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Co-organized by:

École Supérieure d' Électronique de l' Ouest
École Supérieure
d' Électronique de
l' Ouest

and
Escola Superior de Tecnologia
Departamento de Sistemas 
e Informática
da
EST-Setúbal/IPS 
Escola Superior de 
Tecnologia de Setúbal 

 Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal

 

ICEIS 2003 Sites
www.est.ips.pt/iceis/

www.iceis.org

DBLP bibliography

 

Area 1 - DATABASES AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
Area 2 - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Area 3 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND SPECIFICATION
Area 4 - INTERNET COMPUTING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Area 1 - DATABASES AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Title:

DATA SOURCES SERVER

Author(s):

Pedro Pablo Alarcón, Juan Garbajosa, Agustín Yagüe and Carlos García

Abstract: A proposal for a multi-platform architecture to work with heterogeneous data sources is presented. It is based on a server that allows the client applications to work with heterogeneous data sources (heterogeneous RDBMS, XML files, text files, etc) without needing the client application part to know any information on the data source. A prototype based on the proposed architecture and oriented to heterogeneous RDBMS has been implemented.

Title:

DESCRIPTORS AND META-DOCUMENTS FOR MONO-MEDIA AND MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENTS

Author(s):

Ikram Amous and Florence Sèdes

Abstract: This paper presents in the first time the use of XML to structure media (text, fixed image, sound and animated image) in flexible and extensible descriptors and in the second one the metadata that can be extracted from each media. These metadata are stored in an XML document called ‘meta-document’. To query the mono-media and/or multimedia documents, we use in queries the two XML documents: the descriptor (containing the document structures) and the meta-document (containing metadata) in order to answer and respond better the user needs and requests. These documents can be queried by languages like XML-QL, XQL, etc.

Title:

ORGANISING AND MODELLING METADATA FOR MEDIA-BASED DOCUMENTS

Author(s):

Ikram Amous, Anis Jedidi and Florence Sèdes

Abstract: One of the main problems of information retrieval on the Web is the poverty of describing and cataloguing information of different type. One proposal to cope with this lack consists in introducing the concept of metadata, to enrich and structure information description and improve searching relevance We propose here a contribution to extend the existing the media based metadata by a set of metadata describing documents resulting from various media (text, image, audio and video). These metadata are modeled in UML. The schema instantiation is structured in XML documents, describing the media content and structure. The XML documents, can be processed by query languages such as XML_QL.

Title:

XML-BASED DOCUMENT TO QUERY A RELATIONAL DATABASE

Author(s):

Wilmondes Manzi de Arantes Júnior, Christine Verdier and André Flory

Abstract: This paper deals with the design of a system which creates a XML document for the different medical information systems-users in order to display medical information on each computer for reading, modifying and querying medical data. The system is structured on the main idea to link relational database (with structured data) and XML (with semi-structured data). The system works as follows : the medical expert creates a document (with the help of a HMI) and the system checks the document is semantically correct, creates the document XML and its DTD, generates automatically the SQL queries to build the document and to fill in.

Title:

MEDIWEB: A MEDIATOR-BASED ENVIRONMENT FOR DATA INTEGRATION ON THE WEB

Author(s):

Ladjane S. Arruda, Cláudio S. Baptista and Carlos A. A. Lima

Abstract: Data integration of heterogeneous information systems has been investigated for a long time. However, with the advent of the Internet this problem has gained more attention due to many reasons. One of the main aims in interoperable systems is to provide in a transparent way access to the distributed data using a unified view of the whole system. It is important to mention that the underlying data sources may be independent and heterogeneous. This paper addresses the problem of data integration on web-based systems. We present an architecture and design of a web-based query system in which users, by using an ontology, can specify their queries and submit to the underlying data sources. These data sources can be either database systems or XML files. The system interface uses several devices. 1 INTRODUCTION Data integration of heterogeneous information systems has been investigated for a long time. However, with the advent of the Internet this problem has acquired more attention due to many reasons including different data features - structured, semi-structured and unstructured data; the increasing demand on semantic web using, for instance, ontologies for data integration, and the growing number of applications on the Web which demand system interoperability – for example, business-to-business and business-to-customer applications. One of the main aims in interoperable systems is to provide in a transparent way access to distributed data using a unified view of the whole system. It is important to mention that the underneath data sources may be independent and heterogeneous. Molina (Mol at al, 2000) addresses some general problems concerning system integration: • Data type differences; • Value differences - different constants might represent different concepts in different

Title:

THE ROLE OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE FOR PLANNING AND MANAGING FUTURE INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Author(s):

Thomas Birkhölzer and Jürgen Vaupel

Abstract: Complex IT-environments are characterized by deconstruction of traditional packaging and consolidation of common infrastructure and services. In a “consolidated” business environment, the business success depends crucially on a successful embedding of own systems and products into the overall environment. This requires more than just some external interfaces, but coordination with and anticipation of this environment. This task is described in this paper as “Enterprise Architecture”. The relation to other architectural roles in software engineering is similar to the well-understood and established relation between “city planning” and “building blue-prints” in the building domain. There is a difference in scale, scope, necessary competences and methodologies. This paper outlines these distinct roles, their tasks, and scopes in order to stimulate the understanding summarized in the following two theses: 
- Enterprise Architecture is a necessary and distinct architectural role. Successful large-scale system development requires appreciation and inclusion of this role in the IT-engineering process. 
- Enterprise Architecture means cross-system coordination with similar stakeholders, e.g. system development efforts, outside the own business ownership. This distinguishes Enterprise Architecture from traditional architectural roles and implies distinct tasks, methodologies, and required skills.

Title:

FSQL: A FLEXIBLE QUERY LANGUAGE FOR DATA MINING

Author(s):

Ramón Alberto Carrasco, María Amparo Vila and José Galindo

Abstract: At present we have a FSQL server available for Oracle© Databases, programmed in PL/SQL. This server allows us to query a Fuzzy or Classical Database with the FSQL language (Fuzzy SQL). The FSQL language is an extension of the SQL language, which permits us to write flexible (or fuzzy) conditions in our queries to a fuzzy or traditional database. In this paper we show an extension of FDBR architecture of FSQL for fuzzy handling of different types of data. The main advantage is that any user can to define his own fuzzy comparator for any specific problem. We consider that this model satisfies the requirements of Data Mining systems (handling of different types of data, high-level language, efficiency, certainty, interactivity, etc) and this new level of personal configuration makes the system very useful and flexible.

Title:

PREDICATE-BASED CACHING SCHEME FOR WIRELESS ENVIRONMENTS

Author(s):

Pauline Chou and Zahir Tari

Abstract: Wireless computing has recently increased its demand. Although it provides greater convenience, flexibility to end users, wireless communication has its limitations such as low bandwidth and long latency. In addition, mobile devices usually have limited power resources. To address such limitations, caching techniques (with consistency control mechanisms) are used to reduce the communication between clients and servers over wireless networks. In this paper we propose a server-based broadcasting caching approach that uses predicates to reflect updates in the broadcasted reports, called Cache Invalidation Reports (CIR). A predicate mapping function is associated with each attribute, which produces a binary representation of the attribute. A matching algorithm is also designed for detecting relevancy between the cache predicate and the predicates in the CIR. The proposed predicate-based CIR has several advantages (e.g. efficient in overall bandwidth usage) as it informs the cache manager which items need to be refreshed, and which ones need to be discarded.

Title:

SEMI-AUTOMATIC WRAPPER GENERATION AND ADAPTION

Author(s):

Michael Christoffel, Bethina Schmitt and Jürgen Schneider

Abstract: The success of the Internet as a medium for the supply and commerce of various kinds of goods and services leads to a fast growing number of autonomous and heterogeneous providers that offer and sell goods and services electronically. The new market structures have already entered all kinds of markets. Approaches for market infrastructures usually try to cope with the heterogeneity of the providers by special wrapper components, which translate between the native protocols of the providers and the protocol of the market infrastructure. Enforcing a special interface to the provider limits their independence. Moreover, requirements such as a direct access to the internal business logic and databases of the providers or fix templates for internal data structures are not suitable to establish a real open electronic market. A solution is the limitation of the access to the existing Web interface of the provider. This solution keeps the independence of the providers without burdening them additional work. However, for efficiency reasons, it keeps necessary to tailor a wrapper for each provider. What comes more, each change in the provider or its Web representation forces the modification of the existing wrapper or even the development of a new wrapper. In this paper, we present an approach for a wrapper for complex Web interfaces, which can easily be adapted to any provider just by adding a source description file. A tool allows the construction and modification of source descriptions without expert knowledge. Common changes in the Web representation can be detected and comprehended automatically. The presented approach has been applied to the market of scientific literature.

Title:

A SYSTEM FOR DATA CHANGE PROPAGATION INHETEROGENEOUS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Carmen Constantinescu, Uwe Heinkel, Ralf Rantzau and Bernhard Mitschang

Abstract: Today, it is common that enterprises manage several mostly heterogeneous information systems to supply their production and business processes with data. There is a need to exchange data between the information systems while preserving system autonomy. Hence, an integration approach that relies on a single global enterprise data schema is ruled out. This is also due to the widespread usage of legacy systems. We propose a system, called Propagation Manager, which manages dependencies between data objects stored in different information systems. A script specifying complex data transformations and other sophisticated activities, like the execution of external programs, is associated with each dependency. For example, an object update in a source system can trigger data transformations of the given source data for each destination system that depends on the object. Our system is implemented using current XML technologies. We present the architecture and processing model of our system and demonstrate the benefit of our approach by illustrating an extensive example scenario.

Title:

TEMPORAL DATA WAREHOUSING: BUSINESS CASES AND SOLUTIONS

Author(s):

Johann Eder, Christian Koncilia and Herbert Kogler

Abstract: Changes in transaction data are recorded in data warehouses and sophisticated tools allow to analyze these data along time and other dimensions. But changes in master data and in structures, surprisingly, cannot be represented in current data warehouse systems impeding their use in dynamic areas and/or leading to erroneous query results. We propose a temporal data warehouse architecture to represent structural changes and permit correct analysis of data over periods with changing master data. We show how typical business cases involving change in master data can be solved using this approach and we discuss architectural variants for the implementation.

Title:

A FRAMEWORK TO ANALYSE MOST CRITICAL WORK PACKAGES IN ERP IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS

Author(s):

José Esteves and Joan A. Pastor

Abstract: In order to achieve success in a software project, it is important to define and analyze the most critical processes within the project. A common approach to define most critical processes is the Process Quality Management (PQM) method. However, the process structure of the PQM method is too simple since it only provides one level of process analysis. Real cases imply project process structures that are more complex. We have improved the PQM analysis section to provide more depth to real project structures. This study attempts to analyze this issue in a specific type of software projects: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation projects. We present a framework to analyze most critical work packages in ERP implementation projects. We then apply the result of the analysis to SAP implementation projects. The result is a list of critical work packages in each phase of a SAP implementation project. These results show the higher importance of work packages related with organizational and project management aspects compared with the technical ones. Therefore, these results evidence the need of project managers to focus on these work packages.

Title:

INFORMATION ORGANIZER: A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW ON REUSE

Author(s):

Erik Gyllenswärd, Mladen Kap and Rikard Land

Abstract: Within one organization, there are often many conceptually related but technically separated information systems. Many of these are legacy systems representing enormous developmºp-ç m,ent efforts, and containing large amounts of data. The integration of these often requires extensive design modifications. Reusing applications “as is” with all the knowledge and data they represent would be a much more practical solution. This paper describes the Business Object Model, a model providing integration and reuse of existing applications and cross applications modelling capabilities and a Business Object Framework implementing the object model. We also present a product supporting the model and the framework, Information Organizer, and a number of design patterns that have been built on top of it to further decrease the amount of work needed to integrate legacy systems. We describe one such pattern in detail, a general mechanism for reusing relational databases.

Title:

A PROCESS MODEL FOR ENTERPRISE-WIDE DESIGN OF DATA ACQUISITION FOR DATA WAREHOUSING

Author(s):

Arne Harren and Heiko Tapken

Abstract: Data warehouse systems nowadays are well established to provide a technical fundament to decision support. Due to their integrated and unified view over data of various operational and external systems they provide a reliable platform for enterprise-wide, strategic data analyses and business forecasts. Therefore sound data acquisition with data from various data sources is crucial at construction time as well as at maintenance time. Within the scope of this paper we present a process model for the design of data acquisition processes. Comprehensibility and maintainability of acquisition processes are achieved by clear distinction between process descriptions and corresponding implementations. (Semi-)Automatic derivation of optimized implementations is provided. Although not limited to a single application domain we mainly focus on the area of data warehouse systems. In this paper we sketch the underlying framework and propose the process model.

Title:

DATA INTEGRATION USING THE MONIL LANGUAGE

Author(s):

Mónica Larre, José Torres, Eduardo Morales and Sócrates Torres

Abstract: Data integration is the process of extracting and merging data from multiple heterogeneous sources to be loaded into an integrated information resource. Solving structural and semantic heterogeneities between source and target data is the most complex problem for data integration. With the appearance of Data Warehouse technology, the developing of tools for effectively exploiting source data to populate Data Warehouses, has become a challenging issue. This paper describes an integration language called MONIL as an alternative to solve integration problems. MONIL is an expressive programming language based on: a) An integration metamodel, b) A set of built-in conversion functions, and c) An algorithm to automatically suggest integration correspondences. MONIL language is embedded in a framework with a set of tools to develop, store and execute integration programs following a 3-phase integration process. When a MONIL program is executed, MONIL code is translated into both Java language and JDBC commands. The MONIL Language has been sucessfully used to integrate several sources with different levels of heterogeneity.

Title:

DIDAFIT: DETECTING INTRUSIONS IN DATABASES THROUGH FINGERPRINTING TRANSACTIONS

Author(s):

Wai Lup Low, Joseph Lee and Peter Teoh

Abstract: The most valuable information assets of an organization are often stored in databases and it is pertinent for such organizations to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of their databases. With the proliferation of ecommerce sites that are backed by database systems, databases that are available online 247 are ubiquitous. Data in these databases ranges from credit card numbers to personal medical records. Failing to protect these databases from intrusions will result in loss of customers’ confidence and might even result in lawsuits. Database intrusion refers to the unauthorized access and misuse of database systems. Database intrusion detection systems identify suspicious, abnormal or downright malicious accesses to the database system. However, there is little existing work on detecting intrusions in databases. We present a technique that can efficiently identify anomalous accesses to the database. Our technique charaterizes legitimate accesses through fingerprinting their constituent SQL statements. These fingerprints are then used to detect illegitimate accesses. We illustrate how this technique can be used in a typical client-server database system setup. Experimental results show that the technique is efficient and scales up well. Our contributions include introducing a novel process for fingerprinting SQL statements and developing an efficient technique to detect anomalous database accesses.

Title:

AN INTEGRATED OBJECT DATABASE AND DESCRIPTION LOGIC SYSTEM FOR ONLINE CONTENT AND EVENT-BASED INDEXING AND RETRIEVAL OF A CAR PARK SURVEILLANCE VIDEO

Author(s):

Farhi Marir, Kamel Zerzour and Karim Ouazzane

Abstract: This paper addresses the need for a semantic video-object approach for efficient storage and manipulation of video data to respond to the needs of several classes of potential applications when efficient management and deductions over voluminous data are involved. We present the VIGILANT model for content and event-based retrieval of video images and clips using automatic annotation and indexing of contents and events representing the extracted features and recognised objects in the images captured by a video camera in a car park environment. The underlying video-object model combines Object-Oriented modelling (OO) techniques and Description Logics (DLs) Knowledge representation. The OO technique models the static aspects of video clips and instances and their indexes will be stored in an Object-Oriented Database. The DLs model will extend the OO model to cater for the inherent dynamic content descriptions of the video, as events tend to spread over a sequence of frames

Title:

A MODEL FOR ADVANCED QUERY CAPABILITY DESCRIPTION IN MEDIATOR SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Alberto Pan, Paula Montoto, Anastasio Molano, Manuel Álvarez, Juan Raposo and Ángel Viña

Abstract: Mediator systems aim to provide an unified global data schema over distributed heterogeneous structured and semi-structured data sources. These systems must deal with limitations on the query capabilities of the sources. This paper introduces a new framework for representing source query capability along with the algorithms needed to compute the query capabilities of the global schema from sources. Our approach for computing query capabilities is able to support a richer capabilities representation framework than the ones previously presented in the literature. We show that those approaches are insufficient to properly represent many real sources, and how our approach can solve those limitations.

