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In this article, the author discusses that shift is resulting in a much higher volume of software licenses than most corporate and business attorneys have historically handled. It mentions business lawyers will need to adapt their practice style to provide competent representation that meets the needs of the client and End User License Agreements (EULAs) to those services. It also mentions need of logging into the Microsoft home edition.

Abstract Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) empower people to reach endangered areas under emergency situations. By collaborating with each other, multiple UAVs forming a UAV network (UAVNet) could work together to perform specific tasks in a more efficient and intelligent way than having a single UAV. UAVNets pose special characteristics of high dynamics, unstable aerial wireless links, and UAV collision probabilities. To address these challenges, we propose a Software-Defined UAV Networking (SD-UAVNet) architecture, which facilitates the management of UAV networks through a centralized SDN UAV controller. In addition, we introduce a use case scenario to evaluate the optimal UAV relay node placement for life video surveillance services with the proposed architecture. In the SD-UAVNet architecture, the controller considers the global UAV relevant context information to optimize the UAVs' movements, selects proper routing paths, and prevents UAVs from collisions to determine the relay nodes deployment and guarantee satisfactory video quality. The experimental results show that the proposed SD-UAVNet architecture can effectively mitigate the challenges of UAVNet and it provides suitable Quality of Experience (QoE) to end-users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper describes a model-driven approach that allows the automatic production of end user documentations that explain and illustrate the different concepts of a Domain-Specific Language (DSL). • The approach produces end user documentation from artifacts of the implementation phase of DSLs: the metamodel, the grammar, and models that cover all the concepts of a DSL. • Our implementation, called Docywood , targets two platforms: Markdown documentations for static web sites and Xtext code fragments for live documentation while modeling. • The evaluation exhibits that the proposed approach improves the correctness of ThingML models created by novice end users. Abstract Domain-specific languages (DSL) are developed for answering specific problems by leveraging the expertise of domain stakeholders. The development of DSLs requires a significant software engineering effort: editors, code generators, etc, must be developed to make a DSL usable. Documenting a DSL is also a major and time-consuming task required to promote it and address its learning curve. Recent research work in software language engineering focus on easing the development of DSLs. This work focuses on easing the production of documentation of textual DSLs. The API documentation domain identified challenges we adapted to DSL documentation. Based on these challenges we propose a model-driven approach that relies on DSL artifacts to extract information required to build documentation. Our implementation, called Docywood , targets two platforms: Markdown documentation for static web sites and Xtext code fragments for live documentation while modeling. We used Docywood on two DSLs, namely ThingML and Target Platform Definition. Feedback from end users and language designers exhibits qualitative benefits of the proposal with regard to the DSL documentation challenges. End user experiments conducted on ThingML and Target Platform Definition show benefits on the correctness of the created models when using Docywood on ThingML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Encounters in Theory & History of Education / Rencontres en Theorie et Histoire de l'Educacion is the property of Queen's University, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A Pervasive-computing-enriched smart home environment, which contains many embedded and tiny intelligent devices and sensors coordinated by service management mechanisms, is capable of anticipating intentions of occupants and providing appropriate services accordingly. Although there are a wealth of research achievements in recent years, the degree of market acceptance is still low. The main reason is that most of the devices and services in such environments depend on particular platform or technology, making it hard to develop an application by composing the devices or services. Meanwhile, the concept of Web of Things (WoT) is becoming popular recently. Based on WoT, the developers can build applications based on popular web tools or technologies. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to propose a set of novel WoT-driven plug-and-play service management schemes for a smart home called Resource-Oriented Service Administration (ROSA).We have implemented an application prototype, and experiments are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results of this research can be a foundation for realizing the vision of "end user programmable smart environments". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the End User License Agreement (EULA) which is a legal contract between software application author or publisher and the user of that application. It mentions that article submitted to the code sharing website displays the EULA selected by the author. It mentions that the software is a legal document designed to protect the owners of the software. It states that the documents have information for company rights, user rights, and penalties for violations.

