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In data engineering, view formalisms are used to provide flexibility to users and user applications by allowing them to extract and elaborate data from the stored data sources. Conversely, since the introduction of EXtensible Markup Language (XML), it is fast emerging as the dominant standard for storing, describing, and interchanging data among various web and heterogeneous data sources. In combination with XML Schema, XML provides rich facilities for defining and constraining user‐defined data semantics and properties, a feature that is unique to XML. In this context, it is interesting to investigate traditional database features, such as view models and view design techniques for XML. However, traditional view formalisms are strongly coupled to the data language and its syntax, thus it proves to be a difficult task to support views in the case of semi‐structured data models. Therefore, in this paper we propose a Layered View Model (LVM) for XML with conceptual and schemata extensions. Here our work is three‐fold; first we propose an approach to separate the implementation and conceptual aspects of the views that provides a clear separation of concerns, thus, allowing analysis and design of views to be separated from their implementation. Secondly, we define representations to express and construct these views at the conceptual level. Thirdly, we define a view transformation methodology for XML views in the LVM, which carries out automated transformation to a view schema and a view query expression in an appropriate query language. Also, to validate and apply the LVM concepts, methods and transformations developed, we propose a viewdriven application development framework with the flexibility to develop web and database applications for XML, at varying levels of abstraction.

The purpose of this paper is to make a small contribution to reflections on general methodology, not specific methods, in social science.

Systemic methodology.

First, schematic typology of six conceptual models. Second, typology for determining levels of abstraction for different models and degrees of generalisation. Third, typology for generalisation on the basis of a case study. Fourth, strategy for developing conceptual models.

Research falls into two main categories: conceptual generalisation and empirical generalisation. Conceptual generalisation is an investigation whereby the researcher uses other researchers’ empirical findings in conjunction with his or her own process of conceptualisation in order to generalise and identify a pattern. This contrasts with empirical generalisation, where the researcher investigates a phenomenon or problem that is apparent in the empirical data, and only thereafter generalises in the light of his or her own findings.

A low level of understanding of conceptual generalisation among masters and PhD students. With this paper the authors try to change this perception among students.

Developing a systemic methodology in order for students and university teachers to understand conceptual generalisations.

It has been suggested that conceptual models can be used to enhance the training of novice end‐users. This paper discusses the part played by metaphor in conceptual models, provides examples of end‐user training incorporating metaphors, and contends that metaphors facilitate the development of accurate mental models. The more specific issue of the role of conceptual models, and by implication metaphor, in the training of end‐users remains to be investigated, and a research agenda for this purpose is outlined.

Over the last decade, circular economy (CE) has gathered interest from both industrialists and academics alike. Whilst CE research is widespread in such areas as supply chain and larger organisations, there is limited research into how small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can prepare for adopting CE. There is no comprehensive readiness model for SMEs adopting CE. The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature on change readiness and generate knowledge to fill this gap by developing a conceptual model to measure change readiness for SMEs' adopting CE.

This study is based on a comprehensive literature review of change readiness models and frameworks. The paper reviews publications from Science Direct, Web of Science, Emerald, Scopus and Google Scholar. The readiness for change models and frameworks from the selected publications are evaluated and synthesised to develop a comprehensive conceptual model for change readiness for SMEs adopting a circular economy.

A readiness conceptual model is developed by incorporating several factors as precursors to readiness, i.e. individual/collective difference, structural, contextual factors and related barriers. Eleven factors make up the individual/collective difference. Three factors make up the structural and contextual factors.

This paper develops a conceptual model that can aid academics and practitioners in better understanding SMEs readiness to adopt CE.

This paper makes a unique contribution by proposing a comprehensive conceptual model of readiness for SMEs adopting CE.

To provide a selective bibliography for researchers and practitioners interested in database modeling of engineering information with sources which can help them develop engineering information systems.

Identifies the requirements for engineering information modeling and then investigates how current database models satisfy these requirements at two levels: conceptual data models and logical database models.

Presents the relationships among the conceptual data models and the logical database models for engineering information modeling viewed from database conceptual design.

Currently few papers provide comprehensive discussions about how current engineering information modeling can be supported by database technologies. This paper fills this gap. The contribution of the paper is to identify the direction of database study viewed from engineering applications and provide a guidance of information modeling for engineering design, manufacturing, and production management.

Today, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is fast emerging as the dominant standard for storing, describing, representing and interchanging data among various enterprises systems and databases in the context of complex web enterprises information systems (EIS). Conversely, for web EIS (such as ecommerce and portals) to be successful, it is important to apply a high level, model driven solutions and meta‐data vocabularies to design and implementation techniques that are capable of handling heterogonous schemas and documents. For this, we need a methodology that provides a higher level of abstraction of the domain in question with rigorously defined standards that are to be more widely understood by all stakeholders of the system. To‐date, UML has proven itself as the language of choice for modeling EIS using OO techniques. With the introduction of XML Schema, which provides rich facilities for constraining and defining enterprise XML content, the combination of UML and XML technologies provide a good platform (and the flexibility) for modeling, designing and representing complex enterprise contents for building successful EIS. In this paper, we show how a layered view model coupled with a proven user interface analysis framework (WUiAM) is utilized in providing architectural construct and abstract website model (called eXtensible Web, xWeb), to model, design and implement simple, usercentred, collaborative websites at varying levels of abstraction. The uniqueness xWeb is that the model data (web user interface definitions, website data descriptions and constraints) and the web content are captured and represented at the conceptual level using views (one model) and can be deployed (multiple platform specific models) using one or more implementation models.

