Single Website Research Articles

Research and Design of a Grid Based Electronic Commerce Recommendation System

Current electronic commerce recommendation system is designed for single electronic commerce website and current recommendation technologies have obvious deficiencies Centralized recommendation systems can not resolve the contradiction between high recommendation quality and timely response, as well as that between limited recommendation range and ever rich information on the web. Distributed recommendation systems are expected to improve the recommendation quality while maintaining high performance. This paper analyses the problems of traditional electronic commerce recommendation system and clarifies the advantage of applying grid technology into electronic commerce recommendation system. It discusses the prototype of an intelligent recommendation system, namely grid based electronic commerce recommendation system (GBECRS). The paper analyses rationale and mechanism of GBECRS and designs its logical structure. It focuses on the design of grid services which are needed to be deployed into electronic commerce recommendation grid. Finally it does deep analysis of key technologies that are applied in the system.

Mining Web Usage within a Local Area Network

In this study, we propose a novel method of mining web usage within a local area network (LAN). The proposed method makes use of Taiwanese Yahoo! (i.e. Yahoo! Kimo) to create a topic hierarchy and classifies the most visited websites for users within a LAN into the hierarchy. Each of the websites will have a unique category path. According to the category path, web usage statistics can be accumulated from the bottommost level, i.e. a single website, to the topmost level, i.e. the set of all websites. Thus, web surfing demands of users within the LAN can be analyzed at various levels of detail. Experimental results strongly support the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A nearly perfect market?

Internet shopbots allow consumers to almost instantly compare prices and other characteristics from dozens of sellers via a single website. We estimate the magnitude of consumer search costs and benefits using data from a major shopbot for books. For the median consumer, the estimated benefit from simply scrolling down to search lower screens is $6.55. This amounts to about 60% of the observed price dispersion and suggests that consumers face significant search costs, even in this “nearly-perfect” market. Price elasticities are relatively high compared to offline markets (−7 to −10 in our base model). Furthermore, contrary to the common assumption, search intensity is not correlated with greater price sensitivity. Instead, consumers who search multiple screens put relatively more weight on non-price factors like brand.

Database of ligand-induced domain movements in enzymes.

BackgroundConformational change induced by the binding of a substrate or coenzyme is a poorly understood stage in the process of enzyme catalysed reactions. For enzymes that exhibit a domain movement, the conformational change can be clearly characterized and therefore the opportunity exists to gain an understanding of the mechanisms involved. The development of the non-redundant database of protein domain movements contains examples of ligand-induced domain movements in enzymes, but this valuable data has remained unexploited.DescriptionThe domain movements in the non-redundant database of protein domain movements are those found by applying the DynDom program to pairs of crystallographic structures contained in Protein Data Bank files. For each pair of structures cross-checking ligands in their Protein Data Bank files with the KEGG-LIGAND database and using methods that search for ligands that contact the enzyme in one conformation but not the other, the non-redundant database of protein domain movements was refined down to a set of 203 enzymes where a domain movement is apparently triggered by the binding of a functional ligand. For these cases, ligand binding information, including hydrogen bonds and salt-bridges between the ligand and specific residues on the enzyme is presented in the context of dynamical information such as the regions that form the dynamic domains, the hinge bending residues, and the hinge axes.ConclusionThe presentation at a single website of data on interactions between a ligand and specific residues on the enzyme alongside data on the movement that these interactions induce, should lead to new insights into the mechanisms of these enzymes in particular, and help in trying to understand the general process of ligand-induced domain closure in enzymes. The website can be found at:

