Multi-layer Architecture For Storing Visual Data Based on WCF and Microsoft SQL Server Database

In this paper we present a novel architecture for storing visual data. Effective storing, browsing and searching collections of images is one of the most important challenges of computer science. The design of architecture for storing such data requires a set of tools and frameworks such as SQL database management systems and service-oriented frameworks. The proposed solution is based on a multi-layer architecture, which allows to replace any component without recompilation of other components. The approach contains five components, i.e. Model, Base Engine, Concrete Engine, CBIR service and Presentation. They were based on two well-known design patterns: Dependency Injection and Inverse of Control. For experimental purposes we implemented the SURF local interest point detector as a feature extractor and $K$-means clustering as indexer. The presented architecture is intended for content-based retrieval systems simulation purposes as well as for real-world CBIR tasks.Comment: Accepted for the 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, ICAISC, June 14-18, 2015, Zakopane, Polan

Windows Azure: Using Windows Azure\u27s Service Bus to Solve Data Security Issues

Many of the largest technology companies are heavily investing in Cloud Computing technology, making this a major force in the realm of software development. However, this software paradigm brings with it significantdata related security issues. This paper discusses some of these security issues and presents a solution. The solution calls for storing data outside of the cloud, and under the control of the cloud consumer. In addition, the solution provides the ability to manipulate data using only the standard HTTP ports that are typically opened at most locations. This solution is implemented using Microsoft\u27s Windows Azure Cloud Computing operating system. The Windows Azure Service Bus is used to facilitate data access for a cloud based application

AN APPLICATION USING WCF

This thesis examined the benefits and implementation of using a WCF service in a client-server ap-plication. The main focus of the thesis was on the server side; however the client side was also briefly handled in the implementation section. The first part of the thesis studied the different parts of the WCF service. The purpose of this part was to offer a good idea of what the WCF service is and what the components related to it are. These components include an explanation on what the client-server architecture is and what Win-dows Communications Foundation and its most important service related components are. The components being examined include contracts, endpoints and the service itself. The implementation of the service is based on a project by the assigner, where a similar service was created and it focuses mostly on the server side. The client side part of the implementation details how the service was referenced using the Visual Studio 2012 and how the methods from the service are called using a service client. The purpose of the implementation was also to serve as a tutorial on how to create a WCF service. Result of the thesis was a working implementation of the WCF service and when it was compared to other possible implementation methods, the WCF service was an optimal choice for applications with multiple concurrent users. The downside of the WHC service was its need to be hosted by aOpinnäytetyö tutki WCF servicen käyttämisen hyötyjä WCF sovelluksessa sekä kuinka kyseinen ser-vice toteutetaan. Opinnäytetyö painottuu enemmän palvelinpuolelle, mutta käyttöliittymäpuoltakin käsitellään toteutusvaiheessa osittain. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin kyseisestä aiheesta, koska toimeksian-tajan projektissa oli sille tarvetta ja teoriapuolesta oli suuri hyöty ymmärtämään, miten ja miksi servicen eri osaset toimivat. Opinnäytetyössä keskityttiin esittelemään WCF servicen eri osat. Tämän osion tuli tarjota hyvä idea siitä mitä SOA, WCF ja service ovat ja mitä niihin liittyvät eri osat ovat. Esitellyt osiot sisältävät ylei-sen selostuksen siitä, mitä SOA ja käyttöliittymä-serveri tarkoittaa sekä osion joka tutkii mikä on Windows Communication Foundation ja sen täkeimmät serviceen liittyvät osat. Lisäksi keskityttiin kuvaamaan servicen luomista kohta kerrallaan. Toteutus pohjautui toimeksiantajan projektiin, jossa vastaavaa toteutusta käytettiin. Tämän toteutuksen oli myös tarkoitus pystyä toimimaan eräänlai-sena ohjeistuksena WCF servicen toteuttamiseksi. Toteutus keskittyy pääsäännöllisesti palvelin puoleen ja itse servicen toteutukseen. Käyttöliittymä-puolella toteutus käsittelee ainoastaan sen, miten serviceen viitataan käyttäen Visual Studio 2012, sekä miten luotua viittauksen avulla kutsutaan servicen toimintoja. Opinnäytetyön toteutuksen tulokseksi tuli toimiva servicen luomisen ohje ja toteutettu service toimi kuten oli suunniteltu. Kun serviceä verrattiin muihin toteutusmenetelmiin, päädyttiin tulokseen, että service on hyödyllinen, kun sovelluksella on useita yhtaikaisia käyttäjiä ja servicen suurimmaksi haittapuoleksi todettiin sen tarve olla palvelimella, joka kaatuessaan estää servicen käytön

