Temporal meta-model framework for Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) development

This thesis has developed a Temporal Meta-Model Framework for semi-automated Enterprise System Development, which can help drastically reduce the time and cost to develop, deploy and maintain Enterprise Information Systems throughout their lifecycle. It proposes that the analysis and requirements gathering can also perform the bulk of the design phase, stored and available in a suitable model which would then be capable of automated execution with the availability of a set of specific runtime components

An environment to support negotiation and contracting in collaborative networks

During the last years, manufacturing and service industries faced a global change in the production paradigm. They have to continuously adapt their operating principles in reaction to new business or collaboration opportunities, where a natural reaction is a shift to a new business paradigm with the creation of strategic alliances for product or services development, but also for innovative and emergent business services design. On one hand, the process of creating such alliances can be rather simple if organizations share the same geographical and cultural context. But on the other hand, considering different conditions, there might be a low success rate in the creation of successful consortia. One known reason for such low rate are the delays resulting from negotiations in the establishment of collaboration commitments, represented by contracts or agreements, which are crucial in the creation of such alliances. The collaborative networks discipline covers the study of networks of organizations specially when supported by computer networks. This thesis contributes with research in this field describing the creation process of virtual organizations, and proposing a negotiation support environment to help participants in the negotiation of the consortia creation process and in the co-design of new business services. A negotiation support environment is therefore proposed and described with its main requirements, adopted negotiation protocol, conceptual architecture, models, and software environment. To demonstrate the feasibility of the implementation of the proposed systems, a proof-ofconcept software prototype was implemented and tested using some specific scenarios. This thesis work has been validated adopting a methodology that includes: (i) validation in the research community; (ii) validation in a solar industry network; and (iii) validation by comparison analysis

Share and reuse of context metadata resulting from interactions between users and heterogeneous web-based learning environments

L'intérêt pour l'observation, l'instrumentation et l'évaluation des systèmes éducatifs en ligne est devenu de plus en plus important ces dernières années au sein de la communauté des Environnements Informatique pour l'Apprentissage Humain (EIAH). La conception et le développement d'environnements d'apprentissage en ligne adaptatifs (AdWLE - Adaptive Web-based Learning Environments) représentent une préoccupation majeure aujourd'hui, et visent divers objectifs tels que l'aide au processus de réingénierie, la compréhension du comportement des utilisateurs, ou le soutient à la création de systèmes tutoriels intelligents. Ces systèmes gèrent leur processus d'adaptation sur la base d'informations détaillées reflétant le contexte dans lequel les étudiants évoluent pendant l'apprentissage : les ressour-ces consultées, les clics de souris, les messages postés dans les logiciels de messagerie instantanée ou les forums de discussion, les réponses aux questionnaires, etc. Les travaux présentés dans ce document sont destinés à surmonter certaines lacunes des systèmes actuels en fournissant un cadre dédié à la collecte, au partage et à la réutilisation du contexte représenté selon deux niveaux d'abstraction : le contexte brut (résultant des interactions directes entre utilisateurs et applications) et le contexte inféré (calculé à partir des données du contexte brut). Ce cadre de travail qui respecte la vie privée des usagers est fondé sur un standard ouvert dédié à la gestion des systèmes, réseaux et applications. Le contexte spécifique aux outils hétérogènes constituant les EIAHs est représenté par une structure unifiée et extensible, et stocké dans un référentiel central. Pour faciliter l'accès à ce référentiel, nous avons introduit une couche intermédiaire composée d'un ensemble d'outils. Certains d'entre eux permettent aux utilisateurs et applications de définir, collecter, partager et rechercher les données de contexte qui les intéressent, tandis que d'autres sont dédiés à la conception, au calcul et à la délivrance des données de contexte inférées. Pour valider notre approche, une mise en œuvre du cadre de travail proposé intègre des données contextuelles issues de trois systèmes différents : deux plates-formes d'apprentissage Moodle (celle de l'Université Paul Sabatier de Toulouse, et une autre déployée dans le cadre du projet CONTINT financé par l'Agence Nationale de la Recherche) et une instanciation locale du moteur de recherche de la fondation Ariadne. A partir des contextes collectés, des indicateurs pertinents ont été calculés pour chacun de ces environnements. En outre, deux applications qui exploitent cet ensemble de données ont été développées : un système de recommandation personnalisé d'objets pédagogiques ainsi qu'une application de visualisation fondée sur les technologies tactiles pour faciliter la navigation au sein de ces données de contexte.An interest for the observation, instrumentation, and evaluation of online educational systems has become more and more important within the Technology Enhanced Learning community in the last few years. Conception and development of Adaptive Web-based Learning Environments (AdWLE) in order to facilitate the process of re-engineering, to help understand users' behavior, or to support the creation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems represent a major concern today. These systems handle their adaptation process on the basis of detailed information reflecting the context in which students evolve while learning: consulted resources, mouse clicks, chat messages, forum discussions, visited URLs, quizzes selections, and so on. The works presented in this document are intended to overcome some issues of the actual systems by providing a privacy-enabled framework dedicated to the collect, share and reuse of context represented at two abstraction levels: raw context (resulting from direct interactions between users and applications) and inferred context (calculated on the basis of raw context). The framework is based on an open standard dedicated to system, network and application management, where the context specific to heterogeneous tools is represented as a unified and extensible structure and stored into a central repository. To facilitate access to this context repository, we introduced a middleware layer composed of a set of tools. Some of them allow users and applications to define, collect, share and search for the context data they are interested in, while others are dedicated to the design, calculation and delivery of inferred context. To validate our approach, an implementation of the suggested framework manages context data provided by three systems: two Moodle servers (one running at the Paul Sabatier University of Toulouse, and the other one hosting the CONTINT project funded by the French National Research Agency) and a local instantiation of the Ariadne Finder. Based on the collected context, relevant indicators have been calculated for each one of these environments. Furthermore, two applications which reuse the encapsulated context have been developed on top of the framework: a personalized system for recommending learning objects to students, and a visualization application which uses multi-touch technologies to facilitate the navigation among collected context entities