Title:

USING FULL MATCH CLASSES FOR SELF-MAINTENANCE OF MEDIATED VIEWS

Author(s):

Valéria Magalhães Pequeno and Vãnia Maria Ponte Vidal

Abstract: Sharing information among multiple heterogeneous and autonomous data sources has emerged as a new and strategic requirement in modern enterprises. In this paper, we use a mediator-based approach for integrating multiple heterogeneous data sources. The mediator supports materialized views (mediated views) which are stored in a centralized repository. The queries on the view can be processed directly from the integrated view, with no need for accessing the remote sources. The main difficulty with this approach is to maintain the consistency of the materialized view with respect to the source databases updates. Usually, match classes are not self-maintainable. In a prior paper, we presented a technique for self-maintenance of full match classes. In this work, we show how to make other types of match classes self-maintainable by using full match classes as auxiliary classes.

Title:

PROPOSING A METHOD FOR PLANNING THE MATERIALISATION OF VIEWS IN A DATA WAREHOUSE

Author(s):

Alexander Prosser

Abstract: Data warehouses store multidimensional and aggregate data for analysis and decision support. The question arises which aggregates should be materialised given user access profiles. The paper proposes the Aggregation Path Array (APA) as a framework for (i) systematically representing all cubes that can be derived from a given set of dimensions and hierarchy levels in a compact way, (ii) representing the cubes which are of interest to the users, (iii) finding out which cubes can be derived from a given materialised cube (=view), and (iv) to support the decision which cubes to materialise by showing the ceteris paribus “net effect” of materialising a certain cube. The paper also presents a software tool to implement the method shown which is available as freeware from http://erp.wu-wien.ac.at/install.exe.

Title:

DATA REPRESENTATION IN INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Claudia Raibulet and Claudio Demartini

Abstract: The specification and implementation of data related to heterogeneous resources are still actual problems in industrial systems in spite of the variety of data storage models and technologies available on the market today. And this is because industrial resources have associated proprietary specifications and implementations for their related data. The paper proposes two possible solutions to these problems. The first specifies a Distributed Repository Model that aims at providing a unified/common view of the heterogeneous resources in an industrial system. This approach makes use of the ISO 10303 standard. The second proposes the definition of an industrial-specific language that provides the syntax and the rules to create logical data models for industrial systems. It is based on the eXtensible Markup Language. Both approaches are independent of any implementation detail and/or storage-model architecture. A comparison of the two solutions is provided at the end of the paper.

Title:

D-ANTICIP: A PROTOCOL SUITABLE FOR DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME TRANSACTIONS

Author(s):

Bruno Sadeg, Samia Saad-Bouzefrane and Laurent Amanton

Abstract: Many problems arise when we address issues on distributed real-time database systems (DRTDBMSs). A distributed database consists in general of a database located in a main site, the master, where is executed the coordinator process and of other databases located in other sites, the participant sites, where are executed cohort processes. The main problem is then to maintain the distributed database consistency while insuring that the transactions meet their deadlines. Even, in centralized RTDBMSs, this objective is difficult to reach. When the database is distributed the problem is much more difficult due to the communication delays. Hence, one of problems to solve is to manage efficiently real-time subtransactions in participant sites. A subtransaction is a part of a global transaction that executes within a participant site. In this paper, we present a protocol (D-ANTICIP) a that permits to enhance subtransactions performances, enhancing then the global transactions performances. Simulation results show that the mechanism we have used increases the number of subtransactions that meet their deadlines in comparison with the traditional two-phase commit protocol.

Title:

USING DATA MINING TECHNIQUES TO ANALYZE CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN PARTITIONS

Author(s):

D. Sánchez, J.M. Serrano, M.A.Vila, V. Aranda, J. Calero and G. Delgado

Abstract: In many occasions, information and knowledge employed to make decisions about a certain topic come from different sources. The fusion of information is needed in order to facilitate its analysis, comparison and exploitation. One particular case is that of having two different classifications (partitions) of the same set of objects. A first step to integrate them is to study their possible correspondence. In this paper we introduce several kinds of possible correspondences between partitions, and we propose the use of data mining techniques to measure its accuracy. For that purpose, partitions are represented as relational tables, and correspondences are identified with association rules and approximate dependencies. The accuracies of the former are then measured by means of accuracy measures of the latter, and some results relating accuracy values to correspondence cases are shown. Finally, we provide some examples of application of our proposal in a real-world problem, the integration of user and scientific classification of soils, that is of primary interest for decision making in agricultural environments.

Title:

A HIERARCHICAL APPROACH TO COMPLEX DATA CUBE QUERIES

Author(s):

Rebecca Boon-Noi Tan and Guojun Lu

Abstract: Data Cube has become a topical issue among the research community for its multidimensional presentation of data. However, there is no existing data cube query classification technique that covers all the aspect of data cube queries model. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive study of complex data cube queries in OLAP. A query classification is essential, especially to exploit the full capacity of data cube queries. The classification is also essential for query optimization purposes as it now becomes clear that the types of data cube queries need to be optimized. Consequently, the domain of query optimization is determined by the scope of data cube queries.

Title:

IMPLEMENTATION OF FUZZY CLASSIFICATION QUERY LANGUAGE IN RELATIONAL DATABASES USING STORED PROCEDURES

Author(s):

Yauheni Veryha

Abstract: A framework of the fuzzy classification query language (fCQL) for data mining in information systems is presented. The fuzzy classification query language provides easy-to-use functionality for data extraction similar to the conventional non-fuzzy classification and SQL querying. The developed prototype is based on the stored procedures and database extensions of Microsoft SQL Server 2000. It can be used as data mining tool in large information systems and easily integrated with conventional relational databases. The benefits of using the presented approach include high flexibility for data analysis, user-friendly data presentation at the report generation phase and additional data security features due to the introduction of additional viewbased data layer.

Title:

AN XML-BASED VIRTUAL PATIENT RECORDS SYSTEM FOR HEALTHCARE ENTERPRISES

Author(s):

Zhang Xiaoou and Pung Hung Keng

Abstract: With the advent of shared care, there is a need to integrate patient records which spread in disparate information systems. In this paper, the design and implementation of an XML-based Virtual Patient Records System, XVPRS, is described. It uses World Wide Web to consolidate patient data across multiple organizations. The system uses XML-encoded HL7 as the application level protocol between legacy systems and XML as the main information format in the system itself. XVPRS also demonstrates how to transmit and process a clinical document using CDA. Our experience in XVPRS shows that using XML as the primary information format not only simplifies the development of single information system but also facilitates information integration among enterprise systems.

Title:

IMPORTING XML DOCUMENTS TO RELATIONAL DATABASES

Author(s):

Ale Gicqueau

Abstract: XML has made such a big impression on the technology industry that many thought that XML databases would eventually replace more traditional RDBMS. Now that IT professionals have started to implement viable XML solutions and the first excitement and sensation generated by this new technology has passed, we are realizing that XML and RDBMS can be considered complementary technologies. In fact, the value brought by the intelligent use of these combined technologies is significant because their individual strengths reside in very different areas. XML has become the lingua franca for data exchange between heterogeneous systems because it is text-based, platform independent, license free with a self-descriptive nature to present information and its structure. However, in many instances, you still need a traditional relational database like Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server to store, query and manipulate this data as XML is still inefficient as a data storage and access mechanism. Relational databases are by far the most commonly-used type of database today because it provides superior querying abilities, reduced data set size and richer data type support. For this reason, RDBMS and XML are here to stay and it is imperative to know how to map XML documents to relational databases. After reviewing the differences between XML and RDBMS format, this session will present you with programmatic ways and methods to import XML documents corresponding to any DTD into any relational database.

Title:

MANAGING UNCERTAIN TRAJECTORIES OF MOVING OBJECTS WITH DOMINO

Author(s):

Goce Trajcevski, Ouri Wolfson, Cao Hu, Hai Lin, Fengli Zhang and Naphtali Rishe

Abstract: This work describes the features of the DOMINO (Database fOr MovINg Objects) system, which brings several novelties to the problem of managing moving objects databases. Our robust model of a trajectory captures the inherent parameter of uncertainty of the moving objects location, which impacts both the semantics of spatio – temporal queries and the algorithms for their processing. In DOMINO, we present a set of novel operators which capture the spatial, temporal and uncertainty aspects of a moving object. The operators are implemented as UDFs (User Defined Functions) on top of existing ORDBMS and can be used for answering queries and generating notification triggers. DOMINO’s implementation, in which ORDBMS are coupled with other systems, seamlessly integrates several technologies: 1. existing electronic maps are used to generate the trajectory plan on behalf of a mobile user; 2. real-time traffic sources are used to automatically update the moving object’s trajectories; 3. powerful (web-browser) GUI enables users to monitor and pose queries about objects.

Title:

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR FINDING ENROUTE BEST ALTERNATE ROUTE

Author(s):

M. A. Anwar and S. Hameed

Abstract: Finding a good route for traveling has been a necessity of human beings and also one of the major problems faced by the transportation industry. The huge and complicated road network in a modern country makes it difficult to find a best route for traveling from one place to another and in developing countries this problem becomes more complex and complicated due to small number of inevitable links and road-track-crossing links, etc. The route searched by the shortest path algorithm alone may be a shortest one but could not guaranteed as a best route because many irrelevant/unusable road segments may be the part of the solution. Moreover, enROUTE emergencies may cause already decided route unusable or more time is required than in normal situations. In this paper, we discuss and propose adhoc database changes to find enroute best alternate route in case of any emergency. We also used knowledge-based techniques.

Title:

DATA MODELING FOR THE PURPOSE OF DATABASE DESIGN USING ENTITYRELATIONSHIP MODEL AND SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Author(s):

Joseph Barjis and Samuel Chong

Abstract: Database is the core of most Information Systems. While developing a new information system or analyzing an existing one, the analyst definitely has to deal with analysis and design of database as well. In order to design and develop a successful database application, it is very important to apply an appropriate modeling and formalization technique while building a conceptual model. In this paper the authors demonstrate the application of two modeling techniques for conceptual modeling of database application. The first one is semantic analysis, which is founded on the semiotic principles and the second is the Entity-Relationship (ER) model, which is a popular high-level conceptual data model. For illustration of these techniques in practice, the paper introduces a ‘Car Dealership’ case study. By way of the case study, this paper will demonstrate how the semantic analysis and its deliverable can add value to the ER model.

Title:

TOOLKIT FOR QOS MONITORING IN MIDDLEWARE

Author(s):

Peter Bodorik, Shawn Best and Dawn Jutla

Abstract: Problems associated with provisioning of Quality of Service (QoS) include negotiation and renegotiation of QoS level contracts between clients and servers, monitoring of services and system parameters, estimating performance by modeling, storage and management of data describing the system state, management of resources for QoS, and others. This paper describes a toolkit, developed for the Java platform, that facilitates monitoring of middleware components of e-business applications, particularly when they are accessing DBs. The toolkit provides for use of classes to measure delays of critical activities to “probe” the state of the system. The tookkit provides agents that collect and report data, and agents that initiate probes to obtain data on the system performance. Also provided is an agent that controls these monitoring activities. This approach is applicable to any QoS in which delays of activities need to be measured and which require probing the system to determine its state.

Title:

WEB APPLICATION MAKER

Author(s):

Miguel Calejo, Mário Araújo, Sónia Mota Araújo and Nuno Soares

Abstract: Declarativa's Web Application Maker (WAM) is a software development tool to build and maintain web interface front-ends to relational database back-ends, using a model-based approach. To specify interfaces it pragmatically extends a mainstream database application model: the relational database schema itself. Interface generating capabilities are available to the application programmer at runtime, minimizing the traditional conflict between model-based and customized code. The initial WAM prototype supports Microsoft SQL Server and Active Server Pages, for Windows and Macintosh browsers, and is being used in several customer projects.

Title:

USING PERSISTENT JAVA TO CONSTRUCT A GIS

Author(s):

Mary Garvey, Mike Jackson and Martin Roberts

Abstract: Object oriented databases (OODB) have been portrayed as being the solution for complex applications such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). One problem found with current GIS is that they concentrate on spatial data, rather than aspatial, ideally both should be able to be accessed within the one system. This paper discusses the development of a GIS that integrates both environments, which uses an object-oriented database and persistent programming technology.

Title:

VIRTUAL REALITY WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENT FOR WORKCELL PLANNING IN AN AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLY

Author(s):

Oleg Gusikhin, Erica Klampfl, Giuseppe Rossi, Celestine Aguwa, Gene Coffman and Terry Marinak

Abstract: This paper describes a new distributed, interactive software system to plan and optimize the layout of workcells in an automotive assembly line environment. The new system integrates a web-based client server architecture, a Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) interface, and mathematical algorithms capable of computing the total time required to complete a given sequence of tasks within a workcell. The system is designed to facilitate collaboration between the different functions that participate in the assembly line planning process.

Title:

PERSISTENCE FRAMEWORK FOR MULTIPLE LEGACY DATABASES

Author(s):

Sai Peck Lee and Chin Heong Khor

Abstract: This paper describes the development of an object persistence framework in the Java language to work with different storage mechanisms, while concentrating on transparency and reusability aspects. The persistence framework is made up of reusable and extendable sets of classes that provide services for persistence objects such as for translation of objects to records to be saved in a certain type of relational database and translation of records to objects when retrieving from the database. It supports storage in relational databases, flat files, e-mail servers, and the ObjectStore object database. The framework was found to be successful in providing basic persistence services while maintaining transparency.

Title:

INTRODUCING AN ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM IN A HOSPITAL

Author(s):

Steve C. A. Peters

Abstract: The introduction of integrated systems like ERP systems in service organisations often leads to unforeseen problems. Even when all necessary conditions for good project management are fulfilled, the implementation project gives problems. After our research with financial services companies we studied a similar project in a hospital. Based on our findings we developed a model explaining the reasons for the problems and suggesting another approach using a multi layer agent system to support the knowledge intensive processes.

Title:

STATE-SENSITIVE DESIGN OF DATABASE TRANSACTIONS

Author(s):

Yoshiyuki Shinkawa and Masao J. Matsumoto

Abstract: Many of the programs in enterprise information systems are performed in the form of database transactions. Unlike ordinary programs or modules, programs in this form do not transform input data uniquely into output data, whereas those in the ordinary forms transform input data uniquely. This non-deterministic property of database transactions causes the program semantics and correctness to be subtle, and make the design of enterprise information systems difficult. In addition, most enterprise business processes and operations are composed of those transactions, and designing such processes and operations is also a hard task because of the above non-determinism. This paper presents a formal approach to dealing with non-deterministic property of database transactions from enterprise information system and business process viewpoints. First we discuss the environmental characteristics that affect database transactions and business processes. Next we present a way to deal with concurrent transaction processing and state transition in an enterprise information system, which cause the non-determinism. Then we extend the discussion from single transaction to a complex of partially ordered transactions, which is referred to as a business process. Lastly, we consider non-determinism in inter-enterprise business processes which are often implemented as web-based collaboration systems.

Title:

DESIGNING AN OBJECT AND QUERY CACHE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR CODAR DATABASE ADAPTER

Author(s):

Zahir Tari, Abdelkamel Tari and Vincent Dupin

Abstract: CODAR is a CORBA-based adapter, designed at by the Distributed Object Research Group at RMIT University. It enables transparently making object persistent across different databases, including relational and object-oriented databases. CODAR is an extension of the OMG’s Portable Object Adapter (POA) to deal with specific aspects of the life cycle of persistent distributed objects. The first version of CODAR (Tari et al., 2002) had all the required core functionalities, however it failed to provide appropriate performance required by most of distributed applications. This paper presents an extension of CODAR to include an appropriate caching technique so better performance are obtained. Because CODAR also deals with (SQL) queries, object and query caches were proposed. The former caches generic collections so they can be re-used in later interactions, whereas the query cache deals with the eviction of objects based on several parameters (e.g. number of collections, frequency of access and update, cost of remote retrieval). A multi-level queue is designed to efficiently deal with the eviction of objects.

Title:

MODELING RELATIONAL DATA BY THE ADJACENCY MODEL

Author(s):

Jari Töyli, Matti Linna and Merja Wanne

Abstract: The World-Wide-Web contains data that cannot be constrained by a schema. Another source for such data is heterogenous corporate systems which are integrated in order to get better service for the users. Such data is commonly called semistructured data. Semistructured data has been under intensive investigation during the last few years. The main focus of interest has been on the development of new data models and new query languages. The most widely used data model for representing semistructured data is a graph-like or tree-like structure. The problem is to develop a model which could be all-embracing. In order to develop such a model we have introduced a new model called the Adjacency Model (AM). Our model is a general model which can be used to represent semistructured data as well as relational data.

Title:

THE MILLENNIUM INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS) FOR EUROPEAN PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT NETWORK (EPHEN)

Author(s):

Frank Wang, Ruby Sharma, Na Helian, Farhi Marir and Yau Jim Yip

Abstract: The European Public Health and Environment Network (EPHEN) had a pressing need to change the way their work activities were conducted. The aim of this project is to create a multi-user network information system to automate the daily activities carried out by the members’ of EPHEN. An integral part of the system will be the addition of a personalised internal email system to facilitate the flow of communication within the group. Also an innovative element will be integrated into the system to promote health awareness, especially as EPHEN’s primary concern is to encourage public health in society.

