inclusion of expert systems in this area and will study future works.
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Paper Nr:	434
Title:	PAIRWISE COMPARISONS, INCOMPARABILITY AND PARTIAL ORDERS
Authors:	Ryszard Janicki
Abstract:	A new approach to Pairwise Comparisons based Ranking is presented. An abstract model based on the concept of partial order instead of numerical scale is introduced and analysed. Many faults of traditional, numerical-scale based models are discussed. The importance of the concept of equal importance or indifference is discussed.
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Paper Nr:	451
Title:	PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AS AN ICEBREAKER - Motivating Contributions to Knowledge Management Systems
Authors:	Harald Kjellin and Terese Stenfors-hayes
Abstract:	Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) includes a set of techniques that individuals can use to acquire, create and share knowledge without relying on technical or financial support from the employer. The purpose of this study is to find indications of detectable value from experimental implementations of PKM systems in a number of organisations. The study includes 75 implementations of a PKM system in 75 different organisations and evaluations of them all. The results from interviewing all employees that participated in the study showed that: 1) The implementation of PKM does not require extensive resources 2) The effects can be measured from a personal level, and 3) The employees assessed the positive value of the descriptions of personalised knowledge.
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Paper Nr:	467
Title:	NEURALTB WEB SYSTEM - Support to the Smear Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis Diagnosis
Authors:	Carmen Maidantchik, José Manoel Seixas, Afrânio Kritski, Fernanda C. De Q Mello, Rony T. V. Braga, Pedro H. S. Antunes and João Baptista Oliveira E Souza Filho
Abstract:	The World Health Organization estimates that one third of the world population is infected by mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) affects mainly poor health places in developing countries. Therefore, it became mandatory to develop more efficient, fast, and inexpensive analysis methods. This paper presents a decision support system that uses neural networks to sustain TB diagnosis. The output is the probability that a patient has or not the illness and an assigned risk group. The NeuralTB system encapsulates the knowledge needed for efficient anamnesis interview integrated to demographic and threat factors typically known for tuberculosis diagnosis. It was developed with the Web technology and data were described with a markup language to enable an efficient communication and information exchange among experts. Data collected during the whole process can be used to identify possible new factors or symptoms, since the infection transmission may evolve. This information can also support tuberculosis control governmental entities to define effective actions to protect the health and safety of the population.
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Paper Nr:	469
Title:	CREATING A BILINGUAL PSYCHOLOGY LEXICON FOR CROSS LINGUAL QUESTION ANSWERING - A Pilot Study
Authors:	Andrea Andrenucci
Abstract:	This paper introduces a pilot study aimed at investigating the extraction of word relations from a sample of a medical parallel corpus in the field of Psychology. Word relations are extracted in order to create a bilingual lexicon for cross lingual question answering between Swedish and English. Four different variants of the sample corpus were utilized: word inflections with and without POS tagging, lemmas with and without POS tagging. The purpose of the study was to analyze the quality of the word relations obtained from the different versions of the corpus and to understand which version of the corpus was more suitable for extracting a bilingual lexicon in the field of psychology. The word alignments were evaluated with the help of reference data (gold standards), which were constructed before the word alignment process.
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Paper Nr:	478
Title:	ENERGY MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF IMPLEMENTATIONS USING ADAPTIVE STRUCTURATION THEORY
Authors:	Orla N. Suibhne, Willie Golden and Padraig Molloy
Abstract:	This research is focusing on the implementation of an Information System (IS), more specifically a building energy management system (BEMS) within several organisations. One of the EU’s 7th Framework Programme’s (FP7) objectives is to “transform the current fossil fuel based energy system into a more sustainable one combined with enhanced energy efficiency (EE)”. This research is concerned with the use of information systems to achieve the latter of these objectives; enhanced energy efficiency. The research is being undertaken using a multi methodological approach incorporating case study methodology and grounded theory. Advanced structuration theory (AST) will provide the conceptual model that will help to capture the longitudinal change process. A modified AST model is proposed which will provide a theoretical framework that further investigates and explains the implementation process, using several organisations at different stages of BEMS implementation. The researcher has confirmed access to these organisations and data collection commenced on October 1st 2006. The paper concludes with an overview of how the research will progress.
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Paper Nr:	480
Title:	OBTAINING AND EVALUATING GENERALIZED ASSOCIATION RULES
Authors:	Veronica Carvalho, Solange Rezende and Mário Castro
Abstract:	Generalized association rules are rules that contain some background knowledge giving a more general view of the domain. This knowledge is codified by a taxonomy set over the data set items. Many researches use taxonomies in different data mining steps to obtain generalized rules. So, this work initially presents an approach to obtain generalized association rules in the post-processing data mining step using taxonomies. However, an important issue that has to be explored is the quality of the knowledge expressed by generalized rules, since the objective of the data mining process is to obtain useful and interesting knowledge to support the user’s decisions. In general, what researches do to help the users to select these pieces of knowledge is to reduce the obtained set by pruning some specialized rules using a subjective measure. In this context, this paper also presents a quality analysis of the generalized association rules. The quality of the rules obtained by the proposed approach was evaluated. The experiments show that some knowledge evaluation objective measures are appropriate only when the generalization occurs on one specific side of the rules.
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Paper Nr:	739
Title:	AN INTELLIGENT INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR ENABLING PRODUCT MASS CUSTOMIZATION
Authors:	Haifeng Liu, Wee-Keong Ng, Bin Song, Xiang Li and Wen-feng Lu
Abstract:	We propose to develop an intelligent design decision-support system to enable mass customization through product configuration using intelligent computational approaches. The system supports customer-driven product development throughout the product’s life cycle and enables rapid assessment and changes of product design in response to changes in customer requirements. The overall system consists of four subsystems: customer requirement analysis subsystem, product configuration subsystem, product lifecycle cost estimation subsystem and product data management subsystem. Various challenging issues for developing the system are investigated, and a number of methodologies and techniques to resolve the issues are presented. The proposed system will allow SMEs to effectively compete with larger companies who command superior resources.
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Paper Nr:	751
Title:	INTERCONNECTING DOCUMENTATION - Harnessing the Different Powers of Current Documentation Tools in Software Development
Authors:	Christian Prause, Julia Kuck, Stefan Apelt, Reinhard Oppermann and Armin B. Cremers
Abstract:	Current software documentation tools (like text processors, email, documentation generators, reporting, configuration management, wikis) have different strengths in supporting the software engineering process. But one weakness they all have in common is their inability to combine the advantages of the various techniques. Integrating documentation with diverse origins would enhance the force of expression and compensate individual failings of the different techniques. In this paper, we present a new brand of documentation utilities — exemplified by the Dendrodoc-system — that overcomes current problems with documentation. By processing information at negligible cost that common tools ignore, our system represents an efficient way of improving software documentation.
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Paper Nr:	768
Title:	ATTRIBUTE CONSTRUCTION FOR E-MAIL FOLDERING BY USING WRAPPERED FORWARD GREEDY SEARCH
Authors:	Pablo Bermejo, José A. Gámez and José M. Puerta
Abstract:	E-mail classification is one of the outstanding tasks in text mining, however most of the efforts in this topic have been devoted to the detection of spam or junk e-mail, that is, a classification problem with only two possible classes: spam and not-spam. In this paper we deal with a different e-mail classification problem known as e-mail foldering which consists on the classification of incoming mail into the different folders previously created by the user. This task has received less attention and is quite complex due to the (usually large) cardinality of the class variable (the number of folders). In this paper we try to improve the classification accuracy by looking for new attributes derived from the existing ones by using a data-driven approach. The attribute is constructed by taking into account the type of classifier to be used later and following a wrapper approach guided by a forward greedy search. The experiments carried out show that in all the cases the accuracy of the classifier is improved when the new attribute is added to the original ones.
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Paper Nr:	794
Title:	INVESTIGATIONS ON OBJECT-CENTERED ROUTING IN DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS: ALGORITHMIC FRAMEWORK AND INITIAL NUMERICAL RESULTS - Support for Distributed Decision Making in Transport Systems
Authors:	Bernd-ludwig Wenning, Carmelita Görg, Andreas Timm-Giel, Jörn Schönberger and Herbert Kopfer
Abstract:	Dynamics in logistics are a subject of increasing importance in logistic processes. The more detailed dynamics are considered, the more complicated it becomes to handle them in centralized planning. Therefore, decentralized approaches with autonomous cooperating entities might become more efficient. This paper introduces some aspects of decentralized approaches, mainly focusing on the process of information acquisition which enables the autonomous entities to decide about the handling of routes and orders.
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Paper Nr:	795
Title:	TREND ANALYSIS BASED ON EXPLORATIVE DATA AND TEXT MINING - A Decision Support System for the European Home Textile Industry
Authors:	Andreas Becks and Jessica Huster
Abstract:	Trend-related industries like the European home-textile industry have to quickly adapt to evolving product trends and consumer behaviour in order to avoid economic risks generated by misproduction. Trend indicators are manifold, reaching from changes in ordered products and consumer behaviour to ideas and concepts published in magazines or presented at trade fairs. In this paper we report on the overall design of the Trend Analyser, a decision support system that helps designers and product developers of textile producers to perform market basket analyses as well as mining trend-relevant fashion magazines and other publications by trend-setters. Our tool design brings together explorative text and data mining methods in an ontology-based knowledge flow system, helping decision-makers to perform a better planning of their production.
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Paper Nr:	818
Title:	A NICHE BASED GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR IMAGE REGISTRATION
Authors:	Giuseppe Pascale and Luigi Troiano
Abstract:	Image registration aims to find the unknown set of transformations able to reduce two or more images to a common reference frame. Image registration can be regarded as an optimization problem, where the goal is to maximize a measure of image similarity. The measure of similarity on the overall image can be computationally expensive, leading to measure the similarity of smaller subimages. However, the reduction of subimage size results into a higher multi-modality for the optimizing function. Recent investigations have shown that genetic algorithms can address this problem. However, the simple scheme of genetic algorithms can still fall in local optima. In this paper, we explore the application of niche-oriented genetic algorithms, showing their strengths in providing a more effective image registration algorithm.
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Paper Nr:	833
Title:	PROBLEMS AND FEATURES OF EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS TO BUILD HYBRID TRAINING METHODS FOR RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORKS
Authors:	Manuel P. Cuellar, Miguel Delgado and M. Carmen Pegalajar
Abstract:	Dynamical recurrent neural networks are models suitable to solve problems where the input and output data may have dependencies in time, like grammatical inference or time series prediction. However, traditional training algorithms for these networks sometimes provide unsuitable results because of the vanishing gradient problems. This work focuses on hybrid proposals of training algorithms for this type of neural networks. The methods studied are based on the combination of heuristic procedures with gradient-based algorithms. In the experimental section, we show the advantages and disadvantages that we may find when using these training techniques in time series prediction problems, and provide a general discussion about the problems and cases of different hybridations based on genetic evolutionary algorithms.
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Paper Nr:	837
Title:	AN APPROACH FOR ASSESSING DESIGN SYSTEMS - Design System Simulation and Analysis for Performance Assessment
Authors:	Richard Sohnius, Eyck Jentzsch, Wolf-ekkehard Matzke and Vadim Ermolayev
Abstract:	This position paper presents our work in assessing engineering design systems in the field of microelectronics with respect to their performance and, more specifically, to productivity. Current mainstream process assessment systems show deficiencies of the representation and analysis when dealing with dynamic, self-optimizing processes. To overcome this, a project called PRODUKTIV+ has been created with the goal to develop a new approach. This approach is to create a model of a design system and simulate the colaborative behavior of the involved engineers using a system of cooperating, intelligent software agents. The assessment of a design system is then done based on the detailed simulation results.
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Paper Nr:	882
Title:	GENERALIZED MULTICRITERIA OPTIMIZATION SOFTWARE SYSTEM MKO-2
Authors:	Mariana Vassileva, Vassil Vassilev, Boris Staykov and Danail Dochev
Abstract:	The paper describes a generalized multicriteria decision support system, called MKO-2, which is designed to model and solve linear and linear integer multicriteria optimization problems. The system implements the innovative generalized classification-based interactive algorithm for multicriteria optimization with variable scalarizations and parameterizations, which is applicable for different types of multicriteria optimization problems (i.e., linear, nonlinear, mixed variables) as well as for different ways of defining preferences by the decision maker. It can apply different scalarizing problems and strategies in the search for new Pareto optimal solutions. The class of the problems solved, the structure, the functions and the user interface of the MKO-2 system are described in the paper. The graphical user interface of MKO-2 system enables decision makers with different degrees of qualification concerning methods and software tools to operate easily with the system. It can be used both for education and for solving real-life problems. Because of its nature, MKO-2 system applies specific expert knowledge of the field of multicriteria optimization and knowledge-based (expert) subsystems, explicitly representing specific domain knowledge, as well as specific MO solving knowledge, can be included in it concerning different levels of expertise.
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Paper Nr:	891
Title:	GROUP DECISION SYSTEMS FOR RANKING AND SELECTION - An Application to the Accreditation of Doping Control Laboratories
Authors:	Xari Rovira, Núria Agell, Mónica Sánchez, Francesc Prats and Montserrat Ventura
Abstract:	This paper presents a qualitative approach for representing and synthesising evaluations given by a team of experts involved in selection or ranking processes. The paper aims at contributing to decision-making analysis in the context of group decision making. A methodology is given for selecting and ranking several alternatives in an accreditation process. Patterns or alternatives are evaluated by each expert in an ordinal scale. Qualitative orders of magnitude spaces are the frame in which these ordinal scales are represented. A representation for the different patterns by means of k-dimensional qualitative orders of magnitude labels is proposed, each of these standing for the conjunction of k labels corresponding to the evaluations considered. A method is given for ranking patterns based on comparing distances against a reference k-dimensional label. The proposed method is applied in a real case in External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS) for Doping Control Laboratory contexts.
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Paper Nr:	891
Title:	GROUP DECISION SYSTEMS FOR RANKING AND SELECTION - An Application to the Accreditation of Doping Control Laboratories
Authors:	Xari Rovira, Núria Agell, Mónica Sánchez, Francesc Prats and Montserrat Ventura
Abstract:	This paper presents a qualitative approach for representing and synthesising evaluations given by a team of experts involved in selection or ranking processes. The paper aims at contributing to decision-making analysis in the context of group decision making. A methodology is given for selecting and ranking several alternatives in an accreditation process. Patterns or alternatives are evaluated by each expert in an ordinal scale. Qualitative orders of magnitude spaces are the frame in which these ordinal scales are represented. A representation for the different patterns by means of k-dimensional qualitative orders of magnitude labels is proposed, each of these standing for the conjunction of k labels corresponding to the evaluations considered. A method is given for ranking patterns based on comparing distances against a reference k-dimensional label. The proposed method is applied in a real case in External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS) for Doping Control Laboratory contexts.
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Paper Nr:	900
Title:	A PLATFORM DEDICATED TO KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGE PROCESSING APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Arnaud Renouf, Régis Clouard and Marinette Revenu
Abstract:	In this paper, we propose a platform dedicated to the knowledge extraction and management for image processing applications. The aim of this platform is a knowledge-based system that generates automatically applications from problem formulations given by inexperienced users. We also present a new model for the formulation of such applications and show its contribution to the platform performance.
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Paper Nr:	919
Title:	SELF-LEARNING PREDICTION SYSTEM FOR OPTIMISATION OF WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT IN A MAINFRAME OPERATING SYSTEM
Authors:	Michael Bensch, Dominik Brugger, Wolfgang Rosenstiel, Martin Bogdan, Wilhelm Spruth and Peter Baeuerle
Abstract:	We present a framework for extraction and prediction of online workload data from a workload manager of a mainframe operating system. To boost overall system performance, the prediction will be incorporated into the workload manager to take preventive action before a bottleneck develops. Model and feature selection automatically create a prediction model based on given training data, thereby keeping the system flexible. We tailor data extraction, preprocessing and training to this specific task, keeping in mind the non-stationarity of business processes. Using error measures suited to our task, we show that our approach is promising. To conclude, we discuss our first results and give an outlook on future work.
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Paper Nr:	919
Title:	SELF-LEARNING PREDICTION SYSTEM FOR OPTIMISATION OF WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT IN A MAINFRAME OPERATING SYSTEM
Authors:	Michael Bensch, Dominik Brugger, Wolfgang Rosenstiel, Martin Bogdan, Wilhelm Spruth and Peter Baeuerle
Abstract:	We present a framework for extraction and prediction of online workload data from a workload manager of a mainframe operating system. To boost overall system performance, the prediction will be incorporated into the workload manager to take preventive action before a bottleneck develops. Model and feature selection automatically create a prediction model based on given training data, thereby keeping the system flexible. We tailor data extraction, preprocessing and training to this specific task, keeping in mind the non-stationarity of business processes. Using error measures suited to our task, we show that our approach is promising. To conclude, we discuss our first results and give an outlook on future work.
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Paper Nr:	960
Title:	SIMILARITY ASSESSMENT IN A CBR APPLICATION FOR CLICKSTREAM DATA MINING PLANS SELECTION
Authors:	Cristina Wanzeller and Orlando Belo
Abstract:	We implemented a mining plans selection system founded on the Case Based Reasoning paradigm, in order to assist the development of Web usage mining processes. The system’s main goal is to suggest the most suited methods to apply on a data analysis problem. Our approach builds upon the reuse of the experience gained from prior successfully mining processes, to solve current and future similar problems. The knowledge acquired after successfully solving such problems is organized and stored in a relational case base, giving rise to a (multi-) relational cases representation. In this paper we describe the similitude assessment devised within the retrieval of similar cases, to cope with the adopted representation. Structured representation and similarity assessment over complex data are issues relevant to a growing variety of application domains, being considered in multiple related lines of active research. We explore a number of different similarity measures proposed in the literature and we extend one of them to better fit our purposes.
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Paper Nr:	965
Title:	PROVISION OF CONTEXT-SENSITIVE ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE FOR DECISION SUPPORT - An Approach based on Enterprise Models and Information Demand Contexts
Authors:	Tatiana Levashova, Tatiana Levashova and Magnus Lundqvist
Abstract:	In this paper an approach for deriving abstract and operational context for context-sensitive decision support, and thereby also parts of information demand contexts, from enterprise models is presented together with some thoughts on how this can be utilised in the efforts of trying to provide users with current, correct, and relevant information with respect to the tasks such users perform within organisations. The different steps involved in the process of deriving context from enterprise models is explained by means of different representations of an example model produced in earlier research done by the authors.
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Paper Nr:	972
Title:	RULE BASED STABILITY CRITERIA FOR COALITION FORMATION UNDER UNCERTAINTY
Authors:	Chi-Kong Chan and Ho-fung Leung
Abstract:	Efficiency and stability are two important concepts in coalition formation analysis. One common assumption in many well-known criteria such as the core and Pareto- efficiency is that there exists a publicly known value for each coalition or sub-coalition. However, in software agent applications, this assumption is often not true as the agents rarely know the exact coalition values for certain. Instead, agents have to rely on whatever evidence they can observe, and evaluate those evidence according to their private information base on past experience. There are two sources of uncertainty here. First, such private information is often uncertain in nature or may even be self-conflicting. Second, the agents, which are heterogeneous and autonomous, may have different conflict resolution strategies. Such uncertainties make the traditional approaches unfit for many real-world problems, except perhaps, in idealized scenarios. In this paper, we extend the core and Pareto optimality criteria by proposing a new rule based stability concepts under uncertain environment: the CU-Core.
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Paper Nr:	989
Title:	A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PREDICTING THE RELIABILITY OF A ROBOTIC DISPENSING SYSTEM
Authors:	Justin Sturek, Sreekanth Ramakrishnan, Prasad Nagula and Krishnaswami Srihari
Abstract:	Decision Support Systems (DSS) are information systems designed to support individual and collective decision-making. This research presents the development of a DSS to facilitate the prediction of the reliability of a Robotic Dispensing System (RDS). While it is extremely critical for design teams to identify the potential defects in the product before releasing them to the customers, predicting reliability is extremely difficult due to the absence of actual failure data. Design teams often adopt tools such as Failure Mode Effects and Analysis (FMEA) to analyze the various failure modes in the product. There are commercial softwares that facilitate predicting reliability and conducting FMEA. However, there are limited approaches that combine these two critical aspects of product design. The objective of this research is to develop a DSS that would help design teams track the overall system reliability, while concurrently using the data from the alpha testing phase to perform the FMEA. Hence, this DSS is capable of calculating the age-specific reliability value for a Robotic Dispensing System (RDS), in addition to storing the defect information, for the FMEA process. The Risk Priority Number (RPN) calculated using the data gathered serves as the basis for the design team to identify the modifications to the product design. The tool, developed in Microsoft Access®, would be subsequently utilized to track on-field performance of the RDS. This would facilitate continuous monitoring of the RDS from the customer site, especially during its “infant mortality” period.
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Paper Nr:	1008
Title:	INTELLIGENT E-LEARNING SYSTEMS - An Intelligent Approach to Flexible Learning Methodologies
Authors:	Sukanya Ramabadran and Vivekanand Gopalkrishnan
Abstract:	The evolution of the educational industry from adoption of classroom training methods to e-learning systems has been remarkable and has satisfied its purpose of existence. However, it has not been able to address issues faced by students who do not want to be constricted with a set pattern of progress. Hence, an Intelligent e-Learning Systems (IeLS) framework that facilitates flexibility and maximum learners’ satisfaction, was developed. The framework consists of a presentation component, a data mining component, a business logic component, a content management component and a database component. The data mining component uses techniques such as association rule discovery and conceptual clustering to generate recommendations for students, course coordinators as well as the institute.This framework was implemented using PHP and MySQL with various components such as registration, entry test, tutorials, guest-book and bulletin boards. This system allows flexibility in terms of choice of learning path, change in direction of learning path and change of learning approach. In this paper we discuss the role that such an intelligent e-Learning system plays in satisfying the diverse needs of students.
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Paper Nr:	1012
Title:	FUZZY INTERVAL NUMBER (FIN) TECHNIQUES FOR MULTILINGUAL AND CROSS LANGUAGE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
Authors:	Theodoros Alevizos, Vassilis G. Kaburlasos, Stelios Papadakis, Christos Skourlas and Petros Belsis
Abstract:	Fuzzy Interval Numbers (FINs) could be seen as a set of techniques applied in Fuzzy System applications. In this paper, we propose a series of techniques to solve multi-Lingual and Cross Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) problems, based on Fuzzy Interval Numbers (FINs). Some experiments showing the importance of these techniques in the CLIR-systems are briefly described and discussed. Our method is evaluated using monolingual and bilingual public bibliographic data extracted from the National Archive of the Greek National Documentation Centre. All the experiments were conducted with and without the use of stemming, stop-words and other language dependent (pre-) processing techniques. It seems that a main advantage of our approach is that the method is language independent and there is also no need for any text pre-processing or higher level processing, avoiding thus the use of taggers, parsers, feature selection strategies, or the use of other language dependent NLP tools.
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Paper Nr:	1037
Title:	MRE-KDD+: A MULTI-RESOLUTION, ENSEMBLE-BASED MODEL FOR ADVANCED KNOLWEDGE DISCOVERY
Authors:	Alfredo Cuzzocrea
Abstract:	In data-intensive scenarios, data repositories expose very different formats, and knowledge representation schemes are very heterogeneous accordingly. As a consequence, a relevant research challenge is how to efficiently integrate, process and mine such distributed knowledge in order to make available it to end-users/applications in an integrated and summarized manner. Starting from these considerations, in this paper we propose an OLAM-based model for advanced knowledge discovery, called Multi-Resolution Ensemble-based Model for Advanced Knowledge Discovery in Large Databases and Data Warehouses (MRE-KDD+). MRE-KDD+ integrates in a meaningfully manner several theoretical amenities coming from On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), Data Mining (DM) and Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD), and results to be an effective model for supporting advanced decision-support processes in many fields of real-life data-intensive applications.
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Paper Nr:	1045
Title:	USING DECISION TREE LEARNING TO PREDICT WORKFLOW ACTIVITY TIME CONSUMPTION
Authors:	Liu Yingbo, Wang Jianmin and Sun Jiaguang
Abstract:	Activity time consumption knowledge is essential to successful scheduling in workflow applications. However, the uncertainty of activity execution duration in workflow applications makes it a non-trivial task for schedulers to appropriately organize the ongoing processes. In this paper, we present a K-level prediction approach intended to help workflow schedulers to anticipate activities' time consumption. This approach first defines K levels as a global measure of time. Then, it applies a decision tree learning algorithm to the workflow event log to learn various kinds of activities' execution characteristics. When a new process is initiated, the classifier produced by the decision tree learning technique takes prior activities' execution information as input and suggests a level as the prediction of posterior activity's time consumption. In the experiment on three vehicle manufacturing enterprises, 896 activities were investigated, and we separately achieved and average prediction accuracy of 80.27%, 70.93% and 61.14% with K = 10. We also applied our approach on greater values of K, however the result is less positive. We describe our approach and report on the result of our experiment.
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Paper Nr:	1054
Title:	USING GRAMMARS FOR TEXT CLASSIFICATION
Authors:	Petr Kroha and T. Reichel
Abstract:	In this contribution we present our experiments with using grammars for text classification. Approaches usually used are based on statistical methods working with term frequency. We investigate short texts (stock exchange news) more deeply in that we analyze the structure of sentences and context of used phrases. Results are used for predicting market movements coming from the hypotheses that news move markets.
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Paper Nr:	1056
Title:	A EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO SOLVE SET COVERING
Authors:	Broderick Crawford, Carolina Lagos, Carlos Castro and Fernando Paredes
Abstract:	In this paper we solve the classical Set Covering Problem comparing two evolutive techniques: Genetic Algorithms and Cultural Algorithms. We solve this problem with a Cultural Evolutionary Architecture maintaining knowledge of Diversity and Fitness learned over each generation during the search process and we compare it with a Genetic Algorithm using the same crossover and mutation mechanisms. Our results indicate that the approach is able to produce very competitive results in compare with other Metaheuristics and Approximation Algorithms.
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Paper Nr:	1067
Title:	REACTIVE COMMONSENSE REASONING - Towards Semantic Coordination with High-level Specifications
Authors:	Michael Cebulla
Abstract:	In contemporary distributed applications questions concerning coordination have become increasingly urgent. There is a trade-off however to be made between the need for a highly reactive behavior and the need for semantically rich high level abstractions. Especially w.r.t. context-aware applications where various systems have to act together and come to coordinated conclusions the need for powerful semantic abstractions is evident. In our argument we start with a calculus for highly reactive behavior. Then we introduce stepwise two extensions w.r.t. the representation of semantic relationships. The first extension concerns the integration of description logics in order to represent statements about the current situation. The main extension however concerns the integration of classifications (also known as formal contexts). By integrating these highly abstract notions into our membrane-based calculus we make a proposal for the support of common sense reasoning during runtime. The main purpose of the resulting framework is to provide a generic notion of context which is accessible for a rigorous computational treatment during runtime. We claim that this proposal is a contribution to the robustness of systems behavior and context-awareness.
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Paper Nr:	1100
Title:	AN AGENT-BASED APPROACH TO SUPPORT PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FOR DYNAMIC AND COLLABORATIVE WORK
Authors:	Nora Houari and Behrouz Far
Abstract:	This paper describes a comprehensive multiagent based modelling approach for collaborative and dynamic organizational roles support. The method is a role centred one, where agents collaborate to assist human users through collaboration within the same role, with other roles of the same team, as well as roles of different teams that share tasks dependencies. Agents in the system are not restricted by predefined schemes they can join and/or leave the coalition. We identify the key elements of the role model as rules, agents, and relationships. Our role model integrates both the operational functionalities and the performance management towards specific goals, the former involve human individuals in the loop, whereas the later are performed by software agents to assist in monitoring, control, and adaptation of the performance in dynamic organizations.
