Instantiation Process Research Articles

Automatization of the Instantiation Process for the Behavior of Software Product Lines

Models and model transformations constitute the basis of a set of software development techniques known as Model-Driven Development. In this context, UML State Machines have great potential for modeling the behavior of systems. In this work we are concerned with modeling the behavior of Product Lines, and their individual products. We present a process for deriving automatically a UML State Machine that models the behavior of a specific product from the UML model of a product line, via a model transformation based on Query/View/Transformation. The process directly involves the use of Feature Models in order to determine which elements of a (extended) State Machine describing a product family, will remain in the instantiation.

Instantiation in Partial Learning

<p class="western"><span>The adaptive learning systems are changing the learning process as we know it. One of the advantages they have over the traditional ways of learning is the attempt to adapt to the learner's capabilities in order to deliver the knowledge as optimizing as possible. Even in such sophisticated implementations there are differences in the treatment of the adaptive learning.</span></p> <p class="western"><span>During the past years spent in research of different aspects of the adaptive learning, we made a distinction of our latest development phase as an advanced adaptive learning, having more specific approach to the problem from the phase where the problem of adaptive learning is treated as a general case. Considering the conditions of advanced adaptive learning rather than basic adaptive learning, the process of learning is different and closely related to the human learner. In order to demonstrate this key improvement, we presented a general learner model through its learning mechanism and its behavior in the adaptive learning environment together with the instantiation process. In this paper we present a new way of learning with learning environment instances, constructed by choosing different ways to obtain the knowledge for a target unit.</span></p>

Investor Perceptions of Financial Misconduct: The Heterogeneous Contamination of Bystander Firms

We suggest that, when one firm reveals financial misconduct, others in the industry suffer lower valuations, but do so heterogeneously. To understand this heterogeneity, we conceptualize such contamination as a generalization–instantiation process: investors generalize the culpability to the industry category and perceive the instantiation of generalized culpability within the industry bystander firms. This theoretical separation allows us to hypothesize the factors that affect the degree to which both of these elements of the contamination process occurs. Specifically, we predict that characteristics of the misconduct firm or event—factors that lend to investors' familiarity with the misconduct firms, or that prompt attributions of blame for the misconduct—affect the potency of the generalization of culpability to the industry, while characteristics of the industry bystander firms—investors' familiarity with such firms, or factors that lend to investors' perceptions that they have strong governance—affect the firms' vulnerability to being perceived as instantiating the generalized culpability. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 725 firms across 84 financial misconduct events, and the results of our event analyses broadly support our predictions. Our study thus has implications for future research on the social view of financial markets, organizational misconduct, and corporate governance.

A Modular Simulation Tool of an Orchestrator for Allocating Virtual Resources in SDN

 Abstract—Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are technologies for enabling innovative network architectures. Nevertheless, a fundamental problem in instantiation of Virtual Networks (VNs), performed by NFV, is an optimal allocation of resources offered by one or more SDN domain networks. The process of instantiation of VNs is performed in several phases, including splitting and mapping algorithms. For each one of these phases, researchers have developed algorithms, being possible to obtain different results combining them. This paper introduces a modular and flexible graphical discrete event simulation tool for solving the complete virtual resource allocation in SDN domain networks problem. A Java-based tool has been developed to integrate existing and future algorithms related to each phase of the process. The simulator is a test-bed in which researchers can select the appropriate algorithm in each phase and display the results in a graphical form, while obtaining a performance evaluation of the selected and proposed algorithms.

Formally Verified Tableau-Based Reasoners for a Description Logic

Description Logics are a family of logics used to represent and reason about conceptual and terminological knowledge. One of the most basic description logics is ${\mathcal{ALC}}$ , used as a basis from which to obtain others. Description logics are particularly important to provide a logical basis for the web ontology languages (such as OWL) used in the Semantic Web. In order to increase the reliability of the Semantic Web, formal methods can be applied, and in particular formal verification of its reasoning services can be carried out. In this paper, we present the formal verification of a tableau-based satisfiability algorithm for the logic ${\mathcal{ALC}}$ . The verification has been completed in several stages. First, we develop an abstract formalization of satisfiability-checking of ${\mathcal{ALC}}$ -concepts. Secondly, we define and formally verify a tableau-based algorithm in which the order of rule application and branch selection can be flexibly specified, using a methodology of refinements to transfer the main properties from the ${\mathcal{ALC}}$ abstract formalization. Finally, we obtain verified and executable reasoners from the algorithm via a process of instantiation.