Pragmatism and Rigour can Coexist in Taxonomy

Two recent essays in this journal, de Carvalho et al. (2007; 2008), have questioned our writings on the role of webbased taxonomy in modern biodiversity science. We reply briefly here and argue that the commentaries misunderstand and misinterpret what we have written, something for which we must clearly take part of the blame. de Carvalho et al. (2007) suggest that we believe that the problems in modern taxonomy are ‘‘mostly due to the lack of an adequate cyberstructure to disseminate its much needed products’’; that professional taxonomists have ‘‘grown accustomed to being labelled not only as mere ‘service providers’ for the biological sciences, but ones that are becoming irrelevant due to obsolescence’’. Our writing and that of others ‘‘reveals a traditional misunderstanding that regularly emanates from the more ‘applied’ side of biology’’, an ‘‘‘end-user’ attitude’’, unaware that taxa ‘‘are not mere end-products—they are hypotheses of relationships’’, we are ‘‘not familiar with the complexity of [taxonomy’s] hypotheses and identity as a real, successful and independent science’’. de Carvalho et al. (2008) talk about a ‘‘‘taxonomic witch hunt’’’; a ‘‘concerted directive to discredit ‘traditional’ or ‘established’ systematics’’’, and ‘‘trivialising taxonomy’’. We have explored the possibility of ‘unitary taxonomies’; single web sites that would contain the taxonomy of a substantial group of plants or animals. The idea is to create a ‘first web revision’ that would include all the taxon hypotheses concerning the group, including alternative hypotheses. Within the site further taxonomic hypotheses would be advanced, discussed and tested. The site would be run by taxonomists and its working methods would essentially be identical to that of current taxonomy but adapted for the web. It would also look outward, providing a consensus taxonomy for end-users unwilling to navigate the complexities of the alternative hypotheses that are the grist of modern taxonomy. The consensus would evolve and change as the evidence base grows. The site would be constructed to allow all biologists to contribute information about different taxa, but this ‘‘wiki’’ element would be separate from the refereed, moderated core. The site would link to specimen, molecular and biodiversity resources, and incorporate modern digital information management to the full (machine readability, unique digital identifiers, etc.). Our aim here is not to defend this specific proposal and indeed have stated ‘‘we do not claim that the model of Web-based, unitary taxonomy that we have described above is the only way to proceed’’ (Godfray et al. 2007). But we do vigorously rebut the notion that such ideas are an attack on the Linnaean tradition. Let us address some specific criticisms.

MODELING WEB NAVIGATION USING GRAMMATICAL INFERENCE

In this article, a method that models user navigation on the web, as opposed to a single website, is presented, aiming to assist the user by recommending pages. User modeling is done through data mining of web usage logs, resulting in aggregate, rather than personal models. The proposed approach extends grammatical inference methods by introducing an extra merging criterion, which examines the semantic similarity of automaton states. The experimental results showed that the method does indeed facilitate the modeling of web navigation, which was not possible with the existing web usage mining methods. However, a content-based recommendation model is shown to still outperform the proposed method, which suggests that the knowledge of the navigation sequence does not contribute to the recommendation process. This is due to the thematic cohesion of navigation sessions, in comparison to the large thematic diversity of web usage data. Among three variants of the proposed method, the one based on Blue Fringe, that examines a larger space of possible merges, performs better.

Learning From the Pros: Influence of Web‐Based Expert Commentary on Vicarious Learning About Financial Markets*

ABSTRACTWeb‐based financial commentary, in which experts routinely express market‐related thought processes, is proposed as a means for college students to learn vicariously about financial markets. Undergraduate business school students from a regional university were exposed to expert market commentary from a single financial Web site for a 6‐week period. When compared to a control group, students in the experimental group were found to possess higher levels of financial market awareness. Degree of engagement, as approximated by measures of project exposure time and effort, was significantly related to market awareness. Finance majors were found to be more engaged in the process than nonfinance majors. Although this study should be considered exploratory in nature, findings support the notion of using Web‐based vicarious learning processes in financial education. Future research can extend the generalizability of these findings, as well as shape vicarious learning mechanisms for use across business disciplines.