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Paper Nr:	43
Title:	LSGENSYS - AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR PATTERN RECOGNITION AND SUMMARISATION OF MULTI-BAND SATELLITE IMAGES
Authors:	Hema Nair
Abstract:	This paper presents a new system developed in Java® for pattern recognition and pattern summarisation in multi-band (RGB) satellite images. Patterns such as land, island, water body, river, fire in remote-sensed images are extracted and summarised in linguistic terms using fuzzy sets. Some elements of supervised classification are introduced in the system to assist in the development of linguistic summaries. Results of testing the system to analyse and summarise patterns in SPOT MS images and LANDSAT images are also discussed.
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Paper Nr:	62
Title:	ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN VIA DECLARATIVE PROGRAMMING
Authors:	Luís M. Pereira and Ruben Viegas
Abstract:	Problem solving by declarative theory building can be an extremely effective method for porting concepts and knowledge from the problem domain to the solution domain, by allowing the implementation of complete procedural constructs and enabling to produce sound solutions. If conveniently expressed, such a theory may be directly coded into a declarative programming language. If expressed within the paradigm of logic programming, then the theory itself represents the very procedure to obtain its desired solutions. The illustrative case study considered here is the obtention of architectural layouts from an adjacency graph: Given a list of imposed adjacencies among a set of planar rectangular spaces (represented by the graph’s nodes), the goal is to generate all permissible layouts schemas on the plane which respect the adjacencies, and to determine the minimal modular dimensions of such a set of spaces. Another aim of this article is also to show the guidelines of an effective translation of the theory constructed to solve the proposed problem in Logic Programming, making use of the combined power of two different semantics and their implementations, namely the Well Founded Semantics and the Stable Models one.
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Paper Nr:	200
Title:	AGENT-BASED APPROACH FOR ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Kimmo Slamenjoki, Yaroslav Tsaruk , Vagan Terziyan and Marko Viilata
Abstract:	This paper describes how semantic web and agent technologies could be used in enhancing the electricity distribution systems. The paper starts by a brief overview of functioning of electricity distribution systems. The introduced approaches aim at improving functionality of electricity distribution network systems and assisting the experts by supporting automating of routine tasks in daily operations. We focus on GUN (Global Understanding Environment) framework proposed by IOG (Industrial Ontologies Group) for intelligent services on industrial resources. The resources and infrastructure of the electricity power network are distributed. The interoperability, automation and integration features of GUN allow us to joint and arrange cooperation among heterogeneous resources in electricity network domain. The interaction and cooperation among resources in GUN platform are realized via resource agents. Based on discussions held with the domain experts we also decided to use agent approach for automated collection of additional information from heterogeneous resources and integrate this information to the operator interface (Dashboard). This context information supports expert in decision making processes.
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Paper Nr:	230
Title:	SOLVING THE MULTI-OBJECTIVE MIXED MODEL ASSEMBLY LINE PROBLEM USING A FUZZY MULTI-OBJECTIVE LINEAR PROGRAM
Authors:	Iraj Mahdavi, Babak Javadi and S. S. Sabet
Abstract:	This paper develops a fuzzy multi-objective linear program (FMOLP) model for solving the multi-objective mixed model assembly line problem. In practice, vagueness and imprecision of the goals, constraints and parameters in this problem make the decision-making complicated. The proposed model attempts to simultaneously minimize total utility work cost, total production rate variation cost, and total setup cost. In this paper, an asymmetric fuzzy-decision making technique is applied to enable the decision-maker to assign different weights to various criteria in a real industrial environment. The model is explained by an illustrative example.
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Paper Nr:	234
Title:	INTELLIGENT DATA BASES FOR AN EFFECTIVE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT - The Autonomous Agents Conworm of Conrad System
Authors:	Sid N. Benlazaar, Hafida BELBACHIR and Hafida Belbachir
Abstract:	The goal of this paper is to introduce a model of information system management dedicated to the industrial maintenance and represented by an "intelligent" data base where autonomous agents will transform information to strategic knowledge referring to space-time. Their first role is to allow through a “reversed feedback” to analyze information in entry of the system and to propose a control ensuring system protection against not representative or erroneous information. Their second role is to make it possible to propose at exit strongly correlated strategic variables regroupings and through these last the regrouping of management tasks per "management categories". Lastly, we will describe the information system which we called CONRAD and the autonomous agents that we called ConWorm dedicated to the task of transformation and control.

Paper Nr:	249
Title:	THE RETRIEVAL PROCESS IN THE SAFRS SYSTEM WITH THE CASE-BASED REASONING APPROACH
Authors:	Souad Demigha
Abstract:	The paper presents the retrieval process in the SAFRS system (system supporting the training of radiologists-senologists) with the case-based reasoning approach (CBR, which is adopted to represent the experience of expert radiologists-senologists under the form of cases) and modelized with the MAP concept. The retrieval process relies on a procedure of case-based reasoning for retrieval of similar cases formalized using a MAP, a re-use methodology named the retrieval MAP. The model of the MAP is an intentional representation system. It is based on concepts of intention and strategy. The concept of intention (or a goal) aims to capture the objective to be achieved. A strategy is the manner an intention is achieved. The retrieval process with the MAP is a multi-step/multi-algorithm process, which permits to retrieve similar cases in various modes and strategies. It is achieved according to three complex strategies: global strategy (or global retrieval strategy), elementary strategy (or elementary retrieval strategy) and mixed strategy (or mixed retrieval strategy).
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Paper Nr:	251
Title:	INTEGRATION OF A FUZZY SYSTEM AND AN INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE TERRITORIAL UNITS RANKING
Authors:	Miroslav Hudec and Mirko Vujosevic
Abstract:	For ranking and classification of the territorial units, up-to-date and precise data as well as ranking tool are needed. The advantage of fuzzy systems (FS) in these tasks is in definition of a problem by linguistic terms. The disadvantage is in universality and complexity of the fuzzy systems for end users. This disadvantage comes from usage of FS to solve a wide area of different tasks. The advantages and the disadvantages, as well as constraints of FS are analyzed. The aim of this paper is to show the information systems about territorial units of the Slovak Republic and possibilities of integration fuzzy system for ranking territorial units with these information systems. This approach enables creation of the model, importing the input data, processing of the rules and presentation of the solution in a usable and understandable form. In this case solution is presented on a thematic map too.
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Paper Nr:	252
Title:	DYNAMIC WEB DOCUMENT CLASSIFICATION IN E-CRM USING NEURO-FUZZY APPROACH
Authors:	Iraj Mahdavi, Babak Shirazia, Namjae Cho, Navid Sahebjamniaa and Meysam Aminzadeha
Abstract:	Internet technology enables companies to capture new customers, track their performances and online behavior, and customize communications, products, services, and price. The analysis of customers and customer interactions for electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) can be performed by data-mining (DM), optimization methods, or combined approaches. Some of web mining techniques include analysis of user access patterns, web document clustering and classification. Most existing methods of classification are based on a model that assumes a fixed-size collection of keywords or key terms with predefined set of categories. We propose a new approach to obtain category-keyword sets with unknown number of categories. On the basis of the training set of Web documents, the approach is used to classify test documents into a set of initial categories. Finally evolutionary rules are applied to these new sets of keywords and training documents to update the category-keyword sets to realize dynamic document classification.
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Paper Nr:	393
Title:	DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER AIDED PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM
Authors:	Manish Kumar
Abstract:	A decision support system for Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) system has been designed, developed and implemented. The need to introduce decision support system for CAPP system arises specifically to solve the poorly structured stages in process planning such as determination of blank size, setup planning, operations planning in each setup, selection of machine tools, calculation of machining time etc. Decision Support System (DSS) is capable to support operations like turning, facing, tapering, arcing, grooving, filleting, chamfering, knurling, threading etc. The proposed system is capable to generating process plans for different types of rotational parts.
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Paper Nr:	409
Title:	HOLONIC ARCHITECTURE FOR A MULTIAGENT-BASED SIMULATION TOOL
Authors:	Nancy Ruiz, Adriana Giret and Vicente Botti
Abstract:	In the last few years Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) have been used to improve some areas such as control systems of manufacturing systems, monitoring and diagnosis systems, and Computer Integrated Manufacturing architectures. This paper presents an application of the holonic approach together with the Multi-agent Systems (MAS) to develop a Simulation Tool for manufacturing systems. The architecture for this tool is related to functionalities that support the Manufacturing Model created by the User. This proposal allows the User to take advantage of these two approaches to simulate a manufacturing environment according to the manufacturing requirements.
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Paper Nr:	458
Title:	GU METRIC - A New Feature Selection Algorithm for Text Categorization
Authors:	Gulden Uchyigit and Keith Clark
Abstract:	To improve scalability of text categorization and reduce over-fitting, it is desirable to reduce the number of words used for categorisiation. Further, it is desirable to achieve such a goal automatically without sacrificing the categorization accuracy. Such techniques are known as automatic feature selection methods. Typically this is done in the way that each word is assigned a weight (using a word scoring metric) and the top scoring words are then used to describe a document collection. There are several word scoring metrics which have been employed in literature. In this paper we present a novel feature selection method called the GU metric. The details of comparative evaluation of all the other methods are given. The results show that the GU metric outperforms some of the other well known feature selection methods.
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Paper Nr:	465
Title:	CONTEXT-BASED INTELLIGENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FOR CAR DRIVERS
Authors:	Juliette Brezillon, Patrick Brezillon, Thierry Artières and Charles Tijus
Abstract:	Although a driving licence concludes training, such an initial is insufficient because new drivers do not know how to contextualize the learned procedures into effective practices. Our goal is to improve the drivers’ situation awareness, in which the drivers perceive the environment’s events and the projection of their status in a close future. To achieve this goal, we design an educational system for the drivers, which help them to become aware of their driving errors. This educational system aims to identify and correct drivers’ drawbacks. In this paper, we discuss the reasons for associating two approaches: a local approach (resulting from cognitive sciences) and a global approach (resulting from machine learning), and we show the key role that context plays in the driving activity.
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Paper Nr:	505
Title:	DATA MINING CLUSTERING TECHNIQUES IN ACADEMIA
Authors:	Vasile P. Bresfelean, Mihaela Bresfelean, Nicolae Ghisoiu and Calin-Adrian Comes
Abstract:	In the present paper the authors exemplify the connections among the undergraduate studies, continuing education and professional enhancement on the foundations required by Romania’s integration in EU’s structures. The study was directed to the senior undergraduate students and master degree students from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, using questionnaires in a collaborative approach, and processing the collected data by data mining clustering techniques, graphical and percentage representations, through Weka’s implemented algorithms.
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Paper Nr:	511
Title:	NEURAL NETWORKS FOR DATA QUALITY MONITORING OF TIME SERIES
Authors:	Augusto H. Dantas and José Manoel Seixas
Abstract:	Time series play an important role in most of large data bases. Much of the information comes in temporal patterns which is often used for decision taking. Problems with missing and noisy data arise when data quality is not monitored, generating losses in many fields such as economy, customer relationship and health management. In this paper we present a neural network based system used to provide data quality monitoring for time series data. The goal of this system is to continuously adapt a neural model for each monitored series, generating a corridor of acceptance for new observations. Each rejected observation may be substituted by its estimated value, so that data quality is improved. A group of four diverse time series was tested and the system proved to be able to detect the induced outliers.
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Paper Nr:	519
Title:	FORECASTING OF CHANGES OF COMPANIES FINANCIAL STANDINGS ON THE BASIS OF SELF-ORGANIZING MAPS
Authors:	Egidijus Merkevicius, Gintautas Garšva, Stasys Girdzijauskas and Vitolis Sekliuckis
Abstract:	The multivariate discriminate models have been used in area of bankruptcy analysis for many years. In this paper we suggest to conjunct the principles of traditional discriminate bankruptcy models with modern methods of machine learning. We propose the forecasting model based on Self-organizing maps, where inputs are indicators of multivariate discriminate model. Accuracy of forecasting is improved via changing weights with supervised learning type ANN. We’ve presented results of testing of this model in various aspects.
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Paper Nr:	746
Title:	FEEDFORWARD NEURAL NETWOTKS WITHOUT ORTHONORMALIZATION
Authors:	Lei Chen, Hung Keng Pung and Fei Long
Abstract:	Feedforward neural networks have attracted considerable attention in many fields mainly due to their approximation capability. Recently, an effective noniterative technique has been proposed by Kaminski and Strumillo(Kaminski and Strumillo, 1997), where kernel hidden neurons are transformed into an orthonormal set of neurons by using Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization. After this transformation, neural networks do not need recomputation of network weights already calculated, therefore the orthonormal neural networks can reduce computing time. In this paper, we will show that it is equivalent between neural networks without orthonormal transformation and the orthonormal neural networks, thus we can naturally conclude that such orthonormalization transformation is not necessary for neural networks. Moreover, we will extend such orthonormal neural networks into additive neurons. The experimental results based on some benchmark regression applications further verify our conclusion.
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Paper Nr:	781
Title:	APPLICATION OF A GENETIC ALGORITHM TO A REAL WORLD NURSE ROSTERING PROBLEM INSTANCE
Authors:	Özgür Kelemci and Şima Etaner
Abstract:	The nurse rostering problem involves assigning shifts to qualified personnel using a given timetable under some hard and soft constraints. In this study, the nurse rostering problem instance of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Hospital is solved using a standard genetic algorithm. Currently, the rosters are being prepared by a head nurse who performs this tedious task by hand. Due to the existence of many constraints, the resulting schedules are usually suboptimal. The aim in this study is to generate better schedules. This paper reports the results of the preliminary experiments for developing a good genetic algorithm for this problem.
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Paper Nr:	810
Title:	LEARNING GREEK PHONETIC RULES USING DECISION-TREE BASED MODELS
Authors:	Dimitrios Lyras, Kyriakos Sgarbas and Nikolaos Fakotakis
Abstract:	This paper describes the application of decision-tree based induction techniques for automatic extraction of phonetic knowledge for the Greek language. We compare the ID3 algorithm and Quinlan’s C4.5 model by applying them to two pronunciation databases. The extracted knowledge is then evaluated quantitatively. In the ten cross-fold validation experiments that are conducted, the decision tree models are shown to produce an accuracy higher than 99.96% when trained and tested on each dataset.
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Paper Nr:	831
Title:	THE JUMP PROJECT: PRACTICAL USE OF SEMANTIC WEB TECHNOLOGIES IN EPSS SYSTEMS
Authors:	Giovanni Semeraro, Ignazio Palmisano, Abbattista Nicola and Silverio Petruzzellis
Abstract:	The JUMP project aims at bringing together the knowledge stored in different information systems in order to satisfy knowledge and training needs in knowledge-intensive organisations. EPSS systems are meant to support a user in taking decisions, leveraging different information sources that are available. The JUMP framework is designed to offer multiple ways for the user to request information from a knowledge and document base itself as the result of the integration of indipendent systems. In order to simplify communication and maximize knowledge sharing and standardization of languages and protocols, Semantic Web languages and technologies are used throughout the framework to represent, exchange and query the knowledge stored in each part of the framework.
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Paper Nr:	832
Title:	DAY OF THE WEEK EFFECT IN SMALL SECURITIES MARKETS
Authors:	Virgilijus Sakalauskas and Dalia Kriksciuniene
Abstract:	In this article statistical investigation of the day-of-the-week effect was explored for the case of small securities market. By applying statistical analysis of Vilnius Stock OMX Index return data, the effect was not observed. After rearranging data to the meaningful subsets of return variable the significant difference among Monday and Friday compared pairwise to the other days of the week, has been observed. The hypothesis of equality of the higher moments across days of the week could be rejected by indicating that a weekly pattern on the higher moments exists.
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Paper Nr:	832
Title:	DAY OF THE WEEK EFFECT IN SMALL SECURITIES MARKETS
Authors:	Virgilijus Sakalauskas and Dalia Kriksciuniene
Abstract:	In this article statistical investigation of the day-of-the-week effect was explored for the case of small securities market. By applying statistical analysis of Vilnius Stock OMX Index return data, the effect was not observed. After rearranging data to the meaningful subsets of return variable the significant difference among Monday and Friday compared pairwise to the other days of the week, has been observed. The hypothesis of equality of the higher moments across days of the week could be rejected by indicating that a weekly pattern on the higher moments exists.
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Paper Nr:	857
Title:	EMPLOYING SOFTWARE MULTI-AGENTS FOR SIMULATING RADIOLOGICAL ACCIDENTS
Authors:	Tadeu Silva and Oscar Farias
Abstract:	Through agent based systems we can build scenarios of radiological accidents that enable us to evaluate the consequences of accidental contaminations. The incidental release of radionuclides in an environment might cause the contamination of areas and people. So, it is necessary to make use of tools that allow us to foretell the effects of the exposition of the population and to evaluate the consequences and to suggest measures of protection. In this paper we introduce the use of software multi-agents systems immersed in a geographical representation of the world, as a viable option to simulate radiological accidents and assess doses.
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Paper Nr:	887
Title:	INTEGRATING AGENTS INTO COOPERATIVE INTELLIGENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Authors:	Abdelkader Adla
Abstract:	In this paper, we propose to integrate agents in a cooperative intelligent decision support system. The resulting system, ACIDS (Agent-based Cooperative Intelligent Decision-support System) is a decision support system designed to support operators during contingencies by giving them detailed, real-time information, allowing them to integrate and interpret it and then transmit and monitor their decisions through the chain of incident command. During the contingency, the operator using the ACIDS should be able to: gather information about the incident location; access databases related to the incident; activate predictive modelling programs; support analyses of the operator, and monitor the progress of the situation and action execution. The decision making process, applied to the boilers management system, relies in ACIDS on a cycle that includes recognition of the causes of a fault (diagnosis), plan actions to solve the incidences and, execution of the selected actions.
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Paper Nr:	923
Title:	SELF-ORGANIZING MAPS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF THE RIO DE JANEIRO STATE CITIES BASED ON ELECTRICAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Authors:	Luiz Biondi Neto, Pedro G. Coelho, João Soares De Mello and Lidia Angulo Meza
Abstract:	The purpose of the present work is to classify the 31 cities of Rio de Janeiro State in Brazil based on their energy consumption. The point is to search new criteria to cluster the users in order to establish, in a more homogeneous way, indices of energy quality. Moreover, it aims to bring about a framework from which it will be possible to determine the relative efficiency among the cities of all Brazilian states. Traditionally this classification task is carried out using a statistical technique known as K-means, in which only five variables are considered: the size of the main network in Kilometres, the offered power, the number of users, the average monthly consumption and the covered area. This paper uses the Kohonen Self Organizing Maps technique applied to 21 variables, including the residential, industrial, public and rural consumptions in order to seek a better classification.
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Paper Nr:	1019
Title:	INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR IMAGE COMPRESSION
Authors:	Adnan Khashman and Kamil Dimililer
Abstract:	The parallel processing capability of neural networks provides efficient means for processing images with large amount of data. Image compression using Discrete Cosine Transforms (DCT) is a lossy compression method where at higher compression ratios the quality of the compressed images is reduced, thus the need for finding an optimum compression ratio that combines high compression and good quality. This paper suggests that the image intensity can affect the choice of an optimum compression ratio. A neural network will be trained to establish the non-linear relationship between the image intensity and its compression ratios in search for an optimum ratio. Experimental results suggest that a trained neural network can relate image intensity or pixel values to its compression ratio and thus can be successfully used to predict optimum DCT compression ratios for different images.
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Paper Nr:	1090
Title:	MISUSE DETECTION - An Iterative Process vs. A Genetic Algorithm Approach
Authors:	Pedro Diaz-Gomez and Dean Hougen
Abstract:	With the explosion of the Internet and its use, the development of security mechanims are quite important in order to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data stored in computers. However, the growth of intrusions can make such mechanisms almost unusable, in the sense that the computation time or space needed in order to mantain them can grow exponentially. This position paper presents an iterative process for doing misuse detection, and compares it with another approach for doing that: a Genetic Algorithm.
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Paper Nr:	1091
Title:	MISUSE DETECTION - A Neural Network vs. A Genetic Algorithm Approach
Authors:	Pedro Diaz-Gomez and Dean Hougen
Abstract:	Misuse detection can be addressed as an optimization problem, where the problem is to find an array of possible intrusions x that maximizes a function f (·) subject to a constraint r imposed by a user’s actions performed on a computer. This position paper presents and compares two ways of finding x, in audit data, by using neural networks and genetic algorithms.
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Paper Nr:	1108
Title:	AUTOMATIC EVALUATION OF THE QUANTITATIVE SEISMOCARDIOGRAM
Authors:	Zdenek Trefny, J. Svacinka, S. Trojan, J. Slavicek, P. Smrcka and M. Trefny
Abstract:	The device for quantitative seismocardiography (Q-SCG) detects cardiac vibrations caused by the heart activity, the measuring sensor is usually placed in the plate of the chair – additional instruments applied on the proband’s body are not required. The results of the Q-SCG analysis are usable in various clinical fields. The first and most important step in the process of detection of significant characteristics of measured Q-SCG curves is to detect pseudo-periods in the signal regardless of the initial pseudo-period position. Other characteristics can be acquired by a relatively simple process over the appointed pseudo-period. The experimental equipment for the Q-SCG measuring and analysis was developed and also special algorithms for preprocessing, segmentation and interactive analysis of the Q-SCG signal were developed. In this contribution technical principles of the quantitative seismocardiography are introduced; the method is easy, robust and is appropriate for real-time Q-SCG processing.
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Area 3 - Information Systems Analysis and Specification

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	108
Title:	COMPUTATIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ACTIVITIES
Authors:	Peter B. Andersen
Abstract:	Mobile and context-aware technology enables new activity-centred ways of using digital technology that require systematic methods for representing actions and activities computationally. The paper uses findings from ethnography, linguistics and philosophy to paint a generic portrait of activities, and suggests ways of representing it in an object-oriented framework. The paper makes a sharp distinction between the representation and the represented. The representations are not activities, they only represent them.
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Paper Nr:	109
Title:	RISK PROFILING OF MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FUNDING - Practical Problems of Current Information Strategies
Authors:	Bart Custers
Abstract:	In order to track money laundering and terrorist funding, banks have to create risk profiles of their clients. Banks that want to do business in the United States have to implement a worldwide Know Your Customer (KYC) program, partially based on the Patriot Act. Implementing a KYC policy, however, raises several problems and seems to be neither effective nor efficient in tracking money laundering and terrorist funding. Given problems regarding the identification of individuals, it is not too difficult for criminals and terrorists to avoid being detected by certain types of screening. In this contribution, the way risk profiling strategies are implemented in practice are discussed, including the problems this may raise.
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Paper Nr:	266
Title:	AN EVALUATION OF CASE HANDLING SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCT BASED WORKFLOW DESIGN
Authors:	Irene Vanderfeesten, Hajo Reijers and Wil Van Der Aalst
Abstract:	Case handling systems offer a solution to the lack of flexibility and adaptability in workflow management systems. Because they are data driven they potentially provide good support for Product Based Workflow Design (PBWD). In this paper we investigate to which degree current case handling systems (FLOWer and Activity Manager) are able to support PBWD. This is done by elaborating the design process of a case from industry in both systems. From this evaluation we concluded that current case handling systems are not yet completely ready for supporting PBWD. Therefore, we recognize that better tool support is needed to make PBWD more suitable for practical use.
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Paper Nr:	269
Title:	AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH FOR BUSINESS PROCESS REDESIGN - Towards an Intelligent System
Authors:	Mariska Netjes, Selma L. Mansar, Hajo Reijers and Wil Van Der Aalst
Abstract:	Although extensive literature on BPR is available, there is still a lack of concrete guidance on actually changing processes for the better. It is our goal to provide a redesign approach which describes and supports the steps to derive from an existing process a better performing redesign. In this paper we present an evolutionary approach towards business process redesign and explain its first three steps: 1) modelling the existing process, 2) computing process measures, and 3) evaluating condition statements to find applicable redesign “best practices”. We show the applicability of these steps using an example process and illustrate the remaining steps. Our approach has a formal basis to make it suitable for automation.
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Paper Nr:	404
Title:	DESIGNING AN APPROPRIATE INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Authors:	David Avison and Jan Pries-heje
Abstract:	The number of information systems development methodologies has proliferated and practitioners and researchers alike have struggled to select a ‘one best’ approach for all applications. But there is no single methodology that will work for all development situations. The question then arises: ‘when to use which methodology?’ To address this question we used the design research approach to develop a radar diagram consisting of eight dimensions. Using three action research cycles, we attempt to validate our design in three projects that took place in a large administrative organization and elsewhere with groups of IT project managers. Our artefact can be used to suggest a particular one-off approach for a particular situation.
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Paper Nr:	406
Title:	MODEL-DRIVEN DESIGN OF CONTEXT-AWARE APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Boris Shishkov and Marten van Sinderen
Abstract:	In many cases, in order to be effective, software applications need to allow sensitivity to context changes. This implies however additional complexity associated with the need for applications’ adaptability (being capable of capturing context, interpreting it and reacting on it). Hence, we envision 3 ‘musts’ that, in combination, are especially relevant to the design of context-aware applications. Firstly, at the business modeling level, it is considered crucial that the different possible context states can be properly captured and modeled, states that correspond to certain desirable behaviors. Secondly, it must be known what are the dependencies between the two, namely between states and behaviors. And finally, what is valid for application design in general, business needs are to be aligned to application solutions. In this work, we address the mentioned challenges, by approaching the notion of context and extending from this perspective a previously proposed business-software alignment approach. We illustrate our achieved results by means of a small example. It is expected that this research contribution will be useful as an additional result concerning the alignment between business modeling and software design.
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Paper Nr:	408
Title:	BUILDING, AND LOSING, CONSUMER TRUST IN B2C E-BUSINESS
Authors:	Phil Joyce and Graham Winch
Abstract:	In the development of B2C eBusiness trust is an emerging key issue. Indeed, this has prompted the re-examination of our current understanding of trust. The development of trust models have been mainly developed from the traditional research basis of trust or from the multi-disciplinary perspective. Moreover, these have been descriptive and static in nature but the building and losing of trust is a dynamic process. In this paper we present a new perspective into the dynamic process of building and losing trust by presenting a four element model to pictorially demonstrate the particular factors that driving the process.
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Paper Nr:	426
Title:	AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE
Authors:	Marlies Van Steenbergen, Martin Van Den Berg and Sjaak Brinkkemper
Abstract:	In this paper we introduce an architecture maturity model for the domain of enterprise architecture. The model differs from other existing models in that it departs from the standard 5-level approach. It distinguishes 18 factors, called key areas, which are relevant to developing an architectural practice. Each key area has its own maturity development path that is balanced against the maturity development paths of the other key areas. Two real-life case studies are presented to illustrate the use of the model. Usage of the model in these cases shows that the model delivers recognizable results, that the results can be traced back to the basic approach to architecture taken by the organizations investigated and that the key areas chosen bear relevance to the architectural practice of the organizations.
