Showing papers in "International Journal of Information Technology and Web Engineering in 2008"
TL;DR: The focus for image mining in this article is clustering of shoe prints using k-means and expectation maximisation (EM) and the results are analysed and compared.
Abstract: Advances in image acquisition and storage technology have led to tremendous growth in very large and detailed image databases. These images, once analysed, can reveal useful information to our uses. The focus for image mining in this article is clustering of shoe prints. This study leads to the work in forensic data mining. In this article, we cluster selected shoe prints using k-means and expectation maximisation (EM). We analyse and compare the results of these two algorithms.
36 citations
TL;DR: A testing technique to generate test cases at class level for object-oriented programs by analyzing the formal object oriented class specification and a test model based on finite state machine specification is discussed.
Abstract: Object-oriented programming consists of several different levels of abstraction, namely, the algorithmic level, class level, cluster level, and system level. In this article, we discuss a testing technique to generate test cases at class level for object-oriented programs. The formal object oriented class specification is used to develop a test model. This test model is based on finite state machine specification. The class specification and the test model is analyzed to select a set of test data for each method of the class, and finally the test cases can be generated using other testing techniques like finite-state testing or data-flow testing.
24 citations
TL;DR: This article presents a new approach in guiding users to formulate clear requests based on their common nature of querying for information that provides a powerful query engine, called context-aware querying, that recommends the appropriate query patterns according to the user’s querying context.
Abstract: Formulating unambiguous queries in the Semantic Web applications is a challenging task for users. This article presents a new approach in guiding users to formulate clear requests based on their common nature of querying for information. The approach known as the front-end approach gives users an overview about the system data through a virtual data component which stores the extracted metadata of the data storage sources in the form of an ontology. This approach reduces the ambiguities in users’ requests at a very early stage and allows the query process to effectively perform in fulfilling users’ demands in a context-aware manner. Furthermore, the approach provides a powerful query engine, called context-aware querying, that recommends the appropriate query patterns according to the user’s querying context.
24 citations
TL;DR: A new application area for the Semantic Web technology, that is, education planning involving planning the admission-process for higher-education course has been introduced and the proposed approach and models are applied on it.
Abstract: A Semantic Web service composition system can be considered as a multi-agent system, in which each of the component service is considered as an agent capability. The article presents a multi-agent system based Semantic Web service composition approach. The proposed approach deals with some of the untouched issues and uses cognitive parameters and quality of service (QoS) parameters in serviceprovider selection. A new application area for the Semantic Web technology, that is, education planning involving planning the admission-process for higher-education course has been introduced and the proposed approach and models are applied on it.
22 citations
TL;DR: A new framework for Intelligent Semantic Web Services that overcomes these drawbacks is introduced, based on the Graphical Autonomous Intelligent Virtual Agents, virtual agents that exhibit a human-like appearance and behaviour and are able to take intelligent decisions and perform actions without human intervention.
Abstract: The Semantic Web has been recently developed to provide end users with suitable tools and strategies to process information from their Web pages. The Intelligent Semantic Web Services is a new approach aimed at extending Semantic Web capabilities for Services by applying Artificial Intelligence techniques while maintaining the good properties of the standard Semantic Web schemes. However, many current Web services neither consider this approach nor include a powerful user-interface and, consequently, are very limited and difficult to use. This paper introduces a new framework for Intelligent Semantic Web Services that overcomes these drawbacks. Our approach is based on the Graphical Autonomous Intelligent Virtual Agents (GAIVAs), virtual agents that exhibit a human-like appearance and behaviour and are able to take intelligent decisions and perform actions without human intervention. To this purpose, the framework comprises a collection of powerful Artificial Intelligence techniques along with a natural and intuitive Graphical User Interface.
22 citations
TL;DR: This study tried to examine how cell phone users who undergo a technology leap acquire their procedural knowledge of operating a cell phone and to find out which factors can improve their device competency.
Abstract: This study tried to examine how cell phone users who undergo a technology leap acquire their procedural knowledge of operating a cell phone and to find out which factors can improve their device competency. Using interviews, usability tests, and a questionnaire, this study found out that many respondents use unstructured means such as asking other cell phone users or rote learning in gaining their procedural knowledge. Some factors influencing users’ device competencies that were found in this study are classified into three categories: user interface design, culture, and the users themselves. In order to improve users’ device competency, elements in those three categories must be integrated. One realization of such integration is the attempt of localizing user interface through the user’s culture, not the culture where the cell phone is designed and manufactured.
20 citations
TL;DR: An extension of OptorSim by a consistency management module of the replicas in data grids is presented and a hybrid step which combines the economic models conceived for a hierarchical model with two levels is proposed.
