Web Technologies (web + technology)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Applying domain knowledge and social information to product analysis and recommendations: an agent-based decision support system

EXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 3 2004
Wei-Po LeeArticle first published online: 24 JUN 200
Abstract: The advance of Internet and Web technologies has boosted the development of electronic commerce. More and more people have changed their traditional trading behaviors and started to conduct Internet shopping. However, the exponentially increasing product information provided by Internet enterprises causes the problem of information overload, and this inevitably reduces the customer's satisfaction and loyalty. To overcome this problem, in this paper we propose a multi-agent system that is capable of eliciting expert knowledge and of recommending optimal products for individual consumers. The recommendations are based on both product knowledge from domain experts and the customer's preferences from system,consumer interactions. In addition, the system also uses behavior patterns collected from previous consumers to predict what the current consumer may expect. Experiments have been conducted and the results show that our system can give sensible recommendations, and it is able to adapt to the most up-to-date preferences for the customers. [source]


Indicating ontology data quality, stability, and completeness throughout ontology evolution

JOURNAL OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2007
Anthony M. Orme
Abstract Many application areas today make use of ontologies. With the advent of semantic Web technologies, ontology based systems have become widespread. Developing an ontology is part of the necessary early development of an ontology-based system. Since the validity and quality of the ontology data directly affects the validity and quality of the system using the ontology, evolution of the ontology data directly affects the evolution and/or maintenance of the ontology-based systems that depend on and employ the ontology data. Our research examines the quality, completeness, and stability of ontology data as ontologies evolve. We propose a metrics suite, based on standard software quality concepts, to measure the complexity and cohesion of ontology data. First we theoretically validate our metrics. Then we examine empirically whether our metrics determine ontology data quality, by comparing them to human evaluator ratings. We conclude that several of our metrics successfully determine ontology complexity or cohesion. Finally, we examine, over evolving ontology data, whether our metrics determine ontology completeness and stability. We determine that various metrics reflect different kinds of changes. Our experiments indicate our metrics' measure ontology stability and completeness; however, interpretation of specific metrics values and the interaction of different metrics requires further study. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Modelling the evolution of legacy systems to Web-based systems

JOURNAL OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, Issue 1-2 2004
Janet Lavery
Abstract To advance operational legacy systems, with their out-of-date software, distributed data and entrenched business processes, to systems that can take advantage of current Web technologies to give consistent, customized and secure access to existing information bases and legacy systems is a complex and daunting task. The Institutionally Secure Integrated Data Environment (INSIDE) is a collaborative project between the Universities of St Andrews and Durham that is addressing the issues surrounding the development and delivery of integrated systems for large institutions, constrained by the requirement of working with the existing information bases and legacy systems. The work has included an exploration of the incremental evolution of existing systems by building Web-based value-added services upon foundations derived from analysing and modelling the existing legacy systems. Progressing from initial informal models to more formal domain and requirements models in a systematic way, following a meta-process incorporating good practice from domain analysis and requirements engineering has allowed the project to lay the foundation for its development of Web-based services. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Identifying significant facilitators of dark network evolution

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Daning Hu
Social networks evolve over time with the addition and removal of nodes and links to survive and thrive in their environments. Previous studies have shown that the link-formation process in such networks is influenced by a set of facilitators. However, there have been few empirical evaluations to determine the important facilitators. In a research partnership with law enforcement agencies, we used dynamic social-network analysis methods to examine several plausible facilitators of co-offending relationships in a large-scale narcotics network consisting of individuals and vehicles. Multivariate Cox regression and a two-proportion z-test on cyclic and focal closures of the network showed that mutual acquaintance and vehicle affiliations were significant facilitators for the network under study. We also found that homophily with respect to age, race, and gender were not good predictors of future link formation in these networks. Moreover, we examined the social causes and policy implications for the significance and insignificance of various facilitators including common jails on future co-offending. These findings provide important insights into the link-formation processes and the resilience of social networks. In addition, they can be used to aid in the prediction of future links. The methods described can also help in understanding the driving forces behind the formation and evolution of social networks facilitated by mobile and Web technologies. [source]


Using Websites to Disseminate Research on Urban Spatialities

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2009
Gillian Rose
This paper reviews a selection of websites that explore urban geographies. Many sites use the web as a depository for large amounts of research data. However, many are using websites to disseminate research findings, and the paper focuses on these. It suggests that, thus far, there are three significant ways in which urban researchers are exploiting the potentialities of web technologies to interpret urban spaces: by evoking a sense of the complexity of urban spatialities; by inviting site visitors to engage actively and performatively with the research materials; and by emphasising the sensory qualities of urban spaces. The paper discusses how one website in particular invites its visitors to engage with complex, sensory urban spatialities. The paper compares geographers' use of collage and montage as part of this discussion, and ends by reflecting on current work and commenting on its future development. [source]


Pushing the boundaries of technology to educate and train the next generation of crystallographers

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 5-2 2010
Katherine Kantardjieff
This article describes the evolution of educational technologies, moving from the Web 1.0 to the current Web 3.0 decade, with the aim of stimulating discussion and inspiring innovative and effective crystallography education in the Web 3.0 decade. In the last 15 years, academic crystallography has largely migrated from a research specialty to a technique employed by a broad user community. This has led to the growth of and dependence on independently funded workshops and summer schools, as well as other non-traditional curricular resources for crystallography instruction, such as web pages and online courses, which allow crystallography to be self-taught. In fact, informal courses and e-learning constitute 70,80% of all learning today, and students expect on-demand learning. Implementing modern web technologies with sound pedagogy requires skilful integration of relevant, often disparate, resources into useful and usable frameworks, enabling learners to interact, explore new situations, and use scientific reasoning skills such as hypothesis testing and model-based reasoning. The evident disproportion in implementing contemporary technologies into our global crystallography education resources requires that we shift our focus from simply imparting subject knowledge by posting largely text-based content to empowering students with the fundamental processes and skills needed for on-demand learning and practice in crystallography. [source]


MPs and web technologies: an untapped opportunity?

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2003
Nigel Jackson
Abstract MPs have not previously been assigned a major role in electoral campaigning, being considered only one element of a political party's ,marketing' tools for winning votes. Evidence now suggests that the relationship between MPs and their constituents is changing. The concept of ,constituency service' implies that individual MPs can have a much greater influence on local voters and so possibly buck national trends. At the same time the concept of the ,permanent campaign' is transforming political campaigning whereby the political elite needs ever-greater control of the tools used to provide messages to voters. The internet is a potential battleground between MPs who want greater control of their own local campaigning and the party elite who want to ensure a consistent, coherent and controlled message. The Internet is a new addition to the campaigning armoury, yet the focus so far has been on e-government, e-democracy and election campaigns. By concentrating on how and why MPs use their websites this paper considers whether MPs have fully understood and utilised this new medium. Key questions include whether their websites are ,sticky', interactive and a means of creating a targeted message. The findings of this detailed study of MPs' websites show that apart from a few pioneers, MPs have not progressed beyond using the Internet as ,shovelware' , the vast majority view their website as an electronic brochure and not a new form of two-way communication. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications [source]


Asthma patients are willing to use mobile and web technologies to support self-management

ALLERGY, Issue 3 2006
J. A. Fonseca
No abstract is available for this article. [source]