Towards Deeper Understanding of the Search Interfaces of the Deep Web

Many databases have become Web-accessible through form-based search interfaces (i.e., HTML forms) that allow users to specify complex and precise queries to access the underlying databases. In general, such a Web search interface can be considered as containing an interface schema with multiple attributes and rich semantic/meta-information; however, the schema is not formally defined in HTML. Many Web applications, such as Web database integration and deep Web crawling, require the construction of the schemas. In this paper, we first propose a schema model for representing complex search interfaces, and then present a layout-expression based approach to automatically extract the logical attributes from search interfaces. We also rephrase the identification of different types of semantic information as a classification problem, and design several Bayesian classifiers to help derive semantic information from extracted attributes. A system, WISE-iExtractor, has been implemented to automatically construct the schema from any Web search interfaces. Our experimental results on real search interfaces indicate that this system is highly effective.     

Object-oriented specification of user interfaces

This paper presents an object-oriented approach for the specification of graphical user interfaces. Specification starts with the analysis of the end user's operations. The user interface is then designed on the basis of this analysis. Operation analysis is followed by structure and component specification which presents the dialogue structure of the application and the contents of each dialogue. Visualization produces the final screen layouts, and task specification documents the usage of the user interface for the purpose of creating user's guides. The method presented in this paper makes it easier for a designer to take the end user's needs into account. Still, it does not automatically guarantee good quality user interfaces. The top-down nature of the method allows the designer to concentrate on the most important aspects of the user interface and split the design procedure into manageable pieces. Also, the visibility of the process allows the designer to communicate with other people while specifying the user interface. This paper connects the method with the object-oriented specification of entire applications. It briefly explains the connections with object-oriented analysis and design, and demonstrates how to implement the specified user interface in an object oriented fashion. The approach presented in this paper is being applied in the development of a large network management system with about two million lines of C++ code running in the XII environment. Still, the method does not require the specification being implemented with any specific windowing system. The only requirement is that the user interface is based on graphical elements, such as dialogues, push-buttons and text fields.     

Semantics-based inference algorithms for adaptive visualenvironments

The paper presents a grammatical inference methodology for the generation of visual languages, that benefits from the availability of semantic information about the sample sentences. Several well-known syntactic inference algorithms are shown to obey a general inference scheme, which the authors call the Gen-Inf scheme. Then, all the algorithms of the Gen-Inf scheme are modified in agreement with the introduced semantics-based inference methodology. The use of grammatical inference techniques in the design of adaptive user interfaces was previously experimented with the VLG system for visual language generation. The system is a powerful tool for specifying, designing, and interpreting customized visual languages for different applications. They enhance the adaptivity of the VLG system to any visual environment by exploiting the proposed semantics-based inference methodology. As a matter of fact, a more general model of visual language generation is achieved, based on the Gen-Inf scheme, where the end-user is allowed to choose the algorithm which best fits his/her requirements within the particular application environment     

SX/Tools - An Open Design Environment for Adaptable Multimedia User Interfaces

In this paper a brief review of user interface management systems (UIMSs) and their advantages is given. Shortcomings of current UIMSs and open requirements imposed by industrial application areas are outlined. Among the most important requirements are uniform design mechanisms independent of interaction media, techniques, and styles as well as a straight forward end-user adaptability of user interfaces. A new approach to interactive interface construction, called “direct composition”, is introduced. In this approach all interface objects contain the means for their own modification and design and therefore offer consistent interaction techniques for both the construction and usage of user interfaces. Moreover, end-user adaptability is an inherent feature of direct composition interfaces. The user interface design environment SX/Tools is described to exemplify specific properties of user interface management systems following the principle of direct composition. The impacts of direct composition on user interface design include a uniform interface development process covering tool development, interface development, and “on-usage” interface adaptation. It is argued that the direct composition approach can overcome many of the problems with traditional UIMSs.     

Abstract data views: an interface specification concept to enhancedesign for reuse

The abstract data view (ADV) design model was originally created to specify clearly and formally the separation of the user interface from the application component of a software system, and to provide a systematic design method that is independent of specific application environments. Such a method should lead to a high degree of reuse of designs for both interface and application components. The material presented, extends the concept of ADV's to encompass the general specification of interfaces between application components in the same or different computing environments. This approach to specifying interfaces clearly separates application components from each other, since they do not need to know how they are used, or how they obtain services from other application components. Thus, application components called abstract data objects (ADOs), are designed to minimize knowledge of the environment in which they are used and should be more amenable to reuse     

User interface specification with sequence diagrams: an application to the AIRBUS A380 Datalink system

The development of user interfaces for safety critical systems is driven by requirements specifications. Because user interface specifications are typically embedded within complex systems requirements specifications, they can be intractable to manage. Proprietary requirements specification tools do not support the user interface designer in modelling and specifying the user interface. In this paper, a new way of working with embedded user interface specifications is proposed, exploiting sequence diagrams with a hypertext structure for representing and retrieving use cases. This new tool concept is assessed through an application to the requirements specification for the Airbus A380 air traffic control Datalink system; engineers involved in the development of the Airbus cockpit used a prototype of the tool concept to resolve a set of user interface design anomalies in the requirements specification. The results of the study are positive and indicate the user interface to requirements specification tools which user interface designers themselves need.     

