John Tsaknakis

From application service provision to service-oriented computing: A study of the IT outsourcing evolution

Abstract IT outsourcing is not a new concept. Originating from the early 60’s in the form of time sharing, IT outsourcing has evolved to the application service provision (ASP) model, in the late 90’s to pure services in the beginning of the century. Services, and their major representative web services, are actually the next phase of the movement toward Internet-based componentized software, known in the not so distant past as ASP. As the continuous expansion of the Internet and its relating technologies creates new marketing opportunities, traditional monolithic architectures are giving way to service-oriented computing (SOC), the architecture that enables service provision. SOC permits the utilization of large systems which are comprised of self-containing building blocks: services. Services may be made public, searched, reused and combined to form complex business processes while in the same time retaining a significant level of flexibility. Services and SOC have emerged as a response to a fundamental shift in enterprise business culture that started at the late 90’s. Although they are promising as an IT outsourcing enabler, many issues need to be dealt with before they can be considered suitable for wide adoption. These issues are of technological, business, economic and cultural nature and they were also faced by ASPs in the past. It is worth revisiting the successes and failures of the ASP model in order to get a better understanding of the evolving IT outsourcing industry. In this work, we describe the evolution of service provision from its initial form as software application, through the application service provision era and towards the new trend of web services.

Population-specific documentation of pharmacogenomic markers and their allelic frequencies in FINDbase

AIMS Population and ethnic group-specific allele frequencies of pharmacogenomic markers are poorly documented and not systematically collected in structured data repositories. We developed the Frequency of Inherited Disorders Pharmacogenomics database (FINDbase-PGx), a separate module of the FINDbase, aiming to systematically document pharmacogenomic allele frequencies in various populations and ethnic groups worldwide. MATERIALS & METHODS We critically collected and curated 214 scientific articles reporting pharmacogenomic markers allele frequencies in various populations and ethnic groups worldwide. Subsequently, in order to host the curated data, support data visualization and data mining, we developed a website application, utilizing Microsoft™ PivotViewer software. RESULTS Curated allelic frequency data pertaining to 144 pharmacogenomic markers across 14 genes, representing approximately 87,000 individuals from 150 populations worldwide, are currently included in FINDbase-PGx. A user-friendly query interface allows for easy data querying, based on numerous content criteria, such as population, ethnic group, geographical region, gene, drug and rare allele frequency. CONCLUSION FINDbase-PGx is a comprehensive database, which, unlike other pharmacogenomic knowledgebases, fulfills the much needed requirement to systematically document pharmacogenomic allelic frequencies in various populations and ethnic groups worldwide.

Developments in FINDbase worldwide database for clinically relevant genomic variation allele frequencies

FINDbase (http://www.findbase.org) aims to document frequencies of clinically relevant genomic variations, namely causative mutations and pharmacogenomic markers, worldwide. Each database record includes the population, ethnic group or geographical region, the disorder name and the related gene, accompanied by links to any related databases and the genetic variation together with its frequency in that population. Here, we report, in addition to the regular data content updates, significant developments in FINDbase, related to data visualization and querying, data submission, interrelation with other resources and a new module for genetic disease summaries. In particular, (i) we have developed new data visualization tools that facilitate data querying and comparison among different populations, (ii) we have generated a new FINDbase module, built around Microsoft’s PivotViewer (http://www.getpivot.com) software, based on Microsoft Silverlight technology (http://www.silverlight.net), that includes 259 genetic disease summaries from five populations, systematically collected from the literature representing the documented genetic makeup of these populations and (iii) the implementation of a generic data submission tool for every module currently available in FINDbase.

