Pervasive service ecosystems are emerging as a new paradigm for understanding and designing future pervasive computing systems featuring high degrees of scale, openness, adaptivity and toleration of long-term evolution. A key issue in this context is making certain patterns of behaviour emerge without any supervision or design-time intention, and a primary example is the fully-spontaneous composition of services, possibly at multiple levels. We argue that this can be successfully achieved only by a comprehensive approach exploiting together the main ingredients proposed so far in literature: (i) existence of intel- ligent components finding proper (semantic) matches of service descriptions, (ii) use of distributed evolutionary techniques to dynamically select appropriate ways of composing services, and (iii) approaches in which rating quality of composition is solely based on their successful exploitation. This proposal is presented through an example of spontaneous composition in crowd steering services.
Self-organising pervasive ecosystems of devices are set to become a major vehicle for delivering infrastructure and end-user services. The inherent complexity of such systems poses new challenges to those who want to dominate it by applying the principles of engineering.
The recent growth in number and distribution of devices with decent computational and communicational abilities, that suddenly accelerated with the massive diffusion of smartphones and tablets, is delivering a world with a much higher density of devices in space. Also, communication technologies seem to be focussing on short-range device-to-device (P2P) interactions, with technologies such as Bluetooth and Near-Field Communication gaining greater adoption.
Locality and situatedness become key to providing the best possible experience to users, and the classic model of a centralised, enormously powerful server gathering and processing data becomes less and less efficient with device density. Accomplishing complex global tasks without a centralised controller responsible of aggregating data, however, is a challenging task. In particular, there is a local-to-global issue that makes the application of engineering principles challenging at least: designing device-local programs that, through interaction, guarantee a certain global service level. In this thesis, we first analyse the state of the art in coordination systems, then motivate the work by describing the main issues of pre-existing tools and practices and identifying the improvements that would benefit the design of such complex software ecosystems.
The contribution can be divided in three main branches. First, we introduce a novel simulation toolchain for pervasive ecosystems, designed for allowing good expressiveness still retaining high performance. Second, we leverage existing coordination models and patterns in order to create new spatial structures. Third, we introduce a novel language, based on the existing ``Field Calculus'' and integrated with the aforementioned toolchain, designed to be usable for practical aggregate programming.
Extending the Gillespie's Stochastic Simulation Algorithm for Integrating Dis...Danilo Pianini
Whereas Multi-Agent Based Simulation (MABS) is emerging as a reference approach for complex system simulation, the event-driven approach of Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) is the most used approach in the simulation mainstream.
In this talk, we elaborate on two intuitions: 1) event-based systems and multi-agent systems are amenable of a coherent interpretation within a unique conceptual framework; 2) integrating MABS and DES can lead to a more expressive and powerful simulation framework.
Accordingly, we propose a computational model integrating DES and MABS, based on an extension of the Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm.
Then, we discuss a case of a simulation platform (Alchemist) specifically targeted at such a kind of complex models, and show an example of urban crowd steering simulation.
Gradient-based Self-organisation Patterns of Anticipative AdaptationDanilo Pianini
The self-organisation Gradient pattern is known to be a key spatial data structure to make information local to its source become global knowledge, and to dynamically and adaptively steer agents to that source even in mobile and faulty environments – e.g. when obstacles unpredictably appear. In this paper we conceive new self-organisation mechanisms built upon this pattern to tackle anticipative adaptation. We ensure that the retrieval of a target of interest proactively reacts to locally-available information about future events, namely, the knowledge about future obstacles (e.g., expected jams or road interruption in a traffic control scenario) is used to emergently compute alternative and faster paths.
A Framework to Specify and Verify Computational Fields for Pervasive Computin...Danilo Pianini
Pervasive context-aware computing networks call for designing algorithms for information propagation and reconfiguration that promote self-adaptation, namely, which can guarantee – at least to a probabilistic extent – certain reliability and robustness properties in spite of unpredicted changes and conditions. The possibility of formally analyzing their properties is obviously an essential engineering requirement, calling for general-purpose models and tools. As proposed in recent works, several such algorithms can be modeled by the notion of computational field: a dynamically evolving spatial data structure mapping every node of the network to a data value. Based on this idea, as a contribution toward formally verifying properties of pervasive computing systems, in this article we propose a specification language to model computational fields, and a framework based on PRISM stochastic model checker explicitly targeted at supporting temporal property verification. By a number of pervasive computing examples, we show that the proposed approach can be effectively used for quantitative analysis of systems running on networks composed of hundreds of nodes.
