Extending conceptual models for Web based applications

The next phase envisioned for the World Wide Web is automated ad-hoc interaction between intelligent agents, web services, databases and semantic web enabled applications. Although at present this appears to be a distant objective, there are practical steps that can be taken to advance the vision. We propose an extension to classical conceptual models to allow the definition of application components in terms of public standards and explicit semantics, thus building into web-based applications, the foundation for shared understanding and interoperability. The use of external definitions and the need to store outsourced type information internally, brings to light the issue of object identity in a global environment, where object instances may be identified by multiple externally controlled identification schemes. We illustrate how traditional conceptual models may be augmented to recognise and deal with multiple identities.

Evaluating a web-based self-management intervention in patients with heart failure: A pilot study

This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a web-based self-management intervention in patients with heart failure. The study consisted of two phases including developing the web-based application and examining its feasibility in a group of heart failure patients. The results of this study were consistent with the current literature which has failed to show the benefits of web-based interventions for chronic disease self-management. In the current thesis, therefore, issues influencing the effectiveness of the web-based interventions were analysed. Recommendations for improving effectiveness of the web-based applications were also provided.

A set of patterns for the web-based interfaces of an employee services system

The provision of Human Resource (HR), especially payroll, is a core function in every organization. Previously, providers of HR/payroll have offered their services to their clients via conventional modes of communication, such as telephones, facsimile, and courier services. In recent years, with the advent of the Internet and the emergence of web-based electronic commerce, there has been a rise in the adoption of web-based technology and information
systems by service providers, thereby enabling them to interact with their clients through this medium. This development necessitates the use of web-based user interfaces as workspaces between the HR/payroll providers and their clients, and thus, raises certain concerns that determine the effectiveness of web-based workflow systems. These concerns, related to the use of web interfaces, form the basis of the patterns discussed in this paper

An interactive web-based learning assistant for structural analysis of continuous beams

There are significant levels of concern about the relevance and the difficulty of learning some issues on Strength of Materials and Structural Analysis. Most students of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis in Civil Engineering usually point out some key learning aspects as especially difficult for acquiring specific skills. These key concepts entail comprehension difficulties but ease access and applicability to structural analysis in more advanced subjects. Likewise, some elusive but basic structural concepts, such as flexibility, stiffness or influence lines, are paramount for developing further skills required for advanced structural design: tall buildings, arch-type structures as well as bridges. As new curricular itineraries are currently being implemented, it appears appropriate to devise a repository of interactive web-based applications for training in those basic concepts. That will hopefully train the student to understand the complexity of such concepts, to develop intuitive knowledge on actual structural response and to improve their preparation for exams. In this work, a web-based learning assistant system for influence lines on continuous beams is presented. It consists of a collection of interactive user-friendly applications accessible via Web. It is performed in both Spanish and English languages. Rather than a “black box” system, the procedure involves open interaction with the student, who can simulate and virtually envisage the structural response. Thus, the student is enabled to set the geometric, topologic and mechanic layout of a continuous beam and to change or shift the loading and the support conditions. Simultaneously, the changes in the beam response prompt on the screen, so that the effects of the several issues involved in structural analysis become apparent. The system is performed through a set of web pages which encompasses interactive exercises and problems, written in JavaScript under JQuery and DyGraphs frameworks, given that their efficiency and graphic capabilities are renowned. Students can freely boost their self-study on this subject in order to face their exams more confidently. Besides, this collection is expected to be added to the "Virtual Lab of Continuum Mechanics" of the UPM, launched in 2013 (http://serviciosgate.upm.es/laboratoriosvirtuales/laboratorios/medios-continuos-en-construcci%C3%B3n)

A web-based overview of semiconductor photochemistry-based current commercial applications

The major current commercial applications of semiconductor photochemistry promoted on the world wide web are reviewed. The basic principles behind the different applications are discussed, including the use of semiconductor photochemistry to: photo-mineralise organics, photo-sterilise and photo-demist. The range of companies, and their products, which utilise semiconductor photochemistry are examined and typical examples listed. An analysis of the geographical distribution of current commercial activity in this area is made. The results indicate that commercial activity in this area is growing world-wide, but is especially strong in Japan. The number and geographical distribution of patents in semiconductor photocatalysis are also commented on. The trends in the numbers of US and Japanese patents over the last 6 years are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS of MESSAGE EXCHANGES INTO WEB SERVICE-BASED APPLICATIONS

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicate to each other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of Web service-based applications and since messages exchanged inside of this applications can be complex, we need tools to simplify the understanding of interrelationship among Web services. This work present a description of a graphical representation of Web service-based applications and the mechanisms inserted among Web service requesters and providers to catch information to represent an application. The major contribution of this paper is to discus and use HTTP and SOAP information to show a graphical representation similar to a UML sequence diagram of Web service-based applications.

