<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<xupdate:modifications version="1.0"
 xmlns:xupdate="http://www.xmldb.org/xupdate">

  <xupdate:append select="/"  child="first()" >
    <xupdate:element name="a">ii</xupdate:element>
  </xupdate:append>

  <xupdate:rename select="/a[2]" >b</xupdate:rename>

  <xupdate:remove select="/b[1]" />

  <xupdate:insert-after select="/a[1]/text()[1]" >
    <xupdate:element name="b">moretext</xupdate:element>
  </xupdate:insert-after>

  <xupdate:remove select="/a[1]/b[1]/b[1]" />

</xupdate:modifications>
r