Multimodal Content Delivery for Geo-services

This thesis describes a body of work carried out over several research projects in the area of multimodal interaction for location-based services. Research in this area has progressed from using simulated mobile environments to demonstrate the visual modality, to the ubiquitous delivery of rich media using multimodal interfaces (geo- services). To effectively deliver these services, research focused on innovative solutions to real-world problems in a number of disciplines including geo-location, mobile spatial interaction, location-based services, rich media interfaces and auditory user interfaces. My original contributions to knowledge are made in the areas of multimodal interaction underpinned by advances in geo-location technology and supported by the proliferation of mobile device technology into modern life. Accurate positioning is a known problem for location-based services, contributions in the area of mobile positioning demonstrate a hybrid positioning technology for mobile devices that uses terrestrial beacons to trilaterate position. Information overload is an active concern for location-based applications that struggle to manage large amounts of data, contributions in the area of egocentric visibility that filter data based on field-of-view demonstrate novel forms of multimodal input. One of the more pertinent characteristics of these applications is the delivery or output modality employed (auditory, visual or tactile). Further contributions in the area of multimodal content delivery are made, where multiple modalities are used to deliver information using graphical user interfaces, tactile interfaces and more notably auditory user interfaces. It is demonstrated how a combination of these interfaces can be used to synergistically deliver context sensitive rich media to users - in a responsive way - based on usage scenarios that consider the affordance of the device, the geographical position and bearing of the device and also the location of the device

Design and Implementation of a Research Data Management System: The CRC/TR32 Project Database (TR32DB)