From Engineer to Alchemist, There and Back Again: An Alchemist TaleDanilo Pianini
When computer science meets (bio)chemistry, a new world of possibilities emerges. Taking inspiration from mechanisms that exist in nature, and empowering them with the magic of computation, engineers become alchemists: they create new worlds, ruled by their own (bio)chemical rules. We will call such virtual worlds"computational ecosystems". In this talk we introduce Alchemist, a simulator developed by our research group in order to let us experiment with this complexity. Alchemist takes inspiration from chemical simulators and ABMs, trying to grab the best of both worlds by providing a fast, reliable and extensible framework. We will have a flyby of the simulator features, showing some case studies: crowd steering, crowd evacuation, morphogenesis, anticipative adaptation. The final part of the talk will frame the future activities, offering a pool of opportunities to those interested in this research area
Simulating Large-scale Aggregate MASs with Alchemist and ScalaDanilo Pianini
Recent works in the context of large-scale adaptive systems, such as those based on opportunistic IoT-based applications, promote aggregate programming, a development approach for distributed systems in which the collectivity of devices is directly targeted, instead of individual ones.
This makes the resulting behaviour highly insensitive to network size, density, and topology, and as such, intrinsically robust to failures and changes to working conditions (e.g., location of computational load, communication technology, and computational infrastructure).
Most specifically, we argue that aggregate programming is particularly suitable for building models and simulations of complex large-scale reactive MASs.
Accordingly, in this paper we describe Scafi (Scala Fields), a Scala-based API and DSL for aggregate programming, and its integration with the Alchemist simulator, and usage scenarios in the context of smart mobility.
Simulation video available at https://vid.me/BNVx
Presented at Multi Agent Systems & Simulation 2016, Gdansk, Poland
Self-organising pervasive ecosystems of devices are set to become a major vehicle for delivering infrastructure and end-user services. The inherent complexity of such systems poses new challenges to those who want to dominate it by applying the principles of engineering.
The recent growth in number and distribution of devices with decent computational and communicational abilities, that suddenly accelerated with the massive diffusion of smartphones and tablets, is delivering a world with a much higher density of devices in space. Also, communication technologies seem to be focussing on short-range device-to-device (P2P) interactions, with technologies such as Bluetooth and Near-Field Communication gaining greater adoption.
Locality and situatedness become key to providing the best possible experience to users, and the classic model of a centralised, enormously powerful server gathering and processing data becomes less and less efficient with device density. Accomplishing complex global tasks without a centralised controller responsible of aggregating data, however, is a challenging task. In particular, there is a local-to-global issue that makes the application of engineering principles challenging at least: designing device-local programs that, through interaction, guarantee a certain global service level. In this thesis, we first analyse the state of the art in coordination systems, then motivate the work by describing the main issues of pre-existing tools and practices and identifying the improvements that would benefit the design of such complex software ecosystems.
The contribution can be divided in three main branches. First, we introduce a novel simulation toolchain for pervasive ecosystems, designed for allowing good expressiveness still retaining high performance. Second, we leverage existing coordination models and patterns in order to create new spatial structures. Third, we introduce a novel language, based on the existing ``Field Calculus'' and integrated with the aforementioned toolchain, designed to be usable for practical aggregate programming.
Extending the Gillespie's Stochastic Simulation Algorithm for Integrating Dis...Danilo Pianini
Whereas Multi-Agent Based Simulation (MABS) is emerging as a reference approach for complex system simulation, the event-driven approach of Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) is the most used approach in the simulation mainstream.
In this talk, we elaborate on two intuitions: 1) event-based systems and multi-agent systems are amenable of a coherent interpretation within a unique conceptual framework; 2) integrating MABS and DES can lead to a more expressive and powerful simulation framework.
Accordingly, we propose a computational model integrating DES and MABS, based on an extension of the Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm.
Then, we discuss a case of a simulation platform (Alchemist) specifically targeted at such a kind of complex models, and show an example of urban crowd steering simulation.
Gradient-based Self-organisation Patterns of Anticipative AdaptationDanilo Pianini
The self-organisation Gradient pattern is known to be a key spatial data structure to make information local to its source become global knowledge, and to dynamically and adaptively steer agents to that source even in mobile and faulty environments – e.g. when obstacles unpredictably appear. In this paper we conceive new self-organisation mechanisms built upon this pattern to tackle anticipative adaptation. We ensure that the retrieval of a target of interest proactively reacts to locally-available information about future events, namely, the knowledge about future obstacles (e.g., expected jams or road interruption in a traffic control scenario) is used to emergently compute alternative and faster paths.
