A theory of data-intensive software services

We introduce Abstract State Services (AS²s) as an abstraction of data-intensive services that can be made available for use by other systems, e.g. via the web. An AS² combines a hidden database layer with an operation-equipped view layer, and can be anything from a simple function to a full-fledged Web Information System or a Data Warehouse. We adopt the fundamental approach of Abstract State Machines to model AS²s and show that AS²s capture the fundamentals of approaches such as media types, meme media, SOA and web services excluding presentation issues. Then we show how tailored services can be extracted from available AS²s, combined with other AS² components and personalised to user preferences.     

Optimierung in der Energiewirtschaft: lokale vs. globale Optimallösungen

The application of optimizations methods is an essential part of today's energy system management. Power plants need to be operated optimally and need to adapt their production according to varying demands. At par with simulation models, thus optimization is of ever more increasing importance in today's operations. This article deals with two examples which exemplify the additional value that modern mathematical optimizations methods can provide with provably good, respectively globally optimal solutions.     

Towards a theory of consistency enforcement

State oriented specifications with invariants occur in almost all formal specification languages. Hence the problem is to prove the consistency of the specified operations with respect to the invariants. Whilst the problem seems to be easily solvable in predicative specifications, it usually requires sophisticated verification efforts, when specifications in the style of Dijkstra's guarded commands as e.g. in the specification language B are used. As an alternative consistency enforcement will be discussed in this paper. The basic idea is to replace inconsistent operations by new consistent ones preserving at the same time the intention of the old one. More precisely, this can be formalized by consistent spezializations, where specialization is a specific partial order on operations defined via predicate transformers. It will be shown that greatest consistent specializations (GCSs) always exist and are compatible with conjunctions of invariants. Then under certain mild restrictions the general construction of such GCSs is possible. Precisely, given the GCSs of simple basic assignments the GCS of a complex operation results from replacing involved assignments by their GCSs and the investigation of a guard. In general, GCS construction can be embedded in refinement calculi and therefore strengthens the systematic development of correct programs. Received: 28 April 1994 / 5 November 1998     

Customising Web Information Systems According to User Preferences

Web Information Systems have to serve a variety of users with very diverse preferences regarding content, functionality and presentation. We first investigate the customisation of functionality at a high-level of abstraction, where possible action sequences are represented by an algebraic expression called plot, and user preferences give rise to equations. We show that the problem can be solved by applying conditional term rewriting on the basis of Kleene algebras with tests. By exploiting the idea of weakest preconditions such expressions can be represented by formal power series with coefficients in a Boolean algebra. This gives rise to a sufficient condition for termination based on well-founded orders on such power series. As confluence cannot be guaranteed, we propose critical pair completion to be used in order to enforce the desirable Church-Rosser property. In a second step we parametrise the actions and replace the Boolean conditions by first-order formulae. We show that still term rewriting can be applied, but termination and Church Rosser property become problems that will require manual interaction, in particular, as preference rules will make use of the parameters. On the other hand the presence of first-order conditions can be used to extend the customisation to the content.     

Knowledge-aware identity services

The identification problem is concerned with the question whether two objects in an application refer to the same real-world entity. In this paper, the identification problem is investigated from a knowledge modelling point of view. We develop a framework of establishing knowledge-aware identity services by abstracting identity knowledge into an additional identity layer. The knowledge model in the identity service layer provides a capability for combining declarative formulae with concrete data and thus allows us to capture domain-specific identity knowledge at flexible levels of abstraction. By adding validation constraints to the identity service, we are also able to reason about inconsistency of identity knowledge. In doing so, the accuracy of identity knowledge can be improved over time, especially when utilising identity services provided by different communities in a service-oriented architecture. Our experimental study shows the effectiveness of the proposed knowledge modelling approach and the effects of domain-specific identity knowledge on data quality control.     

