Managing the consistency of distributed documents

Many businesses produce documents as part of their daily activities: software engineers produce requirements specifications, design models, source code, build scripts and more; business analysts produce glossaries, use cases, organisation charts, and domain ontology models; service providers and retailers produce catalogues, customer data, purchase orders, invoices and web pages. What these examples have in common is that the content of documents is often semantically related: source code should be consistent with the design model, a domain ontology may refer to employees in an organisation chart, and invoices to customers should be consistent with stored customer data and purchase orders. As businesses grow and documents are added, it becomes difficult to manually track and check the increasingly complex relationships between documents. The problem is compounded by current trends towards distributed working, either over the Internet or over a global corporate network in large organisations. This adds complexity as related information is not only scattered over a number of documents, but the documents themselves are distributed across multiple physical locations. This thesis addresses the problem of managing the consistency of distributed and possibly heterogeneous documents. “Documents” is used here as an abstract term, and does not necessarily refer to a human readable textual representation. We use the word to stand for a file or data source holding structured information, like a database table, or some source of semi-structured information, like a file of comma-separated values or a document represented in a hypertext markup language like XML [Bray et al., 2000]. Document heterogeneity comes into play when data with similar semantics is represented in different ways: for example, a design model may store a class as a rectangle in a diagram whereas a source code file will embed it as a textual string; and an invoice may contain an invoice identifier that is composed of a customer name and date, both of which may be recorded and managed separately. Consistency management in this setting encompasses a number of steps. Firstly, checks must be executed in order to determine the consistency status of documents. Documents are inconsistent if their internal elements hold values that do not meet the properties expected in the application domain or if there are conflicts between the values of elements in multiple documents. The results of a consistency check have to be accumulated and reported back to the user. And finally, the user may choose to change the documents to bring them into a consistent state. The current generation of tools and techniques is not always sufficiently equipped to deal with this problem. Consistency checking is mostly tightly integrated or hardcoded into tools, leading to problems with extensibility with respect to new types of documents. Many tools do not support checks of distributed data, insisting instead on accumulating everything in a centralized repository. This may not always be possible, due to organisational or time constraints, and can represent excessive overhead if the only purpose of integration is to improve data consistency rather than deriving any additional benefit. This thesis investigates the theoretical background and practical support necessary to support consistency management of distributed documents. It makes a number of contributions to the state of the art, and the overall approach is validated in significant case studies that provide evidence of its practicality and usefulness

Towards a topology of 'Doing Gender': an analysis of empirical research and its challenges

‘Doing gender’ is a much used term in research on gender, work and organizations. However, translating theoretical insight into empirical research is often a challenging endeavour. A lack of clarity with regard to the conceptualization and operationalization of key terms in turn often limits the theoretical and empirical purchase of a concept. The aim of this article is therefore to provide a systematization of empirical approaches to ‘doing gender’. This systematization leads to a topology of five themes that is derived from empirical research in the field. The five themes identified are structures, hierarchies, identity, flexibility and context specificity, and gradual relevance/subversion. Each theme explores a different facet of ‘doing gender’. This topology helps empirical researchers to be more specific about which aspects of ‘doing gender’ they are referring to. This in turn can help to unfold the theoretical potential of the concept of ‘doing gender’

Im Wettbewerb um "Familienfreundlichkeit": Konstruktionen familienfreundlicher Wirklichkeiten zwischen gleichstellerischen Idealen und pragmatischer Machbarkeit

"Mit Blick auf Konstruktionen von 'Familienfreundlichkeit' im Kontext verschiedener neuer Schweizer Wettbewerbe zur Auszeichnung 'familienfreundlicher' Unternehmen werden die im Konstruktionsprozess jeweils verwendeten Verständnisse untersucht. Leitend ist dabei die Frage nach Veränderungspotenzialen hinsichtlich geschlechtsspezifischer Arbeits-, Verantwortungs- und Raumteilung. Durch ein multiperspektivisches, qualitatives Vorgehen werden bei den untersuchten kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU) sechs unterschiedliche interpretative Repertoires herausgearbeitet und deren jeweilige Funktionen und Konsequenzen für den Argumentationszusammenhang diskutiert. Dabei wird die jeweils verfolgte Zielsetzung als zentral angesehen. Wird in einem Fall explizit ein gleichstellerisches Anliegen, verbunden mit einer Veränderung der geschlechtsspezifischen Arbeitsteilung und Rollenvorstellungen verfolgt, so scheinen 'familienfreundliche' Maßnahmen in anderen interpretativen Repertoires für diese Zielsetzung geradezu kontraproduktiv zu wirken." (Autorenreferat)"Analysing the construction of 'family friendliness' in the context of various Swiss competitions for family friendly companies this study asks the question about different understandings in the construction process. The guiding question lies on the potentials for change regarding the gendered division of labour, responsibility and space. By means of a multi-perspective qualitative research design the constructions in small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) are explored. Six different interpretative repertoires are analysed and their consequences, functions and effects are discussed. Besides the context specific use of each of the interpretative repertoires the objective of each repertoire was seen as central to the consequences. For example, if a family friendliness initiative tries to support a change process towards gender equality, hence focusing on a change in the gendering of labour and stereotypical roles, some of the repertoires used are even working against this aim." (author's abstract

New fathers, old mothers? Parenthood between equality and difference

Im vorliegenden Artikel werden die aktuellen Diskussionen um die Revision des Sorgerechts und des Kindesunterhalts in der Schweiz diskurspsychologisch untersucht. Konkret lassen sich in den untersuchten Dokumenten vier interpretative Repertoires identifizieren: Egalität, Kindeswohl, Ungleichheit von Mutter und Vater und individuelle familiäre Lösungen. Zwischen diesen Repertoires lassen sich deutlich ideologische Dilemmata erkennen: Egalität der Eltern und Ungleichheit zwischen Vater und Mutter widersprechen sich, und die Nichteinmischung des Staates in die familiale Privatsphäre wird durch die hohe Gewichtung des Kindeswohls tangiert. Die Diskursanalyse zeigt, dass sich die ausführlich diskutierte Vorstellung von der Egalität der Eltern nicht durchsetzen kann gegen den verborgenen, nie thematisierten Subtext des Unterschieds zwischen Mutter und Vater. Gelöst wird das Dilemma, indem die diskutierten Ideale und Leitbilder als individuell zu realisierende erklärt werden. Mutter und Kind werden hier in essentialistischer Weise miteinander verknüpft und Veränderungen höchstens in marginaler Weise am Vaterbild zugelassen.This article presents a discourse analysis of recent legislative changes in the fields of child custody and child support in Switzerland. We identified four interpretative repertoires in these documents: Equality of women and men, child’s welfare, inequality of mothers and fathers and individual familial solutions. Between these repertoires, we identified several ideological dilemmas: Equality of women and men directly contradicts the inequality of mothers and fathers, while the principle of governmental non-intervention into the private sphere of the family is being questioned by the high importance attributed to the child’s welfare. This discourse analysis shows that the widely discussed ideal of the equality of women and men does not hold up against the hidden subtext of the inequality of mothers and fathers. The dilemma is solved by declaring the implementation of the ideal of equality as an individual problem. In this reading, mother and child are still connected in an essentialist way, while the image of the father undergoes marginal changes only

Web Services Need Consistency

Web Services provide a powerful access channel to business capabilities. Inside the company, resources can be shared and costs reduced. Outside the company, the interaction with customers and suppliers can be streamlined and business opportunities extended. A major issue with the current Web Service model is the problem of composition and the difficulties that arise as Web Services are assembled, typically in a bottom-up manner. We briefly discuss this issue, and propose a lightweight solution based on automated consistency checking of Web Service interfaces

