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The upper three OSI layers support communication requirements of applications. To communicate meaningfully, applications must share a common understanding of various aspects. This is achieved through the use of several OSI‐related concepts described in this article, including application association, application context, and abstract syntax. The Application layer is concerned with semantics and not encoding. The presentation protocol is concerned with the coupling of semantics with a particular encoding. The session protocol provides for organized and synchronized data exchange. Several application protocols are described in this article, and a sidebar about the File Transfer, Access, and Management protocol is included.

This paper aims to present a viable approach for designing and implementing a generic per‐fee‐link framework. It also aims to design this framework to be used with any payment protocol and test it with two existing ones.

The paper presents a per‐fee‐link framework based on several generic components. These components have been developed and tested in order to prove the viability of the proposed framework.

The results show that is possible to establish a per‐fee‐link framework. Four core components are defined: first, the different modules needed for browsers and web servers, second, an extended payment protocol (EPP), which negotiates the payment protocol to use and encapsulates its related messages, third, an API for e‐wallets, which is independent of the payment protocol, to incorporate the protocols to use with EPP and finally, the definition of a per‐fee‐link that associates payment information to a link.

The framework presented shows a uniform way of using payment protocols that can increase the trust of end users. Furthermore, it has been developed and tested.

The contribution describes the components needed for supporting the framework. Its feasibility has been checked through an implementation and it facilitates the payment for content on the web. Thus, content providers can obtain an alternative revenue source to advertisement or subscription. Furthermore, developers, vendors and customers can see that the incorporation of payment protocols to the system is facilitated. Finally, the users obtain a uniform way to make payments that increases the perception of trust.

This paper aims to propose an integrating model for creating virtual libraries in Iranian universities of medical sciences.

This study was conducted with an analytic survey method. The statistical population comprised 66 Iranian universities of medical sciences, of which 59 libraries participated in the study. A researcher-made checklist was used for data collection. To ensure the accuracy of data, interviews and, in some cases, observations were also performed. Statistical estimates, including frequency, percentage, cumulative frequency and diagrams, were used for data analysis, and the system analysis method was used for modeling.

Results demonstrated that the library software programs of the studied universities of medical sciences do not have desirable interoperability capabilities. Only Azarsa program can exchange information with other systems. In terms of metadata and its standards, the studied libraries use programs with various standards, with MARC and Dublin Core standards being the most frequently used ones in the studied sample.

The model proposed here for integration is a hybrid model which can translate metadata standards and use the Z39.50 and OEI protocol to transfer data.

A number of central government policy initiatives in the UK are encouraging the sharing of information between government and other partners. A relatively large amount of information is available to enhance social inclusion but this data does not always have the detail (granularity) required to investigate small areas. As a result information sharing of locally generated information is increasing in the UK, particularly for issues such as health and crime where information is not readily available for Local Authorities. Legal and ethical issues associated with sharing locally generated information are frequently perceived as problematical. Examples of methods and protocols to overcome these problems are reviewed. It is possible that the activities of the Cabinet Office Committee on data sharing (MISC31) will act as an incentive for data sharing. However, an equally important catalyst will be commitment and support across UK central government and at the local level by Chief Executives and members to the principles and benefits of information sharing for better informed policymaking.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a tool that generates authority files to be integrated with linked data by means of learning rules. AUTHORIS is software developed to enhance authority control and information exchange among bibliographic and non-bibliographic entities.

The article analyzes different methods previously developed for authority control as well as IFLA and ALA standards for managing bibliographic records. Semantic Web technologies are also evaluated. AUTHORIS relies on Drupal and incorporates the protocols of Dublin Core, SIOC, SKOS and FOAF. The tool has also taken into account the obsolescence of MARC and its substitution by FRBR and RDA. Its effectiveness was evaluated applying a learning test proposed by RDA. Over 80 percent of the actions were carried out correctly.

The use of learning rules and the facilities of linked data make it easier for information organizations to reutilize products for authority control and distribute them in a fair and efficient manner.

The ISAD-G records were the ones presenting most errors. EAD was found to be second in the number of errors produced. The rest of the formats – MARC 21, Dublin Core, FRAD, RDF, OWL, XBRL and FOAF – showed fewer than 20 errors in total.

AUTHORIS offers institutions the means of sharing data with a high level of stability, helping to detect records that are duplicated and contributing to lexical disambiguation and data enrichment.

The software combines the facilities of linked data, the potency of the algorithms for converting bibliographic data, and the precision of learning rules.