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Paper Nr:	494
Title:	DEVELOPING EXECUTABLE MODELS OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS
Authors:	Joseph Barjis
Abstract:	Traditionally, business processes models are based on graphical artifacts that do not lend to model checking or simulation, e.g., any Flow Chart like representation or UML diagrams. To check whether business process models are syntactically correct, the models are either translated to other diagrams with formal semantics or the validation is carried out manually. This approach poses two issues: first, models not lending to execution (simulation) will hardly allow thorough insight into the dynamic behavior of the system under consideration; second, when manual checking for small models may not be too difficult, it is almost impossible for complex models. In this paper we investigate two research questions that resulted in a method allowing to build executable business process models based on formal semantics of Petri net. The proposed method is theoretically based on the Transaction Concept. The two questions further studied in this paper concern graphical extension of Petri nets for business process modeling, and developing a framework (guidelines) applying the proposed method.
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Paper Nr:	773
Title:	OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Jens H. Hosbond, Peter A. Nielsen and Ivan Aaen
Abstract:	In this paper we are concerned with innovation in the development of mobile applications. In particular, we address how we may come to think systematically about innovative aspects of mobile applications. We suggest that there is not enough support for this in the mobile systems literature and we hence suggest a framework that supports the thinking about the possible innovative features of a mobile application in a systemic and systematic way. The framework is inspired by the theory on scenario planning. In this framework we see mobile social arrangements of node, dyad, and group as fundamental units of analysis. We apply the framework to a case where the mobile users are truck drivers in a long-distance haulage business. Our use of the framework illustrates how we can arrive at a consistent and systemic view of a possible scenario for innovative mobile applications. We continue with a discussion of to what extent and in which ways the framework gives rise to innovative thinking by relating to a common theory of types of innovation and innovation processes.
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Paper Nr:	773
Title:	OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Jens H. Hosbond, Peter A. Nielsen and Ivan Aaen
Abstract:	In this paper we are concerned with innovation in the development of mobile applications. In particular, we address how we may come to think systematically about innovative aspects of mobile applications. We suggest that there is not enough support for this in the mobile systems literature and we hence suggest a framework that supports the thinking about the possible innovative features of a mobile application in a systemic and systematic way. The framework is inspired by the theory on scenario planning. In this framework we see mobile social arrangements of node, dyad, and group as fundamental units of analysis. We apply the framework to a case where the mobile users are truck drivers in a long-distance haulage business. Our use of the framework illustrates how we can arrive at a consistent and systemic view of a possible scenario for innovative mobile applications. We continue with a discussion of to what extent and in which ways the framework gives rise to innovative thinking by relating to a common theory of types of innovation and innovation processes.
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Paper Nr:	779
Title:	REDUCING REQUIREMENTS TO EIS SPECIFICATIONS GAP USING RM-ODP ENTERPRISE VIEWPOINT
Authors:	Christophe Addinquy and Bruno Traverson
Abstract:	RM-ODP (Reference Model - Open Distributed Processing) standard prescribes architectural viewpoint specifications, but does not address traceability with requirement expression. In this article, we propose a three-layer approach to requirements modelling, from the system high level goals, to the detailed business rules and extra-functional requirements. Then, these descriptions are connected to key elements of the RM-ODP enterprise viewpoint. This approach is illustrated by a case study.
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Paper Nr:	821
Title:	A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN WEB SERVICE AND GRID SERVICE DEVELOPMENTS IN A MDA FRAMEWORK
Authors:	Marcos López-Sanz, Valeria De Castro, Esperanza Marcos and Jose Luis Bosque
Abstract:	The application of the MDA approach to the development of service-oriented systems facilitates the system migration over different platforms. The specific features of each platform are reflected in the PSM level of MDA. In this paper a comparison between the development of systems based on Web services and the development of systems based on Grid services is presented. The comparative study is carried out through a case study implemented on both a standard Web Service platform and a Grid platform based on the Globus Toolkit 4 middleware. After the study we conclude that a subdivision of the MDA’s PSM level in two layers is needed: an upper layer with the characteristics shared by any service-based platform (a WSDL model and a model of the service code) and a lower layer with all the elements required to deploy the services successfully over the concrete execution platform.
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Paper Nr:	856
Title:	ASPECT-ORIENTED ANALYSIS APPLIED TO THE SPACE DOMAIN
Authors:	André Marques, Ricardo Raminhos, Ricardo Ferreira, Rita Ribeiro , Sérgio Agostinho, João Araújo and Ana Moreira
Abstract:	This paper presents an aspect metadata approach, which has been developed in the scope of the “Aspect Specification for the Space Domain” project. This approach is based on XML and XML Schema technologies, enabling a rigorous knowledge representation. The proposed approach has been applied to a real complex system, the “Space Environment Support System”, enabling a comparison and evaluation between the proposed approach and the “traditional” requirements analysis methods used during the development of the original version of the system. This paper presents a full description of both the identified metadata concepts and their relationships. The metadata concepts and associated instances have been stored in a Metadata Repository that provides simple navigation facilities between concepts. The Metadata Repository also enables the automatic generation of documentation.
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Paper Nr:	996
Title:	TOWARDS A FORMAL VERIFICATION OF PROCESS MODEL’S PROPERTIES - SimplePDL and TOCL Case Study
Authors:	Benôıt Combemale, Pierre-Löıc Garoche, Xavier Crégut, Xavier Thirioux and François Vernadat
Abstract:	More and more, models, through Domain Specific Languages (DSL), tend to be the solution to define complex systems. Expressing properties specific to these metamodels and checking them appear as an urgent need. Until now, the only complete industrial solutions that are available consider structural properties such as the ones that could be expressed in OCL. There are although some attempts on behavioural properties for DSL. This paper addresses a method to specify and then check temporal properties over models. The case study is SIMPLEPDL, a process metamodel. We propose a way to use a temporal extension of OCL, TOCL, to express properties. We specify a models transformation to Petri Nets and LTL formulae for both the process model and its associated temporal properties. We check these properties using a model checker and enrich the model with the analysis results. This work is a first step towards a generic framework to specify and effectively check temporal properties over arbitrary models.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	41
Title:	TRUST AND REPUTATION ONTOLOGIES FOR ELECTRONIC BUSINESS
Authors:	Stefan Schmidt, Tharam Dillon, Robert Steele and Elizabeth Chang
Abstract:	The emergence of social networks in centralized and distributed virtual communities is one of the hottest topics in today’s research communities. Trust and reputation ontologies which capture the social relationships and concepts among interacting parties offer a standardized and common understanding of a problem domain such as electronic business in autonomous environments. To improve interoperability, ontologies can be shared among interacting agents and form the basis for many of the autonomous activities of intelligent agents. The ontologies presented in this paper concentrate on the formalisation of business discovery, business selection, and business interaction QoS review concepts. Special focus is put on trust and reputation relationships which form among the entities involved.
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Paper Nr:	102
Title:	GENERATING COLLABORATIVE WORK PROCESSES
Authors:	Igor Hawryszkiewycz
Abstract:	The paper describes ways to support collaboration in business processes. Collaborative processes are different from predefined processes in the sense that they can change dynamically as the situation emerges. Such changes can be time consuming as they require users to continually adapt the system to changing contexts. The solution proposed here to support process evolution is to provide generic work objects and use software agents to assist users to dynamically change the process by quickly adding or changing work objects. The paper outlines a way of describing work processes in terms of generic work objects. The structure of the generic work objects is based on a metamodel, which provides the fundamental concepts to define generic objects. A prototype implementation is then described.
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Paper Nr:	112
Title:	COMPARISON OF FIVE ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGES ON DESIGN FOCUS, SECURITY AND STYLE
Authors:	Csaba Egyhazy
Abstract:	With the increasing complexity and size of software systems, defining and specifying software architectures becomes an important part of the software development process. In the past, many software architectures have been described and modeled in an ad hoc and informal manner. For the past 20 years, Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) have been proposed to facilitate the description and modeling of software architectures. This paper reviews the history of ADLs, selects five of them, and compares them based on their design focus, security modeling, and styles modelling.
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Paper Nr:	119
Title:	AN ADAPTIVE P2P WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Flexibility and Exception Handling Support in P2P Based Workflow
Authors:	Aibrahim Aldeeb, Keeley Crockett and Martin Stanton
Abstract:	Workflow processes are moving from long-lasting, well-defined, centralised business processes to dynamically changing, distributed business processes with many variants. Existing research concentrates on decentralisation and on adaptability but there is more to be done on adaptability in decentralised workflow systems. The aim of this research is to overcome the limitation of current workflow management systems by moving from a centralised workflow to a flexible decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) workflow system. A P2P workflow management architecture is proposed which offers flexibility, exception handling and dynamic changes to both the workflow process definition and process instance level by applying a range of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. An Exception Handling Peer (EHP) captures exceptions, from the workflow peers, characterises the exceptions and applies a recovery policy. Initial prototyping of the system has been carried out using JBoss jBPM whilst the P2P network environment of this prototype is based on Sun MicroSystem’s JXTA.
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Paper Nr:	130
Title:	C P 4W S - A METHOD FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING SYSTEMS BASED ON WEB SERVICES
Authors:	Zakaria Maamar, Djamal Benslimane and Chirine Ghedira
Abstract:	This paper presents C P 4W S (standing for C ontext and P olicy for W eb S ervices), which is a context-based and policy-driven method for the design and development of Web services-based systems. Although Web services constitute an active area of research, very little has been achieved for the benefit of those who are responsible for modeling and developing such systems. To address this lack of support, we developed C P 4W S that consists of several steps ranging from user needs identification to Web services behavior specification. A running scenario that illustrates the use of C P 4W S is also discussed in the paper.
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Paper Nr:	218
Title:	EXPLORATIVE UML MODELING - Comparing the Usability of UML Tools
Authors:	Martin Auer, Ludwig Meyer and Stefan Biffl
Abstract:	UML tools are used in three main ways: (1) to exploratively sketch key system components during initial project stages; (2) to manage large software systems by keeping design and implementation synchronized; and (3) to extensively document a system after implementation. Professional tools cover (3) to some extent, and attempt to cover (2), but the vast number of languages, frameworks and deployment procedures makes those tasks all but impossible. By aiming at these two goals, tools must enforce formal UML language constructs more rigorously and thus become more complicated. They can become unsuitable for (1). This paper looks at explorative modeling with the leading UML tool Rational Rose and the open-source sketching tool UMLet. We define usability measures, assess both tools’ performance for common UML design tasks, and comment on the consequences for the application of UML tools.
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Paper Nr:	219
Title:	A REFERENCE MODEL FOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY - High Assurance Enterprise Security
Authors:	David W. Enstrom, D’Arcy Walsh and Siavosh Hossendoust
Abstract:	This paper defines an enterprise security model that provides a cohesive structure for the definition and implementation of security services. The complete framework is described, but with a focus on subjects, and protected objects and how access is controlled. Multiple layers of security are defined, building upon the “defence in depth” concept, augmented with “domain” and “zone” concepts and associated protections. The dynamic use of roles is described, a concept that along with user self–service provides a practical approach for the management and use of roles for access control. This model may also be used as a reference architecture for the definition and integration of a set of security services that permit multiple vendor implementations to work together, and to establish the level of compliance of specific systems.
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Paper Nr:	220
Title:	SOFTWARE USABILITY EVALUATION - An Empirical Study
Authors:	Tereza Kirner and Alessandra V. Saraiva
Abstract:	This article presents an empirical study performed to evaluate the usability of a software applied to the agri-livestock area. The evaluation plan was prepared with basis on the Goal-Question-Metrics paradigm. The research was performed in a government department of São Paulo state, in Brazil, and the subjects were professionals that give assistance to small rural properties in the planning, execution and control of agri-livestock activities, which can be supported by software systems. Usability is concerned with the suitability of the software for its users, defined in this work through the following attributes: easiness of understanding, easiness of learning, operationability, software attractiveness and user satisfaction, and usefulness and accomplishment of the goals. The preparation and execution of the empirical study are described and the data analysis and conclusions are presented. The obtained results indicate a satisfactory level of usability for the considered software. Besides evaluating the software, the study aim to contribute to the detailing of a process, based on GQM, to perform usability evaluations. The work also represents a contribution to the software quality improvement, primarily to those systems applied to agri-livestock tasks.
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Paper Nr:	248
Title:	AN ONTOLOGY SUPPORTING THE DAILY PRACTICE REQUIREMENTS OF RADIOLOGISTS-SENOLOGISTS WITH THE STANDARD BI-RADS
Authors:	Souad Demigha
Abstract:	This paper presents concepts and relationships allowing the development of an ontology that supports the daily practice requirements of radiologists-senologists with the standard BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System). This ontology aims at describing the radiologic-senologic knowledge shared by the community of technicians, practitioners, gynecologists, radiologists, surgeons and anatomopathologists. It represents a unifying scope for reducing and eliminating ambiguities as well as conceptual and terminological disarrays. It also ensures the understanding of the concerned community. It allows communication and dialogue between members of the scientific community even though they are working in different fields having different requirements and viewpoints. This ontology allowed us to obtain a conceptual model of the domain. Details concerning the development of the ontology and the generalization of the conceptual scheme that leads to the design of the conceptual model are described.
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Paper Nr:	257
Title:	MODELLING OF MESSAGE SECURITY CONCERNS WITH UML
Authors:	Farid Mehr and Ulf Schreier
Abstract:	Service oriented computing is increasingly accepted as a cross-disciplinary paradigm to integrate distributed application functionality through service interfaces. Integration through services as entry points for inter-organisational collaboration can be achieved by exchanging data in messages. In this architectural style, the security of sensitive exchanged data is essential. Security needs to be carefully considered during the entire life-cycle (Devanbu, 2000). Unfortunately, current UML-based modelling approaches do not support the adequate integration of message security concerns. In this paper, we investigate various integration options with UML systematically. The evaluation encompasses most of the options that are proposed today in science and industry as UML profiles. We conclude that neither of those approaches is sufficient for the systematic and comprehensive treatment of message security during modelling. To this end, we propose a new approach that is based on UML and very minor extensions of OCL.
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Paper Nr:	257
Title:	MODELLING OF MESSAGE SECURITY CONCERNS WITH UML
Authors:	Farid Mehr and Ulf Schreier
Abstract:	Service oriented computing is increasingly accepted as a cross-disciplinary paradigm to integrate distributed application functionality through service interfaces. Integration through services as entry points for inter-organisational collaboration can be achieved by exchanging data in messages. In this architectural style, the security of sensitive exchanged data is essential. Security needs to be carefully considered during the entire life-cycle (Devanbu, 2000). Unfortunately, current UML-based modelling approaches do not support the adequate integration of message security concerns. In this paper, we investigate various integration options with UML systematically. The evaluation encompasses most of the options that are proposed today in science and industry as UML profiles. We conclude that neither of those approaches is sufficient for the systematic and comprehensive treatment of message security during modelling. To this end, we propose a new approach that is based on UML and very minor extensions of OCL.
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Paper Nr:	267
Title:	DESIGNING AN E-BASED REAL TIME QUALITY CONTROL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURING SHOPS
Authors:	Iraj Mahdavi, Babak Shirazia, Maghsud Solimanpurb and Shahram Ghobadic
Abstract:	Advanced manufacturing systems need to be developed for an enterprise to survive in the increasingly competitive global market. Statistical e-based quality control approach combines statistical quality analysis and reporting capabilities with web technology to deliver process optimization solutions. In this paper we develop a structured profile for statistical e-based quality control to provide the capacity to access required data anywhere. It helps enterprises to develop customized quality information systems, create and distribute reports via the internet, and provide real-time display of quality profiles for process monitoring. Quality engineers and managers have been dependent on information system (IS) departments to secure access to such data. Statistical e-based quality profile is designed to bridge the gap between the raw data and genuine quality improvement efforts by providing a powerful web-based solution for real-time quality process.
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Paper Nr:	391
Title:	A SEMIOTIC APPROACH FOR FLEXIBLE E-GOVERNMENT SERVICE ORIENTED SYSTEMS
Authors:	Rodrigo Bonacin, M. Cecilia C. Baranauskas and Thiago D. Santos
Abstract:	E-Gov is a multidisciplinary field which addresses many issues ranging from the social sciences to the technological ones. One of the big challenges is the underlying complexity to elicit and model requirements. In practice it is quite hard to encompass the requirements of all citizens or organisations involved in the project. To deal with this challenge we propose a flexible distributed systems approach, which allies tailoring concepts to Organisational Semiotics methods in a SOA based architecture. It is based on two Organisational Semiotics methods: the Semantic Analysis, which delivers a stable ontology of the context, and the Norm Analysis, that can be used to specify the volatile individual and collective requirements. The paper shows how norms changes in high level interfaces can have effect on different components of the software architecture. The architecture is experimented in a proof of concept for an e-Gov project.
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Paper Nr:	416
Title:	RELEVANCE FEEDBACK AS AN INDICATOR TO SELECT THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE - Evaluation on TREC Data
Authors:	Gilles Hubert and Josiane Mothe
Abstract:	This paper explores information retrieval system variability and takes advantage of the fact two systems can retrieve different documents for a given query. More precisely, our approach is based on data fusion (fusion of system results) by taking into account local performances of each system. Our method considers the relevance of the very first documents retrieved by different systems and from this information selects the system that will perform the retrieval for the user. We found that this principle improves the performances of about 9%. Evaluation is based on different years of TREC evaluation program (TREC 3, 5, 6 and 7), TREC-adhoc tracks. It considers the two and five best systems that participate to TREC the corresponding year.
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Paper Nr:	421
Title:	MAKING INCOMPLETE INFORMATION VISIBLE IN WORKFLOW SYSTEMS
Authors:	Georg Peters and Roger Tagg
Abstract:	After a bumpy start in the nineties of the last century workflow systems have recently re-gained the focus of attention. Today they are considered as a crucial part of the recently introduced middleware based ERP systems. One of the central objectives and hopes for this technology is to make companies more process-orientated and flexible to keep up with the increasing speed of change of a global economy. This requires sophisticated instruments to optimally manage workflow systems, e.g. to deal with incomplete information effectively. In this paper we investigate the potential of rough set theory to make missing or incomplete information visible in workflow systems.
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Paper Nr:	428
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING BUSINESS/INFORMATION SYSTEM ALIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS
Authors:	Islem Gmati and Selmin Nurcan
Abstract:	In order to provide a competitive advantage to the enterprise, the business strategy and processes and its information system (IS) need to be aligned. Achieving strategic alignment continues to be a major concern for business executives and becomes more difficult to handle in an evolving environment. The literature provides conceptual frameworks dividing a company representation in independent and exchanging layers and aiming at the strategic alignment. In this paper, we describe eight among these works. Aiming a better understanding of the Business/IS alignment requirements, we propose an analysis framework, in which we position the studied approaches, and we bring out the most important results related to the forces and weaknesses of these approaches.
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Paper Nr:	466
Title:	EML:A TREE OVERLAY-BASED VISUAL LANGUAGE FOR BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING
Authors:	Lei Li, John Hosking and John Grundy
Abstract:	Visual business process modelling can fulfil an important role to enable high-level specification of system interactions, improve system integration and support performance analysis. Existing modelling approaches typically use a workflow based method. Cobweb and labyrinth problems appear quickly when this type of notation is used to model a complex enterprise system with users having to deal with either very complex diagrams or many cross-diagram implicit relationships. In contrast, a tree based presentation can be very efficient for handling visual relationships. We present an overview of EML (Enterprise Modelling Language), a novel tree overlay-based visual specification for enterprise process modelling and its support tool. The highlight is its flexibility in modelling business processes using different layers. A service-oriented tree structure represents the system functional architecture. Business process modelling is constructed as an overlay on top of this service tree. By using a multi-layer structure, an enterprise system can be modelled with a variety of early aspects to satisfy design requirements. An Eclipse based software tool, MaramaEML has been developed to edit EML diagrams integrated with existing modelling languages such as BPMN and supports automatic generation of BPEL code.
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Paper Nr:	471
Title:	MULTIDIMENSIONAL REFERENCE MODELS FOR DATA WAREHOUSE DEVELOPMENT
Authors:	Matthias Goeken and Ralf Knackstedt
Abstract:	In the area of Data Warehousing the importance of conceptual modelling increases as it gains the status of a critical success factor. Nevertheless the application of conceptual modelling in practice often remains undone, due to time and cost restrictions. Reference models seem to be a suitable solution for this problem as they provide generic models which can be easily adapted to specific problems and thus decrease the modelling outlay. This paper identifies the requirements for multidimensional modelling techniques whose fulfillment are a prerequisite for the construction of reference models. Referring to the ME/RM, the concrete implementation of these requirements will be illustrated.
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Paper Nr:	499
Title:	ON GROUPING OF ACTIVITIES INSTANCES IN WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Authors:	Dat C. Ma, Joe Y. Lin and Maria E. Orlowska
Abstract:	Current research in the flexibility of workflow management systems covers many aspects of this technology. The focus of this paper is primarily on the practical capabilities of workflow management systems in handling preferred work practice while dealing with many short duration activities. It is motivated by the requirement of merging or grouping work items by one performer to achieve work performance enhancements by avoiding unnecessary communication with the system but still executing the required activities. The paper proposes a new function to group activity instances for a given process, investigates the impact, benefits, and potential implementation of such of extended functionality.
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Paper Nr:	504
Title:	A NEW APPROACH FOR WORKFLOW PROCESS DELTA ANALYSIS BASED ON SYN-NET
Authors:	Xingqi Huang, Wen Zhao and Shikun Zhang
Abstract:	Many of today's information systems are driven by explicit process models. Creating a workflow design is a complicated process and typically there are discrepancies between the actual workflow processes and the processes as perceived by the management. Delta analysis aims at improving this by comparing process models obtained by process mining from event logs and predefined ones, to measure business alignment of real behaviour of an information system with the expected behaviour. Syn-net is a new workflow model based on Petri-net, with the conceptual foundation synchronizer and suggesting a three-layer perspective of workflow process. In this paper, we propose a new delta analysis approach based on the reduction rules of Syn-net, to examine the discrepancies between the discovered processes and the predefined ones.
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Paper Nr:	507
Title:	ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS CONFIGURATION AS AN INFORMATION LOGISTICS PROCESS - A Study
Authors:	Mats Apelkrans and Anne Håkansson
Abstract:	In this paper, we suggest using rule-based descriptions of customer’s requirements for Enterprise Systems implementing Information Logistics. The rules are developed from the users’ requirements and inserted as schedules to the Enterprise System. The output, from testing these rules, is a list of modules and parameter settings to configure the system. By using rules, we can, at least partly, automate the configuration process by traversing the several modules and thousands parameters that are in an Enterprise System. From the list, we can select the modules and the parameters that meet the customer’s requirements. Then these selected modules and parameters are visually presented through a kind of Unified Modeling Language diagrams, to support the user investigation and then to configure the system either manually or automatically. Every attempt to match a customer’s requirement to the contents of the knowledge base within the Enterprise system can be thought of as an Information Logistics Process. The output from such a process must be examined by the user, which can give rise to a new call to the Information Logistics process. In other words the configuration work is done through a dialogue between the customer and the knowledge base of the Enterprise system.
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Paper Nr:	507
Title:	ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS CONFIGURATION AS AN INFORMATION LOGISTICS PROCESS - A Study
Authors:	Mats Apelkrans and Anne Håkansson
Abstract:	In this paper, we suggest using rule-based descriptions of customer’s requirements for Enterprise Systems implementing Information Logistics. The rules are developed from the users’ requirements and inserted as schedules to the Enterprise System. The output, from testing these rules, is a list of modules and parameter settings to configure the system. By using rules, we can, at least partly, automate the configuration process by traversing the several modules and thousands parameters that are in an Enterprise System. From the list, we can select the modules and the parameters that meet the customer’s requirements. Then these selected modules and parameters are visually presented through a kind of Unified Modeling Language diagrams, to support the user investigation and then to configure the system either manually or automatically. Every attempt to match a customer’s requirement to the contents of the knowledge base within the Enterprise system can be thought of as an Information Logistics Process. The output from such a process must be examined by the user, which can give rise to a new call to the Information Logistics process. In other words the configuration work is done through a dialogue between the customer and the knowledge base of the Enterprise system.
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Paper Nr:	514
Title:	USE CASE BASED REQUIREMENTS VERIFICATION - Verifying the Consistency between Use Cases and Assertions
Authors:	Stéphane Somé and Divya Nair
Abstract:	Use cases and operations are complementary requirements artefacts. A use case refers to operations and imposes their sequencing. Use cases templates usually include assertions such as preconditions, postconditions and invariants. Similarly operations are specified using contracts consisting in preconditions and postconditions. In this paper, we present an approach aiming at checking the consistency of each description against the other. We attempt to answer questions such as the following. Is the use case postcondition guaranteed by the operations ? Are all operations possible according to their preconditions ? We provide answers to these questions by deriving state predicates corresponding to each step in a use case, and by showing the satisfaction of assertions according to these predicates.
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Paper Nr:	735
Title:	A MODELING LANGUAGE FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING EDUCATIONAL UNITS - Supporting the Coordination of Collaborative Activities
Authors:	Manuel Caeiro-rodriguez
Abstract:	This paper introduces a modeling language to support the computational modeling of collaborative learning educational units. The languages supporting the computational modeling educational units are named as Educational Modeling Languages (EMLs). EMLs have been proposed to facilitate the development of complex and large e-learning applications. The introduced language is proposed as an EML specially oriented towards collaborative learning. A main goal is to enable the modeling of the variety of ways in which human interaction can be supported (e.g. well-structured and ill-structured, synchronous and asynchronous, strict-coordination and free-collaboration). To do it, a separation of concerns approach is followed. The proposal, named as Perspective-oriented EML (PoEML), involves several parts (named as perspectives) where all the modeling issues are arranged and separated. The paper introduces the ideas and constructs of the main PoEML perspectives towards the modeling of the variety of forms for collaboration support.
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Paper Nr:	738
Title:	GRID WORKFLOW SCHEDULING WITH TEMPORAL DECOMPOSITION
Authors:	Fei Long and Hung Keng Pung
Abstract:	Grid workflow scheduling, a very important system function in current Grid Systems, is known as a NP complete problem. In this paper, we propose a new scheduling method– “temporal decomposition” – which divides a whole grid workflow into some sub-workflows. By dividing a large problem (workflow) into some smaller problems ( sub-workflows), the “temporal decomposition” to better exploit achieves much lower computation complexity. Another motivation for the design of “temporal decomposition” is at the availability of the highly dynamic grid resources. We further propose an efficient scheduling algorithm for scheduling sub-workflows in this paper. Numerical simulation results show that our proposed scheme is more efficient in comparison with a well known existing grid workflow scheduling method.
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Paper Nr:	770
Title:	META MODEL FOR TRACING IMPACT OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION EVOLUTION IN WEB-BASED WORKFLOWS
Authors:	Jeewani A. Ginige and Athula Ginige
Abstract:	Environment that shapes a business process consists of regulations, policies, guidelines, goals, etc. referred to as Contextual Information (CI) both external and internal to the organisation. In today’s global and competitive business world evolution and changes in CI, forces business processes to change. When processes are supported with web-based workflows, CI evolutions are required to be reflected in already automated systems, via process models. Due to limitations of current modelling tools, process related models fail to encapsulate CI that associates process elements to its environment. This creates inconsistencies and errors when trying to change implemented systems to reflect high-level CI changes. To address this, we propose a model, which allows tracing high-level CI changes down to the implementation level artefacts. Such a model needs to map the complex correlation between CI, all process elements (object, participants, actions and process flow rules), various web-based workflow artefacts (data, code and UIs) to a types of changes (modify, add and delete). This holistic view of the proposed model makes this research standout among other research work in process evolution area.