The Generic Model for Pervasive Information System

The ubiquitous computing-also called pervasive computing-regroups the characteristics of mobile computing and the techniques of context-awareness that are flexible, adaptable, and capable of acting autonomously on behalf of users. However, the pervasive computing introduces a variety of software, hardware and users engineering challenges. The pervasive computing modeling is a new research area. Indeed, we are interested in purposing methodology for modeling pervasive systems. This paper provides an overview of proposed generic model of pervasive information system. We also propose an instantiation process to validate this generic model. The generic model validation is realized by two ways; manually and automatically. The last way is obtained by the creation of automatic system of OWL instantiation. This purposed generic model represents the highest level of abstraction. It only presents the general concepts of pervasive system.

Parallel instantiation of ASP programs: techniques and experiments

AbstractAnswer-Set Programming (ASP) is a powerful logic-based programming language, which is enjoying increasing interest within the scientific community and (very recently) in industry. The evaluation of Answer-Set Programs is traditionally carried out in two steps. At the first step, an input program undergoes the so-called instantiation (or grounding) process, which produces a program ′ semantically equivalent to , but not containing any variable; in turn, ′ is evaluated by using a backtracking search algorithm in the second step. It is well-known that instantiation is important for the efficiency of the whole evaluation, might become a bottleneck in common situations, is crucial in several real-world applications, and is particularly relevant when huge input data have to be dealt with. At the time of this writing, the available instantiator modules are not able to exploit satisfactorily the latest hardware, featuring multi-core/multi-processor Symmetric MultiProcessing technologies. This paper presents some parallel instantiation techniques, including load-balancing and granularity control heuristics, which allow for the effective exploitation of the processing power offered by modern Symmetric MultiProcessing machines. This is confirmed by an extensive experimental analysis reported herein.

Turning Text into Research Networks: Information Retrieval and Computational Ontologies in the Creation of Scientific Databases

BackgroundWeb-based, free-text documents on science and technology have been increasing growing on the web. However, most of these documents are not immediately processable by computers slowing down the acquisition of useful information. Computational ontologies might represent a possible solution by enabling semantically machine readable data sets. But, the process of ontology creation, instantiation and maintenance is still based on manual methodologies and thus time and cost intensive.MethodWe focused on a large corpus containing information on researchers, research fields, and institutions. We based our strategy on traditional entity recognition, social computing and correlation. We devised a semi automatic approach for the recognition, correlation and extraction of named entities and relations from textual documents which are then used to create, instantiate, and maintain an ontology.ResultsWe present a prototype demonstrating the applicability of the proposed strategy, along with a case study describing how direct and indirect relations can be extracted from academic and professional activities registered in a database of curriculum vitae in free-text format. We present evidence that this system can identify entities to assist in the process of knowledge extraction and representation to support ontology maintenance. We also demonstrate the extraction of relationships among ontology classes and their instances.ConclusionWe have demonstrated that our system can be used for the conversion of research information in free text format into database with a semantic structure. Future studies should test this system using the growing number of free-text information available at the institutional and national levels.

XSPIDER_ML: Proposal of a Software Processes Enactment Language Compliant with SPEM 2.0

SPEM (Software Process Engineering Metamodel Specification) is the software processes modeling standard defined by OMG (Object Management Group). However, the process enactment support provided by this standard has many deficiencies. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to propose a language for software process enactment based upon SPEM 2.0 concepts. First, we will present a critical analysis of the SPEM standard approach for enactment. Then, we will present xSPIDER_ML, an enactment language, and describe its structure, components and associated rules. In order to evaluate the proposed language, a case study is performed through a RUP (Rational Unified Process) process instantiation. The language presented in this paper is part of a support set of tools for flexible software process enactment. Additionally, this set of tools is in compliance with software process quality models.