Diversification of application areas, technologies, and computational techniques in the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) domain alongside the need for a balance between reproducibility and customizability for the heterogeneous end-user groups has led towards the development of domain-specific middleware platforms, which are software frameworks that facilitate integration and communication amongst heterogeneous hardware and software components, so they can operate synergistically within a shared environment. Recent efforts that study such platforms have emphasized the need for improved evaluation methods, particularly feature-focused scenario-based evaluations. Thus, the objective of this work was to perform a comparative analysis of two prominent AAL middleware platforms and their programmability for Older Adults with Dementia (OAwD) to ultimately derive guidelines for the development of AAL systems. Mapping of a platform-independence use-case scenario to both platforms, hinted towards the need for graphical-user interfaces over text-based interfaces and application area-specific modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse domain experts have defined the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Model View Definition (MVD), which encompasses their specialized requirements for building data exchanges and reflects practical construction processes. However, once an IFC file, a neutral format, is mapped with the specifications of the MVD through the export and import features of building information modeling (BIM) authoring tools, end-users find it challenging to validate the IFC file with regard to conformance to the data exchange requirements of the applied MVD. In addition, software vendors have trouble identifying the causes of errors regarding model views when they debug numerous mappings of native models to be translated into the IFC schema. To address these challenges, this research suggests a robust MVD validation process using a modularized validation platform that evaluates an IFC instance file according to diverse types of rule sets of MVDs. To extract rule templates that consist of ten types of rule logic this research employs the MVD of the precast concrete domain. Using the identified rule logic and checking structures, the MVD validation tool, which includes an object-oriented checking method and the IFC server ActiveX component, allows users to define various types of rule sets and validate an IFC instance file with regard to compliance with the syntax and semantics specified in the modularized concepts of the MVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network technologies have always been a crucial part of success for technologies like cloud computing. But due to the slow development of a scalable IT infrastructure, this can lead to issues in competitiveness. Software defined networking (SDN) can thereby counteract such issues by giving new functions to the whole network topology. With SDN, administrators have the possibility to abstract the underlying network infrastructure for applications and network services. The paper reports on the main outcomes of a systematic literature review on challenges and effects of SDN. It shows that most papers address the implementation of software defined networking as a challenge, including factors like vendor lock-in and the general risk of changing traditional network architectures. Attention is also given to security issues arising with software defined networks and the permanent high demand from the end-user combined with the fear of changing traditional networks. Issues dealing with specialized know-how were identified as another challenge category. Effects of SDN are discussed by defining unique features of SDN like decoupling hardware from the software and the global view of the whole network architecture. SDN furthermore affects the management of the network, including changes in deployment of policies, the programmability and maintenance of the network. Economic factors, such as cost efficiency and reduction of costs, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to explain the adoption of cloud storage services as a means of personal archiving thereby focusing on users’ service and system quality perceptions and their drivers. The authors derive and empirically validate a model that incorporates users’ perceptions of service/system quality as well as behavioral factors to explain usage. Finally, the authors highlight important determinants of system/service quality perceptions that cloud providers should pay attention to in their attempts to increase marketshare. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aim at supporting elderly and disabled people in their environment, with affordable, easy to use and meaningful ICT tools. Given the complexity of AAL, software platforms are needed to abstract and reuse typical functionalities. To this purpose, the universAAL project was established to create an open platform that provides a standardized approach making it technically feasible and economically viable to develop AAL solutions. In order to make AAL technologies widely accepted, high quality must be guaranteed, but measuring quality in AAL is difficult because of the variety of stakeholders, the wide set of needs addressed and the heterogeneity of the employed technologies. This paper proposes a methodological framework for evaluating AAL solutions with the aim of prioritizing evaluation needs, customizing assessment techniques and producing value for the project. The framework is based on empirical methods and on scientific-like theory building mixed with the standard ISO/IEC 25000 for software quality. It can be applied for both technical and non-technical (end-user) evaluations. To support the framework, the results of its application in universAAL are shown, i.e., how it was used at different stages of the project for assessing the results, for taking decisions and for building scientific knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 18 years, the field of patent information searches has dramatically evolved. Centralized information centers have started to disappear while new internet applications targeted at end-users have emerged. At the same time, the quantity of information has increased exponentially. Patent information specialists must now master several high level techniques to run precise searches, but also to analyze the large amounts of information retrieved, using modern software packages. The goal of this paper is to review the major