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Integration of Heterogeneous Digital Libraries with Semi-automatic Mapping and Browsing: From Formalization to Specification to Visualization
Get PDFIn this paper, we formalize the digital library (DL) integration problem and propose an overall approach based on the 5S framework. We apply 5S to domain-specific (archaeological) DLs, illustrating our solutions for key problems in DL integration. We use ETANA-DL as a case study to describe the process of semi-automatically generating a union catalog and a unified browsing service in an archaeological DL. A visual schema mapping tool is developed for union catalog creation. A pilot user study aids tool evaluation. Our approach is further validated through application of a general browsing component to two integrated DLs
MAKING A CASE FOR HCI: COMPARING MATERIALS FOR CASE-BASED TEACHING
Get PDFThis paper investigates case-based methods for bridging the conflicting goals of providing both topic coverage and practical experience in teaching humancomputer interaction (HCI). Case-based methods rely on design, development, and testing material for existing or on-going projects to provide details on difficult decisions and solutions in the interface creation process. Cases are touted as alternatives to real experience (immensely important in HCI courses) and provide rich environments for computer science instruction. We evaluate benefits and limitations of five types of case materials--contemporary articles, professionally prepared cases, familiar interfaces, ongoing development projects, and incomplete information (jigsaw)--to probe how they should be structured and approached by an HCI instructor. Through an experience that assessed case-based activities in an undergraduate HCI course, we determined tradeoffs relating to student participation, preparation characteristics, and short- and long-term learning outcomes. Professionally prepared case materials provided a sense of comfort in preparation, but were surpassed by familiar interfaces in terms of performance and post-use feedback, leading to recommendations for case materials development and adoption of case-based learning for HCI. Based on our results, we can make several conclusions that should influence selection and development of materials for casebased pedagogy, and we illustrate the need for structured case creation processes that can be performed conjointly with system development efforts
A Digital Library Framework for Biodiversity Information Systems
Get PDFBiodiversity information systems (BISs) involve all kinds of heterogeneous data, which include ecological and geographical features. However, available information systems offer very limited support for managing such data in an integrated fashion. Furthermore, such systems do not fully support image content management (e.g., photos of landscapes or living organisms), a requirement of many BIS end-users. In order to meet their needs, these users - e.g., biologists, environmental experts - often have to alternate between distinct biodiversity and image information systems to combine information extracted from them. This cumbersome operational procedure is forced on users by lack of interoperability among these systems. This hampers the addition of new data sources, as well as cooperation among scientists. The approach provided in this paper to meet these issues is based on taking advantage of advances in Digital Library (DL) innovations to integrate networked collections of heterogeneous data. It focuses on creating the basis for a biodiversity information system under the digital library perspective, combining new techniques of content-based image retrieval and database query processing mechanisms. This approach solves the problem of system switching, and provides users with a flexible architecture from which to tailor a BIS to their needs. To illustrate the use of this architecture, it has been instantiated to support the creation of a BIS for fish species in a real application. The goal is to help researchers on ichthyology to identify fish specimen by using search retrieval techniques. Experimental results suggest that this new approach improves the effectiveness of the fish identification process, if compared to the tradition key-based method
Using a Tablet-PC to Provide Peer-Review Comments
Get PDFThis reports describes our initial exploration in using a Tablet-PC to provide peer-review comments in the first year Computer Science course. Our exploration consisted of an informal evaluation of how students write comments on other students assignments using three different methods: pen and paper, a Tablet-PC, and a desktop computer. Our ultimate goal is to explore the effect that interface style has on the quality and quantity of the comments provided
Online Enlightenment: A Phidget Notification System for Online Status
Get PDFThis paper describes a physical device that presents online presence information in a semi-public space. The device uses a map metaphor to represent a set of connected labs, showing online instant messenger status for members of the community. Device users can combine information from the device with information from the physical environment to identify unfamiliar lab members, determine human-to-human interaction strategies, and plan meetings. The paper reports on design decisions that were considered in creating the device, supplying rationale for decisions that were made. In particular, we focus on how people integrate physical information from the world and virtual information from this (and similar) devices in the environment, reflecting on ways in which this type of device can improve communication and enhance community. We describe four envisioned usage scenarios for the device, with early feedback from people who work in the space and whose information is displayed on the device