Development of a Drug Information Webography and Push Notification Service

Information stored on the Internet is not organized, monitored, or structured. Imparting the skills necessary to retrieve information from the Internet to trainees and novice health care professionals can therefore be challenging. A drug information webography and push notification process of featured Web site content were created by a drug information center to identify Web sites of interest to pharmacy practitioners, maintain a current listing of Web sites with medication-related information, and develop pharmacy students' abilities to formally assess Web site quality. Students evaluate Web site content for potential applications to pharmacy practice, as well as navigability and quality, utilizing a structured approach. Narrative commentaries are then prepared, and features of each site are formally demonstrated. A single Web site is then featured on the center's Web site each week, with subsequent integration into a drug information webography. An announcement of each week's posting is made via push notification service. The webography is utilized by students and practitioners alike to locate drug information efficiently on the Internet.

The Value of Web Log Data in Use-Based Design and Testing

Web-based logs contain potentially useful empirical data with which World Wide Web (Web) designers and design theorists can assess usability and effectiveness of design choices. Most Web design guidelines from artistic or usability principles feature no empirical validation, while empirical studies of Web use typically rely on observer ratings. Web server logs and client-side logs can provide naturally-occurring, unobtrusive usage data, partially amenable to normative use assessments but particularly useful in experimental research comparing alternative Web designs. Identification of types of Web server logs, client logs, types and uses of log data, and issues associated with the validity of these data are enumerated. Frameworks that outline how sources of use-based data can be triangulated to assess Web design are illustrated. Finally, an approach to experimentation that overcomes many data validity issues is presented and illustrated through a pilot experiment that used server logs to compare user responses to frames, pop-up, and scrolling arrangements of a single Web site.

Identification of the Unidentified Deceased and Locating Next of Kin

Medical examiner and coroner offices may face difficulties in trying to achieve identification of deceased persons who are unidentified or in locating next of kin for deceased persons who have been identified. The Fulton County medical examiner (FCME) has an office web site which includes information about unidentified decedents and cases for which next of kin are being sought. Information about unidentified deceased and cases in need of next of kin has been posted on the FCME web site for 3 years and 1 year, respectively. FCME investigators and staff medical examiners were surveyed about the web site's usefulness for making identifications and locating next of kin. No cases were recalled in which the web site led to making an identification. Two cases were reported in which next of kin were located, and another case involved a missing person being ruled out as one of the decedents. The web site page is visited by agencies interested in missing and unidentified persons, and employees do find it useful for follow-up because information about all unidentified decedents is located and easily accessible, electronically, in a single location. Despite low yield in making identifications and locating next of kin, the UID web site is useful in some respects, and there is no compelling reason to discontinue its existence. It is proposed that UID pages on office web sites be divided into "hot" (less than 30 days, for example) and "warm" (31 days to 1 year, for example) cases and that cases older than a year be designated as "cold cases." It is conceivable that all unidentified deceased cases nationally could be placed on a single web site designed for such purposes, to remain in public access until identity is established and confirmed.

The Cypriot and Iranian National Mutation Frequency Databases

The National Mutation Frequency Databases are continuously updated mutation depositories, which contain extensive information over the described genetic heterogeneity of an ethnic group or population. Here, we report the construction of the Cypriot (http://www.goldenhelix.org/cypriot) and Iranian National Mutation Frequency Databases (http://www.goldenhelix.org/iranian), both derived from an academic effort to provide high quality and up-to-date information on the underlying genetic heterogeneity of inherited disorders in the Cypriot and Iranian populations, respectively. Both databases have been built and maintained online using ETHNOS platform, a specialized software, which provides the means for national mutation database construction and curation. Each database contains brief summaries of the various genetic disorders studied for each population, and an easy-to-use query interface provides, both to specialist as well as to non-specialist users (i.e. patients and their families), instant access to the list and frequencies of the different mutations responsible for the inherited disorders in these populations. Furthermore, numerous links to the respective Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) entries and, when available, to the locus-specific databases fruitfully integrate the databases content into a single Web site. Both databases can serve as valuable online tools for molecular genetic testing of inherited disorders in these populations and could potentially motivate further investigations of yet unknown genetic diseases in the Cypriot and Iranian populations.