NoSQL databases do not require a default schema associated with the data. Even that, they are categorized by data models. A model associated with the data can promote better strategies for persistence and manipulation of data in the target database. Based on this motivation, the purpose of this paper is to present an approach for logical design of NoSQL document databases that consists a process that converts a conceptual modeling into efficient logical representations for a NoSQL document database. The authors also evaluate their approach and demonstrate that the generated NoSQL logical structures reduce the amount of data items accessed by queries.

This paper presents an approach for logical design of NoSQL document database schemas based on a conceptual schema. The authors generate compact and redundancy-free schemas and define appropriate representations in a NoSQL document logical model. The estimated volume of data and workload information can be considered to generate optimized NoSQL document structures.

This approach was evaluated through a case study with an experimental evaluation in the e-commerce application domain. The results demonstrate that the authors’ workload-based conversion process improves query performance on NoSQL documents by reducing the number of database accesses.

Unlike related work, the reported approach covers all typical conceptual constructs, details a conversion process between conceptual schemas and logical representations for NoSQL document database category and, additionally, considers the estimated database workload to perform optimizations in the logical structure. An experimental evaluation shows that the proposed approach is promising.

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of policy components for software that supports modularizing and tailoring of information security policies (ISPs).

This study used a design science research approach, drawing on design knowledge from the field of situational method engineering. The conceptual model was developed as a unified modeling language class diagram using existing ISPs from public agencies in Sweden.

This study’s demonstration as proof of concept indicates that the conceptual model can be used to create free-standing modules that provide guidance about information security in relation to a specific work task and that these modules can be used across multiple tailored ISPs. Thus, the model can be considered as a step toward developing software to tailor ISPs.

The proposed conceptual model bears several short- and long-term implications for research. In the short term, the model can act as a foundation for developing software to design tailored ISPs. In the long term, having software that enables tailorable ISPs will allow researchers to do new types of studies, such as evaluating the software's effectiveness in the ISP development process.

Practitioners can use the model to develop software that assist information security managers in designing tailored ISPs. Such a tool can offer the opportunity for information security managers to design more purposeful ISPs.

The proposed model offers a detailed and well-elaborated starting point for developing software that supports modularizing and tailoring of ISPs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Records in Contexts proposal of a conceptual model (RiC-CM) from the International Council on Archives’ (ICA) archival description and to propose an OWL ontology for its implementation in the semantic web.

The various elements of the model are studied and are related to earlier norms in order to understand their structure and the modeling of the ontology.

The analysis reveals the integrating nature of RiC-CM and the possibilities it offers for greater interoperability of data from archival descriptions. Two versions of an OWL ontology were developed to represent the conceptual model. The first makes a direct transposition of the conceptual model; the second optimizes the properties and relations in order to simplify the use and maintenance of the ontology.

The proposed ontology will follow the considerations of the final version of the ICA’s RiC-CM.

The analysis affords an understanding of the role of RiC-CM in publishing online archival data sets, while the ontology is an initial approach to the semantic web technologies involved.

This paper offers an overview of Records in Contexts with respect to the advantages in the field of semantic interoperability, and supposes the first proposal of an ontology based on the conceptual model.

Web applications are subject to continuous changes and rapid evolution triggered by increasing competition, especially in commercial domains such as electronic commerce. Unfortunately, usually they are implemented without producing any useful documentation for subsequent maintenance and evolution. Thereof, the maintenance of such systems becomes a challenging problem as the complexity of the web application grows. Reverse engineering has been heralded as one of the most promising technologies to support effective web application maintenance. This paper aims to present a reverse engineering approach that helps understanding existing undocumented web applications to be maintained or evolved.

The proposed approach provides reverse engineering rules to generate a conceptual schema from a given domain ontology by using a set of transformation rules. The reverse engineering process consists of four phases: extracting useful information; identifying a set of ontological constructs representing the concepts of interest; enriching the identified set by additional constructs; and finally deriving a conceptual schema.

The advantage of using ontology for conceptual data modeling is the reusability of domain knowledge. As a result, the conceptual data model will be made faster, easier and with fewer errors than creating it in usual way. Designers can use the extracted conceptual schema to gain a better understanding of web applications and to assist in their maintenance.

The strong point of this approach is that it relies on a very rich semantic reference that is domain ontology. However, it is not possible to make a straightforward transformation of all elements from a domain ontology into a conceptual data model because ontology is semantically richer than data conceptual models.