WSC-07: Evolving the Web Services Challenge

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an evolving architectural paradigm where businesses can expose their capabilities as modular, network-accessible software services. By decomposing capabilities into modular services, organizations can share their offerings at multiple levels of granularity while also creating unique access points for their peer organizations. The true impact of SOA will be realized when 3rd party organizations can obtain a variety of services, on-demand, and create higher-order composite business processes. The Web Services Challenge (WSC) is a forum where academic and industry researchers can share experiences of developing tools that automate the integration of web services. In the third year (i.e. WSC-07) of the Web Services Challenge, software platforms will address several new composition challenges. Requests and results will be transmitted within SOAP messages. In addition, semantic representations will be both represented in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). Finally, composite processes will have both sequential and concurrent branches

Model-driven semantic Web service composition

As the number of available Web services increases there is a growing demand to realise complex business processes by combining and reusing available Web services. The reuse and combination of services results in a composition of Web services that may also involve services provided in the Internet. With semantically described Web services, an automated matchmaking of capabilities can help identify suitable services. To address the need for semantically de-fined Web services, OWL-S and WSML have been proposed as competing semantic Web service languages. We show how the proposed semantic Web service languages can be utilized within a model-driven methodology for build-ing composite Web services. In addition we combine the semantic-based discovery with the support for processing QoS requirements to apply a ranking or a selection of the candidates. The methodology describes a process which guides the developer through four phases, starting with the initial modelling, and ending with a new composite service that can be deployed and published to be consumed by other users.

Planning for the next generation of real estate investment management vehicles

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-79).by Michael C. Jaeger.M.S

Monitoring Dependencies for SLAs: The MoDe4SLA Approach

In service oriented computing different techniques for monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are available. Many of these monitoring approaches focus on bilateral agreements between partners. However, when monitoring composite services it is not only important to figure out whether SLAs are violated, but we also need to analyze why these violations have occurred. When offering a composite service a company depends on its content providers to meet the service level they agreed upon. Due to these dependencies a company should not only monitor the SLA of the composite service, but also the SLAs of the services it depends on. By analyzing and monitoring the composite service in this way, causes for SLA violations can be easier found. In this paper we demonstrate how to analyze SLAs during development phase and how to monitor these dependencies using event logs during runtime. We call our approach MoDe4SLA (Monitoring Dependencies for SLAs)

Monitoring Service Compositions In MoDe4SLA: Design of Valdiation

In previous research we introduced the MoDe4SLA approach for monitoring service compositions. MoDe4SLA identifies complex dependencies between Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in a service composition. By explicating these dependencies, causes of SLA violations of a service might be explained by malfunctioning of the services it depends on. MoDe4SLA assists managers in identifying such causes. In this paper we discuss how to evaluate our approach concerning usefulness for the user as well as effectiveness for the business. Usefulness is evaluated by experts who are asked to manage simulated runs of service compositions using MoDe4SLA. Their opinion on the approach is an indicator for its usefulness. Effectiveness is evaluated by comparing runtime results of SLA management using MoDe4SLA with runtime results of unsupported management. Criteria for effectiveness are cost reduction and increase in customer satisfaction

Imperial soldiers and the experience of guerrilla war in Spain, 1808-1814

The Peninsular War of 1808 to 1814 remains unique in Napoleonic History. On canvas, Francisco Goya painted its brutality. Napoleon blamed it for his defeat. Historians assent to both assessments with passing references to the guerrilla conflict’s terrible nature and its negative effect upon the French. Commonly, these brief references turn on such points as the harassing effect of guerrillas upon strung out forces in Spain, the difficulty of foraging for the French, the allied intelligence advantage and finally the notoriously low morale of the French army of occupation. These brief comments on the guerrilla war are, however, buried in the traditional histories of campaigns and generals, of Bailens and Salamancas, of Wellingtons and Soults. Peninsular historiography is almost totally devoid of any information about how French soldiers themselves regarded the guerrilla conflict. By and large, this human element is ignored. This oversight leaves important questions unanswered: How did the French and imperial troops experience the guerrilla war? What exactly did poor morale mean for a soldier who suffered from its effects? Many memoirs of imperial veterans specifically center on the Spanish conflict and provide excellent material with which to illustrate the experience of guerrilla war. By looking into the accounts left by soldiers of all ranks, this work will show how for the troops charged with the conquest and occupation of Spain and Portugal, poor morale created a complex weave of isolation, frustration, and exhaustion that affected their ability to perform their duties