Aggregating distributed digital collections in the Mountain West Digital Library with the CONTENTdmTM multi‐site server

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the creation of the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL), a cooperative regional program distributed throughout Utah and Nevada. Its metadata are aggregated at a single web site. Six digitization centers at the largest universities in both states digitize their own collections and support partner institutions in their geographic regions. Each center runs a CONTENTdm server, and an aggregating server at the University of Utah harvests metadata into a single searchable index. Local control and identity of collections are hallmarks of the MWDL.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes the technical structure of the MWDL, focusing on the multi‐site server aggregating software from DiMeMa Inc.FindingsThe MWDL was the first cooperative digital project to implement this software, and inspired the same infrastructure for a nine‐state project known as the Western Waters Digital Library. In 2005 the MWDL will also become the first in the nation to aggregate distributed digital newspaper collections.Practical implicationsDescribes the creation and aggregation of a distributed regional digital library with digital asset management software that is already in use at over 200 institutions in the US. The solutions implemented in the MWDL offer a mechanism for large and small institutions to work together in a cost‐effective manner.Originality/valueExamines the benefits and problems associated with creating a regional digital library.

Hellenic National Mutation Database: a prototype database for mutations leading to inherited disorders in the Hellenic population

The exponential discovery rate of new genomic alterations, leading to inherited disorders, as well as the need for comparative studies of different population's mutation frequencies necessitates recording their population-wide spectrum in online mutation databases. We report the construction of the Hellenic National Mutation database (http://www.goldenhelix.org/hellenic), a prototype database derived from a multicenter academic initiative, aiming to provide high quality and up-to-date information on the underlying genetic heterogeneity of inherited disorders found in the Hellenic population. Database records include informative summaries of the various genetic disorders studied in the Hellenic population, focused in particular on their incidence in Greece, a comprehensive reference list, and a well-structured query interface, which provides easy access to the list of the different mutations responsible for the inherited disorders in the Hellenic population. Also, extensive links to the respective Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) entries and, when available, to the locus-specific databases are provided, so that the user can retrieve the maximum amount of information from a single website. Furthermore, the Hellenic National Mutation database design allows easy data entry and curation. Creation of the Hellenic National Mutation database will significantly facilitate molecular diagnosis of inherited disorders in Greece and will motivate further investigation of yet unknown genetic diseases in the Hellenic population.

Regulations.gov federal regulatory portal

The Regulations.gov Online Rulemaking Project is 1 of the 24 e-Government Initiatives on the President's Management Agenda (PMA), which was announced by the White House in 2001. The Regulations.gov Web site is the central electronic rulemaking portal for the federal government. Through a single Web site, citizens can search, view, and comment on hundreds of federal regulations from approximately 160 federal agencies. Regulations.gov is the result of a collaborative effort by a number of federal agencies.

Do the Web sites of higher rated scholars have significantly more online impact?

AbstractThe quality and impact of academic Web sites is of interest to many audiences, including the scholars who use them and Web educators who need to identify best practice. Several large‐scale European Union research projects have been funded to build new indicators for online scientific activity, reflecting recognition of the importance of the Web for scholarly communication. In this paper we address the key question of whether higher rated scholars produce higher impact Web sites, using the United Kingdom as a case study and measuring scholars' quality in terms of university‐wide average research ratings. Methodological issues concerning the measurement of the online impact are discussed, leading to the adoption of counts of links to a university's constituent single domain Web sites from an aggregated counting metric. The findings suggest that universities with higher rated scholars produce significantly more Web content but with a similar average online impact. Higher rated scholars therefore attract more total links from their peers, but only by being more prolific, refuting earlier suggestions. It can be surmised that general Web publications are very different from scholarly journal articles and conference papers, for which scholarly quality does associate with citation impact. This has important implications for the construction of new Web indicators, for example that online impact should not be used to assess the quality of small groups of scholars, even within a single discipline.