Abstract: Data grids are currently solutions suggested to meet the needs for the scale large systems. They provide highly varied and geographically distributed resources of which the goal is to ensure a fast access and effective data access. This is to improve the availability and tolerate the breakdowns. In such systems, these advantages are not possible without the use of replication. Use of the technique of replication poses the problem as regards maintenance of the consistency of the same replicas; the strategies of replication of the data and scheduling of the jobs were tested by simulation. Several grid simulators were born. One of the most interesting simulators for our study is the OptorSim tool. In this article, we present an extension of OptorSim by a consistency management module of the replicas in data grids; we propose a hybrid step which combines the economic models conceived for a hierarchical model with two levels.
17 citations
TL;DR: It is necessary to estimate the performance of a Web server prior to deployment to select the best configuration options for a given level of load and a particular hardware and software configuration.
Abstract: With the rapid development and widespread use of the Internet, Web servers have become a dominant source of information and services. The use of Web servers in business and critical application domains imposes stringent performance requirements on them. These performance requirements cast a direct influence on the choice of the configuration options of the hardware and the software infrastructure on which a Web server is deployed. In addition to the selection of configuration options, for a given level of load and a particular hardware and software configuration, it is necessary to estimate the performance of a Web server prior to deployment
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined a generalized four-step method for software architecture level usability analysis called SALUTA and reported on a number of experiences and problems they observed when performing architecture analysis of usability.
Abstract: Software engineers and human computer interaction engineers have come to the understanding that usability is not something that can be “added†to a software product during late stage, since to a certain extent it is determined and restricted by architecture design. Cost effectively developing a usable system must include developing an architecture, which supports usability. Because software engineers in industry lacked support for the early evaluation of usability, we defined a generalized four-step method for software architecture level usability analysis called SALUTA. In this article, we report on a number of experiences and problems we observed when performing architecture analysis of usability at three industrial case studies performed in the domain of Web-based enterprise systems. Suggestions or solutions are provided for solving or avoiding these problems so organizations facing similar problems may learn from our experiences.
15 citations
TL;DR: A methodology is proposed to create test suites for a GUI that extends the notion of modularity and reusability to the testing phase and organizes the testing activity into various levels.
Abstract: Software testing in general and graphical user interface (GUI) testing in particular is one of the major challenges in the lifecycle of any software system. GUI testing is inherently more difficult than the traditional and command-line interface testing. Some of the factors that make GUI testing different from the traditional software testing and significantly more difficult are: a large number of objects, different look and feel of objects, many parameters associated with each object, progressive disclosure, complex inputs from multiple sources, and graphical outputs. The existing testing techniques for the creation and management of test suites need to be adapted/enhanced for GUIs, and new testing techniques are desired to make the creation and management of test suites more efficient and effective. In this article, a methodology is proposed to create test suites for a GUI. The proposed methodology organizes the testing activity into various levels. The tests created at a particular level can be reused at higher levels. This methodology extends the notion of modularity and reusability to the testing phase. The organization and management of the created test suites resembles closely to the structure of the GUI under test.
15 citations
TL;DR: The test and the analysis of the experiments suggest that WordNet is far from the ideal solution in solving semantic problems in the information retrieval, but several observations have been made and reported in this article that allow research in ontology for the information retrieved to move towards the right direction.
Abstract: The debate on the effectiveness of ontology in solving semantic problems has increased recently in many domains of information technology. One side of the debate accepts the inclusion of ontology as a suitable solution. The other side of the debate argues that ontology is far from an ideal solution to the semantic problem. This article explores this debate in the area of information retrieval. Several past approaches were explored and a new approach was investigated to test the effectiveness of a generic ontology such as WordNet in improving the performance of information retrieval systems. The test and the analysis of the experiments suggest that WordNet is far from the ideal solution in solving semantic problems in the information retrieval. However, several observations have been made and reported in this article that allow research in ontology for the information retrieval to move towards the right direction.
TL;DR: The results have shown that both voice and image are important for people to correctly recognize emotion in telecommunications and the proposed solution can provide an alternative to videophone systems.
Abstract: This article proposes an application of emotion recognizer system in telecommunications entitled voice driven emotion recognizer mobile phone (VDERM). The design implements a voice-to-image conversion scheme through a voice-to-image converter that extracts emotion features in the voice, recognizes them, and selects the corresponding facial expression images from image bank. Since it only requires audio transmission, it can support video communication at a much lower bit rate than the conventional videophone. The first prototype of VDERM system has been implemented into a personal computer. The coder, voice-to-image converter, image database, and system interface are preinstalled in the personal computer. In this article, we present and discuss some evaluations that have been conducted in supporting this proposed prototype. The results have shown that both voice and image are important for people to correctly recognize emotion in telecommunications and the proposed solution can provide an alternative to videophone systems. The future works list some modifications that can be done to the proposed prototype in order to make it more practical for mobile applications.
