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XML and Web Services In The News - 22 June 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by BEA Systems, Inc.
HEADLINES:
Metadata Interoperability and Standardization -- A Study of Methodology, Part I, Achieving Interoperability at the Schema Level
Lois Mai Chan and Marcia Lei Zeng, D-Lib Magazine
The rapid growth of Internet resources and digital collections has been
accompanied by a proliferation of metadata schemas, each of which has
been designed based on the requirements of particular user communities,
intended users, types of materials, subject domains, project needs, etc.
This article contains an analysis of the methods that have been used to
achieve or improve interoperability among metadata schemas and
applications, for the purposes of facilitating conversion and exchange
of metadata and enabling cross-domain metadata harvesting and federated
searches. From a methodological point of view, implementing
interoperability may be considered at different levels of operation:
schema level, record level, and repository level. A metadata schema
consists of a set of elements designed for a specific purpose, such as
describing a particular type of information resource. In the literature,
the words "schema", "scheme", and "element set" have been used
interchangeably to refer to metadata standards. In practice, the word
"schema" usually refers to an entire entity including the semantic and
content components (which are usually regarded as an "element set") as
well as the encoding of the elements with a markup language such as
SGML and XML.
See also: OAI-PMH
Metadata Interoperability and Standardization -- A Study of Methodology, Part II, Achieving Interoperability at the Record and Repository Levels
Lois Mai Chan and Marcia Lei Zeng, D-Lib Magazine
This is the second part of an analysis of the methods that have been
used to achieve or improve interoperability among metadata schemas and
their applications in order to facilitate the conversion and exchange of
metadata and to enable cross-domain metadata harvesting and federated
searches. Results of efforts to improve interoperability can be observed
at three different levels: (1) Schema level -- Efforts are focused on
the elements of the schemas, being independent of any applications. The
results usually appear as derived element sets or encoded schemas,
crosswalks, application profiles, and element registries. (2) Record
level -- Efforts are intended to integrate the metadata records through
the mapping of the elements according to the semantic meanings of these
elements. Common results include converted records and new records
resulting from combining values of existing records. (3) Repository
level -- With harvested or integrated records from varying sources,
efforts at this level focus on mapping value strings associated with
particular elements (e.g., terms associated with subject or format
elements). The results enable cross-collection searching.
A Unified Standard Format for Proteomics Mass Spectrometry Data
Staff, GenomicsProteomics.com
The Human Proteome Organisation's Proteomics Standards Initiative
(HUPO-PSI) has announced a roadmap for creating a unified data
interchange format for proteomics mass spectrometry at the Conference
of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. The format will combine
the current HUPO-PSI format (mzData) with the mzXML format. The format
will include features from both formats: An interchange schema which
has split data vectors compatible with other analytical interchange
formats; Support for both random access indexes and digital signatures
via a wrapper schema. In support of the format, the format project
will also include tools to support developers and users of the format:
A program to normalize XML files for random access and digital
signatures; A validation program to insure that the use of controlled
vocabulary terms matches minimum reporting ("MIAPE") requirements; An
'Application Programming Interface' (API) including language bindings
for popular programming languages; Abstract data models and other
documentation to assist software developers who wish to implement
systems based on the interchange format. In addition to the interchange
format and software to help read and validate documents, the project
will also develop reference implementations of data converters to
create the format from as many mass spectrometry instruments as
possible.
See also: the HUPO International website
Scaling Up with XQuery, Part 2
Bob DuCharme, XML.com
Although scaling up from Saxon's implementation of an in-memory XQuery
database to a disk-based version requires a bit of extra effort, it's
worth doing because you can create applications around much larger
collections of data. And, it can be done for free. The previous article
in this series showed how to set up and use MarkLogic server. In this
article we'll see how to perform the same setup and usage tasks with
two more servers: eXist and Sleepycat's Berkeley DB XML. As with
MarkLogic, you usually interact with the open source eXist XQuery engine
through an HTTP server that is part of the program. Sleepycat's open
source Berkeley DB XML is not a server, but a library built on top of
their Berkeley DB database. Sleepycat offers APIs for DB XML in C++,
Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, and Tcl. Each of these XQuery engines has
many more features than are covered in this article -- as index control,
updating, and full-text searching; the goal is to get you to the point
where you could start exploring those features with a reasonably large
collection of your own data. Without spending any money, you can check
them all out and discover the advantages to having large amounts of
your XML stored in a database where you (or an application!) can use
a W3C standard language to quickly retrieve what you want from that
database.