advances over the last 18 years, how we have arrived at the current situation and what will be the future challenges for the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Context: The emergence of the long-tail in the market of software applications is shifting the role of end-users from mere consumers to becoming developers of applications addressing their unique, personal, and transient needs. On the Web, a popular form of such applications is called mashup, built out of the lightweight composition of Web APIs (reusable software components delivered as a service through the Web). To enable end-users to build mashups, there is a key problem that must be overcome: End-users lack programming knowledge as well as the interest to learn how to master the complex set of Web technologies required to develop mashups. End-User Development (EUD) is an emerging research field dealing with this type of problems. Its main goal is to design tools and techniques facilitating the development of software applications by non-programmers. Objective: The paper describes the design and evaluation of NaturalMash, an innovative EUD tool for mashups (a mashup tool). NaturalMash aims at enabling non-professional users without any knowledge of programming languages and skills to create feature-rich, interactive, and useful mashups. Methods: The design of NaturalMash adopts a formative evaluation approach, and has completed three design and evaluation iterations. The formative evaluations utilize usability testing, think aloud protocol, questionnaires, observation, and unstructured interviews. Additionally, we compare the expressive power of naturalmash with the state-of-the-art mashup tools. Results: The results from the formative evaluations helped us identify important usability problems. From an assessment point of view, the results were promising and sggested that the proposed tool has a short and gentle learning curve in a way that even non-programmers are able to rapidly build useful mashups. Also, the comparative evaluation results showed that NaturalMash offers a competitive level of expressive power compared with existing mashup tools targeting non-programmers. Conclusion: As the evaluation results indicate, NaturalMash provides a high level of expressive power while it is still highly usable by non-programmers. These suggest that we have successfully achieved the objective of the proposed tool, distinguishing it from existing mashup tools that are either too limited or highly specialized for non-professional users. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Co-adaptive training paradigms for event-related desynchronization (ERD) based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) have proven effective for healthy users. As of yet, it is not clear whether co-adaptive training paradigms can also benefit users with severe motor impairment. The primary goal of our paper was to evaluate a novel cue-guided, co-adaptive BCI training paradigm with severely impaired volunteers. The co-adaptive BCI supports a non-control state, which is an important step toward intuitive, self-paced control. A secondary aim was to have the same participants operate a specifically designed self-paced BCI training paradigm based on the auto-calibrated classifier. The co-adaptive BCI analyzed the electroencephalogram from three bipolar derivations (C3, Cz, and C4) online, while the 22 end users alternately performed right hand movement imagery (MI), left hand MI and relax with eyes open (non-control state). After less than five minutes, the BCI auto-calibrated and proceeded to provide visual feedback for the MI task that could be classified better against the non-control state. The BCI continued to regularly recalibrate. In every calibration step, the system performed trial-based outlier rejection and trained a linear discriminant analysis classifier based on one auto-selected logarithmic band-power feature. In 24 minutes of training, the co-adaptive BCI worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance for 18 of 22 end users. The self-paced BCI training paradigm worked significantly (p = 0.01) better than chance in 11 of 20 end users. The presented co-adaptive BCI complements existing approaches in that it supports a non-control state, requires very little setup time, requires no BCI expert and works online based on only two electrodes. The preliminary results from the self-paced BCI paradigm compare favorably to previous studies and the collected data will allow to further improve self-paced BCI systems for disabled users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article describes a semi-automatic end-user programming approach that: (i) assists in the creation of easy-to-apply Semantic End-User Application Programming Interfaces(S-APIs) for the APIs of legacy software components; and (ii) enables the usage of S-APIs in command-oriented and goal-oriented end-user application programming. Furthermore, a reference implementation is presented for the approach that provides visual programming tools and an agent-based execution environment for smart space applications. The use of the approach is exemplified and tested in a case study in which S-APIs are created for a home automation system and for a personal assistant application, and then utilized in end-user programming performed in desktop and mobile environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cloud computing uses the Internet to deliver core software and hardware resources, to a large gamma of end users, from international organizations to persons of "common". In this regard and given his proposal for a technological management model changes the traditional way in the provision and deployment of network infrastructure and hardware and software resources, towards a new vision that makes services, cloud computing has positioned itself in the world of Information Technology and Communication ICT as a new paradigm which seems to announce a long stay. The main objective of this paper focuses on the approach to the state of the art of this technology in beta constant, so that allows it to be the preamble to the alchemy needed to put science at the service of mankind. The first section offers a appetizer of different views of what is defined as cloud computing. Section two deals with the definition of Cloud Computing, types and characteristics. Section three focuses on the existing concessive in the definition of three basic layers: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and infrastructure as In-Service (IaaS). The