A Framework to Specify and Verify Computational Fields for Pervasive Computin...Danilo Pianini
Pervasive context-aware computing networks call for designing algorithms for information propagation and reconfiguration that promote self-adaptation, namely, which can guarantee – at least to a probabilistic extent – certain reliability and robustness properties in spite of unpredicted changes and conditions. The possibility of formally analyzing their properties is obviously an essential engineering requirement, calling for general-purpose models and tools. As proposed in recent works, several such algorithms can be modeled by the notion of computational field: a dynamically evolving spatial data structure mapping every node of the network to a data value. Based on this idea, as a contribution toward formally verifying properties of pervasive computing systems, in this article we propose a specification language to model computational fields, and a framework based on PRISM stochastic model checker explicitly targeted at supporting temporal property verification. By a number of pervasive computing examples, we show that the proposed approach can be effectively used for quantitative analysis of systems running on networks composed of hundreds of nodes.
From Engineer to Alchemist, There and Back Again: An Alchemist TaleDanilo Pianini
When computer science meets (bio)chemistry, a new world of possibilities emerges. Taking inspiration from mechanisms that exist in nature, and empowering them with the magic of computation, engineers become alchemists: they create new worlds, ruled by their own (bio)chemical rules. We will call such virtual worlds"computational ecosystems". In this talk we introduce Alchemist, a simulator developed by our research group in order to let us experiment with this complexity. Alchemist takes inspiration from chemical simulators and ABMs, trying to grab the best of both worlds by providing a fast, reliable and extensible framework. We will have a flyby of the simulator features, showing some case studies: crowd steering, crowd evacuation, morphogenesis, anticipative adaptation. The final part of the talk will frame the future activities, offering a pool of opportunities to those interested in this research area
Simulating Large-scale Aggregate MASs with Alchemist and ScalaDanilo Pianini
Recent works in the context of large-scale adaptive systems, such as those based on opportunistic IoT-based applications, promote aggregate programming, a development approach for distributed systems in which the collectivity of devices is directly targeted, instead of individual ones.
This makes the resulting behaviour highly insensitive to network size, density, and topology, and as such, intrinsically robust to failures and changes to working conditions (e.g., location of computational load, communication technology, and computational infrastructure).
Most specifically, we argue that aggregate programming is particularly suitable for building models and simulations of complex large-scale reactive MASs.
Accordingly, in this paper we describe Scafi (Scala Fields), a Scala-based API and DSL for aggregate programming, and its integration with the Alchemist simulator, and usage scenarios in the context of smart mobility.
Simulation video available at https://vid.me/BNVx
Presented at Multi Agent Systems & Simulation 2016, Gdansk, Poland
A quick guide through the wonders of dependency management, build automation, teamwork with distributed version control systems, and continuous integration.
Engineering computational ecosystems (2nd year PhD seminar)Danilo Pianini
This tutorial will introduce the research field of pervasive computing, with particular focus on spatial computing and pervasive ecosystems. It will show the applicative domain with a focus on pervasive displays, analysing the main challenges such systems present to software engineers. It will also show how relevant is the role of the simulation and properties checking in this area, in which a complete system deployment prior to release is almost impossible.
The notion of a computational field has been proposed as a unifying abstraction for developing distributed systems, focusing on the computations and coordination of aggregates of devices instead of individual behavior. Prior field-based languages, however, have suffered from a number of practical limitations that have posed barriers to adoption and use. We address these limitations by introduction of Protelis, a functional language based on computational fields and embedded in Java, thereby enabling the construction of widely reusable components of aggregate systems. We demonstrate the simplicity of Protelis integration and programming through two examples: simulation of a pervasive computing scenario in the Alchemist simulator, and coordinated management of a network of services.
Democratic process and electronic platforms: concerns of an engineerDanilo Pianini
Digital technology and computer science are more and more widespread, and they are set to become a major player in the democratic process. Some valuable tools that allow for such decision process to happen already exist. However, several concerns typical of the engineering process remain apparently uncovered. For instance, in a classic software engineering process, one or more artifacts are produced in the analysis phase that represent a formal, possibly machine understandable, model of the domain. Looking at the most common e-democracy platforms, this step is seemingly missing, along with others that concur at building a solid engineering process. This talk arise questions (and provide no answers) about the current status of the e-democracy under a software engineering point of view: how can a democratic process get formally modeled? Is the democratic process shaping the tools we have, or viceversa? Is there a trade-off between transparency and security? And if so, how to determine which level of observability should the system allow?
Big data analytics for smart and sustainable city galwayLaura Po
Talk at Institute meeting NUI Galway
Laura Po - Associate Professor @ University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - laura.po@unimore.it
Federica Rollo - PhD Student @ University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - federica.rollo@unimore.it
This paper presents our approach to collaborative and semiautomated
semantic structuring of folksonomies. Tags freely provided by users of online communities are not semantically
linked, and this hinders signicantly the potentials for browsing and exploring these data. We propose a sociotechnical
system combining automatic handlings of tags, using state of the art algorithm, and user friendly interfaces designed after a careful analysis of the usage of our target
communities. Much like folksonomies, our socio-technical system lets each user maintain his own view while still bene
ting from others contributions. As a complement to similar approaches, our approach supports conflicting point of
views all along the life-cycle of semantically enriched folksonomies.