Research data management (RDM) includes all processes and measures which ensure that research data are well-organised, documented, preserved, stored, backed up, accessible, available, and re-usable. Corresponding RDM systems or repositories form the technical framework to support the collection, accurate documentation, storage, back-up, sharing, and provision of research data, which are created in a specific environment, like a research group or institution. The required measures for the implementation of a RDM system vary according to the discipline or purpose of data (re-)use. In the context of RDM, the documentation of research data is an essential duty. This has to be conducted by accurate, standardized, and interoperable metadata to ensure the interpretability, understandability, shareability, and long-lasting usability of the data. RDM is achieving an increasing importance, as digital information increases. New technologies enable to create more digital data, also automatically. Consequently, the volume of digital data, including big data and small data, will approximately double every two years in size. With regard to e-science, this increase of data was entitled and predicted as the data deluge. Furthermore, the paradigm change in science has led to data intensive science. Particularly scientific data that were financed by public funding are significantly demanded to be archived, documented, provided or even open accessible by different policy makers, funding agencies, journals and other institutions. RDM can prevent the loss of data, otherwise around 80-90 % of the generated research data disappear and are not available for re-use or further studies. This will lead to empty archives or RDM systems. The reasons for this course are well known and are of a technical, socio-cultural, and ethical nature, like missing user participation and data sharing knowledge, as well as lack of time or resources. In addition, the fear of exploitation and missing or limited reward for publishing and sharing data has an important role. This thesis presents an approach in handling research data of the collaborative, multidisciplinary, long-term DFG-funded research project Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 32 (CRC/TR32) “Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems: Monitoring, Modelling, and Data Assimilation”. In this context, a RDM system, the so-called CRC/TR32 project database (TR32DB), was designed and implemented. The TR32DB considers the demands of the project participants (e.g. heterogeneous data from different disciplines with various file sizes) and the requirements of the DFG, as well as general challenges in RDM. For this purpose, a RDM system was established that comprises a well-described self-designed metadata schema, a file-based data storage, a well-elaborated database of metadata, and a corresponding user-friendly web interface. The whole system is developed in close cooperation with the local Regional Computing Centre of the University of Cologne (RRZK), where it is also hosted. The documentation of the research data with accurate metadata is of key importance. For this purpose, an own specific TR32DB Metadata Schema was designed, consisting of multi-level metadata properties. This is distinguished in general and data type specific (e.g. data, publication, report) properties and is developed according to the project background, demands of the various data types, as well as recent associated metadata standards and principles. Consequently, it is interoperable to recent metadata standards, such as the Dublin Core, the DataCite Metadata Schema, as well as core elements of the ISO19115:2003 Metadata Standard and INSPIRE Directive. Furthermore, the schema supports optional, mandatory, and automatically generated metadata properties, as well as it provides predefined, obligatory and self-established controlled vocabulary lists. The integrated mapping to the DataCite Metadata Schema facilitates the simple application of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for a dataset. The file-based data storage is organized in a folder system, corresponding to the structure of the CRC/TR32 and additionally distinguishes between several data types (e.g. data, publication, report). It is embedded in the Andrew File System hosted by the RRZK. The file system is capable to store and backup all data, is highly scalable, supports location independence, and enables easy administration by Access Control Lists. In addition, the relational database management system MySQL stores the metadata according to the previous mentioned TR32DB Metadata Schema as well as further necessary administrative data. A user-friendly web-based graphical user interface enables the access to the TR32DB system. The web-interface provides metadata input, search, and download of data, as well as the visualization of important geodata is handled by an internal WebGIS. This web-interface, as well as the entire RDM system, is self-developed and adjusted to the specific demands. Overall, the TR32DB system is developed according to the needs and requirements of the CRC/TR32 scientists, fits the demands of the DFG, and considers general problems and challenges of RDM as well. With regard to changing demands of the CRC/TR32 and technologic advances, the system is and will be consequently further developed. The established TR32DB approach was already successfully applied to another interdisciplinary research project. Thus, this approach is transferable and generally capable to archive all data, generated by the CRC/TR32, with accurately, interoperable metadata to ensure the re-use of the data, beyond the end of the project

A Labeling DOM-Based Tree Walking Algorithm for Mapping XML Documents into Relational Databases

