Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 22, 2007). Directed by Fereidoon Sadri; submitted to the Dept. of Computer Science. Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-54).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Fereidoon Sadri; submitted to the Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41).

The new global economy is based on knowledge and information. Further- more, the Internet is facilitating new forms of revenue generation of which one recognized potential source is content delivery over the Internet. One aspect that is critical to ensuring a content-based revenue stream is billing. While there are a number of content-based billing systems commercially available, as far as can be determined these products are not based on a common model that can ensure interoperability and communication between the billing sys- tems. This dissertation addresses the need for a content-based billing model by developing the CBiX (Content-based Billing in XML Environments) model. This model, developed in a phased approach as a family of billing models, incorporates three aspects. The rst aspect is access control. The second as- pect is pricing, in the form of document, element and inherited element level pricing for content. The third aspect is XML as the platform for information exchange. The nature of the Internet facilitates information interchange, exible web business models and exible pricing. These facts, coupled with CBiX being concerned with billing for content over the Internet, leads to a number of decisions regarding the model: The CBiX model has to incorporate exible pricing. Therefore pricing is evolved through the development of the family of models from doc- ument level pricing to element level pricing to inherited element level pricing. The CBiX model has to be based on a platform for information inter- change that enables content delivery. XML provides a broad family of standards that is widely supported and creating the next generation Internet. XML is therefore selected as the environment for information exchange for CBiX. The CBiX model requires a form of access control that can provide access to content based on user properties. Credential-based Access Control is therefore selected as the method of access control for CBiX, whereby authorization is granted based on a set of user credentials. Furthermore, this dissertation reports on the development of a prototype. This serves a dual purpose: rstly, to assist the author in understanding the technologies and principles involved; secondly, to illustrate CBiX0 and therefore present a proof-of-concept of at least the base model. The CBiX model provides a base to guide and assist developers with regards to the issues involved with developing a billing system for XML- based environments.

XML is quickly being utilized in the field of technical communication to transfer information from database to person and company to company. Often communicators will structure information without a second thought of how or why certain tags are used to mark up the information. Because the company or a manual says to use those tags, the communicator does so. However, if professionals want to unlock the true potential of XML for better sharing of information across platforms, they need to understand the effects the technology using XML as well as political and cultural factors have on the tags being used. This thesis reviewed literature from multiple fields utilizing XML to find how tag choices can be influenced. XML allows for the sharing of information across multiple platforms and databases. Because of this efficiency, XML is utilized by many technologies. Often communicators must tag information so that the technologies can find the marked up information; therefore, technologies like single sourcing, data mining, and knowledge management influence the types of tags created. Additionally, cultural and political influences are analyzed to see how they play a role in determining what tags are used and created for specific documents. The thesis concludes with predictions on the future of XML and the technological, political, and cultural influences associated with XML tag sets based on information found within the thesis.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Computer Science and Information Systems / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / New facility construction and existing facility renovation create new or modified operation and maintenance (O&M) requirements for the maintenance responsibility organization such as a Public Works Department (PWD). This O&M requirement is fully described by an Operation and Maintenance Support Information (OMSI) package. OMSI content includes facility, systems, and product information. This thesis will address information integration, the process of allowing information systems to cross-communicate and share data. OMSI information integrated within the framework of a Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) system allows for early identification of O&M requirements, an improved planning capability for new facilities, and more efficient economies of scale. In addition to PWD manpower savings, OMSI-CAFM integration will also allow a revolution in the way O&M requirements are planned and created. Preliminary OMSI information would be ideally created by the design A/E after having considered work force capability from both a workload and expertise perspective. While this may be impractical due to the changing nature of workforce capability and the lengthy planning and design cycle of military construction, OMSI-CAFM integration will certainly allow O&M planning to begin early in the OMSI development stages. OMSI submittals can be layered to provide preliminary planning information in the first submittal and add additional detailed information in later submittals. In such a manner, PWD O&M planners can begin an incremental planning effort early in the facility construction phase. This thesis provides a non-proprietary, no-cost solution to OMSI-CAFM information integration that minimizes specialized knowledge on the part of the OMSI AE. This will allow a broad applicability of the solution to all OMSI developers, including those for smaller non-MILCON projects that aren’t specifically funded for OMSI generation. An effective solution must also provide for easy and inexpensive repurposing of OMSI information for future (and as yet unknown) uses. The solution uses XML technologies (XML, XSD, XLS, XLST, XPath, XQuery, etc) and XML storage systems for the content creation, management, and repurposing of OMSI information. / Lieutenant Commander, Unites States Navy