Title:

AN ELECTRONIC SCIENTIFIC NOTEBOOK: METADATA AND DATABASE DESIGN FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY DATA

Author(s):

Laura Bartolo, Austin Melton, Monica Strah, Cathy Lowe, Louis Feng and Christopher Woolverton

Abstract: This work in progress defines a user-based approach in the effective organization and management of data objects generated within a scientific laboratory from data creation to long-term use. The project combines a computer science approach of database systems with an information science approach of metadata formatting to organize and tag laboratory data. Long-term goals of this project include 1) learning how to organize and store biotechnology information, from raw data to finished research papers and electronic presentations, in formats which will encourage multidisciplinary use of the information; 2) applying the organizing knowledge gained and tools developed in storing biotechnology information to the storage of other similar scientific information; 3) developing an environment in which scientific information from different disciplines can be made more easily accessible by and meaningful to multidisciplinary research teams; and 4. ) constructing electronic scientific notebooks for the storage, retrieval, and dissemination of multidisciplinary scientific information.

Title:

THE IMPACT OF CHANGE ON IT PROFESSIONALS

Author(s):

Matthew C. F. Lau and Rebecca B. N. Tan

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an online survey carried out to establish the impact of change on Information Technology (IT) professionals in Singapore. The online questionnaire survey covered two major issues - the extent of the impact of change, and management response. It was found that most of the organizations are in the advanced stage of IT maturity, with a large majority having client/server technology implemented in consultation with staff and providing professional development for them. Though most of the respondents found their new role more exciting after implementing change and that their preferred career path is towards a management role with more varied skills, a significant percentage were interested in higher remuneration as well and not ruling out moving to better paid positions even in a volatile market. These findings are of practical significance for organizations involved in change management in general and in improving IT change management policies and strategies in particular, in today’s ever-changing business environment.

Area 2 - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Title:

SEMIQUALITATIVE REASONING FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BY CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMI

Author(s):

Pedro J. Abad, Antonio J. Suárez, Sixto Romero and Juan A. Ortega

Abstract: This paper presents a new approach for problem of the human effort estimation in software development projects (SDP). It represents a variation to the work presented by the same authors in the Third International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems [Suarez&Abad’01]. The subsystem of human resources of the Abdel-Hamid’s dynamic system is simulated in a semiqualitative way. In this approach we mix the purely qualitative information with the quantitative one to offer more precise results than obtained in the precedent work. We use CSP (Constrains Satisfaction Problem) for modelling the human resource subsystem. This way we generate a program under the constraint-programming paradigm that contains all the restrictions that should be full satisfied. Results of the simulation offer us a quantitative and qualitative idea of the necessity of human resources in software project.

Title:

INSURANCE MARKET RISK MODELING WITH HIERARCHICAL FUZZY RULE BASED SYSTEMS

Author(s):

R. Alcalá, O. Cordón, F. Herrera and I. Zwir

Abstract: The continued development of large, sophisticated, repositories of knowledge and information has facilitated the accessibility to vast amounts of data about complex objects and their behavior. However, in spite of the recent renewed interest in knowledge-discovery techniques (or data mining), the usefulness of these databases is partially limited by the inability to understand the system-related characteristics of the data. Some applications from the financial or insurance market –such the ones concerned with risk analysis– require to meet solutions that emphasize precision while aiding to understand and validate their structure and relations. We present results about an ongoing project being carried out by the Argentinian State Insurance Agency for tracking the status of the insurance companies, i.e., for screening and analyzing their condition through time. Specifically in this paper, we will tackle with the modeling of the mathematical reserves of the premiums, or risk reserves, of the insurance companies in the local insurance market. To do so, we propose the use of Linguistic Modeling which is one of the most important applications of Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems. Particularly, we apply Hierarchical Linguistic Modeling with the aim of obtaining the desired trade-off between accuracy and interpretability of the system modeled, i.e., decomposing such nonlinear systems into a number of simpler linguistically interpretable subproblems. The achieved results will be also compared with global hierarchical methods and other system modeling techniques, such as classical regressions and neural networks.

Title:

NEURAL NETWORKS AND WAVELETS FOR FACE RECOGNITION

Author(s):

Li Bai and Yihui Liu

Abstract: In this paper we present two novel face recognition methods based on wavelets and neural networks: one combines wavelets with eigenfaces, the other uses wavelets only. We also discuss face recognition methods based on orthogonal basis vectors such as the eigenface and fisherface methods. Though in different shapes and forms, there is something common in all the face recognition methods mentioned - they all involve producing a new set of orthogonal basis vectors to re-represent face images. We report the results of our extensive experiments on the new methods. Though there have been many pattern recognition methods based on wavelets and neural networks, our methods are novel in the sense that they either combine wavelets and eigenfaces in a novel way, or apply wavelets on 2D face images represented as 1D signals. Both methods have achieved better recognition rates than the known methods in the literature. The experiments are conducted on the ORL face database using a hierarchical radial basis function neural network classifier.

Title:

SUPPORTING ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS WITH AN INTELLIGENT COMPLIANCE AGENT A WAY TO ENSURE A STANDARD COMPLIED PROCESS

Author(s):

Larry Y. C. Cheung, Paul W. H. Chung and Ray J. Dawson

Abstract: Current workflow management systems (WfMSs) lack the ability to ensure a process is planned and performed in accord with a particular standard. The current best practice of providing reliable systems is to embody the development process in recent industry safety standards and guidelines, such as IEC 61508. These standards are generic, however, their every application is different because of the differences in project details. Our Compliance Flow research project aims to provide support for handing standard complied, complex, ad-hoc, dynamic changing, and collaborative engineering design process. This paper describes the use of an intelligent compliance agent, called Inspector, in Compliance Flow to ensure a standard complied process. The standard that the design process intended to be complied with is required to be modelled using the Standard Modelling Language in advanced in order to facilitate the compliance check performed by Inspector. The modelling is performed by means of a software tool called Standard Modeller in the system. Some examples drawing on a draft version of IEC 61508 are used to illustrate the mechanism of the modelling of standards and the compliance check.

Title:

APPLICABILITY OF ESTIMATION OF DISTRIBUTION ALGORITHMS TO THE FUZZY RULE LEARNING PROBLEM: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Author(s):

M. Julia Flores and José A. Gámez

Abstract: Nowadays, the machine learning is one of the most relevant problems in the computational scientific world. It results specially attractive to learn models showing both a predictive and descriptive behaviour at the same time. It is also desirable for these models to be able to deal with uncertainty and vagueness, inherent in almost every real world problem. Fuzzy Linguistic Rule-Based Systems represent one of the models that have all these features. Recently a methodology to learn such systems has been proposed: it treats the problem as a combinatorial optimization task. Several evolutionary algorithms have been used to guide the search, such as ant colonybased algorithms. In this paper, we propose to study the applicability of a family within evolutionary algorithms that has recently appeared: estimation of distribution algorithms. Since this is a first approach, we will focus on the simplest variants of this family, for example those based on univariate models. The experiments that have been carried out show them as competitive with regard to other evolutionary algorithms, e.g. genetic algorithms, with the advantage of requesting less input parameters and using fewer generations in one of the studied cases.

Title:

GROUP DECISION MAKING BASED ON THE LINGUISTIC 2-TUPLE MODEL IN HETEROGENEOUS CONTEXTS

Author(s):

F. Herrera and L. Martínez

Abstract: Lot of activities carried out in the enterprise implies Group Decision Making processes. In Group Decision Making is difficult that all experts have an exact knowledge about the problem. At the begining, Group Decision Making problems manage uncertainty with real values within a predefined range, soon interval valued approaches were proposed and more recently fuzzy-interval valued and linguistic approaches have obtained successfull results. In this paper, we shall deal with Group Decision Making problems in which the experts can express their knowledge over the alternatives using different types of information: numerical, interval valued, fuzzy-interval valued or the linguistic one, that is called Heterogeneous Information. The main problem to deal with heterogeneous information is: how to aggregate it?. The aim of the contribution is to develop an aggregation method able to combine all different types of information in the decision process. To do so, we shall use the the linguistic 2-tuple representation model.

Title:

USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS TO PROVE HYPOTHETIC CAUSE-ANDEFFECT RELATIONS: A METAMODEL-BASED APPROACH TO SUPPORT STRATEGIC DECISIONS

Author(s):

Christian Hillbrand and Dimitris Karagiannis

Abstract: Decision models which are based on recent management approaches often integrate cause-and-effect relations in order to identify critical operational measures for a strategic goal. Designers of Decision or Executive Support Systems implementing such a model face the problem that many of the supporting indicators are of non-financial nature (e.g.: customer satisfaction, efficiency of certain business processes, etc.) and cannot be easily quantified as a consequence. Since fuzzy-logic-applications provide numerous specific approaches in this area, our interest focuses on another issue which arises in this context: Due to this lack of numeric assessability of many lag indicators, the interdependencies between those figures cannot be formally described like between financial ratios. In this work, we propose an approach to overcome some shortcomings of many DSS/ESS which force their users to make unproven assumptions about existing interrelations: Because the accuracy of these hypotheses is one of the key quality issues of a decision model we provide a framework to evaluate and prove hypothetic cause-and-effect relations by the use of Artificial Neural Networks.

Title:

SUPPORTING THE OPTIMISATION OF DISTRIBUTED DATA MINING BY PREDICTING APPLICATION RUN TIMES

Author(s):

Shonali Krishnaswamy, Seng Wai Loke and Arkady Zaslavsky

Abstract: There is an emerging interest in optimisation strategies for distributed data mining in order to improve response time. Optimisation techniques operate by first identifying factors that affect the performance in distributed data mining, computing/assigning a “cost” to those factors for alternate scenarios or strategies and then choosing a strategy that involves the least cost. In this paper we propose the use of application run time estimation as solution to estimating the cost of performing a data mining task in different distributed locations. A priori knowledge of the response time provides a sound basis for optimisation strategies, particularly if there are accurate techniques to obtain such knowledge. In this paper we present a novel rough sets based technique for predicting the run times of applications. We also present experimental validation of the prediction accuracy of this technique for estimating the run times of data mining tasks.

Title:

STRATEGIC POSITION OF FIRMS IN TERMS OF CLIENT’S NEEDS USING LINGUISTIC AND NUMERICAL INFORMATION THROUGH A NEW MODEL OF SOFM

Author(s):

Raquel Flórez López

Abstract: The analysis of the strategic position of firms working in a specific market is very useful to understand the strengths and weakness of each company and to develop successful competitive positions [Porter, 1986]. In that way, there are many variables that influent the relative situation of companies, more of them expressed in linguistic terms (‘strong’, ‘weak’, ‘leadership’, etc). Even when classical statistical techniques, like Principal Component Analysis or Factorial Analysis, are very robust in mathematical terms, they do not allow integrating this sort of ‘fuzzy’ information in the model, reducing its efficiency. Additionally, these methods consider very restrictive initial hypotheses that used not to be fulfilled by data, not obtaining a global map over the final situation of enterprises but partial representations based on general combinations of them (factors). The employment of the Fuzzy Sets Theory and specially the 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic method to combine both numerical and linguistic information, together to the Artificial Neural Net known as Self Organizing Feature Map [Kohonen, 1990] permits to improve the whole positioning, obtaining an only final map that considers all disposable data in an efficient way and lets observe the relative distance among firms.

Title:

A CASE-BASED EXPERT SYSTEM FOR ESTIMATING THE COST OF REFURBISHING CONSTRUCTION BUILDINGS

Author(s):

Farhi Marir , Frank Wang and Karim Ouazzane

Abstract: CBRefurb is a case-based reasoning (CBR) system for the strategic cost estimation for building refurbishment. This domain is characterised by many uncertainties and variation. Its cost estimation involves large amount of interrelated factors whose impact is difficult to assess. This paper report on the problems faced by the building cost information Services (BCIS) databases and several rule-based expert systems to tackle this complex cost estimation problem and, the design and evaluation of CBRefurb system implemented using ReMind Shell. CBRefurb imitates the domain expert in its approach of breaking down the whole building work into smaller work (building items) by organising the refurbishment cases as a hierarchical structure composed of cases and subcases. The process of estimation imitates the expert by considering only these pieces of previous cases of similar situation (or context). For this purpose, CBRefurb defines some of the building and its component (or items) features as a global context and local context information used to classify cases and subcases into context cases and subcases, and to decompose the cost estimation problem into adaptable subproblems. This is followed by a two indexing schemes to suit the hierarchical structure of the case and the problem decomposition and to allow classification and retrieval of contextual cases. CBRefurb features consolidate the aim of the project that is allowing multiple retrieval of appropriate pieces of the refurbishment which are easier to adapt, reflecting the expert method of estimating cost for complex refurbishment work.

Title:

DATA MINING MECHANISMS IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Author(s):

I-Heng Meng, Wei-Pang Yang, Wen-Chih Chen and Lu-Ping Chang

Abstract: Data Mining and Knowledge Management are hot topics in business and academic domain in recent years. Data Mining means discovering interesting knowledge and patterns from large amounts of data. There are different models in Data Mining: association rule, sequential pattern, classification, clustering, outlier mining, and collaborative filtering. In this thesis, the data mining mechanisms are applied for knowledge management system and result in a better knowledge environment. The intelligent search engine, Collaborative prediction, virtual bookshelf and knowledge map are implemented by data mining mechanisms.

Title:

CONTROLLING AND TESTING A SPACE INSTRUMENT BY AN AI PLANNER

Author(s):

MD. R-Moreno, M. Prieto, D. Meziat, J. Medina and C. Martin

Abstract: The PESCA instrument has been designed and built with the purpose of studying the Solar Energetic Particles and the Anomalous Cosmic Rays. It will be part of the Russian PHOTON satellite payload that is scheduled to be launched in December of 2002. The instrument comprises two different blocks: the PESCA Instrument Amplification and Shaping Electronics (PIASE), for the amplification and analog to digital conversion, and the PESCA Instrument Control and Acquisition System (PICAS), for the control of the whole instrument and manages the communication with the satellite. An Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) software has been implemented using AI planning techniques to control and test the PESCA instrument and the communication process with the satellite. The tool allows complete and autonomous control, verification, validation and calibration of the PESCA instrument.

Title:

A TRAINING ENVIRONMENT FOR AUTOMATED SALES AGENTS TO LEARN NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES

Author(s):

Jim R. Oliver

Abstract: Automated negotiation by artificial adaptive agents (AAAs) holds great promise for electronic commerce, but many practical issues remain. Consider the case of a vendor that wishes to deploy a system of AAAs for negotiating with customers, which could be either human or machine. One disadvantage of earlier systems is the agent learning environment requires complete information about both sides involved in the negotiation, but a vendor will not have such private information about each customer’s preferences and negotiating strategies. We propose a computerized training environment that minimizes the information requirements about the opposing side. In our approach, customers are grouped into market segments. General characteristics of the segment are inputs to a simulation of multiple customers. The vendor’s agents learn general negotiation strategies for customers in each segment under the direction of a genetic algorithm. We describe a general system architecture, develop a prototype, and report on a set of experiments. The results provide preliminary evidence that this is a promising approach to training AAAs.

Title:

A DENSITY-BASED APPROACH FOR CLUSTERING SPATIAL DATABASE

Author(s):

Abdel Badee Salem, Taha ElAreef, Marwa F. Khater and Aboul Ella Hassanien

Abstract: Many applications require the management of spatial data. Clustering large spatial databases is an important problem, which tries to find the densely populated regions in the feature space to be used in data mining knowledge discovery, or efficient information retrieval. In this paper, we present a clustering algorithm which is based on a density-based approach that has been proven in its ability in processing very large spatial data sets Density-based approach requires only one input parameter and supports the user in determining an appropriate value for it. The applied algorithm is designed to discover clusters of arbitrary shape and noise. We experimented the algorithm using a sample of 452 points representing the latitude, the longitude, the depth and the magnitude of the earthquake. The algorithm works for k-dimensional data, we tried 2, 3 and 4-dimensional data sets. Our objective was to cluster these data points to study the earthquake behaviour in each cluster.

Title:

SIMPLE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM BASED ON FUZZY REPERTORY TABLE

Author(s):

J.J. Castro-Schez, L. Jimenez, J. Moreno and L. Rodriguez

Abstract: This paper shows how fuzzy repertory table technique (Castro et al., 2001) can be used as a simple decision support system for helping to a manager of a company when he is faced with a choice in which the options are clear (for instance, the choice of a suppliers from among all existing suppliers, or the choice of sell one product from among all existing posiblities). The manager must analyse each option making use of his knowledge, with the aim to highlight its characteristic qualities which are admirable in themselves or useful for our purpose and also its defective qualities. Next, the manager choices the more advantageous opcion according to this information. When the possible options are clear, the analysis implies make comparisons among the several options. Thus, the manager find out the characteristic and defective qualities associated to each option. With the suggested method in this paper, we identity the relevant information (characteristic and defective) associated to each option and recommend one option according to this information.