XML has emerged as the standard format for representing and exchanging data on the World Wide Web. For practical purposes, it is found to be critical to have efficient mechanisms to store and query XML data, as well as to exploit the full power of this new technology. Several researchers have proposed to use relational databases to store and query XML data. With the understanding the limitations of current approaches, this thesis aims to propose an algorithm for automatic mapping XML documents to RDBMS with XML-API as a database utility. The algorithm uses best fit auto mapping technique, and dynamic shredding, of a specified selected XML document type (datacentric, document-centric, and mixed documents).e. The propose algorithm use DOM(Data Object Model) as a warehouse and stack as a data structure to mapping the XML document into relational database and reconstructing the XML document from the relational database. The experiment study show that the algorithm mapping document and reconstructing it again well. Finally, the algorithm compare with other algorithms the result is good in time and efficiency, also the algorithm complexity is O(11n+2)

Database support for large-scale multimedia retrieval

With the increasing proliferation of recording devices and the resulting abundance of multimedia data available nowadays, searching and managing these ever-growing collections becomes more and more difficult. In order to support retrieval tasks within large multimedia collections, not only the sheer size, but also the complexity of data and their associated metadata pose great challenges, in particular from a data management perspective. Conventional approaches to address this task have been shown to have only limited success, particularly due to the lack of support for the given data and the required query paradigms. In the area of multimedia research, the missing support for efficiently and effectively managing multimedia data and metadata has recently been recognised as a stumbling block that constraints further developments in the field. In this thesis, we bridge the gap between the database and the multimedia retrieval research areas. We approach the problem of providing a data management system geared towards large collections of multimedia data and the corresponding query paradigms. To this end, we identify the necessary building-blocks for a multimedia data management system which adopts the relational data model and the vector-space model. In essence, we make the following main contributions towards a holistic model of a database system for multimedia data: We introduce an architectural model describing a data management system for multimedia data from a system architecture perspective. We further present a data model which supports the storage of multimedia data and the corresponding metadata, and provides similarity-based search operations. This thesis describes an extensive query model for a very broad range of different query paradigms specifying both logical and executional aspects of a query. Moreover, we consider the efficiency and scalability of the system in a distribution and a storage model, and provide a large and diverse set of index structures for high-dimensional data coming from the vector-space model. Thee developed models crystallise into the scalable multimedia data management system ADAMpro which has been implemented within the iMotion/vitrivr retrieval stack. We quantitatively evaluate our concepts on collections that exceed the current state of the art. The results underline the benefits of our approach and assist in understanding the role of the introduced concepts. Moreover, the findings provide important implications for future research in the field of multimedia data management

Annotierte interaktive nichtlineare Videos - Software Suite, Download- und Cache-Management

