Extending the Outreach : From Smart Cities to Connected Communities

Connected Communities (CCs) are socio-technical systems that rely on an information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to integrate people and organizations (companies, schools, hospitals, universities, local and national government agencies) willing to share information and perform joint decision-making to create sustainable and equitable work and living environments. We discuss a research agenda considering CCs from three distinct but complementary points of view: CC metaphors, models, and services

Computation Against a Neighbour: Addressing Large-Scale Distribution and Adaptivity with Functional Programming and Scala

Recent works in contexts like the Internet of Things (IoT) and large-scale Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) propose the idea of programming distributed systems by focussing on their global behaviour across space and time. In this view, a potentially vast and heterogeneous set of devices is considered as an “aggregate” to be programmed as a whole, while abstracting away the details of individual behaviour and exchange of messages, which are expressed declaratively. One such a paradigm, known as aggregate programming, builds on computational models inspired by field-based coordination. Existing models such as the field calculus capture interaction with neighbours by a so-called “neighbouring field” (a map from neighbours to values). This requires ad-hoc mechanisms to smoothly compose with standard values, thus complicating programming and introducing clutter in aggregate programs, libraries and domain-specific languages (DSLs). To address this key issue we introduce the novel notion of “computation against a neighbour”, whereby the evaluation of certain subexpressions of the aggregate program are affected by recent corresponding evaluations in neighbours. We capture this notion in the neighbours calculus (NC), a new field calculus variant which is shown to smoothly support declarative specification of interaction with neighbours, and correspondingly facilitate the embedding of field computations as internal DSLs in common general-purpose programming languages—as exemplified by a Scala implementation, called ScaFi. This paper formalises NC, thoroughly compares it with respect to the classic field calculus, and shows its expressiveness by means of a case study in edge computing, developed in ScaFi

A field-based computing approach to sensing-driven clustering in robot swarms

Swarm intelligence leverages collective behaviours emerging from interaction and activity of several “simple” agents to solve problems in various environments. One problem of interest in large swarms featuring a variety of sub-goals is swarm clustering, where the individuals of a swarm are assigned or choose to belong to zero or more groups, also called clusters. In this work, we address the sensing-based swarm clustering problem, where clusters are defined based on both the values sensed from the environment and the spatial distribution of the values and the agents. Moreover, we address it in a setting characterised by decentralisation of computation and interaction, and dynamicity of values and mobility of agents. For the solution, we propose to use the field-based computing paradigm, where computation and interaction are expressed in terms of a functional manipulation of fields, distributed and evolving data structures mapping each individual of the system to values over time. We devise a solution to sensing-based swarm clustering leveraging multiple concurrent field computations with limited domain and evaluate the approach experimentally by means of simulations, showing that the programmed swarms form clusters that well reflect the underlying environmental phenomena dynamics

A cryptographic cloud-based approach for the mitigation of the airline cargo cancellation problem

In order to keep in good long-term relationships with their main customers, Airline Cargo companies do not impose any fee for last minute cancellations of shipments. As a result, customers can book the same shipment on several cargo companies. Cargo companies try to balance cancellations by a corresponding volume of overbooking. However, the considerable uncertainty in the number of cancellations does not allow to fine-tune the optimal overbooking level, causing losses. In this work, we show how the deployment of cryptographic techniques, enabling the computation on private information of customers and companies data can improve the overall service chain, allowing for striking and enforcing better agreements. We propose a query system based on proxy re-encryption and show how the relevant information can be extracted, still preserving the privacy of customers\u2019 data. Furthermore, we provide a Game Theoretic model of the use case scenario and show that it allows a more accurate estimate of the cancellation rates. This supports the reduction of the uncertainty and allows to better tune the overbooking level

SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates XIV. A joint photometric, spectroscopic, and dynamical analysis of the Kepler-117 system

As part of our follow-up campaign of Kepler planets, we observed Kepler-117 with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. This F8-type star hosts two transiting planets in non-resonant orbits. The planets, Kepler-117 b and c, have orbital periods $\simeq 18.8$ and $\simeq 50.8$ days, and show transit-timing variations (TTVs) of several minutes. We performed a combined Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) fit on transits, radial velocities, and stellar parameters to constrain the characteristics of the system. We included the fit of the TTVs in the MCMC by modeling them with dynamical simulations. In this way, consistent posterior distributions were drawn for the system parameters. According to our analysis, planets b and c have notably different masses ($0.094 \pm 0.033$ and $1.84 \pm 0.18$ M$_{\rm J}$) and low orbital eccentricities ($0.0493 \pm 0.0062$ and $0.0323 \pm 0.0033$). The uncertainties on the derived parameters are strongly reduced if the fit of the TTVs is included in the combined MCMC. The TTVs allow measuring the mass of planet b, although its radial velocity amplitude is poorly constrained. Finally, we checked that the best solution is dynamically stable.Comment: 16 pages, of whom 5 of online material.12 figures, of whom 2 in the online material. 7 tables, of whom 4 in the online material. Published in A&

SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates. XV. KOI-614b, KOI-206b, and KOI-680b: a massive warm Jupiter orbiting a G0 metallic dwarf and two highly inflated planets with a distant companion around evolved F-type stars

We report the validation and characterization of three new transiting exoplanets using SOPHIE radial velocities: KOI-614b, KOI-206b, and KOI-680b. KOI-614b has a mass of $2.86\pm0.35~{\rm M_{Jup}}$ and a radius of $1.13^{+0.26}_{-0.18}~{\rm R_{Jup}}$, and it orbits a G0, metallic ([Fe/H]=$0.35\pm0.15$) dwarf in 12.9 days. Its mass and radius are familiar and compatible with standard planetary evolution models, so it is one of the few known transiting planets in this mass range to have an orbital period over ten days. With an equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}=1000 \pm 45$ K, this places KOI-614b at the transition between what is usually referred to as "hot" and "warm" Jupiters. KOI-206b has a mass of $2.82\pm 0.52~{\rm M_{Jup}}$ and a radius of $1.45\pm0.16~{\rm R_{Jup}}$, and it orbits a slightly evolved F7-type star in a 5.3-day orbit. It is a massive inflated hot Jupiter that is particularly challenging for planetary models because it requires unusually large amounts of additional dissipated energy in the planet. On the other hand, KOI-680b has a much lower mass of $0.84\pm0.15~{\rm M_{Jup}}$ and requires less extra-dissipation to explain its uncommonly large radius of $1.99\pm0.18~{\rm R_{Jup}}$. It is one of the biggest transiting planets characterized so far, and it orbits a subgiant F9-star well on its way to the red giant stage, with an orbital period of 8.6 days. With host stars of masses of $1.46\pm0.17~M_{\odot}$ and $1.54 \pm 0.09~M_{\odot}$, respectively, KOI-206b, and KOI-680b are interesting objects for theories of formation and survival of short-period planets around stars more massive than the Sun. For those two targets, we also find signs of a possible distant additional companion in the system