Through-Life NEC Scenario Development

Scenarios are an important planning tool used by individuals, businesses and governments (especially in the military domain), but many of the currently used approaches focus solely on acute probabilistic timeframes and specific metricated instances of possible future states. Using a mixed method research methodology, we develop a scenario approach in which multiple timeframes are accommodated by fitting vignettes within each other to represent different time levels. This has the advantage of presenting the end-to-end process of capability development and instantiation. We describe the methodology employed to generate such a scenario as a demonstration aid for a large, multidisciplinary research program in systems of systems engineering. The process of scenario generation was an effective integration tool within this program (that included twelve distributed research groups). The resultant scenario enabled engagement of multiple stakeholders in an integrated demonstration of systems related research outputs. We recommend a new class of scenario (a “research scenario”) for incorporation within the standard classifications of scenario types.

Scheme-based theorem discovery and concept invention

We describe an approach to automatically invent/explore new mathematical theories, with the goal of producing results comparable to those produced by humans, as represented, for example, in the libraries of the Isabelle proof assistant. Our approach is based on ‘schemes’, which are formulae in higher-order logic. We show that it is possible to automate the instantiation process of schemes to generate conjectures and definitions. We also show how the new definitions and the lemmata discovered during the exploration of a theory can be used, not only to help with the proof obligations during the exploration, but also to reduce redundancies inherent in most theory-formation systems. We exploit associative-commutative (AC) operators using ordered rewriting to avoid AC variations of the same instantiation. We implemented our ideas in an automated tool, called IsaScheme, which employs Knuth–Bendix completion and recent automatic inductive proof tools. We have evaluated our system in a theory of natural numbers and a theory of lists.

ReuseTool—An extensible tool support for object-oriented framework reuse

Object-oriented frameworks have become a popular paradigm used to improve the software development lifecycle. They promote reuse by providing a semi-complete architecture that can be extended through an instantiation process to integrate the needs of the new software application. Instantiation processes are typically enacted in an ad-hoc manner, which may lead to tedious and error-prone procedures. This work leverages our previous work on the definition of RDL, a language to facilitate the description of instantiation process, and describe the ReuseTool, which is an extensible tool to execute RDL programs and assist framework reuse by manipulating UML Diagrams. The ReuseTool integrates a RDL Compiler and a Workflow Engine to control most of the activities required to extend a framework design and, therefore, incorporates application-specific needs. This work also describes how the tool can be extended to incorporate new reuse activities and provides information of its use based on an exploratory Case Study.

An approach for virtual appliance distribution for service deployment

Fulfilling a service request in highly dynamic service environments may require deploying a service. Therefore, the effectiveness of service deployment systems affects initial service response times. On Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud systems deployable services are encapsulated in virtual appliances. Services are deployed by instantiating virtual machines with their virtual appliances. The virtual machine instantiation process is highly dependent on the size and availability of the virtual appliance that is maintained by service developers. This article proposes an automated virtual appliance creation service that aids the service developers to create efficiently deployable virtual appliances — in former systems this task was carried out manually by the developer. We present an algorithm that decomposes these appliances in order to replicate the common virtual appliance parts in IaaS systems. These parts are used to reduce the deployment time of the service by rebuilding the virtual appliance of the service on the deployment target site. With the prototype implementation of the proposed algorithms we demonstrate the decomposition and appliance rebuilding algorithms on a complex web service.

Problem-dependent search for optimal parameter instantiation order in design spaces

The paper refers to the domain of engineering design and introduces a method for obtaining an optimal instantiation process for the design parameters in a design problem by using extended, problem- and path-dependent search within the digraphs that these parameters form. Design parameters are considered as entities being interrelated via deterministic associative relationships and forming digraphs that accommodate declarative and procedural design knowledge. They participate in establishing formal metrics for the estimation of importance and design effort. Factors with values assigned by the designer(s) define the required effort for the instantiation of primary parameters. A method is presented and an algorithm is proposed for obtaining optimal instantiation lists. The algorithm uses extended problem- and path-dependent search within the parameter digraphs. Iteratively, in each step, the algorithm performs extended search in order to: (a) locate the optimal path, (b) instantiate its primary parameter and (c) propagate its value throughout design space. Thus information and knowledge of major importance is produced early in the design process with minimum instantiation effort. The design of a belt conveyor carrying unit loads is used as a case study for the suggested method. The proposed method can optimally guide the instantiation process. Violations of requirements, specifications and constraints for important parameters are promptly realized, modifiable primary parameters are easily located and, as a result, the necessity for changes to parameter interrelationships can be subsequently justified.