Modern Web technology makes the dream of fully interactive and enriched video come true. Nowadays it is possible to organize videos in a non-linear way playing in a sequence unknown in advance. Furthermore, additional information can be added to the video, ranging from short descriptions to animated images and further videos. This affords an easy and efficient to use authoring tool which is capable of the management of the single media objects, as well as a clear arrangement of the links between the parts. Tools of this kind can be found rarely and do mostly not provide the full range of needed functions. While providing an interactive experience to the viewer in the Web player, parallel plot sequences and additional information lead to an increased download volume. This may cause pauses during playback while elements have to be downloaded which are displayed with the video. A good quality of experience for these videos with small waiting times and a playback without interruptions is desired. This work presents the SIVA Suite to create the previously described annotated interactive non-linear videos. We propose a video model for interactivity, non-linearity, and annotations, which is implemented in an XML format, an authoring tool, and a player. Video is the main medium, whereby different scenes are linked to a scene graph. Time controlled additional content called annotations, like text, images, audio files, or videos, is added to the scenes. The user is able to navigate in the scene graph by selecting a button at a button panel. Furthermore, other navigational elements like a table of contents or a keyword search are provided. Besides the SIVA Suite, this thesis presents algorithms and strategies for download and cache management to provide a good quality of experience while watching the annotated interactive non-linear videos. Therefor, we implemented a standard-independent player framework. Integrated into a simulation environment, the framework allows to evaluate algorithms and strategies for the calculation of start-up times, and the selection of elements to pre-fetch into and delete from the cache. Their interaction during the playback of non-linear video contents can be analyzed. The algorithms and strategies can be used to minimize interruptions in the video flow after user interactions. Our extensive evaluation showed that our techniques result in faster start-up times and lesser interruptions in the video flow than those of other players. Knowledge of the structure of an interactive non-linear video can be used to minimize the start-up time at the beginning of a video while minimizing an increase in the overall download volume.Moderne Web-Technologien lassen den Traum von voll interaktiven und bereicherten Videos wahr werden. Heutzutage ist es möglich, Videos in nicht-linearer Art und Weise zu organisieren, welche dann in einer vorher unbekannten Reihenfolge abgespielt werden können. Weiterhin können den Videos Zusatzinformationen in Form von kurzen Beschreibungen über animierte Bilder bis hin zu weiteren Videos hinzugefügt werden. Dies erfordert ein einfach und effizient zu bedienendes Autorenwerkzeug, das in der Lage ist, sowohl einzelne Medien-Objekte zu verwalten, als auch die Verbindungen zwischen den einzelnen Teilen klar darzustellen. Tools dieser Art sind selten und bieten meist nicht den vollen benötigten Funktionsumfang. Während dem Betrachter dieses interaktive Erlebnis im Web Player zur Verfügung gestellt wird, führen parallele Handlungsstränge und zusätzliche Inhalte zu einem erhöhten Download-Volumen. Dies kann zu Pausen während der Wiedergabe führen, in denen Elemente vom Server geladen werden müssen, welche mit dem Video angezeigt werden sollen. Ein gutes Benutzungserlebnis für solche Videos kann durch geringe Wartezeiten und eine unterbrechungsfreie Wiedergabe erreicht werden. Diese Arbeit stellt die SIVA Suite vor, mit der die zuvor beschriebenen annotierten interaktiven nicht-linearen Videos erstellt werden können. Wir bilden Interaktivität, Nichtlinearität und Annotationen in einem Video-Model ab. Dieses wird in unserem XML-Format, Autorentool und Player umgesetzt. Als Leitmedium werden hierbei Videos verwendet, welche aufgeteilt in Szenen zu einer Graphstruktur zusammengefügt werden können. Zeitlich gesteuerte zusätzliche Inhalte, sogenannte Annotationen, wie Texte, Bilder, Audio-Dateien und Videos, werden den Szenen hinzugefügt. Der Betrachter kann im Szenengraph navigieren, indem er in einem bereitgestellten Button-Panel eine Nachfolgeszene auswählt. Andere Navigationselemente sind ein Inhaltsverzeichnis sowie eine Suchfunktion. Neben der SIVA Suite beschreibt diese Arbeit Algorithmen und Strategien für Download und Cache Management, um eine gute Nutzungserfahrung während der Betrachtung der annotierten interaktiven nicht-linearen Videos zu bieten. Ein Webstandard-unabhängiges Playerframework erlaubt es, das Zusammenspiel von Algorithmen und Strategien zu evaluieren, welche für die Berechnung der Start-Zeitpunkte für die Wiedergabe, sowie die Auswahl von vorauszuladenden sowie zu löschenden Elemente verwendet werden. Ziel ist es, Unterbrechungen zu minimieren, wenn der Ablauf des Videos durch Benutzerinteraktion beeinflusst wird. Unsere umfassende Evaluation zeigte, dass es möglich ist, kürzere Startup-Zeiten und weniger Unterbrechungen mit unseren Strategien zu erreichen, als bei der Verwendung der Strategien anderer Player. Die Kenntnis der Struktur des interaktiven nicht-linearen Videos kann dazu verwendet werden, die Startzeit am Anfang der Szenen zu minimieren, während das Download-Volumen nicht erhöht wird