Title:

A MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION AID AGENT APPLIED TO THE SELECTION OF THE BEST RECEIVER IN A TRANSPLANT

Author(s):

Aïda Valls, Antonio Moreno and David Sánchez

Abstract: In this paper we describe an agent that applies a new multi-criteria decision methodology to analyse and rank a list of possible receivers for a particular organ. The ranking obtained is of great help for the Hospital Transplant Co-ordinator who has to make the final decision of which patient receives the organ. The agent that we have designed and implemented can be used in any other similar problem in which we have a list of alternatives that are evaluated with several qualitative preference criteria.

Title:

NEURAL NETWORKS FOR B2C E-COMMERCE ANALYSIS SOME ELEMENTS OF BEST PRACTICE

Author(s):

Alfredo Vellido

Abstract: The proliferation of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Internet companies that characterised the late ‘90s seems now under threat. A focus on customers’ needs and expectations seems more justified than ever and, with it, the quantitative analysis of customer behavioural data. Neural networks have been proposed as a leading methodology for data mining. They can be specially useful to deal with the vast amount of information usually generated in the Internet context. In this brief paper, a few guidelines for the application of neural networks to the analysis of the on-line customer market are proposed.

Title:

PROOF RUNNING TWO STATE-OF-THE-ART PATTERN RECOGNITION TECHNIQUES IN THE FIELD OF DIRECT MARKETING

Author(s):

Stijn Viaene, Bart Baesens, Guido Dedene, Jan Vanthienen and Dirk Van den Poel

Abstract: In this paper, we synthesize the main findings of three repeat purchase modelling case studies using real-life direct marketing data. Historically, direct marketing — more recently, targeted web marketing — has been one of the most popular domains for the exploration of the feasibility and the viable use of novel business intelligence techniques. Many a data mining technique has been field tested in the direct marketing domain. This can be explained by the (relatively) low-cost availability of recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) and several other customer relationship data, the (relatively) well-developed understanding of the task and the domain, the clearly identifiable costs and benefits, and because the results can often be readily applied to obtain a high return on investment. The purchase incidence modelling cases reported on in this paper were in the first place undertaken to trial run state-of-the-art supervised Bayesian learning multilayer perceptron (MLP) and least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) classifiers. For each of the cases, we also aimed at exploring the explanatory power (relevance) of the available RFM and other customer relationship related variable operationalizations for predicting purchase incidence in the context of direct marketing.

Title:

MEDICAL DATA BASE EXPLORATION THROUGH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Author(s):

Lucimar F. de Carvalho, Candice Abella S. Dani, Hugo T. de Carvalho, Diego Dozza, Silvia M. Nassar  and Fernando M. de Azevedo

Abstract: The objective of this work is the consideration and implementation of some basic premises used in the learning process in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN`s). Initially the net will be trained with the algorithm of competitive learning through the Kohonen Self-Organizable Map to, starting from the result, be compared with the Active X Neusciences simulator. The chosen domain for the implementation of the learning algorithms was the application in the Clinical Diagnosis of the Convulsive Crises, based on the International Classification League Against Epilepsy ILAI/81 (COMMISSION, 1981). According to the results of the simulator, the base of training of the net, the net showed a satisfactory performance in 77,7% of the neurons used in the classification of patterns. Only 22,3% of the neurons of the net didn't obtain a high index of convergence. Through the implementation of the standard algorithm of Kohonem and using the 2x2 configuration, in other words, four exit neurons, the test set of the net obtained an index of classification of 100%.

Title:

EVALUATING EMS VALUE - THE CASE OF A SMALL ACCOUNTANCY FIRM

Author(s):

Carlos J. Costa and Pedro Antunes

Abstract: This paper discusses the evaluation of Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS). More specifically, it tackles the problem of evaluating the perceived organizational value of these systems. EMS lay down one sub area of research crossing Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Group Support Systems (GSS) in particular and information systems in general. Based on these multiple perspectives, we developed an evaluation grid for EMS. The evaluation grid identifies several EMS components as well as different levels of organizational impact. Our hypothesis is that with this grid it is possible to analyse and evaluate the organisational, group and individual impact of EMS. The paper also presents an application of the grid to a real organization: an accountancy firm.

Title:

USING CELLULAR AUTOMATA IN TRAFFIC MODELING

Author(s):

Monica Dascalu, Sergiu Goschin and Eduard Franti

Abstract: The paper presents a traffic simulator intended to be used in Bucharest, Romania, in order to solve usual traffic problems and obtain better traffic management performances with the same basic route network. The simulator makes short time traffic predictions starting from data extracted from real traffic. Usually, traffic predictors use statistic methods instead of simulation techniques. The advantage of a performant simulation over statistic prediction comes mainly from its ability to treat the untypical situations, exactly the ones that need a precise prediction. The traffic simulator is based on cellular automata model, a very simple and regular massive parallel model, which is able to make real time computations in such complex situations that the traffic simulations imply. The cellular automata simulator has been adapted to the topology given by the Bucharest city center map and its performances were tested in various real situations. The simulation proved to be very performant in cases like two-lane streets intersections, narrowing due to accidents or street repairs etc.

Title:

THE AEX METHOD AND ITS INSTRUMENTATION

Author(s):

Sabine Delaitre, Alain Giboin and Sabine Moisan

Abstract: We aim at elaborating a decision support system to manage concrete experience, using Artificial Intelligence methods, such as Case-Based Reasoning. We target any organization that wishes to capture and exploit its employees’ experience. This paper focuses on a key point: the method to obtain the system memory. We present AEX, an experience feedback method that we developed and instrumented for risk managers to help them share their experience and to support their critical tasks (e.g., intervention). The elaboration of AEX was based on the analysis and modeling of the risk managers’ real activity (esp., their decision-making and knowledge management processes). The instrumentation of AEX resulted in a computer tool based on a corporate memory. The paper reviews the AEX method, and illustrates and discusses its use through a scenario related to Forest Fire Fighting Management. The paper also describes how the method was instrumented, focusing on the feasibility of the instrumentation. Perspectives on the future of the method and of its instrumentation are presented. This paper proposes an experience feedback method centered on a corporate memory, regarded as an active organizational memory (Sorli,1999) which favors organizational learning for individuals and groups as in (VanHeijst,1996). We present this method, named AEX, and its instrumentation to facilitate risk management. AEX aims at capturing and re-using the experience from a specific risk management activity of an organization to learn lessons and to improve this activity (Lagadec,1997), (Greenlee,1998). Our method focuses on the intervention part in risk management like in (Xanthopoulos,1994), (Avesani,1993) but by reusing the experience itself which is regarded as a new way to assist emergency management (Huet,1999). During intervention, people (called managers in the following) have to decide about the actions to undertake.

Title:

IMPROVING ACCESS TO MULTILINGUAL ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS WITH USER MODELLING CONTEXT ENRICHED CROSS-LANGUAGE IR

Author(s):

Alberto Díaz, Pablo Gervás and Antonio García

Abstract: The enterprise systems for the processing and retrieval of textual information are usually based on the techniques used for the Internet search engines, incorporating natural language techniques, graph theory, as well as traditional information retrieval instruments. This paper presents a simultaneous integration of two additional processes into this task in order to improve the performance of this type of systems: user modeling and cross language information retrieval. The different situations that can appear in a multilingual framework are presented, as well as the techniques and resources to be applied to them. We describe the user modeling task and we defend its usefulness to a multilingual information system through the presentation of a prototype that has been applied to the electronic newspaper domain.

Title:

HIGH DIMENSIONAL DATA CLUSTERING USING SOFM AND K-MEANS ALGORITHMS

Author(s):

Tarek F. Gharib, Mostafa G. Mostafa and Mohammed F. Tolba

Abstract: In this paper we present an algorithm that cluster multidimensional data in two stages. The algorithm uses, in the first stage, a self-organizing feature map (SOFM) neural network for finding prototypes of the classes’ centroids. Then, in the second stage, a partitive clustering k-means algorithm is used to cluster the original data using the centroids obtained from the SOFM. The most important benefit of this procedure is that computational load decreases considerably, making it possible to cluster large data sets and to consider several different preprocessing strategies in a limited time. We present a comparison between the performance of direct clustering of data, using a K-means algorithm, and the clustering of the same data using the proposed algorithm. The results show that, using SOFM as a preprocessing step for the k-means has greatly increased the accuracy and decreased the computations. Also, we show the effect of using different metric distances on the clustering accuracy.

Title:

NATURAL LANGUAGE INTERFACE TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Melanie Gnasa and Jens Woch

Abstract: In this paper, we present linguistic techniques required for natural language driven knowledge management interfaces. We describe two significant aspects of such an interface: First, how the user input is handled to provide an unrestricted natural language user interface, and second, how the gathered knowledge should be preprocessed, classified and thus prepared for a natural language interactive retrieval. A framework of grammatical structures (supertags) is associated with the elements of an ontology (of the respective domain). This combination of ontologies and supertagging describes a novel and very robust way in parsing of nontrivial user utterances and allows natural language feedback generation.

Title:

LEARNING TO TEACH DATABASE DESIGN BY TRIAL AND ERROR

Author(s):

Ana Iglesias, Paloma Martínez, Dolores Cuadra, Elena Castro and Fernando Fernández

Abstract: The definition of effective pedagogical strategies for coaching and tutoring students according to their needs in each moment is a high handicap in ITS design. In this paper we propose the use of a Reinforcement Learning (RL) model, that allows the system to learn how to teach to each student individually, only based on the acquired experience with other learners with similar characteristics, like a human tutor does. This technique avoids to define the teaching strategies by learning action policies that define what, when and how to teach. The model is applied to a database design ITS system, used as an example to illustrate all the concepts managed in the model.

Title:

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY AN A.I. APPLICATION IN THE INDUSTRY

Author(s):

Michael S.M. and Deepak Khemani

Abstract: Traditional manufacturing plants rely on an engineering department, which acts as an interface between the R&D experts, and the shop floor managers to ensure that the best engineering solutions are available for problems encountered in the shop floor. This paper focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of the engineering department by the use of knowledge management and information technology. This paper discusses the processes introduced to facilitate knowledge management. This paper also discusses the use of one discipline of artificial intelligence, case based reasoning, in providing an information technology solution where domain knowledge is weak and tends to be lost when experts leave the plant.

Title:

AUGMENTED DATA MINING OVER CLINICAL DATABASES USING LEARNING CLASSIFIER SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Manuel Filipe Santos, José Neves, António Abelha, Álvaro M. Silva and Fernando Rua

Abstract: The scheduling of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) resources is an important issue in any health center and particularly at the ICU of the Santo António’s Hospital (located in OPorto, the biggest Portuguese city north of Lisbon), due the limitations of equipment and the extents of the waiting lists for surgeries. This motivated the construction of a Medical Decision Support System (MDSS) for simulation of predictive scenarios and automatic configuration of the ICU equipment, based on Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD) and Data Mining (DM) techniques. A Learning Classifier System (LCS) was applied for DM proposes, to predict the length of stay (short or prolonged) and the outcome of patients with a particular diagnostic. The obtained model was induced using 18 input variables and a database of 487 patients, attaining a maximal accuracy of 72%. The interpretation of this model revealed to be very accessible and it is programmed its deployment in the ICU. In this paper it will be introduced the knowledge discovery overall process, the preliminary results so for obtained and, finally, will be pointed out some scenarios for future work and drawn some critics on the work that has been carried out so far.

Title:

USING MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC JOB SHOP SCHEDULING

Author(s):

Min-Jung Yoo and Jean-Pierre Müller

Abstract: Today’s industries need more flexible scheduling systems able to produce new valid schedule in response to the modifications concerning orders, production processes and deliveries of materials. This paper introduces a multi-agent system applied to a job shop dynamic scheduling problem in which new production orders or deliveries arrive continuously and affect the already scheduled plan. We have solved the problem by: i) coupling reactive and pro-active agent behavior; and ii) implementing a stochastic method - simulated annealing - into agent’s behavior. The job shop scheduling system is implemented using various types of agents whose interactions make the global state of the system move from a solution to another by continuously adapting to the changes from the environment. In this perspective, the interactions between the agents representing the client job orders, the production centers and the material stocks result in the assignment of operations and the plan for stock movements. Our experimental results show that, by modifying the classical agent-based message scheme, the integration of stochastic approach and multi-agent based technology could improve dynamic scheduling problems for a small to medium size problem space.

Title:

THE APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR HEAT ENERGY USE PREDICTION

Author(s):

Leszek Kieltyka, and Robert Kucêba

Abstract: This article presents the method of predicting heat network use using the Intelligent System of Prediction (ISP). ISP uses neuron networks generated by the BrainMaker and Neuronix software. The measured effect of the applied methods is the results of prediction as well as accuracy of prognosis in the use of heat networks in a regional perspective.

Title:

KNOWLEDGE-BASED IMAGE UNDERSTANDING A RULE-BASED PRODUCTION SYSTEM FOR X-RAY SEGMENTATION

Author(s):

Linying Su, Bernadette Sharp and Claude Chibelushi

Abstract: Image Understanding (IU) concerns the issues of how to interpret images. Knowledge-based image understanding studies the theory and techniques of computational image understanding, which uses explicit, independent knowledge about the images, such as their context and objects in them, as well as knowledge about the imaging system. Two related disciplines, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Image Processing (IP), can contribute significantly to image understanding. A rule-based production system is a widely used knowledge representation technique, which may be used to capture various kinds of knowledge, such as perceptual, functional, and semantic knowledge, in image understanding system. This paper addresses some issues of knowledge-based approach to image understanding, presents a rule-based production system for X-ray segmentation, and proposes its expansion of incorporation with multiple knowledge sources. Here we just present the segmentation part of our research project, which aims at applying knowledge-based approach to interpret X-ray images of bone and to identify the fractured regions.

Title:

A TAXONOMY FOR INTER-MODEL PARALLELISM IN HIGH PERFORMANCE DATA MINING

Author(s):

Ling Tan, David Taniar and Kate A. Smith

Abstract: This paper categorizes data mining inter-model parallelism into two types, namely constructive inter-model parallelism and predictive inter-model parallelism. In constructive inter-model parallelism, we present single algorithm with parametric difference and with data difference, and multiple algorithms with parametric difference. And in predictive inter-model parallelism, we present multiple models of similar size and of different size.

Area 3 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND SPECIFICATION

Title:

SOME REFLECTIONS ON IS DEVELOPMENT AS OPERATOR OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Author(s):

Ana Almeida and Licinio Roque

Abstract: We discuss the role of IS development within the context of organisational learning. We present a theorisation about IS development based on the framework provided by Activity Theory and the Expansive Learning model. We propose that the activity of IS development can be understood as an operator of organisational change through a process of expansive learning. We reflect about some of the consequences for IS research and practice. That there can be three explicit perspectives over the context of IS development. That these different perspectives can be combined through the use of explicit models of context and mediators. That IS as organisational change operator could be managed through the coevolution of models of context and mediators, trough a set of purposeful activities as methodological movements: diagnostic, innovation, creation, evaluation, adaptation and generalisation.

Title:

ANALYSIS OF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE PRESCRIPTIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE APPROACHES OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEM PLANNING

Author(s):

Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy

Abstract: The information system planning area presents today several challenges to managers and researchers. This has happened because modern information technologies are quickly changing the way they affect and impact the company’s competition. In this context, the Information Systems Strategic Planning (ISSP) becomes a critical issue on the area of information system management. For years, ISSP models have been oriented towards a prescriptive approach. New approaches for ISSP, in a descriptive line, may contribute to the search of solutions for current challenges. This article’s goal is to analyze the relations between descriptive and prescriptive approaches on ISSP elaboration, looking for an explanatory model regarding the implementation of the plan created. The study is based on a qualitative research, and cases studies the main research method. As a contribution, it develops an analysis of cases studies results and presents the proposed model.

Title:

ANALYSING COMMUNICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF A SOFTWARE PRODUCTION ORGANISATION

Author(s):

M. Cecilia C. Baranauskas, Juliana P. Salles and Kecheng Liu

Abstract: While quality has been widely stressed in literature as a goal of the software design methodologies, quality as a result of the interaction among the actors involved in the design and development processes has not received the same attention. This work aims to investigate the software production process by addressing the communication among work groups in the organisation. Our focus is on understanding the communication process that takes place among the groups, considering that the computational artefact emerges as a result of the communicational acts issued between people with different roles in the process. We base our understanding of communication in semiotic foundations, to propose a framework for analysing communication in the whole process of system design and development. The design process of a real organisation that produces commercial software illustrates our main ideas.