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Paper Nr:	782
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR QUALITY EVALUATION IN DATA INTEGRATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Jacky Akoka, Laure Berti-equille, Omar Boucelma, Mokrane Bouzeghoub, Isabelle Comyn-Wattiau, M. Cosquer, V. Goasdoué-Thion, Z. Kedad, S. Nugier, V. Peralta and S. Sisaid-Cherfi
Abstract:	Ensuring and maximizing the quality and integrity of information is a crucial process for today enterprise information systems (EIS). It requires a clear understanding of the interdependencies between the dimensions characterizing quality of data (QoD), quality of conceptual data model (QoM) of the database, keystone of the EIS, and quality of data management and integration processes (QoP). The improvement of one quality dimension (such as data accuracy or model expressiveness) may have negative consequences on other quality dimensions (e.g., freshness or completeness of data). In this paper we briefly present a framework, called QUADRIS, relevant for adopting a quality improvement strategy on one or many dimensions of QoD or QoM with considering the collateral effects on the other interdependent quality dimensions. We also present the scenarios of our ongoing validations on a CRM EIS.
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Paper Nr:	787
Title:	EXTENDING BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING TOOLS WITH WORKFLOW PATTERN REUSE
Authors:	Lucineia Heloisa Thom, Jean M. Lau, Cirano Iochpe and Jan Mendling
Abstract:	For their reuse advantages, workflow patterns are increasingly attracting the interest of both researchers and vendors. However, actual workflow modeling tools do not provide functionalities that enable users to define, query, and reuse workflow patterns properly. In this paper we gather a set of requirements for process modeling tools that aim to support pattern reuse in a direct way. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of these requirements we present a respective implementation project that extends the process modeling tool EPC Tools with pattern reuse functionality.
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Paper Nr:	789
Title:	EXTENDING THE EPC AND THE BPMN WITH BUSINESS PROCESS GOALS AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Authors:	Birgit Korherr and Beate List
Abstract:	The Event-Driven Process Chain (EPC) and the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) are designed for modelling business processes, but do not yet include any means for modelling process goals and their measures, and they do not have a published metamodel. We derive a metamodel for both languages, and extend the EPC and the BPMN with process goals and performance measures to make them conceptually visible. The extensions are based on the metamodels tested with example business processes.
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Paper Nr:	798
Title:	A CHANGE STRATEGY FOR ORGANISATIONAL SECURITY - The Role of Critical Success Factors
Authors:	Susan Foster, Kate Lazarenko, Paul Hawking and Andrew Stein
Abstract:	The focus for any organization should be in securing the critical components that are important to business survival This can be accomplished by adopting technical and non technical approaches. The non technical approaches however tend to be more problematic and include changing the way employees perceive enterprise security. People issues have always posed problems when implementing new systems, and an enterprise security strategy is no exception. The identification and adoption of critical success factors to support a sound security strategy could provide a successful security outcome. In this paper a security framework is developed from the literature and each part of the framework provides the opportunity to identify critical success factors. It is contended that by using this framework organizations are able to build a strong security base for their enterprise.
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Paper Nr:	817
Title:	BUSINESS PROCESS PRIORISATION WITH MULTICRITERIA METHODS - Case of Business Process Reengineering
Authors:	Elena Kornyshova and Camille Salinesi
Abstract:	Business process (BP) engineering is used nowadays in many methods, techniques and tools. In domains such as strategic management, reengineering, or security analysis, one particular concern is the identification of BPs that should be dealt primarily. In practice, the number of BPs is often very large and it justifies the creation of a priorisation mechanism. However, the number of approaches available to prioritise BPs specifically is very limited. This paper presents a comparison of multicriteria (MC) methods, and an approach to guide the selection and application of the MC method found as the most appropriate for BP priorisation. The approach is illustrated with the case of selecting and applying a BP priorisation in the view of BP reengineering.
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Paper Nr:	830
Title:	BUSINESS PROCESS MODEL TRANSFORMATION ISSUES - The Top 7 Adversaries Encountered at Defining Model Transformations
Authors:	Marion Murzek and Gerhard Kramler
Abstract:	Not least due to the widespread use of meta modeling concepts, model transformation techniques have reached a certain level of maturity (Czarnecki and Helsen, 2006). Nevertheless, defining transformations in some application areas in our case business process modeling is still a challenge because current transformation languages provide general solutions but do not support issues specific to a distinct area. We aim at providing generic solutions for model transformation problems distinct to the area of horizontal business process model transformations. As a first step in this endeavor, this work reports on the most pressing problems encountered at defining business process model transformations.
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Paper Nr:	838
Title:	ONTOLOGY CONSTRUCTION IN PRACTICE - Experiences and Recommendations from Industrial Cases
Authors:	Kurt Sandkuhl, Annika Öhgren, Alexander Smirnov, Nikolay Shilov and Alexey Kashevnik
Abstract:	Significant progress in ontology engineering during the last decade resulted in a growing interest in using ontologies for industrial applications. Based on case studies from different industrial domains, this paper presents experiences from ontology development and gives recommendations for industrial ontology construction projects. The recommendations include (1) using defined roles in a matrix project organisation, (2) perspectives on generalisation/specialisation strategy and ontology lifecycle phases, and (3) aspects of user participation in ontology construction.
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Paper Nr:	842
Title:	FUTURE COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS BETWEEN PEER-TO-PEER AND MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAMES
Authors:	Markus Heberling, Robert Hinn, Thomas Bopp and Thorsten Hampel
Abstract:	Most current CSCW architectures rely on a central server and offer only limited scalability. With the emergence of distributed hash tables as a comprehensive peer-to-peer infrastructure a wealth of new applications can be developed. In this paper we propose a new DHT-based CSCW architecture, inspired by modern massive multiplayer online games architectures, using existing systems and technologies. The resulting CSCW overlay network offers both robustness against network failures and scalability to support large numbers of users simultaneously.
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Paper Nr:	846
Title:	CONCEPTS OF MODEL DRIVEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE - Generic Model Representation and DSL Interpretation
Authors:	Christian Erfurth, Wilhelm Rossak, Christian Schachtzabel, Detlef Hornbostel and Steffen Skatulla
Abstract:	This paper discusses possibilities to realize constructs of a domain specific model (DSL) on the concrete development and runtime platform Ibykus AP. Here software engineering takes advantage of a combination of generative techniques and stable so-called DSL interpreters. These techniques to implement model driven software development (MDSD) concepts can improve the flexibility, the quality and the performance of the development of large application systems. Presenting the DSL interpreter approach underlying techniques of generic repository structures to hold the software model as well as runtime configuration information are discussed. The importance of an associated clear and well structured interface and tuning alternatives for the repository are pointed out. Finally the paper concludes with an outlook to future research work.
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Paper Nr:	868
Title:	DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE BASED EVOLUTION OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Authors:	Sorana Cîmpan, Hervé Verjus and Ilham Alloui
Abstract:	Enterprise Information Systems have to co-evolve with the enterprise they support. Their evolution is the one of an important software system. Software evolution should be addressed at all developpement phases in order to notably reduce costs (Lehman, 1996). The issue of software systems evolution has been addressed mainly at the code level. In this paper we present how evolution of enterprise information systems can take place at higher abstraction levels, when using an architecture-centred development process. The evolutions addressed are dynamic, i.e. they take place at runtime and concern both planned and unplanned evolutions of the enterprise information system.
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Paper Nr:	870
Title:	MODELING OF A DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP COMMUNITY TO FACILITATE THE CONSULTATIVE AND DELIBERATIVE PROCESS IN THE WEB
Authors:	Cristiano Maciel and Ana Cristina Bicharra Garcia
Abstract:	Electronic democracy should facilitate the discussion and participation of citizens as well as electronic voting in governmental issues. Governmental applications available in the Web have not evolved significantly toward real participation of citizens. The implementation of an e-democracy system can benefit from incorporating features from distinct information channels, especially television. This paper discusses an Interactive Government-Citizen Model that allows and stimulates the decision-making process between government and citizens, facilitating citizen participation through a virtual community and through integrated management of information in the Web environment. In this Model we identify the phases of an consultation and deliberative process as carried out through a Democratic Citizenship Community, the discussion of which is structured in a Government-Citizen Interaction Language known as DemIL. The degree of maturity initially proposed is structured in four levels: Immature, Poorly Mature, Mature and Sufficiently Mature. In order to measure the degree of maturity, by levels, we use a set of indicators, for later construction of an evaluation tool.
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Paper Nr:	873
Title:	TOWARDS THE DYNAMIC ADAPTABILITY OF SOA
Authors:	Mehdi Ben Hmida, Céline Boutrous Saab, Serge Haddad, Valérie Monfort and Ricardo T. Ferraz
Abstract:	Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) aim to give methodological and technical answers to achieve interoperabilty and loose coupling between heterogeneous Information Systems (IS). Currently, Web Services are the fitted technical solution to implement such architectures. However, both Web Services providers and clients are faced to some important difficulties to dynamically change their behaviours. From one side, Web Services providers have no mean to dynamically adapt an existing Web Service to business requirements changes. From the other side, Web Services clients have no way to dynamically adapt themselves to the service changing in order to avoid execution failures. In this paper, we show how to achieve a dynamic adaptable SOA by using the Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) paradigm and Process Algebra (PA) formalism. We extend our previous works to dynamically modify BPEL processes and to handle client-server communications issues. Then, we use a process algebra formalism to specify a change-prone BPEL process and demonstrate how to generate a client which dynamically adapt its behaviour to the service changes. We also present the Aspect Service Weaver (ASW) prototype which implements our approach.
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Paper Nr:	885
Title:	GIS QUALITY MODEL - A Metric Approach to Quality Models
Authors:	Willington L. Siabato Vaca and Adriana Patricia Rangel Sotter
Abstract:	In the past few years organizations and companies have developed new standards which have been proved highly efficient both in the public and private sector. The most important of them is the Quality Management System regulated by the standard ISO 9001. This standard proves how its implementation represents sensitive improvements of the production system, optimizing the product and increasing its quality. This phenomenon is not isolated within software engineering's frame. Many works have been published, like Boehm and McCall, of which have raised many standards among which the ISO/IEC 9126 is highlighted. Regarding this fact, it has been possible to create different solutions for multiple related problems with IT. Nowadays, the Geographic Information Systems' project managers do not have a tool for either selecting the software to implement their projects or supporting this selection in technical criteria. The questions are: which one of the commercial software packages is appropriate to my project? Which one of the software packages follows the requests of the project out? Which one of this software supports the needs of the users? This article presents a quality model to support these decisions. This way, project managers can make their decisions based on a set of metrics which are product of the deep evaluation of characteristics, subcharacteristics and attributes of the software. These metrics has been developed to apply for all models based on ISO/IEC 9126-1 standard. The mentioned elements allow user to know which of the software packages is the best through a GIS Quality Indicator, generated through the model. This indicator allows GIS’ project managers to take decisions based on a technical criterion. A model in accordance with international standards related to product quality in software engineering such as ISO/IEC 9126-1.
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Paper Nr:	895
Title:	TOWARDS ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS USING WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS
Authors:	Stamatis Karnouskos and Patrik Spiess
Abstract:	Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have become a hot issue in research, and significant progress has been achieved in the past few years. Recently, the topic has gained lot of momentum and has become increasingly attractive for industry paving the way for new applications of sensor networks which go well beyond traditional sensor applications. Sensor Networks is seen as one of the most promising technologies that will bridge the physical and virtual worlds enabling them to interact. Expectations go beyond the research visions, towards deployment in real-world applications that would empower business processes and future business cases. In this paper we look at WSNs from the business software perspective, including business model, service-oriented architecture, integration with enterprise software systems as well as benefits and lessons learned. As an example use-case we demonstrate the use of WSNs for hazardous goods management in the chemical industry. Finally, based on our experiences we depict some directions that can be followed in order to pave the road to real business applications for WSNs.
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Paper Nr:	936
Title:	BPEL PATTERNS FOR IMPLEMENTING VARIATIONS IN SOA APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Samia Oussena, Samia Oussena and Balbir Barn
Abstract:	The main purpose of the COVARM research project is to define a candidate reference model utilizing a framework of web services to support a key UK Higher Education business process. Any given business domain may offer a level of complexity such that process activities, terminology (the ontology) and business rules may vary between organizations belonging to same domain While a generic process can and has been built as part of the reference model, the flexibility (or variability) is afforded by the implementation strategy for the canonical model / generic process. We have implemented the following variations: activity ordering, cross-site terminology harmonization, and specific business rules to address the variability requirements. This paper presents our experience with explicitly managing the variability within the implementation technology. With the use of BPEL patterns, we describe how the management of these variations can be dealt with in an SOA application implementation.
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Paper Nr:	937
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR ONTOLOGICAL STANDARDIZATION OF BUSINESS PROCESS CONTENT
Authors:	Maya Lincoln, Reuven Karni and Avi Wasser
Abstract:	One of the main challenges currently facing the world of enterprise information technology in general and ERP/SCM/CRM systems in particular, is visibility into the business of organizations. The prevalent approach utilizes conceptual business process modeling as the foundation for creating and managing this visibility, aiming to connect business activity and its supporting information technology. While the phenomena of devising structural execution frameworks is widespread in academia, there have been few attempts to develop theory, empirical studies and supporting methods for the structured generation and customization of complete business process models that also include actual content. These models move beyond structural data modeling in the sense that they add semantics and relationships of actual business essence. The research suggests a framework and a set of methods for the organization and structured ontological construction of business process content.
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Paper Nr:	941
Title:	PROCESS USE CASES: USE CASES IDENTIFICATION
Authors:	Pedro Valente and Paulo Sampaio
Abstract:	The identification of use cases is one key issue in the development of interactive information systems. User participation in the development life cycle can be seen as critical to achieve usable systems and has proven its efficacy in the improvement of systems appropriateness. Indeed, the involvement of users in the requirements definition can add a significant improvement in both consecutive/interleaved tasks of: (i) understanding and specifying the context of use, and, (ii) specifying the user and organizational requirements, as defined in Human-Centered Design (HCD) (Organizations, 1999). Existing solutions provide a way to identify business processes and/or use cases in order to achieve system definition, but they don’t do it in an agile and structured way that helps to efficiently bridge between Business Process Management and Software Engineering. Process Use Cases is a methodology, defined in the Goals software construction process, for the identification of use cases and information entities during the modeling and reorganization of business processes focusing the results in the identification of the functional requirements for the correct development of an interactive information system.
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Paper Nr:	942
Title:	REFINEMENT PROPAGATION - Towards Automated Construction of Visual Specifications
Authors:	Irina Rychkova and Alain Wegmann
Abstract:	Creation and transformation of visual specifications is driven by modeler’s design decisions. After a design decision has been made, the modeler needs to adjust the specification to maintain its correctness. The number of adjustments might make the design process tedious for large specifications. We are interested in techniques that will reduce the modeler’s obligation to control specification correctness. Every single transformation of the visual specification can be captured by the notion of refinement used in formal methods. In this work we present the technique that supports a stepwise refinement of visual specifications based on calculations. We use refinement calculus as a logic for reasoning about refinement correctness. When a design decision is made by the modeler, the necessary adjustments are calculated based on rules of refinement propagation. Refinement propagation can automate the specification adjustment and enforce its correctness.
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Paper Nr:	949
Title:	CHECKING BEHAVIOURAL CONSISTENCY OF UML-RT MODELS THROUGH TRACE-BASED SEMANTICS
Authors:	Luis E. Mendoza, Manuel I. Capel-tuñón and Kawtar Benghazi Akhlaki
Abstract:	Starting from a methodological approach intended to obtain a correct system specification in CSP+T from a UML–RT model of an RTS, we develop now a systematic procedure to check whether the obtained design is consistent with other views of the same system, such as the ones given by class, composite structure and state machines diagrams. To achieve this objective, a formal semantics of the notational elements of UML–RT according to CSP+T process terms is presented, which guarantees that system requirements are preserved from their initial UML–RT modelling to the final system implementation. As a consequence, the formal support given by the compositional refinement of CSP+T process terms will allow performing the system’s software compositional verification. In addition, the derived formal semantic definitions are applied to the Production Cell case study.
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Paper Nr:	953
Title:	MATRIX BASED PROBLEM DETECTION IN THE APPLICATION OF SOFTWARE PROCESS PATTERNS
Authors:	Chintan Amrit and Jos van Hillegersberg
Abstract:	Software development is rarely an individual effort and generally involves teams of developers. Such collaborations require proper communication and regular coordination among the team members. In addition, coordination is required to sort out problems due to technical dependencies that exist when components of one part of the architecture requires services or data input from components of another part of the architecture. The dynamic allocation of the different tasks to people results in various socio-technical structure clashes (STSCs). These STSCs become more pronounced in an Agile Software Development environment and managerial intervention is constantly required to alleviate problems due to STSCs. In this paper we propose a technique based on dependency matrices that detects STSCs in the organizational process structure. We illustrate this technique using two examples from Organizational and Process Pattern literature.
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Paper Nr:	963
Title:	INTEROPERABILITY IN PERVASIVE ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS - A Double-Faced Coin between Security and Accessability
Authors:	Dana Al Kukhun and Florence M. Sèdes
Abstract:	As transparency becomes a key requirement for assuring service quality and user satisfaction, Enterprise Information Systems are seeking to become pervasive in order to deal with the heterogeneity problem of their sub components. In this position paper, we expose the challenges that face Enterprise Information Systems in achieving better data integration, representation and management, while ensuring homogeneous interaction between different software sub components, improving the interaction between different customers and business partners and providing services on different terminals with dynamic connectivity constraints. Finally, we highlight the importance of applying adaptive, proactive and interoperable access control policies that would differentiate between providing local system users with full data accessibility and providing external users with multi-levelled security controls.
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Paper Nr:	1022
Title:	DYNAMIC INTERACTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Weaving Architectural Connectors on Component Petri Nets
Authors:	Nasreddine Aoumeur, Gunter Saake and Kamel Barkaoui
Abstract:	Advances in networking over heterogenous infrastructures are boosting market globalization and thereby forcing most software-intensive information systems to be fully distributed, cooperating and evolving to stay competitive. The emerging composed behaviour in such interacting components evolve dynamically/rapidly and unpredictably as market laws and users/application requirements change on-the-fly both at the coarse- type and fine-grained instance levels. Despite significant proposals for promoting interactions and adaptivity using mainly architectural techniques (e.g. components and connectors), rigorously specifying / validating / verifying and dynamically adapting complex communicating information systems both at type and instance levels still remains challenging. In this contribution, we present a component-based Petri nets governed by a true-concurrent rewriting-logic based semantics for specifying and validating interacting distributed information systems. For runtime adaptivity, we enhance this proposal with (ECA-business) rules Petri nets-driven behavioral connectors, and demonstrate how to dynamically weaving them on running components to reflect any emerging behavior.
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Paper Nr:	1051
Title:	ON THE LOGIC UNDERLYING COMMON SENSE
Authors:	Janos J. Sarbo
Abstract:	In order to endow computers with common sense with respect to specific domains we need to have a representation of the world and make commitments about what knowledge is and how it is obtained. This paper is an attempt to introduce such a representation and underlying ‘naive’ logic on the basis of an analysis of the properties of cognitive activity. This paper is of interest to those engaged in the development of user interfaces and ontologies, as well as to those interested in the semiotic aspects of problem specification and requirement engineering. The focus of this paper is on the theory, applications are briefly mentioned due to lack of space.
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Paper Nr:	1062
Title:	GENERIC BUSINESS MODELLING FRAMEWORK
Authors:	Christopher Hogger and Min Li
Abstract:	We present a position paper setting out the essentials of a new declarative framework named GBMF intended for modelling the higher-level aspects of business. It is based upon logic programming including, where appropriate, finite-domain constraints. Business plans, processes, entity constraints, assets and business rules are representable in GBMF using an economical repertoire of primitive constructs and without requiring overly-burdensome programming effort. The framework, which has been fully implemented, has been applied so far to small-scale business exemplars. Our more general future aim, however, will be to demonstrate the framework's generic character by providing precise semantic mappings between it and other business modelling frameworks that rely upon specialized languages and engines.
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Paper Nr:	1087
Title:	ADAPTIVE PROCESSES IN E-GOVERNMENT - A Field Report about Semantic-Based Approaches from the EU-Project “FIT”
Authors:	Andrea Leutgeb, Wilfrid Utz, Robert Woitsch and Hans-georg Fill
Abstract:	For increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration as well as improving the usability and adaptability of systems state-of-the-art semantic technologies can be combined with existing business process management (BPM) approaches in e-government. This position paper shows ontology-based approaches as implemented within the EU-project FIT. In FIT the customer approved business process modelling language ADOeGov® has been enriched with business rules in order to provide the necessary transparency, flexibility and efficiency.
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Paper Nr:	47
Title:	CONSTRUCTING CONSISTENT USER REQUIREMENTS - Lessons Learnt from Requirements Verification
Authors:	Petra Heck
Abstract:	The user requirements specify what functions an information system has to fulfil. The user requirements serve as the basis for system implementation and test specification. In this paper we present a number of guidelines that improve the quality of the user requirements. If the guidelines we present are obeyed during requirements construction, certain types of inconsistencies will not be present in the resulting requirements. Better quality requirements lead to fewer errors in the other system development phases and during system changes.
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Paper Nr:	107
Title:	THE NEED OF ‘INFORMATION ANALYSIS’ FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND OUTLINE OF A HERMENEUTIC APPROACH TO IT
Authors:	Sufen Wang, Junkang Feng and Binyong Tang
Abstract:	Requirement analysis for information systems development (ISD) results in a specification that represents a central reference point for subsequent stages of the development. But this stage is seen characterized by informality and uncertainty. One essential element in this is how the information that is required by the users in a domain is identified and formulated. In this paper, we give a summary on how well-known information systems methodologies handle it, and argue that an information analysis would seem to be needed. Such an analysis would require a certain approach, for which we suggest adopting Hermeneutics. We describe how Hermeneutics might enable us to look at the mechanism whereby information is created and information flow takes place in the context of information systems.
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Paper Nr:	276
Title:	REPRESENTING AUTHOR’S INTENTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS
Authors:	Hassan Kanso, CHANTAL SOULE-DUPUY and Said Tazi
Abstract:	The existing structures of documents are not ample for nowadays user’s needs in terms of search and processing. The Intentional Structure (IS) is a model that maps author’s intentions to the segments of documents. It is defined to enhance documents process in terms of goals, means and reasons. The main objective of this work is to provide a methodology of recognizing intentions of communication of scientific documents associated to segments. This article focuses on the representational aspect of the author’s intention, by providing a graphical representation of intentions.
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Paper Nr:	424
Title:	A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING IT GOVERNANCE APPROACHES
Authors:	Bruno Claudepierre and Selmin Nurcan
Abstract:	Information systems (IS) have a role of information processing and service providing for business activities. Moreover, the latter take place in an evolving environment and it becomes more and more crucial to measure the effectiveness and the efficiency of the IS as a support of the enterprise activities and strategies. The purpose of the corporate governance and the information technology governance (ITG) is to ensure that enterprise strategy is properly implemented. The ITG can thus facilitate the anticipation of the required evolutions of the IS. In this paper, we propose a framework for analysing and positioning ITG approaches often referenced in the literature.
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Paper Nr:	425
Title:	THE BUSINESS PROCESS KNOWLEDGE FRAMEWORK
Authors:	Janez Hrastnik, Jorge Cardoso and Frank Kappe
Abstract:	Organizations today are confronted with huge problems following and implementing their own business process models. On the one hand, due to a lack of planning and requirements analysis, process models are often unfeasible or difficult to execute in practice. On the other hand, process designers often ignore the importance of studying the different roles and their perspectives on a business process when constructing a process model. This leads to the deployment of process models that do not satisfy process stakeholders. This paper addresses such problems and proposes a business process knowledge framework as a possible solution. Our framework integrates three elements that we consider fundamental to model business processes: stakeholders’ perspectives, knowledge types and views. We show how the business process framework can contribute to the improvement of the process knowledge acquisition phase of process design, and how it can support process knowledge communication to stakeholders.
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Paper Nr:	468
Title:	CODE INSPECTION: A REVIEW
Authors:	Robson Y. Silva de Oliveira, Paula G. Ferreira, Alexandre Alvaro, Eduardo Santana de Almeida and Silvio L. Meira
Abstract:	The software inspection process is generally considered a software engineering best practice. For a long time, it had the goals of finding and fixing defects as soon as possible. For this reason, techniques are suggested for use in a software reuse process in order to improve the quality of the assets developed and reused. Thus, the code become itself easier to understand and changeable, and improving its maintainability, minimizing redundancies and improving language proficiency, safety and portability. In this way, looking for analyzing this area, this paper presents a survey of code inspection research.
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Paper Nr:	470
Title:	KEY-PROBLEMS AND MULTI-SCREEN VIEW - A Framework to Perform the Aligment of Manufacturing IS
Authors:	Virginie Goepp and François Kiefer
Abstract:	In today highly competitive environment, the complete alignment of information systems (IS) that is to say not only with the strategy but also with the environment and with the uncertain evolution is crucial. For manufacturing IS these alignments are complex. The state of the art concerning IS alignment shows that the existing frameworks mainly concern managers and do not fit to the IS manufacturing context. On the one hand, B-SCP tends to operationalize these frameworks by coupling them to requirements engineering. However, only the alignment with the strategy is tackled. On the other hand, the dialectical analysis based approach of IS manufacturing development tries to integrate multiple alignments through the “multi-screen” view tool. However, the underlying concepts of this tool remain fuzzy. Therefore, this paper addresses the formalisation of the “multi-screen” view, in order to work out a framework for analysing mechanisms of multiple alignments of manufacturing IS. To do this, the contributions of coupling dialectics and “multi-screen” view to manufacturing IS are detailed through UML class diagrams. Moreover, to better grasp these contributions its similarities and differences with the B-SCP are outlined.
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Paper Nr:	473
Title:	PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
Authors:	Magali M. Belett and Ricardo Chalmeta
Abstract:	This paper describes the PMS-IRIS methodology for designing and implementing performance measurement systems in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Performance Measurement Systems enable enterprises to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of their decisions and operations through a set of indicators related to the vision and strategy of the company. The methodology embraces activities of project planning, strategy design, definition of indicators, process improvement, monitoring, and the design of the computer system required to support the implementation of a performance measurement system.
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Paper Nr:	475
Title:	A SYSTEM ON WEB-BASED CONTINUOUS SOFTWARE PROCESS ASSESSMENT (CONTINUOUS SPA)
Authors:	Xian Chen, Paul Sorenson and John Willson
Abstract:	Software process assessments are now recognized as important quality improvement activities in the software industry. However, most assessment applications are generally regarded as infrequent, expensive and disruptive for the workplace. Hence, it is advantageous to find alternative ways to the current status of software processes and monitor the implementation of improvement activities. In this paper, we focus on continuous process assessment and capability monitoring. A web-based prototype system is developed to perform a practical study on continuous software process assessment in one process area: project management. The study results show that features such as global management, well-defined responsibility and visualization may help improve the efficiency and continuity of software process management.
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Paper Nr:	525
Title:	MODELLING DATA TRANSFORMATION PROCESSES USING HIGH-LEVEL PETRI NETS
Authors:	Li Peng
Abstract:	Data heterogeneity is one of the key problems in integrating multiple data sources, data warehousing, legacy data migration, etc. For integrating databases or information systems, the data need to be transformed from a source representation into a target representation. The foundation for developing efficient data transformation tools and automating data transformation processes is a data transformation process model. In this paper, I propose a CPN based data transformation process model. This model provides rich constructs to represent various data structures, transformation functions and rules; allows parallelization, composition and decomposition of data transformations. Furthermore, as the extension of the model, the CPNs are combined with higher-order Petri nets. The components of the CPNs can be reused. This improves the efficiency of data transformations.