ETANA-DL: Managing Complex Information Applications - An Archaeology Digital Library
Get PDFArchaeological research results in the generation of large quantities of heterogeneous information managed by different projects using custom information systems. We will demonstrate a prototype Digital Library (DL) for integrating and managing archaeological data and providing services useful to various user communities. ETANA-DL is a model-based, componentized, extensible, archaeological DL that manages complex information sources using the client-server paradigm of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
A General Probabilistic Model of the PCR Process
No full textThis paper rigorously derives a general probabilistic model for the PCR process; this model includes as a special case the Velikanov-Kapral model where all nucleotide reaction rates are the same. In this model the probability of binding of deoxy-nucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) molecules with template strands is derived from the microscopic chemical kinetics. A recursive solution for the probability distribution of binding of dNTPs is developed for a single cycle and is used to calculate expected yield for a multicycle PCR. The model is able to reproduce important features of the PCR amplification process quantitatively. With a set of favorable reaction conditions, the amplification of the target sequence is fast enough to rapidly outnumber all side products. Furthemore, the final yield of the target sequence in a multicycle PCR run always approaches an asymptotic limit that is less than one. The amplification process itself is highly sensitive to initial concentrations and the reaction rates of addition to the template strand of each type of dNTP in the solution
Globally Optimized Parameters for a Model of Mitotic Control in Frog Egg Extracts
Get PDFDNA synthesis and nuclear division in the developing frog egg are controlled by fluctuations in the activity of M-phase promoting factor (MPF). The biochemical mechanism of MPF regulation is most easily studied in cytoplasmic extracts of frog eggs, for which careful experimental studies of the kinetics of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of MPF and its regulators have been made. In 1998 Marlovits et al. used these data sets to estimate the kinetic rate constants in a mathematical model of the control system originally proposed by Novak and Tyson. In a recent publication, we showed that a gradient-based optimization algorithm finds a locally optimal parameter set quite close to the Marlovits estimates. In this paper, we combine global and local optimization strategies to show that the refined Marlovits parameter set, with one minor but significant modification to the Novak-Tyson equations, is the unique, best-fitting solution to the parameter estimation problem
Pointwise Bias Error Bounds for Response Surface Approximations and Min-Max Bias Design
Get PDFTwo approaches addressing response surface approximation errors due to model inadequacy (bias error) are presented, and a design of experiments minimizing the maximal bias error is proposed. Both approaches assume that the functional form of the true model is known and seek, at each point in design space, worst case bounds on the absolute error. The first approach is implemented prior to data generation. This data independent error bound can identify locations in the design space where the accuracy of the approximation fitted on a given design of experiments may be poor. The data independent error bound can easily be implemented in a search for a design of experiments that minimize the bias error bound as it requires very little computation. The second approach is to be used posterior to the data generation and provides tightened error bound consistent with the data. This data dependent error bound requires the solution of two linear programming problems at each point. The paper demonstrates the data independent error bound for design of experiments of two-variable examples. Randomly generated polynomials in two variables are then used to validate the data dependent bias-error bound distribution
ETANA-DL: A Digital Library for Integrated Handling of Heterogeneous Archaeological Data
Get PDFArchaeologists have to deal with vast quantities of information, generated both in the field and laboratory. That information is heterogeneous in nature, and different projects have their own systems to store and use it. This adds to the challenges regarding collaborative research between such projects as well as information retrieval for other more general purposes. This paper describes our approach towards creating ETANA-DL, a digital library (DL) to help manage these vast quantities of information and to provide various kinds of services. The 5S framework for modeling a DL gives us an edge in understanding this vast and complex information space, as well as in designing and prototyping a DL to satisfy information needs of archaeologists and other user communities