Informaticology: combining Computer Science, Data Science, and Fiction Science

Motivated by an intention to remedy current complications with Dutch terminology concerning informatics, the term informaticology is positioned to denote an academic counterpart of informatics where informatics is conceived of as a container for a coherent family of practical disciplines ranging from computer engineering and software engineering to network technology, data center management, information technology, and information management in a broad sense. Informaticology escapes from the limitations of instrumental objectives and the perspective of usage that both restrict the scope of informatics. That is achieved by including fiction science in informaticology and by ranking fiction science on equal terms with computer science and data science, and framing (the study of) game design, evelopment, assessment and distribution, ranging from serious gaming to entertainment gaming, as a chapter of fiction science. A suggestion for the scope of fiction science is specified in some detail. In order to illustrate the coherence of informaticology thus conceived, a potential application of fiction to the ontology of instruction sequences and to software quality assessment is sketched, thereby highlighting a possible role of fiction (science) within informaticology but outside gaming

Promises, Impositions, and other Directionals

Promises, impositions, proposals, predictions, and suggestions are categorized as voluntary co-operational methods. The class of voluntary co-operational methods is included in the class of so-called directionals. Directionals are mechanisms supporting the mutual coordination of autonomous agents. Notations are provided capable of expressing residual fragments of directionals. An extensive example, involving promises about the suitability of programs for tasks imposed on the promisee is presented. The example illustrates the dynamics of promises and more specifically the corresponding mechanism of trust updating and credibility updating. Trust levels and credibility levels then determine the way certain promises and impositions are handled. The ubiquity of promises and impositions is further demonstrated with two extensive examples involving human behaviour: an artificial example about an agent planning a purchase, and a realistic example describing technology mediated interaction concerning the solution of pay station failure related problems arising for an agent intending to leave the parking area.Comment: 55 page

Decision Taking for Selling Thread Startup

Decision Taking is discussed in the context of the role it may play for a selling agent in a search market, in particular for agents involved in the sale of valuable and relatively unique items, such as a dwelling, a second hand car, or a second hand recreational vessel. Detailed connections are made between the architecture of decision making processes and a sample of software technology based concepts including instruction sequences, multi-threading, and thread algebra. Ample attention is paid to the initialization or startup of a thread dedicated to achieving a given objective, and to corresponding decision taking. As an application, the selling of an item is taken as an objective to be achieved by running a thread that was designed for that purpose

Exploring patterns for scalability of network administration with topology constraints

This thesis considers the impact of distributed network communication patterns on the scalability of dynamic systems configuration and monitoring using the software cfengine. Decentralized patterns are partially implemented as cfengine policy on topologies with node degree constraints. Experiments investigate total processing latency of patterns. Results show they provide a balanced approach to parallelization and scalability. The study of patterns on a chain topology reveals the challenge of phasing delay in deep tree structures. A time buffering method for reducing total processing latency is tested and found to be effective. Included are suggestions on new cfengine functionality and syntax to support patterns integration. As a whole, this thesis offers new perspectives in on-going patterns research as well as identifying challenges and solutions for bringing patterns to cfengine.Master i nettverks- og systemadministrasjo