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Paper Nr:	733
Title:	SERVICE ORIENTED REAL-TIME ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT - In Association with Business Process Integration
Authors:	Vikas S. Shah
Abstract:	Organization’s distributed and evolving enterprises demands an integrated approach providing consolidated control and secure information sharing among users and applications in support of business processes. Businesses faced considerable challenges due to unawareness of setting an integration infrastructure with specific business context. Recent industry trend is inclined to investigate rapid and cost effective BPI platform with indisputable business benefits in terms of Real-Time Enterprise Content Management (RT-ECM). RT-ECM ensures consistency among users and infrastructure. The perception also provides secure access to necessary and valid content in real-time. Modern RT-ECM architectures are focused to assist content sharing across multiple resources as well as enterprise applications. SOA, a distributed computing environment, is poised at the intersection of business and technology. SOA enables enterprises to seamlessly and rapidly adapting altering environment. Service-Oriented RT-ECM approach offers integration specific, flexible, and featured BPI platform. The contribution of this paper is an RT-ECM architecture framework illustrating most prominent technical challenges during establishment of business process perceptive integration and time sensitive content flow management. Real-time content management engines, business process engines, and service provisioning are at the centre of presented framework. Initiative behind the research effort is to capture and estimate generic aspects of BPI such that organizations may exclusively focus on unique business characteristic. Eventually, the paper discusses advantages and consequences of service oriented RT-ECM besides outstanding issues for further research.
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Paper Nr:	752
Title:	VISUALISATION AND ANALYSIS OF RELATIONNAL DATA BY CONSIDERING TEMPORAL DIMENSION
Authors:	Eloïse Loubier and Bernard Dousset
Abstract:	Visualization based on graph drawing allows the identification, the evaluation of passed and present structures between actors and concepts. It also allows the deduction of future ones. VisuGraph is developed in order to offer to the users the visualization and the interactive classification of relational data. We propose to complete this prototype with a morphing algotihm which animates with fluidity the representation between different time periods, emphasizing major elements and significant tendencies.
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Paper Nr:	772
Title:	AN ESTIMATION OF ATTACK SURFACE TO EVALUATE NETWORK (IN)SECURITY
Authors:	Andrea Atzeni and Antonio Lioy
Abstract:	In spite of their importance, security measurement methods are unusual in practice. Security assessment is left in the hands of personel security experts’ judgment, with poor formal arguments on the security level of the underlying system. Thus, it is difficult to distinguish among security alternatives or justify possible security changes or improvements. In this work we focus on a limited but important set of security indicators, suitable to estimate the attack surface a system exposes, thus introducing a simple and objective metric for a fast evaluation of an important security facet.
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Paper Nr:	788
Title:	BUSINESS PROCESS VALIDATION - Testing Before Designing
Authors:	Cornelis Ampt
Abstract:	Rather than testing at the end of software projects, with subsequent need to redesign major parts, the Business Process Validation (BPV) method aims at systematic testing from the start of a project, already in the requirements phase, up to final delivery. It embraces three phases: Transformation Model, Service Object Model, & IT/AO Model. The core of the Service Object Mode are classification trees, based on initial ideas as laid down in the Transformation Model. A prototype of a software tool to automate the classification tree construction, has been developed as part of a Masters Thesis project. First tests resulted for small projects in no significant time reduction. However, for larger ones a time reduction of over 50% is achieved compared to development of the classification trees by hand, while for all projects several automated consistency checks can be performed. Real life tests are underway for the coming months.
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Paper Nr:	823
Title:	A FLEXIBLE PERSPECTIVE FOR SOFWARE PROCESSES - Supporting Flexibility in the Software Process Engineering Metamodel
Authors:	Ricardo Martinho, Dulce Domingos and João Varajão
Abstract:	The lack of flexibility in software process modeling is an important drawback pointed out as the main cause for the low adoption of Process-centered Software Engineering Environments (PSEEs). The Object Management Group (OMG) has been working on the Software Process Engineering Meta-model (SPEM) in order to provide a uniform object-oriented meta-model for building software process models, like the Rational Unified Process (RUP). Nevertheless, the SPEM neither takes into account flexibility aspects nor provides a flexibility meta-model for derived software process models. This paper proposes a flexibility meta-model for building flexible SPEM-based software process models. SPEM compliant PSEEs that implement the proposed meta-model will provide the ability to build flexible software process models, and to associate distinct flexible mechanisms to their corresponding modeling elements.
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Paper Nr:	829
Title:	CONVERTING RELATIONAL DATABASE INTO OWL ONTOLOGY BY MULTI-WAY SEMANTICS EXTRACTION
Authors:	Sohee Jang, Insuk Park, Hoyun Cho and Soon Joo Hyun
Abstract:	Semantic Web provides means to share well-defined meaning of terms with semantically annotated information. In the current Web, most of the Web applications generate Web contents dynamically at the time of user request from underlying relational databases. To represent the relational data to the Semantic Web environment, the relational data should be transformed into the ontology form. In this paper, we propose a Semantic Web technique to convert relational database into ontology in OWL using multi-way semantics extraction technique. Extracted from E/R modeling components, schema descriptions and stored data, the generated ontology will provide application developers with rich semantics so as to quickly build a knowledge base for advanced Semantic Web services. Extracting the semantic information out of the traditional databases will provide enterprises with more opportunities for many value-added services.
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Paper Nr:	862
Title:	DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VALID TIME FOR SPATIO-TEMPORAL DATABASES
Authors:	Jugurta Lisboa-Filho, Gustavo B. Sampaio, Evaldo D. De Silva and Alexandre Gazola
Abstract:	Three different types of time are identified in the literature on Temporal Database Management Systems: valid time, transaction time and existence time. This paper describes the design of the valid time for Spatio-Temporal Databases in Geographic Information Systems, based on the UML-GeoFrame conceptual data model. It is also presented two translation rules of the valid time from the conceptual to logical level, implemented for the TerraLib Spatial Components Library.
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Paper Nr:	883
Title:	INFORMATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS AND SPECIFICATION IN FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING PROCESS
Authors:	Salvis Dagis
Abstract:	Forests cover up to 45% of the territory of Latvia and forestry is the most significant export sector in Latvia. The share of forestry in the country’s Gross Domestic Product is up to 14%. In order to manage the forests economically efficiently it is necessary to plan the management activities for several decades in advance. The forecasting of tree growth takes an important place within the forest management planning process. In order to develop IT solution for the process of forest management planning, it is necessary to perform the analysis of forestry sector, as a result of which the above models and also corresponding static structure are developed. For their development, the Unified Modelling Language (UML) specification and notation are used.
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Paper Nr:	889
Title:	BORM POINTS – NEW CONCEPT PROPOSAL OF COMPLEXITY ESTIMATION METHOD
Authors:	Zdenek Struska and Vojtěch Merunka
Abstract:	This paper contains an introduction of new method ‘BORM points’ from the area of complexity estimation in object environment. In the first part of the paper there is a BORM description (Business and Object Relation Modelling). In the second part there is a world-wide premiere of ‘BORM points’' concept. It is the suggestion of estimation method using for the BORM environment. At the end of the paper there is list of next steps to finish the methods and promote it to the wide scientific communities.
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Paper Nr:	901
Title:	EVENT-BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM MODELS
Authors:	Lars Bækgaard
Abstract:	Activity modeling plays important roles in information systems development. Activity models are used to support analysis and design of information systems. Events are central in modeling languages like EPC and BPMN that use events to control the order in which sub activities are performed. The purpose of this paper is to analyse a set of activity modeling languages with respect to their use of events as modeling constructs. We base our analysis on modeling examples and a conceptual model of events. We argue that it is possible to unify the languages’ event concepts and to use a unified event concept to improve the languages.
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Paper Nr:	912
Title:	OPERATIONALIZING THEORY - Moving from Insight to Action in a SME
Authors:	Lars-Olof Johansson, Björn Cronquist and Harald Kjellin
Abstract:	This paper presents a method for operationalizing theory. The method has its basis in the empirical findings arising from collaboration between the researchers and a research partner, Flower Systems Ltd. The research partner is a software company characterized as a SME. The presented method is exemplified with theories from learning organizations, usability, and visualization – which are all connected to the problem articulated by our partner. The method is an iterative process characterized by a systemic and holistic long-term view that incorporates feedback. The method takes as its point of departure the problematic area described by Flower Systems ltd; the researchers both intervene and interpret in this problematic area, so the method is both described and verified.. The paper combines the case study and action research methods in what is sometimes referred to as a “hybrid” method, the action case method. The view of innovation presented in this paper is that innovation entails supporting change processes in order to create purposeful and focused change.. The underlying research question has been: How usable is our method for operationalizing theory in solving the problem of adapting to changes in an SME?
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Paper Nr:	915
Title:	ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING AND HEIDEGGER’S ONTOLOGY - Does Philosophy Matter for Information Systems Design?
Authors:	Angela L. Nobre
Abstract:	Organisational learning has gained wide recognition both among academics and practitioners. The need to focus on core knowledge processes and to consider both their tacit and their explicit dimensions has led organisations to value the contributions from socio-philosophy. Heidegger’ ontology, in particular, is highly relevant because it radically shifts the attention towards the situated and discursive dimensions of organisational social contexts. This attention, focused on social practices and on language use, has critical implications to information systems design because it addresses the mechanisms through which work systems and their supporting technology help to determine ways of being.
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Paper Nr:	925
Title:	EXTRACTION OF SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS STARTING FROM SIMILARITY MEASUREMENTS
Authors:	Mohamed Frikha, Mohamed Mhiri and Faiez Gargouri
Abstract:	Current applications’ modelling becomes increasingly complex. Indeed, it requires a hard work to study the particular domain in order to determine its main concepts and its relationships. The designers can have, in certain case many ambiguities concerning the comprehension of the domain to be modelled and the concepts to be used. In order to solve these ambiguities, we used ontology like a reference to give more semantics to conceptual schemas. For that, we used an approach for an ontology building to represent the pertinent concepts for a domain. In this paper, we propose a set of allowing determining the resemblance between the concepts of a conceptual schema and the ontology. Then, we propose an algorithm using these similarity measurements to determine the semantic relationships.
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Paper Nr:	928
Title:	R-TOOL: A SUPPORTING TOOL FOR A QUALITY ORIENTED REUSE STRATEGY
Authors:	Maryoly Ortega, Anna Grimán, María A. Perez and Luis E. Mendoza
Abstract:	The quality of reusable elements must be rigorously monitored and guaranteed before they can be reused, this is known as Certification. High levels of certification of these elements generate trust and stimulate reuse. In this paper we describe the development of a tool based on quality oriented reuse strategies. To this end, we take as starting point an ontology that rigorously correlates the essential concepts of systematic reuse to quality. This ontology reinforces the proposed strategy, which in turn is supported by the tool. The methodology used is based upon the Methodological Systemic Framework for Information Systems Research. For the development of the tool, we used the iterative incremental development process Rational Unified Process (RUP.) We took into account the inception and elaboration phases, and developed an iteration of the construction phase. As a result of the development process we built a tool which supports the main activities of the proposed strategy. These activities are Certify Domain Models, Requirement Specifications, Architectural Designs and Code, through checklists, allowing to store, classify, search and recovery the reusable elements and its properties.
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Paper Nr:	934
Title:	SYNCHRONIZATION ISSUES IN UML MODELS
Authors:	Marco Costa and Alberto Rodrigues da Silva
Abstract:	Information systems have been changing regarding not only technologies but also notations and methodologies till now. As the complexity of the implemented systems is growing steadily, the need for ways of systematically develop applications increase. A multitude of tools appear to help in the development process. Tools are supporting and generating a large number of artefacts but development teams still have a difficult task: how to manage the coherence of that information in a context of highly dynamic changes. We discuss some important questions regarding synchronization, not only traceability, namely how to develop a fully customizable and extensible application in this field, which will instantiate a new class of applications.
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Paper Nr:	948
Title:	TOWARDS UML-RT BEHAVIOURAL CONSISTENCY
Authors:	Kawtar Benghazi Akhlaki, Manuel I. Capel Tuñón, Juan A. Holgado Terriza and Luis E. Mendoza
Abstract:	Having an objective of achieving a formal characterisation of Sequence Diagrams (UML-SD) as a means for Embedded Real-Time software systems ( ERTS ) development and validation, this paper introduces a CSP+T- based timed trace semantics for most concepts of SD. A trace is sequence of events, which gives the necessary expressiveness to capture the standard interpretation of UML SD. Timed SD (TSD) depict work flow, message passing and gives a general view of how system’s components cooperate over time to achieve a result. Such sequence, often called an scenario, also represents a part of the system behaviour and a possible execution of a state machine. State machines and SD are used as complementary models for describing system behaviour.
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Paper Nr:	956
Title:	OSS FACTORY: DEVELOPMENT MODEL BASED AT OSS PRACTICES
Authors:	Ana Isabella Muniz and José O. Neto
Abstract:	In this paper we present OSS Factory (Open Source Software Factory), an ecosystem aligning software demands, undergraduation Computing students qualification and Open Software practices in a collaborating relation, dedicated to produce open software applications to cope with market demands, using students codification potential. A contest among students attending software engineering courses (or volunteers), guided by professors and coordinated by a central entity is the force to move OSS Factory. To validate the elements and interaction proposed, experiments applying the structure described in the paper have been performed, and positive results were achieved.
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Paper Nr:	966
Title:	INCENTIVE-BASED AND PEER-ORIENTED DESIGN OF UBIQUITOUS COMMERCE
Authors:	KyoungJun Lee and Jeong-in Ju
Abstract:	Seamlessness is the keyword of U-Commerce which may be defined as the commercial interaction among providers, consumers, products, and services, enabled and supported especially by the real-world seamless communication of each entity and object's digital information. However, the possibility of the seamless transactions increases the privacy risk of the entities involved. Therefore, the core issue of U-Commerce is how to promote seamless transactions while protecting the privacy. For the seamlessness, the role of incentive-emphasized business model is important since the seamlessness makes clear which economic entities contribute to a commercial transaction. Economic entities will reject the seamless transactions unless the sufficient incentives are given to them. In order to consider the privacy issue, we suggest an alternative U-Commerce architecture based on Hybrid P2P Model and Personal Information Base.
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Paper Nr:	1055
Title:	TEXT CATEGORIZATION USING EARTH MOVER’S DISTANCE AS SIMILARITY MEASURE
Authors:	Hidekazu Yanagimoto and Sigeru Omatu
Abstract:	We propose a text categorization system using Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD) as similarity measure between documents. Many text categorization systems adopt the Vector Space Model and use cosine similarity as similarity measure between documents. There is an assumption that each of words included in documents is uncorrelated because of an orthogonal vector space. However, the assumption is not desirable when a document includes a lot of synonyms and polysemic words. The EMD does not demand the assumption because it is computed as a solution of a transportation problem. To compute the EMD in consideration of dependency among words, we define the distance between words, which needs to compute the EMD, using a co-occurrence frequency between the words. We evaluate the proposing method with ModApte split of Reuters-21578 text categorization test collection and confirm that the proposing method improves a precision rate for text categorization.
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Paper Nr:	1058
Title:	DEVELOPMENT OF ALGORITHMS TO SOLVE COMBINATORIAL PROBLEMS
Authors:	Broderick Crawford, Carlos Castro and Eric Monfroy
Abstract:	In this paper we present important human and social factors in relation with the development of algorithms to solve combinatorial problems using different techniques. We fix some concepts from knowledge management and software engineering as applied developing optimization algorithms, solvers and metaheuristics.
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Paper Nr:	1142
Title:	A SUCCESS STORY: COLLABORATIVE EFFORT WITH THE INDUSTRY IN ADDRESSING REQUIREMENTS CHALLENGES FOR EARLY ADOPTION OF IWARP IN LINUX
Authors:	Venkata Jagana, Claudia Salzberg, Renato Recio and Bernard Metzler
Abstract:	As customers are embracing Linux in solving business-critical problems, the demand to support innovative and cutting edge technologies is also increasing at a dramatic pace. This has forced the system vendors to offer these technologies much sooner than the traditional cycles allowed. In addition, the open source of different implementations of the same technology by different vendors poses a significant risk in getting an agreement on the common implementation. In order to address the multitude of problems and get an open source implementation of new technology for acceptance into Linux main kernel sooner, we have adopted an innovative method. This method allowed us to work on a common implementation for Linux by avoiding the clash of multiple implementations right from the beginning but of bringing all the relevant vendors, much before the technology gains foothold in the market with any proprietary implementations. In this paper, we'll clearly describe in detail the success story of iWARP support for Linux1 right from the start of how we have formed a community, generated the requirements that are agreeable to all vendors and open source developers, how it further drove an industry standard to define a programming interface in parallel with the implementation and how the code convergence should happen with an existing Infiniband technology. We’ll also describe further how this model can be applied for faster adoption of the upcoming future technologies into Open source-based implementations after addressing the new technology challenges.
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Area 4 - Software Agents and Internet Computing

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	215
Title:	COMEX: COMBINATORIAL AUCTIONS FOR THE INTRA-ENTERPRISE EXCHANGE OF LOGISTICS SERVICES
Authors:	Oleg Gujo and Michael Schwind
Abstract:	The exchange of cargo capacities is an approach that is well established in the practice of logistics. Few of these mostly web-based market places, however, are able to take synergies into consideration that can be generated by the appropriate combination of the transportation lanes of different carriers. One way to achieve this is to employ combinatorial auctions, that allow one to bid on bundles of lanes. This article describes a combinatorial auction for the intra-enterprise exchange of logistic services. In the real world case considered here, we implement and analyze such an exchange process in an enterprise that is related to the food sector and organized in a profit center structure. In the intra-enterprise exchange process, each profit center is able to release delivery contracts for outsourcing if the geographic location of a customer allows a reduced-cost delivery by another profit center in the neighborhood. The cost calculation is based on the results of an integrated routing system, and the in and outsourcing process is managed by using the auction mechanism ComEx. For the purpose of customer retention the delivery contracts are kept by the corresponding profit center, the incentive for exchanging the customers is achieved by a cost-savings distribution mechanism. After a description of the web-based logistics auction together with the route optimization system DynaRoute, the article describes the search for a cost optimizing strategy that bundles the appropriate delivery contracts.
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Paper Nr:	233
Title:	IMPROVING THE SEARCH AND CATALOGUING OF ITEMS IN C2C E-COMMERCE PORTALS
Authors:	Antonio Gallardo, José Jesus Castro-Schez, Milagros Hazas and Juan Moreno García
Abstract:	The business achievement among consumer via e-commerce is getting more important at the present time. In this paper, we propose to make use of fuzzy logic with the aim to improve the search and cataloguing of goods and services in Consumer-to-Consumer electronic commerce (E-commerce) portals (e.g. ebay). These portals are the media through most the electronic transactions among consumers are conduced today. We suggest a method that tries to adapt to users’ real needs. It allows to buyer carry out searches in an imprecise way and to the seller to deal with catalogues of items (goods or services) described also in a lacking exactness way.
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Paper Nr:	436
Title:	SUMMARIZING DOCUMENTS USING FRACTAL TECHNIQUES
Authors:	María D. Ruiz and Antonio B. Bailón
Abstract:	Every day we search new information in the web, and we found a lot of documents which contain pages with a great amount of information. There is a big demand for automatic summarization in a rapid and precise way. Many methods have been used in automatic extraction but most of them do not take into account the hierarchical structure of the documents. A novel method using the structure of the document was introduced by Yang and Wang in 2004. It is based in a fractal view method for controlling the information displayed. We explain its drawbacks and we solve them using the new concept of fractal dimension of a text document to achieve a better diversification of the extracted sentences improving the performance of the method.
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Paper Nr:	804
Title:	CD-LOMAS: A COLLABORATIVE DISTRIBUTED LEARNING OBJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Authors:	Andrea De Lucia, Rita Francese, Ignazio Passero and Genny Tortora
Abstract:	Learning Objects are stored in repositories and spread through Internet. The educational sector needs to share good quality educational contents, which can be reused and adopted in several contexts. In this paper we present CD-LOMAS (Collaborative Distributed Learning Object MAnagement System) to support the sharing of contents and the collaboration on their development in a highly distributed environment. Complex Learning Objects are decomposed into simpler Learning Objects that can be distributed at different sites. In CD-LOMAS artifact management features, such as coordination of cooperative workers and versioning, are integrated with context-awareness.
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Paper Nr:	1109
Title:	A DESIGN FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SERVICE IN DEMAND DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Authors:	T. He, P. Ribbins, R. Brown, Lily Sun and C. Gurr
Abstract:	This paper discusses the problems inherent within traditional supply chain management’s forecast and inventory management processes arising when tackling demand driven supply chain. A demand driven supply chain management architecture developed by Orchestr8 Ltd., U.K. is described to demonstrate its advantages over traditional supply chain management. Within this architecture, a metrics reporting system is designed by adopting business intelligence technology that supports users for decision making and planning supply activities over supply chain health.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	127
Title:	SPECIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OF VIEWS OVER COMPOSITE WEB SERVICES USING HIGH LEVEL PETRI-NETS
Authors:	Khouloud Boukadi, Chirine Ghedira, Zakaria Maamar and Djamal Benslimane
Abstract:	This paper presents a high level Petri-Net approach for specifying and verifying views over composite Web service. High level Petri-Nets have the capacity of formally modelling and verifying complex systems. A view is mainly used for tracking purposes as it permits representing a contextual snapshot of a composite Web service specification. The use of the proposed high level Petri-Net approach is illustrated with a running example that shows how Web services composition satisfies users’ needs. A proof-of-concept of this approach is also presented in the paper.
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Paper Nr:	216
Title:	AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM FOR EJB MOBILIZATION
Authors:	Liang Zhang, Beihong Jin, Li Lin and Yulin Feng
Abstract:	In these days, conducting business requires more and more employees to be mobile. To be efficient, these mobile workers need to access the enterprise applications with their mobile devices at anytime and anywhere. How to efficiently extend the enterprise applications to the mobile devices becomes a challenging task to the enterprise. In this paper, we present our recently developed system for mobilizing enterprise applications. Considering the characteristics of wireless media, our system can dynamically choose the most appropriate communication method and provide the synchronous exactly-once communication semantic. Security is explored by providing data encryption, two-way authentication and a simple tool for managing the access control list. We also develop a mechanism for supporting priority service. Thread pool and object caching are implemented to increase the efficiency. Lastly, our system offers various tools to enhance the development automatism, while still allowing the programming flexibility by providing a rich set of APIs.
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Paper Nr:	236
Title:	PATTERN-BASED COLLABORATION IN AD-HOC TEAMS THROUGH MESSAGE ANNOTATION
Authors:	Daniel Schall, Robert Gombotz and Schahram Dustdar
Abstract:	In this paper we present a specification for annotating messages to enable computer-supported message processing, addressing, and analysis. The benefits of annotating messages according to our XML based specification are two-fold: Firstly, it allows computer support during collaboration by enabling automated message addressing (i.e., determining who should get a message) and message management (e.g., managing your messages according to activities, projects, and tasks). Secondly, it enables post-collaboration analysis of messages and mining of message logs for patterns and for workflow models. We provide a proof of concept by presenting how annotated messages may support and facilitate collaboration that happens according to certain collaboration patterns. In addition to the patterns we have already introduced in our previous work, we present more patterns such as Monitors that emphasize the applicability of computer supported message handling.
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Paper Nr:	268
Title:	A NEW GROUP KEY MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE FOR FRAUDULENT INTERNET BANKING PAYMENTS DETECTION
Authors:	Osama Dandash, Yiling Wang, Phu Dung Le and Bala Srinivasan
Abstract:	Fraudulent payments detection in the banking system is an extremely important form of risk management as the industry loses close to one billion dollars annually. New techniques in detecting fraud are evolving and can be applied to many business fields. However; there is still no efficient detection mechanism able to identify fraudulent activity by employees. This paper presents a new Group Key Management (GKM) structure to facilitate internal fraudulent banking payments detection by dynamically combining an Individual Key (IK) and a Group Key (GK). The main objective of the proposed mechanism is to identify internal fraudulent users and trace their records amongst other group members.
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Paper Nr:	382
Title:	A NOVEL APPROACH FOR ROBUST WEB SERVICES PROVISIONING
Authors:	Quan Z. Sheng and Anne H.h. Ngu
Abstract:	Availability and reliability of Web services are important issues for developing many electronic business applications. Unfortunately, it is hard to guarantee the availability of a service given that the number of its requests might be potentially huge. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for robust Web service provisioning based on mobile agent and resource discovery technologies. With our approach, new service instance can be instantiated at appropriate idle computing resources on demand, therefore reducing the risk of service being unavailable. We present a matchmaking algorithm for resources selection, as well as a multi-phase resource planning algorithm for composite Web services.
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Paper Nr:	460
Title:	A WEB-BASED CENTRAL GATEWAY INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE AFTER-SALES MARKET - Business Interoperability through the Web
Authors:	Geert Houben, Kris Luyten, Karin Coninx and Frank Schonherr
Abstract:	The Block Excemption Regulation of the European Commission was enacted in 2002 with the goal to strengthen competition between dependent and independent repairers in the automotive after-sales market. The FP6 MYCAREVENT project embraces these goals while triggering new business opportunities by establishing a mobile accessible infrastructure as single gateway to different kinds of resources. This information procurement framework allows customers to find specific vehicle repair and diagnostic data from different car manufacturers and 3rd parties in the same way. In order to provide a higher degree of accessibility, extensibility and adaptivity, our service-oriented infrastructure presented in this paper is web-based and consists of three main components: Mobile Clients, Service Portal and Remote Services. New communication and multimedia technologies are invoked to improve interoperability, usability and maintenance of the underlying Mobile Service World. In this paper we focus on the architecture of our highly flexible procurement infrastructure. Standardized elements and methodologies ensure an integrated solution and enable easy expandability with new content, services and components.
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Paper Nr:	491
Title:	ADAPTIVE WORKFLOWS FOR SMART DEVICES - A Concrete Approach Towards Device Failures
Authors:	Seng Loke, Sea Ling, Maria Indrawan and Suryani Kurniati
Abstract:	Smart devices in an environment (e.g., home, factory, military settings, in-vehicle, office, etc) can be programmed and coordinated by a workflow in advance to achieve a user’s goal. No matter how advanced or smart the devices are, devices can fail during workflow execution. In this paper, we describe an approach to remedy such situations. We apply the existing concept of adaptive workflow management to a collection of devices, called a device ecology. Information about the devices are kept in a device hierarchy so that a suitable substitute device that can perform a similar task can be retrieved to replace a failed device in order to ensure the workflow can continue execution. Similarity is defined based on a device hierarchy in an ontology language. A prototype has been implemented as proof of concept.
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Paper Nr:	495
Title:	ONTOLOGY-BASED DYNAMIC SERVICE COMPOSITION USING SEMANTIC RELATEDNESS AND CATEGORIZATION TECHNIQUES
Authors:	Yacine Rezgui and Samia Nefti
Abstract:	Organizations need to migrate their legacy systems to higher order applications capable of engaging in automated modes of collaboration to support distributed business processes. This requires a change of focus from intra-enterprise system integration through agreed data structures to inter-enterprise business process integration through smart composition of web-serviced applications. The paper presents an approach aiming at supporting ontology-based semantic composition of web-services to support distributed electronic business processes. This new generation of composite services is semantically coordinated in a secure, scalable, and resource-aware environment. Two services, at the heart of the service composition exercise are featured, namely: the semantic compatibility and categorization services.
