Ontology based contextualization and context constraints management in web service processes

The flexibility and dynamism of service-based applications impose shifting the validation process to runtime; therefore, runtime monitoring of dynamic features attached to service-based systems is becoming an important direction of research that motivated the definition of our work. We propose an ontology based contextualization and a framework and techniques for managing context constraints in a Web service process for dynamic requirements validation monitoring at process runtime. Firstly, we propose an approach to define and model dynamic service context attached to composition and execution of services in a service process at run-time. Secondly, managing context constraints are defined in a framework, which has three main processes for context manipulation and reasoning, context constraints generation, and dynamic instrumentation and validation monitoring of context constraints. The dynamic requirements attached to service composition and execution are generated as context constraints. The dynamic service context modeling is investigated based on empirical analysis of application scenarios in the classical business domain and analysing previous models in the literature. The orientation of context aspects in a general context taxonomy is considered important. The Ontology Web Language (OWL) has many merits on formalising dynamic service context such as shared conceptualization, logical language support for composition and reasoning, XML based interoperability, etc. XML-based constraint representation is compatible with Web service technologies. The analysis of complementary case study scenarios and expert opinions through a survey illustrate the validity and completeness of our context model. The proposed techniques for context manipulation, context constraints generation, instrumentation and validation monitoring are investigated through a set of experiments from an empirical evaluation. The analytical evaluation is also used to evaluate algorithms. Our contributions and evaluation results provide a further step towards developing a highly automated dynamic requirements management system for service processes at process run-time

UAH/NASA Workshop on Space Science Platform

The scientific user requirements for a space science platform were defined. The potential user benefits, technological implications and cost of space platforms were examined. Cost effectiveness of the platforms' capabilities were also examined

THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY COMPOSITION ON TEAM CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

There is a growing interest in the literature on personality composition at work and its role in teamwork. The investigations undertaken, mainly focus on combinations of personality traits and their impact on general team performance. However, the influence of personality composition on creative and innovative performance of teams is not well covered within the literature. Thus, this research aims to investigate the role of personality composition on team creativity and innovation. This thesis consists of two separate studies, both of which mainly examine the influence of personality composition – average levels and variability within teams – on team creativity and innovation. The first study focuses on the direct relationship between “big five” personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) and the creative performance of student teams in both short and longer period of time, addressing the research question, how does student team personality composition relate to the creative performance of a student team? The second study, on the other hand, examines the interplay between personality traits (not only the Big Five, but also the Dark Triad that includes Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy), team processes and team innovation in a knowledge intensive R&D context. Stated briefly, organizations operating in a knowledge intensive context are different in many ways from traditional firms and employ knowledge workers who are highly educated and well-qualified experts. These workers are responsible for innovative outcome through working in teams (Newell, Robertson, Scarbrough and Swan, 2009). The research questions of this study are, how does knowledge worker team personality composition relate to the innovative performance of a knowledge worker team? and to what extent is the relationship between personality traits and innovative performance of a knowledge worker team explained (mediated) by innovation related group processes? An Input-Process-Output (IPO) model of team innovation is the main theoretical framework that is used to conceptualize the relationship between inputs (big five personality traits) and outputs (student team creative performance) in study 1. Additively, the same framework used to conceptualize inputs (Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits), processes (innovation related team processes) and output (knowledge worker team innovative performance) in the second study (Hulsheger, Anderson and Salgado, 2009). For instance, within the second study, if mean level conscientiousness is high in a particular knowledge worker team it can be expected that the team is task oriented and therefore innovative. Data for the Study 1 was gathered from undergraduate students operating in teams while Study 2 was conducted with knowledge workers working in teams; both studies used quantitative methods, specifically questionnaires. Creative and innovative team performance were assessed by external judges (the module leader in study 1, and managers in study 2). The results do not indicate any significant relationship between team creativity and innovation in either study. However, there are considerable associations particularly between personality traits and innovation related team processes in the latter study, and the findings are discussed within the thesis. It is believed that the theoretical findings of this study will help researchers to build further on understanding the relationship between team personality composition, creativity and innovation. In addition, the practical implications will help decision makers to select appropriate group members to foster creativity and innovation within teams

