33,265 research outputs found
A Role-Based Approach for Orchestrating Emergent Configurations in the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned as a global network of connected
things enabling ubiquitous machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. With
estimations of billions of sensors and devices to be connected in the coming
years, the IoT has been advocated as having a great potential to impact the way
we live, but also how we work. However, the connectivity aspect in itself only
accounts for the underlying M2M infrastructure. In order to properly support
engineering IoT systems and applications, it is key to orchestrate
heterogeneous 'things' in a seamless, adaptive and dynamic manner, such that
the system can exhibit a goal-directed behaviour and take appropriate actions.
Yet, this form of interaction between things needs to take a user-centric
approach and by no means elude the users' requirements. To this end,
contextualisation is an important feature of the system, allowing it to infer
user activities and prompt the user with relevant information and interactions
even in the absence of intentional commands. In this work we propose a
role-based model for emergent configurations of connected systems as a means to
model, manage, and reason about IoT systems including the user's interaction
with them. We put a special focus on integrating the user perspective in order
to guide the emergent configurations such that systems goals are aligned with
the users' intentions. We discuss related scientific and technical challenges
and provide several uses cases outlining the concept of emergent
configurations.Comment: In Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on the Internet
of Agents @AAMAS201
Aspects of Assembly and Cascaded Aspects of Assembly: Logical and Temporal Properties
Highly dynamic computing environments, like ubiquitous and pervasive
computing environments, require frequent adaptation of applications. This has
to be done in a timely fashion, and the adaptation process must be as fast as
possible and mastered. Moreover the adaptation process has to ensure a
consistent result when finished whereas adaptations to be implemented cannot be
anticipated at design time. In this paper we present our mechanism for
self-adaptation based on the aspect oriented programming paradigm called Aspect
of Assembly (AAs). Using AAs: (1) the adaptations process is fast and its
duration is mastered; (2) adaptations' entities are independent of each other
thanks to the weaver logical merging mechanism; and (3) the high variability of
the software infrastructure can be managed using a mono or multi-cycle weaving
approach.Comment: 14 pages, published in International Journal of Computer Science,
Volume 8, issue 4, Jul 2011, ISSN 1694-081
Beyond knowledge brokerage: an exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya
The recognition that innovation occurs in networks of heterogeneous actors and requires broad systemic support beyond knowledge brokering has resulted in a changing landscape of the intermediary domain in an increasingly market-driven agricultural sector in developing countries. This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation. Further, the study identified various organisational arrangements of innovation intermediaries with some organisations fulfilling a specialised innovation brokering role, even as other intermediaries take on brokering as a side activity, while still substantively contributing to the innovation process. Based on these findings we identify a typology of 4 innovation intermediation arrangements, including technology brokers, systemic brokers, enterprise development support and input access support. The results indicate that innovation brokering is a pervasive task in supporting innovation and will require policy support to embed it in innovation support arrangements. The paper is not normative about these arrangements
Context-awareness for mobile sensing: a survey and future directions
The evolution of smartphones together with increasing computational power have empowered developers to create innovative context-aware applications for recognizing user related social and cognitive activities in any situation and at any location. The existence and awareness of the context provides the capability of being conscious of physical environments or situations around mobile device users. This allows network services to respond proactively and intelligently based on such awareness. The key idea behind context-aware applications is to encourage users to collect, analyze and share local sensory knowledge in the purpose for a large scale community use by creating a smart network. The desired network is capable of making autonomous logical decisions to actuate environmental objects, and also assist individuals. However, many open challenges remain, which are mostly arisen due to the middleware services provided in mobile devices have limited resources in terms of power, memory and bandwidth. Thus, it becomes critically important to study how the drawbacks can be elaborated and resolved, and at the same time better understand the opportunities for the research community to contribute to the context-awareness. To this end, this paper surveys the literature over the period of 1991-2014 from the emerging concepts to applications of context-awareness in mobile platforms by providing up-to-date research and future research directions. Moreover, it points out the challenges faced in this regard and enlighten them by proposing possible solutions
Beyond knowledge brokerage: An exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya
The recognition that innovation occurs in networks of heterogeneous actors and requires broad systemic support beyond knowledge brokering has resulted in a changing landscape of the intermediary domain in an increasingly market-driven agricultural sector in developing countries. This paper presents findings of an explorative case study that looked at 22 organisations identified as fulfilling an intermediary role in the Kenyan agricultural sector. The results show that these organisations fulfill functions that are not limited to distribution of knowledge and putting it into use. The functions also include fostering integration and interaction among the diverse actors engaged in innovation networks and working on technological, organisational and institutional innovation. Further, the study identified various organisational arrangements of innovation intermediaries with some organisations fulfilling a specialised innovation brokering role, even as other intermediaries take on brokering as a side activity, while still substantively contributing to the innovation process. Based on these findings we identify a typology of 4 innovation intermediation arrangements, including technology brokers, systemic brokers, enterprise development support and input access support. The results indicate that innovation brokering is a pervasive task in supporting innovation and will require policy support to embed it in innovation support arrangements. The paper is not normative about these arrangements.Smallholder agriculture, innovation intermediaries, agriculture innovation, knowledge brokers, Kenya
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