TL;DR: A methodology for pattern-oriented Web engineering (POWE) that deploys patterns as means for assuring the quality of Web applications is proposed and the use of patterns during macro and micro-architecture design of a Web application is illustrated.
Abstract: The development and evolution of Web applications is viewed from an engineering perspective that relies on and accommodates the knowledge inherent in patterns. A methodology for pattern-oriented Web engineering (POWE) that deploys patterns as means for assuring the quality of Web applications is proposed. POWE consists of a sequence of steps that include the identification of stakeholder types, following a suitable development process model, identification of relevant quality attributes, and selection and use of suitable patterns. To support decision making and to place POWE in context, the feasibility issues involved in each step are highlighted. The use of patterns during macro and micro-architecture design of a Web application is illustrated. Finally, some directions for future research, including extensions to POWE, are discussed.
TL;DR: A viewpoint-oriented framework for the active credibility engineering of Web applications is proposed, and the managerial, societal, and technical viewpoints of it are analyzed in some detail.
Abstract: The issue of credibility is a major concern for the consumers of Web applications in a variety of domains and is crucial for an organization’s reputation. Using a taxonomy of credibility, a systematic approach to one class of credibility, namely the active credibility, of Web applications is considered. To that regard, a viewpoint-oriented framework for the active credibility engineering of Web applications is proposed, and the managerial, societal, and technical viewpoints of it are analyzed in some detail. A few directions for extending the framework are outlined.
TL;DR: This research designs and develops a domain independent framework and architecture for Scenario-driven Decision Support Systems Generator that aligns the DSS with the scenario management process and proposes a generalised evaluation process that allows homogeneous and heterogeneous scenario comparisons among multiple instances of similar and dissimilar scenarios respectively.
Abstract: Traditional Decision Support Systems (DSS) provide strong data management, modelling and visualisation capabilities for the decision maker but they do not explicitly support scenario management appropriately. Systems that purport to support scenario planning are complex and difficult to use and do not fully support all phases of scenario management. We introduce scenario as a core component of decision making systems and present a life cycle approach for scenario management, which helps the decision maker with idea generation, scenario planning, development, organisation, analysis, execution, evaluation, and decision support. This research designs and develops a domain independent framework and architecture for Scenario-driven Decision Support Systems Generator that aligns the DSS with the scenario management process. We then propose a generalised evaluation process that allows homogeneous and heterogeneous scenario comparisons among multiple instances of similar and dissimilar scenarios respectively. The framework and architecture is implemented and validated through a concrete prototype.
TL;DR: This article describes a partially automated mechanism, the tool InputValidator, which seeks to address insufficient and inappropriate input validation by sending test data directly to the server to test the robustness and security of the back-end software.
Abstract: The construction and testing of Web-based systems has become more complex and challenging because of continual innovations in technology. Security is a major concern, particularly for the deployment of mission critical applications. One of the principal vulnerabilities in Webbased systems revolves around insufficient and inappropriate input validation, a deficiency that can be exploited by attacks that bypass client-side checking. This article describes a partially automated mechanism, the tool InputValidator, which seeks to address this issue by sending test data directly to the server to test the robustness and security of the back-end software. The tool allows a user to construct, execute, and evaluate a number of test cases through a formfilling exercise instead of writing bespoke test code.
TL;DR: This paper illustrates applications of the interoperability specifications of Open GIS Consortium’s (OGC) Web mapping service and (WMS), Web processing standards (WPS) with respect to implementation feature and demonstrates a prototype implementation of collaborative environmental decision support systems.
Abstract: This paper characterizes the requirements of geographic information systems (GIS) middleware and its components for dynamic registering and discovering of spatial services specifically for collaborative modeling in environmental planning. The paper explores the role of Web services with respect to implementation standard and protocols and identifies implementation features for exposing distributed GIS business logic and components via Web services. In particular, the paper illustrates applications of the interoperability specifications of Open GIS Consortium’s (OGC) Web mapping service and (WMS), Web processing standards (WPS) with respect to implementation feature. The paper demonstrates a prototype implementation of collaborative environmental decision support systems (GEO-ELCA- Exploratory Land Use Change Assessment) where Web service-enabled middleware adds core functionality to a Web mapping service. The application demonstrates how individual workspace-based namespaces can be used to perform Web mapping functionality.