Service‐oriented architecture is becoming increasingly important for healthcare delivery as it assures seamless integration internally between various teams and departments, and externally between healthcare organizations and their partners. In order to make healthcare more efficient and effective, we need to understand and evaluate its processes, and one way of achieving that is through process modeling. Modeling healthcare processes within a service‐oriented environment opens up new perspectives and raises challenging questions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate one of these questions, namely the suitability of web service orchestration and choreography, two closely related but fundamentally different methodologies for modeling web service‐based healthcare processes.

The authors use a case‐based approach that first developed a set of 12 features for modeling healthcare processes and then used the features to compare orchestration and choreography for modeling part of the scheduled workflow.

The findings show that neither methodology can, by itself, meet all healthcare modeling requirements in the context of the case study. The appropriate methodology must be selected after consideration of the specific modeling needs. The authors identified usability, capabilities, and evolution as three key considerations to assist with selection of a methodology for healthcare process modeling. Further, sometimes one method will not meet all modeling needs and hence the authors recommend combining the two methodologies in order to harness the benefits of modeling healthcare processes in a service‐oriented environment.

Although literature exists on process modeling of web services for healthcare, there are no criteria describing necessary features for micro‐level modeling, nor is there a comparison of the two leading service composition methodologies within the healthcare context. This paper provides some necessary formalization for process modeling in healthcare.

Traditional administration of building services regards them as having confined scope, operating in isolation or tightly coupled and providing minimal support for overall coordination and holistic management hindering the provisioning of advanced services. This approach inherently bears weaknesses related to complex services management, results in increased costs, and formulates rigid architectural design that restricts flexibility and extensibility. Taking into consideration this set of drawbacks, the purpose of this paper is to propose exploiting a service‐oriented architecture that will allow for dynamic, coordinated and distributed building services management.

The paper presents the design of an enterprise‐based networking architecture for building services and systems and specifies its functional components.

The proposed architecture is compliant with established practices in the building automation field and focuses on catering for a wide spectrum of building and enterprise level services. A specific deployment use‐case scenario and its related implementation issues is considered, so as to promote interoperability and adoption of open standards and principles for the system level performance evaluation of the proposed architecture is also examined.

Literature review is not exhaustive and evaluation of the proposed architecture should be performed in a more systematic manner.

Adoption of a service‐oriented view as far as facilities management is concerned.

This paper identifies through a thorough literature review the research problems in the area of building services integration and proposes an approach to enable successful integration. The novelty of this work is based on the application of the state‐of‐the‐art in enterprise networking for integration of building management and IT‐based services.

The Internet features more and more frequently in the media as the impact of the information society grows and the traffic on the information highway expands. In this article the authors explore the ways in which the Internet is affecting the field of records management. They describe the Internet, the three methods of connecting to the Net and discuss the growth of e‐mail with particular reference to its status and retention. The Internet also provides, via list servers, a forum for exchange of information amongst records managers and the most active lists are identified with their addresses given in an Appendix. The authors conclude by arguing that, although, at the present time, the idea of managing or controlling the Net runs counter to the freedom of expression which is its principal characteristic, in time the records manager will take on a greater role in preparing users to use the NET by good record‐keeping practices within business as well as encouraging fellow professionals to tap into a valuable resource for their own professional development.

This paper lays out a road map for computer‐integrated design and manufacture of building‐specific cladding systems, describing the key implementation phases and highlighting domains (supply chain organization, software vendors, suppliers, process modellers, etc.) involved in each phase. It takes a holistic look at the way forward, identifying that such a long‐term transformation will need to be managed strategically both at a company and sector level and that training and education within the sector will be pivotal. The development of appropriate cladding information standards is seen as an essential enabler and as a catalyst for change.

The practice of facility management (FM) has been evolving with the rapid development of pervasive sensing technologies (PSTs) such as sensors, automatic identification (auto-ID), laser scanning and photogrammetry. Despite the proliferation of research on the use of PSTs for FM, a comprehensive review of such research is missing from the literature. This study aims to cover the knowledge void by examining the status quo and challenges of the selected PSTs with a focus on FM.

This paper reviewed 204 journal papers recounting cases of using PSTs for FM. The reviewed papers were extracted from Elsevier Scopus database using the advanced search.

Findings of this study revealed that PSTs and FM applications form a many-to-many mapping, i.e. one PST could facilitate many FM applications, and one application can also be supported by various PSTs. It is also found that energy modeling and management is the most referred purpose in FM to adopt PSTs, while space management, albeit important, received the least attention. Five challenges are identified, which include high investment on PSTs, data storage problem, absence of proper data exchange protocols for data interoperability, a lack of mature data processing methods for data utilization and privacy of users.

This paper paints a full picture of PSTs adoption for FM. It pinpoints the promising explorations for tackling the key challenges to future development.