Flexible Resolution of Authorisation Conflicts in Distributed Systems

Flexible Resolution of Authorisation Conflicts in Distributed System

General-purpose autonomic computing

The success of mainstream computing is largely due to the widespread availability of general-purpose architectures and of generic approaches that can be used to solve real-world problems cost-effectively and across a broad range of application domains. In this chapter, we propose that a similar generic framework is used to make the development of autonomic solutions cost effective, and to establish autonomic computing as a major approach to managing the complexity of today’s large-scale systems and systems of systems. To demonstrate the feasibility of general-purpose autonomic computing, we introduce a generic autonomic computing framework comprising a policy-based autonomic architecture and a novel four-step method for the effective development of self-managing systems. A prototype implementation of the reconfigurable policy engine at the core of our architecture is then used to develop autonomic solutions for case studies from several application domains. Looking into the future, we describe a methodology for the engineering of self-managing systems that extends and generalises our autonomic computing framework further

FOCALE: A Novel Autonomic Networking Architecture

Network resources will always be heterogeneous, and thus have different functionalities and programming models. This can be solved through the combination of information models and knowledge engineering, which together can be used to discover and program semantically similar functionality for heterogeneous devices regardless of the data and language used by each device. This paper introduces FOCALE, a semantically rich architecture for orchestrating the behavior of heterogeneous and distributed computing resources. We apply the FOCALE architecture to Beyond 3G Networks as a case study

Ontology-Based Knowledge Representation for Self-Governing Systems

Self-governing systems need a reliable set of semantics and a formal theoretic model in order to facilitate automated reasoning. We present an ontology-based knowledge representation that will use data from information models while preserving the semantics and the taxonomy of existing systems. This will facilitate the decomposition and validation of high level goals by autonomous, self-governing components. Our solution reuses principles and standards from the Semantic Web and the OMG to precisely describe the managed entities and the shared objectives that these entities are trying to achieve by autonomously correlating their behavior. We describe how we created UML2, MOF, OCL and QVT ontologies, and we give a case study using the NGOSS Shared Information and Data model. We also set the requirements for integrating existing information models and domain ontologies into a unique knowledge base

End-to-End Model Driven Policy Based Network Management

The continued movement towards converged networks changes the focus to building application services that enable customers to move between different types of service providers based on their needs. Policy management becomes paramount for the rapid deployment and management of these application services. This paper presents the concept of a policy continuum and discusses the importance of modelling and natural languages in the presence of the policy continuum, resulting in a novel architecture suitable for autonomic computing

Divergent Views of Hope Influencing Communications Between Parents and Hospital Providers

This study evaluates parents’ and health care providers’ (HCPs) descriptions of hope following counseling of parents at risk of delivering an extremely premature infant. Data came from a longitudinal multiple case study investigation that examined the decision-making and support needs of 40 families and their providers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted before and after delivery. Divergent viewpoints of hope were found between parents and many HCPs and were subsequently coded using content analysis. Parents relied on hope as an emotional motivator, whereas most HCPs described parents’ notions of hope as out of touch with reality. Parents perceived that such divergent beliefs about the role of hope negatively shaped communicative interactions and reduced trust with some of their providers. A deeper understanding of how varying views of hope might shape communications will uncover future research questions and lead to theory-based interventions aimed at improving the process of discussing difficult news with parents