A novel context ontology to facilitate interoperation of semantic services in environments with wearable devices

The LifeWear-Mobilized Lifestyle with Wearables (Lifewear) project attempts to create Ambient Intelligence (AmI) ecosystems by composing personalized services based on the user information, environmental conditions and reasoning outputs. Two of the most important benefits over traditional environments are 1) take advantage of wearable devices to get user information in a nonintrusive way and 2) integrate this information with other intelligent services and environmental sensors. This paper proposes a new ontology composed by the integration of users and services information, for semantically representing this information. Using an Enterprise Service Bus, this ontology is integrated in a semantic middleware to provide context-aware personalized and semantically annotated services, with discovery, composition and orchestration tasks. We show how these services support a real scenario proposed in the Lifewear project.

The Language : Rationale and Fundamentals

The Business Process Management domain has evolved at a dramatic pace over the past two decades and the notion of the business process has become a ubiquitous part of the modern business enterprise. Most organizations now view their operations in terms of business processes and manage these business processes in the same way as other corporate assets. In recent years, an increasingly broad range of generic technology has become available for automating business processes. This is part of a growing trend in the software engineering field throughout the past 40 years, where aspects of functionality that are potentially reusable on a widespread basis have coalesced into generic software components. Figure 2.1 illustrates this trend and shows how software systems have evolved from the monolithic applications of the 1960s developed in their entirety often by a single development team to today’s offerings that are based on the integration of a range of generic technologies with only a small component of the application actually being developed from scratch. In the 1990s, generic functionality for the automation of business processes first became commercially available in the form of workflow technology and subsequently evolved in the broader field of business process management systems (BPMS). This technology alleviated the necessity to develop process support within applications from scratch and provided a variety of off-the-shelf options on which these requirements could be based. The demand for this technology was significant and it is estimated that by 2000 there were well over 200 distinct workflow offerings in the market, each with a distinct conceptual foundation. Anticipating the difficulties that would be experienced by organizations seeking to utilize and integrate distinct workflow offerings, the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), an industry group formed to advance technology in this area, proposed a standard reference model for workflow technology with an express desire to seek a common platform for achieving workflow interoperation.

Enhanced integrated modelling approach to reconfiguring manufacturing enterprises

Dynamism and uncertainty are real challenges for present day manufacturing enterprises (MEs). Reasons include: an increasing demand for customisation, reduced time to market, shortened product life cycles and globalisation. MEs can reduce competitive pressure by becoming reconfigurable and change-capable. However, modern manufacturing philosophies, including agile and lean, must complement the application of reconfigurable manufacturing paradigms. Choosing and applying the best philosophies and techniques is very difficult as most MEs deploy complex and unique configurations of processes and resource systems, and seek economies of scope and scale in respect of changing and distinctive product flows. It follows that systematic methods of achieving model driven reconfiguration and interoperation of component based manufacturing systems are required to design, engineer and change future MEs. This thesis, titled Enhanced Integrated Modelling Approach to Reconfiguring Manufacturing Enterprises , introduces the development and prototyping a model-driven environment for the design, engineering, optimisation and control of the reconfiguration of MEs with an embedded capability to handle various types of change. The thesis describes a novel systematic approach, namely enhanced integrated modelling approach (EIMA), in which coherent sets of integrated models are created that facilitates the engineering of MEs especially their production planning and control (PPC) systems. The developed environment supports the engineering of common types of strategic, tactical and operational processes found in many MEs. The EIMA is centred on the ISO standardised CIMOSA process modelling approach. Early study led to the development of simulation models during which various CIMOSA shortcomings were observed, especially in its support for aspects of ME dynamism. A need was raised to structure and create semantically enriched models hence forming an enhanced integrated modelling environment. The thesis also presents three industrial case examples: (1) Ford Motor Company; (2) Bradgate Furniture Manufacturing Company; and (3) ACM Bearings Company. In order to understand the system prior to realisation of any PPC strategy, multiple process segments of any target organisation need to be modelled. Coherent multi-perspective case study models are presented that have facilitated process reengineering and associated resource system configuration. Such models have a capability to enable PPC decision making processes in support of the reconfiguration of MEs. During these case studies, capabilities of a number of software tools were exploited such as Arena®, Simul8®, Plant Simulation®, MS Visio®, and MS Excel®. Case study results demonstrated effectiveness of the concepts related to the EIMA. The research has resulted in new contributions to knowledge in terms of new understandings, concepts and methods in following ways: (1) a structured model driven integrated approach to the design, optimisation and control of future reconfiguration of MEs. The EIMA is an enriched and generic process modelling approach with capability to represent both static and dynamic aspects of an ME; and (2) example application cases showing benefits in terms of reduction in lead time, cost and resource load and in terms of improved responsiveness of processes and resource systems with a special focus on PPC; (3) identification and industrial application of a new key performance indicator (KPI) known as P3C the measuring and monitoring of which can aid in enhancing reconfigurability and responsiveness of MEs; and (4) an enriched modelling concept framework (E-MUNE) to capture requirements of static and dynamic aspects of MEs where the conceptual framework has the capability to be extended and modified according to the requirements. The thesis outlines key areas outlining a need for future research into integrated modelling approaches, interoperation and updating mechanisms of partial models in support of the reconfiguration of MEs.

