Identifying Entity Types for E-R Diagramming in Developing Data- Intensive Web Applications

Although the Web has become a major enabler for data-intensive business applications such as e-tailing, customer relationship management, and supply chain management, we find that most Web applications are built up in ad hoc fashion, raising the data-related issues of data definition and data integration. This paper proposes a new approach for identifying entity types for E-R diagramming in developing data-rich Web applications. The methodology is founded on elements of Web applications including pages, links, Web application architecture, and business logic modules

The Use of Argument Maps as an Assessment Tool in Higher Education

The use of argument diagrams to foster argumentation has been an object of research in education, as a way to support students\u27 argumentative interaction and, potentially learning. In this paper it is shown how argument analysis and evaluation assisted by means of argument diagramming tools, further developed in artificial intelligence (AI), can also support the assessment of argumentation skills in the classroom. A case study is presented to show how informal logic contributions on fallacies, in particular, can be combined with the data of an argument-diagramming task, to form a method of assessing students\u27 weaknesses in reasoning about everyday issues using argument maps. Our contribution is mainly methodological, as we suggest an application of AI and argumentation theories in educatio

Placing students at the heart of the iron triangle and the interaction equivalence theorem models

A number of visual models have been proposed to help explain the interplay and interactions between specified components of higher education systems at different levels and to take account of emerging trends towards open education systems. At sector and institutional levels the notion of an iron triangle has been posited, linking firstly access, quality and cost and latterly accessibility, quality and efficiency in order to suggest means for widening access to higher education for the same or lower cost without compromising outcomes. At the level of teaching and learning an interaction equivalence theorem was developed to explain the relative contributions to successful study of teachers, students and educational content in formal settings and which has recently been extended to informal settings. However both models deal mainly with the supply side of the educational systems they attempt to represent, namely impacts of the availability and accessibility to more people of the elements in the models, and largely ignore the demand side in terms of the affordability and acceptability of the available and accessible provision to students and learners alike. Further, while stimulating debate there has to date been limited empirical studies undertaken to validate both these models. Despite this lack of testing, this paper explores ways of extending these existing models both visually and conceptually by adding in the perspective of the prospective learner or student in respect to their organisational capacity to invest sufficient time for studying, the levels of preparedness and/or confidence that they hold before they engage in learning and the level of motivation for undertaking those studies. It is argued that these modified models provide a new contextual framework with which to examine the capacity of more open education systems at the national, institutional and individual learner level to be expanded effectively and equitably. It is hoped that these extended models provide a new basis for undertaking empirical studies to test out the underlying assumptions

Modeling functional requirements using tacit knowledge: a design science research methodology informed approach

The research in this paper adds to the discussion linked to the challenge of capturing and modeling tacit knowledge throughout software development projects. The issue emerged when modeling functional requirements during a project for a client. However, using the design science research methodology at a particular point in the project helped to create an artifact, a functional requirements modeling technique, that resolved the issue with tacit knowledge. Accordingly, this paper includes research based upon the stages of the design science research methodology to design and test the artifact in an observable situation, empirically grounding the research undertaken. An integral component of the design science research methodology, the knowledge base, assimilated structuration and semiotic theories so that other researchers can test the validity of the artifact created. First, structuration theory helped to identify how tacit knowledge is communicated and can be understood when modeling functional requirements for new software. Second, structuration theory prescribed the application of semiotics which facilitated the development of the artifact. Additionally, following the stages of the design science research methodology and associated tasks allows the research to be reproduced in other software development contexts. As a positive outcome, using the functional requirements modeling technique created, specifically for obtaining tacit knowledge on the software development project, indicates that using such knowledge increases the likelihood of deploying software successfully

Bluefish: A Relational Framework for Graphic Representations

Complex graphic representations -- such as annotated visualizations, molecular structure diagrams, or Euclidean geometry -- convey information through overlapping perceptual relations. To author such representations, users are forced to use rigid, purpose-built tools with limited flexibility and expressiveness. User interface (UI) frameworks provide only limited relief as their tree-based models are a poor fit for expressing overlaps. We present Bluefish, a diagramming framework that extends UI architectures to support overlapping perceptual relations. Bluefish graphics are instantiated as relational scenegraphs: hierarchical data structures augmented with adjacency relations. Authors specify these relations with scoped references to components found elsewhere in the scenegraph. For layout, Bluefish lazily materializes necessary coordinate transformations. We demonstrate that Bluefish enables authoring graphic representations across a diverse range of domains while preserving the compositional and abstractional affordances of traditional UI frameworks. Moreover, we show how relational scenegraphs capture previously latent semantics that can later be retargeted (e.g., for screen reader accessibility).Comment: 27 pages, 14 figure