Title:

BUSINESS MODELLING WITH UML: DISTILLING DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Author(s):

Sergio de Cesare, Mark Lycett and Dilip Patel

Abstract: The Unified Modelling Language (UML) was originally conceived as a general-purpose language capable of modelling any type of system and has been used in a wide range of domains. However, when modelling systems, the adoption of domain-specific languages can enable and enhance the clarity, readability and communicability amongst modellers of the same domain. The UML provides support for extending the language for defining domain-specific meta-elements. This paper approaches the UML from a business perspective and analyses its potential as a business modelling language. The analysis proceeds along two complementary paths: a critical study of UML diagrams and a description of UML extensibility mechanisms for the definition of a business profile.

Title:

THE SEMANTICS OF REIFYING N-ARY RELATIONSHIPS AS CLASSES

Author(s):

Mohamed Dahchour and Alain Pirotte

Abstract: Many data models do not directly support n-ary relationships. In most cases, they are either reduced to some of their binary projections or directly translated into an n-ary “relationship relation” in the relational model. This paper addresses the reification of an n-ary relationships into a new class with n binary relationship and studies the preservation of semantics in the translation. It shows that some semantics may be lost unless some explicit constraints are added to the binary schema.

Title:

UPDATING DATA IN GIS: HOW TO MAINTAIN DATABASE CONSISTENCY?

Author(s):

H. Kadri-Dahmani and A. Osmani

Abstract: Preserving the consistency of a geographical database requires the development of tools for integrating or removing data and making several versions of any geographical objects coexist without altering neither the global consistency, nor the informational power of the database. To construct such tool, two problems must be solved: how to organize the data for efficient updating and how to maintain the database consistency during and after the integration of updates. The latter may be automated in the form of an Integration Module. One of its main tasks is to detect conflicts which perturb the consistency of the database during the update integration. This paper describes the Integration Module we have designed and its role in the general updating process we propose for GIS.

Title:

A PROPOSAL FOR THE INCORPORATION OF THE FEATURES MODEL INTO THE UML LANGUAGE

Author(s):

Ivan Mathias Filho, Toacy C. de Oliveira and Carlos J.P. de Lucena

Abstract: Feature modeling is one of the most successful techniques in use to promote the reuse of software artifacts as of the initial stages of development. The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for the incorporation of feature modeling into the UML language, which has become a standard for the modeling of object-oriented software. The precise and careful specification of this proposal, which uses formal and informal techniques such as graphic notation, natural language and formal language, will permit the building of tools that provide support to the development of feature models for families of applications, and the instantiation of members of these families based on these models. Moreover, the use of the XMI standard in the representation of the feature models will facilitate their integration with the many CASE tools already existing on the market.

Title:

ONTOLOGIES SUPPORTING BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING

Author(s):

Alexandra Galatescu and Taisia Greceanu

Abstract: The paper motivates the ontologies for the automation of a Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) methodology (in particular, for the continuous and incremental improvement of the business processes using TQM - Total Quality Management). It describes and exemplifies an upper-level ontology with linguistic features and its application to three particular ontologies: BPR, domain and communication ontology. The main benefits from ontologies for BPR are: (1) they facilitate the (virtual) team work by providing a common vocabulary and understanding, (2) the ontological axioms support the organization and formalization of the BPR specific knowledge, as well as the inferences upon it, (3) an upper-level ontology helps for the integration of BPR and domain specific information and knowledge.

Title:

CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURE FOR THE ASSESSME NT AND IMPROVEMENT OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE

Author(s):

Félix García, Francisco Ruiz, Mario Piattini and Macario Polo

Abstract: The management of software processes is a complex activity due to the great number of different aspects to be considered. For this reason it is useful to establish a conceptual architecture which includes all the aspects necessary to be able to manage this complexity. The fundamental element in all conceptual architecture is constituted by meta-data, which, organized in different levels of modeling, can be used to manage effectively the complexity of the software processes and especially the maintenance process (Pigosky, 1996). In this study we present a conceptual architecture of 4 levels to represent and manage the assessment and improvement of software process by means of the definition of the appropriate models and meta-models. This architecture is based on the standard MOF (Meta object Facility) proposed by the Object Management Group (OMG,2000). In particular this architecture includes all the necessary aspects for carrying out the assessment and improvement of the Software Maintenance Process (SMP) and allows us to represent the different data and meta-data used in its management by means of the modeling of concepts at different levels of abstraction: meta-models of generic processing, models of software processes, concrete software processes (in our case, that of the assessment of other processes) and instances of carrying out a specific process. As a support to this architecture we present MANTIS- Metamod, a tool for the modeling of software processes based on the concepts discussed previously. MANTIS- Metamod is a component of MANTIS, an integral environment for the management of the SMP, including its assessment and improvement.

Title:

REUSABLE COMPONENT EXTRACTION FROM INTELLINGENT NETWORK MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS

Author(s):

Dániel Hoványi

Abstract: One of the most important issues targeted by the software industry in the last few decades is the problem of reusability. In spite of the efforts being made, the results are not satisfactory. This paper discusses this issue within a limited scope, analysing the possibilities for reuse within the telecommunication and intelligent network services domain, and presenting a process for the extraction of reusable components from existing applications. The first section of the paper gives an overview of the context, the second section presents our process for component extraction, whereas the third section shows some examples of the results of the process.

Title:

SEMANTIC AUGMENTATION THROUGH ONTOLOGY FOR XML INTEGRATION SERVER

Author(s):

Zaijun Hu

Abstract: XML is widely used in the industry for information integration and exchange due to its flexible, open, extensible features as well as strong support by the leading software firms. One purpose of the integration is to provide a unified search service for different data sources. In this paper we will present an ontologybased semantic augmentation method that can be used to build a semantic graph for effective and efficient search. We will define the fundamental structure of the ontology, the semantic augmentation process and the basic software components that compose the system.

Title:

DESIGNING BUSINESS PROCESSES AND COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES FOR E-BUSINESS USING ONTOLOGY-BASED ENTERPRISE MODELS WITH MATHEMATICAL MODELS

Author(s):

Henry M. Kim and K. Donald Tham

Abstract: Organizations are apprehensive about developing e-business systems because the endeavor is novel. If ebusiness is considered as the conduct of business using the Internet—a network of networks—then ebusiness systems design can be represented as a network design problem. This paper outlines an approach for analysis and design of business process and communications structure networks for e-business. Network design alternatives are generated by applying best practices and design principles to business requirements, using ontology-based enterprise models. Alternatives then are modeled mathematically for analysis and comparison. Domains relevant for e-business systems design are described, formally and systematically, using this approach. These formal descriptions are general axioms, used to logically and mathematically infer prescriptions for specific design problems. These descriptions and prescriptions are sharable and reusable. The mathematical models are developed using known algorithms, heuristics, and formulae. Therefore, fidelity of prescriptions based on these models can be objectively justified. Due to these characteristics, models developed using this technique are especially useful for developing novel e-business systems. An example application of this technique is presented, and research questions addressed using the approach are discussed.

Title:

USING ATOM3 AS A META-CASE TOOL

Author(s):

Juan de Lara and Hans Vangheluwe

Abstract: In this paper we present AToM3, A Tool for Multi-formalism and Meta-Modelling, and show how it can be used to generate CASE tools. AToM3 has a meta-modelling layer which allows one to model formalisms (simulation formalisms, software modelling notations, etc.) and is able to generate custom tools to process (create, edit, simulate, optimize, etc.) models expressed in these formalisms. AToM3 relies on graph rewriting techniques and graph grammars to express such model processing. AToM3 has been designed and used mostly for modelling and simulation of physical systems. In this paper we show that it can also be used to describe tools for analysis, design and synthesis of software. We demonstrate this by creating tools for structured analysis and design, and by defining some graph grammars to automatically transform Data Flow Diagrams into Structure Charts and to ’optimize’ these models.

Title:

FRAMEWORKS – A HIGH LEVEL INSTANTIATION APPROACH

Author(s):

Toacy C. de Oliveira, Ivan Mathias Filho and Carlos J.P. de Lucena

Abstract: Object-oriented frameworks are currently regarded as a promising technology for reusing designs and implementations. However, developers find there is still a steep learning curve when extracting the design rationale and understanding the framework documentation during framework instantiation. Thus, instantiation is a costly process in terms of time, people and other resources. These problems raise a number of questions including: “How can frameworks be instantiated more quickly and with greater ease? How can the same high-level design abstractions that were used to develop the framework be used during framework instantiation instead of using source code as is done currently? How can we capture the designers’ knowledge of the framework in order to expose reuse points using high level abstractions?” In this paper we present a systematic approach to the framework instantiation process that captures and exposes high level abstractions using the Feature Model which is then mapped to an extended UML notation and a domain specific language for instantiation process control. On top off all these techniques there we have developed an environment that uses XMI as backend representation and guides the reuser through the process.

Title:

AUTOMATING THE CODE GENERATION OF ROLE CLASSES IN OO CONCEPTUAL SCHEMAS

Author(s):

Vicente Pelechano, Manoli Albert, Eva Campos and Oscar Pastor

Abstract: In this work, we present an automatic code generation process from conceptual schemas. This process incorporates the use of design patterns in OO-Method, an automatic software production method, which is built on a formal object-oriented model called OASIS. Our approach defines a precise mapping between conceptual patterns, design patterns and their implementation. Design patterns make code generation process easy because they bring the problem space to the solution space. In order to understand these ideas, we introduce a complete code generation of conceptual schemas that have player/role relationships. This proposal can be incorporated into CASE tools, making the automation of the software production process feasible.

Title:

A FUNCTIONAL SIZE MEASUREMENT METHOD FOR EVENT-BASED OBJECTORIENTED ENTERPRISE MODELS

Author(s):

Geert Poels

Abstract: The effective management of IS-related processes requires measuring the functional size of information systems. Functional size measurement is usually performed using the Function Points Analysis method. Earlier attempts to apply Function Point counting rules to object-oriented systems met with serious problems because the implicit model of functional user requirements in Function Points Analysis is hard to reconcile with the object-oriented paradigm. The emergence of a new generation of functional size measurement methods has changed this picture. The main implementation of this generation, COSMIC Full Function Points, explicitly defines a generic model of functional user requirements onto which artifacts belonging to any IS specification or engineering methodology can be mapped. In this paper we present specific COSMIC-FFP mapping rules for methodologies that take an event-based approach to information system engineering. In particular we show that the event-oriented nature of the COSMIC-FFP measurement rules provides for a natural mapping of concepts. To illustrate the mapping rules we use MERODE, a formal event-based object-oriented methodology for systems development in information processing intensive domains. The mapping rules presented are confined to the enterprise layer in a MERODE IS architecture.

Title:

THE CONTEXT ENGINEERING APPROACH

Author(s):

Licínio Roque and Ana Almeida

Abstract: We present a brief overview of the activities that constitute our practice as IS developers and proceed to organise them in a Context Engineering framework to accomplish the co-evolution of context and mediators, as a way to proactively drive organisational change. This approach proposes the explicit consideration of the context as object of design. That goal has been illustrated with excerpts from a business modelling case that proposes to build trust through anonymity in the context of online retailing. We use the value net tool for strategic analysis and UML collaborations as possible models for context.

Title:

SEQUENCE CONSTRAINTS IN BUSINESS MODELLING AND BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING

Author(s):

Monique Snoeck

Abstract: Separation of concerns is one of the main principles for achieving maintainability and adaptability of software systems. In particular, when analysing business rules it is important to separate business process aspects from essential business rules. Current object-oriented analysis methods offer little support for this. In this paper we explore the problem of sequence constraints on business events. Some of these constraints are the result of the way the business is organised whereas other are essential for the business. In addition we investigate how to ensure the compatibility between business rules and business processes.

Title:

A TOOL FOR ASSESSING THE CONSISTENCY OF WEBSITES

Author(s):

Sibylle Steinau, Oscar Díaz, Juan J. Rodríguez and Felipe Ibánez

Abstract: Usability is becoming an increasingly important design factor for web sites. However time and budget contstraints for web projects prevents the hiring of usability professionals to conduct tests that are costly and time consuming to perform. A number of automatic usability assessment tools have been developed most of which offer reports on a per-page basis. However, they fail to provide inter-page assessments to test, for example the consistency of the site. Consistency refers to the extent to which a set of pages share a common layout. This work presents CAT, a Consistency Analysis Tool that, besides providing static, page-based usability measures, strives to assess the consistency of a website using Java and XSLT. The tool is based on a consistency model which is updated every time a page has been processed. Consistency testing involves collating the page with this model, reporting mismatches with the consistency attributes and adapting the model as new features are encountered for the first time.

Title:

THE GOLD MODEL CASE TOOL: AN ENVIRONMENT FOR DESIGNING OLAP APPLICATIONS

Author(s):

Juan Trujillo, Sergio Luján-Mora and Enrique Medina

Abstract: The number of On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) applications in the market has dramatically increased in the last years. Most of these applications provide their own multidimensional (MD) models to represent main MD properties, thereby making the design totally dependent of the target commercial OLAP application. In this paper, we present a Computer-Aided Software-Engineering (CASE) operational environment to accomplish the design of an OLAP applications totally independent of the target commercial OLAP tool. The designer uses a Unified Modeling Language (UML) compliant approach to represent MD properties at the conceptual level. Once the conceptual design is finished, the CASE tool semi-automatically generates the corresponding implementation into the target commercial OLAP tool. Therefore, our approach frees conceptual design from implementation issues.

Title:

AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF BENCHMARKING SPREAD AND MATURITY

Author(s):

Mohamed Zairi and Majed Al-Mashari

Abstract: Developing best practice through benchmarking features as a critical activity in the business world as it is a vital approach for sharing and transferring knowledge. Companies across the globe have embraced these concepts but have done so with a varied level of success. Some have managed to create huge market place advantages whilst others have fared less favourably. The purpose of this research is to establish the level of benchmarking activity and application globally. The information gathered included both the hard and soft issues associated with benchmarking and following analysis, attempted to evaluate the level of benchmarking maturity reached across different industry fields and size of operation. This global survey helps understand what leads to effective benchmarking and development of best practices.

Title:

TAMING PROCESS DEVIATIONS BY LOGIC BASED MONITORING

Author(s):

Ilham Alloui, Sorana Cîmpan and Flavio Oquendo

Abstract: In a context of continuous change, monitoring processes and their interactions is a key issue for computing and reacting to the deviations that might occur with respect to a defined model that serves as reference. We consider that deviations of real processes with respect to their models have to be managed and that process centred logic-based monitoring represents a suitable approach to handle such a problem. This paper presents a logic-based process monitoring system (language and execution mechanisms) that focuses on the detection of deviations between an actual process execution and its expected behaviour. The approach addresses monitoring of individual process activities as well as the interactions among them. The work presented has been developed and validated in the framework of an ESPRIT IV LTR project.

Title:

APPLYING DOMAIN MODE LING AND SECI THEORY IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR INFORMATION SYST EMS ANALYSIS

Author(s):

Akihiro Abe

Abstract: Cases of the application of knowledge management in information systems fields are limited except for trouble-shooting, project management, and software quality improvement. This paper describes the knowledge management framework by referring to the domain modeling method and the SECI theory with regard to improvement in the quality of the information systems analysis process. The process of proposed knowledge management is divided into four phases of knowledge conversion and is discussed in terms of the IT and methodology needed to support each phase of knowledge conversion. Taking the transportation and delivery scheduling system domain as an example, basic structures of a domain model and effectiveness/characteristics of the knowledge management framework are shown. The obtained domain model that is stored in the knowledge repository has been refined and enhanced repeatedly through on-trial evaluations in actual information system analyses and has almost reached a practical level.

Title:

IF YOU WISH TO CHANGE THE WORLD, START WITH YOURSELF

Author(s):

Ilia Bider and Maxim Khomyakov

Abstract: During the past ten years, requirements on functionality of business applications have been slowly changing. This shift consists of moving from traditional command based applications to inherently interactive applications of workflow and groupware type. For modeling new kind of business applications, the authors suggest an approach to defining interaction that is not based on explicit communication. In this approach, interaction is realized via active relationships that can propagate changes from one object to another. Based on this idea, which comes from the previous research work of the authors, the paper discusses the issues of introducing “harnesses” on the interactive behavior, finding the right place for the end-users in the model, and modeling distribution of tasks between different users.

Title:

ON THE USE OF JACKSON STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING (JSP) FOR THE STRUCTURED DESIGN OF XSL TRANSFORMATIONS

Author(s):

Guido Dedene

Abstract: This paper develops a new original application of Jackson Structured Programming to the structured design of XSL Translations sheets in XML-technology. The approach is illustrated by means of an XML version of Jackson’s Sorted Movements File example, with several design variations. The method proposed in this paper is an XSLT-design technique which can be implemented as an XSLT-generator.