See also: XML and Query Languages
Motorola Joins Eclipse to Boost Mobile Linux Apps
Paul Krill, InfoWorld
Motorola announced that it has joined the Eclipse Foundation as a
Strategic Developer member and is proposing a project to boost mobile
Linux application development. With Strategic Developer status, Motorola
has a seat on the open source tools organization's board of directors
and participates in the Eclipse Architecture, Requirements and Planning
councils, the company said. The company had participated in Eclipse
projects before but had not signed up as a Strategic Developer-level
member. Motorola is working with Eclipse to propose an Eclipse Tools
for mobile Linux (TmL) project, which would be part of the Device
Software Development Platform (DSDP) Top-Level Project at Eclipse.
The TmL effort is intended eventually to provide a home for mobile
Linux extensions. Motorola's Eclipse membership is regarded by the
company as another step in promoting awareness and adoption of Linux
in the mobile space.
See also: the PR
Big Guns Take Sides in Standards Shootout
Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK
With data storage and so-called ILM (information lifecycle management)
becoming hotter than the weather this summer, industry leaders are
jockeying for position and political clout, much like the identity
management market did a few years ago, when Microsoft started its
Passport group and Sun Microsystems countered with the Liberty Alliance.
This time, it's IBM leading the way in the Aperi consortium against a
new one announced June 22 at Storage World Conference 2006 in Long Beach
-- one that still needs a name but features five heavyweight competitors
in EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Sun, Hitachi Data Systems and Symantec. Unlike
Aperi, the five companies are working with established standards bodies
to advance a common standard API (application programming interface)
for storage customers. The companies, collectively representing more
than half the worldwide market share for enterprise storage management
software, will work together to ensure that the SNIA's (Storage
Networking Industry Association) SMI-S (Storage Management Initiative
specification) becomes a common, widely used industry standard. Aperi
is mainly composed of IBM's OEM suppliers and partners, and it's
modeling the APIs using the Eclipse software development environment.
See also: CIM-XML
Real-World Rule Engines
Geoffrey Wiseman, InfoQ
For many developers, rule engines are buzzwords, or black boxes on an
architectural diagram: something to be feared or admired from afar,
but not understood. A rule engine is, at its core, a mechanism for
executing 'business rules'. Business rules are simple business-oriented
statements that encode business decisions of some kind, often phrased
very simply in an if/then conditional form. Rule engines are not
limited to execution; they often come with other tools to manage rules:
common options allow the creation, deployment, storage, versioning and
other such administration of rules, either individually, or in groups.
One example of a rule engines is Drools, which has recently been brought
under the banner of the JBoss group. Because Drools is freely available,
is open-source, and has a good community, it's a good starting place
for exploring rule engines. In general, you might consider a business
rule solution if you need to externalize business rules, support rapid
change and empower business users to change business rules. You'll get
the most out of a rule engine if you accept the new paradigm by
relinquishing flow control, using fine-grained rules and objects,
avoiding cross-products, and understanding the combinatorics and
recursion that a rule approach can create.
See also: W3C Rule Interchange Format Working Group
Metasearch Authentication and Access Management
Michael Teets and Peter Murray, D-Lib Magazine
Metasearch -- also called parallel search, federated search, broadcast
search, and cross-database search -- has become commonplace in the
information community's vocabulary. All speak to a common theme of
searching and retrieving from multiple databases, sources, platforms,
protocols, and vendors at the point of the user's request. Metasearch
services rely on a variety of approaches including open standards (such
as NISO's Z39.50 and SRU/SRW), proprietary programming interfaces, and
'screen scraping.' However, the absence of widely supported standards,
best practices, and tools makes the metasearch environment less
efficient for the metasearch provider, the content provider, and
ultimately the end-user. This article summarizes work and final
recommendation of the Access Management Task Group, one of three groups
chartered by NISO as part of the Metasearch Initiative. The focus of
the group was on gathering requirements for Metasearch authentication
and access needs, inventorying existing processes, developing a series
of formal use cases describing the access needs, recommending best
practices given today's processes, and recommending and pursing changes
to current solutions to better support metasearch applications.
Metasearch Initiative task groups have approved an XML Gateway
Implementors Guide, NISO Z39.92-200x Information Retrieval Service
Description Specification, and the NISO Z39.91-200x Collection
Description Specification (profile for DCMI Abstract Model with an
XML binding).
See also: NISO MetaSearch Initiative
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