A Survey on the Specification of the Physical Environment of Wireless Sensor...Ivano Malavolta
28th August 2014. My presentation at SEAA 2014 (http://esd.scienze.univr.it/dsd-seaa-2014) about our survey on
the specification of the physical environment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs).
Accompanying paper: TO APPEAR
Abstract:
A wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed sensor nodes that cooperate in order to accomplish a specific task. What really sets WSNs apart from all the other kinds of distributed systems is the limited processing capabilities of the nodes, contingent energy restrictions, and their strict dependence to physical phenomena like attenuation, reflection, etc. Under this perspective, the physical environment in which WSN nodes are deployed strongly affects the overall quality of the system. Under this perspective, how WSN engineers currently specify the physical environment and how they would like to do it? This paper presents a survey we run by interviewing WSN engineers with a special focus on their practical needs and activities.
By analyzing the collected data, we can conclude that: a) a good number of practitioners describing the physical environment do it by GIS software or informally, b) practitioners not specifying the physical environment do not see a clear return on investment on doing it, c) practitioners rate as (definitely) useful a potential tool for deploying WSN nodes on a virtually specified physical environment.
Description and Composition of Bio-Inspired Design Patterns: The Gradient CaseFernandez-Marquez
3rd Workshop on Bio-Inspired and Self-* Algorithms for Distributed Systems. Slides of the presentation: Description and Composition of Bio-Inspired Design Patterns: The Gradient Case
"Spatial simulation of complex adaptive systems: why “agents” only cannot do the job"
Arnaud Banos, Visiting Professorial Fellow presented a summary of his research as part of the SMART Seminar Series on 23 September 2016.
For more information, visit the event page at: http://smart.uow.edu.au/events/UOW221450.html
ICSME 2016 keynote: An ecosystemic and socio-technical view on software maint...Tom Mens
These are the slides of my ICSME 2016 keynote, presented on 5 October 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I focus on the difficulties of maintaining and evolving software ecosystems, large collections of interacting software components that are maintained by a large and active community of contributors and that evolve together in the same environment. Software ecosystems are becoming ubiquitous due to the omnipresence of open source software. I present several problems that arise during maintenance and evolution of software ecosystems, and I argue how some of these challenges should be addressed by adopting a socio-technical view and by relying on a multidisciplinary and mixed methods research approach. I illustrate this with examples of social network analysis, complex systems research, ecological biodiversity, and survival analysis.
Compositional Blocks for Optimal Self-Healing GradientsRoberto Casadei
This papers revises the state-of-art in gradient computations, provides an evaluation of the performance of different gradient algorithms, presents a new algorithm with multi-path speed optimality, and shows how different techniques and algorithms can be used together to come up with a new optimal gradient implementation.
DSD-INT 2019 Modelling in DANUBIUS-RI-BellafioreDeltares
Presentation by Debora Bellafiore (ISMAR, Italy), at the DANUBIUS Modelling Workshop, during Delft Software Days - Edition 2019. Friday, 8 November 2019, Delft.
A quick guide through the wonders of dependency management, build automation, teamwork with distributed version control systems, and continuous integration.
Engineering computational ecosystems (2nd year PhD seminar)Danilo Pianini
This tutorial will introduce the research field of pervasive computing, with particular focus on spatial computing and pervasive ecosystems. It will show the applicative domain with a focus on pervasive displays, analysing the main challenges such systems present to software engineers. It will also show how relevant is the role of the simulation and properties checking in this area, in which a complete system deployment prior to release is almost impossible.
The notion of a computational field has been proposed as a unifying abstraction for developing distributed systems, focusing on the computations and coordination of aggregates of devices instead of individual behavior. Prior field-based languages, however, have suffered from a number of practical limitations that have posed barriers to adoption and use. We address these limitations by introduction of Protelis, a functional language based on computational fields and embedded in Java, thereby enabling the construction of widely reusable components of aggregate systems. We demonstrate the simplicity of Protelis integration and programming through two examples: simulation of a pervasive computing scenario in the Alchemist simulator, and coordinated management of a network of services.
