Showing papers on "Viewpoints published in 2004"

Service-oriented Design : A Multi-viewpoint Approach

Abstract: As the technology associated to the ?Web Services? trend gains significant adoption, the need for a corresponding design approach becomes increasingly important. This paper introduces a foundational model for designing (composite) services. The innovation of this model lies in the identification of four interrelated viewpoints (interface behaviour, provider behaviour, choreography, and orchestration) and their formalization from a control-flow perspective in terms of Petri nets. By formally capturing the interrelationships between these viewpoints, the proposal enables the static verification of the consistency of composite services designed in a cooperative and incremental manner. A proof-of-concept simulation and verification tool has been developed to test the possibilities of the proposed model.

Service-oriented Design: A Multi-viewpoint Approach

Abstract: As the technology associated with the "Web Services" trend gains significant adoption, the need for a corresponding design approach becomes increasingly important. This paper introduces a foundational model for designing (composite) services. The innovation of this model lies in the identification of four interrelated viewpoints (interface behaviour, provider behaviour, choreography, and orchestration) and their formalization from a control-flow perspective in terms of Petri nets. By formally capturing the interrelationships between these viewpoints, the proposal enables the static verification of the consistency of composite services designed in a cooperative and incremental manner. A proof-of-concept simulation and verification tool has been developed to test the possibilities of the proposed model.

A rigorous approach to relate enterprise and computational viewpoints

Abstract: Multiviewpoint approaches allow stakeholders to design a system from stakeholder-specific viewpoints. By this, a separation of concerns is achieved, which makes designs more manageable. However, to construct a consistent multiviewpoint design, the relations between viewpoints must be defined precisely, so that the consistency of designs from these viewpoints can be verified. The goal of this paper is to make the consistency rules between (a slightly adapted version of) the RM-ODP enterprise and computational viewpoints more precise and to make checking the consistency between these viewpoints practically applicable. To achieve this goal, we apply a generic framework for relating viewpoints that includes reusable consistency rules. We implemented the consistency rules in a tool to show their applicability.

Conflicting viewpoints on web design.

Abstract: SUMMARY While design undoubtedly affects a Website's success, two ideologically opposite schools of thought have developed as to what is meant by good design. The approaches differ fundamentally in terms of how to balance two interrelated but conflicting elements-presentation and usability. Supporters of the aesthetic school argue that the graphical/multimedia features of the Web should be used to enhance the visitor experience. Functionalists, on the other hand, argue for less emphasis on visual design and more focus on content. This article reviews both approaches and examines their applicability to the travel product.

Viewpoints of medical students about the quality of clinicaleducation

Abstract: Background:Medical education quality improvement needs continuous evaluation. Objective:To determine the viewpoints of clinical students about the quality of clinical education. Methods:Through a descriptive-analytic study, a questionnaire consisting of 3 parts and 31 questions was used for data gathering . Findings:Students responded to the questions about scientific mastery, educational administraion, medical communication and consultation. Results indicated that clinical students evaluated scientific mastery, and educational administration as a well, and medical communication and counsultation domins as moderate. The highest mean scores in scientific mastery belongs to “the subjects of course mastery”; in educational administation , it goes to “choose of patient according to the clerkship's objectives”; and in medical communication and consultation “ giving feedback to the students” got the highest mean score. Conculsion: Active and efficient presence of clinical teachers could improve the quailty of clinical education. Workshops aiming at changing the teachers attitudes, orienting the inovative educational methods and evaluation, are premise for promoting the quality of clinical education.

System and interface framework for SCAPE as a collaborative infrastructure

Abstract: We have developed a multi-user collaborative infrastructure, SCAPE (an acronym for Stereoscopic Collaboration in Augmented and Projective Environments), which is based on recent advancement in head-mounted projective display (HMPD) technology. SCAPE combines the functionalities of an interactive workbench and a room-sized immersive display to concurrently create both exocentric and egocentric perspectives. SCAPE intuitively provides a shared space in which multiple users can simultaneously interact with a 3D synthetic environment from their individual viewpoints, and each user has concurrent access to the environment from multiple perspectives at multiple scales. SCAPE also creates a platform to merge the traditionally separate paradigms of virtual and augmented realities. In this paper, we discuss the design principles we have followed to conceptualize the SCAPE system and briefly summarize SCAPE's hardware implementation. Furthermore, we discuss on detail the high-level design and implementation of the SCAPE architecture, and present a set of unique widget interfaces currently available in our implementation that enable and facilitate interaction and cooperation. Finally, we demonstomate SCAPE's unique visualization and interface capabilities via a testbed application Azec Explorer.