一种基于信任度的自组安全互操作方法

提出了基于信任度的自组安全互操作方法,引入信任度描述自治域和用户正确参与协作的概率.自治域对用户的信任度由二者的直接交互经验以及其他域对用户的评价共同决定,满足信任策略要求的用户允许执行角色.用户的恶意历史行为将会降低其信任度,从而影响执行角色的范围.自治域对其他域的信任度由对用户的评价与直接经验的偏差根据加权主要算法反馈更新.自治域的恶意评价影响其推荐信息的可信程度.实验结果表明,该方法能够有效地抵御欺骗和恶意行为.

域间授权互操作研究综述

分布式系统安全是多域协作场景下的重要研究领域,近年来得到大力发展.在大多数实际的多域协作过程中,无论开发者还是管理者都不想完全摈弃已有的权限管理和访问控制体系,希望在授权开放性和系统改造代价间保持平衡和兼顾.域间授权互操作正是在这一背景下逐渐成为该领域具有代表性的研究方法.着力对域间互操作理论和技术的整体进展与演化进行细致梳理与剖析,从多维视角下对其进行归类比较,例如:根据域间协作架构划分,可分为松耦合协作模式和联邦式协作模式;根据安全检测实施方式划分,可分为基于协调中心的检测模式和无协调中心模式;根据互操作建模方式划分,主要包括基于管理行为的预前建立模式和基于请求驱动的实时建立模式;根据建立互操作采用的辅助技术划分,主要涉及基于信任、基于风险和基于语义等;根据策略整合所处的层面划分,可分为面向授权管理的策略集成和面向资源聚合的策略集成.针对若干典型方案,阐述其基本原理、适用场景,对技术特点和局限性给出较为深入的对比分析,在大量现有研究工作的基础上综述授权互操作发展的基本特点,归结展望了今后可能的研究趋势.

大规模多数据库系统的互操作机制

Sharing data among disparate databases has so far mostly been achieved through some form of ad-hoc schema integration. This approach becomes less tractable as the number of participating database increases. In this paper,we first present the primary problems to be resolved in large multidatabase systems and discuss the autonomy and heteroheneity of large multidatabase systems and then describe a coalition agent mechanism to implement large multidatabase systems interoperation.

实现多数据源集成与互操作的扩展视图方法

文中针对多数据源集成与互操作提出了一种扩展视图方法．其基本思想是：以扩展对象模型（ＥＯＭ）为理论基础，通过扩展视图方法实现对多种数据源中的数据（对象）进行多层抽象与封装，以此满足分布环境下不同层次的应用集成需求．文中还讨论了扩展对象模型（ＥＯＭ）、基于扩展视图方法的集成机制，并结合具体的实例给出了扩展视图方法的形式化描述。

分布计算环境中实现对象互操作的联邦交易模型

本文依据分布计算环境（ＤＣＥ）中所提供的目录服务并结合开放分布处理（ＯＤＰ）所提供的交易服务（ＴｒａｄｉｎｇＳｅｒｖｉｃｅｓ），提出了实现分布计算环境中对象互操作的联邦交易模型。给出了该交易模型在ＤＣＥ中的实现结构模型。

A reconfigurable component model using reflection

Providing a method of transparent communication and interoperation between distributed software is a requirement for many organisations and several standard and non-standard infrastructures exist for this purpose. Component models do more than just provide a plumbing mechanism for distributed applications, they provide a more controlled interoperation between components. There are very few component models however that have support for advanced dynamic reconfigurability. This paper describes a component model which provides controlled and constrained transparent communication and inter-operation between components in the form of a hierarchical component model. At the same time, the model contains support for advanced run-time reconfigurability of components. The process and benefits of designing a system using the presented model are discussed. A way in which reflective techniques and component frameworks can work together to produce dynamic adaptable systems is explained.