Application of service composition mechanisms to Future Networks architectures and Smart Grids

Aquesta tesi gira entorn de la hipòtesi de la metodologia i mecanismes de composició de serveis i com es poden aplicar a diferents camps d'aplicació per a orquestrar de manera eficient comunicacions i processos flexibles i sensibles al context. Més concretament, se centra en dos camps d'aplicació: la distribució eficient i sensible al context de contingut multimèdia i els serveis d'una xarxa elèctrica intel·ligent. En aquest últim camp es centra en la gestió de la infraestructura, cap a la definició d'una Software Defined Utility (SDU), que proposa una nova manera de gestionar la Smart Grid amb un enfocament basat en programari, que permeti un funcionament molt més flexible de la infraestructura de xarxa elèctrica. Per tant, revisa el context, els requisits i els reptes, així com els enfocaments de la composició de serveis per a aquests camps. Fa especial èmfasi en la combinació de la composició de serveis amb arquitectures Future Network (FN), presentant una proposta de FN orientada a serveis per crear comunicacions adaptades i sota demanda. També es presenten metodologies i mecanismes de composició de serveis per operar sobre aquesta arquitectura, i posteriorment, es proposa el seu ús (en conjunció o no amb l'arquitectura FN) en els dos camps d'estudi. Finalment, es presenta la investigació i desenvolupament realitzat en l'àmbit de les xarxes intel·ligents, proposant diverses parts de la infraestructura SDU amb exemples d'aplicació de composició de serveis per dissenyar seguretat dinàmica i flexible o l'orquestració i gestió de serveis i recursos dins la infraestructura de l'empresa elèctrica.Esta tesis gira en torno a la hipótesis de la metodología y mecanismos de composición de servicios y cómo se pueden aplicar a diferentes campos de aplicación para orquestar de manera eficiente comunicaciones y procesos flexibles y sensibles al contexto. Más concretamente, se centra en dos campos de aplicación: la distribución eficiente y sensible al contexto de contenido multimedia y los servicios de una red eléctrica inteligente. En este último campo se centra en la gestión de la infraestructura, hacia la definición de una Software Defined Utility (SDU), que propone una nueva forma de gestionar la Smart Grid con un enfoque basado en software, que permita un funcionamiento mucho más flexible de la infraestructura de red eléctrica. Por lo tanto, revisa el contexto, los requisitos y los retos, así como los enfoques de la composición de servicios para estos campos. Hace especial hincapié en la combinación de la composición de servicios con arquitecturas Future Network (FN), presentando una propuesta de FN orientada a servicios para crear comunicaciones adaptadas y bajo demanda. También se presentan metodologías y mecanismos de composición de servicios para operar sobre esta arquitectura, y posteriormente, se propone su uso (en conjunción o no con la arquitectura FN) en los dos campos de estudio. Por último, se presenta la investigación y desarrollo realizado en el ámbito de las redes inteligentes, proponiendo varias partes de la infraestructura SDU con ejemplos de aplicación de composición de servicios para diseñar seguridad dinámica y flexible o la orquestación y gestión de servicios y recursos dentro de la infraestructura de la empresa eléctrica.This thesis revolves around the hypothesis the service composition methodology and mechanisms and how they can be applied to different fields of application in order to efficiently orchestrate flexible and context-aware communications and processes. More concretely, it focuses on two fields of application that are the context-aware media distribution and smart grid services and infrastructure management, towards a definition of a Software-Defined Utility (SDU), which proposes a new way of managing the Smart Grid following a software-based approach that enable a much more flexible operation of the power infrastructure. Hence, it reviews the context, requirements and challenges of these fields, as well as the service composition approaches. It makes special emphasis on the combination of service composition with Future Network (FN) architectures, presenting a service-oriented FN proposal for creating context-aware on-demand communication services. Service composition methodology and mechanisms are also presented in order to operate over this architecture, and afterwards, proposed for their usage (in conjunction or not with the FN architecture) in the deployment of context-aware media distribution and Smart Grids. Finally, the research and development done in the field of Smart Grids is depicted, proposing several parts of the SDU infrastructure, with examples of service composition application for designing dynamic and flexible security for smart metering or the orchestration and management of services and data resources within the utility infrastructure

