Using the event calculus for tracking the normative state of contracts

In this work, we have been principally concerned with the representation of contracts so that their normative state may be tracked in an automated fashion over their deployment lifetime. The normative state of a contract, at a particular time, is the aggregation of instances of normative relations that hold between contract parties at that time, plus the current values of contract variables. The effects of contract events on the normative state of a contract are specified using an XML formalisation of the Event Calculus, called ecXML. We use an example mail service agreement from the domain of web services to ground the discussion of our work. We give a characterisation of the agreement according to the normative concepts of: obligation, power and permission, and show how the ecXML representation may be used to track the state of the agreement, according to a narrative of contract events. We also give a description of a state tracking architecture, and a contract deployment tool, both of which have been implemented in the course of our work.

Transparently Mixing Undo Logs and Software Reversibility for State Recovery in Optimistic PDES

The rollback operation is a fundamental building block to support the correct execution of a speculative Time Warp-based Parallel Discrete Event Simulation. In the literature, several solutions to reduce the execution cost of this operation have been proposed, either based on the creation of a checkpoint of previous simulation state images, or on the execution of negative copies of simulation events which are able to undo the updates on the state. In this paper, we explore the practical design and implementation of a state recoverability technique which allows to restore a previous simulation state either relying on checkpointing or on the reverse execution of the state updates occurred while processing events in forward mode. Differently from other proposals, we address the issue of executing backward updates in a fully-transparent and event granularity-independent way, by relying on static software instrumentation (targeting the x86 architecture and Linux systems) to generate at runtime reverse update code blocks (not to be confused with reverse events, proper of the reverse computing approach). These are able to undo the effects of a forward execution while minimizing the cost of the undo operation. We also present experimental results related to our implementation, which is released as free software and fully integrated into the open source ROOT-Sim (ROme OpTimistic Simulator) package. The experimental data support the viability and effectiveness of our proposal

Sentiment and behaviour annotation in a corpus of dialogue summaries

This paper proposes a scheme for sentiment annotation. We show how the task can be made tractable by focusing on one of the many aspects of sentiment: sentiment as it is recorded in behaviour reports of people and their interactions. Together with a number of measures for supporting the reliable application of the scheme, this allows us to obtain sufficient to good agreement scores (in terms of Krippendorf's alpha) on three key dimensions: polarity, evaluated party and type of clause. Evaluation of the scheme is carried out through the annotation of an existing corpus of dialogue summaries (in English and Portuguese) by nine annotators. Our contribution to the field is twofold: (i) a reliable multi-dimensional annotation scheme for sentiment in behaviour reports; and (ii) an annotated corpus that was used for testing the reliability of the scheme and which is made available to the research community

Search based software engineering: Trends, techniques and applications

© ACM, 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version is available from the link below.In the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in work on Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE), an approach to Software Engineering (SE) in which Search-Based Optimization (SBO) algorithms are used to address problems in SE. SBSE has been applied to problems throughout the SE lifecycle, from requirements and project planning to maintenance and reengineering. The approach is attractive because it offers a suite of adaptive automated and semiautomated solutions in situations typified by large complex problem spaces with multiple competing and conflicting objectives. This article provides a review and classification of literature on SBSE. The work identifies research trends and relationships between the techniques applied and the applications to which they have been applied and highlights gaps in the literature and avenues for further research.EPSRC and E

Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments

The field of shared virtual environments, which also encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model

Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Social Information Retrieval for Technology-Enhanced Learning

Learning and teaching resource are available on the Web - both in terms of digital learning content and people resources (e.g. other learners, experts, tutors). They can be used to facilitate teaching and learning tasks. The remaining challenge is to develop, deploy and evaluate Social information retrieval (SIR) methods, techniques and systems that provide learners and teachers with guidance in potentially overwhelming variety of choices. The aim of the SIRTEL’09 workshop is to look onward beyond recent achievements to discuss specific topics, emerging research issues, new trends and endeavors in SIR for TEL. The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to present, and more importantly, to discuss the current status of research in SIR and TEL and its implications for science and teaching

Coding as literacy in preschool: a case study

Coding is increasingly recognized as a new literacy that should be encouraged at a young age. This understanding has recontextualized computer science as a compulsory school subject and has informed several developmentally appropriate approaches to computation, including for preschool children. This study focuses on the introduction of three approaches to computation in preschool (3–6 years), specifically computational thinking, programming, and robotics, from a cross-curricular perspective. This paper presents preliminary findings from one of the case studies currently being developed as part of project KML II—Laboratory of Technologies and Learning of Programming and Robotics for Preschool and Elementary School. The purpose of the KML II project is to characterize how approaches to computation can be integrated into preschool and elementary education, across different knowledge domains. The conclusions point to “expression and communication” as an initial framework for computational approaches in preschool, but also to multidisciplinary and more creative methodological activities that offer greater scope for the development of digital and computational competences, as well as for personal and social development.This research was funded under the project KML II—Laboratory of technologies and learning of programming and robotics for preschool and elementary school, which is co-funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020- Operational Thematic Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under project reference number PTDC/CED-EDG/28710/2017

HCI and environmental public policy:opportunities for engagement

This note discusses opportunities for the HCI community to engage with environmental public policy. It draws on insights and observations made during the primary author’s recent work for a policy unit at Global Affairs Canada, which is a federal ministry of the Government of Canada. During that work, the primary author identified several domains of environmental public policy that are of direct relevance to the HCI commu- nity. This note contributes a preliminary discussion of how, why, with whom, and in what capacity HCI researchers and practitioners might engage with three types of environmental public policy: climate change, waste electrical and electronic equipment, and green ICT procurement policies. This builds on existing public policy and environmental knowledge within the HCI community and responds directly to calls from some members to engage with environmental public policy