Title:

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DYNAMIC ALIGNMENT OF STRATEGIES

Author(s):

S. Hanlon and L. Sun

Abstract: As IT evolves and business changes, the role of information systems and information technology becomes important in redefining the boundaries within which businesses operate. Current literature on the alignment of information technology strategy, information systems strategy and business strategy, and the conceptual models available, provide a structured, iterative approach in assisting businesses to rethink their strategic positions. A synergy is created between the organisation and its management processes, corporate and business strategy, the IT platform and IS architecture. This paper presents a holistic framework which consists of two main models: Strategic Alignment Web (SAW), Strategic Alignment Evaluation Web (SAEW), to assist a process of alignment of IT/IS strategy, corporate/business strategy, the organisational structure, governance and information management and people, culture and resources. A case study has been used to demonstrate the use of the techniques to create these models and is followed by the critical analysis of the results.

Title:

INFERRING ASPECTS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE THROUGH WORKFLOW PROCESS ANALYSIS

Author(s):

Cirano Iochpe and Lucinéia Heloisa Thom

Abstract: Any organizational structure can be characterized by a set of structural aspects or parameters. Organizations differ from one another in the values their structural aspects assume, respectively. In addition, business authors argue that every organization is structured according to its main business processes. Since workflow processes represent in computer systems both, static and dynamic aspects of business processes, it is possible to infer that one can identify the values of main structural aspects of an organization through the analysis of its workflow processes. This paper reports partial results of an ongoing investigation that aims at identifying workflow process subschemas that are dependent upon structural aspects of organizations. The benefit of explicitly representing the relationship between the organizational structure and its workflow processes is twofold. On the one hand, it can provide business professionals with a complementary tool for better understanding the organization. On the other hand, it can provide workflow system designers with an additional tool that can help them understand business processes during requirements analysis, reducing information assessment errors that may occur during interviews due to either language conflicts or cultural resistance by professionals of the organization.

Title:

A KNOWLEDGE OBJECT ORIENTED SYSTEM FOR HIGH THROUGHPUT COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Author(s):

Huiqing Liu and Tecksin Lim

Abstract: An approach, KOOP (Knowledge Object Oriented Programming) that can integrate, personalize and automate a set of processes based on the business logic has been developed. This technology processes high throughput data in heterogeneous and distributed environment. In addition, KOOP has the ability to trap the explicit, implicit and hidden knowledge embedded in the business flows.

Title:

MANAGING ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TO IMPROVE THE REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION PROCESS

Author(s):

Juan M. Luzuriaga, Rodolfo Martínez and Alejandra Cechich

Abstract: Although researchers noted the importance of effective communication among stakeholders, it continues to be a challenge for requirements engineering. Even more, communication can be considered as a management tool since communication allows organisation’s personnel to produce a cohesive enterprise view. Communication facilitates commitment by avoiding defining confronting goals, and it also contributes to make organisation’s processes more flexible. Communication is present everywhere and it also constitutes a source of power. In this paper, we present a process for managing communication during the requirements elicitation phase. Our process would help get well-defined requirements by using knowledge inside organisations. This is a starting point to develop a requirements elicitation strategy based on communication skills, organisation knowledge, and quality attributes.

Title:

INTRODUCING BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION IN DYNAMIC BANKING ACTIVITIES

Author(s):

Maria Nikolaidou and Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos

Abstract: In a competitive environment as the Banking Sector, there is a constant need to monitor, evaluate and refine business activities. Business Process Automation is an effective tool towards this direction, facilitating the improved performance of business activities and enterprise wide monitoring and coordination. Business Process Automation is performed through the use of Workflow Management Systems. In this paper, we present the Workflow Management System implemented to satisfy the needs of the Loan Monitoring Department of a medium sized Bank. Loan Monitoring is a typical banking procedure, which includes activities concerning loan approval, collection of delinquent loan installments and initiation of appropriate legal claims. The Loan Monitoring mechanism employed is a significant factor determining profits. Relevant activities are influenced by frequently altered and subjective criteria and are often performed in cooperation with external business partners, as legal firms and brokers. The Loan Management System, built to support the Loan Monitoring Department, facilitates the specification of an organizational structure, the description of business processes and the construction of dynamic workflows. It provides flexibility during business process description, allowing the modification of a workflow while it is running and operates in a distributed environment over the Internet. In the paper, we also discuss the experience obtained using the system during the last two years and its impact on loan monitoring processes.

Title:

INCORPORATING KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES TO REQUIREMENTS CAPTURE IN THE MIDAS WEB APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Author(s):

A. Sierra-Alonso, P. Cáceres, E. Marcos and J. E. Pérez-Martínez

Abstract: Web technology has had a great impact in the last years. In consequence, a lot of Web applications are being developed. At first, these applications were developed without using any Software Engineering method. However, because of the special characteristics of this type of applications, a lot of research has focused on Web Software Engineering. In most cases, Web Engineering is based on techniques and processes from traditional Software Engineering. These inherited methods and processes have been adapted to the new needs of Web environments. Nevertheless, the Software Engineering techniques can be insufficient to solve some problems. For example, the domain knowledge acquisition to acquire and understand the requirements when those requirements and knowledge are only in the “experts’ mind”. However, this problem has been widely treated in the Knowledge Engineering field. Thus, Web Engineering would incorporate and profit from Knowledge Engineering techniques. In this paper, we propose to use knowledge acquisition techniques from Knowledge Engineering to capture the requirements. In these cases, the mixture of the use cases with knowledge acquisition techniques will give us not only the correct requirements but also elements of the software architecture.

Title:

HYPERCLASSES

Author(s):

Slim Turki and Michel Léonard

Abstract: A hyperclass is a large class, formed from a subset of conceptual classes of the global schema of a database, forming a unit with a precise semantics. It describes a particular field of competence on the global schema. A hyperclass is defined by its set of member classes, its root class and its associated acyclic and oriented navigation graph. The objects of a hyperclass are called hyperobjects. Upon a hyperclass, it's possible to define hypermethods. A hypermethod is defined over several classes of a hyperclass. It can use different hyperclass attributes and invocate class methods. A priority of our work is to preserve hypermethods from dysfunctions due to evolution operations: hypermethods must still functional and must still give the same result. The hyperclass concept provides a powerful kind of independence between the methods defined over the hyperclass and the schema of the hyperclass.

Title:

LINKING MOBILE NETWORK SERVICES TO INTERNET MAIL

Author(s):

Hans Weghorn, Carolin Gaum and Daniel Wloczka

Abstract: As state of technology, today business people typically are connected to several heterogeneous message services, while the e-mail system more and more establishes as the centre of all these. The approach described here shows a method to integrate mobile telephony services with the email system of a user. Incoming messages, which can be text-based packets or voice calls, are accepted by an automatic desktop system, and the received messages directly are transposed to the e-mail system of the target user. The entire system is constructed on base of a software agent, which communicates through a special hardware adapter with the mobile phone device.

Title:

INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL HEALTHCARE ENTERPRISES

Author(s):

Tauqir Amin and Pung Hung Keng

Abstract: Virtual enterprise provides an attractive model for autonomous healthcare organizations to synergize and leverage the strengths of each others. We present in this paper the design concept and working principle of an inter-organizational workflow process management system for virtual healthcare enterprises. We propose an extended WFMC process Meta model and a new concept of Partial View of Virtual Process for representation and enactment of cross organizational processes. Using this approach, local processes of participating organizations can be integrated with other external processes quickly. The joining and disjoining a virtual enterprise by an organization is also transparent to all except the directly interacting organizations.

Title:

SURVEY, ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION OF INFORMATION FOR BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING

Author(s):

Nuno Castela, José Tribolet, Arminda Guerra and Eurico Lopes

Abstract: Business processes modeling became a fundamental task for organizations. To model business processes is necessary to know all the activities as well as consumed and produced informational resources. From this knowledge, abstractions are constructed, which allow elaborating a high-level business process model. This modeling process, which goes from the survey of the activities of the organizational units to the construction of a business model, follows a bottom-up approach. However, the majority of the existing business processes modeling tools follow a top-down approach, more adjusted to the To Be modeling, what makes the development of the As Is modeling more difficult. These tools start from the high-level business processes models, which became detailed to a more granular level through the decomposition in activities, the opposite of the necessary for the As Is modeling. This document establishes a methodology for the survey, analysis and validation of the information necessary for As Is business processes modeling, conjugating top-down and bottom-up approaches, in an iterative and articulated way.

Title:

FD3: A FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCIES DATA DICTIONARY

Author(s):

M. Enciso and A. Mora

Abstract: In this paper, we propose the use of a Functional Dependencies Data Dictionary (FD3) to facilitate the integration of Heterogeneous Systems. The heart of this approach is the notion of Functional Dependence (FD).We present a formal language, the Extended Functional Dependencies (EFD) Logic suitable to carry out integration tasks. The set of FDs contained in the data model is directly translated into a EFD logic theory. FD3 integrates the EFD logic sub-theories in a unique and unified EFD logic theory. EFD axiomatic system eases the design of automatic integration process. To communicate the information of the EFD logic theory, we introduce a High Level Functional Dependencies (HLFD) Data Model which is used in a similar way as the Entity/Relationship Model. The HLFD data model can be deduced automatically from EFD logic theory.

Title:

BEYOND OBJECT ORIENTED DESIGN PATTERNS

Author(s):

Javier Garzás and Mario Piattini

Abstract: Nowadays, due to experience acquired during years of investigation and development of Object Oriented systems, numerous techniques and methods that facilitate their design are available to us. In this article we present a compilation, analysis and relationship of the object oriented design knowledge, as well as this can facilitate a new base for the study, so we will be able to learn how to apply the knowledge.

Title:

MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN GROUPWARE SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Luis A. Guerrero, Sergio Ochoa, Oriel Herrera and David A. Fuller

Abstract: In the creation of groupware systems, a good design of communication mechanisms, required by the group in order to carry out its work, is essential, since there are many other design aspects that depend on it. These aspects have a major impact on the success or failure of the collaborative application. This paper presents a computer-mediated communication taxonomy for groupware systems, as well as an architectural pattern to support the design and construction of the communication mechanisms required by the groupware systems, bearing in mind the other application’s design aspects.

Title:

AN EXECUTION MODEL FOR PRESERVING CARDINALITY CONSTRAINTS IN THE RELATIONAL MODEL

Author(s):

Harith T. Al-Jumaily, Dolores Cuadra and Paloma Martínez

Abstract: An active database is an extension of a passive DBMS with triggers. For this reason, the execution model of this database is quite complicated, because its performance depends on the active behaviour of triggers. The triggers are autonomously activated in the moment that some specific events of are produced causing some actions in the database. It is necessary to control their activities since in some moments they produce unwanted actions and in many times a confluent takes place among them because of the disordered activities. In this work we have defined an execution model of the triggers involved in controlling the cardinalities restrictions of an ER schema trying to avoid the loss of semantics.

Title:

TOWARDS A NEW BUSINESS PROCESS ARCHITECTURE

Author(s):

Takaaki Kamogawa and Masao J.Matsumoto

Abstract: The authors present a new business process architecture. Enterprises have improved so far their business processes mainly for companies themselves, say, intra-company improvement. But only intra-company improvement is no longer enough for survive themselves. They will have to extensively focus on improving and innovating their business processes across themselves and trading partners including a consortium. This paper discusses several business process models from business process evolution viewpoint based on the case study. If enterprises can use information technology (in short, IT) such as B2B marketplace as the enablers for their business processes, the business processes are reshaped and redesigned more efficiently. As a result of business process redesign towards the new business process architecture the authors propose, enterprises can solve several issues like stock surplus level, poor customer response, and long lead-time to customers.

Title:

REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION MODEL IN A SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS INSIDE A PHYSICALLY DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT

Author(s):

Rafael Prikladnicki, Fernando Peres, Jorge Audy, Michael da Costa Móra and Antônio Perdigoto

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to propose a software development model, centered in the requirements specification phase, adapted to the research and development characteristics in the e-business area, where the users and development teams are found in a physically distributed environment (United States and Brazil). The results of a case study are also presented here, in development of a specific software for DELL Computers e-business website. This research is classified as an explanatory study, where the main research method was the case study. As result, the proposed model is presented and described, adding a planning phase to the software development process, based on the concept proposed by the Unified Process and the UML language. Some aspects are also discussed, such as the partnership of a great worldwide company in computing (DELL Computers) and a great Brazilian university (PUCRS), in the research and development conjoined project context.

Title:

INTEGRATED PLANNING OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND CONTINGENCY AND RECOVERY

Author(s):

Leonilde Reis and Luís Amaral

Abstract: This article intends to emphasize a group of inherent concerns to the Contingency and Recovery Planning when integrated with the Information Systems Planning. It begins with the approaching to the positioning of Information Systems Planning and Contingency and Recovery activities in the organizational context, afterwards it propose an approach to developing in an integrated way the planning of that activities evidencing the outcome of this integration. Finally, it mentions the characteristics and advantages of this new approach, weaving considerations about the inherent concerns to ensure the business continuity.

Title:

STEMMING PROCESS IN SPANISH WORDS WITH THE SUCCESSOR VARIETY METHOD. METHODOLOGY AND RESULT

Author(s):

Manuela Rodríguez-Luna

Abstract: It is shown a detailed study about the stemming process in the Spanish language with the Successor Variety Method. This study conveys an important advance in the information retrieval techniques, and specifically in this language. These techniques, which are still in experimentation, require a deep study of grammatical, morphologic, syntax and semantic characteristics of words that compound this language. There are several techniques and methods that apply process to make a more efficient information retrieval, and these methods have obtained good results in the English language. These and successive investigations will help to get more suitable and expert process for the information retrieval in the Spanish language. So, it is been used different techniques which remove the words from the document, then they are analysed, and their roots are extracted. In this way, the Successor Variety Method has been used to obtain specific results with the Spanish language, and observe the behaviour of the information retrieval by using roots. The type of text is a literary one, that contains a higher diversity of terms.

Title:

MODELLING AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS USING TIMED HIERARCHICAL COLOURED PETRI NETS

Author(s):

Khodakaram Salimifard and Mike Wright

Abstract: In this paper a modelling methodology for workflow management systems based on coloured Petri nets is proposed. Using an integration method, processes and resources are modelled at the same abstraction level. A process is decomposed into task structures, whilst human resources are considered at role level. Activity based costing is combined with classical temporal analysis of workflow. The suitability of the method has been tested using an application example

Title:

USING SEMANTIC ANALYSIS AND NORM ANALYSIS TO MODEL ORGANISATIONS

Author(s):

Andy Salter and Kecheng Liu

Abstract: Organisations can be represented in the form of human agents and their patterns of behaviour, which can be modelled using the method of Semantic Analysis. Norms establish how and when an instance of a pattern of behaviour (or affordance) will occur. The norms are identified using the method of Norm Analysis, which is comprised of the techniques of responsibility analysis, information identification, trigger analysis and norm specification. This paper addresses how the results of Semantic Analysis and Norm Analysis may be used to produce a semantic model representing the behaviour of the organisation. The methods are illustrated using an example of borrowing books from a library.

Title:

DEVELOPING QUICK ITERATIVE PROCESS PROTOTYPING FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT: LINKING ERP AND BPE

Author(s):

Ryo Sato and Kentaro Hori

Abstract: ERP (enterprise resource planning package) needs a methodology that assures newly designed business process can be really implemented with an ERP. Such methodology should consider and integrate several issues. They are the model of business process, that of components in an ERP, their mutual relationship, and implementation procedure to integrate and to realize the business process effectively. The quick iterative process prototyping (quick IPP, for short) is a methodology that integrates such affluent information resources, aiming for the design of business process with ERP and related tools. Based on the experience to develop quick IPP for MRP (material requirements planning), this paper shows one for project management. TOC (theory of constraints) based design of a business process for project management will be focused on. It is shown how a business process of project management with ERP can be engraved from R/3's information resources, and what and how information tools are used.

Title:

USING HOT-SPOT-DRIVEN APPROACH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FRAMEWORK FOR MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION ON THE WEB

Author(s):

Khalid Suliman Al-Tahat, Sufian Bin Idris, T. Mohd. T. Sembok and Mohamed Yousof

Abstract: Frameworks can be seen as generative since they are intended and well suited to be used as the foundation for the development of a number of applications in the domain captured by the framework. A framework defines a high-level language with which applications within a domain are created through specialization. Specialization takes place at points of predefined refinement that are called hot spots. Hot spots are the generic and flexible aspects and parts of a framework that can be easily adapted to a specific need. Specialization is accomplished through inheritance or composition. Well-designed framework offers the domain-specification hot spots and the desired flexibility to adapt those hot spots. Hot spots are shown by hook methods and hook classes, where metapatterns express how the required flexibility, represented by the hot spots, is gained in a particular framework. We have adopted the hot-spot approach in the development of a framework for multimedia presentation on the Web. The adoption of this approach has helped us in enhancing the flexibility and extensibility of the framework. This paper describes the use of a hot-spotdriven approach in the development of a framework for multimedia presentation on the Web as well as our experience in using hot spots, design patterns, and metapatterns.

