Automating the transformation-based analysis of visual languages

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00165-009-0114-yWe present a novel approach for the automatic generation of model-to-model transformations given a description of the operational semantics of the source language in the form of graph transformation rules. The approach is geared to the generation of transformations from Domain-Specific Visual Languages (DSVLs) into semantic domains with an explicit notion of transition, like for example Petri nets. The generated transformation is expressed in the form of operational triple graph grammar rules that transform the static information (initial model) and the dynamics (source rules and their execution control structure). We illustrate these techniques with a DSVL in the domain of production systems, for which we generate a transformation into Petri nets. We also tackle the description of timing aspects in graph transformation rules, and its analysis through their automatic translation into Time Petri netsWork sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, project METEORIC (TIN2008-02081/TIN) and by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

Representing Conversations for Scalable Overhearing

Open distributed multi-agent systems are gaining interest in the academic community and in industry. In such open settings, agents are often coordinated using standardized agent conversation protocols. The representation of such protocols (for analysis, validation, monitoring, etc) is an important aspect of multi-agent applications. Recently, Petri nets have been shown to be an interesting approach to such representation, and radically different approaches using Petri nets have been proposed. However, their relative strengths and weaknesses have not been examined. Moreover, their scalability and suitability for different tasks have not been addressed. This paper addresses both these challenges. First, we analyze existing Petri net representations in terms of their scalability and appropriateness for overhearing, an important task in monitoring open multi-agent systems. Then, building on the insights gained, we introduce a novel representation using Colored Petri nets that explicitly represent legal joint conversation states and messages. This representation approach offers significant improvements in scalability and is particularly suitable for overhearing. Furthermore, we show that this new representation offers a comprehensive coverage of all conversation features of FIPA conversation standards. We also present a procedure for transforming AUML conversation protocol diagrams (a standard human-readable representation), to our Colored Petri net representation

Functorial Semantics for Petri Nets under the Individual Token Philosophy

Although the algebraic semantics of place/transition Petri nets under the collective token philosophy has been fully explained in terms of (strictly) symmetric (strict) monoidal categories, the analogous construction under the individual token philosophy is not completely satisfactory because it lacks universality and also functoriality. We introduce the notion of pre-net to recover these aspects, obtaining a fully satisfactory categorical treatment centered on the notion of adjunction. This allows us to present a purely logical description of net behaviours under the individual token philosophy in terms of theories and theory morphisms in partial membership equational logic, yielding a complete match with the theory developed by the authors for the collective token view of net

A Decidable Characterization of a Graphical Pi-calculus with Iterators

This paper presents the Pi-graphs, a visual paradigm for the modelling and verification of mobile systems. The language is a graphical variant of the Pi-calculus with iterators to express non-terminating behaviors. The operational semantics of Pi-graphs use ground notions of labelled transition and bisimulation, which means standard verification techniques can be applied. We show that bisimilarity is decidable for the proposed semantics, a result obtained thanks to an original notion of causal clock as well as the automatic garbage collection of unused names.Comment: In Proceedings INFINITY 2010, arXiv:1010.611

An Operational Petri Net Semantics for the Join-Calculus

We present a concurrent operational Petri net semantics for the join-calculus, a process calculus for specifying concurrent and distributed systems. There often is a gap between system specifications and the actual implementations caused by synchrony assumptions on the specification side and asynchronously interacting components in implementations. The join-calculus is promising to reduce this gap by providing an abstract specification language which is asynchronously distributable. Classical process semantics establish an implicit order of actually independent actions, by means of an interleaving. So does the semantics of the join-calculus. To capture such independent actions, step-based semantics, e.g., as defined on Petri nets, are employed. Our Petri net semantics for the join-calculus induces step-behavior in a natural way. We prove our semantics behaviorally equivalent to the original join-calculus semantics by means of a bisimulation. We discuss how join specific assumptions influence an existing notion of distributability based on Petri nets.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2012, arXiv:1208.244

Repotting the Geraniums: On Nested Graph Transformation Rules

We propose a scheme for rule amalgamation based on nested graph predicates. Essentially, we extend all the graphs in such a predicate with right hand sides. Whenever such an enriched nested predicate matches (i.e., is satisfied by) a given host graph, this results in many individual match morphisms, and thus many “small” rule applications. The total effect is described by the amalgamated rule. This makes for a smooth, uniform and very powerful amalgamation scheme, which we demonstrate on a number of examples. Among the examples is the following, which we believe to be inexpressible in very few other parallel rule formalism proposed in the literature: repot all flowering geraniums whose pots have cracked.\u

Integrated Structure and Semantics for Reo Connectors and Petri Nets

In this paper, we present an integrated structural and behavioral model of Reo connectors and Petri nets, allowing a direct comparison of the two concurrency models. For this purpose, we introduce a notion of connectors which consist of a number of interconnected, user-defined primitives with fixed behavior. While the structure of connectors resembles hypergraphs, their semantics is given in terms of so-called port automata. We define both models in a categorical setting where composition operations can be elegantly defined and integrated. Specifically, we formalize structural gluings of connectors as pushouts, and joins of port automata as pullbacks. We then define a semantical functor from the connector to the port automata category which preserves this composition. We further show how to encode Reo connectors and Petri nets into this model and indicate applications to dynamic reconfigurations modeled using double pushout graph transformation

Search and Result Presentation in Scientific Workflow Repositories

We study the problem of searching a repository of complex hierarchical workflows whose component modules, both composite and atomic, have been annotated with keywords. Since keyword search does not use the graph structure of a workflow, we develop a model of workflows using context-free bag grammars. We then give efficient polynomial-time algorithms that, given a workflow and a keyword query, determine whether some execution of the workflow matches the query. Based on these algorithms we develop a search and ranking solution that efficiently retrieves the top-k grammars from a repository. Finally, we propose a novel result presentation method for grammars matching a keyword query, based on representative parse-trees. The effectiveness of our approach is validated through an extensive experimental evaluation