This paper argues that the research on semistructured data is receiving a new set of challenges with the advent of XML (Extensible Mark-up Language [Bos97, Con98]). This is a new standard approved by the World Wide Web Consortium that many believe will become the de facto data exchange format for the Web. XML supports the electronic exchange of machine-readable data (while HTML is designed primarily for human-readable documents). XML data shares many features of semistructured data: its structure can be irregular, is not always known ahead of time, and may change frequently and without notice. On the other hand it is easy to convert data from any source into XML which will make it attractive for organizations to "publish" their information sources in XML, and thus make them available to other XML applications on the Web. For XML applications to reach their full potential however, we need to build the right tools to process data in this new format. Existing Web tools (browsers, search engines) are oriented toward document operations . For XML we need database operations , like data extraction, data integration, data translation, data storage. The research done so far on semistructured data may offer some solutions to the database problems posed by XML. For example the recently proposed query language for XML, called XML-QL [DFF

Abstract. This paper describes general storage and retrieval methods for XML documents using object-relational databases. The storage method decomposes tree structure of XML documents into nodes, and stores them in relational tables according to the node types. By using this method, being independent of DTDs or element types, any XML documents can be stored in databases. Also it is possible to utilize index structures(e.g. B + trees, R trees, etc.) which are provided in database management systems. As for retrieval, we show the transformation of XQL queries into SQL queries. It is possible to realize the storage method by doing minimal extension to object-relational databases and the retrieval method by adding a preprocessor of a query language. We also performed experiments using XML documents on the plays of Shakespeare, to show the effectiveness of our methods. 1

The World Wide Web Consortium recommends both XSLT and XQuery as query languages for XML documents. XSLT, originally designed to transform XML into HTML, is nowadays a fully grown XML query language that is mostly suited for use by machines. XQuery on the other hand was particularly designed to be easily used by humans. Since both query languages receive a steady growth in user acceptance, it is important and natural to ask about their expressive power. We show here that both XSLT and XQuery are Turing-complete by reduction to µ-recursive functions. Keywords: XML, XSLT, XQuery, Turing-completeness 1

Abstract. This paper introduces a Semiotic Appoach to Hypertext Theory. Having been applied to Informatics only in recent years, Semiotics promises a broader understanding of Hypertext as a structure of signs. The rapid visualization of the World Wide Web seems to justify this approach. Using the methodology of applied Semiotics and Graph Theory, the author analyses the challenges and restrictions of Hypertexts in general and the WWW in particular. 1

. This paper emphasizes the interest of XML meta-language for corporate knowledge management. Taking into account the advantages of the World Wide Web and of ontologies for knowledge management, we present OSIRIX, a tool enabling enterprise-ontology- guided search in XML documents that may consitute a part of a corporate memory. Keywords: XML, World Wide Web, knowledge management, document-based corporate memory, enterprise ontology, information retrieval. 1 Introduction Extending the definitions proposed by [28] [20], we consider a corporate memory as an explicit, disembodied, persistent representation of knowledge and information in an organization, in order to facilitate its access and reuse by members of the organization, for their tasks. We consider its building as relying on the following steps [11]: (1) Detection of needs in corporate memory, (2) Construction of the corporate memory, (3) Diffusion of the corporate memory, (4) Use of the corporate memory, (5) Evaluation of...

We investigated the use of XML, eXtensible Mark-up Language, as a way to represent software architecture models described with an Architectural Description Language (ADL). We believe XML provides a flexible and extensible framework highly suited to ADLs. Also, its adoption imparts many advantages that the ADL community can enlist to fulfil the responsibilities ADLs may soon be called to provide the industrial sector. Introduction The body of current ADL research contains a variety of dialects and implementations [LKA+95, AG97, Zel96, GMW97]. Most of the ADLs are focused within a particular research area and feature a corresponding set of capabilities. The advantages of a maturing ADL technology are increasingly sought after in the industrial sectors. Accordingly, we believe industrial adoption of ADLs will grow [Gar95]. Accompanying the increase in use will be an increase in the importance of software system architecture models within the enterprise. This increase in importance will ...

Software agents help automate a variety of tasks including those involved in buying and selling products over the Internet. This paper surveys several of these agentmediated electronic commerce systems by describing their roles in the context of a Consumer Buying Behavior (CBB) model. The CBB model we present augments traditional marketing models with concepts from Software Agents research to accommodate electronic markets. We then discuss the variety of Artificial Intelligence techniques that support agent mediation and conclude with future

Semi-structured data, including but not limited to structured documents, has speci#c characteristics and is used in ways di#erent to tabular data. SGML and XML are widely used to represent information of this type. The demands on systems that manage semi-structured data vary from those on traditional relational systems. This paper reviews the nature and characteristics of semi-structured data, and the functional needs of those applications, including query requirements, document description, manipulation, and document management needs. It examines alternative physical models for semi-structured data, and evaluates and compares alternative system architectures.

The most remarkable trends in communication have been the huge popularity of Internet and the growth of digital cellular telephony usage. There is a strong demand to combine these two in the form of mobile Internet access. This paper discusses the service implementation issues for the wireless environment. The requirements placed on the services and service development by the mobility are presented, and the usage of the next generation, XML based modeling languages in the wireless services is analyzed. The results are based on the experiments gained from the implementation of three demonstration services. Keywords: XML, XSL, SMIL, DOM, ECMAScript, mobile multimedia. 1.

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