Modal logics for reasoning about object-based component composition

Component-oriented development of software supports the adaptability and maintainability of large systems, in particular if requirements change over time and parts of a system have to be modified or replaced. The software architecture in such systems can be described by components and their composition. In order to describe larger architectures, the composition concept becomes crucial. We will present a formal framework for component composition for object-based software development. The deployment of modal logics for defining components and component composition will allow us to reason about and prove properties of components and compositions

Platform-independent Dynamic Reconfiguration of Distributed Applications

The aim of dynamic reconfiguration is to allow a system to evolve incrementally from one configuration to another at run-time, without restarting it or taking it offline. In recent years, support for transparent dynamic reconfiguration has been added to middleware platforms, shifting the complexity required to enable dynamic reconfiguration to the supporting infrastructure. These approaches to dynamic reconfiguration are mostly platform-specific and depend on particular implementation approaches suitable for particular platforms. In this paper, we propose an approach to dynamic reconfiguration of distributed applications that is suitable for application implemented on top of different platforms. This approach supports a platform-independent view of an application that profits from reconfiguration transparency. In this view, requirements on the ability to reconfigure components are expressed in an abstract manner. These requirements are then satisfied by platform-specific realizations

Investigating modularity in the analysis of process algebra models of biochemical systems

Compositionality is a key feature of process algebras which is often cited as one of their advantages as a modelling technique. It is certainly true that in biochemical systems, as in many other systems, model construction is made easier in a formalism which allows the problem to be tackled compositionally. In this paper we consider the extent to which the compositional structure which is inherent in process algebra models of biochemical systems can be exploited during model solution. In essence this means using the compositional structure to guide decomposed solution and analysis. Unfortunately the dynamic behaviour of biochemical systems exhibits strong interdependencies between the components of the model making decomposed solution a difficult task. Nevertheless we believe that if such decomposition based on process algebras could be established it would demonstrate substantial benefits for systems biology modelling. In this paper we present our preliminary investigations based on a case study of the pheromone pathway in yeast, modelling in the stochastic process algebra Bio-PEPA

CoordMaude Simplifying Formal Coordination Specifications of Cooperation Environments

AbstractDeveloping concurrent applications in cooperative environments is an arduous task. This is mainly due to the fact that it is very difficult to specify the synchronized interaction between the entities composing the system. Using coordination models makes this task easier. The latest trends in this area suggest that to manage the successful implementation of complex systems, coordination models must support some key features regarding the coordination constraints: their separated specification, their unanticipated evolution and their dynamic change. However, supporting these features is not only a technical challenge: it must be also guaranteed that the application of a separately specified coordination pattern to a set of encapsulated entities, or the change of the coordination constraints in an already running software system will not produce semantic errors. This is just the problem focused in this paper. In particular, a method for generating formal interpretable specifications reproducing coordinated environments is presented. The method is based on the Coordinated Roles coordination model and makes use of Maude as a formal language. The benefits obtained are: (i) easy specification using the coordination model syntax, (ii) automatic generation of the corresponding formal specification and (iii) simulation of system behaviour

TOWARDS A MULTI-PURPOSE FRAMEWORK FOR TAX-BENEFIT MICROSIMULATION.

This paper introduces a generalised model building platform (MMEANS) for implementing and using tax-benefit microsimulation models. It is designed to aid in the construction of single- and multi-country tax- benefit models by providing all essential components and a system by which these can be parameterised and combined into a full model. We explain the conceptual and computational issues arising in the design and development of MMEANS. One application of the software has been to construct EUROMOD, a 15 country European tax-benefit model (Immervoll et al., 1999; Sutherland, 2001). However, we argue that, apart from its direct usefulness for this model, MMEANS can be used as a general software tool for microsimulation model building.Microsimulation; Tax-Benefit Model; European Union

BigraphER: rewriting and analysis engine for bigraphs

BigraphER is a suite of open-source tools providing an effi- cient implementation of rewriting, simulation, and visualisation for bigraphs, a universal formalism for modelling interacting systems that evolve in time and space and first introduced by Milner. BigraphER consists of an OCaml library that provides programming interfaces for the manipulation of bigraphs, their constituents and reaction rules, and a command-line tool capable of simulating Bigraphical Reactive Systems (BRSs) and computing their transition systems. Other features are native support for both bigraphs and bigraphs with sharing, stochastic reaction rules, rule priorities, instantiation maps, parameterised controls, predicate checking, graphical output and integration with the probabilistic model checker PRISM

Verification and control of partially observable probabilistic systems

We present automated techniques for the verification and control of partially observable, probabilistic systems for both discrete and dense models of time. For the discrete-time case, we formally model these systems using partially observable Markov decision processes; for dense time, we propose an extension of probabilistic timed automata in which local states are partially visible to an observer or controller. We give probabilistic temporal logics that can express a range of quantitative properties of these models, relating to the probability of an event’s occurrence or the expected value of a reward measure. We then propose techniques to either verify that such a property holds or synthesise a controller for the model which makes it true. Our approach is based on a grid-based abstraction of the uncountable belief space induced by partial observability and, for dense-time models, an integer discretisation of real-time behaviour. The former is necessarily approximate since the underlying problem is undecidable, however we show how both lower and upper bounds on numerical results can be generated. We illustrate the effectiveness of the approach by implementing it in the PRISM model checker and applying it to several case studies from the domains of task and network scheduling, computer security and planning

Assume-guarantee verification for probabilistic systems

We present a compositional verification technique for systems that exhibit both probabilistic and nondeterministic behaviour. We adopt an assume- guarantee approach to verification, where both the assumptions made about system components and the guarantees that they provide are regular safety properties, represented by finite automata. Unlike previous proposals for assume-guarantee reasoning about probabilistic systems, our approach does not require that components interact in a fully synchronous fashion. In addition, the compositional verification method is efficient and fully automated, based on a reduction to the problem of multi-objective probabilistic model checking. We present asymmetric and circular assume-guarantee rules, and show how they can be adapted to form quantitative queries, yielding lower and upper bounds on the actual probabilities that a property is satisfied. Our techniques have been implemented and applied to several large case studies, including instances where conventional probabilistic verification is infeasible

Context-Aware Analysis of Data Sharing Agreements

A Data Sharing Agreement is an agreement among contracting parties regulating how they share data under certain contextual conditions. Upon the definition phase, where the parties negotiate the respective authorizations on data covered by the agreement, the resulting policy may be analysed in order to identify possible conflicts or incompatibilities among authorizations clauses. In this paper, we propose a formal framework for Data Sharing Agreement analysis. Our proposal is built on a process algebra formalism dealing with contextual data, encoded into the Maude engine to make it executable. The effectiveness of the analysis is shown through a sensitive data sharing test bed. Furthermore, we present an implementation of the analyser exposed as a Web Service built on top of Maude. The Web Service technology allows the modularity of the whole architecture with respect to the analysis tool

A dataflow platform for applications based on Linked Data

Modern software applications increasingly benefit from accessing the multifarious and heterogeneous Web of Data, thanks to the use of web APIs and Linked Data principles. In previous work, the authors proposed a platform to develop applications consuming Linked Data in a declarative and modular way. This paper describes in detail the functional language the platform gives access to, which is based on SPARQL (the standard query language for Linked Data) and on the dataflow paradigm. The language features interactive and meta-programming capabilities so that complex modules/applications can be developed. By adopting a declarative style, it favours the development of modules that can be reused in various specific execution context