fourth section, the cloud providers are mentioned most representative platforms and maturity levels considered in these organizations. The fifth part contains prevailing regulatory aspects Colombia on ICT's. Finally, we present the conclusions drawn from the research work and future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictive trace analysis (PTA) of concurrent programs is powerful in finding concurrency bugs unseen in past program executions. Unfortunately, existing PTA solutions face considerable challenges in scaling to large traces. In this article, we identify that a large percentage of events in the trace are redundant for presenting useful analysis results to the end user. Removing them from the trace can significantly improve the scalability of PTA without affecting the quality of the results. We present a trace redundancy theorem that specifies a redundancy criterion and the soundness guarantee that the PTA results are preserved after removing the redundancy. Based on this criterion, we design and implement TraceFilter, an efficient algorithm that automatically removes redundant events from a trace for the PTA of general concurrency access anomalies. We evaluated TraceFilter on a set of popular concurrent benchmarks as well as real world large server programs. Our experimental results show that TraceFilter is able to significantly improve the scalability of PTA by orders of magnitude, without impairing the analysis result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Software as a Service (SaaS) provides access to applications to end users over the Internet without upfront investment in infrastructure and software. To serve their customers, SaaS providers utilise resources of internal data centres or rent resources from a public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider. In-house hosting can increase administration and maintenance costs whereas renting from an IaaS provider can impact the service quality due to its variable performance. To overcome these limitations, we propose innovative admission control and scheduling algorithms for SaaS providers to effectively utilise public Cloud resources to maximize profit by minimizing cost and improving customer satisfaction level. Furthermore, we conduct an extensive evaluation study to analyse which solution suits best in which scenario to maximize SaaS providerʼs profit. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithms provide substantial improvement (up to 40% cost saving) over reference ones across all ranges of variation in QoS parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the success factors of open-source software in the enterprise level. It expands the application of the information systems (IS) success model in the literature to enterprise information systems (EIS). The paper presents a simplified open-source EIS success model by removing several constructs in the existing open-source software models. Design/methodology/approach – To test the research model, a survey questionnaire was developed based on previous studies dealing with IS success models and adapting them to the open-source EIS context. The research instrument contained 30 items that represent seven constructs in the research model. Data were collected from 250 open-source enterprise software end-users. Due to its confirmatory nature, this study applied the structural equation model. Findings – The results of the study indicate that only community service quality has a positive direct effect on open-source EIS use, while information quality, EIS quality, and user satisfaction do not. Open-source EIS quality has a direct positive effect on user satisfaction, which in turn has a positive effect on individual net benefits, which also positively affects organizational net benefits. Research limitations/implications – This study focused on the open-source EIS users' perspective. Future studies could expand the scope by covering a broader open-source EIS aspect such as motivation of its use, development processes, social dynamics in the development group, diffusion process, and the like. A longitudinal study could provide a more concrete trend of open-source EIS use by organizations. The small sample size of this study is also a limitation. Practical implications – The present research provides a practical evidence of relationships in the open-source EIS application model. The developers in on-line open-source communities need to take the success factors identified in this study into account when developing open-source EIS. Originality/value – There is a paucity of empirical studies in open-source EIS applications. The paper expends the traditional IS success model to the open-source EIS context by collecting and analyzing data from 150 real-world open-source EIS users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key issue for any mobile application or service is the way it is delivered and experienced by users, who eventually may decide to keep it on their software portfolio or not. Without doubt, security and privacy have both a crucial role to play towards this goal. Very recently, Gartner has identified the top ten of consumer mobile applications that are expected to dominate the market in the near future. Among them one can earmark location-based services in number 2 and mobile instant messaging in number 9. This paper presents a novel application namely MILC that blends both features. That is, MILC offers users the ability to chat, interchange geographic co-ordinates and make Splashes in real-time. At present, several implementations provide these services separately or jointly, but none of them offers real security and preserves the privacy of the end-users at the same time. On the contrary, MILC provides an acceptable level of security by utilizing both asymmetric and symmetric cryptography, and most importantly, put the user in control of her own personal information and her private sphere. The analysis and our contribution are threefold starting from the theoretical background, continuing to the technical part, and providing an evaluation of the MILC system. We present and discuss several issues, including the different services that MILC supports, system architecture, protocols, security, privacy etc. Using a prototype implemented in Google's Android OS, we demonstrate that the proposed system is fast performing, secure, privacy-preserving and potentially extensible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main goals of Cloud and Grid infrastructures is to make their services easily