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Paper Nr:	501
Title:	VALUE CREATION FOR SMES USING COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE MARKETPLACES
Authors:	Yen P. Cheung, Daisy Seng and Jay Bal
Abstract:	To compete with low cost competitors from other regions of the world, collaborative commerce marketplaces (CCMs) can assist SMEs to innovate and rejuvenate their business. For instance, CCMs allow the configuration of partners’ capabilities very quickly in response to market’s demand to collectively bid for tenders/projects. Through collaboration with partners in the CCM, SMEs are able to venture outside their regions to capture new markets. A comprehensive, visual and dynamic CCM model is presented in this paper which can be used as a basis for further study of CCMs. Two selected case studies from a CCM are used to verify the proposed model. The layered approach of the model provides opportunities for further examination of the dynamic and complex interactions in CCMs.
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Paper Nr:	501
Title:	VALUE CREATION FOR SMES USING COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE MARKETPLACES
Authors:	Yen P. Cheung, Daisy Seng and Jay Bal
Abstract:	To compete with low cost competitors from other regions of the world, collaborative commerce marketplaces (CCMs) can assist SMEs to innovate and rejuvenate their business. For instance, CCMs allow the configuration of partners’ capabilities very quickly in response to market’s demand to collectively bid for tenders/projects. Through collaboration with partners in the CCM, SMEs are able to venture outside their regions to capture new markets. A comprehensive, visual and dynamic CCM model is presented in this paper which can be used as a basis for further study of CCMs. Two selected case studies from a CCM are used to verify the proposed model. The layered approach of the model provides opportunities for further examination of the dynamic and complex interactions in CCMs.
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Paper Nr:	524
Title:	BUSINESS INNOVATION VIA COLLABORATION - e-Manufacturing: Web-based Collaboration Systems for SMEs
Authors:	Kwangyeol Ryu, Seokwoo Lee, Wonpyo Hong, Dongyoon Lee and Honzong Choi
Abstract:	Unpredictable challenges from global markets and customers make manufacturers difficult to produce quality products satisfying cost and time constraints. To cope with competitive and dynamically changing internal and external conditions, the manufacturing industry needs to be equipped with advanced technologies including IT as well as substantial infrastructure. “e-Manufacturing” is referred to as a system methodology enabling the integration of manufacturing operations and functional objectives of an enterprise by using intelligent IT technologies such as Internet, tether-free communication methods including wireless networking or web-based connections. The key factor of e-Manufacturing is collaboration. Hence, we have developed four kinds of web-based collaboration systems, referred to as hub systems, while conducting e-Manufacturing project funded by the Korea government. In this paper, therefore, the functions and characteristics of each collaboration hub systems will be introduced. Furthermore a case study of business innovation by applying collaboration systems for SMEs(small and medium sized enterprises). As a result of applying collaboration systems to SMEs, they can get competitiveness because of effective web-based tools for them, and reach business innovation which makes them survive in a global market.
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Paper Nr:	764
Title:	INTERACTION-ORIENTED COLLABORATIONS
Authors:	Giorgio Bruno
Abstract:	This paper addresses binary collaborations and choreographies, based on web services technology. The nature of the problem leads to two complementary approaches: one focuses on activities, and the other on interactions. This paper follows the interaction-oriented approach and proposes a modeling notation, called Interaction-Oriented Nets (IONs), which allows binary collaborations, choreographies and abstract orchestration models (i.e. abstract business processes made up of communication activities) to be homogeneously represented.
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Paper Nr:	793
Title:	DEVELOPING AGILE USER INTERFACES FOR HETEROGENEOUS DEVICES IN BUSINESS PROCESSES
Authors:	Yaojin Yang and Lasse Pajunen
Abstract:	Thanks to the increasing popularity of mobile devices, for accessing business process powered services people now can use various devices for different circumstances or tasks in order to have optimized performance. To support this kind of heterogeneous situation, user interfaces must be agile enough to adapt. In our research, we have identified five key requirements and five design guidelines to help developers to achieve this. Furthermore, we have introduced the concepts of user interface process and user interface service, where user interface development for business processes is well positioned in a bigger picture of Web Service and Service Oriented Architecture. Our research results have been presented by a case study developing a group messaging system.
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Paper Nr:	847
Title:	KEY ISSUES FOR LEARNING OBJECTS EVALUATION
Authors:	Erla M. Morales Morgado, Angela Barrón Ruiz and Francisco García Peñalvo
Abstract:	Web development is promoting important advantages for educational area specially e-learning systems. By one side Learning Objects (LOs) aim the possibility to reuse specific information and by the other side they can be interchanged though different context and platforms according to the user’s needs. However an urgent necessity exists to guarantee the LOs quality content. There exists a plethora of quality criteria to value digital sources but there are only a few suggestions about how to evaluate LOs to structure quality courses. This work is a proposal to evaluate LOs as a continued process taking into account different kind of LOs evaluation according to their characteristics and quality criteria related to metadata information, pedagogical and usability issues, together with a strategy to ensure a continued LOs quality contents.
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Paper Nr:	869
Title:	DATA QUALITY FOR EFFECTIVE E-COMMERCE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Authors:	Tanko Ishaya and Julian Rigneau
Abstract:	The quality of web data has become a critical concern for organisations and it has been an active area of Internet Computing research. Despite its importance and many years of active research and practice, the field still require ways for its assessment and improvement. This paper presents a framework for assessing the quality of customer web data and a well defined set of metrics for quantifying its quality. A prototype has been designed and implemented to demonstrate the usefulness of the data lifecycle and metrics for assessing the quality of customer data.
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Paper Nr:	877
Title:	WHICH CONTRIBUTION OF THE WEB SERVICES IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF WEB SEARCHING? A BEHAVIOURAL STUDY OF THE NET SURFERS
Authors:	Christian Belbeze and Chantal Soulé-dupuy
Abstract:	The difficulty of finding information on the Web grows and this even for the most experts of us. In order to better understand how the Net surfers search, we observed five adults and four children. Two different protocols of observation, both presenting imposed and free searches, were defined for the children and the adults. Thus, we have defined a certain number of behaviours, attitudes and difficulties, and then we classified them. The result of these observations as well as the analysis of the behaviours are presented in this paper. The main goal of this paper is to introduce the contribution of Web services in the improvement of information access and Web searching.
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Paper Nr:	879
Title:	TOWARDS COOPERATION AMONG COMPETITIVE TRADER AGENTS
Authors:	Paulo Castro and Jaime Sichman
Abstract:	In order to manage their portfolios in stock markets, i.e., to determine buy and sell signals, human traders use a set of algorithms created by economists, which are based on stock prices series. These algorithms are usually referred as technical analysis. However, traders prefer to use a combination of several algorithms as indicators, rather than choosing a single one. The several signals provided are used to determine the trader order to buy or sell some stocks, or even to decide to not submit any order. In the last years, some researchers have tried to create new algorithms with learning skills in order to produce autonomous automatic traders, some of them using AI techniques. Inspired by the human traders´ decision processes, our architectural approach composes heterogeneous autonomous trader agents in a competitive multiagent system. This architecture allows the use of several algorithms, based on different technical analysis indexes to manage portfolios. We have implemented this architecture and we have performed a set of simulation experiments using real-data from NASDAQ stock market. The experimental results were compared to the performance of single agents playing alone, and a better global performance was observed when traders compete with each other for resources. These preliminary results indicate that competition among agents, as proposed here, may reach very good results, even among agents created to act alone in this kind of market.
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Paper Nr:	890
Title:	A CASE STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF THE MAAEM METHODOLOGY FOR THE SPECIFICATION MODELING OF RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS IN THE LEGAL DOMAIN
Authors:	Lucas Drumond, Rosario Girardi and Adriana Leite
Abstract:	Recommender systems have been target of continuous research over the last years, being used as an approach to the information overload problem. The Semantic Web is a new generation of the Web which aims at improving the effectiveness of information access on the Web by structuring its content in a machine readable way. Agents have been also object of active research on the software engineering field considering the high level of abstraction for software development provided by the multi-agent paradigm. This paper describes the modeling of Infonorma, a multi-agent recommender system for the legal domain developed under the guidelines of MAAEM, a methodology for multi-agent application development, which is also evaluated here.
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Paper Nr:	932
Title:	APPLYING HYBRID RECOMMENDATION POLICIES THROUGH AGENT-INVOKED WEB SERVICES IN E-MARKETS
Authors:	Alexis Lazanas, Nikos Karacapilidis and Vagelis Katsoulis
Abstract:	Diverse recommendation techniques have been already proposed and encapsulated into several e-business systems aiming to perform a more accurate evaluation of the existing alternatives and accordingly augment the assistance provided to the users involved. Extending previous work, this paper focuses on the development of an agent-invoked web service that will be responsible for the coordination of the system’s recommendation module. The specific service will be invoked through a correspondent software agent that has been already implemented in our system’s platform and will perform the tasks of recommendation policy synthesis, as well as the formulation of the appropriate knowledge rules.
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Paper Nr:	944
Title:	A SIMULATION-BASED DIFFERENCE DETECTION TECHNIQUE FOR BOTTOM-UP PROCESS RECONCILIATION
Authors:	Xi Chen and Paul. W.h. Chung
Abstract:	With the increasing dynamic and changing business environment, bottom-up approaches for business process collaboration is currently receiving a great deal of attention in the research community. Bottom-up approaches are seen to be more flexible then top-down approaches. However, none of the available techniques for process collaboration are suitable for process reconciliation, which is a common problem when different organisations have to work together. In order to address the issue in a bottom-up way, a simulation-based technique for detecting differences between any two given processes is proposed. It is based on the extended definitions of process compatibility for collaboration and is the core of the process reconciliation mechanism.
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Paper Nr:	947
Title:	A MODEL TO OPTIMIZE THE USE OF IMAGING EQUIPMENT AND HUMAN SKILLS SCATTERED IN VERY LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS
Authors:	Daniel Polónia, Carlos Costa and José Luís Oliveira
Abstract:	Recent studies have shown that the good geographical coverage of Imagiologic Information Systems and equipment such as Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) is not matched by similar coverage levels of radiologists, especially in rural and academic health institutions. In this paper, we address this problem proposing a solution that is twofold, with the first one being process based, through the optimization of work assignment within pools of human resources according to Service Providers availability, and the second part being technology based, through the interconnection of all the health institutions PACS equipment and radiologists geographically dispersed. After describing the high level solution, we present some of the results of the implementation of this concept and some of the technical challenges still to overcome. Finally, the conclusion chapter presents the impact of the system in the involved institutions.
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Paper Nr:	955
Title:	CONEWS: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO ONLINE NEWS STORIES
Authors:	Daniel Schneider, Jano Moreira De Souza and Ercilia De Stefano
Abstract:	In this paper we present the CoNews framework, a hybrid approach to publish online news stories, consisting of the combination of news entries extracted from authoritative sources - retrieved from news search engines - with blog articles and user-submitted less-authoritative stories. Some of the goals of this research include experimenting with new forms of mass communication and editorial control as well as improving users' access to the ever-expanding news information available to them. By creating an appropriate environment, we encourage users not only to become a more active audience for news stories and other issues, but also to contribute with his/her own articles to the body of knowledge.
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Paper Nr:	975
Title:	E-COMMERCE TRANSACTION MODELING USING MODERATELY OPEN MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS
Authors:	Alejandro Garcés, Ricardo Quiros, Miguel Chover, Joaquin Huerta and Emilio Camahort
Abstract:	In this paper we describe how to completely develop a Multi-Agent System using the HABA Development Framework. We propose a variant of the GAIA methodology to reduce the gap between the abstract modeling of Multi-Agent Systems and their practical implementation. To achieve this goal, we reduce the scope of our methodology to a specific class of systems that we call Moderately Open Multi-Agent Systems. As an example, we use the implementation of a set of transactions for an electronic commerce system.
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Paper Nr:	1007
Title:	AN INTELLIGENT AGENT BASED APPROACH TO MOSAICA’S PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK
Authors:	Nazaraf Shah, Jawed Siddiqi and Babak Akhgar
Abstract:	There has been a significant amount of research in application of intelligent agent technology in virtual training and pedagogical environments. The characteristics of intelligent agents, such as flexible behaviour, autonomy and socialablity make them highly suitable candidates to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional course management systems, online learning and Web resources available to learners. In this paper we propose an agent based approach to manage virtual expeditions and learning activities in Semantically Enhanced, Multifaceted, Collaborative Access to Cultural Heritage (MOSAICA) project. We believe that Belief, Desire, Intention (BDI) model of intelligent agent better serve the pedagogical requirements identified in MOSAICA project. The cognitive characteristics of MOSAICA pedagogical framework are easy to map to mental model of BDI intelligent agents.
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Paper Nr:	1010
Title:	CONTEXT AWARENESS OF MOBILE CONTENT DELIVERY BASED ON FINE LOCATION ESTIMATE
Authors:	Tomohisa Yamashita, Daisuke Takaoka, Noriaki Izumi, Akio Sashima, Koichi Kurumatani and Koiti Hasida
Abstract:	In this paper, to tackle with uncertainty in the real world, the light-weight ontology drive approach is proposed for the realization of context dependent services. We concentrate on position information and an operation history, as a user’s context, and develop our location-aware content delivery system. The evaluation experiment of our location estimate engine is performed in Akihabara Software Showcase at Information Technology Research Institute. Furthermore, through the proofing experiment in Expo 2005 Aichi, our proposed architecture is confirmed to enables us to realize the real world application of context dependency. Finally, we compare our location-aware content delivery system and related researches, and discus the advantage of our system.
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Paper Nr:	1020
Title:	STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF E-BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT - Performance Outcomes for Manufacturing SMEs
Authors:	Louis Raymond and François Bergeron
Abstract:	Facing pressures from an increasingly competitive business environment, manufacturing SMEs are called upon to implement strategies that are enabled and supported by information technologies and e-business applications. Based on the Internet and Web technologies, these include applications such as e-communication, e-commerce, e-business intelligence and e-collaboration. From a contingency theory perspective, and using survey data obtained from 107 Canadian manufacturing SMEs, this study examines the alignment of e-business development with business strategy, based on Miles and Snow’s strategic typology. The performance outcomes of this alignment in terms of growth, productivity and financial performance are also examined. Results indicate that the ideal e-business development profiles vary in the relation to the firms’ strategic orientation, whether it is of the Defender, Analyzer or Prospector type.
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Paper Nr:	1053
Title:	A COLLABORATIVE, SEMANTIC AND CONTEXT AWARE SEARCH ENGINE
Authors:	Manuela Angioni, Roberto Demontis, Massimo Deriu, Emanuela De Vita, Cristian Lai, Ivan Marcialis, Gavino Paddeu, Antonio Pintus, Andrea Piras, Raffaella Sanna, Alessandro Soro and Franco Tuveri
Abstract:	Search engines help people to find information in the largest public knowledge system of the world: the Web. Unfortunately its size makes very complex to discover the right information. The users are faced lots of useless results forcing them to select one by one the most suitable. The new generation of search engines evolve from keyword-based indexing and classification to more sophisticated techniques considering the meaning, the context and the usage of information. We argue about the three key aspects: collaboration, geo-referencing and semantics. Collaboration distributes storage, processing and trust on a world-wide network of nodes running on users’ computers, getting rid of bottlenecks and central points of failures. The geo-referencing of catalogued resources allows contextualisation based on user position. Semantic analysis lets to increase the results relevance. In this paper, we expose the studies, the concepts and the solutions of a research project to introduce these three key features in a novel search engine architecture.
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Paper Nr:	1070
Title:	SPECIFICATION OF A TOOL FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING A WEB SERVICES ARCHITECTURE
Authors:	Youcef Baghdadi
Abstract:	Enterprises willing to realize the service-oriented architecture with Web services, to gain advantages of an Internet and standard-based IT infrastructure, need to monitor and manage the deployed Web services architecture for an effective use, namely for flexible composition of business processes. The paper presents architecture and a specification of a tool for Web services monitoring and management. It mainly specifies the components of the architecture that are: (1) an information system that represents the properties of Web services architecture with different perspectives, namely their description, transport protocols, discovery, deployment platform, and the business processes composed out of them, and (2) the required monitoring and management artefacts built on top of the Web services architecture information system.
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Paper Nr:	1148
Title:	E-GOVERNMENT AND GRID COMPUTING - Potentials and Challenges towards Citizen-Centric Services
Authors:	Ivo D. Santos and Edmundo Madeira
Abstract:	The demands for integrated and efficient public services have increased worldwide over the recent years, due mainly to the proliferation of the Information and Communication Technologies. In order to develop these new e-Government applications, many challenges are being faced, including higher interoperability claims, scalability and security issues. Grid computing can be considered an interesting middleware solution for supporting e-Government thanks to its high computation and massive storage capabilities added to its recent convergence towards service-orientation. This position paper intends to investigate the state of the art and the challenges concerning the use of Grid technologies as a support platform for Citizen-centric Services and Applications.
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Paper Nr:	22
Title:	BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND IT PROFESSIONALS - A Social Network Analysis Perspective
Authors:	Susanne Berger and Georg Peters
Abstract:	There is ongoing discussion whether and to which extent and aspects professionals in the field of information technology (IT) and business administration (BA) are different. Often IT people are considered to be introverted while it is assumed that BA professionals are stronger with respect to communication and networking. In our paper we take a social network analysis perspective to examine if this prejudice is true for BA and IT professionals who are members of an online business community.
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Paper Nr:	125
Title:	THE IP MULTIMEDIA SUBSYSTEM (IMS) & THE MOBILE INTERNET - Opportunities for the Mobile Operator
Authors:	Amanda O'Farrell and Brendan Tierney
Abstract:	The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a new mobile communications architecture, which enables many new and innovative services, and can extend the possibilities of mobile Internet application development. These mobile Internet applications and the IMS, are considered in terms of the impact that they can have on the critical success factors (CSFs) of mobile operators. The CSFs identified are particular to mobile operators that are competing in a highly saturated (in terms of mobile penetration) marketplace, and that are facing the threat of increasing competition.
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Paper Nr:	206
Title:	INTEROPERABILITY CHALLENGES IN NEW MEMBER STATES SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES REQUIRE SUITABLE EAI ARCHITECTURES
Authors:	Karsten Tolle, Valentinas Kiauleikis, Gerald Knoll, Claudia Guglielmina and Alessandra Arezza
Abstract:	Taking Lithuania as an example, we mention and explain the main barriers for interoperability between different SME’s. There are barriers valid for any SME and other barriers that are special for Lithuania and other New Member States. Inside this document we explain how we address these barriers with technologies like UBL and by different modules and their interplay; building a federated integration approach. As underlying technology to link these modules we are using an Enterprise Service Bus. Special to our solution is that human activities are supported by the modules during the B2B process in such a way that there is still enough freedom for them to interact directly with other trading partners, e.g. via phone, without messing up the process.
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Paper Nr:	223
Title:	A METHODOLOGY FOR DEVELOPING ONTOLOGIES USING THE ONTOLOGY WEB LANGUAGE (OWL)
Authors:	Magdi Kamel, Ann Y. Lee and Edward C. Powers
Abstract:	It is generally agreed upon that ontologies are the knowledge representation component of the Semantic Web. There is a growing need for developing ontologies in different disciplines as means for sharing a common understanding of the structure of information in a domain among both people and machines. This paper describes a seven-step methodology for developing ontologies using the Ontology Web Language (OWL) based on related approaches for software and ontology development. As with contemporary software development methodologies, the steps of the proposed approach are applied iteratively and in a cyclical fashion in order to accurately capture the domain knowledge.
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Paper Nr:	274
Title:	AUTOMATIC ORCHESTRATION OF WEB SERVICES THROUGH SEMANTIC ANNOTATIONS
Authors:	Philippe Larvet
Abstract:	A new service can be developed as an orchestrated composition of existing web services. This paper describes an original process to automate the composition of semantic web services, by processing their "semantic tags". These tags can be extracted from the WSDL descriptions of the services and inserted into a light semantic description attached to the operations of the considered web services. A specific mechanism can examine these tags and determine automatically the possible "connectivity" of two given web services: the output of WS1, for example, semantically fits with the input of WS2. Then, the two web services are semantically connectable. This process can be used within the context of a service creation environment, in which the developer often wishes to assemble different services corresponding to an initial request. By using the semantic tags, a specific composition mechanism is able to connect automatically the chosen services and to assemble them to produce the final service that fits with the original request.
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Paper Nr:	384
Title:	INTERACTION BELIEFS - A Way to Understand Emergent Organizational Behaviour
Authors:	Marco Stuit, Nick Szirbik and Cees De Snoo
Abstract:	Business processes consist of sets of individual and collaborative activities performed by agents (human of artificial) and the interactions between them. The agents have their own local beliefs and expectations about the behaviour(s) of the other agents. We represent these beliefs by using the ‘interaction belief’ concept. We show how a designer can reason about an interaction belief, how it can be modelled and how it is constructed for the purpose of simulation and agent development. Differences between workflow modelling and agent-oriented modelling are discussed. In order to illustrate the operation of the new concept, we present a business interaction example that shows how agents, equipped with interaction beliefs, can enact a business process in a non-centralised, emergent manner. Finally, we explore some interesting future research topics that have arisen due to the
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Paper Nr:	414
Title:	DYNAFLOW: AGENT-BASED DYNAMIC WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT FOR P2P ENVIRONMENTS
Authors:	Adriana S. Vivacqua, Wallace A. Pinheiro, Ricardo Barros, Amanda S. de Mattos, Nathalia M. Cianni, Pedro L. Monteiro Jr., Rafael N. De Martino, Vinícius Marques, Geraldo Xexéo, Jano Moreira De Souza and Daniel Schneider
Abstract:	Many projects are characterized by their flexibility and high number of changes before a definitive solution is implemented. In these scenarios, the people involved may change, as may deadlines, assignments and roles. Traditional workflow systems don’t handle dynamic scenarios well, as they are centralized and pre-defined at the start of the project. To address these problems, we propose an agent-based approach to dynamic workflow management, where participants may join or leave and roles may change depending on the situation.
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Paper Nr:	432
Title:	DISCOVERING SEMANTIC WEB SERVICES IN FEDERATED DIRECTORIES
Authors:	Michael Schumacher, Tim van Pelt, Ion Constantinescu, Alexandre E. Sousa and Boi Faltings
Abstract:	This paper presents a flexible federated directory system called WSDir, which allows registration and discovery of semantic web services. Our directory system is used in a context where ubiquitous ehealth services should be flexibly coordinated and pervasively provided to the mobile user by intelligent agents in dynamically changing environments. The system has been modeled, designed and implemented as a backbone directory system to be searched by an infrastructure made up by such kind of agents coordinating web services. The system is modeled as a federation: directory services form its atomic units, and the federation emerges from the registration of directory services in other directory services. Directories are virtual clusters of service entries stored in one or more directory services. To create the topology, policies are defined on all possible operations to be called on directories. For instance, they allow for routed registration and selective access to directories.
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Paper Nr:	449
Title:	CORPORATE CULTURE: A NEW CHALLENGE TO E-SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Authors:	Khalid Al-mutawah, Vincent C. Lee and Yen Cheung
Abstract:	The dynamic nature of today’s marketplace makes the survival of individual organizations too difficult. Therefore, researchers are seeking new opportunities on forming collaborative networks like supply chains (SCs). Nonetheless, the transition from competitive to cooperative relationships has been difficult for many managers, as the necessary changes in corporate culture have proven quite difficult, thus organizations will have considerable difficulties in partnering with external entities if they cannot develop a partnering culture. Consequently, new research suggests traditional SCs with long-term relationships continue to exist, under a new name of alliances called “e-supply chains”. One of the primary benefits of the e-SC is that it allows firms to realize many benefits that were associated with the electronic business, yet in a SC management context. The purpose of this research is to identify the aforementioned cultural challenge on e-SCs context. To achieve this we will investigate two case studies; where one represents an e-SC and another for a traditional SC. A comparison between the two cases, suggests that e-SCs are less effective by changes on corporate culture than traditional SCs when forming SCs.
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Paper Nr:	500
Title:	A VIRTUAL LABORATORY FOR WEB AND GRID ENABLED SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS
Authors:	Francesco Amigoni, Mariagrazia Fugini and Diego Liberati
Abstract:	Interactions and organization models tend to be more and more oriented to flexibility, heterogeneity and collaboration in the style of Virtual Organizations. This paper is framed in the context of e-science and presents an approach to the definition and execution of distributed scientific experiments as a pool of services executed on collaborating sites at different heterogeneous organizations. The focus is on flexibility, reuse, orchestration and interoperability of services within a cooperation process. It is discussed how the workflow of the experiment can be specified by actors with low information technology, but high domain, knowledge and how an agent-based framework can enhance the flexibility of experiment execution. Examples are given in the bioinformatics context. A prototype environment is described.
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Paper Nr:	754
Title:	AN INDEPENDENT REPUTATION SYSTEM FOR P2P NETWORKS
Authors:	Chaiyasit Tayabovorn and Songrit Maneewongvatana
Abstract:	Reputation is a very sensitive and important component in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network. In this type of network, a user who has a well reputation can persuade others to do transactions with her easily. Most of current P2P networks use centralized reputation systems which have some drawbacks such as scalability, single point of attack and monopoly of reputation information. Another alternative is to use P2P reputation system. But most of these P2P reputation systems do not work well in practice due to some strict assumptions. In this paper, we propose a novel P2P reputation system that separates the entire reputation community. This results in reputation system that is more flexible, scalable, and controllable. We also propose a reputation assessment algorithm to evaluate the resources that have never been rated before.
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Paper Nr:	767
Title:	A CONTEXT-AWARE SEMANTIC WEB SERVICE EXECUTION AGENT
Authors:	António Lopes and Luis Botelho
Abstract:	This paper presents the research on agent technology development for context-aware execution of semantic web services, more specifically, the development of SEA (Service Execution Agent), a semantic web services execution agent that uses context information to adapt the execution process to a specific situation, thus improving its effectiveness and providing a faster and better service. Preliminary results show that the introduction of context information and context-aware capabilities in a service execution environment can speed up the execution process, in spite of the overhead that it is introduced by the agents’ communication and processing of context information. The developed service execution agent uses standards such as OWL-S service descriptions and WSDL grounding information. Also, an AgentGrounding definition has been proposed to enable the execution of semantic web services provided by agents.
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Paper Nr:	881
Title:	AN AGENT BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR COMMUNITIES MEDIATION
Authors:	Aluizio H. Filho, Hercules Antonio Do Prado, Míriam Sayão and Fénelon Do Nascimento Neto
Abstract:	The adoption of the Multi-Agent System paradigm in the context of Enterprise Information Systems has been accelerated by the technology brought by Internet. The importance of MAS applications increases as the ubiquity of Internet, with its distributed and interconnected elements, becomes a de facto reality. However, the development of MAS is not trivial; agents-based systems are typically complex and difficult to develop due to the features required, some of them hard to implement. In this paper we briefly describe MIDAS, a service oriented (SOA) framework built on a reusable, adaptable and loosely coupled architecture, that aims to help in the development of MAS applications. An application in the domain of expert/customer mediation is presented to evidence the advantages of the framework. After that, the advantages of applying the SOA standard over the traditional message-based approach for MAS development are discussed.