Area 4 - INTERNET COMPUTING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Title:

MANAGING XML-LINK INTEGRITY FOR STRUCTURED TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

Author(s):

Abraham Alvarez, Youssef Amghar and Richard Chbeir

Abstract: Structured and hypermedia documents in manufacturing enterprises are interlinked by different kinds of links. These documents play a crucial role describing the “steps out” of a product in an industrial context. Nowadays, one of the problems is to preserve the referential link integrity of a document’s fragment. In shared environments, users achieve creation, edition, storing and querying manipulations. The challenge is to keep the links references in a “coherent state” after these kinds of manipulations. An example of classical impact is the infamous “Error 404 file not found”. The main objective of this paper is to provide a generic relationship validation mechanism to remedy this shortcoming and focuses in referential link integrity aspects. Thereby, some standard features of XML and specifically XLL specification (X-Link & X-pointer), are used in this work as a support for integrity management. To illustrate these concepts, we have chosen the technical documentation as type of document.

Title:

USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY IN THE SPECIFICATION OF WEB SITES

Author(s):

Marta Fernández de Arriba and José A. López Brugos

Abstract: Most web sites present a serious lack of usability and accessibility. The tools used for their development mix the contents of the pages with their presentation, making their maintenance difficult and costly. This paper discusses a markup language for the specification of usable and accessible web sites (WUAML) based on XML technology, detailing its structure and syntax, target requirements achieved and benefits perceived.

Title:

STAGED IMPLEMENTATION OF E-BUSINESS NETWORKS THROUGH ERP

Author(s):

Colin G. Ash and Janice M. Burn

Abstract: Internet technologies offer an ERP based organisation the opportunity to build interactive relationships with its business partners. The Siemens case of e-Business evolution is viewed in terms of buy-side and sell-side solutions and services that inter-relate. e-Business solutions were seen to evolve in six stages with increasing business value and network complexity; from infrastructure to e-marketplaces. By viewing the Siemens case as a staged implementation, it may easily be evaluated in terms of the attributes of the “virtual organizing” model.

Title:

AN ENTERPRISE IT SECURITY DATA MODEL

Author(s):

Meletis A. Belsis, Anthony N. Godwin and Leon Smalov

Abstract: The issues relating to security have wider scope than the technical details of computer system structure. In larger organisations the security problems become more complex since there are more requirements for data access management. The information associated with security management needs to be well organised. In this paper we present the first step in creating an Enterprise IT Security Data Model. The aim of this research is to create a model that is able to capture the information needed by the security management in the provision of adequate security for an Enterprise.

Title:

INTERNET TECHNOLOGY AS A BUSINESS TOOL

Author(s):

Sebastián Bruque

Abstract: Since the beginnings of the computing era people have suggested that the implementation of Information Technology (IT) would have a positive effect on firm performance. Indicators like productivity, profitability and market share could be improved by these tools. Among these technologies, firms can now use TCP/IP or Internet technologies for strategic purposes but, until now, their real effects have been unclear. In this work we try to provide some evidence about the impact of the Internet on competitive advantage in a Spanish Industry. Also, we give some insights that can help to understand the role of the Internet as a competitive weapon in modern firms.

Title:

ITHAKI: FAIR N-TRANSFERABLE ANONYMOUS CASH

Author(s):

Magdalena Payeras Capellà, Josep Lluís Ferrer Gomila and Llorenç Huguet Rotger

Abstract: Transferability is one of the ideal features of electronic cash systems. Transferability means that users can transfer a coin multiple times without verification by a TTP. In anonymous transferable systems, enough identifying information must be presented in payments to allow the identification of double spenders. Digital transferable coins grow in size after each transaction due to the accumulation of this identifying information. We present an N-transferable system in where the transferability is limited to N transfers. Ntransferability limits the highest size of coins and avoids the existence of a great number of illegal copies of coins being transferred among users. However, N-transferability may suppose a discrimination of the Nth receiver of the coin if he cannot choose between transferring anonymously the coin or depositing it in an identified stage. We present an on-line subprotocol for anonymous exchange of N-transferred coins. The system is anonymous and users are identified only if they double spend a coin or in case of illegal activities (anonymity revocation). The presented scheme fulfils the specific requirements of transferable systems and avoids specific attacks by coalitions of users.

Title:

VIRTUAL MALL OF E-COMMERCE WEB SITES

Author(s):

M. F. Chen and M. K. Shan

Abstract: In recent years, a lot of E-commerce web sites appear quickly. Through the Internet, we get a great quantity of product information on the WWW. Some meets our needs, but most doesn’t. Recommender systems help finding out what we really interest. Although many existing E-commerce web sites suggest products to customers, few suggest browsing paths. In this paper, we propose a virtual mall that E-commerce web sites can join as a shop. Via techniques of data mining, shops in the mall own the abilities of recommending products and browsing paths. And the recommendations cross shops in the mall.

Title:

RETHINKING THE STRATEGY OF AMAZON.COM

Author(s):

Michael S. H. Heng

Abstract: This is an opinion paper arguing for a strategic shift in the business model of Amazon.com. The serious challenge facing Amazon.com is that it is not able to convince the investment community that it is able to generate profits in the long run. The doubt of investors is well grounded. This paper argues that Amazon should make a strategic shift to operate as a provider of technical services and business consulting in the area of business-to-consumer e-commerce. At the same time it should reduce the range of the items sold on-line to, say, books and CDs, and treat this part of its business as a kind of research and development activity. Its avant garde status as e-commerce innovator and its track record in customer satisfaction have tremendous market value and can serve as an "open sesame" to enter the huge market of e-commerce consulting. Its continuing survival and (hopefully) future profitability hold deeper implications for other dot.com companies and B2C e-commerce.

Title:

THE DESIGN OF AN XML E-BUSINESS APPLICATIONS FRAMEWORK

Author(s):

I. Hoyle, L. Sun and S. J. Rees

Abstract: The business-to-business e-market is expected to grow considerably over the next few years. This growth will require on-line transactions and collaborations involving small to medium sized enterprises, which can take advantage of system integration previously centred on the major organisations. The Internet is considered to be the supporting technology, and its language XML (Extensible Markup Language) will take an important part of e-business applications development. In order to fully utilise the capabilities of XML and improve the efficiency for business data transactions, a XML e-Business application framework (XEBAF), which is based upon free XML technology such as XML Document Model Application Programming Interface (DOM API), XML schema definition language, Extensible Style Language (XSLT) and XPath, has been designed. XML Schema and XSL stylesheet modelling techniques have been proposed. To use this framework, the business data and associated rules can be defined and structured in a flexible and reusable manner.

Title:

E-COMMERCE BUSINESS PRACTICES IN THE EU

Author(s):

Hamid Jahankhani and Solomon A. Alexis

Abstract: This paper describes and evaluates the e-commerce issues addressed by the EU legislative framework (Directives), examines the extent of their influence on e-commerce business practices and the factors that drive e-commerce in the EU. The countdown has started for the implementation and compliance of the various EU initiatives and although opinion is divided over the regulation merits, the issues of privacy, consumer protection and progress will continue to be in the limelight. Various consumer groups have argued that the EU initiatives provide greater protection for online shoppers, while the critics claim that they halt and hinder the growth of the e-economy in Europe by making it complex and risky for smaller firms to trade online. Although, many European on-line businesses are aware of the EU Directives relating to e-commerce, they have not put into place plans to act in accordance with them. Today there are no less than fifteen different initiatives and although the Directives pose problems for businesses that operate in the Euro-zone, there is an intense effort to minimise the perceive disadvantages that they can cause. What the EU has done for e-commerce in the last decade has not been done anywhere else in the world.

Title:

TOWARDS EXTENDED PRICE MODELS IN XML STANDARDS FOR ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CATALOGS

Author(s):

Oliver Kelkar, Joerg Leukel and Volker Schmitz

Abstract: The extending interorganizational electronic business (business-to-business) means system to system communication between business partners without any manual interaction. This has led to the development of new standards for the exchange of electronic product catalogs (e-catalogs), which are the starting point for business-to-business trading. E-catalogs contain various information about products, essential are price information. Prices are used for buying decisions and following order transactions. While simple price models are often sufficient for the description of indirect goods (e.g. office supplies), other goods and lines of business make higher demands. In this paper we examine what price information is contained in commercial XML standards for the exchange of product catalog data. For that purpose we bring the different implicit price models of the examined catalog standards together and provide a generalized model.

Title:

HIERARCHICAL VISUALIZATION IN A SIMULATION-BASED EDUCATIONAL MULTIMEDIA WEB SYSTEM

Author(s):

Juan de Lara and Manuel Alfonseca

Abstract: This paper presents a system that generates web documents (courses, presentations or articles) enriched with interactive simulations and other hypermedia elements. Simulations are described using an object oriented continuous simulation language called OOCSMP. This language is complemented by two higher language layers (SODA-1L and SODA-2L). SODA-1L describes pages or slides, while SODA-2L builds courses, articles or presentations. A compiler (C-OOL) has been programmed to generate Java applets for the simulation models and HTML pages for the document pages. The paper focus on some new capabilities added to OOCSMP to handle different graphic detail levels of the system being simulated. Different views are shown as cascade windows, whose multimedia elements can be arranged and synchronized with the simulation execution. The new capabilities have been tested by extending a previously developed course on electronics.

Title:

NORMATIVE SERVICES FOR SELF-ADAPTIVE SOFTWARE TO SUPPORT DEPENDABLE ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Author(s):

A. Laws, M. Allen and A. Taleb-Bendiab

Abstract: The development and application of software engineering practices over the last thirty years have undoubtedly resulted in the production of significantly improved software, yet the majority of modern software systems remain intrinsically fragile. Nowhere is this more apparent than in those systems that attempt to model real world situations. Here, the abstractions and assumptions made in attempting to capture the unbounded, unspecifiable richness of the real world in the finite and static medium of software, inevitably result in systems that are deeply riven with uncertainty. Such systems remain highly vulnerable to environmental change and consequently require continuing adaptation. In this paper, the authors concede to the inevitability of such uncertainty and argue that the key to the problem lies in the adaptability of the software system. Moreover, given the problems inherent in manual software adaptation, it is further contended that imbuing the software system with a degree of autonomy presents a seductive means to cope with adversity and uncertainty. For theoretical support of this claim, the authors make recourse to the field of cybernetics, an area well-versed in the problems of adaptive systems. Further support is drawn from the emerging disciple of self-adaptive software, which seeks to devolve some of the responsibility for maintenance activity to the software itself through the use of a federated normative systems approach and systems’ self-awareness. The paper presents a brief review of the recent work in self-adaptive software and an overview of multi-agent systems. These notions are then combined using the managerial cybernetics of Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) as a conceptual guide, to underpin the development of normative services for the control and management of complex adaptive software. The paper continues with the presentation of a framework and design for intelligent adaptive systems and concludes by providing support for this approach through examples drawn from an on-going research project in evolving dependable services provision.

Title:

DIGITAL TIMESTAMPS FOR DISPUTE SETTLEMENT IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: GENERATION, VERIFICATION, ANDRENEWAL

Author(s):

Kanta Matsuura and Hideki Imai

Abstract: Digital notary is receiving more and more attention as a social infrastructure in the network society. Digital time-stamping is a simple but very important form of the notary, and can be used to provide long-term authenticity. Its function is essential for dispute settlement in electronic commerce. This importance motivated us to have a clear survey on how to generate/verify digital time-stamps. In order to make longer use of digital time-stamping functions, we may have to update or renew our timestamps. The renewal must be completed before the expiry of the current time-stamp. However, the congestion problem of the renewal request has not yet been studied well. So the survey is followed by an investigation of renewal feasibility. The investigation uses a simple model in which the service provider’s mind and the users’ mind are independently represented by two different parameters. The condition for accepting renewal requests without queueing is discussed by using the two parameters. Another issue will occur when we submit high-dimensional contents to be time-stamped and the components of the contents are updated independently in later time; memory requirement on the client depends on the submission strategy. A discussion on different strategies is given as well.

Title:

AUTOMATIC VERIFICATION OF SECURITY IN PAYMENT PROTOCOLS FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Author(s):

M. Panti, L. Spalazzi, S. Tacconi and S. Valenti

Abstract: In order to make secure transactions over computer networks, various cryptographic protocols have been proposed but, because of subtleties involved in their design, many of them have been shown to have flaws, even a long time after their publication. For this reason, several automatic verification methods for analyzing these protocols have been devised. The aim of this paper is to present a methodology for verifying security requirements of electronic payment protocols by means of NuSMV, a symbolic model checker. Our work principally focus on formal representation of security requirements. Indeed, we propose an extension of the correspondence property, so far used only for authentication, to other requirements as confidentiality and integrity. These are the basic security requirements of payment protocols for electronic commerce. We illustrate as case study a variant of the SET protocol proposed by Lu & Smolka. This variant has been formally verified by Ly & Smolka and considered secure. Conversely, we have discovered two attacks that allow a dishonest user to purchase a good debiting the amount to another user.

Title:

A METHOD FOR WIS CENTERED ON USERS GOALS

Author(s):

Nathalie Petit

Abstract: A Web information system (WIS) (Lowe, 1999) is an information system (IS) which enables users, via the Web, to access complex data and sophisticated interactive services. Examples include large e-commerce sites and organizational IS based on an intranet. The method here will be applied to an educational intranet. An intranet, like the Internet, is a system used by different users with different levels of knowledge and goals. Hence, there exists a diversity of goals, of information formalisation, which leads to the difficulty of modeling the total amount of information and processing accessible from the intranet. The method described here will therefore concern itself with users’ goals in order to model the intranet.

Title:

A SEMI-UNIVERSAL E-COMMERCE AGENT

Author(s):

Aleksander Pivk and Matjaz Gams

Abstract: A universal e-commerce agent should provide commerce functions through the Internet by accessing arbitrary e-commerce sites and on this basis offer intelligent information services on its own. Our system ShinA (SHoppINg Assistant) is a semi-automatic e-commerce agent. It can enter an arbitrary e-commerce site by observing a human user performing the first query. By understanding key concepts of the first query, ShinA performs following queries by other users. In a consequence, a user enters ShinA by asking for a particular item, and ShinA provides all relevant e-commerce options from various providers. The major advantage of ShinA is a semi-automatic creation of a wrapper around a particular e-commerce site demanding minimal human interaction/corrections. ShinA is a successor of the EMA (EMployment Agent) prototype, which performs similar functions in job queries over the Internet.

Title:

QUOTES: A NEGOTIATION TOOL FOR INDUSTRIAL E-PROCUREMENT

Author(s):

A. Reyes-Moro, J.A. Rodríguez-Aguilar, M. López-Sánchez, J. Cerquides and D. Gutierrez-Magallanes

Abstract: The sourcing process of multiple goods or services usually involves complex negotiation (via telephone, fax, etc) that includes discussion of product features as well as quality, service and availability issues. Currently, this is a high-cost process due to the scarce use of tools that streamline this communication and assist purchasing managers’ decision-making. With the advent of internet-based technologies, it becomes feasible the idea of an affordable tool that enables to maintain an assisted, fluid, on-line dialog at virtually no cost and wherever your providers are. Consequently, several commercial systems to support on-line negotiations become available. However there is still a need that these systems incorporate effective decision support techniques. This article presents Quotes as iSOCO’s e-solution for strategic sourcing that incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) based techniques that successfully address previous limitations within a single and coherent framework

Title:

AN AUTOMATED APPROACH TO QUALITY-AWARE WEB APPLICATIONS

Author(s):

Antonio Ruiz, Rafael Corchuelo and Amador Durán

Abstract: Multi–Organisational Web–Based Systems (MOWS) are becoming very popular in the Internet world. It would be desirable for such systems to be quality–aware, and this feature turns the problem of selecting the web services of which they are composed into a complex task. The main reason is that the catalog of available services that meet a set of functional requirements may be quite large, and it is subject to unexpected changes due to the inherent volatility of the Internet. Thus, such systems need an infrastructure able to select the best services at run time so that they can deliver their functionality at the best possible quality level. In this article, we present a proposal that aims at being the core of a run–time system able to support the construction of quality–aware MOWS.

Title:

IM@GIX

Author(s):

Carlos Serrão and Joaquim Marques

Abstract: This paper describes the usage of specific web application designed for the Electronic Commerce of Digital Still Images using some of the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of digital imaging, namely copy right protection. Still images are not only traded using this platform but also value is added to the images through the means of cataloguing, metadata and watermark insertion. This work is performed using some auxiliary tools, which are also referred in the present paper. This paper also proposes and discusses a methodology for streamlining the production of still digital image content. The methodology proposed and described here, called DIGIPIPE, encompasses several steps which range from the simple image digitalization until the image trading, without omitting the image copy rights protection procedures.

