SMT-based Verification of LTL Specifications with Integer Constraints and its Application to Runtime Checking of Service Substitutability

An important problem that arises during the execution of service-based applications concerns the ability to determine whether a running service can be substituted with one with a different interface, for example if the former is no longer available. Standard Bounded Model Checking techniques can be used to perform this check, but they must be able to provide answers very quickly, lest the check hampers the operativeness of the application, instead of aiding it. The problem becomes even more complex when conversational services are considered, i.e., services that expose operations that have Input/Output data dependencies among them. In this paper we introduce a formal verification technique for an extension of Linear Temporal Logic that allows users to include in formulae constraints on integer variables. This technique applied to the substitutability problem for conversational services is shown to be considerably faster and with smaller memory footprint than existing ones

Dynamic Connector Synthesis: Principles, Methods, Tools and Assessment

CONNECT adopts a revolutionary approach to the seamless networking of digital systems, that is, onthe- fly synthesis of the connectors via which networked systems communicate. Within CONNECT, the role of the WP3 work package is to devise automated and efficient approaches to the synthesis of such emergent connectors, provided the behavioral specification of the components to be connected. Thanks to WP3 scientific and technology development, emergent connectors can be synthesized on the fly as networked systems get discovered, implementing the necessary mediation between networked systems' protocols, from application down to middleware layers. This document being the final report about WP3 achievements, it outlines both: (i) specific contributions over the reporting period, and (ii) overall contributions in the area of automated, on-the-fly protocol mediation, from theory to supporting tool

Dynamic connector synthesis: revised prototype implementation

The CONNECT Integrated Project aims at enabling continuous composition of Networked Systems (NSs) to respond to the evolution of functionalities provided to and required from the networked environment. CONNECT aims at dropping the interoperability barrier by adopting a revolutionary approach to the seamless networking of digital systems, that is, synthesizing on-the-fly the connectors via which networked systems communicate. The resulting emergent connectors are effectively synthesized according to the behavioral semantics of application- down to middleware-layer protocols run by the interacting parties

Reasoning about and Harmonizing the Interaction Behavior of Networked Systems at Application- and Middleware- Layer

The CONNECT Integrated Project aims at enabling continuous composition of networked systems to respond to the evolution of functionalities provided to and required from the networked environment. CONNECT aims at dropping the interoperability barrier by adopting a revolutionary approach to the seamless networking of digital systems, that is, synthesizing on-the-fly the connectors via which networked systems communicate. The resulting emergent connectors are effectively synthesized according to the behavioral semantics of application- down to middleware-layer protocols run by the interacting parties. The role of work package WP3 is to devise automated and compositional approaches to connector synthesis, which can be performed at run-time. Given the respective interaction behavior of networked systems, we want to synthesize the behavior of the connector(s) needed for them to interact. These connectors serve as mediators of the networked systems' interaction at both application and middleware layers. During the project's first year, the work of WP3 led us to achieve the following preliminary results: the formalization of matching and mapping relationships for application-layer interaction protocols; the definition of the corresponding mediator generation algorithm; the analysis of the interoperability problems, and related solutions, that can occur at middleware-layer; and a model-driven approach to the automated elicitation of application-layer protocols from software implementations. All these achievements have been reported in Deliverable D3.1: "Modeling of application- and middleware-layer interaction protocols". In this deliverable, we go a step forward with respect to some of the previous achievements by delivering a unified process, and related artefacts, for the automated synthesis of mediators at both application and middleware layers, code-generation techniques to generate the actual code that implements a synthesized mediator, and a preliminary integration of QoS management in the synthesis process. During year 2, all the work has been validated through its application to several scenarios, in particular as part of WP1 and WP6. By selecting one of them as common scenario, in this deliverable, we also show the different methods/techniques at work on the scenario. All the steps of the devised synthesis process are described in detail and applied to the selected common scenario

Project Final Report Use and Dissemination of Foreground

This document is the final report on use and dissemination of foreground, part of the CONNECT final report. The document provides the lists of: publications, dissemination activities, and exploitable foregroun

Multi-Objective Service Composition in Ubiquitous Environments with Service Dependencies

International audienceService composition is a widely used method in ubiquitous computing that enables accomplishing complex tasks required by users based on elementary (hardware and software) services available in ubiquitous environments. To ensure that users experience the best Quality of Service (QoS) with respect to their quality needs, service composition has to be QoS-aware. Establishing QoS-aware service compositions entails efficient service selection taking into account the QoS requirements of users. A challenging issue towards this purpose is to consider service selection under global QoS requirements (i.e., requirements imposed by the user on the whole task), which is of high computational cost. This challenge is even more relevant when we consider the dynamics, limited computational resources and timeliness constraints of ubiquitous environments. To cope with the above challenge, we present QASSA, an efficient service selection algorithm that provides the appropriate ground for QoS-aware service composition in ubiquitous environments. QASSA formulates service selection under global QoS requirements as a set-based optimisation problem, and solves this problem by combining local and global selection techniques. In particular, it introduces a novel way of using clustering techniques to enable fine-grained management of trade-offs between QoS objectives. QASSA further considers: (i) dependencies between services, (ii) adaptation at run-time, and (iii) both centralised and distributed design fashions. Results of experimental studies performed using real QoS data are presented to illustrate the timeliness and optimality of QASSA

