Publikationen Institute und Zentren - FH Graubünden

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11676904_9 

Abstract: Living Memory is an interdisciplinary project running for two years, which is realised in cooperation of several institutions. It aims at developing an information system for a digital collection of different types of visual resources and will combine classical methods of image indexing and retrieval with innovative approaches like content-based image retrieval and the use of topic maps for semantic searching and browsing. This work-in-progress-report outlines the aims of the project and present first results after the period of eleven months.

Abstract: This paper presents technical foundation, roadmap and initial results of the IDIOM project (Information Diffusion across Interactive Online Media). Information spreads rapidly across Web sites, Web logs and online forums. IDIOM tracks this process and compares it to direct communication through electronic mail and instant messaging. Linguists define "idiom" as an expression whose meaning is different from the literal meanings of its component words. Similarly, the study of information diffusion promises insights that cannot be inferred from individual network elements. Similar projects often focus on particular media, or neglect important aspects of the human language. IDIOM addresses these gaps to reveal fundamental mechanisms of information diffusion across media with distinct interactive characteristics.

Abstract: When corporations, news media and advocacy organizations embrace networked information technology, intentionally or unintentionally, they influence democratic processes. To capture and understand the influence of publicly available electronic content, the US Election 2004 Web Monitor tracked the online coverage of US presidential candidates, and investigated how this coverage reflected their position on environmental issues.

Abstract: E-learning systems that support collaborative learning environments do not work without proactive motivation of their users. Users need to know what their benefits are when sharing knowledge and contributing actively in such forums. Therefore the collaborative knowledge management system “K3” which is used in academic education of Information Engineering students at the university of Konstanz in Germany has been developed within a benchmark system to motivate users. This paper, on one hand describes how the different benchmark means of quantifying work together in measuring and assessing users’ performance and thus stimulating their willing to cooperate in their collaborative work, and on the other hand this paper describes the result of the first evaluation of the benchmark system.

Abstract: Software archives are a rich source of information about the development process of a software system. Using data mining techniques rules can be extracted from these archives. Rules can either be association rules which mean that software items have been changed together with a certain probability or sequence rules which mean items have been changed one after the other. The change frequency (support) as well as the change probability (confidence) of a given rule are both metrics used for visualizing the strength of a rule. EPOSee is a tool designed to interactively explore these kinds of rules. To this end we extended standard visualization techniques for association and sequence rules to also show the hierarchical order of items. Clusters and outliers in the resulting visualizations provide interesting insights into the relation between the temporal development of a system and its static structure.

Abstract: Software archives contain historical information about the development process of a software system. Using data mining techniques rules can be extracted from these archives. In this paper we discuss how standard visualization techniques can be applied to interactively explore these rules. To this end we extended the standard visualization techniques for association rules and sequence rules to also show the hierarchical order of items. Clusters and outliers in the resulting visualizations provide interesting insights into the relation between the temporal development of a system and its static structure. As an example we look at the large software archive of the MOZILLA open source project. Finally we discuss what kind of regularities and anomalies we found and how these can then be leveraged to support software engineers.

Abstract: With the last four years four large student teaching projects have taken place. During these projects our approach to apply Petri nets in agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE) production has been sharpened. Within the projects different techniques, methods and tools as well as their conceptual and technical background have been developed and tried out. In this talk we will explain several of the underlying and hidden ideas, concepts and results of our work.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11494744_10 

Abstract: Current modeling techniques are not well equipped to design dynamic software architectures. In this work we present the basic concepts for a dynamic architecture modeling using nets-within-nets. Nets-within-nets represent a powerful formalism that allows active elements, i.e. nets, to be nested in arbitrary and dynamically changeable hierarchies. Applying the concepts from nets-within-nets, therefore, allows us to model complex dynamic system architectures in a simple way, which enables us to design the system at different levels of abstractions using refinements of net models. Additionally to the conceptual modeling of such architecture, we provide a practical example where the concept has been successfully applied in the development of the latest release of Renew (Version 2 of the multi-formalism Petri net IDE). The overall monolithic architecture has been exchanged with a system that is divided into a plug-in management system and plug-in’s that provide functionality for the users. By combining plug-ins the system can be adapted to the users’ needs. Through the introduction of the Petri net concepts, the new architecture is now – at runtime – dynamically extensible by registering plug-ins with the management system. The introduced architecture is applicable for any kind of architecture but most suitable for applications with dynamic structure.

Abstract: In this work we present the basic concepts for a dynamic plug-in-based software architecture using concepts from the Petri net-based MAS framework MULAN. By transferring the concepts of agent-orientation to a plug-in-based architecture we are able to design our application and the plug-in-based system on an abstract level. Moreover, general problems that evolve from a highly dynamic and configurable architecture have been solved by basing the conceptual design on multi-agent principles. The introduced concepts have been applied to the software architecture of the tool RENEW.

Abstract: Destinations are at the heart of travel decisions, and destination image has a significant influence on tourists’ decision-making. Many travelers acquire information via the Inter-net, which offers abundant information and an increasing number of tourism-related services. The impact of media coverage on destination image has attracted research attention and became particularly evident during the 2003 outbreak of SARS, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Building upon previous research, this paper analyzes the prevalence of tourism destinations among 162 international media sites. Measuring term frequency investigates the attention a destination receives – from a general and, after contextual filtering, from a tourism perspective. Calculating the semantic orientation estimates positive or negative media influences on destination image at a given point in time. By detecting associations with country names, keyword analysis reveals the countries' public profile, and the impact of events on media coverage.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11494744_18 

Abstract: The concept of mobile agents imposes a great security risk for information systems. In this paper we propose object nets as a specification formalism for multi-agent systems. Since the general formalism is Turing-powerful not every analysis method that is common for Petri net can be applied. So, we define the subclass of “ordinary” object nets that allows for the application of standard P/T-net techniques, i.e. the computation of boundedness, liveness etc.

Abstract: The e-learning platform K3 realizes a constructivist learning model augmented with collaborative properties. K3 courses, mainly offered since 2004 at the University of Konstanz, follow the blended learning model. K3 collaborative discourse work is organized in virtual groups. All group members have to choose a role (moderator, summarizer, etc.) for a certain period and their role performance is part of their evaluation. Discourse takes place in an electronic (asynchronous) forum. Each contribution/comment must be specified according to its discourse function. These specifications structure discourse and allow selective retrieval of discourse objects. Students are encouraged to augment their contributions informationally by reference objects. A graphic interface facilitates navigation through complex discourse structures and makes them transparent. The technical basis of K3 is an open source, object-oriented client-server system for the management of the different types of K3 data.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11550648_16 

Abstract: Nowadays many software development (SD) projects are placed in a distributed setting, concerning both the software itself and the resources, processes and actors needed to create or maintain the software. Therefore, tools and methods to support software engineering should be distributed as well. In a SD project many different actors play different roles, all interacting with one another. The software engineering paradigm most suited for this kind of organization in which autonomous actors act and interact is the paradigm of agent-oriented software development (AOSE). This article presents a MAS-based tool platform (cooperative infrastructure) which integrates different tools that are distributed over several agent platforms. The eventual goal of this platform is to create a distributed software development environment. This should easily allow interaction, coordination and cooperation between different participating parties in a software development process, by allowing them to communicate, negotiate, synchronize resources, etc. in a transparent, distributed and dynamic setting.