A Support System for Graphics for Visually Impaired People

As the Internet plays an important role in today’s society, graphics is widely used to present, convey and communicate information in many different areas. Complex information is often easier to understand and analyze by graphics. Even though graphics plays an important role, accessibility support is very limited for web graphics. Web graphics accessibility is not only for people with disabilities, but also for people who want to get and use information in ways different from the ones originally intended. One of the problems regarding graphics for blind people is that we have few data on how a blind person draws or how he/she receives graphical information. Based on Katz’s pupils’ research, one concludes that blind people can draw in outline and that they have a good sense of three-dimensional shape and space. In this thesis, I propose and develop a system, which can serve as a tool to be used by researchers investigating these and related issues. Our support system is built to collect the drawings from visually impaired people by finger movement on Braille devices or touch devices, such as tablets. When the drawing data is collected, the system will automatically generate the graphical XML data, which are easily accessed by applications and web services. The graphical XML data are stored locally or remotely. Compared to other support systems, our system is the first automatic system to provide web services to collect and access such data. The system also has the capability to integrate into cloud computing so that people can use the system anywhere to collect and access the data

Prototyping and Evaluation of Sensor Data Integration in Cloud Platforms

The SFI Smart Ocean centre has initiated a long-running project which consists of developing a wireless and autonomous marine observation system for monitoring of underwater environments and structures. The increasing popularity of integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) with Cloud Computing has led to promising infrastructures that could realize Smart Ocean's goals. The project will utilize underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) for collecting data in the marine environments and develop a cloud-based platform for retrieving, processing, and storing all the sensor data. Currently, the project is in its early stages and the collaborating partners are researching approaches and technologies that can potentially be utilized. This thesis contributes to the centre's ongoing research, focusing on the aspect of how sensor data can be integrated into three different cloud platforms: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and the Google Cloud Platform. The goals were to develop prototypes that could successfully send data to the chosen cloud platforms and evaluate their applicability in context of the Smart Ocean project. In order to determine the most suitable option, each platform was evaluated based on set of defined criteria, focusing on their sensor data integration capabilities. The thesis has also investigated the cloud platforms' supported protocol bindings, as well as several candidate technologies for metadata standards and compared them in surveys. Our evaluation results shows that all three cloud platforms handle sensor data integration in very similar ways, offering a set of cloud services relevant for creating diverse IoT solutions. However, the Google Cloud Platform ranks at the bottom due to the lack of IoT focus on their platform, with less service options, features, and capabilities compared to the other two. Both Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services rank very close to each other, as they provide many of the same sensor data integration capabilities, making them the most applicable options.Masteroppgave i Programutvikling samarbeid med HVLPROG399MAMN-PRO

Creating a Repository for the Design and Delivery of Web Services

Existing web service repositories are not well suited to handle the multi-layered representation of web services, nor are they able to support multiple development methodologies. We describe the design and development of a repository called Web Service Crawler that supports both a traditional development methodology for the initial design of services, and an agile approach for the design of composite applications. Web Service Crawler is developed based on a set of theory-based design characteristics, and includes novel facets to represent multi-layered web services, such as workflow, composition, and layer. The positive evaluation results indicate that Web Service Crawler can be used to guide web service designers, as well as enable consumers to more easily find and use services

Design, Development, and Evaluation of an Easily Customized Staff Scheduling System

