Interoperability Framework for Data Exchange between Legacy and Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Performance of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is improving due to the introduction of International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) 61850 standard based smart meters and Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs).  Whereas, legacy metering infrastructure and devices can not be ignored due to their wide spread use and substantial capital investment, but at the same time advance technology based smart meters are forcing utilities to adopt new technology in metering.  Middle path, before complete transformation takes place, seems to be to make legacy and AMI interoperable. This paper proposes a solution where applications from different manufacturers can access a standard interoperable metered data. A novel solution is also provided for accessing the meter metadata without manually inputting the address parameters of a particular meter to reduce the development time involved in deploying the AMI head-ends. Keywords: AMI, AMI Head-end, IEC 61850, Interoperability, Metadata, Smart Grid, XML Databas

A Taxonomy of Data Grids for Distributed Data Sharing, Management and Processing

Data Grids have been adopted as the platform for scientific communities that need to share, access, transport, process and manage large data collections distributed worldwide. They combine high-end computing technologies with high-performance networking and wide-area storage management techniques. In this paper, we discuss the key concepts behind Data Grids and compare them with other data sharing and distribution paradigms such as content delivery networks, peer-to-peer networks and distributed databases. We then provide comprehensive taxonomies that cover various aspects of architecture, data transportation, data replication and resource allocation and scheduling. Finally, we map the proposed taxonomy to various Data Grid systems not only to validate the taxonomy but also to identify areas for future exploration. Through this taxonomy, we aim to categorise existing systems to better understand their goals and their methodology. This would help evaluate their applicability for solving similar problems. This taxonomy also provides a "gap analysis" of this area through which researchers can potentially identify new issues for investigation. Finally, we hope that the proposed taxonomy and mapping also helps to provide an easy way for new practitioners to understand this complex area of research.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, Technical Repor

1st INCF Workshop on Sustainability of Neuroscience Databases

The goal of the workshop was to discuss issues related to the sustainability of neuroscience databases, identify problems and propose solutions, and formulate recommendations to the INCF. The report summarizes the discussions of invited participants from the neuroinformatics community as well as from other disciplines where sustainability issues have already been approached. The recommendations for the INCF involve rating, ranking, and supporting database sustainability

Advanced eGovernment Information Service Bus (eGov-Bus)

The eGov-Bus project provides citizens and businesses with improved access to virtual public services, which are based on existing national eGovernment Web services and which support cross-border life events. Requirements and specific rules of these life events are considered, and personalization of user preferences is supported. eGov-Bus is based on adaptable process management technologies, allowing for virtual services which are dynamically combined from existing national eGovernment services. In this way, a comprehensive workflow process is set up, allowing for service-level agreements, an audit trail and explanation of the process to the end user. The eGov-Bus process engine operates on top of a virtual repository, providing a high-level semantic view of information retrieved from heterogeneous information sources, such as eGovernment Web services. Further, eGov-Bus relies on a security framework to ensure all high-level security requirements are met. The eGov-Bus architecture is business oriented, it focuses on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) concepts, asynchronously combining Web services and providing a Service Bus.Frameworks and Guidelines, eGovernment Ontologies, Admininistrative Process Design, Life Events, Web Services, Service Bus Integration

Proposal for an IMLS Collection Registry and Metadata Repository

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposes to design, implement, and research a collection-level registry and item-level metadata repository service that will aggregate information about digital collections and items of digital content created using funds from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants. This work will be a collaboration by the University Library and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. All extant digital collections initiated or augmented under IMLS aegis from 1998 through September 30, 2005 will be included in the proposed collection registry. Item-level metadata will be harvested from collections making such content available using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI PMH). As part of this work, project personnel, in cooperation with IMLS staff and grantees, will define and document appropriate metadata schemas, help create and maintain collection-level metadata records, assist in implementing OAI compliant metadata provider services for dissemination of item-level metadata records, and research potential benefits and issues associated with these activities. The immediate outcomes of this work will be the practical demonstration of technologies that have the potential to enhance the visibility of IMLS funded online exhibits and digital library collections and improve discoverability of items contained in these resources. Experience gained and research conducted during this project will make clearer both the costs and the potential benefits associated with such services. Metadata provider and harvesting service implementations will be appropriately instrumented (e.g., customized anonymous transaction logs, online questionnaires for targeted user groups, performance monitors). At the conclusion of this project we will submit a final report that discusses tasks performed and lessons learned, presents business plans for sustaining registry and repository services, enumerates and summarizes potential benefits of these services, and makes recommendations regarding future implementations of these and related intermediary and end user interoperability services by IMLS projects.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Health information systems integration : a data warehouse architecture model for the Ministry of Health in Mozambique

This thesis presents a study about a data warehouse architecture model for the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Mozambique. The study combines two areas: health care and information systems areas. It was conducted using two research methodologies: system development and case study of the Ministry of Health. The model aims at integrating data from different sources in the Ministry of Health. The fieldwork was carried out in the southern area of Mozambique, in the Ministry of Health in Maputo province and in two districts of Gaza province: Manjacaze and Chibuto. The choice of these sites for the fieldwork was based on the implementation of the District Health Information System project. This research is a contribution to the current process of data and information integration in the Ministry of Health. Integration of information and data warehouse (DW) technology are tools that offer resources to obtain managerial information needed to establish control over management process. Data warehousing aims at providing, managing and exploiting a set of integrated data for decision support within an organization. The research methods applied to this study include interviews, observations, questionnaires, document analysis and analysis of existing systems. During the development of the model I applied part of the data warehouse life cycle. Taking into account the system development phases, I covered the first three phases of the data warehouse life cycle, in order to document the existing legacy systems, to create a model of data warehouse and to clean the data. As a result, I present a data warehouse architecture model for the Ministry of Health. The proposed model integrates different heterogeneous systems and provides integrated information for health workers m(administrative personnel and managers). The empirical findings proved that for the data warehouse project the Ministry of Health will need to put more effort on the data quality control, because the quality of data influence the decision-making process