Large-scale Complex IT Systems

This paper explores the issues around the construction of large-scale complex systems which are built as 'systems of systems' and suggests that there are fundamental reasons, derived from the inherent complexity in these systems, why our current software engineering methods and techniques cannot be scaled up to cope with the engineering challenges of constructing such systems. It then goes on to propose a research and education agenda for software engineering that identifies the major challenges and issues in the development of large-scale complex, software-intensive systems. Central to this is the notion that we cannot separate software from the socio-technical environment in which it is used.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Incorporating an Element of Negotiation into a Service-Oriented Broker Application

The Software as a Service (SaaS) model is a service-based model in which a desired service is assembled, delivered and consumed on demand. The IBHIS broker is a ‘proof of concept’ demonstration of SaaS which is based on services that deliver data. IBHIS has addressed a number of challenges for several aspects of servicebased software, especially the concept of a ‘broker service’ and service negotiation that is only used in establishing end-user access authorizations. This thesis investigates and develops an extended form of service-based broker, called CAPTAIN (Care Planning Through Auction-based Information Negotiation). It extends the concepts and role of the broker as used in IBHIS, and in particular, it extends the service negotiation function in order to demonstrate a full range of service characteristics. CAPTAIN uses the idea of the integrated care plan from healthcare to provide a case study. A care planner acting on behalf of a patient uses the broker to negotiate with providers to produce the integrated care plan for the patient with the broker and the providers agreeing on the terms and conditions relating to the supply of the services. We have developed a ‘proof of concept’ service-oriented broker architecture for CAPTAIN that includes planning, negotiation and service-based software models to provide a flexible care planning system. The CAPTAIN application has been evaluated that focuses on three features: functions, data access and negotiation. The CAPTAIN broker performs as planned, to produce the integrated care plan. The providers’ data sources are accessed to read and write data records during and after service negotiation. The negotiation model permits the broker to interact with the providers to produce an adaptable plan, based on the client’s needs. The primary outcome is an extendable service-oriented broker architecture that can enable more scalable and flexible distributed information management by adding interaction with the data sources

Generic and adaptable online configuration verification for complex networked systems

International audienceDynamic reconfiguration is viewed as a promising solution for today's complex networked systems. However, considering the critical missions actual systems support, systematic dynamic reconfiguration cannot be achieved unless the accuracy and the safety of reconfiguration activities are guaranteed. In this paper, we describe a model-based approach for runtime configuration verification. Our approach uses model-driven engineering techniques to implement a platform-independent online configuration verification framework that can operate as a lightweight extension for networked systems management solutions. The framework includes a flexible and adaptable runtime verification service built upon a high-level language dedicated to the rigorous specification of configuration models and constraints guarding structural correctness and service behavior conformance. Experimental results with a real-life messaging platform show viable overhead demonstrating the feasibility of our approach

Designing Reusable Systems that Can Handle Change - Description-Driven Systems : Revisiting Object-Oriented Principles

In the age of the Cloud and so-called Big Data systems must be increasingly flexible, reconfigurable and adaptable to change in addition to being developed rapidly. As a consequence, designing systems to cater for evolution is becoming critical to their success. To be able to cope with change, systems must have the capability of reuse and the ability to adapt as and when necessary to changes in requirements. Allowing systems to be self-describing is one way to facilitate this. To address the issues of reuse in designing evolvable systems, this paper proposes a so-called description-driven approach to systems design. This approach enables new versions of data structures and processes to be created alongside the old, thereby providing a history of changes to the underlying data models and enabling the capture of provenance data. The efficacy of the description-driven approach is exemplified by the CRISTAL project. CRISTAL is based on description-driven design principles; it uses versions of stored descriptions to define various versions of data which can be stored in diverse forms. This paper discusses the need for capturing holistic system description when modelling large-scale distributed systems.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure and 1 table. Accepted by the 9th Int Conf on the Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering (ENASE'14). Lisbon, Portugal. April 201

09201 Abstracts Collection -- Self-Healing and Self-Adaptive Systems

From May 10th 2009 to May 15th 2009 the Dagstuhl Seminar 09201 ``Self-Healing and Self-Adaptive Systems\u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar are put together in this paper. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available. A description of the seminar topics, goals and results in general can be found in a separate document ``Executive Summary\u27\u27

Development and Evaluation of a High-Performance Electrochemical Potentiostat-Based Desktop Application for Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Testing

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the development of rapid and trustworthy diagnostic tools. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for detecting SARS-CoV-2 but has cost and time constraints. The sensitivity, specificity, and low cost of electrochemical biosensors make them an attractive alternative for virus detection. This study aims to develop and evaluate a high-performance desktop application for an electrochemical potentiostat-based SARS-CoV-2 test device, with a user-friendly interface that automatically interprets results, to expedite the testing process and improve accessibility, particularly in resource-limited settings. The application was built with the Electron framework and the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript programming languages. Our findings indicate that the developed electrochemical potentiostat-based desktop application demonstrates high accuracy compared to commercial software, achieving rapid detection within 30 seconds. The graphical user interface was found to be straightforward and user-friendly, requiring minimal training for efficient system operation. Our electrochemical potentiostat-based desktop application represents a valuable tool for rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing, particularly in settings with limited resources. This research contributes to developing rapid and reliable diagnostic tools for SARS-CoV-2 and potentially other pandemic-causing viruses, addressing the pressing need for improved public health surveillance and response strategies

Suitable task allocation in intelligent systems for assistive environments

The growing need of technological assistance to provide support to people with special needs demands for systems more and more efficient and with better performances. With this aim, this work tries to advance in a multirobot platform that allows the coordinated control of different agents and other elements in the environment to achieve an autonomous behavior based on the user’s needs or will. Therefore, this environment is structured according to the potentiality of each agent and elements of this environment and of the dynamic context, to generate the adequate actuation plans and the coordination of their execution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft