A Formal Study of a Visual Language for the Visualization of Document Type Definition

This formal study proposes a transformational approach to the definition of general purpose visual languages based on hierarchical structures, addressing more specifically DTD visualization as its application area. We show that such visual languages can be constructed through progressive refinement of a syntax based on nested/juxtaposed rectangles. Several transformation stages, which can all be formally characterized, produce a high quality visual representation which expresses the fundamental properties of the original structure. Moreover, this approach opens some perspectives in proving visual properties through standard mathematical tools such as inductive proofs, thus establishing some practical links between visual language theory and classical language theory

Containment of XPath expressions: an Inference and Rewriting based approach

International audienceXPath is a simple query language for XML documents which allows navigating in XML trees and returning a set of matching nodes. It is used in XML Schema to define keys an in XLink and XPointer to reference portions of documents. XPath is a fundamental part of XSLT and XQuery languages as it allows to define matching expressions for patterns and provides node selectors to filter elements in the transformations. We propose to study the containment and equivalence of XPath expressions using an inference system combined with a rewriting system. The inference system allows to assert and prove properties on a class of expressions. In order to keep the proof system compact, we propose a re-writing architecture which allows to transform remaining expressions in a disjunctive normal form compatible with this class. In contrast with model based approaches, the inference and rewriting systems are applied to the XPath language directly. We believe this will help understanding the underlying issues of deciding containment on the language itself

VXT: Visual XML Transformer

The ever growing amount of heterogeneous data exchanged through the Internet, combined with the popularity of XML, make structured document transformations an increasingly important application domain. Most of the existing solutions for expressing XML transformations are textual languages, such as XSLT or DOM combined with a general-purpose programming language. Several tools build on top of these languages, providing a graphical environment and debugging facilities. Transformations are however still specified in a textual way using the underlying language (often XSLT), thus requiring users to learn it. We believe that visual programming techniques are well-suited to representing XML structures and make the specification of transformations simpler. We propose a visual language for the specification of XML transformations in an interactive environment based on a zoomable user interface toolkit and on two target languages specialised in structure transformations: Circus and XSLT

Coloring complex shapes decreases patient anxiety in three care environments: a pilot study with color analysis

IntroductionThis study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of coloring activity of circular symmetrical shape with complex patterns, so-called mandala, on anxiety associated with chronic illness in three different ambulatory medical situations (general consultation, psychiatric day hospital, and hemodialysis session).MethodsThirty patients were included in three groups and came from three different ambulatory medical situations: a hemodialysis group (n = 10), a psychiatric day hospital group (n = 10), and a nephrology consultation group (n = 10). We asked the patients to fill STAI-S and STAI-T questionnaires before to color complex circular shape with complex patterns, then to fill the STAI-S questionnaire again and a questionnaire on the experience of the activity.ResultsThe results show that the STAI-S score was significantly lower after coloring for the hemodialysis (p = 0.02) and psychiatric groups (p = 0.005) but not for the general consultation group (p = 0.26). STAI-T scores did not differ between groups. The distribution of colors in the mandala was different in the three groups of patients. A positive subjective experience of the activity was found in all groups.DiscussionThese results show the effectiveness of a coloring activity of a circular shape with complex patterns on anxiety associated with chronic illness in care environment. The different distribution of the colors of the mandala in the three groups raises the question of the influence of the context on the mood of the patients and the deeper meaning of the choice of colors and their placement in the mandala. Our study reinforces the multiple applications of art activities in different medical disciplines and encourages their development within healthcare settings

Statins as antifungal agents

This poster paper describes the objectives, approach and use casesof the EC FP7 Integrated Project PERICLES. The project beganon 1st February 2013 and runs for four years. The aim is toresearch and prototype solutions for digital preservation incontinually evolving environments including changes in context,semantics and practices. The project addresses use cases focusingon digital art, media and science.Proceedings source: http://purl.pt/24107/1/iPres2013_PDF/iPres2013-Proceedings.pd

XPath on Left and Right Sides of Rules: Toward Compact XML Tree Rewriting through Node Patterns

XPath [3, 5] is a powerful and quite successful language able to perform complex node selection in trees through compact specifications. As such, it plays a growing role in many areas ranging from schema specifications, designation and transformation languages to XML query languages. Moreover, researchers have proposed elegant and tractable formal semantics [8, 9, 10, 14], fostering various works on mathematical properties and theoretical tools [10, 13, 12, 14]. We propose here a novel way to consider XPath, not only for selecting nodes, but also for tree rewriting using rules. In the rule semantics we explore, XPath expressions (noted p, p ′) are used both on the left and on the right side (i.e. rules have the form p → p ′). We believe that this proposal opens new perspectives toward building highly concise XML transformation languages on widely accepted basis