Security Issues in a SOA-based Provenance System

Recent work has begun exploring the characterization and utilization of provenance in systems based on the Service Oriented Architecture (such as Web Services and Grid based environments). One of the salient issues related to provenance use within any given system is its security. In a broad sense, security requirements arise within any data archival and retrieval system, however provenance presents unique requirements of its own. These requirements are additionally dependent on the architectural and environmental context that a provenance system operates in. We seek to analyze the security considerations pertaining to a Service Oriented Architecture based provenance system. Towards this end, we describe the components of such a system and illustrate the security considerations that arise within it. Concurrently, we outline possible approaches to address them.

Describing Web Service Architectures through Design-by-Contract

Architectural description languages (ADLs) are used to specify a high-level, compositional view of a software application, specifying how a system is to be composed from coarse-grain components. ADLs usually come equipped with a formal dynamic semantics, facilitating specification and analysis of distributed and event-based systems. In this paper, we describe the TrustME, an ADL framework that provides both a process and a structural view of web service-based systems. We use Petri-net descriptions to give a dynamic view of business workflow for web service collaboration. We adapt the approach of Schmidt to define a form of Meyer's design-by-contract for configuring workflow architectures. This serves as a configuration-level means of constructing safer, more robust systems.

A bioeconomic evaluation of a commercial scale recirculating finfish growout system - an Australian perspective

This study, based on 3 years of commercial data, presents the results of an economic analysis of a 20-tonne per annum (TPA) commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility located in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Based on the assumptions of the analysis, results highlight the non-viability of the facility, with a 10-year projected negative cumulative cash flow of − $648,038, and negative net present value (NPV) of − $707,546. Economies of scale were assessed by the development of economic models for hypothetical 50-TPA and 100-TPA facilities, based on the actual figures obtained from the 20-TPA case study. These analyses highlighted marginal viability for the 50-TPA facility (with a ten-year projected cumulative cash flow of $1,030,300; negative NPV of − $167,651 and internal rate of return (IRR) of 11.75%), and an economically viable 100-TPA facility (with a ten-year projected cumulative cash flow of $3,176,750; NPV of $522,200 and IRR of 21.03%). Sensitivity analysis highlighted that the greatest gains to be realised in improving profitability were those associated with increasing the productive capacity of the facility, increasing the sale price of the product, and decreasing the capital costs of RAS facilities. Contradictions between the results from the present study to similar studies clearly highlight a need for further economic analyses of commercial RAS facilities, using commercial data sets and standard economic analysis procedures.

A reputation-based grid information service

In a large-scale wide-area system such as the Grid, trust is a prime concern. The current generation of grid information services lack the ability to determine how trustworthy a particular grid service provider or grid customer is likely to be. In this paper, we propose a grid information service with reputation management facility and its underlying algorithm for computing and managing reputation in service-oriented grid computing. Our reputation management service is based on the concept of dynamic trust and reputation adaptation based on community experiences. The working model and functionality offered by the proposed reputation management service is discussed.

Protecting web applications from DDoS attacks by an active distributed defense system

In the last a few years a number of highly publicized incidents of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against high-profile government and commercial websites have made people aware of the importance of providing data and services security to users. A DDoS attack is an availability attack, which is characterized by an explicit attempt from an attacker to prevent legitimate users of a service from using the desired resources. This paper introduces the vulnerability of web applications to DDoS attacks, and presents an active distributed defense system that has a deployment mixture of sub-systems to protect web applications from DDoS attacks. According to the simulation experiments, this system is effective in that it is able to defend web applications against attacks. It can avoid overall network congestion and provide more resources to legitimate web users.

Effects of the extensive culture system as finishing production strategy on biometric and chemical parameters in rainbow trout

The effect of finishing extensive farming period, to reduce fat content and manipulate the fatty acid profile of fish muscle, was evaluated in rainbow trout. Fish were stocked in an artificial lake, in which fish were fed only on naturally available nutrients with no supply of artificial feed, for different lengths of time from 0 to 120 days. No weight loss was noted during the whole finishing period while total length increased from 228±7 to 269±3 mm and the condition factor decreased from 1.41±0.04 to 0.89±0.02. The total fat content of the fillets decreased considerably from 4.7±0.6% at the beginning to 2.4±0.4% and 0.7±0.2% after 45 and 120 days respectively. Fillet fatty acid composition was affected by the time of stocking in the extensive farm. In contrast to the reduction in C18:1n-9, C18:2n-6, total monounsaturated fatty acid and total n-6 percent values, an increase in the C20:5n-3, C22:6n-3, total polyunsaturated fatty acid and total n-3 percent values was observed. It was shown that while other finishing strategies for salmonids have some disadvantages, the extensive culture system seems to be a potentially useful tool for increasing the general quality of the end product.

AQIS, EXDOC and the 'meaties' : an interpretivist case study of an Australian export documentation system implementation

EXDOC is an on-line export documentation system implemented by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service [AQIS] and used currently by 90% of meat exporters. At a time when governments world-wide are increasingly committed to introducing electronic service delivery [ESD], this is a timely exemplar of innovative practice. In this paper, we consider the initial implementation of EXDOC in the meat export sector in order to identify the factors that led to the successful adoption of this system.

We consider these factors in the context of diffusion of innovation literature supplemented with Bijker’s social constructivist framework. The theoretical flexibility provided by this combination of approaches enabled us to draw out a number of implications from the data that bear on strategy formulation.