Democratic process and electronic platforms: concerns of an engineerDanilo Pianini
Digital technology and computer science are more and more widespread, and they are set to become a major player in the democratic process. Some valuable tools that allow for such decision process to happen already exist. However, several concerns typical of the engineering process remain apparently uncovered. For instance, in a classic software engineering process, one or more artifacts are produced in the analysis phase that represent a formal, possibly machine understandable, model of the domain. Looking at the most common e-democracy platforms, this step is seemingly missing, along with others that concur at building a solid engineering process. This talk arise questions (and provide no answers) about the current status of the e-democracy under a software engineering point of view: how can a democratic process get formally modeled? Is the democratic process shaping the tools we have, or viceversa? Is there a trade-off between transparency and security? And if so, how to determine which level of observability should the system allow?
Big data analytics for smart and sustainable city galwayLaura Po
Talk at Institute meeting NUI Galway
Laura Po - Associate Professor @ University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - laura.po@unimore.it
Federica Rollo - PhD Student @ University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - federica.rollo@unimore.it
This paper presents our approach to collaborative and semiautomated
semantic structuring of folksonomies. Tags freely provided by users of online communities are not semantically
linked, and this hinders signicantly the potentials for browsing and exploring these data. We propose a sociotechnical
system combining automatic handlings of tags, using state of the art algorithm, and user friendly interfaces designed after a careful analysis of the usage of our target
communities. Much like folksonomies, our socio-technical system lets each user maintain his own view while still bene
ting from others contributions. As a complement to similar approaches, our approach supports conflicting point of
views all along the life-cycle of semantically enriched folksonomies.
A Survey on the Specification of the Physical Environment of Wireless Sensor...Ivano Malavolta
28th August 2014. My presentation at SEAA 2014 (http://esd.scienze.univr.it/dsd-seaa-2014) about our survey on
the specification of the physical environment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs).
Accompanying paper: TO APPEAR
Abstract:
A wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed sensor nodes that cooperate in order to accomplish a specific task. What really sets WSNs apart from all the other kinds of distributed systems is the limited processing capabilities of the nodes, contingent energy restrictions, and their strict dependence to physical phenomena like attenuation, reflection, etc. Under this perspective, the physical environment in which WSN nodes are deployed strongly affects the overall quality of the system. Under this perspective, how WSN engineers currently specify the physical environment and how they would like to do it? This paper presents a survey we run by interviewing WSN engineers with a special focus on their practical needs and activities.
By analyzing the collected data, we can conclude that: a) a good number of practitioners describing the physical environment do it by GIS software or informally, b) practitioners not specifying the physical environment do not see a clear return on investment on doing it, c) practitioners rate as (definitely) useful a potential tool for deploying WSN nodes on a virtually specified physical environment.
Description and Composition of Bio-Inspired Design Patterns: The Gradient CaseFernandez-Marquez
3rd Workshop on Bio-Inspired and Self-* Algorithms for Distributed Systems. Slides of the presentation: Description and Composition of Bio-Inspired Design Patterns: The Gradient Case
"Spatial simulation of complex adaptive systems: why “agents” only cannot do the job"
Arnaud Banos, Visiting Professorial Fellow presented a summary of his research as part of the SMART Seminar Series on 23 September 2016.
For more information, visit the event page at: http://smart.uow.edu.au/events/UOW221450.html
ICSME 2016 keynote: An ecosystemic and socio-technical view on software maint...Tom Mens
These are the slides of my ICSME 2016 keynote, presented on 5 October 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I focus on the difficulties of maintaining and evolving software ecosystems, large collections of interacting software components that are maintained by a large and active community of contributors and that evolve together in the same environment. Software ecosystems are becoming ubiquitous due to the omnipresence of open source software. I present several problems that arise during maintenance and evolution of software ecosystems, and I argue how some of these challenges should be addressed by adopting a socio-technical view and by relying on a multidisciplinary and mixed methods research approach. I illustrate this with examples of social network analysis, complex systems research, ecological biodiversity, and survival analysis.
Compositional Blocks for Optimal Self-Healing GradientsRoberto Casadei
This papers revises the state-of-art in gradient computations, provides an evaluation of the performance of different gradient algorithms, presents a new algorithm with multi-path speed optimality, and shows how different techniques and algorithms can be used together to come up with a new optimal gradient implementation.
DSD-INT 2019 Modelling in DANUBIUS-RI-BellafioreDeltares
Presentation by Debora Bellafiore (ISMAR, Italy), at the DANUBIUS Modelling Workshop, during Delft Software Days - Edition 2019. Friday, 8 November 2019, Delft.
Web version (better rendering): https://danysk.github.io/Slides-2020-Coordination-TimeFluid/
Printed version of the slides presented by Danilo Pianini at the 22nd International Conference on Coordination Models and Languages (part of the 15th International Federated Conference on Distributed Computing Techniques)
Engineering the Aggregate - Talk at Software Engineering for Intelligent and ...Danilo Pianini
A distributed system can be seen as a single computational machine rather than a collection of multiple communicating machines, as it is usually perceived. Reasoning on the aggregate of situated devices under this privileged point of view can lead to interesting engineering solutions that allow for abstracting away the networking protocols, and focusing on producing advanced, self-stabilizing coordination algorithms.