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Paper Nr:	906
Title:	TOWARDS MIDDLEWARE SUPPORT FOR PERVASIVE COMPUTING
Authors:	Dionisis X. Adamopoulos
Abstract:	Mobile ad hoc networks (manets) are dynamically reconfigurable multi-hop wireless networks with no fixed infrastructure, consisting of radio-equipped mobile hosts. Each host acts as a router and moves in an arbitrary manner. Under such a network environment routing becomes a challenging task that can be significantly supported and facilitated by the exploitation of location information, as this paper argues. More specifically, after a brief introduction to routing in manets, a location discovery algorithm is proposed. Then, the paper focuses on location-aware routing and after presenting briefly the most important related protocols attempts to compare them based on a number of qualitative properties. Finally, the emergence of location aware services is discussed, a service discovery scenario based on Jini technology is proposed and important related deployment challenges are highlighted.
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Paper Nr:	920
Title:	WEB PLATFORM TO SUPPORT THE SHARE AND REMOTE ACCESS TO MEDICAL IMAGES
Authors:	Sergio Lima, Natercia Sousa, Carlos Costa and Augusto Silva
Abstract:	The production of digital medical images has been growing in every healthcare institution, representing nowadays one the most valuable tools supporting the medical decision process and treatment procedures. One of the most important advantages of these digital systems is to simplify the widespread sharing and remote access of medical data between healthcare institutions. However, due to security and performance issues, the usage of these software packages has been restricted to Intranets. In general, the storage and transmission of digital medical image is based on the international DICOM standard and PACS systems. This paper analyses the traditional PACS communication limitations that contribute to their reduced usage in the Internet. It is also proposed an architecture, based on Webservices and encapsulation of DICOM objects in HTTP, to enable trans-institutional medical data transfers.
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Paper Nr:	974
Title:	ADAPTIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING IN A DOMAIN ONTOLOGY USING RECURSIVE TRANSFER FUNCTIONS TO DETERMINE THE NON-DETERMINISTIC VICINITY OF INTELLIGENT AGENTS
Authors:	Muthu C. Jothi and Kabilan Giridharan
Abstract:	An adaptive walk over a semantic network is possible by describing the domain information in the form of ontology. Leveraging the relationships made between the domain entities by intelligent agents through non-deterministic automation in an object model which is represented in the form of OWL or RDF resource, is the theme of this paper. The successful adaptive walk over a semantic network is with the advent of determining the vicinity of the intelligent agent based on analysing the current service it received, with the prime goal it needs to achieve. The idea of recursive transfer functions is to make the agents travel in the semantic network until the final goal is achieved. The recursive transfer functions takes the current service received from an entity in the semantic network as its parameter and applies the light of the prime goal in order to achieve the next set of possible states. The next set of possible states lie in the similar line of the prime goal to be achieved. The adaptive walk over semantic network aids the agents to act as proxies for human beings there by fulfilling the business needs for the human beings by travelling the vast network of interconnected web resources.
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Paper Nr:	1078
Title:	A SEMANTIC WEB APPROACH TO ENRICH INFORMATION RETRIEVAL ANSWERS
Authors:	Carolina Medina and Víctor Ramos
Abstract:	In previous works, we have presented the advantages of using a domain ontology and annotations for information retrieval (Medina-Ram´ırez et al., 2002b) as well as the translation problems between languages with different expression semantic levels (Medina-Ram´ırez et al., 2002a). In this paper we focus on the view point of the end-user. In fact, we explore the impact and helpfulness of a domain ontology, semantic annotations relying on this ontology and semantic resource descriptions so as to enrich end-user answers extracted from an information retrieval system. A system that embodies this approach is presented. We argue that it is necessary to improve the format of end-user answer in order to share and re-use knowledge.
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Paper Nr:	1083
Title:	A VOIP PLATFORM AS A VIRTUAL PBX SERVICE
Authors:	Walter Balzano, Maria Rosaria Del Sorbo and Mario Epifania
Abstract:	Voice over IP telephony, allowed by large band and low cost communication through Internet, is the base of a project of a communication platform for IP-PBX. The new idea is to use open source software to implement an IP phone switch system by a business LAN, where a virtual PBX can provide services and reliable communication. The challenge is to virtualize many systems in one physical system using Linux vservers resources. This approach yields many advantages: easy restore from crash events, security and simple resource management. The drawback is a heavier hardware load, solvable using more powerful CPU and memory architectures.
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Paper Nr:	1086
Title:	ONTOLOGY GATEWAY - Enabling Interoperability between FIPA Complaint Agents and OWL Web Services
Authors:	Sabih Rehman, Maruf Pasha, Arshad Ali, Farooq Ahmed and Hiroki Suguri
Abstract:	The introduction of Ontology Web Language (OWL) which is a W3C standard for providing explicit semantics for establishing and sharing ontologies on the World Wide Web, has made it easier to embed semantics with web data. Similarly FIPA Semantic Language is the core of the agent platforms due to its high expressive power. Ontology plays an important role in the knowledge representation, reuse and communication between web services. Similarly in an Multi-agent system ontology also plays an important role, where the messages exchanged between agents should conform to an Ontology so that they could be understood. In this paper we will introduce a technology enabling bidirectional interoperability between FIPA compliant software agents and the Web services published in OWL. This is an extension of previous work in which we proposed the development of semantic translations in such a way that the agents can communicate with web services in an efficient manner. We will also describe and discuss the implementation in which a FIPA complaint software agent will invoke and use a web service published in OWL. Our goal for this paper is to show how a FIPA complaint agent can invoke and use the web services published on the World Wide Web by the help of ontological transformations.
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Area 5 - Human-Computer Interaction

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	235
Title:	A WE-CENTRIC SERVICE FOR MOBILE POLICE OFFICERS TO SUPPORT COMMUNICATION IN AD-HOC GROUPS
Authors:	Ronald Van Eijk, Nicole de Koning, Marc Steen and Erik Reitsma
Abstract:	We-centric services are meant to stimulate and facilitate people to communicate and cooperate with others in dynamic or ad-hoc groups. Typically, a we-centric service provides hints and reasons to contact others, and, because these other people receive similar hints and reasons, stimulates and facilitates people to experience “we”. The paper describes the development and evaluation of one we-centric service prototype for police officers. We found that key-issues related to developing we-centric services are (1) finding the proper context elements and information sources to take into account when searching for relevant others, (2) presenting the people found and the context of those people in an appropriate way, i.e. with clear explanations and information on their current availability and (3) supporting reciprocal relationships.
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Paper Nr:	239
Title:	AN AUTHORING ARCHITECTURE FOR ANNOTATING EDUCATIONAL CONTENTS - Domain, Sequencing and Content-Repository Ontologies
Authors:	José M. Gascueña, Antonio Fernández-Caballero and Pascual Gonzalez
Abstract:	E-learning platforms available nowadays are mainly centred in supporting management tasks, but they do not include or even consider in a too satisfactory way the adaptation to student’s profile, the reusability of educational materials, or the efficient search into educational materials. By combining the paradigms of ontologies and learning objects in authoring tools it is possible to annotate educational contents for generating personalized material. The characteristics introduced in this paper are the learning style best suited to the student, the device used to access the contents and the skill to be developed when using the material. The general architecture of the proposed tool is fundamentally composed of three different and interrelated ontologies: domain, sequencing and content-repository ontologies, where all knowledge about which educative content is taught, how it is taught and how it is organized is respectively stored.
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Paper Nr:	243
Title:	THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL PRESENCE ON THE EXPERIENCES OF ONLINE SHOPPERS - A Cross-Cultural Study
Authors:	Khaled Hassanein, Milena Head and Chunhua Ju
Abstract:	A notable difference between online and offline shopping that is hindering the growth of e-Commerce is the decreased presence of human and social elements in the online environment. This paper explores how human warmth and sociability can be integrated through the Web interface to positively impact online consumer perceptions. More specifically, the impact of design elements (emotive text and socially-rich pictures) is explored across two national cultures: Canadian and Chinese. Our results show increased levels of social presence through socially-rich design elements (i.e. socially-rich text and pictures) as having a positive impact on antecedents of attitude/intention of Canadian online shoppers (perceived usefulness, trust and enjoyment). We were also able to demonstrate similar results with Chinese online consumers in the case of perceived usefulness and enjoyment but not for trust. The paper concludes with a discussion of these results outlining implications for practitioners and directions for future research.
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Paper Nr:	243
Title:	THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL PRESENCE ON THE EXPERIENCES OF ONLINE SHOPPERS - A Cross-Cultural Study
Authors:	Khaled Hassanein, Milena Head and Chunhua Ju
Abstract:	A notable difference between online and offline shopping that is hindering the growth of e-Commerce is the decreased presence of human and social elements in the online environment. This paper explores how human warmth and sociability can be integrated through the Web interface to positively impact online consumer perceptions. More specifically, the impact of design elements (emotive text and socially-rich pictures) is explored across two national cultures: Canadian and Chinese. Our results show increased levels of social presence through socially-rich design elements (i.e. socially-rich text and pictures) as having a positive impact on antecedents of attitude/intention of Canadian online shoppers (perceived usefulness, trust and enjoyment). We were also able to demonstrate similar results with Chinese online consumers in the case of perceived usefulness and enjoyment but not for trust. The paper concludes with a discussion of these results outlining implications for practitioners and directions for future research.
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Paper Nr:	457
Title:	SILENT BILINGUAL VOWEL RECOGNITION - Using fSEMG for HCI based Speech Commands
Authors:	Poosapadi A. Sridhar, Hans Weghorn, Dinesh K. Kumar and Wai C. Yau
Abstract:	This research examines the use of fSEMG (facial Surface Electromyogram) to recognise speech commands in English and German language without evaluating any voice signals. The system is designed for applications based on speech commands for Human Computer Interaction (HCI). An effective technique is presented, which uses the facial muscle activity of the articulatory muscles and human factors for silent vowel recognition. The difference in the speed and style of speaking varies between experiments, and this variation appears to be more pronounced when people are speaking a different language other than their native language. This investigation reports measuring the relative activity of the articulatory muscles for recognition of silent vowels of German (native) and English (foreign) languages. In this analysis, three English vowels and three German vowels were used as recognition variables. The moving root mean square (RMS) of surface electromyogram (SEMG) of four facial muscles is used to segment the signal and to identify the start and end of a silently spoken utterance. The relative muscle activity is computed by integrating and normalising the RMS values of the signals between the detected start and end markers. The output vector of this is classified using a back propagation neural network to identify the voiceless speech. The cross-validation was performed to test the reliability of the classification. The data is also tested using K-means clustering technique to determine the linearity of separation of the data. The experimental results show that this technique yields high recognition rate when used for all participants in both languages. The results also show that the system is easy to train for a new user and suggest that such a system works reliably for simple vowel based commands for human computer interface when it is trained for a user, who can speak one or more languages and for people who have speech disability.
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Paper Nr:	512
Title:	SUPPORTING GEOGRAPHICAL MEASURES THROUGH A NEW VISUALIZATION METAPHOR IN SPATIAL OLAP
Authors:	Alessandro Bimonte, Anne Tchounikine, Sergio Di Martino and Filomena Ferrucci
Abstract:	Pivot tables are the de-facto standard paradigm for the visualization of data in the context of multidimensional OLAP analysis. However it is recognized that they are not suited, in their original definition, to support spatio-temporal data analysis (and in particular geographical measures). In this paper, we propose the GeOlaPivot Table, a visual metaphor intended as an extension of the pivot tables specifically conceived to assist decision makers in analyzing geographical measures in spatial data warehouses. In order to show the analysis capabilities of our metaphor we describe it using an example concerning the supervision of infectious diseases in Italy. This approach represents a first effort in adapting advanced geovisualization techniques to SOLAP ones, in order to create a specific visual paradigm for Spatial OLAP able to effectively support and fully exploit spatial multidimensional analysis process. Moreover, we present an architecture for a web-based environment able to support geographical measures in SOLAP analyses exploiting the GeOlaPivot Table visual metaphor.
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Paper Nr:	797
Title:	USING GAMES IN THE TEACHING OF DIGITAL SYSTEMS AND OF COMPUTERS ARCHITECTURE
Authors:	Pedro Araújo and João Vieira
Abstract:	This work presents a pedagogic experience regarding the use of games as support examples on Digital Systems and Computers Architecture teaching. For this work it is not the game itself that is important, but the technologies involved in the construction of the game. Examples of each one of these technologies are presented here through the construction of three different versions of the same game. The first version is totally made in hardware using digital integrated circuits, the following is accomplished by programming using the Assembly language and finally a third version using a high-level language. The importance of these examples lies in the fact that each one of these versions allows one to exemplify techniques that can also be found in other types of computer programs. Besides capturing the attention and the students' interest immediately, the games are good examples to serve as support to the concepts’ exposition done by the teacher in the classroom.
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Paper Nr:	826
Title:	A NEW LIP-READING APPROCH FOR HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
Authors:	Salah Werda, Walid Mahdi and Abdelmajid Ben Hamadou
Abstract:	Today, Human-Machine interaction represents a certain potential for autonomy especially of dependant people. Automatic Lip-reading system is one of the different assistive technologies for hearing impaired or elderly people. The need for an automatic lip-reading system is ever increasing. Extraction and reliable analysis of facial movements make up an important part in many multimedia systems such as videoconference, low communication systems, lip-reading systems. We can imagine, for example, a dependent person ordering a machine with an easy lip movement or by a simple visemes (visual phoneme) pronunciation. We present in this paper a new approach for lip localization and feature extraction in a speaker’s face. The extracted visual information is then classified in order to recognize the uttered viseme. We have developed our Automatic Lip Feature Extraction prototype (ALiFE). ALiFE prototype is evaluated with a multiple speakers under natural conditions. Experiments include a group of French visemes by different speakers. Results revealed that our system recognizes 92.50 % of French visemes.
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Paper Nr:	840
Title:	AN ADAPTIVE DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE MANAGER FOR DIALOGUE SYSTEMS
Authors:	Porfírio Filipe, Luís Morgado and Nuno Mamede
Abstract:	This paper describes the recent effort to improve our Domain Knowledge Manager (DKM) that is part of a mixed-initiative task based Spoken Dialogue System (SDS) architecture, namely to interact within an ambient intelligence scenario. Machine-learning applied to SDS dialogue management strategy design is a growing research area. Training of such strategies can be done using human users or using corpora of human computer dialogue. However, the size of the state space grows exponentially according to the state variables taken into account, making the task of learning dialogue strategies for large-scale SDS very difficult. To address that problem, we propose a divide to conquer approach, assuming that practical dialogue and domain-independent hypothesis are true. In this context, we have considered a clear separation between linguistic dependent and domain dependent knowledge, which allows reducing the complexity of SDS typical components, specially the Dialoguer Manager (DM). Our contribution enables domain portability issues, proposing an adaptive DKM to simplify DM’s clarification dialogs. DKM learns, through trial-and-error, from the interaction with DM suggesting a set of best task-device pairs to accomplish a request and watching the user’s confirmation. This adaptive DKM has been tested in our domain simulator.
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Paper Nr:	884
Title:	INTERACTIONAL OBJECTS: HCI CONCERNS IN THE ANALYSIS PHASE OF THE SYMPHONY METHOD
Authors:	Guillaume Godet-bar, Dominique Rieu, Sophie Dupuy-chessa and David Juras
Abstract:	We present in this paper a set of concepts that extend a design method issued from the Software Engineering domain, in order to take into account Human-Computer Interaction design, in particular for Augmented Reality systems. Previous works focused on the initial phases of development (i.e., Specification phases). Our efforts concentrate on the Analysis phase, into which we have introduced a new concept – Interactional Objects- that allows designers to structure the interactional space, and a specific relation that permits to draw links between the business and interactional spaces. These contributions also enable developers to develop reusable components and encourage code generation.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	111
Title:	UNSUPERVISED INFERENCE OF DATA FORMATS IN HUMAN-READABLE NOTATION
Authors:	Christopher Scaffidi
Abstract:	One common approach to validating data such as email addresses and phone numbers is to check whether values conform to some desired data format. Unfortunately, users may need to learn a specialized notation such as regular expressions to specify the format, and even after learning the notation, specifying formats may take substantial time. To address these problems, this paper introduces Topei, a system that infers a format from an unlabeled collection of examples (which may contain errors). The generated format is presented as understandable English, so users can review and customize the format. In addition, the format can be used to automatically check data against the format and find outliers that do not match. Topei shows substantially higher precision and recall than an alternate algorithm (Lapis) on test data. Topei’s usefulness is demonstrated by integrating it with spreadsheet, database, and web services systems.
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Paper Nr:	202
Title:	INTERACTION IN CRITICAL SYSTEMS: CONQUESTS AND CHALLENGES
Authors:	Marcos S. Guimarães, M. Cecilia C. Baranauskas and Eliane Martins
Abstract:	The need for critical systems is growing fast due to the demand on hardware and software systems for critical tasks that use to be executed exclusively by human beings. These critical systems require reliable interaction with users. Despite this fact, contributions from the interaction design field have progressed slowly. This work summarizes the main contributions from different fields to critical systems; presents some analysis based on a classification that helps to get different views and find out new possible research directions towards improving the quality of interaction with this type of system.
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Paper Nr:	208
Title:	TOWARDS A FORMAL MODEL OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION VIA COOEPERATIVE DIALOGUE
Authors:	Asma Moubaiddin and Nadim Obeid
Abstract:	We aim, in this paper, to make a a first step towards developing a model of knowledge acquisition/learning via cooperative dialogue. A key idea in the model is the concept of integrating exchanged information, via dialogue, within an agent's theory. The process is nonmonotonic. Dialogue is a structured process and the structure is relative to what an agent knows about the world or a domain of discourse. We employ a nonmonotonic logic system, NML3, which formalizes some aspects of revisable reasoning, to capture an agent's knowledge and reasoning. We will present a formalization of some basic dialogue moves and the protocols of various types of dialogue. We will show how arguments, proofs, some dialogue moves and reasoning may be carried out within NML3.
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Paper Nr:	211
Title:	ASSESSING THE USER ATTITUDE TOWARD PERSONALIZED SERVICES
Authors:	Seppo Pahnila
Abstract:	The fast growth of the Web has caused an excess of information to become available. Personalized systems try to predict individuals’ behavior based on user information, in order to deliver more accurate and targeted content by filtering out unimportant and irrelevant information. Prior personalization research has mostly focused on e-business issues, personalization techniques and processes or privacy concerns. In this research, we have studied users’ attitudes toward personalization and their desire to control personalized services. The results are based on a field study consisting of 196 relevant responses from the users of a personalized medical portal. We also analyzed respondents’ changes in attitude toward personalization by comparing responses from two field studies. The results show that the respondents appreciate personalized information which is closely related to their occupation. The respondents accept personalized services but they do not consider automatic content personalization to be important, nor do they appreciate automatic appearance personalization; they want to intervene in the transmitted information.
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Paper Nr:	217
Title:	CONTRIBUTION TO THE REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING OF VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
Authors:	Tereza Kirner, Valeria Salvador and Claudio Kirner
Abstract:	This paper aims at contributing to the requirements engineering of virtual environments. Requirements engineering is characterized by a process composed of the phases of elicitation, specification, and evaluation, based on concepts from the software engineering area and on experience obtained through the development of virtual environments. The requirements engineering process is described and exemplified and the main conclusions are pointed out.
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Paper Nr:	224
Title:	VISUALIZING THE PROCESS - A Graph-Based Approach to Enhancing System-User Knowledge Sharing
Authors:	Tamara Babaian, Wendy Lucas and Heikki Topi
Abstract:	Our research is concerned with developing design guidelines aimed at improving the usability of enterprise-wide information systems by employing collaborative problem solving as a model for user-system interaction. In this paper, we present our approach to addressing a critical design issue that we identified through our field research: namely, system-to-user communication involving components of a complex process flow. This approach uses a dynamic process graph and a set of related task links that are displayed alongside the traditional ERP task interfaces. We outline the collaborative framework and position our solution within it. This solution can benefit other application areas, especially those that involve protracted processes that are not familiar to the user.
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Paper Nr:	256
Title:	UNCONSCIOUS EMOTIONAL INFORMATION PROCESSING: THEORETICAL CONSEQUENCES AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Maurits Van Den Noort, Kenneth Hugdahl and Peggy Bosch
Abstract:	The nature of unconscious human emotional information processing remains a great mystery. On the one hand, classical models view human conscious emotional information processing as computation among the brain’s neurons but fail to address its enigmatic features. On the other hand, quantum processes (superposition of states, nonlocality, and entanglement) also remain mysterious, yet are being harnessed in revolutionary information technologies like quantum computation, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation. In this paper, a behavioral- and two neuroimaging studies will be discussed that suggest a special role for unconscious emotional information processing in human interaction with other objects. Since this is a new research field; we are only beginning to understand quantum information processing in the human brain (Hameroff, 2006; Van den Noort and Bosch, 2006). This research is important since it could have important theoretical consequences in the way we understand physics and information processing in the brain. Moreover, it could lead to new information technologies and applications. For instance, it might give new insights on human consumer behavior (Dijksterhuis, 2004; Dijksterhuis, Bos, Nordgren, and Van Baaren, 2006a; 2006b), and lead to new commercial strategies for multinationals.
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Paper Nr:	259
Title:	THE EFFECT OF ICT ENABLED SOCIAL NETWORKS ON PERFORMANCE
Authors:	Kon K. Chung and Liaquat Hossain
Abstract:	Research in sociology of information and technology use highlight the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) for supporting networks among professional peers. This paper explores the effects of different types and patterns of ICT usage for supporting professional networks. In this study, we ask—how can different types ICT help support professional networks? What are the implications of patterns of ICT usage on supporting professional networks? Given an association between ICT types, usage, network structure for supporting professional networks, what are its implications on performance? In our study, we apply the theory of structural holes and its underlying assumptions (i.e., efficiency and effectiveness) to develop a theoretical framework and propositions for exploring interlock between types and patterns of ICT usage, network structure, and professional support networks for measuring the performance of effective clinical care. Empirical evidence from Australian rural general practitioners’ data show that both network structure and Internet-enabled ICT use play a crucial role when it comes to performance in the medical consultation.
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Paper Nr:	395
Title:	NOVEL VIEW TELEPRESENCE WITH HIGH-SCALABILITY USING MULTI-CASTED OMNI-DIRECTIONAL VIDEOS
Authors:	Tomoya Ishikawa, Kazumasa Yamazawa and Naokazu Yokoya
Abstract:	The advent of high-speed network and high performance PCs has prompted research on networked telepresence, which allows a user to see virtualized real scenes in remote places. View-dependent representation, which provides a user with arbitrary view images using an HMD or an immersive display, is especially effective in creating a rich telepresence. The goal of our work is to realize a networked novel view telepresence system which enables multiple users to control the viewpoint and view-direction independently by virtualizing real dynamic environments. In this paper, we describe a novel view generation method from multiple omni-directional images captured at different positions. We mainly describe our prototype system with high-scalability which enables multiple users to use the system simultaneously and some experiments with the system. The novel view telepresence system constructs a virtualized environment from real live videos. The live videos are transferred to multiple users by using multi-cast protocol without increasing network traffic. The system synthesizes a view image for each user with a varying viewpoint and view-direction measured by a magnetic sensor attached to an HMD and presents the generated view on the HMD. Our system can generate the user’s view image in real-time by giving correspondences among omni-directional images and estimating camera intrinsic and extrinsic parameters in advance.
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Paper Nr:	405
Title:	INHIBITING FACTORS FOR COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES USAGE - Five Colombian SMEs Study
Authors:	Olga L. Giraldo and Eduardo Arevalo
Abstract:	Small-to-Medium sized enterprises, SMEs, are the main development engine of economy, particularly in countries in development, as is the case in Colombia. SMEs must use information and communication technologies, ICT, as strategic tools to find their place in the global market; nevertheless, this is not a common situation for Colombian SME. In this work we present the results of a project that attempts to find factors inhibiting five Colombian SMEs toward strategic usage of ICT. Through this study we have looked at the structure and strategy of those enterprises, their value chains, ICT support to value chain activities - how and where they exploit ICT-, managerial attitude toward technology, and appropriation of ICT into business, looking for inhibiting factors. Results show that the most common inhibiting factors are: poor organizational planning; inability to identify strategic use of ICT or no ICT leadership; no funding for ICT projects; lack of ICT expertise and lack of proper ICT usage by final users; and lack of technical support. Even though findings are not conclusive they show an existing trend, and highlight the main ICT inhibitor factors-IF- to be surpassed to attain local sustainable industries.
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Paper Nr:	422
Title:	A FLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR P-LEARNING: A FIRST APPLICATION IN THE FIELD OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Authors:	Alain Derycke and Vincent Chevrin
Abstract:	With the availability of nomadic computing, and its new interaction user devices connected through wireless networks, it is obvious that the traditional way of delivering e-Learning will be changed. This paper is focused on a new mode called pervasive learning which relies on the potential of new IT infrastructures able to provide dynamic adaptations of information contents and services according to various contexts. Using our previous experiences in the design and implementation of multi-channel accesses to services (mobile-Commerce or e-Learning) we are designing a new infrastructure, based on a Multi-Agent Systems, which satisfies our requirements for future p-Learning systems. Its potential is illustrated through a dedicated scenario of uses drawn from needs founded in the field of learning on demand, in the framework of a shop, contextualized for several seller situations and professional activities. The dedicated system, called a Personal Training Assistant, is supported, in interaction with a Smartspace, through our infrastructure.
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Paper Nr:	461
Title:	KEXPLORATOR: A 2D MAP EXPLORATION USER INTERFACE FOR RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS
Authors:	Gulden Uchyigit, Keith Clark and Damien Coullon
Abstract:	Recommender systems have reached some maturity and are getting more widely used with the rise of online social networks. However, research until now was mostly focused on improving the recommendation engines, without really advancing the way the recommendations were brought to users. This paper concentrates on improving the delivery of recommendations to users via a new algorithm to allow for generation and 2D visualisation of similarity networks with an emphasis on map stability. An implementation with a connection to the Amazon recommendation engine has been developed.
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Paper Nr:	463
Title:	FLEXIBLE HUMAN SERVICE INTERFACES
Authors:	Josef Spillner, Iris Braun and Alexander Schill
Abstract:	Dynamic web service invocation without special client software may help the adoption of service-oriented architectures on the consumer stage. Ad-hoc usage of services requires a powerful set of concepts to visualise the service input and output messages in a user-friendly, ergonomic and extensible way. Such concepts are collected in a research effort named Web Service Graphical User Interface and are presented in the paper in combination with an algorithm to combine the concepts into one imaginary GUI creation engine, for which a proof-of-concept implementation exists. Extensibility is achieved by using implicit and explicit GUI generation hints in addition to inference mechanisms based on the message structures.
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Paper Nr:	502
Title:	CROSS-MEDIA USER INTERFACES FOR CONTROLLING THE ENTERPRISE - The EAGLE Integrated System
Authors:	Pedro Campos, Filipe Sousa, Lucas Pereira, Carlos Perestrelo and Duarte Freitas
Abstract:	Current Business Intelligence (BI) tools are aimed at providing managers with a way to control and measure their businesses. However, and despite much research and many commercial and academic prototypes, the user acceptability of these systems remains challenging. We describe an innovative approach to enhancing the ease of use and the visualization, control and decision-making of small-to-medium enterprises. Our approach to the design of BI tools is novel because (a) it combines user-centered design techniques with recent advances in quantitative information visualization, and (b) it employs several media (webcams, telephones, interactive maps and sparklines) to provide the user with a more powerful way of business control. We present a tool called Eagle which was designed using this approach and was developed in an industrial, real-world setting. We also describe some principles which were outlined along this case study.