The use of web structure and content to identify subjectively interesting web usage patterns

The discipline of Web Usage Mining has grown rapidly in the past few years, despite the crash of the e-commerce boom of the late 1990s. Web Usage Mining is the application of data mining techniques to Web clickstream data in order to extract usage patterns. Yet, with all of the resources put into the problem, claims of success have been limited and are often tied to specific Web site properties that are not found in general. One reason for the limited success has been a component of Web Usage Mining that is often overlooked---the need to understand the content and structure of a Web site. The processing and quantification of a Web sites content and structure for all but completely static and single frame Web sites is arguably one of the most difficult tasks to automate in the Web Usage Mining process. This article shows that, not only is the Web Usage Mining process enhanced by content and structure, it cannot be completed without it. The results of experiments run on data from a large e-commerce site are presented to show that proper preprocessing cannot be completed without the use of Web site content and structure, and that the effectiveness of pattern analysis is greatly enhanced.

Still Moving Toward a Paperless Environment

With war in Iraq now in progress, all other concerns seem trivial. Nevertheless, CSHP and its Journal have several significant financial decisions to make in the coming years, and I would like to share with you some of the considerations that will go into these decisions. About 4 years ago, Harold Varmus, then director of the US National Institutes of Health, proposed that “E-biomed” be developed as a single Web site that would accept papers in every area of biomedicine and provide free access to the full text to all readers. 1 This

Baulückenmanagement (BLM) Berlin


 
 
 Under the heading “Infill Management”, Berlin now details inner-city building land on the Internet. Since July 2002, information on over 800 publicly and privately owned development sites, covering a total of some 200 hectares, has been available worldwide in interactive form at one single website. A project group set up at the Senate Department of Urban Development has taken on responsibility for the organisational, legal and technical groundwork and for implementing this instrument — referred to as “BLM” (Baulückenmanagement). What has become apparent is that viable solutions are possible, even within a complex administrative structure, if the focus is placed on achieving win-win solutions. In order to ensure that BLM continues in the future to find acceptance among users, it needs to be subjected to continuous evaluation. Moreover, everyone involved in this procedure must receive the necessary training. At a time of a general falling-off in demand for apartment-block construction, the underlying intention is to increase market transparency and to raise interest in Berlin as a place to locate to. An additional purpose of this approach is to support the sale of publicly owned real estate. The cadastral register of building land — introduced in 1998 in the Federal Building Code as an instrument of planning — represents one component of the inner-city development strategy currently being pursued in Berlin. The effective management of building land can, however, only be achieved by joining up housing, business, land and financial policies.
 
 
 
 
 

An Enhanced Transaction Identification Module on Web Usage Mining

Web data mining is a process which transforms unorganized or less-structured data on the World Wide Web into useful information. Web usage mining, one kind of Web data mining, focuses on exploring users' browsing pattern on a single Website from Web access data restored in the Web server. Web usage mining in general consists of three steps: (1) clean/filter the Web access data. (2) convert the Web access data into a set of transactions by deploying transaction identification modules, and (3) explore the relationship of interest in the converted transactions using data mining techniques. The quality of the relationship being discovered from the transaction set largely depends upon the data conversion process as information might be lost during data conversion, and effective transaction identification modules arc thus necessary. In this study, we propose an enhanced transaction identification module. The simulation results show the effectiveness of our proposed method compared with the early studies.

Will E-business Shape the Future of Open and Distance Learning?

This article explores the impact that e-business is likely to have on the provision of open and distance learning (ODL). It argues the likelihood of a major growth in the use of distance education, and the emergence of global consortia, possibly built around disaggregated value chains, that will create one or more global virtual universities. It suggests the technological developments that will underpin this process, the nature of the value-net-based relationships between institutions engaged in consortia, and the qualities of the Web that are impacting on ODL. It discusses such issues as the development of new e-learning pricing models; the use of Web advertising to generate income; the importance of scale and the concomitant pressure for institutional mergers and alliances; and the impact of e-commerce practices on administrative processes. The article suggests the emergence of hubs that bundle services customers want onto a single website, and the pressure for institutions to become 'sticky' in order to secure customer loyalty. Design strategies to ensure 'stickiness' are suggested. Existing ODL providers will need to address the challenges posed by e-business practice if they are to compete.