Information systems design: through adaptivity to ubiquity

In a globalised economy the accessibility of services becomes increasingly important for businesses. This has led to a demand that information systems should be ubiquitous in the sense that they are available to all users under all circumstances, everywhere and at all times, and independent of the access devices and channels used. The authors believe the key to meeting that demand is existence of an omnipresent media of interaction and existence of information systems that within that media adapt themselves to context parameters at run-time. The World Wide Web is considered as that omnipresent media. Thus, the task is left to design adaptive information systems in a way that avoids unnecessary replication. In this article it will be shown how context parameters can be utilised to enable system adaptivity. The latter is supposed to increase usability and targets the quality of use, the content, and the functionality. We propose using an algebraic approach that aids in providing the leanest appropriate interface via user typing and story boarding. Our approach furthermore limits the content delivered to a user to the amount that can be dealt with in a usage scenario. The latter is based on defining hyphenation points within the content.

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Sexual abuse prevention with high-risk males: the roles of victim empathy and rape myths

The outcome of two sexual abuse prevention programs, one emphasizing victim empathy and the other stressing modifying rape myths, was evaluated with high-risk males. Sixty-eight high-risk males, as determined by self-reported likelihood of committing sexual abuse, were randomly assigned to an empathy-treatment, a facts-treatment, or a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and post-treatment scores on the Likelihood of Sexually Abusing scale, the Rape Empathy Scale, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence scale, the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale, and a test of self-reported sexual arousal to forced versus consenting sex. In addition, posttest scores on an Asch-type conformity measure were obtained. Results of validity checks indicated that high-risk subjects differed from low-risk subjects on a number of rape-related variables, that the victim-empathy condition increased subjects' empathy, and that subjects found both treatments to be credible and helpful. Comparisons between the empathy-, facts-, and no-treatment group contraindicated the practice of dispelling rape myths as a method of preventing rape among high-risk males.     

Biological dynamics and distribution of 3-hydroxy fatty acids in the yeast Dipodascopsis uninucleata as investigated by immunofluorescence microscopy. Evidence for a putative regulatory role in the sexual reproductive cycle

PURPOSE: This study investigated the pathologic characteristics and some related factors of cerebral damage associated with maxillofacial high-velocity missile wounds. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty dogs, divided into two groups, were wounded randomly by steel spheres weighting 1.03 g at impact velocities of 1,400 m/s (46 dogs) and 800 m/s (14 dogs). Six dogs served as controls. The maxillofacial wounds and cerebral injuries were examined grossly. The distance between the center of wound and the base of skull and the largest diameter of the wound were measured, and the incidence of the brain injury in the two groups was compared. The cerebral specimens, dissected at 1 and 6 hours after trauma, were observed by light and electron microscopy. RESULTS: Cerebral hyperemia, contusion, spotty hemorrhage, and intracerebral hematoma were found in some of the dogs. In the 1,400 m/s velocity missile wound group, the incidence of the brain injury was 71.7% (33 of 46), and in the 800 m/s group it was 7.1% (1 of 14) on macroscopic examination. Microscopic observation showed intracerebral microhemotomas and degeneration and necrosis of the nervous cells. CONCLUSION: High-velocity projectile maxillofacial wounds can induce associated brain injury.     

On the costs and benefits of emotional labor: A meta-analysis of three decades of research.

This article provides a quantitative review of the link of emotional labor (emotion–rule dissonance, surface acting, and deep acting) with well-being and performance outcomes. The meta-analysis is based on 494 individual correlations drawn from a final sample of 95 independent studies. Results revealed substantial relationships of emotion–rule dissonance and surface acting with indicators of impaired well-being (ρs between .39 and .48) and job attitudes (ρs between ?.24 and ?.40) and a small negative relationship with performance outcomes (ρs between ?.20 and ?.05). Overall, deep acting displayed weak relationships with indicators of impaired well-being and job attitudes but positive relationships with emotional performance and customer satisfaction (ρs .18 and .37). A meta-analytic regression analysis provides information on the unique contribution of emotion–rule dissonance, surface acting, and deep acting in statistically predicting well-being and performance outcomes. Furthermore, a mediation analysis confirms theoretical models of emotional labor which suggest that surface acting partially mediates the relationship of emotion–rule dissonance with well-being. Implications for future research as well as pragmatic ramifications for organizational practices are discussed in conclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)