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In business-to-business interactions spanning electronic commerce, supply chain management, and other applications, the terms and conditions describing the electronic interactions between businesses can be expressed as an electronic contract or trading partner agreement (TPA). From the TPA, configuration information and code that embody the terms and conditions can be generated automatically at each trading partner's site. The TPA expresses the rules of interaction between the parties to the TPA while maintaining complete independence of the internal processes at each party from the other parties. It represents a long-running conversation that comprises a single unit of business. This paper summarizes the needs of interbusiness electronic interactions. Then it describes the basic principles of electronic TPAs, followed by an overview of the proposed TPA language. The business-to-business protocol framework (BPF) provides various tools and run-time services for supporting TPA-based interaction and integration with business applications. Finally, we describe examples of solutions constructed using TPAs and BPF.

The recent explosion of the Internet and the World Wide Web has made digital libraries popular. Easy access to a digital library is provided by commercially available Web browsers, which provide a user-friendly interface. To retrieve documents of interest, the user is provided with a search interface that may only consist of one input field and one push button. Most users type in a single keyword, click the button, and hope for the best. The result of a query using this kind of search interface can consist of a large unordered set of documents, or a ranked list of documents based on the frequency of the keywords . Both lists can contain articles unrelated to the user's inquiry unless a sophisticated search was performed and the user knows exactly what to look for. More sophisticated algorithms for ranking the search results according to how well they meet the users' needs as expressed in the search input may help. However, what is desperately needed are software tools that can analyze the search result and manipulate large hierarchies of data graphically. In this article we describe the design of a language-independent document classification system being developed to help users of the Florida Center for Library Automation analyze search query results. Easy access through the Web is provided, as well as a graphical user interface to display the classification results. We also describe the use of this system to retrieve and analyze sets of documents from public Web sites.

The recent explosion of the internet has made digital libraries popular. The user-friendly interface of Web browsers allows a user much easier access to the digital library. However, to retrieve relevant documents from the digital library, the user is provided with a search interface consisting of one input field and one push button. Most users type in a single keyword, click the button, and hope for the best. The result of a query using this kind of search interface can consist of a large unordered set of documents, or a ranked list of documents based on the frequency of the keywords. Both lists can contain articles unrelated to user's inquiry unless a sophisticated search was performed and the user knows exactly what to look for. More sophisticated algorithms for ranking the relevance of search results may help, but what is desperately needed are software tools that can analyze the search result and manipulate large hierarchies of data graphically. In this paper, we present a language-independent document classification system for the Florida Center for Library Automation to help users analyze the search query results. Easy access through the Web is provided, as well as a graphical user interface to display the classification results.

The IBM System/3901 Enterprise Systems Connection1 I/O interconnect includes I/O channels that use fiber-optic data transmission. The design goal was to provide transmission bandwidth, distance, and connectivity, which are substantially increased relative to the precursor parallel electrical interface. This goal was motivated by the substantial growth in I/O device speeds and sizes of large system installations in recent years as well as by growth in sharing of I/O devices by multiple systems.

The principles of computer-based nuclear physics experimentation are surveyed in tutorial fashion.

The rapid advances in fiber optic communications over the past few years have generated increased interest in the computer industry to evaluate and use this technology. A number of prototype links for the interconnection of data processing equipment have been fabricated and successfully tested in data transmission applications. The features of fiber optic links utilized in these applications have primarily been freedom from electromagnetic interference and smaller, lighter cables. Future applications are also likely to take advantage of fiber link features such as high bandwidth and low attenuation. This paper reviews the status of fiber link component and application activity as it relates to today's local data network environment and then suggests how new system designs might take more significant advantage of fiber optic technology.© (1980) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Fiber optics promises to be an attractive transmission medium for communication between the computer and its I/O devices and for local networks. Its attractiveness results from its potential for providing high data transfer rate and long transmission distance. Within the central computer complex, serial transmission on fiber optics can also eliminate many of the problems associated with today's bulky parallel cables and connectors. However to obtain the maximum benefits of fiber optics, it will be necesary to make changes to the I/O interface architecture as well as the transmission medium. Changes may also be required in the way applications utilize I/O in order to take advantage of the high data rate potential. This paper discusses some of the features of fiber optics as applied to the computer system and also indicates possible architecture and application approaches for deriving the greatest benefit from fiber optics.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.