Using CORBA's advanced services to enhance the integrity of QoS management programmable networks

The development of wideband network services and the new network infrastructures to support them have placed much more requirements on current network management systems. Issues such as scalability, integrity and interoperability have become more important. Existing management systems are not flexible enough to support the provision of Quality of Service (QoS) in these dynamic environments. The concept of Programmable Networks has been proposed to address these requirements. Within this framework, CORBA is regarded as a middleware technology that can enable interoperation among the distributed entities founds in Programmable Networks. By using the basic CORBA environment in a heterogeneous network environment, a network manager is able to control remote Network Elements (NEs) in the same way it controls its local resources. Using this approach both the flexibility and intelligence of the overall network management can be improved. This paper proposes the use of two advanced features of CORBA to enhance the QoS management in a Programmable Network environment. The Transaction Service can be used to manage a set of tasks, whenever the management of elements in a network is correlated; and the Concurrency Service can be used to coordinate multiple accesses on the same network resources. It is also shown in this paper that proper use of CORBA can largely reduce the development and administration of network management applications.

Arquitectura e plataforma de Middleware para suporte de bibliotecas digitais distribuídas e ecléticas

O trabalho apresentado nesta dissertação teve por objectivo principal a concepção, modelação e desenvolvimento de uma plataforma de middleware que permitisse a integração de sistemas de informação, em todos os seus níveis (dados, lógico e apresentação), perfazendo uma federação de bibliotecas digitais distribuídas e ecléticas. Para este fim, foram estudadas as várias abordagens de modelação e organização das bibliotecas digitais, assim como os diversos sistemas e tecnologias de suporte existentes no momento inicial do trabalho. Compreendendo a existência de muitas lacunas ainda neste domínio, nomeadamente ao nível da interoperabilidade de sistemas heterogéneos e integração da semântica de metadados, decidiu-se proceder a um trabalho de investigação e desenvolvimento que pudesse apresentar eventuais soluções para o preenchimento de tais lacunas. Desta forma, surgem neste trabalho duas tecnologias, o XML e o Dublin Core, que servem de base a todas as restantes tecnologias usadas para a interoperabilidade e para a integração. Ainda utilizando estas tecnologias base, foram estudados e desenvolvidos meios simples, mas eficientes, de salvaguarda, indexação e pesquisa de informação, tentando manter a independência face aos grandes produtores de bases de dados, que só por si não resolvem alguns dos problemas mais críticos da investigação no domínio das bibliotecas digitais. ABSTRACT: The main objective of the work presented in this dissertation is the design, modulation and development of a middleware framework to allow information systems interoperability, in all their scope (data, logic and presentation), to accomplish a distributed and eclectic digital libraries federation. Several modulations and organizations were approached, and several support systems and technologies were studied. Understanding the existence of many gaps in this domain, namely in heterogeneous information systems interoperation and metadata semantic integration, it was decided to conduct a research and development work, which, eventually, could present some solutions to fill in these gaps. In this way, two technologies, XML and Dublin Core, appear to serve as the basis of all remaining technologies, to interoperate and to achieve semantic integration. Using yet these technologies, it was also studied and developed simple means, but efficient ones, to save, index and query information, preserving the independence from major data base producers, which by their selves don’t solve critical problems in the digital libraries research domain.

Ensemble: an innovative approach to practice computer programming

Currently, the teaching-learning process in domains, such as computer programming, is characterized by an extensive curricula and a high enrolment of students. This poses a great workload for faculty and teaching assistants responsible for the creation, delivery, and assessment of student exercises. The main goal of this chapter is to foster practice-based learning in complex domains. This objective is attained with an e-learning framework—called Ensemble—as a conceptual tool to organize and facilitate technical interoperability among services. The Ensemble framework is used on a specific domain: computer programming. Content issues are tacked with a standard format to describe programming exercises as learning objects. Communication is achieved with the extension of existing specifications for the interoperation with several systems typically found in an e-learning environment. In order to evaluate the acceptability of the proposed solution, an Ensemble instance was validated on a classroom experiment with encouraging results.