D7.5 FIRST consolidated project results

The FIRST project commenced in January 2017 and concluded in December 2022, including a 24-month suspension period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the project, we successfully delivered seven technical reports, conducted three workshops on Key Enabling Technologies for Digital Factories in conjunction with CAiSE (in 2019, 2020, and 2022), produced a number of PhD theses, and published over 56 papers (and numbers of summitted journal papers). The purpose of this deliverable is to provide an updated account of the findings from our previous deliverables and publications. It involves compiling the original deliverables with necessary revisions to accurately reflect the final scientific outcomes of the project

Käsitteellinen lähestymistapa organisatoristen verkostojen tutkimukseen

Tutkimusympäristöt joissa eri tieteenalojen tutkijat toimivat yhdessä ratkaistakseen verkostoissa toimivien kumppaniyritysten ongelmia ovat haasteellisia tiedonvaihdon ja tutkimustiedon keräämisen kannalta. Vaikka tutkimuskohde on yhteinen, tutkijat lähestyvät sitä omien tieteidensä näkökulmasta käyttäen siihen teorioita ja menetelmiä jotka eivät ole yhteensopiva muiden kanssa. Lapin yliopistossa tehdyn tutkimustyön aikana nämä ongelmat tulivat esiin, kun useissa monialaisissa projekteissa tarkasteltiin liiketoimintaverkostoja sekä teollisuusliiketoiminnan että matkailun alalta. Projektien kohteina olevissa verkostoissa yritykset pyrkivät tyypillisesti hakemaan verkostotoiminnasta hyötyjä informaatioteknologian avulla tehostaakseen liiketoimintasuhteitaan ja siten edesauttamaan johtamiseen ja operatiiviseen toimintaan liittyvää tiedonkulkua. Pääasiallinen ongelma näissä ympäristöissä tapahtuvassa tutkimuksessa on, että uudet projektit eivät helposti pysty hyödyntämään edellisten projektien tuotoksia, koska aikaisemmin kerättyä tutkimustietoa, analyysejä tai luotuja ratkaisumalleja ei ole saatavilla siinä muodossa että ne voitaisiin ottaa uuden tutkimuksen pohjaksi. Tässä työssä on tarkasteltu ja kehitetty käsitteellisiä malleja ja niihin liittyviä menetelmiä, jotka tukevat monitieteistä liiketoimintaverkostojen tutkimusta, ja samalla tekevät mahdolliseksi hyödyntää jo olemassa olevaa tutkimustietoa. Tässä diplomityössä kehitetty ratkaisu perustuu liiketoimintaverkostojen analysointiin käsitemallintamisen avulla. Tämän tuloksena on luotu organisatoristen ympäristöjen käsitemalli, joka keskittyy integraatiota edistäviin yhteistoimintasuhteisiin, ja kuvattu siihen liittyvä tutkimuksellinen prosessi joka mahdollistaa projektin aikana syntyvän tutkimusaineiston käsitteellistämisen ja lisätiedon liitämisen niihin. Tämä helpottaa tutkimustiedon jäsentämistä ja sen jakamista tutkijoiden ja kohdealueen toimijoiden välillä. Lisäksi työssä määritellään metatietokuvauksia ja rajattuja sanastoja jotka perustuvat semanttisen webin tekniikoihin, joilla voidaan luokitella eri projektien aikana syntyviä tutkimusartefakteja ja hallinnoida tutkimustietoa.The research settings, where project teams consisting of researchers from different scientific fields, and working together to provide solutions to the issues of networked partner organizations, are challenging in terms of communicating and accumulating research knowledge. Although the focus of the research is shared, difficulties emerge because it is explored from different scientific perspectives, relying on theories and methods that do not match with others. This observation was made during research work conducted at the University of Lapland in projects that concentrated on business networks in the manufacturing and tourism industries. The organizations in these commercial environments typically seek benefits from information technology to intensify the network-wide business relationships and to improve knowledge-intensive operations and management. The main problem is that new projects cannot easily benefit from the results of past projects because the collected research materials, analyses and models are not easily found and they are difficult to align with the objectives of new projects. In this work, to resolve theses issues, conceptual models and related approaches have been analyzed and elaborated to support cross disciplinary research on business networks, and at the same time enable the re-use and sharing of research knowledge. The solution presented in this Master's thesis has been developed by relying on conceptual modelling approaches to analyze business networks. As a result, general concept model of inter-organizational environments has been built that focuses on the integrative relationships in them. Further, accompanying research process that enabies the conceptualization and annotating of the project research outcomes has been constructed. This helps in organizing and sharing research information between researchers and stakeholders. Additionally, metadata descriptions and controlled vocabularies based on semantic web technologies are defined to align research constructs originating from different projects and to support research knowledge management