A Multi-channel Application Framework for Customer Care Service Using Best-First Search Technique

It has become imperative to find a solution to the dissatisfaction in response by mobile service providers when interacting with their customer care centres. Problems faced with Human to Human Interaction (H2H) between customer care centres and their customers include delayed response time, inconsistent solutions to questions or enquires and lack of dedicated access channels for interaction with customer care centres in some cases. This paper presents a framework and development techniques for a multi-channel application providing Human to System (H2S) interaction for customer care centre of a mobile telecommunication provider. The proposed solution is called Interactive Customer Service Agent (ICSA). Based on single-authoring, it will provide three media of interaction with the customer care centre of a mobile telecommunication operator: voice, phone and web browsing. A mathematical search technique called Best-First Search to generate accurate results in a search environmen

Exploiting XML Technologies in Medical Information Systems

Integration of clinical research data and routine care data, in order to streamline the process of conducting clinical studies, has been a problem for quite a while now. The Single Source project at the University of Münster aims at contributing to this area. The approach is based on a vast usage of XML technology together with a novel integration architecture. The emphasis in this paper is on the former: The seamless usage of XML technology throughout the entire application is presented, and mismatches of programming paradigms are averted by exploiting the features of XML, XQuery and XForms. In particular, this is demonstrated by the example of a component used for handling forms, by how it is built and used in the entire scenario

Towards smart style : combining RDF semantics with XML document transformations

The 'Document Web' has established itself through the creation of an impressive family of XML and related languages. In addition to this, the 'Semantic Web' is developing its own family of languages based primarily on RDF. Although these families were both developed specifically for 'the Web', each language family has been developed from different premises with specific goals in mind. The result is that combining both families in a single application is surprisingly difficult. This is unfortunate, since the combination of semantic processing with document processing provides advantages in both directions --- namely using semantic inferencing for more intelligent document processing and using document processing tools for presenting semantic representations to an end-user. In this paper, we investigate this integration problem, focusing on the role of (RDF) semantics in selecting, structuring and styling (XML) content. We analyze the approaches taken by two example architectures and use our analysis to derive a more integrated alternative

Content diffusion in ALERT clinical applications

Estágio realizado na ALERT e orientado pelo Eng.º Tiago SilvaTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Smart forms: a survey to state and test the most major electronic forms technologies that are based on W3C standards

Smart Forms are efficient and powerful electronic forms that could be used for the interactions between end users and web applications systems. Several electronic forms software products that use W3C technologies are presented to meet the demands of users. This thesis aims to study and test the major electronic forms technologies that are based on W3C standards. It discusses the main electronic forms features and experiments them with some essential applications. This research produces deep understanding of the most electronic forms technologies that are based on W3C standards and their important features, which make an electronic form smart form. In addition, it opens developments prospects for other researchers to develop some applications ideas that could contribute in the electronic forms domain

Research and development of enhanced, integrated and accessible flow metering software for industry.

This project was an investigation to find improvements required in the delivery of software for the flow metering industry. The project has resulted in the repackaging of existing software using appropriate technologies. This included developing software that is accessible via the web and extending functionality whereby a user can import and export information in a variety of data formats. The software was successfully revised and is now commercially accessible to the flow metering industry. The project was performed in the context of a KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) programme with academic supervision provided by TUV NEL (the academic partner) on the premises of KELTON® (the commercial partner) who provided day-to-day project management supervision. The project was in collaboration between the two organisations with the joint aims of facilitating knowledge transfer between the organisations and enhancing the market performance of the commercial partner. The main objective of the study was to gain a full understanding of the needs of the flow metering industry in terms of software and delivery via web or standalone application. Web based applications are new to KELTON® so it was necessary to investigate the methods of delivery. The work concentrated on investigating techniques to modularise code, allowing flexible access to data between applications and on data presentation. iv At an early stage of the project an online market survey program was developed and appropriate questions were used to get customer feedback. The results were analysed and used to prioritise work. Following the review, the current software architecture was found to be unsuitable so new approaches were investigated. The software was created using an n-tier architecture which is a method of splitting common code into separate components. Web based applications were found to be slower than standalone applications. However, web applications benefited from not having to fully install software on individual user PCs therefore allowing access from anywhere that users have access to the network

HMI automated code generation

International audienceIn today's automotive infotainment systems a lot of time and effort (= money) is invested in developing the HMI. One of the problems encountered when developing HMI is the necessity to change the spec late on in the development phase which can result in SOP delays. As a result, there is a continuing need to reduce the development time for the HMI. In addition, the OEM's invest in providing their unique branding and have it available across the complete product range offered. Two techniques are invoking interest in this field:• Cross-platform HMI frameworks• Multi-platform code generation This paper highlights worked carried out on the second technique – multi-platform code generation

Holistic engineering design : a combined synchronous and asynchronous approach

To aid the creation and through-life support of large, complex engineering products, organizations are placing a greater emphasis on constructing complete and accurate records of design activities. Current documentary approaches are not sufficient to capture activities and decisions in their entirety and can lead to organizations revisiting and in some cases reworking design decisions in order to understand previous design episodes. Design activities are undertaken in a variety of modes; many of which are dichotomous, and thus each require separate documentary mechanisms to capture information in an efficient manner. It is possible to identify the modes of learning and transaction to describe whether an activity is aimed at increasing a level of understanding or whether it involves manipulating information to achieve a tangible task. The dichotomy of interest in this paper is that of synchronous and asynchronous working, where engineers may work alternately as part of a group or as individuals and where different forms of record are necessary to adequately capture the processes and rationale employed in each mode. This paper introduces complimentary approaches to achieving richer representations of design activities performed synchronously and asynchronously, and through the undertaking of a design based case study, highlights the benefit of each approach. The resulting records serve to provide a more complete depiction of activities undertaken, and provide positive direction for future co-development of the approaches