Higher-Order Process Modeling: Product-Lining, Variability Modeling and Beyond

We present a graphical and dynamic framework for binding and execution of business) process models. It is tailored to integrate 1) ad hoc processes modeled graphically, 2) third party services discovered in the (Inter)net, and 3) (dynamically) synthesized process chains that solve situation-specific tasks, with the synthesis taking place not only at design time, but also at runtime. Key to our approach is the introduction of type-safe stacked second-order execution contexts that allow for higher-order process modeling. Tamed by our underlying strict service-oriented notion of abstraction, this approach is tailored also to be used by application experts with little technical knowledge: users can select, modify, construct and then pass (component) processes during process execution as if they were data. We illustrate the impact and essence of our framework along a concrete, realistic (business) process modeling scenario: the development of Springer's browser-based Online Conference Service (OCS). The most advanced feature of our new framework allows one to combine online synthesis with the integration of the synthesized process into the running application. This ability leads to a particularly flexible way of implementing self-adaption, and to a particularly concise and powerful way of achieving variability not only at design time, but also at runtime.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455

Limits on Fundamental Limits to Computation

An indispensable part of our lives, computing has also become essential to industries and governments. Steady improvements in computer hardware have been supported by periodic doubling of transistor densities in integrated circuits over the last fifty years. Such Moore scaling now requires increasingly heroic efforts, stimulating research in alternative hardware and stirring controversy. To help evaluate emerging technologies and enrich our understanding of integrated-circuit scaling, we review fundamental limits to computation: in manufacturing, energy, physical space, design and verification effort, and algorithms. To outline what is achievable in principle and in practice, we recall how some limits were circumvented, compare loose and tight limits. We also point out that engineering difficulties encountered by emerging technologies may indicate yet-unknown limits.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

The ixiQuarks: merging code and GUI in one creative space

This paper reports on ixiQuarks; an environment of instruments and effects that is built on top of the audio programming language SuperCollider. The rationale of these instruments is to explore alternative ways of designing musical interaction in screen-based software, and investigate how semiotics in interface design affects the musical output. The ixiQuarks are part of external libraries available to SuperCollider through the Quarks system. They are software instruments based on a non- realist design ideology that rejects the simulation of acoustic instruments or music hardware and focuses on experimentation at the level of musical interaction. In this environment we try to merge the graphical with the textual in the same instruments, allowing the user to reprogram and change parts of them in runtime. After a short introduction to SuperCollider and the Quark system, we will describe the ixiQuarks and the philosophical basis of their design. We conclude by looking at how they can be seen as epistemic tools that influence the musician in a complex hermeneutic circle of interpretation and signification

Interactive visual exploration of a large spatio-temporal dataset: Reflections on a geovisualization mashup

Exploratory visual analysis is useful for the preliminary investigation of large structured, multifaceted spatio-temporal datasets. This process requires the selection and aggregation of records by time, space and attribute, the ability to transform data and the flexibility to apply appropriate visual encodings and interactions. We propose an approach inspired by geographical 'mashups' in which freely-available functionality and data are loosely but flexibly combined using de facto exchange standards. Our case study combines MySQL, PHP and the LandSerf GIS to allow Google Earth to be used for visual synthesis and interaction with encodings described in KML. This approach is applied to the exploration of a log of 1.42 million requests made of a mobile directory service. Novel combinations of interaction and visual encoding are developed including spatial 'tag clouds', 'tag maps', 'data dials' and multi-scale density surfaces. Four aspects of the approach are informally evaluated: the visual encodings employed, their success in the visual exploration of the clataset, the specific tools used and the 'rnashup' approach. Preliminary findings will be beneficial to others considering using mashups for visualization. The specific techniques developed may be more widely applied to offer insights into the structure of multifarious spatio-temporal data of the type explored here

Psychological consumption of culinary artistry in the Peak District

This paper is based upon the culture of culinary artistry, consumption and design. The ranges of sources are specific to The Peak District using Chatsworth House as a case study. It will attempt to conceptualise the heritage, sustainability and perception of culinary arts as a medium of culture. Elements of cultural heritage tourism will be incorporated into this paper and conceptualised to culinary arts. “Culture is a fascinating concept. Our favourite analogy is to compare it to a beautiful jewel – hold it to the light, and reveal its multiple dimensions. Culture is not just a tool for coping, but a means for creating awareness and for learning”. Harris and Moran (2001) Data collected through in-depth interviews, a questionnaire survey and observation will be presented and analysed which seeks to address the practical aspects to the theoretical models. The qualitative analysis of data suggests that there are parameters that have an important yet underlying resonance in the consumption of the product; cognition, perception and psychology. The fundamental feature of common sense psychology is the underlying belief system that underlies peoples overt behaviour are causes and that it is these causal patterns and NOT the way in which an activity is performed that represents the ‘real’ meaning of what people do. Initial research highlighted attribution theory as the underlying elements or associated discourses and is supported by Lewis (2006) who highlights Hofstedes definition of culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one member from the other. A more simplified definition highlighted by Baron and Byrne (2000) defines culture as an organized system of shared meanings, perception and beliefs held by persons belonging to any group. This ‘cultural sensitivity’ is enhanced by utilising its resources to understand the perception and behaviours influenced by the cultural values (organized system or collective programming) of the host and guest (Wood and Botherton 2008)