Developing multicultural competence: perspectives on theory and practice

Abstract: As the literature in multi- and cross-cultural counselling continues to grow, counselling psychologists are faced with the task of making sense and finding guidance out of a bewildering amount of data, assertions and theory. In this article, an examination of significant issues and alternative viewpoints in the practice of counselling with multicultural clients is presented to stimulate thought and encourage further engagement, discussion and improvements in professional practice. A concluding synopsis of basic guidelines for development and competence in practice is given.

Second messenger: increasing the visibility of minority viewpoints with a face-to-face collaboration tool

Abstract: This paper introduces the application Second Messenger, a tool for supporting face-to-face meetings and discussions. Second Messenger uses a speech-recognition engine as an input method and outputs filtered keywords from the group's conversation onto an interactive display. The goal of this interface is to improve the quality of a group discussion by increasing the visibility of diverse viewpoints.

Business, Advertising, and the Social Control of News

Abstract: This study demonstrates how businesses employ their advertising to socially control and thus censor viewpoints they do not like. In 1970-71, when the University of Iowa student newspaper the Daily ...

Dynamics of Coordination in Collaboration

Abstract: Central issue of this chapter is the way collaborating students manage to coordinate and adjust their actions to the processes of knowledge construction and problem solving that occur between them. This coordination is realized by a complex interaction between task related strategies, cooperative intentions and communication processes during collaboration learning. In a process of focusing students will try to maintain a shared topic of discourse and will try to repair a common focus when focus divergence is noticed. Furthermore, collaboration requires that the students acquire a common frame of reference (grounding) in order to be able to negotiate and communicate their individual viewpoints and inferences. By checking new information with regard to the knowledge that was (co-) constructed, the students guard the coherence and consistency of their collective knowledge base. And, lastly, by a process of explicit argumentation the students will have to come to agreement with each other on the task strategies to follow and on the conclusions to be drawn.

A hierarchical approach to multi-project planning under uncertainty

Abstract: We survey several viewpoints on the management of the planning complexity of multi-project organisations under uncertainty. Based on these viewpoints we propose a positioning framework to distinguish between different types of project-driven organisations. This framework is meant to aid project management in the choice between the various existing planning approaches. We also discuss the current state of the art of hierarchical planning approaches both for traditional manufacturing and for project environments. Next, we introduce a generic hierarchical project planning-and-control framework that serves to position planning methods for multi-project planning under uncertainty. We discuss various techniques for dealing with the uncertainty inherent to the different hierarchical stages in a multi-project organisation. In the last part of this paper we discuss two cases from practice and relate these to the positioning framework that is put forward in the paper.

A transformation method of scenarios from different viewpoints

Abstract: Scenarios that describe concrete situations of software operation play an important role in software development and especially in requirements engineering. Scenario details should vary in content when described from different viewpoints, but this presents a difficulty, because an informal scenario from one viewpoint can not easily be transformed into a scenario from another viewpoint with consistency and assurance. The authors have developed a language for describing scenarios in which simple action traces are embellished to include typed frames based on a simple case grammar of actions. This paper describes a transformation method to accomplish the transformation between scenarios from different viewpoints. An empirical investigation demonstrated the usefulness of the method by means of two experiments.

MERCOSUR: In search of a New Agenda

Abstract: MERCOSUR made substantial achievements in a short period. There was a great deal of liberalization; intra-regional trade increased significantly; a certain sense of regional belonging was inculcated among national publics; and the regional project served as a pretext for national adjustments. Inconsistencies nonetheless persisted between the project?s goals, on the one hand, and its institutions and mechanisms on the other; there have been persistent gaps between rhetorical aims and concrete practices; and by the turn of the present decade various subregional crises seemed to call MERCOSUR?s relevance into question. Against that background the Inter-American Bank and the Getulio Vargas Foundation organized a seminar in Rio de Janeiro on June 5 and 6, 2003. The meeting brought together a small group of trade and integration specialists to examine the bloc?s achievements and problems thus far, and to debate possible elements of a new subregional agenda. Full versions of the papers presented at the seminar are available separately in this Working Paper Series. Throughout the various sessions of the event, moreover, a number of issues recurred in different contexts and were debated from different angles. For those reasons, in general terms this report on the seminar attempts neither a comprehensive summary of each paper nor a session-by-session synthesis of the proceedings. Rather, it takes a thematic approach in an effort to demonstrate which issues emerged as particularly significant in the flow of debate, which arguments were accorded the greatest validity, in which area divergences were apparent, and where the grounds for consensus lay. In outlining the debate in this way, every effort has been made to avoid taking individual viewpoints out of context, while including those opinions in the overall thematic structure.