Autonomie in IT-Systemen : Ein Konzeptionelles Modell

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Die Erforschung und Anwendung von autonomen Systemen ist momentan in der Informatik ein Themengebiet von wachsendem Interesse. Die Aussicht, mit autonomen Verfahren komplexe Systeme handhabbar zu machen und Kosteneinsparungen bei deren Betrieb zu erzielen, hat bereits die Softwareindustrie auf dieses Thema gelenkt und zu neuartigen Produkten geführt. Andererseits darf die Verlässlichkeit eines Systems nicht aufgrund eines autonomen Verfahrens herabgesetzt werden. Dieses Spannungsfeld ist ein Fokus verschiedener Forschungsbemühungen, um autonome Systeme alltagstauglich zu machen.Beim Gebiet der autonomen Systeme handelt es sich um ein junges Themengebiet, welches noch nicht durch allgemein akzeptierte Definitionen geprägt ist. Dadurch entsteht der Bedarf einer terminologischen Basis, die sich momentan in der Phase der Etablierung befindet. Diese Arbeit beteiligt sich an diesem Prozess und schlägt ein konzeptionelles Modell vor. Dieses Modell benennt die grundlegenden Termini und zeigt deren Zusammenhänge auf. Es beschreibt eine Interpretation der relevanten Begriffe und leitet daraus Relationen ab. Auf diese Weise fördert es das gemeinsame Verständnis und erleichtert die Kommunikation bezüglich spezifischer Fragestellungen innerhalb dieses Gebietes

A Model for the Propagation of Sound in Granular Materials

This paper presents a simple ball-and-spring model for the propagation of small amplitude vibrations in a granular material. In this model, the positional disorder in the sample is ignored and the particles are placed on the vertices of a square lattice. The inter-particle forces are modeled as linear springs, with the only disorder in the system coming from a random distribution of spring constants. Despite its apparent simplicity, this model is able to reproduce the complex frequency response seen in measurements of sound propagation in a granular system. In order to understand this behavior, the role of the resonance modes of the system is investigated. Finally, this simple model is generalized to include relaxation behavior in the force network -- a behavior which is also seen in real granular materials. This model gives quantitative agreement with experimental observations of relaxation.Comment: 21 pages, requires Harvard macros (9/91), 12 postscript figures not included, HLRZ preprint 6/93, (replacement has proper references included

EFFECT OF AVITROL BAITING ON BIRD DAMAGE TO RIPENING SUNFLOWER WITHIN A 144-SECTION BLOCK OF NORTH DAKOTA

The chemical frightening agent 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) has been repeatedly tested as a means of protecting both ripening corn (De Grazio et al. 1971, 1972; Besser et al. 1973; Besser 1976; Dolbeer et al. 1976; Stickley et al. 1972, 1976; Woronecki et al. 1979) and sunflower (Besser and Guarino 1976; Besser and Pfeifer 1978; Henne et al. 1979; Besser et al. in press) from depredating blackbirds. It was reported that less than one percent of a flock need ingest the treated baits and respond with distress symptoms in order to move birds from a corn field (De Grazio et al. 1972) or even shift roosting aggregations from night roosts (Cummings 1979). However, there is still conflicting evidence as to whether frightened blackbirds will subsequently avoid nearby fields, or even the same treated fields, resulting in efficient protection. The efficacy of 4-AP has not been resolved because of questions about the presentation and formulation of the treated baits and the difficulty of conducting a valid, unambiguous field test. This study was a large-scale evaluation of AvitroⓇ (HCI) FC-Corn Chops-99S1, where all commercial sunflower fields were monitored within a 144-sq mi block centered around a major concentration of roosting blackbirds; and all those fields with significant bird pressure were baited. The test was designed to answer two questions: can selective baiting (1) reduce damage overall when compared with pre-treatment damage from 1981, and (2) disperse it within the block? In other words, can the treatment keep blackbirds out of preferred fields? If so, is the result an overall reduction in damage within the surrounding area, or is it a redistribution of the damage