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The advent of Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) has seen a widespread adoption of its technology and functionality in many different areas. Many studies show more and more organizations are extending their networks to incorporate wireless devices and their applications. Permitting wireless devices to access private networks however, further complicates the tasks of protecting the network and its resources from unauthorized access. Now that they have become a significant element in today's networks, selecting and deploying adequate security measures have become the focus of many research efforts. Typically, network managers implement countermeasures to augment security. The goal of this thesis is to research approaches that compliment existing security measures with fine grain access control measures. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is adopted to accommodate such granular access control as it provides the mechanisms for scaling security down to the document content level. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Currently under development, the Global Information Grid (GIG) Enterprise Services (ES) is a suite of capabilities intended to provide improved user access to mission-critical data via Web-based and network technologies. Some of the problems of implementing such capabilities include non-uniform data formats, incompatible run-time environments and nonstandard proprietary applications, all of which block operational interoperability. Web services are specifically designed to address the interoperability challenges of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) such as the GIG. SOAs are networked infrastructures that are designed to facilitate the interoperability of collections of services without requiring service context awareness. Standards-based Web services provide the necessary flexibility and extensibility to ensure information flow is platform, run-time and software independent. The proof of concept (POC) software example developed for this research demonstrates the flexibility and extensibility of standards-based, operating-system-independent Web services. The result is an experimental endeavor to provide a mock operation command center information portal, which provides a notional summary personnel status report to the commander in real-time from a Web service that was originally generated by a stand-alone client/server system. The POC is developed with great attention to open-source technologies and open-standards compliance. The key technologies involved are Extensible Markup Language (XML), the Java programming language, PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) scripting language and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). This work demonstrates the benefits of leveraging Web services to unlock legacy specialized applications to enhance the Warfighter's battlespace awareness by improving information flow via a Web based information portal. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / A common problem between Military applications and operators is the consistent and meaningful exchange of data. Currently, several models and simulations exist for the purposes of training and analyzing military data. Due to the absence of an agreed-upon standard with which to represent unit data, much is lost during interchange and applications are not maximized. This thesis is a step towards a solution. Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology has been widely accepted as a standard for representing information in such a way that it is self-documenting, self-validating and platform independent. By using the Command and Control Information Exchange Data Model (C2IEDM), formerly known as Generic Hub, and XML it is possible to develop a representation of unit data that is extensible and broadly useable by tactical systems and human operators alike. This thesis approaches the problem exploring the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and the Extensible Modeling Simulation Framework (XMSF) as possible overarching architectural concepts for a global solution. The C2IEDM is used as the core data interchange model for this research and applies XML technologies, schema and the Extensible Stylesheet Language for Transformations (XSLT) to derive a formatted data representation that is acceptable within the Flexible Asymmetric Simulation Technologies (FAST) Toolbox. The transformation example serves as template for other simulation programs to follow for interchange through the common base model. This thesis shows that by using a common data representation like C2IEDM coupled with the power of XML and XSLT, unit information can be transformed and interchanged between applications. In order to accomplish this, an extensive analysis is done on recently performed and ongoing research as well as the development of exemplars to show how the proposed process is completed. The result of this work is a transformation of unit data extracted from an example C2IEDM instance file that is compliant with the schema for an actual unit order of battle tool used for modeling and simulation. / Major, United States Army