SOFSPEC: A pragmatic approach to automated specification verification

This paper describes a system for the automatic verification of commerical application specifications—SOFSPEC. After having established a relationship to the other requirement specification approaches, the user interface and the database schema are presented. The database schema is based on the entity/relationship model and encompasses four entities and six relationships with a varying number of attributes. These are briefly outlined. Then, the paper describes how these entities and relations are checked against one another in order to ascertain the completeness and consistency of the specification before it is finally documented.     

面向服务软件体系结构的接口模型

服务接口描述是面向服务软件体系结构描述的关键问题之一,形式化描述方法是保证服务接口描述准确性的重要手段.目前的接口模型并不支持事务信息的描述.通过对已有Web服务接口模型进行扩展,提出了通过错误处理和补偿支持事务信息描述的接口模型,能够分别在特征层、会话层和协议层3个层面对服务的接口进行描述,然后提出了服务接口在3个层面的相容性和可替换性条件,并针对会话接口和协议接口提出了接口规约及其验证方法.该接口模型不仅能够支持准确的事务信息描述,而且还支持灵活、有效的接口规约验证.     

A similarity-based reasoning model for intelligent interfaces

We present a reasoning model based on psychological similarity and discuss its application to database interfaces. In our approach, relationships in a relational type of database are translated to similarity relationships between data through a psychological model of similarity. The siimilarity relationships are integrated into a network-type of knowledge base. A function of information propagation in the knowledge base, based on a psychological model of stimulus generalization, is implemented in order to enable a similarity-based search through the database. Using this information propagation function, the computer also determines the generic kind of question it should next pose to the user. The user is allowed to give indefinite answers which reflect lack of knowledge or knowledge imprecision, and also to take control of the dialog when necessary. Through this dialog process, the interface system aids the user in specifying requests for relevant data, as well as in retrieving data from the database.     

A procedure to define the object type structure of a conceptual schema

The most important phase in the design of an information system is, in our opinion, the phase which we have given the name Information Analysis (I.A.). During I.A. a conceptual schema is designed which accurately reflects the deep semantic structure of the information which will eventually be used in the information system.

This paper describes part of a methodology which systematizes the design of the conceptual schema, forcing the user to resolve ambiguities and documenting his decisions. The algorithms used in this methodology allow for automatic detection of certain semantic inconsistencies, as well as automatic generation of (parts of) the final conceptual schema based on specifications provided by the user.

In this paper, we concentrate on the specification and generation of the object type structure of the conceptual schema.     

An Approach to User Interface Specification with Attribute Grammars

An approach to supporting user interfaces using an attribute grammar combined with an event model is described.The main emphasis is how to represent a multi-thread dialogue model in direct manipulation user interfaces.It is shown that control sequence within dialogues,communication with other dialogues, and some computations for applications can be specified with a syntactic and semantic notation.The attribute grammar specification can be implemented using an attribute grammar intepreter embedded in the run-time structure supporting communication,synchronization,and dialogue executon.     

Management of complex immunogenetics information using an enhanced relational model.

Flow cytometry has become a technique of paramount importance in the armamentarium of the scientist in such domains as immunogenetics. In the PENGUIN project, we are currently developing the architecture for an expert database system to facilitate the design of flow-cytometry experiments. This paper describes the core of this architecture--a methodology for managing complex biomedical information in an extended relational framework. More specifically, we exploit a semantic data model to enhance relational databases with structuring and manipulation tools that take more domain information into account and provide the user with an appropriate level of abstraction. We present specific applications of the structural model to database schema management, data retrieval and browsing, and integrity maintenance.     

Practical interface specification

Although software development based on modules is now widely practiced and taught, specification of module interfaces has received far less acceptance. Languages such as Ada and Modula-2 require an interface specification, but it is syntactic, merely listing the exported procedures and functions and their signatures. No semantic information is given, leaving the effect of each call on the return value of other calls unspecified. Module users must either guess the interface semantics or infer them from the module implementation, seriously compromising the value of the modular approach. Formal methods, such as the algebraic and trace approaches, do specify interface semantics, but have proved difficult to teach and to apply in practice. In this paper we present the software cost reduction (SCR) method for specifying the syntax and semantics of the module interface. We describe the basic approach and illustrate it on simple, but complete examples. We describe and demonstrate the additional features and techniques we have introduced to handle more complex problems. We also show the precise relationship between the SCR and trace techniques by presenting a method for converting any SCR specification to an equivalent trace specification.