Factors found to have significant bearing on the early adoption of EXDOC included: (1) idiosyncratic factors precipitating the initial implementation (2) the constraints based on accommodating user capabilities (3) the organisational role taken by AQIS (4) diffusion as a self-reinforcing and value-adding effect.

A standard represents both a problem as a requirement of such a system and a problem solving strategy eliciting compliance to the system requirements. Over the period of shaping and stabilizing of the industry standard, AQIS was required to act as facilitator in the coordination of the actors.

The implementation of systems like EXDOC enables users to identify what they want from a system, specifying their preferences and tradeoffs. Such implementations offer opportunities for systems redesign within export business sectors with major strategic implications for the industry.

The application of a reinforcement learning agent to a multi-product manufacturing facility

An intelligent agent-based scheduling system, consisting of a reinforcement learning agent and a simulation model has been developed and tested on a classic scheduling problem. The production facility studied is a multiproduct serial line subject to stochastic failure. The agent goal is to minimise total production costs, through selection of job sequence and batch size. To explore state space the agent used reinforcement learning. By applying an independent inventory control policy for each product, the agent successfully identified optimal operating policies for a real production facility.

A set of patterns for the web-based interfaces of an employee services system

The provision of Human Resource (HR), especially payroll, is a core function in every organization. Previously, providers of HR/payroll have offered their services to their clients via conventional modes of communication, such as telephones, facsimile, and courier services. In recent years, with the advent of the Internet and the emergence of web-based electronic commerce, there has been a rise in the adoption of web-based technology and information
systems by service providers, thereby enabling them to interact with their clients through this medium. This development necessitates the use of web-based user interfaces as workspaces between the HR/payroll providers and their clients, and thus, raises certain concerns that determine the effectiveness of web-based workflow systems. These concerns, related to the use of web interfaces, form the basis of the patterns discussed in this paper

From product centricism to systems-wide education design: making corporate technology systems work for the learning organisation

Deakin University has established a major integrated corporate technology infrastructure in the last two years to enhance and bring together its distance education and on-campus education. This environment has been called Deakin Online. With Deakin Online rapidly developing, efforts are beginning to focus more fundamentally on how the potentials of the environment can be realised to create enduring teaching and learning value. This search must be understood in the context of the University’s commitment to the values of relevance, responsiveness and innovation. The question is: how can these values be realised in the digitally-based evolving educational enterprise using the new corporate technologies and new concepts of organisational structure and function? We argue for the transforming role of the academic teacher and new forms of open academic collegiality as being critical to realise strategic and enduring educational value. Moreover, change in role and process needs to be grounded in more systemic organisation and program-wide approaches to designing and working within the new contemporary learning environments. We believe the shift from the dangers of product centricism to system-wide education design modelling situating e-learning within broader curricular and pedagogical concerns represents the best strategy to create enduring educational benefits for all stakeholder groups (notably academic teachers and their learners) while preserving teachers’ sense of agency in the changing learning environments of higher education.

An analysis of the involvement-commitment relationship across product categories

An involvement-commitment-loyalty model is proposed and tested with AMOS. The results for fast-moving-consumer-goods (fmcg) are consistent with the theory. Ego involvement influences purchase involvement, which influences brand commitment, which influences customer loyalty. The results for the more ego-involved service of hair stylists, however, showed a different result. Purchase loyalty did not mediate the relationship between ego involvement and brand commitment, but instead ego involvement had a direct relationship with brand commitment.

Application of co-operative agents in handling fluctuations in a pull production system

This paper presents the general details of the structure and strategy of a multi-agent system that is being developed to improve the performance of pull (kanban) production control to handle large fluctuations in product demand. Employing a set of generic, heterarchial agents each controlling a single product and co-operating together to ensure that all components, regardless of demand fluctuation, are manufactured on time as per basic kanban principles. Preliminary results indicate that the basic kanban model does not cater for large demand fluctuations and the application of this multi-agent strategy may be beneficial to improving the overall system performance and increase the likelihood that all products will be manufactured on time.

Utilising integrated information system approach for building demolition project management

Building demolition has been undergoing evolutionary development in its technologies for several decades. In order to achieve a high level of demolition material reuse and recycling, new management approaches are also necessitated. Several information systems are proposed or developed particularly promoting efficient project management, waste minimization and project safety. These information systems include waste exchange, 4D visualization, safety aware schedule, waste product schedule, site atTangement optimization and so on. However, the fragmented information systems applied by various parties involved in the demolition project could generate conflicts due to the lack of communication and standardization. This paper aims to develop a framework of an integrated information system for building demolition projects, which covers the major aspects of innovative management approaches and conventional construction project management perspective. Practically, the system will serve as an information portal for all demolition project team members.

Applying a reconfigurable multi-agent scheduler to product distribution

More intelligent scheduling methods are required for manufacturing scheduling due to the move to more agile systems. Multi-agent methods are one such approach. This paper describes the application of a reconfigurable multi-agent scheduler to the problem of allocating orders to warehouses in a distribution supply chain. This multi-agent system was originally developed for allocation of orders to machines in a highly reconfigurable manufacturing system and this work was aimed at investigating the ease of applying this same scheduler to other problems. It was found that this new application was readily achieved because of the modular structure of the scheduler. This paper shows how the application to the new problem was achieved.