they actually work in reality. In this thesis, we evaluate XML standards when using for actual applications, and propose a set of hypotheses concluding both advantages and challenges of using XML in real applications. We verify our hypotheses through a case study on a civil engineering application, and also

We describe a new scalable application-layer multicast protocol, specifically designed for low-bandwidth, data streaming applications with large receiver sets. Our scheme is based upon a hierarchical clustering of the application-layer multicast peers and can support a number of different data

This paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field concerned with the design and use of ontologies. We observe that disparate backgrounds, languages, tools, and techniques are a major barrier to effective communication among people, organisations, and/or software systems. We show how the development and implementation of an explicit account of a shared understanding (i.e. an `ontology') in a given subject area, can improve such communication, which in turn, can give rise to greater reuse and sharing, inter-operability, and more reliable software. After motivating their need, we clarify just what ontologies are and what purposes they serve. We outline a methodology for developing and evaluating ontologies, first discussing informal techniques, concerning such issues as scoping, handling ambiguity, reaching agreement and producing de nitions. We then consider the bene ts of and describe, a more formal approach. We re-visit the scoping phase, and discuss the role of formal languages and techniques in the specification, implementation and evaluation of ontologies. Finally, we review the state of the art and practice in this emerging field,

We describe a platform for context-aware computing which enables applications to follow mobile users as they move around a building. The platform is particularly suitable for richly equipped, networked environments. The only item a user is required to carry is a small sensor tag, which identifies

techniques which can be used to verify the correctness of workflow procedures. This paper introduces workflow management as an application domain for Petri nets, presents state-of-the-art results with respect to the verification of workflows, and highlights some Petri-net-based workflow tools.

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Context-enabled applications are just emerging and promise richer interaction by taking environmental context into account. However, they are difficult to build due to their distributed nature and the use of unconventional sensors. The concepts of toolkits and widget libraries in graphical user

We present a new and more symmetric version of the circumscription method of nonmonotonic reasoning first described in (McCarthy 1980) and some applications to formalizing common sense knowledge. The applications in this paper are mostly based on minimizing the abnormality of different aspects

We investigate the application of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) in computer vision. SVM is a learning technique developed by V. Vapnik and his team (AT&T Bell Labs.) that can be seen as a new method for training polynomial, neural network, or Radial Basis Functions classifiers. The decision

Image registration finds a variety of applications in computer vision. Unfortunately, traditional image registration techniques tend to be costly. We present a new image registration technique that makes use of the spatial intensity gradient of the images to find a good match using a type of Newton