Design of composable services

Service composition methods range from industry standard approaches based on Web Services and BPEL to Semantic Web approaches that rely on AI techniques to automate service discovery and composition. Service composition research mostly focuses on the dynamic (workflow) aspects of compositions. In this paper we consider the static component of service composition and discuss the importance of compatibility of service interfaces in ensuring the composability of services. Using a flight booking scenario example we show that reducing the granularity of services by decomposition into service operations with normalized interfaces produces compatible interfaces that facilitate service assembly. We then show how relational algebra can be used to represent service operations and provide a framework for service assembly. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Aggregate Farming in the Cloud: The AFarCloud ECSEL project

Farming is facing many economic challenges in terms of productivity and cost-effectiveness. Labor shortage partly due to depopulation of rural areas, especially in Europe, is another challenge. Domain specific problems such as accurate monitoring of soil and crop properties and animal health are key factors for minimizing economical risks, and not risking human health. The ECSEL AFarCloud (Aggregate Farming in the Cloud) project will provide a distributed platform for autonomous farming that will allow the integration and cooperation of agriculture Cyber Physical Systems in real-time in order to increase efficiency, productivity, animal health, food quality and reduce farm labor costs. Moreover, such a platform can be integrated with farm management software to support monitoring and decision-making solutions based on big data and real-time data mining techniques.publishedVersio

Isolation of F. novicida-Containing Phagosome from Infected Human Monocyte Derived Macrophages

Francisella is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen, which causes tularemia in humans and animals. A crucial step of Francisella infection is its invasion of macrophage cells. Biogenesis of the Francisella-containing phagosome (FCP) is arrested for ∼15min at the endosomal stage, followed by gradual bacterial escape into the cytosol, where the microbe proliferates. The crucial step in pathogenesis of tularemia is short and transient presence of the bacterium within phagosome. Isolation of FCPs for further studies has been challenging due to the short period of time of bacterial residence in it and the characteristics of the FCP. Here, we will for the first time present the method for isolation of the FCPs from infected human monocytes-derived macrophages (hMDMs). For elimination of lysosomal compartment these organelles were pre-loaded with dextran coated colloidal iron particles prior infection and eliminated by magnetic separation of the post-nuclear supernatant (PNS). We encountered the challenge that mitochondria has similar density to the FCP. To separate the FCP in the PNS from mitochondria, we utilized iodophenylnitrophenyltetrazolium, which is converted by the mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase into formazan, leading to increased density of the mitochondria and allowing separation by the discontinuous sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation. The purity of the FCP preparation and its acquisition of early endosomal markers was confirmed by Western blots, confocal and transmission electron microscopy. Our strategy to isolate highly pure FCPs from macrophages should facilitate studies on the FCP and its biogenesis.1

Properties and structures of alkali molybdenum iron phosphate glasses for nuclear waste immobilization

The development of glasses to immobilize nuclear wastes requires a detailed understanding of how composition affects the critical properties required to design wasteforms, including thermal stability and chemical durability. Those properties depend on the molecular-level structures of the glasses. The principal objective of this research was to develop a comprehensive understanding of the composition-structure-property relationships, including the effects of processing conditions, for glasses in the alkali- molybdenum-iron-phosphate systems that could then be used to inform the development of wasteforms of interest to the US Department of Energy. The molecular-level structures of the alkali molybdenum iron phosphate glasses were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography, Raman spectroscopy, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Alkali ions (Cs+ and Na+) are associated with both phosphate and molybdate anionic species, and the polymerization of the phosphate network with increasing MoO3 content correlates with the formation of isolated Mo6+O6 octahedra in the Mo-rich glasses. The coordination environment of iron is affected both by the addition of large Cs+ ions into glass structure and by the reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+; the latter is sensitive to the choice of oxidizing or reducing raw materials. Mo5+ ions are incorporated in highly distorted Mo5+O5 octahedral sites, which are associated with crosslinked Mo5+OPO4 structural units that affect properties like molar volume and the glass transition temperature. The dissolution kinetics are sensitive to iron contents, with the most durable glasses having the highest iron contents and smallest phosphate anions. Glasses with isolated Mo6+O6 octahedra in their structures are less chemically durable --Abstract, page iv

Active Rules for Runtime Adaptivity Management

The trend over the last years clearly shows that modern Web development is evolving from traditional, HTML-based Web sites to fullfledged, complex Web applications, also equipped with active and/or adaptive application features. While this evolution unavoidably implies higher development costs and times, such implications are contrasted by the dynamics of the modern Web, which demands for even faster application development and evolution cycles. In this paper we address the above problem by focusing on the case of adaptive Web applications. We illustrate an ECA rule-based approach, intended to facilitate the management and evolution of adaptive application features. For this purpose, we stress the importance of decoupling the active logic (i.e. the adaptivity rules) from the execution of the actual application by means of a decoupled rule engine that is able to capture events and to autonomously enact adaptivity actions

Natural Language based On-demand Service Composition

The widespread of Web services in the ubiquitous computing era and the impossibility to predict a priori all possible user needs generates the necessity for on-demand service composition. Natural language is one of the the easiest ways for a user to express what he expects regarding a service. Two main problems need to be solved in order to create a composite service to satisfy the user: a)retrieval of relevant services and b) orchestration/composition of the selected services in order to fulfill the user request. We solve the first problem by using semantic concepts associated with the services and we define a conceptual distance to measure the similarity between the user request and a service configuration. Retrieved services are composed, based on aspect oriented templates called Aspects of Assembly. We have tested our application in an environment for pervasive computing called Ubiquarium, where our system composes a service according to the user request described by a sentence. The implementation is based on the WComp middleware that enables us to use regular Web services but also Web services for devices

Third international workshop on Authoring of adaptive and adaptable educational hypermedia (A3EH), Amsterdam, 18-22 July, 2005

The A3EH follows a successful series of workshops on Adaptive and Adaptable Educational Hypermedia. This workshop focuses on models, design and authoring of AEH, on assessment of AEH, conversion between AEH and evaluation of AEH. The workshop has paper presentations, poster session and panel discussions