Efficient web-based open and distance learning services

Abstract In this paper, we present data management issues faced during the design and development of an open distance learning system for the University of Patras, Greece. In order to handle data efficiently, as required in a web tele-training application, for each type of information maintained, different strategies must be deployed according to their behaviour and structure. The diversity and complexity of data, the network aspect of the application and web deficiencies impose an architecture design incorporating a plethora of technologies and tools that must be integrated in such a fashion that they efficiently organise these data preserving their relationships. This presents a software engineering challenge requiring coherence of solutions at all levels: structures, consistency, security, models, and protocols. The paper presents the data components of an open and distance learning (ODL) system that access the information stored in a database and the file system, their underlying technology, their interaction with the network services, and features regarding the ways they address issues faced in an open vendor-independent distance learning environment and outlines the systems overall architecture. In addition, this paper presents the architecture, the design and the services of a network-based information system that supports open and distance learning activities. The open and distance learning information system (ODLIS) offers synchronous and asynchronous distance learning and management of information system (MIS) services to support the educational procedure. The ODLIS is a web-based application, which runs over the Internet using real time protocols.

Registration and Fusion Techniques for Medical Images: Demonstration and Evaluation

In this work, we present an integrated system for the registration and fusion of medical images, named «dIaGnosis». It is often necessary to align medical images to illustrate the changes between the data retrieved at different times so as to assess the progress of a disease, or to assess the effectiveness of a treatment. The proposed system supports the storage, retrieval, distribution and presentation of medical images from different modalities, such as CT and MRI, in DICOM format. It also supports multiple examinations per patient and uses parallel processing threads to perform the processing of the acquired three-dimensional (3D) images in almost real time. In this paper, the architecture and the working environment of the implemented system are presented in detail, along with a pilot scenario that demonstrates the system in use. Additionally, the registration and fusion algorithms implemented are presented and evaluated, along with the image processing techniques used for the enhancement of medical images. The contribution of the proposed work is multilayered. It provides automatic matching methods based on both segmented surfaces and on different levels of gray, and it improves the alignment process when there is a relative movement and / or distortion of images in the data collected from different imaging systems.

2-D Spatial Indexing Scheme in Optimal Time

We consider the 2-dimensional space with integer coordinates in the range [1, N] × [1, N]. We present the MPST (Modified Priority Search Tree) index structure which reports the k points that lie inside the quadrant query range (- ¥, b) × (- ¥, c) in optimal O(k) time. Our Index Scheme is simple, fast and it can be used in various geometric or spatial applications such as: (1) 2 D dominance reporting on a grid (2) 2D maximal elements on a grid. Then, based on structures of Gabow et al. [6] and Beam and Fich [31] we describe an index scheme, which handles in an efficient way window queries in spatial database applications. In the general case in which the plane has real coordinates the above time results are slowed down by adding a logarithmic factor due to the normalization technique.

Towards an era of epidemiological databases for autoimmune diseases

Nowadays, autoimmune diseases are among the leading causes of death for a remarkable number of patients all around the world. Recent studies have witnessed that the epidemiological indices for a specific disease can vary according to ethnic and geographical parameters. As a result, the genetic epidemiology of autoimmune diseases is a major matter of study for the worldwide scientific community. We have previously reported the development of dAUTObase (www.dAUTObase.org), a database recording solely epidemiological data of autoimmune diseases in various populations around the globe. Here, we present an important upgrade of the dAUTObase system focused on the development of new data visualization tools oriented to further assist the effective data querying and the mining process.

Towards a Domain-Specific Conceptual Modeling Approach of Open Source CMS

Staying tuned to the trends in a certain domain has extremely dynamic and potential applications in many areas. For example, business analysts need to know the current solutions used for attracting customers in order to decide on the most appropriate marketing strategy. Meanwhile, a respectable number of organizations today exploit their online presence to boost their profits. Particularly, they utilize Content Management Systems (CMS) as the core system to support their Web Applications (WAs) thanks to their efficiency for managing digital content. In this context, having the ability to discover commonly reusable patterns can be a valuable tool in the domain-specific development process. To this end, we propose a model-driven approach for modeling WAs developed using the Joomla! CMS utilizing reverse engineering (RE) and clustering techniques. When applied to a large number of applications, it enables hypertext architects to identify patterns and discover design solutions for WAs frameworks per topic.