accessible and attractive to end-users. In this article we investigate the problem of supporting keyword-based searching for the discovery of software files that are installed on the nodes of large-scale, federated Grid and Cloud computing infrastructures. We address a number of challenges that arise from the unstructured nature of software and the unavailability of software-related metadata on large-scale networked environments. We present Minersoft, a harvester that visits Grid/Cloud infrastructures, crawls their file systems, identifies and classifies software files, and discovers implicit associations between them. The results of Minersoft harvesting are encoded in a weighted, typed graph, called the Software Graph. A number of information retrieval (IR) algorithms are used to enrich this graph with structural and content associations, to annotate software files with keywords and build inverted indexes to support keyword-based searching for software. Using a real testbed, we present an evaluation study of our approach, using data extracted from productionquality Grid and Cloud computing infrastructures. Experimental results show that Minersoft is a powerful tool for software search and discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study investigates actual consumer behaviour in end-user software selection, a field that has been fairly neglected in extant research. The novel point we make is that the immaterial character of software-leading to its indestructibility and virtually cost-free distribution-makes it easy for software manufacturers to let consumers evaluate computer programs hands-on by trying them out in realistic settings. Detached paper-and-pencil methods for assessing consumers' predecision behaviour seem to be inadequate for modelling this type of evaluation in which individuals do not need to care about returning the object(s) in the same state. In this article, we present a methodology for and the first results of assessing unguided end-user software evaluation behaviour in its natural complexity. Our exploratory approach focused on identifying a behavioural typology, as well as its relation to the choice result, which would have major implications for the design and distribution of demo versions, shareware, etc. Twenty individuals were subjected to a realistic choice problem involving direct interaction with real software products. Their behaviour was analyzed using a novel abstraction methodology. Results suggest the existence of four different evaluation types and the moderating influence of evaluation behaviour on choice result, which can be integrated into and plausibly explained by prevalent theory. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to concern about lengthy waiting times for cancer treatment in the UK, the Department of Health introduced 'the colorectal cancer target referral scheme' to improve the referral process for suspected cancer. A user-centred web-based intranet software was developed reflecting the core work of the multi-disciplinary cancer team and the patient journey. The method used was primarily based on the concept of involving the end users (clinicians, nurses, administration staff) in the process of problem definition, software design, formative evaluation, development and implementation, from the very beginning, to ensure its relevance, functionality, and effectiveness. This software improved the interdisciplinary communication among doctors. All patients met the government waiting targets and proved to be a facilitative tool for audit, research and further prospective assessment of our service. Implementing a functional software design is mandatory for the management of target referral patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance requirements of a software system are very important for the end user, especially today when everything gets faster and faster. In order to improve the performance of a software system, developers must first identify the parts that take a long time to execute. In this paper we describe how AOP is used for monitoring software systems performance and we present a comparison of the existing AOP based monitoring tools. The comparison is done using different criteria like: AOP extension used, UI support, performance metrics provided, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer software similarities play important roles in users' skills transfer from one application to another. Despite common software attributes recognized in extant literature, a systematic understanding of the components and structure of software similarities has not been fully developed. To address the issue, a Delphi study was conducted to explore the underlying dimensions of software similarities. Inputs gathered from 20 experienced Information Systems instructors show that Computer Software Similarity is a multi-dimensional construct made up of interface similarity, function similarity, and syntax similarity. Each dimension consists of software attributes that users perceive to be transferable in learning new applications. A field study was carried out to test the impact of the construct. Results from a survey on students 'learning two software applications confirm the expectation that Computer Software Similarity facilitates the students' skills transfer between the applications. These studies provide a basis to better design training programs for improved training performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the PRIMME software package for solving large, sparse Hermitian standard eigenvalue problems. The difficulty and importance of these problems have increased over the years, necessitating the use of preconditioning and near optimally converging iterative methods. However, the complexity of tuning or even using such methods has kept them outside the reach of many users. Responding to this problem, we have developed PRIMME, a comprehensive package that brings state-of-the-art methods from "bleeding edge" to production, with the best possible robustness, efficiency, and a flexible, yet highly usable interface that requires minimal or no tuning. We describe (1) the PRIMME multimethod framework that implements a variety of algorithms, including the near optimal methods GD+& and JDQMR; (2) a host of algorithmic innovations and implementation techniques that endow the software with its robustness and efficiency; (3) a multilayer interface that captures our experience and addresses the needs of both expert and end users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The development of