Title:

PROFILE NEGOTIATION REQUIREMENTS IN A MOBILE MIDDLEWARE SERVICE ENVIRONMENT

Author(s):

Markus Sihvonen

Abstract: The MExE service environment is a standardized execution environment for downloadable applications in 3rd generation mobile phones and networks. The key feature that enables the downloading of services is profile platform negotiation in the service environment. The profile platform description is composed of a user profile, capability and content information. Based on the profile platform description of a mobile phone and network, downloadable services are tailored to mobile phones. The research problem of the paper is the profile negotiation requirements of an MExE service environment. The research is based on the constructive method of the related publications and technologies and the results are derived from the abstractive analysis of the available material. The primary conclusions of the study are that both MExE user equipment and a MExE application must have registers, which describe a platform of MExE user equipment and the requirements for the same platform imposed by a downloadable application. The registers must be accessible via URI and storable in a multiple locations and retrievable whenever needed.

Title:

INTELLIGENT AGENT-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR MINING CUSTOMER BUYING HABITS IN E-COMMERCE

Author(s):

Qiubang Li and Rajiv Khosla

Abstract: Predicting and profiling customer buying habit in e-commerce is no doubt a competitive advantage for ebusiness sponsor. This paper adopts collaborative filtering and association rule to set up an agent-based framework to predict customer’s buying habit. The applications of the model range from customizing shopping malls to customizing banking and finance products on the Internet.

Title:

THE "SHARED DATA APPROACH" TO THE INTEGRATION OF DYNAMIC BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Author(s):

Trevor Burbridge, Jonathan Mitchener and Ben Strulo

Abstract: The bright new world of e-Commerce requires the business information systems of diverse enterprises to effectively inter-operate. This inter-operation must be continuously maintained within highly dynamic communities. New practices and products are required to span the gap between the complex requirements of business integration and the desire to implement systems that are low in development costs and evolve flexibly with the business rather than hinder its development and strategy. We present a novel approach to this inter-operation based on sharing state rather than passing messages.

Title:

AN E-SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INNOVATION EXPLOITATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: THE DILEMMA PROJECT

Author(s):

Anastasia Constantinou, Vassilios Tsakalos, Philippos Koutsakas, Dimitrios Tektonidis and Adamantios Koumpis

Abstract: Mediation services in the domains of innovation exploitation and technology transfer (partially based on information supply) are very often provided for free since they are subsidised by a public body. This situation often influences the quality of the services provided and in the longer term undermines the very existence of these activities (taking also into account that public funding is not for ever). The main characteristic of the DILEMMA system presented in the paper is its flexibility to combine information entities and provision procedures in order to build compound service (i.e. meta-service) and service packages (bundles), oriented to serve clients with highly differentiated needs related to content, functionality and costs. The facilitation of service management, based upon user behavioural patterns, forms the basis for assessing the added value of the service. A billing architecture enables the usage-driven charging of the service.

Title:

AN E-COMMERCE MODEL FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Author(s):

F. J. García, I. Borrego, M. J. Hernández, A. B. Gil and M. A. Laguna

Abstract: In this work a solution for the entry of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) on the virtual commerce bandwagon is presented. The proposed e-commerce model introduces new roles in the virtual commerce sphere, where a SME plays an active situation because it controls its own business in stead of yielding this responsibility to third-party enterprises, which are specialised on Information System. This e-commerce model consists of three main elements: a) A trading area, based on product catalogues (e-catalogue); b) SMEs represented by a software catalogue-designer tool that allows the definition, publication and update of a catalogue of products; and c) A virtual commerce site, represented by an e-commerce specialised web server, which provides end-users with services such as searching for a product in any published catalogue, shopping cart management, selling certificates, navigation help, and so on through a uniform and intuitive interface. This paper is devoted to present the main agents of this model, which defines a new perspective in the ecommerce area that can be view as a hybrid model B2B/B2C between the supplier and the e-commerce server (B2B dimension) and between the server and the end-users (B2C dimension).

Title:

DISTRIBUTED ONLINE DOCTOR SURGERY

Author(s):

Hamid Jahankhani and Pari Jahankhani

Abstract: This paper reports on redesign of the existing manual system of a Doctor Surgery, to a computerised system, which takes the advantage of the latest technologies and allows the patients to have better interaction with the system. The Doctor surgery plays a major role in human life, over the years we have seen the drastic changes in the treatment of patient in surgery, however we haven't really seen much changes on structure of the system as a whole. Many surgeries still use a manual paper based system for their transaction. The recent rapid development in web technology and growth of distributed processing seems to be only applicable for commercial business and field such as medical treatment seems to have fallen behind in the technology and as consequence, inefficient and ineffective services provided to the patients. The new prototype system has been designed using Object Oriented Methodology and implemented by using mainly JAVA (RMI, SQL, SERVLET and other Java packages) for creating the communication server and the web site. Also, for the end user interface of the database in the surgery ORACLE 7 and Developer 2000 application was used. The implementation of the system allows the patient to carry out appointment transaction (create, query, delete) and communicate with the doctor via the web site, which is connected to the oracle server in the surgery. The web site provides all the necessary details and information about the surgery and practice. The final prototype utilises distributed technology and built upon the research carried out.

Title:

ACCESSING AND USING INTERNET SERVICES FROM JAVA-ENABLED HANDHELD WIRELESS DEVICES

Author(s):

Qusay H. Mahmoud and Luminita Vasiu

Abstract: The Java 2 Micro Edition does not support all the Java language and virtual machine features, either because they are too expensive to implement or their presence would impose security issues. For example, there is no support for TCP sockets, object serialization, and consequently there is no support for Remote Method Invocation (RMI) either. The benefit of wireless applications, however, becomes apparent and useful for organizations when you can access critical business data and Internet resources efficiently from anywhere you go. In this paper we give a brief overview of the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), we then discuss the network programming model and explain how to invoke CGI scripts and servlets from devices with limited resources, and finally we discuss our proposed mediator-based approach for accessing Internet services and distributed object systems from Java-enabled wireless handheld devices.

Title:

E-PROCUREMENT IN A RURAL AREA

Author(s):

Mike Rogers, Thomas Chesney and Scott Raeburn

Abstract: E-procurement has great potential to become a major way of transacting in rural areas such as the Scottish Borders where the variety of shops and services offered is limited. The Scottish Borders Council has selected e-procurement as a means to reduce costs, improve process and service delivery, meet Government targets for electronic purchasing and, not least, use e-procurement to assist local businesses in this economically depressed region to become e-commerce capable, thus improving their ability to grow and create wealth and employment in the region. This paper reports the results of research conducted to establish whether recruiting suppliers to e-commerce is likely to be problematic for the Council. Findings show that in terms of connectivity, the Scottish Borders appear ahead of the rest of the UK which is encouraging for the Borders economy and for the Council’s e-procurement strategy, although no data is available on actual usage of the Internet, only that the firms have a connection. Fewer of the smaller firms are using the Internet as a marketing tool, that is they do not have even a web site with information only content. The use of ecommerce among Council suppliers is well below the UK average. A number of factors appear to be holding them back. These are discussed.

Title:

A SYSTEM BASED ON PREFERENCES FOR AID TO THE PURCHASE DECISION

Author(s):

Irene Luque Ruiz, Enrique López Espinosa, Gonzalo Cerruela García and Miguel Ángel Gómez-Nieto

Abstract: The systems of business through Internet have among its objectives the sale of its products, developing for it Web sites more or less complex in which is shown the products publicity and is permitted to carry out the purchase of these products. The great apparition of these systems does that the user have problems in deciding which is the best offering from among all the purchase options found in the network. In this paper a system of aid to the purchase decision is described based on the purchase preferences of the user. This system facilitates to the user the purchase process advising him the possible purchase sites of the desired products based on a specific set of preferences selected dynamically by the own user during the purchase process.

Title:

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A MESSAGE SERVICE HANDLER FOR EBXML

Author(s):

Eun-Jung Song, Ho-Song Lee and Taeck-Geun Kwon

Abstract: We have implemented an engine of Message Service Handler (MSH) in order to support Transport, Routing and Packaging (TRP) for Electronic Business XML (ebXML) message service which is a communication protocol for exchange of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) based messages. Our java-based MSH engine has a simple and unified interface with Remote Method Invocation (RMI) that plays a role of a basic component for a new electronic commerce infrastructure. Due to the sophisticated RMI technology, applications can be loosely-coupled and run remotely with the MSH; that means e-Commerce business application can be efficiently implemented without awareness of messaging infrastructure. Using our ebXML TRP Specification (version 1.0) compliant MSH engine, we have also implemented an application for submission of a paper, that is an instance of XML-based document; the application is required for exchange of reliable message.

Title:

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR MOBILE AGENT SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Luminita Vasiu and Alan Murphy

Abstract: Mobile agents is an emerging technology that is gaining in the field of distributed computing. In the last few years, there has been an enthusiastic interest in mobile agents and several platforms have been developed. This paper discusses the design requirements for mobile agent systems at two levels: systemlevel and language level. System-level issues like the provision of agent mobility, global naming and security are mainly encountered in the development of the runtime environments for mobile agents. Language-level issues, such as agent programming models and primitives arise in providing support for mobile agent programming, mainly at the library level. The paper identifies the design requirements at both levels and illustrates the different ways developers are addressing them.

Title:

THIN SERVERS - AN ARCHITECTURE TO SUPPORT ARBITRARY PLACEMENT OF COMPUTATION IN THE INTERNET

Author(s):

J.C. Diaz y Carballo, A. Dearle and R.Connor

Abstract: The Internet is experiencing an overwhelming growth that will have a negative impact on its performance and quality of service. In this paper we describe a new architecture that offers a better use of Internet resources and help improve security at the server nodes. The Thin Server Architecture aims to dynamically push code and data in arbitrary locations throughout the Internet. We give implementation techniques related to code mobility, the choices we have made for our architecture, our on-going implementation work, and future directions.

Title:

MANAGING SECURITY IN ELECTRONIC BUSINESS

Author(s):

Kaiyin Huang and Kaidong Huang

Abstract: Managing security is a complex social and technological task. To develop an effective security policy, the distinction between internal and external organisation is important since the exercise of power is various; the distinction between technical and human functions is necessary since they require different implementations. These distinctions form a framework of inter-organisational systems (FIOS) and the security issues can be organised into four sub-areas: safety in communication, safety in IT resources, securing human resources, and protection from business environment.

Title:

A GLOBAL MODEL OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Author(s):

Claudine Toffolon and Salem Dakhli

Abstract: Information technology is drastically revolutionizing the global economy and society. In particular, all business activities are nowadays information based. Electronic commerce emergence enabled by the Web technology is among the most important transformations of economy which reshape the ways people and firms shop and carry out business value-adding activities. The term “new economy” has been coined by academics and practitioners to stress the importance of potential changes in economy induced by electronic commerce. Nevertheless, some authors assert that the contribution of electronic commerce to economic prosperity is negligible and little more than a bubble. We think that a model of electronic commerce is needed in order to understand its scope, its components and assess its real impacts on economy. In this paper, we propose a global model of electronic commerce which provide instruments to address three main aspects. On the one hand, its identifies actors of electronic commerce, their roles and their relationships. On the other hand, it explains the differences between electronic commerce and traditional commerce. Finally, it permits analyzing the new economic rules governing electronic commerce.

Title:

SRIUI MODEL: A DESIG N CENTRIC APPROACH TO USER INTERFACES FOR SHOPPING CARTS WITH EMPHASIS ON INTELLIGENCE

Author(s):

C. Chandramouli

Abstract: The seamless application of information and communication technology from its point of origin to its end is the most important aspect of e-commerce. The transition from normal marketing to online marketing is the most difficult step taken by any company, which intends to promote its business online. With this giant step, most companies make a few fundamental mistakes while designing user interfaces. There is a large difference between retailing "off the shelf" and retailing online both in terms of sales and in terms of lack of sales. As the World Wide Web matures, it is very hard to design user interfaces that both satisfy the user in terms of functionality and at the same time give him a pleasurable and satisfying experience when he makes online purchases. The paper suggests a model of implementing user interfaces termed as the SRIUI model, which stands for static response intelligent user interface model. Revenue returns in most cases are seen only when design of user interfaces are intuitive to the user and at the same time, innovative. These demands make the design and realization of a shopping cart interface on the web cumbersome and difficult. The SRIUI model uses inherent principles of browsers but goes one step further allowing designers to use inherent principles utilized in designing commercial software. The intelligence of a shopping cart interface is defined and the basic factors governing ease of use and design principles for shopping carts are discussed in the paper. The paper compares the SRIUI model with the present day shopping carts and gives them a rating to relate to the intelligence of the interface.

Title:

THE CONCEPTS OF GRATITUDE, DELEGATION AND AGREEMENT IN ECENVIRONMENTS

Author(s):

Paulo Novais, Luís Brito and José Neves

Abstract: Logic presents itself as a major tool in the development of formal descriptions for agent-based systems. Indeed, Logic Programming and specially Extended Logic Programming provides a powerful tool for the development of such systems. Electronic Commerce (EC) poses new challenges in the areas of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning and formal modelling, where specific agent architectures are mandatory. Although logic has been successfully used in the areas of argumentation (specially, legal argumentation), the preceding reasoning process (pre-argumentative reasoning) is rarely stated. In EC scenarios, such course of action takes into account human like features such as gratitude, delegation and agreement (embedded with temporal considerations, clause precedence and incomplete information) leading to feasible EC systems.

Title:

INTEGRATING MOBILE AGENT INFRASTRUCTURES IN OPERATIONAL ERP SYSTEMS

Author(s):

Apostolos Vontas, Philippos Koutsakas, Christina Athanasopoulou, Adamantios Koumpis, Panos Hatzaras, Yannis Manolopoulos and Michael Vassilakopoulos

Abstract: In this paper we present our most recent work carried out in the wider context of the IST-ADRENALIN project, to facilitate formation and lifecycle management of networked enterprises. The projects focus is in designing and building an execution “kernel” for mobile agent applications written in Java, using the Aglets platform and integrating it with any existing ERP system. For integrating mobile agent infrastructures in operational ERP systems, we developed a generic model, which we call Mobile Agent Model, and which encompasses two parts concerning the Agent Logic and the Agent Proprietary Data, analysed in more detail in this paper. This model is branch independent and builds on the Adrenalin Company concept, where the fractal and the Information supply chain concepts are combined, introducing that every process, activity and resource can be defined with the “triangle” of executor – controller - co-ordinator tasks, supporting characteristics of self-similarity, self-organisation, self-optimisation and dynamic organisational behaviour.

Title:

XEON – AN ARCHITECTURE FOR AN XML ENABLED FIREWALL

Author(s):

Andrew Blyth, D Daniel Cunliffe and Iain Sutherland

Abstract: This paper outlines a firewall architecture for the secure exchange of information using the extensible mark up language (XML). The architecture can be used to create a virtual private network suitable for an ecommerce application, allowing secure communication over the Internet. This paper identifies the elements required to build an XML enabled firewall that will i) ensure the secure communication of data, and ii) validate the data to ensure data integrity. The architecture addresses the issue of information integrity using the Document Type Definition and additional rules applied by a proxy.

Title:

THE WEBOCRACY PROJECT

Author(s):

Peter Burden

Abstract: An account is presented describing a European Union funded project to provide support for local democracy via the World Wide Web. The proposed system, known as the Webocrat system, is designed to provide all the necessary functionality to enhance the effectiveness of local government both in terms of efficient delivery of services and as a democratic institution.

Title:

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ITS EFFECTS ON ORGANISATIONAL CONTROL

Author(s):

Rahim Ghasemiyeh and Feng Li

Abstract: The explosive growth in IT capabilities and extensive use of IT systems has satisfied the increasing desire of organizations to gain competitive advantage. Advances in information technology and its inherent devices have led to profound changes in organizational rules. This study attempts to build an introduction to evaluate IT effects on control as a functions of management. Modern organisations, based on using modern technology, have to make major modifications to the entire organisations. This study begins by examining concepts of control in organisations following a short review of past work on IT effects on concept of hierarchy. Then present a comparison of conventional control and new attitude in traditional and modern organization. At the end it provides a discussion of new condition in regards of IT advance and its effects on trust and control.

Title:

LOGIC AND PROBABILISTIC BASED APPROACH FOR DOCUMENT DATA MODELING

Author(s):

Mourad Ouziri and Christine Verdier

Abstract: We propose in this paper to jointly use the description logic (DL) and probabilistic approaches for documents data modelling. The description logic is used to generate a first database schema by reasoning capabilities over the conceptual part of the documents. The schema we get is normalized. For this, we add to the DL knowledge base, which represents the documents, some ontological assertions specified in the DL formalism. Then, probabilistic calculus are used to optimise the database schema by computing some statistical measurements over the extensional part of the documents

 
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