Productive parallel teamwork: Decentralized Version Control SystemsDanilo Pianini
How to productively use git (or another decentralized version control system) in your development team. From the PhD course in "Developing, maintaining, and sharing software tools for research".
Computational Fields meet Augmented Reality: Perspectives and ChallengesDanilo Pianini
Recently, two different techniques emerged that are tailored to environments pervaded of computational devices. On the one hand, aggregate programming, and especially computational fields-based programming, is a promising abstraction for coordinating the activities of multiple situated devices. On the other hand, augmented reality is emerging as new means of interaction with both software and physical entities. We note that both computational fields and augmented reality are tightly bound to the physical world, and that they both enrich it, with collective computation and augmented information respectively. This work presents an initial analysis of possible future research directions that involve these techniques, discussing some possible ways of integrating them.
Practical Aggregate Programming with Protelis @ SASO2017Danilo Pianini
Collective adaptive systems are an emerging class of networked and situated computational systems with a wide range of applications, such as in the Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks, and smart cities.
Engineering such systems poses a number of challenges, and in particular many approaches, based upon designing the machine-to-machine interaction directly, suffer from a local-to-global abstraction problem.
In this tutorial, we introduce the aggregate computing approach, rooted in the field calculus and practically available through the Protelis programming language, as a means to build collective, situated adaptive systems.
The approach focuses on programming the overall aggregate behaviour, making use of a ``resilience API,'' while leaving to these libraries and the language machinery the responsibility of mapping this to the behavior of individual devices.
This tutorial was first presented at the 11th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2017) in Tucson, AZ, USA.
Towards a Foundational API for Resilient Distributed Systems DesignDanilo Pianini
Engineering resilient distributed systems remains extremely challenging, particularly in mapping from collective specifications to individual device behavior. Aggregate programming aims to address this problem using a computational field abstraction to provide inherent guarantees of resilience, scalability, and safe composition. These capabilities are provided, however, by an expressive but terse set of operators too low-level for pragmatic use in complex systems development. We thus present an API to raise the level of abstraction, thereby providing an accessible and user-friendly interface for construction of complex resilient distributed systems. In particular, we capture and organize a large, heterogeneous collection of algorithms and use patterns into a unified framework, including methods for common tasks such as leader election, distance and state estimation, and gossip-based information dissemination. We demonstrate how the expressiveness of this library reduces the abstraction gap required to engineer scenarios of large-scale pervasive computing, while introducing the novel multiInstance pattern enabling an unanticipated composition of computational fields.
A quick guide through the wonders of teamwork with distributed version control systems, dependency management, build automation, and continuous integration and delivery.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Future of Agility: Supercharging Digital Transfor...Neo4j
Leonard Jayamohan, Partner & Generative AI Lead, Deloitte
This keynote will reveal how Deloitte leverages Neo4j’s graph power for groundbreaking digital twin solutions, achieving a staggering 100x performance boost. Discover the essential role knowledge graphs play in successful generative AI implementations. Plus, get an exclusive look at an innovative Neo4j + Generative AI solution Deloitte is developing in-house.
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Art of the Possible with Graph - Q2 2024Neo4j
Neha Bajwa, Vice President of Product Marketing, Neo4j
Join us as we explore breakthrough innovations enabled by interconnected data and AI. Discover firsthand how organizations use relationships in data to uncover contextual insights and solve our most pressing challenges – from optimizing supply chains, detecting fraud, and improving customer experiences to accelerating drug discoveries.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
Discover how Standard Chartered Bank harnessed the power of Neo4j to transform complex data access challenges into a dynamic, scalable graph database solution. This keynote will cover their journey from initial adoption to deploying a fully automated, enterprise-grade causal cluster, highlighting key strategies for modelling organisational changes and ensuring robust disaster recovery. Learn how these innovations have not only enhanced Standard Chartered Bank’s data infrastructure but also positioned them as pioneers in the banking sector’s adoption of graph technology.
