The design and implementation of an adaptive e-learning system

This paper describes the design and implementation of an adaptive e-learning system that provides a template for different learning materials as well as a student model that incorporates five distinct student characteristics as an aid to learning: primary characteristics are prior knowledge, learning style and the presence or absence of animated multimedia aids (multimedia mode); secondary characteristics include page background preference and link colour preference. The use of multimedia artefacts as a student characteristic has not previously been implemented or evaluated. The system development consists of a requirements analysis, design and implementation. The design models including use case diagrams, conceptual design, sequence diagrams, navigation design and presentation design are expressed using Unified Modelling Language (UML). The adaptive e-learning system was developed in a template implemented using Java Servlets, XHTML, XML, JavaScript and HTML. The template is a domain-independent adaptive e-learning system that has functions of both adaptivity and adaptability

A model-driven approach to broaden the detection of software performance antipatterns at runtime

Performance antipatterns document bad design patterns that have negative influence on system performance. In our previous work we formalized such antipatterns as logical predicates that predicate on four views: (i) the static view that captures the software elements (e.g. classes, components) and the static relationships among them; (ii) the dynamic view that represents the interaction (e.g. messages) that occurs between the software entities elements to provide the system functionalities; (iii) the deployment view that describes the hardware elements (e.g. processing nodes) and the mapping of the software entities onto the hardware platform; (iv) the performance view that collects specific performance indices. In this paper we present a lightweight infrastructure that is able to detect performance antipatterns at runtime through monitoring. The proposed approach precalculates such predicates and identifies antipatterns whose static, dynamic and deployment sub-predicates are validated by the current system configuration and brings at runtime the verification of performance sub-predicates. The proposed infrastructure leverages model-driven techniques to generate probes for monitoring the performance sub-predicates and detecting antipatterns at runtime.Comment: In Proceedings FESCA 2014, arXiv:1404.043

A Process Framework for Semantics-aware Tourism Information Systems

The growing sophistication of user requirements in tourism due to the advent of new technologies such as the Semantic Web and mobile computing has imposed new possibilities for improved intelligence in Tourism Information Systems (TIS). Traditional software engineering and web engineering approaches cannot suffice, hence the need to find new product development approaches that would sufficiently enable the next generation of TIS. The next generation of TIS are expected among other things to: enable semantics-based information processing, exhibit natural language capabilities, facilitate inter-organization exchange of information in a seamless way, and evolve proactively in tandem with dynamic user requirements. In this paper, a product development approach called Product Line for Ontology-based Semantics-Aware Tourism Information Systems (PLOSATIS) which is a novel hybridization of software product line engineering, and Semantic Web engineering concepts is proposed. PLOSATIS is presented as potentially effective, predictable and amenable to software process improvement initiatives

A planning approach to the automated synthesis of template-based process models

The design-time specification of flexible processes can be time-consuming and error-prone, due to the high number of tasks involved and their context-dependent nature. Such processes frequently suffer from potential interference among their constituents, since resources are usually shared by the process participants and it is difficult to foresee all the potential tasks interactions in advance. Concurrent tasks may not be independent from each other (e.g., they could operate on the same data at the same time), resulting in incorrect outcomes. To tackle these issues, we propose an approach for the automated synthesis of a library of template-based process models that achieve goals in dynamic and partially specified environments. The approach is based on a declarative problem definition and partial-order planning algorithms for template generation. The resulting templates guarantee sound concurrency in the execution of their activities and are reusable in a variety of partially specified contextual environments. As running example, a disaster response scenario is given. The approach is backed by a formal model and has been tested in experiment

The evaluation and the effectiveness of project management in transformational e-government projects

This paper forms part of an ongoing research of a PhD degree to describe, critically evaluate and examine the underlying barriers and challenges in large e-Government initiatives. The paper invites technology to be incorporated and inculcated into the art and science of project management, and be part of a passable solution as opposed to being distinct and separate from it. The tools used have to increase the novelty (art and science) of project management through human interaction, and empower the project manager and aiding his capacity in delivering the expected outcomes. Due to inadequate implementations of project management procedures and processes, many large information technology systems (ITS) projects failed. This becomes a characteristic and encompasses e-Government project initiatives, due to ambitious program changes, major innovations, large transformations, enterprise wide solutions, collaboration across organizations’ governments and private sectors, and the implementation of unprecedented (or ambitious) solutions. This research paper critically analyses and summarises a list of e-Government challenges and barriers arising from an e-Government survey administered on behalf of the World Information Technology and Services Association (WITSA) which represents the national technology associations in 70 countries. It compares these challenges to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which is the North American standard in project management methodology. In addition, it highlights the weaknesses in PMBOK to address these challenges and offers a technology-enabled enhancement to the Project Initiation Phase, the area identified as being particularly weak and inadequate in addressing e-Government initiatives and requirements

An Ontology-based Knowledge Management System for Industry Clusters

Knowledge-based economy forces companies in the nation to group together as a cluster in order to maintain their competitiveness in the world market. The cluster development relies on two key success factors which are knowledge sharing and collaboration between the actors in the cluster. Thus, our study tries to propose knowledge management system to support knowledge management activities within the cluster. To achieve the objectives of this study, ontology takes a very important role in knowledge management process in various ways; such as building reusable and faster knowledge-bases, better way for representing the knowledge explicitly. However, creating and representing ontology create difficulties to organization due to the ambiguity and unstructured of source of knowledge. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to propose the methodology to create and represent ontology for the organization development by using knowledge engineering approach. The handicraft cluster in Thailand is used as a case study to illustrate our proposed methodology.Ontology, Knowledge Management System, Industry Clusters