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Lakmal Molligoda on May 10, 2012

Diagnosis of Errors in Stalled Inter-Organizational Workflow Processes

Fault-tolerant inter-organizational workflow processes help participant organizations efficiently complete their business activities and operations without extended delays. The stalling of inter-organizational workflow processes is a common hurdle that causes organizations immense losses and operational difficulties. The complexity of software requirements, incapability of workflow systems to properly handle exceptions, and inadequate process modeling are the leading causes of errors in the workflow processes. The dissertation effort is essentially about diagnosing errors in stalled inter-organizational workflow processes. The goals and objectives of this dissertation were achieved by designing a fault-tolerant software architecture of workflow system’s components/modules (i.e., workflow process designer, workflow engine, workflow monitoring, workflow administrative panel, service integration, workflow client) relevant to exception handling and troubleshooting. The complexity and improper implementation of software requirements were handled by building a framework of guiding principles and the best practices for modeling and designing inter-organizational workflow processes. Theoretical and empirical/experimental research methodologies were used to find the root causes of errors in stalled workflow processes. Error detection and diagnosis are critical steps that can be further used to design a strategy to resolve the stalled processes. Diagnosis of errors in stalled workflow processes was in scope, but the resolution of stalled workflow process was out of the scope in this dissertation. The software architecture facilitated automatic and semi-automatic diagnostics of errors in stalled workflow processes from real-time and historical perspectives. The empirical/experimental study was justified by creating state-of-the-art inter-organizational workflow processes using an API-based workflow system, a low code workflow automation platform, a supported high-level programming language, and a storage system. The empirical/experimental measurements and dissertation goals were explained by collecting, analyzing, and interpreting the workflow data. The methodology was evaluated based on its ability to diagnose errors successfully (i.e., identifying the root cause) in stalled processes caused by web service failures in the inter-organizational workflow processes. Fourteen datasets were created to analyze, verify, and validate hypotheses and the software architecture. Amongst fourteen datasets, seven datasets were created for end-to-end IOWF process scenarios, including IOWF web service consumption, and seven datasets were for IOWF web service alone. The results of data analysis strongly supported and validated the software architecture and hypotheses. The guiding principles and the best practices of workflow process modeling and designing conclude opportunities to prevent processes from getting stalled. The outcome of the dissertation, i.e., diagnosis of errors in stalled inter-organization processes, can be utilized to resolve these stalled processes

When to Utilize Software as a Service

Cloud computing enables on-demand network access to shared resources (e.g., computation, networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. Cloud computing refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and system software in the data centers. Software as a service (SaaS) is part of cloud computing. It is one of the cloud service models. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted service and accessed over the Internet. In SaaS, the consumer uses the provider‘s applications running in the cloud. SaaS separates the possession and ownership of software from its use. The applications can be accessed from any device through a thin client interface. A typical SaaS application is used with a web browser based on monthly pricing. In this thesis, the characteristics of cloud computing and SaaS are presented. Also, a few implementation platforms for SaaS are discussed. Then, four different SaaS implementation cases and one transformation case are deliberated. The pros and cons of SaaS are studied. This is done based on literature references and analysis of the SaaS implementations and the transformation case. The analysis is done both from the customer‘s and service provider‘s point of view. In addition, the pros and cons of on-premises software are listed. The purpose of this thesis is to find when SaaS should be utilized and when it is better to choose a traditional on-premises software. The qualities of SaaS bring many benefits both for the customer as well as the provider. A customer should utilize SaaS when it provides cost savings, ease, and scalability over on-premises software. SaaS is reasonable when the customer does not need tailoring, but he only needs a simple, general-purpose service, and the application supports customer‘s core business. A provider should utilize SaaS when it offers cost savings, scalability, faster development, and wider customer base over on-premises software. It is wise to choose SaaS when the application is cheap, aimed at mass market, needs frequent updating, needs high performance computing, needs storing large amounts of data, or there is some other direct value from the cloud infrastructure.Siirretty Doriast