Abstract. The Web is moving from being a collection of pages toward a collection of services that interoperate through the Internet. The first step toward this interoperation is the location of other services that can help toward the solution of a problem. In this paper we claim that location of web services should be based on the semantic match between a declarative description of the service being sought, and a description of the service being offered. Furthermore, we claim that this match is outside the representation capabilities of registries such as UDDI and languages such as WSDL. We propose a solution based on DAML-S, a DAML-based language for service description, and we show how service capabilities are presented in the Profile section of a DAML-S description and how a semantic match between advertisements and requests is performed. 1 Introduction Web services provide a new model of the Web in which sites exchange dynamic information on demand. This change is especially important for the e-business community, because it provides an opportunity to conduct business faster and more efficiently. Indeed, the opportunity to manage supply chains dynamically to achieve the greatest advantage on the market is expected to create great value added and increase productivity. On the other hand, automatic management of supply chain opens new challenges: first, web services should locate other services that provide a solution to their problems, second, services should interoperate to compose complex services. In this paper we concentrate on the first problem: the location of web services on the basis of the capabilities that they provide. The solution of this problem requires a language to express the capabilities of services, and the specification of a matching algorithm between service advertisements and service requests that recognizes when a request matches an advertisement. We adopt DAML-S as service description language because it provides a semantically based view of of web services which spans from the abstract description of the capabilities of

Abstract. The web is moving from being a collection of pages toward a collection of services that interoperate through the Internet. A fundamental step toward this interoperation is the ability of automatically locating services on the bases of the functionalities that they provide. Such a functionality would allow services to locate each other and automatically interoperate. Location of web services is inherently a semantic problem, because it has to abstract from the superficial differences between representations of the services provided, and the services requested to recognize semantic similarities between the two. Current Web Services technology based on UDDI and WSDL does not make any use of semantic information and therefore fails to address the problem of matching between capabilities of services and allowing service location on the bases of what functionalities are sought, failing therefore to address the problem of locating web services. Nevertheless, previous work within DAML-S, a DAML-based language for service description, shows how ontological information collected through the semantic web can be used to match service capabilities. This work expands on previous work by showing how DAML-S Service Profiles, that describe service capabilities within DAML-S, can be mapped into UDDI records providing therefore a way to record semantic information within UDDI records. Furthermore we show how this encoded information can be used within the UDDI registry to perform semantic matching. 1

The purpose of this article is twofold, first to promote the use of patterns in the analysis phase of the software life-cycle by proposing an outline template for analysis patterns that strongly supports the whole analysis process from the requirements analysis to the analysis model and further on to its transformation into a flexible design. Second we present, as an example, a family of analysis patterns that deal with a series of pressing problems in cooperative work, collaborative information filtering and sharing, and knowledge management. We present the step-by-step evolution of the analysis pattern virtual library with active agents starting with a simple pinboard. In this paper we propose that using patterns in the analysis phase has the potential to reducing development time by introducing reuse already at the analysis stage and by improving the interface between analysis and design phase. To quantify our proposal we present results from the Virtual University project of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, where the analysis patterns developed in this paper were used to implement several information systems. 1 1

The challenge of publishing and discovering Web services has recently received lots of attention. Various solutions to this problem have been proposed which, apart from their offered advantages, suffer the following disadvantages: (i) most of them are syntactic-based, leading to poor precision and recall, (ii) they are not scalable to large numbers of services, and (iii) they are incompatible, thus yielding in cumbersome service publication and discovery. This article presents the principles, the functionality, and the design of PYRAMID-S which addresses these disadvantages by providing a scalable framework for unified publication and discovery of semantically enhanced services over heterogeneous registries. PYRAMID-S uses a hybrid peer-to-peer topology to organize Web service registries based on domains. In such a topology, each Registry retains its autonomy, meaning that it can use the publication and discovery mechanisms as well as the ontology of its choice. The viability of this approach is demonstrated through the implementation and experimental analysis of a prototype.

Supermarkets are considered by many researchers as the sole retail source of fruits and vegetables for consumer choice. There has been limited study of all types of food stores as potential opportunities for purchase of fresh and processed (canned and frozen) fruits and vegetables, especially in rural areas. In this paper, data from the Brazos Valley Food Environment Project (BVFEP) are combined with 2000 U.S. census data to examine neighborhood access to fruits and vegetables. BVFEP data include identification and geocoding of food stores in six rural counties in Texas, using ground-truthed methods and on-site assessment of the availability and variety of fresh and processed (canned, frozen, and 100% juice) fruits and vegetables in all food stores, using an observational survey. Specifically, two criteria of access – proximity and coverage – will be used to describe the potential access to a Nutrition-related chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and obesity, pose a tremendous economic and social burden to individuals, families, communities, and society. 1 Adequate consumption of nutritious foods, such as fruits and vegetables, is essential for overall good nutritional health, and the prevention and management of nutrition-related health conditions,

Statistical innovation produces new opportunities for advancement of knowledge and policy improvement. Twenty five years ago, a nineteenth century map and chart was cited as “the best statistical graphic ever drawn ” because it inspired the visual display of a relatively large amount of data in limited space. It tells a story. Today, modern information technology has ushered in a dynamic, online mapping and reporting tool called OnTheMap that can analyze and present an unprecedented amount of detailed data in a short span of time and space. The resulting maps and reports can tell many stories. OnTheMap is a product of a visionary idea at the U.S. Census Bureau and its partner states that a new, cost-effective, 21 st-century statistical system can be built by integrating existing administrative records with census and survey data. Properly integrated, this statistical system can be better than its individual parts. In turn, ensuring public availability of detailed statistics derived from this system has stimulated the development of state-of-the-art methods to protect confidentiality. In this regard, OnTheMap symbolizes continuing American ingenuity to innovate with new statistical data, methods, and dissemination tools. This work is unofficial and thus has not undergone the review accorded to official Census Bureau publications. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau. We wish to express gratitude to John Abowd, Nancy Gordon, Ron Jarmin, and Katherine Wallman for their helpful comments and edits. All remaining errors belong to the authors. * Jeremy S. Wu is an Assistant Division Chief in the Center for Economic Studies (CES) at the U.S. Census Bureau and is the Program Manager for the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program. He can be contacted at

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The purpose of this article is twofold, first to promote the use of patterns in the analysis phase of the software life-cycle by proposing an outline template for analysis patterns that strongly supports the whole analysis process from the requirements analysis to the analysis model and further on to its transformation into a flexible design. Second we present, as an example, a family of analysis patterns that deal with a series of pressing problems in cooperative work, collaborative information filtering and sharing, and knowledge management. We present the step-by-step evolution of the analysis pattern virtual library with active agents starting with a simple pinboard. In this paper we propose that using patterns in the analysis phase has the potential to reducing development time by introducing reuse already at the analysis stage and by improving the interface between analysis and design phase. To quantify our proposal we present results from the Virtual University project of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, where the analysis patterns developed in this paper were used to implement several information systems. 1 1

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