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Paper Nr:	737
Title:	INVESTIGATIONS INTO SHIPBORNE ALARM MANAGEMENT - Conduction and Results of Field Studies
Authors:	Florian Motz and Michael Baldauf
Abstract:	Safe navigation, including collision and grounding avoidance, is the main task of the navigating officer in charge to ensure the safety of sea transport during a ship's voyage. Modern ship bridges are highly-automated man-machine systems. With the enlarged number of systems and sensors onboard, and the increase of automation a proliferation of alarm signals on the bridge is associated. Field studies were performed on board of ships to investigate the situation with respect to the occurrence of alarms and its handling by the bridge team. Within this paper the conduction of the investigations, the used methods, and selected results for two samples of field studies will be presented. An outlook for a future alarm management onboard is given. The investigations were partly performed under the framework of a national Research and Development project funded by the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, and under the European MarNIS – project, funded by the European Commission, Department for Energy and Transport.
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Paper Nr:	737
Title:	INVESTIGATIONS INTO SHIPBORNE ALARM MANAGEMENT - Conduction and Results of Field Studies
Authors:	Florian Motz and Michael Baldauf
Abstract:	Safe navigation, including collision and grounding avoidance, is the main task of the navigating officer in charge to ensure the safety of sea transport during a ship's voyage. Modern ship bridges are highly-automated man-machine systems. With the enlarged number of systems and sensors onboard, and the increase of automation a proliferation of alarm signals on the bridge is associated. Field studies were performed on board of ships to investigate the situation with respect to the occurrence of alarms and its handling by the bridge team. Within this paper the conduction of the investigations, the used methods, and selected results for two samples of field studies will be presented. An outlook for a future alarm management onboard is given. The investigations were partly performed under the framework of a national Research and Development project funded by the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, and under the European MarNIS – project, funded by the European Commission, Department for Energy and Transport.
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Paper Nr:	755
Title:	ANTHROPOMORPHIC VS NON-ANTHROPOMORPHIC USER INTERFACE FEEDBACK FOR ONLINE HOTEL BOOKINGS
Authors:	Pietro Murano, Anthony Gee and Patrik O'brian Holt
Abstract:	This paper describes an experiment and its results concerning research that has been going on for a number of years in the area of anthropomorphic user interface feedback. The main aims of the research have been to examine the effectiveness and user satisfaction of anthropomorphic feedback in various domains. The results are of use to all interactive systems designers, particularly when dealing with issues of user interface feedback design. There is currently some disagreement amongst computer scientists concerning the suitability of such types of feedback. This research is working to resolve this disagreement and in turn can help software houses to increase their profits by developing better user interfaces that will promote an increase in sales. The experiment detailed, concerns the specific software domain of Online Factual Delivery in the specific context of online hotel bookings. Anthropomorphic feedback was compared against an equivalent non-anthropomorphic feedback. Statistically significant results were obtained suggesting that the non-anthropomorphic feedback was more effective. The results for user satisfaction were however less clear.
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Paper Nr:	775
Title:	WHAT A PROACTIVE RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM NEEDS - Relevance, Non-Intrusiveness, and a New Long-Term Memory
Authors:	M. P. Melguizo, Toine Bogers, A. Deshpande, Lou Boves and A. van den Bosch
Abstract:	The goal of the project À Propos is to develop a proactive, just-in-time recommendation system for professional writers. While authors are writing, the proactive system searches for relevant information to what is being written, and presents this information to the writers in a manner that is perceived as timely, non-intrusive, and trustworthy. In this paper we present our ideas and the first steps performed in order to reach this goal. Writing a professional document is a complex and highly demanding task that can be seriously affected by interruptions from the environment. Consequently, a proactive system should be 1) able to present highly relevant information consequently, 2) to identify in what stage of writing the author is involved, and what are the moments in which information needs are more important and less disruptive, and 3) serve as an external long-term memory for the writer. In this paper we describe the steps and first results of À Propos in order to develop a proactive recommendation system that covers these goals.
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Paper Nr:	809
Title:	EXPERIENCE-BASED SOCIAL AND COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCE IN AN ‘ELECTRONIC VILLAGE’ OF LOCAL INTEREST: THE EKONEΣ FRAMEWORK
Authors:	Demosthenes Akoumianakis, Nikolas Vidakis, George Vellis, Giannis Milolidakis and Dimitris Kotsalis
Abstract:	We present the baseline of a framework called eΚοΝΕΣ, for building electronic villages of local interest. An electronic village is considered as a virtual organization formed by representatives of different sectors who work together during a period of time to realize a common goal. We assume tight coupling between the virtual organization and a physical space to differentiate the electronic village of local interest from the notion of the global electronic village. In this context, the paper focuses on two primary issues, namely the stimulation and organization of collaborative work by virtual teams and the design of electronic artefacts which facilitate collaborative feedback and feedthrough in an exemplar case in the context of eΚοΝΕΣ- Tourism – a pilot electronic village on regional tourism.
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Paper Nr:	835
Title:	TOWARDS AN IE AND IR SYSTEM DEALING WITH SPATIAL INFORMATION IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES – EVALUATION CASE STUDY
Authors:	Christian Sallaberry, Mustapha Baziz, Julien Lesbegueries and Mauro Gaio
Abstract:	This paper deals with spatial Information Extraction (IE) and Retrieval (IR) in Digital Libraries environments. The proposed approach (implemented within PIV1 prototype) is based on a linguistic and semantic analysis of digital corpora and free text queries. First, we present requirements and a methodology of semantic annotation for automatic indexing and geo-referencing of text documents. Then we report on a case study where the spatial-based IR process is evaluated and compared to classical (statistical-based) IR approaches using first pure spatial queries and then more general ones dealing with both spatial and thematic scopes. The main result in these first experiments shows that combining a spatial approach with a classical (statistical-based) IR one improves in a significant way retrieval accuracy, namely in the case of general queries.
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Paper Nr:	841
Title:	PHYSICAL DOCUMENT ADAPTATION TO USER’S CONTEXT AND USER’S PROFILE
Authors:	Hassan Naderi and Béatrice Rumpler
Abstract:	Modern technology promises mobile users Internet connectivity anytime, anywhere, and using any device. However, given the constrained capabilities of mobile devices, the limited bandwidth of wireless networks and the varying personal preferences, effective information access requires the development of new computational patterns. The variety of mobile devices available today makes device-specific authoring of web content an expensive approach. The problem is further compounded by the heterogeneous nature of the supporting devices and the users' behaviour. This research investigates the challenges posed by these problems, and proposes a context-aware adaptation framework to bridge the gap between the existing Internet content and today's heterogeneous computing environments.
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Paper Nr:	871
Title:	TASKS MODELS FOR COMPONENT CONTEXTUALIZATION
Authors:	Arnaud Lewandowski, Gregory Bourguin and Jean-Claude Tarby
Abstract:	This paper proposes a solution to take into account the emerging and evolving nature of users’ needs in software environments. This solution consists in giving the users the means to adapt these environments by integrating new tools. Many technical solutions exist for software components integration, but their use is limited to software development experts. One reason is that current dynamic integration approaches face a semantic problem: to finely integrate a tool in an activity, its future place in this activity must be clearly identified. In order to facilitate this comprehension and the dynamic integration of software components, we propose a new approach of component design and integration, inspired by previous work on task modelling.
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Paper Nr:	871
Title:	TASKS MODELS FOR COMPONENT CONTEXTUALIZATION
Authors:	Arnaud Lewandowski, Gregory Bourguin and Jean-Claude Tarby
Abstract:	This paper proposes a solution to take into account the emerging and evolving nature of users’ needs in software environments. This solution consists in giving the users the means to adapt these environments by integrating new tools. Many technical solutions exist for software components integration, but their use is limited to software development experts. One reason is that current dynamic integration approaches face a semantic problem: to finely integrate a tool in an activity, its future place in this activity must be clearly identified. In order to facilitate this comprehension and the dynamic integration of software components, we propose a new approach of component design and integration, inspired by previous work on task modelling.
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Paper Nr:	886
Title:	MODELING USER INTERFACES WITH THE XIS UML PROFILE
Authors:	Carlos Martins and Alberto Rodrigues da Silva
Abstract:	This paper discusses different User Interface design approaches. We describe how to design user interfaces, based on a MDD approach, by applying the XIS language. XIS is a coherent UML profile focused on model interactive systems. XIS integrates best practices and principles of the MDA/MDD paradigm to improve the User Interface design, such as separation of concerns, model-to-model and model-to-code transformations. In that way, we discuss some issues regarding the transformation processes, from XIS-based models into software systems artifacts.
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Paper Nr:	939
Title:	PLATFORM TO DRIVE AN INTELLIGENT WHEELCHAIR USING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Authors:	Pedro Faria, Rodrigo Braga, Eduardo Valgôde and Luís Paulo Reis
Abstract:	Many of the physically injured use electric wheelchairs as an aid to locomotion. Usually, for commanding this type of wheelchair, it is required the use of one’s hands and this poses a problem to those who, besides being unable to use their legs, are also unable to properly use their hands. The aim of the work described here, is to create a prototype of a wheelchair command interface that do not require hand usage. Facial expressions were chosen instead, to provide the necessary visual information for the interface to recognize user commands. The facial expressions are captured by a digital camera and interpreted by an application running on a laptop computer on the wheelchair. The software includes digital image processing algorithms for feature detection, such as colour segmentation and edge detection, followed by the application of a neural network that uses these features to detect the desired facial expressions. A simple simulator, built on top of the known (Ciber-Mouse) was used to validate the approach by simulating the control of the intelligent wheelchair in a hospital environment. The results obtained from the platform provide strong evidence that it is possible to comfortably drive an intelligent wheelchair using facial expressions.
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Paper Nr:	1107
Title:	A QUALITY MANAGEMENT TRAINING SYSTEM ON ISO STANDARDS FOR ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS OF SMES
Authors:	Nunzio Casalino, Alessandro D'atri and Ludmil Manev
Abstract:	The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the benefits of on-line training, in quality control and quality management, as a support for professionals and managers of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), to contribute to the improvement of the activities and of business performance objectives of their organizations. This kind of training includes topics on: managing quality, quality process, auditing, total quality, ISO standards, mistake proofing, and more. The paper describes the expected benefits according with the preliminary results of an European project aiming to create and validate an on-line system in the field of quality management and to provide an effective training on quality in the SMEs. The international standards that are covered by the project are: ISO 9001 (quality management system), ISO 14001 (environment management system) and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Control of the Critical Points). Others users could be also students, disadvantaged people and all people who show interest in the quality management systems.
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Paper Nr:	99
Title:	EVALUATION OF FLEXIBLE POINTS ON USER INTERFACE FOR INFORMATION SYSTEM
Authors:	Limin Shen, Chunyan Gao and Wenwen Jiang
Abstract:	To deal with user requirement changes at runtime, information system software provides adaptable operations through user interfaces to change software functionality. We suggest the FleXible Point(FXP), flexible changes, flexible degree, flexible force, and flexible distance, to evaluate the effect of such user interfaces. Flexible degree is determined by flexible distance and flexible force. Flexible distance is measured by function point counting and flexible force is measured by level value of flexible point. An application to wage calculation software is given to illustrate the evaluation and measurement based on the FXP. The approach can be used as a guide to adjusting, improving, and to comparing the FXP on user interfaces, and arranging different levels of manipulators to increase the FXP efficiency and to bring the FXPs on user interface into play.
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Paper Nr:	221
Title:	COLLABORATIVE AUGMENTED REALITY ENVIRONMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS
Authors:	Claudio Kirner, Rafael Santin, Tereza Kirner and Ezequiel Zorzal
Abstract:	The face-to-face and remote collaborative learning has been successfully used in the educational area. Nowadays, the technological evolution allows the implementation and the improvement of interpersonal communication in networked computer environments, involving chat, audio and video conferencing, but the remote manipulation of objects remains a problem to be solved. However, the virtual reality and augmented reality make possible the manipulation of virtual objects in a way similar to real situations. This paper discusses those subjects and presents a solution for interactions on remote collaborative environments, using conventional resources for the interpersonal communication as well as augmented reality technology.
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Paper Nr:	241
Title:	NON-TECHNICAL SIDE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRONIC HRM SYSTEM - Discoursive Exploration of Line Managers ‘and Employees’ Perceptions
Authors:	Tanya Bondarouk and Huub Ruel
Abstract:	Electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM) is coming to a more full-grown stage within organisational life. Much is assumed and expressed about its advantages, however scientific proof of these advantages is scarce. No clarity exists about the answer to the question whether e-HRM contributes to the effectiveness of HRM processes. This paper contributes to the Enterprise Information Systems field in two ways. Firstly, findings-wise, we present results from the qualitative study on the contribution of e-HRM to HRM effectiveness. The data is collected in a Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Results show that e-HRM applications have some impacts on the HRM practices. However, e-HRM is not perceived by the users as contributing to the HRM effectiveness. Interviews with line managers and employees have revealed interesting differences in their needs and perceptions about functionalities of e-HRM applications. Secondly, in this paper we integrate two approaches, namely technology-oriented approach, and organizational processes-oriented approach. An intersection of IT- and HRM- studies reveals new possibilities both for scientific and practical implications.
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Paper Nr:	275
Title:	TLSA PLAYER: A TOOL FOR PRESENTING CONSISTENT SMIL 2.0 DOCUMENTS
Authors:	Paulo Sampaio and Jean-pierre Courtiat
Abstract:	Describing synchronization constraints in complex Interactive Multimedia Documents at authoring time can be an error-prone task, especially if the increasing number of media objects participating in these relations is considered. As a consequence, some synchronization constraints specified by the author may not be satisfied, leading the presentation of the document to undesirable deadlocks or to unexpected misbehaviours, characterizing the occurrence of an inconsistency. In particular, the flexibility of high level authoring models (such as SMIL 2.0) for the edition of complex IMDs can lead authors, in certain cases, to specify inconsistent documents. For this reason, it is important to apply multimedia players that can ensure the presentation of consistent documents. This paper presents the main aspects of the development of a multimedia player which ensures the presentation of consistent multimedia documents, the TLSA Player. The TLSA Player is part of a formal methodology for the design of multimedia documents which provides the formal semantics for the dynamic behaviour of the document, consistency checking, and the scheduling of the presentation taking into account the temporal non-determinism of these documents.
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Paper Nr:	398
Title:	ON THE DETECTION OF EARLY DEMENTIA AND THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR DEAF BLIND PERSON
Authors:	Masahiro Aruga, Takashi Takeda and Shuichi Kato
Abstract:	The “YUBITSUKII” is the personal digital assistant terminal developed as communication system for blind deaf persons. The blind deaf persons have not been cared sufficiently until now. Therefore, they cannot fully convey their thoughts and feelings and cannot freely live in their daily life. Generally, even their family members cannot sufficiently know their capability of recognition of their outside. And it is difficult to discover early dementia of the blind deaf persons. In this paper, it is considered and estimated that there is some possibility of realization of the detection method and system of early dementia of the blind deaf persons and others.
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Paper Nr:	419
Title:	4I (FOR EYE) TECHNOLOGY - Intelligent Interface for Integrated Information
Authors:	Oleksiy Khriyenko
Abstract:	Next generation of integration systems will utilize different methods and techniques to achieve the vision of ubiquitous knowledge: Semantic Web and Web Services, Agent Technologies and Mobility. Nowadays, unlimited interoperability and collaboration are the important things for industry, business, education and research, health and wellness, and other areas of people life. All the parties in a collaboration process have to share data as well as information about actions they are performing. Development of Global Understanding eNvironment (GUN) (Kaykova et al., 2005), which would support interoperation between all the resources (GUN-Resources) and exchange of shared information, is a very profit-promising and challenging task. And generally, a graphical user interface, that helps to perform this interoperation and collaboration processes in handy and easy for human/expert way, is one of the important things in a process performing, and creation. Following new technological trends, it is time to start a new stage in user visual interface development – a stage of semantic-based context-dependent multidimensional resource visualization. Presented 4i technology is a step to achieve this goal.
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Paper Nr:	510
Title:	SPATIAL AUDITORY INTERFACES COMPARED TO VISUAL INTERFACES FOR MOBILE USE IN A DRIVING TASK
Authors:	Christina Dicke, Jaka Sodnik, Mark Billinghurst and Saso Tomazic
Abstract:	This paper reports on a user study of simulated cell phone use in a driving simulator. The main questions we were seeking to answer were concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of the auditory interfaces in comparison to a standard visual interface. In our experiment we tested two audio interfaces; one with many spatial audio sources and one with a single source. These were compared against a visual interface. Both of the auditory interfaces were as effective as each other but they were not better than the visual interface. However users made more errors while using the visual interface than in the two audio conditions. So although both types of interface were as effective as each other the visual interface was less efficient as it distracted strongly from the primary driving task.
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Paper Nr:	747
Title:	IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY TO BUSINESS PROCESSES FOR DISABLED PEOPLE BY DOCUMENT TAGGING
Authors:	Norbert Kuhn, Stefan Richter and Stefan Naumann
Abstract:	Although many companies and governmental institutions have provided their costumers with access to electronic information systems and to their processes, there still remains widespread use of paper-based communication. In this paper we present an approach, which we use in the FABEGG system to make these documents accessible to handicapped users. We discuss a prototypical system with both an administrative and a user front-end to work with printed forms in business processes. Compared to purely electronic solutions we can also cope with forms, which contain already process related data like for instance name, address and other personal information of the recipient. The prototypes presented here will be evaluated in local governmental authorities.
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Paper Nr:	776
Title:	TOWARDS A GENERIC AND CONFIGURABLE MODEL OF AN ELECTRONIC INFORMER TO ASSIST THE EVALUATION OF AGENT-BASED INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS
Authors:	Chi D. Tran, Houcine Ezzedine and Christophe Kolski
Abstract:	This paper presents a generic and configurable model of an electronic informer to assist the evaluation for agent-based interactive systems. In order to propose this model, the current state of the art concerning architectures used for traditional interactive systems is presented, along with that for agent-based interactive systems. In this article, we propose an agent-oriented architecture that is considered as being mixed (it is both functional and structural). By using this architecture as a basis, we propose a generic and configurable model of an evaluation tool called “electronic informer” which assist evaluators in analysing and evaluating interactive systems of this architecture.
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Paper Nr:	799
Title:	OOPUS-DESIGNER - User-friendly Master Data Maintenance through Intuitive and Interactive Visualization
Authors:	Wilhelm Dangelmaier, Benjamin Klöpper, Björn Kruse, Daniel Brüggemann and Tobias Rust
Abstract:	Valid and consistent master data are pre-requisite for efficient working Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Production Planning and Control (PPC) systems. Unfortunately users are often confused by a large number of forms or transactions in these systems. Confusing interfaces lead to faulty master data. In this paper we introduce a tool that provides intuitive and interactive visualization for the master data administration of a PPC system.
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Paper Nr:	849
Title:	A PROCESS PATTERN LANGUAGE FOR COORDINATED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Authors:	Chintan Amrit, René ter Haar, Mehmet N. Aydin and Jos van Hillegersberg
Abstract:	In distributed and collocated teams we often find problems in the organizational process structures. Though process patterns have been around for many years, there has been little research in categorizing the different solutions to various problems dealing with coordination, for easy access by practitioners. This study aims to describe a way to use the emerging idea of a pattern language to deal with problems related to coordination in software development. The patterns are a result of conclusive statements in the information systems and software engineering field and a pattern language is used to develop these patterns. We propose a technique to convert the knowledge base in IS and CS research on coordination into process patterns which are more accessible to practitioners.
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Paper Nr:	852
Title:	APROACHING TO EMOTINAL CONTEXT ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS DESIGN IN A WEB SITE FRONT-OFFICE DEVELOPMENT - A CASE STUDY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Authors:	Octávio Pereira, Tiago Luís, Pedro António, Eduardo Valente, Joao Caldeira, Paulo Alves, Paulo Jesus and João Cordeiro
Abstract:	In the beginning of this paper, a web application development context is described to an analysis laboratory for agriculture purposes. Safety and hygiene matters are introduced as actual concerns for public health and then defined the emotional context appealing interaction between users and web application and information systems in general. The project implementation is then described and finally, some conclusions are taken.
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Paper Nr:	854
Title:	JOINTS - Addressing Group Psychotherapy Requirements
Authors:	Luís Duarte, Luís Carriço, Marco Sá and Diogo Luís
Abstract:	Providing computational support to group meetings is a challenge some applications are now addressing. Nonetheless, there are specific areas which need special attention by developers to cover all inherent issues, which can reveal themselves as workflow, interface or context requirements, among other. In the group psychotherapy field of study it is necessary to be careful with both the therapist’s and the patient’s work, providing both groups with the necessary mechanisms, interfaces and tools to accomplish their tasks. This poster presents a project whose main goal is to address all this challenges in group psychotherapy sessions.
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Paper Nr:	865
Title:	ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION - Proposal of an Approach based on User Profile and Needs Analysis
Authors:	Boulesnane Sabrina and Bouzidi Laïd
Abstract:	The advent of Web technologies has influenced the development and the use of Information System (IS) in organization. On the social level, the new technologies massive integration affects the actor’s linguistic practices. One of the challenges which should be surmounted by organizations is the formulation of information needs. We propose in this paper a mediation approach allowing various users to create a favourable context to an "exact" expression and interpretation of their information needs. This approach represents a competitive resource to these organizations, situated in an uncertain and changing business world.
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Paper Nr:	888
Title:	NEW TOOL FOR APPROACHING E-LEARNING: VIDEORDER™ - Videorder™ Voice-based Speech Recognition and Language Processing Search Technology with Finder™ Engine
Authors:	Ferenc Kiss, Lia Bassa and Viktor Justin
Abstract:	Videorder™ Voice-based Speech Recognition and Language Processing search technology with Finder™ engine from @Your Service Media Communication Agency offers a market ready solution today, for speech recognized searching at any kind of film material on the basis of audible information inside, like words, sentences. All this independent of the language involved! The main strength of the system is Language Processing and Speech Recognition in one application package. Videorder™ allows you to search any video or audio clips that are relevant to your query. The method is a good example how the basic aim of ICEIS can be implemented: bringing together the achievements of a research team with trainers of information and knowledge management as well as with a Foundation for Information Society becoming the practitioner of the program.
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Paper Nr:	970
Title:	EDUCATIONAL SIMULATORS - COMPLIANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF DIABETES PATIENTS AND DIABETES THERAPY GUIDELINES
Authors:	Andrzej Izworski, Koleszynska Joanna and Ryszard Tadeusiewicz
Abstract:	This paper presents renewed approach to the computer-aided diabetes educations introducing GIGISim (Glucose-Insulin and Glycemic Index Web Simulator) e-learning tool. Together with our system, selected solutions were summarized and their functionality compliance with diabetes therapy requirements checked. The analysis of diabetes patients needs has been established through a series of intermediate research surveys and literature studies. The software implementation of newly proposed innovations is presented together with effectiveness and suitability rate of a system, prior to the identified requirements.
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Paper Nr:	999
Title:	HOME NETWORK AND HUMAN INTERACTION SYSTEM
Authors:	Rudolf Volner
Abstract:	The term security network intelligence is widely used in the field of communication security network. A number of new and potentially concepts and products based on the concept of security network intelligence have been introduced, including smart flows, intelligent routing, and intelligent web switching. Many intelligent systems focus on a specific security service, function, or device, and do not provide true end-to-end service network intelligence. True security network intelligence requires more than a set of disconnected elements, it requires an interconnecting and functionally coupled architecture that enables the various functional levels to interact and communicate with each other.
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Paper Nr:	1011
Title:	A PLATFORM BASED ON JAVA AND XML FOR PROTOTYPING INTERACTIVE DIGITAL TELEVISION PROGRAMS - Interactive Multimedia Systems and Human-Computer Interaction
Authors:	Joao D. Santos Junior, Iran Calixto Abrao, Marcos A. Loiola, Paulo Muniz de Ávila, Hérick Marques, Bruno T. Kuehne and Andre Bretas Nunes De Lima
Abstract:	This work presents the JiTV (Java Interactive Television) as a proposal of an integrated development platform that can be used for authoring of Digital Interactive Television Programs, discussing its implementation aspects. Among the main requirements of the JiTV, we can put light on description of scenarios using XML and the implementation of interaction controls using Java. In this scenario, the JiTV platform supports the specification of context-awareness aspects, acquiring of contextual data from software agents, building of data carroussel from the both recorded and real-time video and audio streams, tagging of multimedia objects with XML schema, allowing also the information retrieval. Furthermore, context-awareness aspects are being added for providing personalization in the television environment.
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Paper Nr:	1035
Title:	AN INITIAL USABILITY EVALUATION OF SOME WORD-PROCESSING FUNCTIONALITIES WITH THE ELDERLY
Authors:	Sergio Sayago and Josep Blat
Abstract:	This short paper addresses two key questions about evaluating the usability of word-processing functionalities with the young elderly: (i) which factor (difficulties understanding the terminology, remembering the steps and using the mouse) is the most strongly correlated with the overall usability of some word-processing functionalities?; (ii) when designing a valid usability questionnaire for the elderly, do we need to adapt standard Likert scales? Both questions are answered after running a two-hour MS Word session at an adult school with five elderly people with experience with computers. The preliminary results point out that difficulties remembering the steps and using the mouse have a strong relationship with the overall usability of the word-processing functionalities evaluated. The responses elicited from elderly people are mostly dependent on the visual arrangement (vertical, horizontal) of standard Likert scales. The elderly draw firmly on everyday scales to answer questionnaires. Nevertheless, Likert and everyday scales differ in significant ways. In everyday scales, the elements tend to be arranged vertically. In addition, top elements are usually regarded as the best or most expensive, interesting, etc. These differences turned out to have a strong impact on questionnaire’s validity and the adaptation strategy to cope effectively with them. Replacing numbers with adjectives is an effective design solution because adjectives seem to be easier to understand than numbers for the elderly.
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Paper Nr:	1063
Title:	USABILITY COST-BENEFIT MODELS - Different Approaches to Usability Cost Analysis
Authors:	Mikko Rajanen
Abstract:	There are few development organizations that have integrated usability activities as an integral part of their product development projects. One reason for this might be that the costs and benefits of usability activities are not visible to the management. In this paper the author analyses some of the characteristics of the published usability cost-benefit analysis models. These models have different approach for identifying the costs of usability.
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Paper Nr:	1101
Title:	USER EXPERIENCE ENHANCED PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE - Industry Spanning Modular User Experience Paradigms
Authors:	Joachim Schonowski
Abstract:	The introduction speed and complexity in the digital information / multimedia age poses challenges for the “normal” end user. New digital technologies, services, products are often provided to the end consumer having a bad user experience (e.g. WAP, PTT). Companies need to encompass user experience into the product lifecycle. Instead of multiple different user experiences for many “digital” based consumer products only a few should exist, using key user experience paradigms. Application of the key user paradigms shall enable users to use products more intuitive (even if different industries are involved) and guide them to use most of the supported use cases provided, when needed. Society is under constant evolution and change (e.g. demographic factor) The user experience enhanced product life cycle should be harmonised with the standard product development: promotion, pricing, product, placement but also take the society change (e.g. silver generation) and new life concepts into account.
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