Consistency management with repair actions

Comprehensive consistency management requires a strong mechanism for repair once inconsistencies have been detected. In this paper we present a repair framework for inconsistent distributed documents. The core piece of the framework is a new method for generating interactive repairs from full first order logic formulae that constrain these documents. We present a full implementation of the components in our repair framework, as well as their application to the UML and related heterogeneous documents such as EJB deployment descriptors. We describe how our approach can be used as an infrastructure for building higher-level, domain specific frameworks and provide an overview of related work in the database and software development environment community

An in vivo evaluation of Brilliant Blue G in animals and humans

Background/Aims: To evaluate the retinal toxicity of Brilliant Blue G (BBG) following intravitreal injection in rat eyes and examine the biocompatibility and the staining properties in humans.Methods: BBG was injected into the 11 rat eyes to evaluate toxic effects with balanced salt solution (BSS) serving as control. Retinal toxicity was assessed by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) counts and by light microscopy 7 days later. In addition, BBG was applied during vitrectomy for macular hole (MH) (n = 15) or epiretinal membranes (ERM) (n = 3) in a prospective, non-comparative consecutive series of patients. Before and after surgery, all patients underwent a complete clinical examination including measurement of best corrected visual acuity (VA) and intraocular pressure, perimetry, fundus photography and optical coherence tomography. Patients were seen 1 day before surgery and then in approximately four weeks intervals.Results: No significant reduction in RGC numbers and no morphological alterations were noted. A sufficient staining of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) was seen in patients with MH, while the staining pattern in ERM cases was patchy, indicating that parts of the ILM were peeled off along with the ERM in a variable extent. All MHs could be closed successfully. VA improved in 10 eyes (56%; 8/15 MH patients, 2/3 ERM patients), was unchanged in four eyes (22%; all MH patients) and was reduced in four eyes (22%; 3/15 MH, 1/3 ERM). No toxic effects attributable to the dye were noted during patient follow-up. The ultrastructure of tissue harvested during surgery was unremarkable.Conclusion: Brilliant Blue provides a sufficient and selective staining of the ILM. No retinal toxicity or adverse effects related to the dye were observed in animal and human studies. The long-term safety of this novel dye will have to be evaluated in larger patient series and a longer follow-up

Quality of life in the follow-up of uveal melanoma patients after CyberKnife treatment

To assess quality of life in uveal melanoma patients within the first and second year after CyberKnife radiosurgery. Overall, 91 uveal melanoma patients were evaluated for quality of life through the Short-form (SF-12) Health Survey at baseline and at every follow-up visit over 2 years after CyberKnife radiosurgery. Statistical analysis was carried out using SF Health Outcomes Scoring Software and included subgroup analysis of patients developing secondary glaucoma and of patients maintaining a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the treated eye of 0.5 log(MAR) or better. Analysis of variance, Greenhouse-Geisser correction, Student's t-test, and Fisher's exact test were used to determine statistical significance. Physical Functioning (PF) and Role Physical (RP) showed a significant decrease after CyberKnife radiosurgery, whereas Mental Health (MH) improved (P=0.007, P<0.0001 and P=0.023). MH and Social Functioning (SF) increased significantly (P=0.0003 and 0.026) in the no glaucoma group, MH being higher compared with glaucoma patients (P=0.02). PF and RP were significantly higher in patients with higher BCVA at the second follow-up (P=0.02). RP decreased in patients with BCVA<0.5 log(MAR) (P=0.013). Vitality (VT) increased significantly in patients whose BCVA could be preserved (P=0.031). Neither tumor localization nor size influenced the development of secondary glaucoma or change in BCVA. Although PF and RP decreased over time, MH improved continuously. Prevention of secondary glaucoma has a significant influence on both SF and MH, whereas preservation of BCVA affects VT. Emotional stability throughout follow-up contributes positively toward overall quality of life. CyberKnife radiosurgery may contribute to attenuation of emotional distress in uveal melanoma patients