Estimation of spilled hydrocarbon volume--the state-of-the-art.

Abstract: With the increase in the environmental awareness and reorganization of the need for its protection, the study of soil and groundwater contamination and its remediation have become the focus of numerous researchers. Intentional and unintentional release of hydrocarbon into soil and subsurface pose a great threat to the biosphere environment. The quantification of spilled volume has primary importance for carrying out the remediation work and is considered a first step in the remediation hierarchy. Different investigators approached the problem from many viewpoints, and the resulting achievements are so extensive and scattered that it seems essential to inventory the completed works. This paper presents a systematic study of the available experimental and theoretical works. A complete picture of the present status of the problem is also provided. Issues that remain unresolved and obscure by the current day investigators are pointed out to facilitate future research directions and more comprehensive analyses...

On the use of public information by social foragers to assess patch quality

Abstract: P 0 I I Opinion is intended to facilitate communication between reader and author and reader and IC I reader. Comments, viewpoints or suggestions arising from published papers are welcome. N Discussion and debate about important issues in ecology, e.g. theory or terminology, may I I also be included. Contributions should be as precise as possible and references should be P 0 kept to a minimum. A summary is not required. O N

Strangers in A Strange Land: Can IS Meet the Challenges and Opportunities of Research in Healthcare?

Abstract: This panel investigates opportunities and challenges of using IS theory and methods in healthcare, and healthcare theory and methods in developing IS knowledge. Healthcare differs from industries typically studied by IS researchers, and thus presents different social actors, norms and practices, organizational structures, workflows, terminology and language, and institutional imperatives. Conversely, healthcare issues and methods, such as those used in medical informatics, are different from those commonly considered and employed in IS research. Panelists will present different, although decidedly North American, experiences crossing disciplinary boundaries in order to conduct research about information systems in healthcare. We hope to stimulate discussion by presenting opposing viewpoints on what IS researchers need to consider if they wish to do research in healthcare. Our primary objective is to show how fruitful collaborations of IS and medical informatics research could be achieved.

Haunted by the uncanny - development of a genre from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century

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Missing Requirements and Relationship Discovery through Proxy Viewpoints Model.

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of "missing requirements" in software requirements specification (SRS) expressed in natural language. Due to rapid changes in technology and business frequently witnessed over time, the original SRS documents often experience the problems of missing, not available, and hard-to-locate requirements. One of the flaws in earlier solutions to this problem has no consideration for missing requirements from multiple viewpoints. Furthermore, since such SRS documents represent an incomplete domain model, mannual discovery (identification and incorporation) of missing requirements and relationships is highly labor intensive and error-prone. Consequently, deriving and improving an efficient adaptation of SRS changes remain a complex problem. In this paper, we present a new methodology entitled "Proxy Viewpoints Model-based Requirements Discovery (PVRD)". The PVRD methodology provides an integrated framework to construct proxy viewpoints model from legacy status requirements and supports requirements discovery process as well as efficient management.

The Viewpoints of Continuing Medical Education Directors and Experts about the Characteristics of an Effective Needs Assessment Model for Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists

Abstract: Introduction. Needs assessment data provide a basis for developing learning objectives of CME activities. Identifying the viewpoints of Iranian CME experts about the characteristics of an effective needs assessment (NA) model for physicians’, dentists’ and pharmacists’ CME programs was the aim of this study. Methods. In a descriptive study all CME directors and experts (50 persons) were surveyed using a questionnaire composed of 6 multiple choice questions about some key components of CME needs assessment including the best definition for need, the source of data collection, the required level, and the procedure and criteria for prioritizing the needs. The face and content validity of the questionnaire were evaluated by some CME experts and Cronbach’s alpha was used for reliability assessment. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using frequency distribution and Chi. Results. A total of 35 CME directors and experts (70%) responded to the survey. Based on their points of view: The best definition for need was “the distance between the present and optimum situation”(68.6%), the best source for needs assessment was “professional tasks” (34.3%), the most proper level for planning needs assessment was “national level” (34.3%) , the best method for performing needs assessment was “running needs assessment as a part of strategic planning” (45.8%) and “perceived needs of the clients” (48.6%), selection of needs assessment model according to “the level of needs assessment (37.1%)”, and the best criterion for prioritizing the needs was “the relevance with the professional tasks” ( 51.4%). Conclusion. Despite numerous literature about needs assessment, there is no unique model as the best appropriate one for all CME needs assessment programs. But, careful selection of needs assessment model for each situation, designing the content of continuing education programs based on previous needs assessments, identifying what is supposed to be assessed, and its position in planning and designing the topics of continuing education are the key points in planning needs assessment for continuing education.

