A Generic Framework for Engineering Graph Canonization Algorithms

The state-of-the-art tools for practical graph canonization are all based on the individualization-refinement paradigm, and their difference is primarily in the choice of heuristics they include and in the actual tool implementation. It is thus not possible to make a direct comparison of how individual algorithmic ideas affect the performance on different graph classes. We present an algorithmic software framework that facilitates implementation of heuristics as independent extensions to a common core algorithm. It therefore becomes easy to perform a detailed comparison of the performance and behaviour of different algorithmic ideas. Implementations are provided of a range of algorithms for tree traversal, target cell selection, and node invariant, including choices from the literature and new variations. The framework readily supports extraction and visualization of detailed data from separate algorithm executions for subsequent analysis and development of new heuristics. Using collections of different graph classes we investigate the effect of varying the selections of heuristics, often revealing exactly which individual algorithmic choice is responsible for particularly good or bad performance. On several benchmark collections, including a newly proposed class of difficult instances, we additionally find that our implementation performs better than the current state-of-the-art tools

Change Support in Process-Aware Information Systems - A Pattern-Based Analysis

In today's dynamic business world the economic success of an enterprise increasingly depends on its ability to react to changes in its environment in a quick and flexible way. Process-aware information systems (PAIS) offer promising perspectives in this respect and are increasingly employed for operationally supporting business processes. To provide effective business process support, flexible PAIS are needed which do not freeze existing business processes, but allow for loosely specified processes, which can be detailed during run-time. In addition, PAIS should enable authorized users to flexibly deviate from the predefined processes if required (e.g., by allowing them to dynamically add, delete, or move process activities) and to evolve business processes over time. At the same time PAIS must ensure consistency and robustness. The emergence of different process support paradigms and the lack of methods for comparing existing change approaches have made it difficult for PAIS engineers to choose the adequate technology. In this paper we suggest a set of changes patterns and change support features to foster the systematic comparison of existing process management technology with respect to process change support. Based on these change patterns and features, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of selected systems from both academia and industry. The identified change patterns and change support features facilitate the comparison of change support frameworks, and consequently will support PAIS engineers in selecting the right technology for realizing flexible PAIS. In addition, this work can be used as a reference for implementing more flexible PAIS

System Description for a Scalable, Fault-Tolerant, Distributed Garbage Collector

We describe an efficient and fault-tolerant algorithm for distributed cyclic garbage collection. The algorithm imposes few requirements on the local machines and allows for flexibility in the choice of local collector and distributed acyclic garbage collector to use with it. We have emphasized reducing the number and size of network messages without sacrificing the promptness of collection throughout the algorithm. Our proposed collector is a variant of back tracing to avoid extensive synchronization between machines. We have added an explicit forward tracing stage to the standard back tracing stage and designed a tuned heuristic to reduce the total amount of work done by the collector. Of particular note is the development of fault-tolerant cooperation between traces and a heuristic that aggressively reduces the set of suspect objects.Comment: 47 pages, LaTe