interactive visual applications is a complex work, usually performed with the help of advanced visual programming environments. Although a number of tools are available to support designers and developers in the specification of a GUI''s layout and behavior, and in the generation of the corresponding code that implements the interface, theoretical guidelines and/or semi-automatic mechanisms rely upon the knowledge of the designer to manage usability and accessibility issues. Indeed, the evaluation of the visual environments is traditionally performed by means of expert-based evaluations or by testing with end users. In this work we describe a methodology to specify and evaluate interactive visual environments, in particular web interfaces, based on the SR-Action Grammars formalism and we present a bottom – up approach to aid the designer to develop graphical applications that automatically respect a significant number of usability rules before the software is released and tested by standard methods. We show how it is possible to assess the usability metrics of consistency, completeness and user control by means of checks performed at a high level of abstraction. VALUTA (Automatic Tool for the Usability Verification at Abstract Level) is the implemented tool that allows developers to generate the formal specification of an interactive visual application in automatic manner, so to perform the related usability controls at a very early stage. Thanks to usability controls automatically performed at formal level, the designer can use the evaluation results to perform feedback analysis of the visual environment. The tool is applicable to an already existing interface, allowing the designer to evaluate its usability in the development of a more usable version. We have analyzed the home page of three web sites (www.lycos.it, www.google.it, http://it.mail.yahoo.com/) as a case study and we show the related evaluation report generated by the described approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The use of cultural information is becoming increasingly important in music information research, especially in music retrieval and recommendation. While this information is widely available on the Web, it is most commonly published using proprietary Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The Linked Data community is aiming at resolving the incompatibilities between these diverse data sources by building a Web of data using Semantic Web technologies. The OMRAS2 project has made several important contributions to this by developing an ontological framework and numerous software tools, as well as publishing music related data on the Semantic Web. These data and tools have found their use even beyond their originally intended scope. In this paper, we first provide a broad overview of the Semantic Web technologies underlying this work. We describe the Music Ontology, an open-ended framework for communicating musical information on the Web, and show how this framework can be extended to describe specific sub-domains such as music similarity, content-based audio features, musicological data and studio production. We describe several data-sets that have been published and data sources that have been adapted using this framework. Finally, we provide application examples ranging from software libraries to end user Web applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software Engineering has been recognized as one of the most challenging issues in computer science during the last three decades. Furthermore, requirements engineering as a significant process in a software development process plays a crucial role. Research shows that the cause of most of the projects' failure is the requirements engineering process. End-User Computing, on the other hand, which involves end-users directly and actively in the software development life cycle, suffers from the same problems. In addition, this area of software engineering is faced with some risks and problems arising from special characteristics of End- User Computing. In this regard, several method, techniques, and tools are developed to solve the problems. The prototyping method among other requirements engineering methods is more effective due to its tasks' coverage and its ability to involve end-users in the software development process. Therefore, the Screen-Based prototyping method can be considered as a useful solution. A toolset to support various features of the Screen-Based Prototyping is developed and discussed in this paper. The evaluation of the toolset was accomplished using some case studies. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the results showed that the toolset positively affects the process of software development and stakeholders of the project are satisfied with the features provided by the toolset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting appropriate techniques is often a challenging task for Requirements Engineering. In this regard, several methods have been proposed for RE techniques' selection from different viewpoints. The most important step for any RE techniques' selection method is the evaluation and analysis of the RE techniques. Prior to evaluation of RE techniques, identification of RE techniques' attributes is necessary. End-User Computing, on the other hand, as an area of software development domain is faced to the same problem. Moreover, due to special characteristics of the End-User Computing context, Requirements Engineering and RE techniques selection are more complicated issues. This paper aims to investigate the situation of RE techniques in End-User Computing through assessment of a representative set of RE techniques. In addition, the results of this study help the RE researchers in selecting an appropriate set of RE techniques as well as development of new techniques or adaptation of existing RE techniques in End-User Computing area. In this study first the most important attributes of RE techniques are identified and then evaluation of RE techniques based on these attributes is accomplished through a survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Rigi environment is a mature research tool that provides functionality to reverse engineer software systems. With Rigi large systems can be analyzed, interactively explored, summarized, and documented. This is supported with parsers to extract information from source code, an exchange format to store extracted information, analyses to transform and abstract information, a scripting language and library to automate