Deception as a Pragmatic Strategy: An Adaptation-based Approach

Abstract: Deception (DEC), as a pragmatic strategy of speech acts, has attracted great attention of many scholars who conducted their research from different viewpoints like psychology, sociology and linguistic pragmatics. After reviewing the past research from the above viewpoints and pointing out their achievements and limitations, this paper attempts to apply Verschueren’s adaptation theory to DEC as a pragmatic strategy of speech acts. The authors conclude that DECs are actually the outcomes of linguistic choices interadaptable with language users’mental world, social world and physical world.

Development of a System that Provides Teachers with Useful Resources from Various Viewpoints Based on Ontology

Abstract: In Japan, teaching of the subject "Information" was started in the high schools in April 2003, and interest in IT/information education has continued to grow since then. It is very difficult to design IT/information education materials, and there are very few specialist teachers of IT/information education. For this reason, it is necessary and important to provide teachers of IT /information education with a variety of useful resources. To that end, we are building a system that supports teachers in designing instructional materials for IT/information education. Here, we describe a part of this system that reconstructs resources according to the various viewpoints which teachers require. This function of the system is realized by tagging each resource with the ontology of IT/information education in the Resource Description Framework (RDF).

A Study of External Pressure Groups: Users of Corporate Social Disclosure

Abstract: This research examines external pressure group usage of and influences on corporate social disclosure. The research confirms that social and environment groups are users of corporate social disclosure, however in contrast to earlier pressure group studies, such as Tilt (1994), Annual Reports appear to be no longer the preferred medium of use. The results reveal a relative consistency in pressure group viewpoints regarding corporate social disclosure across time, and show that pressure groups view corporate social disclosure as insufficient even when relevant and low in credibility.

Making the World More Relevant for Students: Role Playing Exercises for the Classroom

Abstract: As our world grows more complex and difficult to understand, perhaps we benefit best by looking at it through different lenses and at different angles. Since “accidents” of our birth and upbringing leave us predisposed to adopt only one perspective and to be certain that we have the best view, it is even more important that we consciously identify and separately consider a variety of viewpoints. As everyone knows reading a concept in a book or even viewing someone else demonstrating it is quite different than actively participating in the conduct of such a concept. This essay is a collection of our own classroom simulations developed for the purpose of furthering this educational endeavor.

Viewpoint-based testing of concurrent components

Abstract: The use of multiple partial viewpoints is recommended for specification. We believe they also can be useful for devising strategies for testing. In this paper, we use Object-Z to formally specify concurrent Java components from viewpoints based on the separation of application and synchronisation concerns inherent in Java monitors. We then use the Test-Template Framework on the Object-Z viewpoints to devise a strategy for testing the components. When combining the test templates for the different viewpoints we focus on the observable behaviour of the application to systematically derive a practical testing strategy. The Producer-Consumer and Readers-Writers problems are considered as case studies.

An approach to estimate the value of user sessions using multiple viewpoints and goals

Abstract: Web-based commerce systems fail to achieve many of the features that enable small businesses to develop a friendly human relationship with customers. Although many enterprises have worried about user identification to solve the problem, the solution goes far beyond trying to find out what navigator's behavior looks like. Many approaches have recently been proposed to enrich the data in web logs with semantics related to the business so that web mining algorithms can later be applied to discover patterns and trends. In this paper we present an innovative method of log enrichment as several goals and viewpoints of the organization owning the site are taken into account. By later applying discriminant analysis to the information enriched this way, it is possible to identify the relevant factors that contribute most to the success of a session for each viewpoint under consideration. The method also helps to estimate ongoing session value in terms of how the company's objectives and expectations are being achieved.