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Towards a comprehensive approach to spontaneous self-composition in pervasive ecosystems
1. Towards a comprehensive approach to spontaneous
self-composition in pervasive ecosystems
Sara Montagna Mirko Viroli Danilo Pianini Jose Luis Fernandez-Marquez
Email: sara.montagna@unibo.it
`
A LMA M ATER S TUDIORUM—Universita di Bologna a Cesena
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Undicesimo Workshop Nazionale “Dagli Oggetti agli Agenti”
(WOA’12)
Milano-Bicocca, Italy, 17-19 September 2012
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 1 / 22
2. 1 A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
2 The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
3 Gradient self-compositions
4 Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 2 / 22
3. A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
Outline
1 A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
2 The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
3 Gradient self-compositions
4 Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 3 / 22
4. A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
Pervasive service ecosystems [VPMS12]
SAPERE Vision
Mobile devices, people, software services, data, events
Individuals
Self-organisation enacted at the system level
High degrees of
scale
openness
adaptivity
toleration of long-term evolution
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 4 / 22
5. A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
Abstract Architecture
Figure : An architectural view of a pervasive ecosystem.
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 5 / 22
6. A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
Live semantic annotations
Basic block of semantic chemistry
A unified description for every entity
A unique LSA-id plus a semantic description (SD)
RDF-inspired set of multi-valued properties
Contains everything is needed for describing the entity
Example: gradient source annotation
:id314 mid:#loc :loc117; sos:type sos:source;
sos:step "0"; sos:sourceid "341AB2"
sos:aggr_prop sos:sourceid;
sos:r_diff "10"; sos:r_ctx "100"
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 6 / 22
7. A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
Eco-Laws
Language of semantic chemistry
Chemical rules over LSA templates
P+...+P --r--> Q+...+Q
Constrained variables written ?V(filter)
Check for presence “+”, absence “-” or unique existence “=”
They can diffuse an LSA in the neighborhood
They can aggregate LSAs like in chemical bonding
Example: source pump
?SOURCE sos:type sos:source; sos:aggr_prop ?P; sos:step ?T; sos:r_diff ?R
--?R-->
?SOURCE sos:step =(?T+1) + ?GRAD(?GRAD clones ?SOURCE)
sos:type -sos:source sos:diff sos:aggr; sos:dist "0"; sos:orientation "here"
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 7 / 22
8. The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
Outline
1 A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
2 The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
3 Gradient self-compositions
4 Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 8 / 22
9. The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
Self-Composition
Key issue
Patterns of behaviour emerge without any supervision
Example: fully-spontaneous composition of services, possibly at
multiple levels
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 9 / 22
10. The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
Some self-composition issues
Composition of services not explicitly designed to coordinate
Composition of “compatible” services
Creation of “meaningful” services
Context awareness
Multi-level composition
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 10 / 22
11. The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
Self-composition in service ecosystems
Composition of services in literature
1 Service Composition in SOA – advanced semantic matching
2 Evolutionary techniques
3 Competition-based approaches
All the above, altogether
1 Choice of the services to compose
2 Pre-selection of “promising” compositions
3 Fine parameter tuning
4 Service evaluation metrics
5 Best services must be promoted
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 11 / 22
12. Gradient self-compositions
Outline
1 A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
2 The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
3 Gradient self-compositions
4 Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 12 / 22
13. Gradient self-compositions
Paradigmatic Example: Crowd Steering
Goal and requirements
Guide people towards POIs
POIs chosen with respect to people’s interests
Avoiding obstacles (incl. crowds)
no supervision
Scenario
A museum with a dense network of sensor nodes
Sensing of the presence of nearby visitors
Computation abilities
Visitors own smartphone devices holding their preferences
Services available
Gradient service
Those provided by sensors (e.g., crowd detection service)
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 13 / 22
14. Gradient self-compositions
A Prototype Solution for Gradient Composition
Composition “composition recommender” agents computing all the
available compositions
Contextualisation Gradients are contextualised
Feedback Users public their “satisfaction” once they used the service
