Joseph Fong

Converting relational database into XML document

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) has emerged and is gradually being accepted as the standard for data interchange in the Internet world. XML databases are packaged by the key relational database vendors in the market as the extender or cartridge to the relational database management system. Interoperation of relational database and XML database involves schema and data translations. The paper provides a methodology of translating the conceptual schema of a relational database into XML schema through EER (extended entity relationship) model. Physical data are then translated from relational table to XML document. The semantics of the relational database, captured in EER diagram, are mapped to XML schema using stepwise procedures. The physical data are then mapped to an XML document under the definitions of the XML schema.

Converting relational to object-oriented databases

As object-oriented model becomes the trend of database technology, there is a need to convert relational to object-oriented database system to improve productivity and flexibility. The changeover includes schema translation, data conversion and program conversion. This paper describes a methodology for integrating schema translation and data conversion. Schema translation involves semantic reconstruction and the mapping of relational schema into object-oriented schema. Data conversion involves unloading tuples of relations into sequential files and reloading them into object-oriented classes files. The methodology preserves the constraints of the relational database by mapping the equivalent data dependencies.

Hybrid Learning and Education

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Hybrid Learning, ICHL 2008, held in Hong Kong, China, in August 2008. The 38 revised full papers presented together with 3 keynote lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 142 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on hybrid education, model and pedagogies for hybrid learning, trends, pervasive learning, mobile and ubiquitous learning, hybrid learning experiences, hybrid learning systems, technologies, as well as contextual attitude and cultural effects.

Converting relational database into XML documents with DOM

Abstract The revolution of XML is recognized as the trend of technology on the Internet to researchers as well as practitioners. Companies need to adopt XML technology. With investment in the current relational database systems, they want to develop new XML documents while running existing relational databases on production. They need to reengineer the relational databases into XML documents with constraints preservation. In the process, schema translation must be done before data conversion. Since the existing relational databases are usually normalized, they have to be reconstructed into XML document tree structures. This can be accomplished through denormalization by joining the normalized relations into tables according to their data dependencies constraints. The joined tables are mapped into DOMs, which are then integrated into XML document trees. The user specifies an XML document root with its relevant nodes to form a partitioned XML document tree to meet their requirements. The selected XML document tree is mapped into an XML schema in the form of DTD. We then load joined tables into DOMs, integrate them into a DOM, and transform it into an XML document.

Advances in Web-Based Learning - ICWL 2003

The last decade has seen a phenomenal growth in the use of the Web in university education, with various factors influencing the adoption of Webbased technology. The reduction of government funding in the higher education sector has forced universities to seek technological solutions to provide courses for a growing and increasingly diverse and distributed student population [13,14]. Another impetus has been a shift in focus from teacher-centred to learner-centred education, encouraging educators to provide courses which enable students to manage their own learning [6]. In this paper we discuss challenges associated with the design and provision of Web-based learning environments that are truly student-centred. We draw on interview and questionnaire data from an evaluation study to raise issues surrounding the provision of online environments that meet learners’ needs. We discuss the challenges of catering for the needs of different learners and the challenges associated with helping students to make the transition into new online learning environments.

The XML Tree Model - toward an XML conceptual schema reversed from XML Schema Definition

XML Schema Definition (XSD) is the logical schemas of an XML model, but there is no standard format for the conceptual schema of an XML model. Therefore, we propose an XML Tree Model (XTM) as an XML conceptual schema for representing data semantics in a diagram, and also as an XML data model validator for confirming the data semantics required by users. An XTM consists of hierarchical nodes representing all the elements, and the data relationships among elements within the XSD. A rule-based algorithm and an information capacity with pre- and post-conditions are developed as the methodology for reverse engineering. The proposed algorithm consists of two rules: General Information Transformation and Data Semantic Recovering to construct an XTM. Users can draw an XTM with data relationships among elements as a result of the reverse engineering.

Translating relational schema into XML schema definition with data semantic preservation and XSD graph

Many legacy systems have been created by using relational database operating not for the Internet expression. Since the relational database is not an efficient way for data explosion, electronic transfer of data, and electronic business on the Web, we introduce a methodology in which a relational schema will be translated to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema definition for creating an XML database that is a simple and efficient format on the Web. We apply the Indirect Schema Translation Method that is a semantic-based methodology in this project. The mechanism is that the Relational Schema will be translated into the conceptual model, an Extended Entity Relationship (EER) Model using Reverse Engineering. Afterward, the EER model will be mapped to an XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) Graph as an XML conceptual schema using Semantic Transformation. Finally, the XSD Graph will be mapped into the XSD as an XML logical schema in the process of Forward Engineering, and the data semantics of participation, cardinality, generalization, aggregation, categorization, N-ary and U-ary relationship are preserved in the translated XML schema definition.

Handbook of Research on Hybrid Learning Models: Advanced Tools, Technologies, and Applications

The Handbook of Research on Hybrid Learning Models: Advanced Tools, Technologies, and Applications collects emerging research and pedagogies related to the convergence of teaching and learning methods. This significant resource provides access to the latest knowledge related to hybrid learning, discovered and written by an international gathering of e-learning experts.

Continuous and incremental data mining association rules using frame metadata model

Most organizations have large databases that contain a wealth of potentially accessible information. The unlimited growth of data will inevitably lead to a situation in which it is increasingly difficult to access the desired information. There is a need to extract knowledge from data by knowledge discovery in database (KDD). Data mining is the discovery stage of KDD whereas association rule is a possible product. It states a statistical correlation between the occurrence of certain attributes in a database table. Such correlation is continuously changing subject to the new updates in the source database. Data mining association rules are often done by computing the association rules for the whole source database. In this paper, we introduce a frame metadata model to facilitate the continuous association rules generation in data mining. A new set of association rules can be derived with the update of the source databases by the data operation function in the frame metadata model. The frame metadata model consists of two types of classes: static classes and active classes. The active classes are event driven, obtaining data from the database when invoked by a certain event. The static classes describe data of the association rule table. Whenever an update occurs in the existing base relations, a corresponding update will be invoked by an event attribute in the method class which will compute the association rules continuously. The result is an active data mining capable of deriving association rules of a source database continuously or incrementally using frame metadata model.

Facebook - education with social networking websites for teaching and learning

This paper is a study of using social networking websites, in particularly Facebook, for conducting courses as a replacement of expensive traditional electronic learning platforms. At the early stage of the Internet community, Internet users used electronic mail as the main communication mean. Although email is still the core way of communication in a convenient but off-line mode, other facilities were introduced, such as many Instant Messaging (IM) software applications like I-Seek-You (ICQ) and MSN, which enable people to communicate in a real-time mode. However, the communication between people was further enhanced to the next stage, when Facebook came to existence as a social networking website that supports many features. People do not only communicate with others, but also organize all kinds of interactions among them. Facebook provides rich features for organizing relationships. The framework of Facebook actually provides free of charge software that were provided by traditional electronic learning. This paper studies how people use Facebook for teaching and learning, together with recommendations provided.