An Ontology-based Approach to Web Site Design and Development

Building a data-intensive web site is a complex task. Ad-hoc rapid prototyping approaches easily lead to unsatisfactory results, e. g. poor maintainability and extensibility. The situation becomes even more difficult when customization issues arise and web sites need to present customized views to individual users. To address this problem, a number of model-based approaches have been proposed, which attempt to simplify the design and development of data-intensive web sites. However these approaches suffer a number of limitations, such as relatively little support for the composition of sophisticated user interfaces and the specification of presentation styles and little support for customization design. In this work we propose and implement an ontology-based approach, OntoWeaver, which provides comprehensive support for the design and development of data-intensive web sites. In particular, OntoWeaver provides a set of ontologies to represent all aspects of data-intensive web sites in a declarative and re-usable format. The declarative nature of the specification of web sites opens up a number of possibilities with respect to intelligent analysis and management. Moreover, OntoWeaver includes providing high level support for developing customized web sites. Finally, it offers a powerful tool suite to support the design and development of data-intensive web sites. In the course of this research, we have also extended OntoWeaver by addressing the issue of integrating web service technology into a high level web site design framework

A cognition-analogous approach to early-stage creative ideation support in music composition software

Examination of the underlying principles of creativity reveal theoretical aspects that have not been well explored in creativity facilitation software. Most significantly of these, there has been little investigation into exploiting the distinctions between early- and late-stage creative processes and the attendant differences in cognitive processing active at those times, nor into employing the structural scaffolding embedded within creative works and the manner in which these can be extracted and harnessed to define levels of abstraction through which the material can be viewed and manipulated. The Wheelsong project was conceived to exploit these principles, in the service of devising more creatively facilitative music composition tools, by focusing on these earlier, exploratory stages of the creative process, and by privileging structure over minutiae, in alignment with the mode of cognition (and corresponding user needs) that dominate the exploratory phase. Explorations conducted with Wheelsong demonstrate that the platform embraces broad stylistic and cultural ranges of output. Experiments comparing the creative merits of early-stage, fragmentary outputs produced by Wheelsong against those produced by traditional representation schemes show a substantial improvement in both subjective quality and diversity indicators adhering to the structurally produced candidates, as measured by human judges

Artificial intelligence transformation and implementation frameworks

In modern days there are many new technologies that are being implemented into organizations to gain competitive advantage and keep up with the evolving landscape. Artificial intelligence has become one of these new technologies and it even has been said to be one of the general purpose technology as likes of steam engine, electricity and internet. Usually reaping full benefits of new technologies has been troublesome for organizations. Therefore finding a working framework that would help with this burden and aim to increase the probability of revenue increase and cost cutting benefits is needed. There are many factors that have to be weighed in to generate a working AI framework for the organization. The aim of this research was therefore to answer the questions how organizations can start their AI journey and how they can implement AI initiatives. This can be answered by developing and AI transformation framework and a more detail AI implementation framework. Development of the model was conducted with Design science research methodology. DSR-methodology was built on literature reviews and empirical part that was done by subject matter interview. In the study two frameworks were developed that answer the research questions. A four stepped process was developed for the AI transformation process that can be followed to meet strategic alignment. AI implementation framework was also developed with consideration on approach, team, tools and methodology. These frameworks developed in this study are intended to be used with AI endeavors in Finnish companies