the process, and a visualization engine to interactively explore and manipulate information in the form of typed, directed, hierarchical graphs. In this paper we describe Rigi’s main components and functionalities, and assess its impact on reverse engineering research. Furthermore, we discuss Rigi’s architecture and design decisions that led to a decoupling of major functionalities, and enable tool extensibility, interoperability and end-user programmability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pervasive computing applications use the knowledge of the environment to provide better services and functionality to the end user. Access control for such applications needs to use contextual information. Towards this end, we proposed an access control model based on role-based access control that uses the environmental contexts time and location to determine whether a user can get access to some resource. The model also supports delegation which is important for dynamic applications where a user is unavailable and permissions may have to be transferred temporarily to another user/role in order to complete a specific task. Such a model typically has numerous features to support the requirements of various applications. The features may interact in subtle ways to produce conflicts. Here, we propose an automated approach using Alloy for detecting such conflicts. Alloy is supported by a software infrastructure that allows automated analysis of models and has been used to verify industrial applications. The results obtained from the analysis will enable the users of the model to make informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensity value based point cloud segmentation has received less attention because the intensity value of the terrestrial laser scanner is usually altered by receiving optics/hardware or the internal propriety software, which is unavailable to the end user. We offer a solution by assuming the terrestrial laser scanners are stable and the behavior of the intensity value can be characterized. Then, it is possible to use the intensity value for segmentation by observing its behavior, i.e., intensity value variation, pattern and presence of location of intensity values, etc. In this study, experiment results for characterizing the intensity data of planar surfaces collected by ILRIS3D, a terrestrial laser scanner, are reported. Two intensity formats, grey and raw, are employed by ILRIS3D. It is found from the experiment results that the grey intensity has less variation; hence it is preferable for point cloud segmentation. A warm-up time of approximate 1.5 hours is suggested for more stable intensity data. A segmentation method based on the visual cues of the intensity images sequence, which contains consecutive intensity images, is proposed in order to segment the 3D laser points of ILRIS3D. This method is unique to ILRIS3D data and does not require radiometric calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the model background in knowledge extraction from binary data. It highlights the importance of background knowledge in giving additional information to the user. It notes on the proposed approach of the modeling background knowledge which represent the user's priorities regarding attributes and its relative importance. It notes on the two main practical features of the approach which are constantly used in the knowledge extraction and emphasizes on the fundamental aspects of mathematical feasibility, reasoning with background knowledge, and the removal of redundancy.

The article focuses on the development of open source system to open libraries. It reflects the creation of freely available digital libraries independent of end-user services or any specific usage made by end users. Libraries argue that the resources should be pooled to get access to non-free information for community members. Increasing free access information resources is considered the most trend libraries faced by libraries. It notes that libraries have opportunity to participate in creating open libraries the provide structural information on behalf of community members for free reuse by others which can be a value-added business model for them.

Reasoning about programs using "axioms" is well established; in this paper we argue that reasoning about a program directly in terms of Structural Operational Semantic (SOS) language descriptions is a viable addition and that this is anyway necessary for the vast majority of languages where there is nothing like a full axiomatic description. Using an SOS description is likely to require detailed proofs whose acceptability to users will depend on suitable support systems. The paper presents a very simple example to illustrate how we can reason about (in fact, develop) a program to prove that it satisfies a specification. The main contribution is to use this trivial example to point out issues in designing an interactive proof system for constructing such proofs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the link between the linguistic principles of implicature and pragmatics and software documentation. When implicatures are created in conversation or text, the listener or reader is required to fill in missing information not overtly stated. This information is usually filled in on the basis of previous knowledge or context. Pragmatics, the study of language use in context, is concerned with the situational aspects of language use that, among other things, directly affect implicatures required of the reader. I investigate how two manuals for the same software product can be analyzed on the basis of implicature and pragmatics. One is an original copy of the documentation that came with the product, the other an after-market manual. Results show that the aftermarket manual requires far fewer implicatures of the reader and does a better job of providing pragmatically helpful information for the user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine how to design software instructions for user cognition and affect. A basic and co-user manual are compared. The first provides fundamental support for both; the latter includes a buddy to further optimize support for user affect. The basic manual was faster and judged as easier to process than the co-user manual. In addition, it facilitated re-use. Both manuals supported perceived task-relevance, self-confidence and learning equally well. Research is discussed to explicate why the design worked well and how it can be improved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]