Choice Users tend to prefer lower distance and higher satisfaction
Evaporation Satisfaction fades with time
Evolution Parameters tuning by agents using evolutionary techniques
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 14 / 22
15. Gradient self-compositions
Eco-Laws for Gradient
[PUMP]: An annotation of type source continuously injects the initial gradient annotation
?SOURCE sos:type sos:source; sos:aggr_prop ?P; sos:step ?T; sos:r_diff ?R; sos:r_ctx ?RC
--?R-->
?SOURCE sos:step =(?T+1) +
?GRAD(?GRAD clones ?SOURCE) sos:type -sos:source sos:diff sos:aggr; sos:dist "0"; sos:orientation "here"
[DIFF] A gradient annotation is cloned in a neighbour, with distance increased and updated orientation
?GRAD sos:type sos:diff; sos:dist ?D; sos:r_diff ?R +
?NEIGH mid:type mid:#neigh; mid:remote ?L; mid:orientation ?O; mid:distance ?D2
--?R-->
?GRAD + ?NEIGH +
?GRAD1(?GRAD1 clones ?GRAD) sos:type -sos:diff sos:ctx; sos:dist =(?D+?D2); sos:orient =?O; mid:#loc ?L
[CTX] A contextualising annotation is transformed back into an annotation to be diffused
?GRAD sos:type sos:ctx; sos:r_ctx ?RC --?RC-> ?GRAD sos:type sos:-ctx sos:diff;
[YOUNGEST] Of two annotations the one with newest information is kept
?ANN1 sos:type sos:aggr; sos:aggr_prop ?P; ?P =[?C]; sos:step ?T1 +
?ANN2 sos:type sos:aggr; sos:aggr_prop ?P2; ?P2 =[?C]; sos:step ?T2(?T2<?T1)
--->
?ANN1
[SHORTEST] Of two annotations the one with shortest distance from source is kept
?ANN1 sos:type sos:aggr; sos:aggr_prop ?P; ?P =[?C]; sos:dist ?D1; sos:step ?T +
?ANN2 sos:type sos:aggr; sos:aggr_prop ?P2; ?P2 =[?C]; sos:dist ?D2(?D2>=?D1); sos:step ?T
--->
?ANN1
[DECAY] An annotation decays
?GRA sos:type sos:diff; sos:r_dec ?RD --?RD-> 0
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 15 / 22
16. Gradient self-compositions
Eco-Laws for Gradient Composition
[COMPOSITION] The gradient source is composed with the crowd service
?SOURCE sos:type sos:source; scm:satisfaction ?S + ?CROWD scm:type crowd; crowd:level ?CL
--->
?SOURCE + ?CSOURCE(?CSOURCE clones ?SOURCE) scm:property sos:dist;
scm:parameters scm:crowd_op ?CF; scm:crowd_op ?CF*?CL
[CONTEXTUALISATION] If sensors perceive crowd, the gradient distance is augmented
?GRAD sos:type sos ctx; sos:dist ?D; scm:property sos:dist;
scm:parameters scm:crowd_op scm:crowd_factor; scm:crowd_factor ?CF; scm:crowd_op ?CF*?CL +
?CROWD scm:type crowd; crowd:level ?CL
--->
?CROWD + ?GRAD sos:type -sos:ctx sos:diff; sos:dist =(?D+?CF*?CL)
[FEEDBACK] Feedbacks are used to update the satisfaction values
?FEEDBACK scm:parameters scm:crowd_op; scm:feedback scm:velocity; scm:velocity ?V +
?GRAD scm:satisfaction ?S; scm:parameters scm:crowd_op
--->
?GRAD scm:satisfaction =(?S+?V)
[EVAPORATION] The gradient satisfaction value gets decreased
?GRAD scm:satisfaction ?S; scm:factor_ev ?FE; scm:r_ev ?RE
--?RE->
?GRAD scm:satisfaction =(?FE*?S)
[DECAY] If the gradient satisfaction value becomes zero that composition is removed
?GRAD scm:satisfaction "0";
--->
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 16 / 22
17. Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Outline
1 A comprehensive approach for pervasive ecosystems
2 The self-composition issue in pervasive service ecosystems
3 Gradient self-compositions
4 Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 17 / 22
18. Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Simulation as a proof of concepts
Conducted using A LCHEMIST [PMV11]
Early experiments on gradient composition with crowd level
Different compositions with different crowd relevance
different composite gradients
Satisfaction value measures the time to POI
Users choose one gradient considering distance and satisfaction
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 18 / 22
19. Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Simulation Results I
Figure : Satisfaction values for different compositions changing over time.
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 19 / 22
20. Towards simulation of gradient self-compositions
Simulation Results II
Figure : Satisfaction values for different compositions changing over time.
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 20 / 22
21. References
References I
Danilo Pianini, Sara Montagna, and Mirko Viroli.
A chemical inspired simulation framework for pervasive services ecosystems.
In Proceedings of the Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information
Systems, pages 675–682. IEEE Computer Society Press, 2011.
Mirko Viroli, Danilo Pianini, Sara Montagna, and Graeme Stevenson.
Pervasive ecosystems: a coordination model based on semantic chemistry.
In 27th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2012), pages 295–302. ACM,
2012.
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 21 / 22
22. References
Towards a comprehensive approach to spontaneous
self-composition in pervasive ecosystems
Sara Montagna Mirko Viroli Danilo Pianini Jose Luis Fernandez-Marquez
Email: sara.montagna@unibo.it
`
A LMA M ATER S TUDIORUM—Universita di Bologna a Cesena
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Undicesimo Workshop Nazionale “Dagli Oggetti agli Agenti”
(WOA’12)
Milano-Bicocca, Italy, 17-19 September 2012
Montagna et al. (UniBo/UniGe) Self-composition of services WOA’12 22 / 22