A framework for monitoring and runtime recovery of web service-based applications

Service provisioning is a challenging research area for the design and implementation of autonomic service-oriented software systems. It includes automated QoS management for such systems and their applications. Monitoring, Diagnosis and Repair are three key features of QoS management. This work presents a self-healing Web service-based framework that manages QoS degradation at runtime. Our approach is based on proxies. Proxies act on meta-level communications and extend the HTTP envelope of the exchanged messages with QoS-related parameter values. QoS Data are filtered over time and analysed using statistical functions and the Hidden Markov Model. Detected QoS degradations are handled with proxies. We experienced our framework using an orchestrated electronic shop application (FoodShop).

A self-healing architecture for Web service-based applications

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicates to each other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of developing Web service-based application and once Web services may change, in terms of functional and non-functional Quality of Service (QoS), we need mechanisms to monitor, diagnose, and repair Web services into a Web Application. This work presents a description of self-healing architecture that deals with these mechanisms. Other contributions of this paper are using the proxy server to measure Web service QoS values and to employ some strategies to recovery the effects from misbehaved Web services. © 2008 IEEE.

Semantic caching for web-based spatial applications

Client-side caching of spatial data is an important yet very much under investigated issue. Effective caching of vector spatial data has the potential to greatly improve the performance of spatial applications in the Web and wireless environments. In this paper, we study the problem of semantic spatial caching, focusing on effective organization of spatial data and spatial query trimming to take advantage of cached data. Semantic caching for spatial data is a much more complex problem than semantic caching for aspatial data. Several novel ideas are proposed in this paper for spatial applications. A number of typical spatial application scenarios are used to generate spatial query sequences. An extensive experimental performance study is conducted based on these scenarios using real spatial data. We demonstrate a significant performance improvement using our ideas.

Context-Based Customization of Routing Functions for Web GIS Applications

This poster presentation features three route planning applications developed by the Florida International University GIS Center and the Geomatics program at the University of Florida, and outlines their context based differences. The first route planner has been developed for cyclists in three Florida counties, i.e. Miami Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. The second route planner computes safe pedestrian routes to schools and has been developed for Miami Dade County. The third route planner combines pre-compiled cultural/eco routes and point-to-point route planning for the City of Coral Gables. This poster highlights the differences in design (user interface) and implementation (routing options) between the three route planners as a result of a different application context and target audience.

Protein Block Expert (PBE): a web-based protein structure analysis server using a structural alphabet

Encoding protein 3D structures into 1D string using short structural prototypes or structural alphabets opens a new front for structure comparison and analysis. Using the well-documented 16 motifs of Protein Blocks (PBs) as structural alphabet, we have developed a methodology to compare protein structures that are encoded as sequences of PBs by aligning them using dynamic programming which uses a substitution matrix for PBs. This methodology is implemented in the applications available in Protein Block Expert (PBE) server. PBE addresses common issues in the field of protein structure analysis such as comparison of proteins structures and identification of protein structures in structural databanks that resemble a given structure. PBE-T provides facility to transform any PDB file into sequences of PBs. PBE-ALIGNc performs comparison of two protein structures based on the alignment of their corresponding PB sequences. PBE-ALIGNm is a facility for mining SCOP database for similar structures based on the alignment of PBs. Besides, PBE provides an interface to a database (PBE-SAdb) of preprocessed PB sequences from SCOP culled at 95% and of all-against-all pairwise PB alignments at family and superfamily levels. PBE server is freely available at http://bioinformatics.univ-reunion.fr/ PBE/.

Quality-of-service routing for web-based multimedia servers

Quality-of-Service is an important issue in multimedia applications; so far most of the research focuses on bandwidth guarantee, few pays attention to the server performance guarantee. In this paper we pay more attention to the server performance guarantee under the prerequisite of guaranteed bandwidth quality. We take advantage of anycast to find the "best" multimedia server among a distributed server group in terms of bandwidth, the request will be submitted to the selected server, moreover, the selected server's neighbours' (all the servers with feasible paths) addresses are delivered to the selected server simultaneously. If the selected server can not guarantee the QoS for the request in terms of server performance, then a proposed QoS-Aware Server Load Deviation (QASLD) mechanism wiII be employed, which will deliver the request to one of its neighbours until there exists a suitable server that can guarantee the server performance for the request. Our experiments show that the proposed QASLD algorithm works well.