Browsing by Author "Saad, Rani A."

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  • Characterizing World Wide Web Queries
    Abdulla, Ghaleb; Liu, Binzhang; Saad, Rani A.; Fox, Edward A. (Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, 1997-02-01)
    Locating information on the WWW is a major activity for users, and Web Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) are becoming more important to support their endeavors. In this paper we characterize queries performed by Web users to such systems and give distributions for accesses to different Web IRS. We characterize clients' accesses, queries and user sessions. Our purpose is to reduce network and bandwidth by identifying ways to optimize interactions with the Web. We characterize clients' sessions by a sequence of Browsing, Searching, and Next steps, and demonstrate that more search steps correlate with a reduction in the number of bytes transferred.
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    Freeway Corridor Management: tools and strategies
    Saad, Rani A. (Virginia Tech, 1996)
    Congestion, demand exceeding capacity, environmental concerns, lack of funding, exponential increases in mobilization, pollution, traffic incidents, and freeway user safety are all issues attracting increasing and unanimous concern and controversy. Unfortunately, unlike many other engineering disciplines, that which is focused on solving the above problems has no ready-to-use "correct" solution. Rather, it is a process of continuous trials, improvements, and tailoring. Nevertheless, in coupling conventional transportation engineering with the fields of advanced technologies, Freeway Corridor Management has come a long way in devising and implementing solutions in many areas of concern. This paper presents a comprehensive study on Freeway Corridor Management. The various relevant tools and strategies are presented with an emphasis on technology-related approaches. Case studies are presented extensively throughout the paper to give the reader a clear perspective on the state of the industry and current practices. Finally, a complete description of one of the more prominent Freeway Management Systems implementations (FMS of the Arizona DOT) is given.
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    Use and Usability in a Digital Library Search System
    France, Robert K.; Nowell, Lucy Terry; Fox, Edward A.; Saad, Rani A.; Zhao, Jianxin (Virginia Tech Digital Library Research Laboratory, 1999)
    Digital libraries must reach out to users from all walks of life, serving information needs at all levels. To do this, they must attain high standards of usability over an extremely broad audience. This paper details the evolution of one important digital library component as it has grown in functionality and usefulness over several years of use by a live, unrestricted community. Central to its evolution have been user studies, analysis of use patterns, and formative usability evaluation. We extrapolate that all three components are necessary in the production of successful digital library systems.