Automated ontology instantiation from tabular web sources—The AllRight system

The process of populating an ontology-based system with high-quality and up-to-date instance information can be both time-consuming and prone to error. In many domains, however, one possible solution to this problem is to automate the instantiation process for a given ontology by searching ( mining) the web for the required instance information. The primary challenges facing such system include: (a) efficiently locating web pages that most probably contain the desired instance information, (b) extracting the instance information from a page, and (c) clustering documents that describe the same instance in order to exploit data redundancy on the web and thus improve the overall quality of the harvested data. In addition, these steps should require as little seed knowledge as possible. In this paper, the AllRight ontology instantiation system is presented, which supports the full instantiation life-cycle and addresses the above-mentioned challenges through a combination of new and existing techniques. In particular the system was designed to deal with situations where the instance information is given in tabular form. The main innovative pillars of the system are a new high-recall focused crawling technique ( xCrawl), a novel table recognition algorithm, innovative methods for document clustering and instance name recognition, as well as techniques for fact extraction, instance generation and query-based fact validation. The successful evaluation of the system in different real-world application scenarios shows that the ontology instantiation process can be successfully automated using only a very limited amount of seed knowledge.

Process instantiation

Although several process modeling languages allow one to specify processes with multiple start elements, the precise semantics of such models are often unclear, both from a pragmatic and from a theoretical point of view. This paper addresses the lack of research on this problem and introduces the CASU framework (from Creation, Activation, Subscription, Unsubscription). The contribution of this framework is a systematic description of design alternatives for the specification of instantiation semantics of process modeling languages. We classify six prominent languages by the help of this framework. We validate the relevance of the CASU framework through empirical investigations involving a large set of process models from practice. Our work provides the basis for the design of new correctness criteria as well as for the formalization of Event-driven Process Chains (EPCs) and extension of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). It complements research such as the workflow patterns.

Automated Ontology Instantiation from Tabular Web Sources The AllRight System

The process of populating an ontology-based system with high-quality and up-to-date instance information can be both time consuming and prone to error. In many domains, however, one possible solution to this problem is to automate the instantiation process for a given ontology by searching (mining) the web for the required instance information. The primary challenges facing such a system include: (a) efficiently locating web pages that most probably contain the desired instance information, (b) extracting the instance information from a page, and (c) clustering documents that describe the same instance in order to exploit data redundancy on the web and thus improve the overall quality of the harvested data. In addition, these steps should require as little seed knowledge as possible. In this paper, the AllRight ontology instantiation system is presented, which supports the full instantiation life-cycle and addresses the above-mentioned challenges through a combination of new and existing techniques. In particular the system was designed to deal with situations where the instance information is given in tabular form. The main innovative pillars of the system are a new high-recall focused crawling technique (xCRAWL), a novel table recognition algorithm, innovative methods for document clustering and instance name recognition, as well as techniques for fact extraction, instance generation and query-based fact validation. The successful evaluation of the system in different real-world application scenarios shows that the ontology instantiation process can be successfully automated using only a very limited amount of seed knowledge.

Philosophy as a Basis for Policy and Practice: What Confidence Can We Have in Philosophical Analysis and Argument?

The purpose of this article is to suggest how philosophy might play a key, if precisely delineated, role in the shaping of policy that leads educational development. The argument begins with a reflection on the nature of confidence in the relationship between philosophy and policy. We note the widespread resistance to abstract theorising in the policy community, disguising the enormous potential of a philosophical approach. Defending a philosophically equipped approach to policy, which is inevitably theoretically laden, we argue that philosophical investigation should be construed not as an initial step anterior to the task of research, but as a way of standing in relation to evidence and policy making throughout the process of investigation and adjudication. To illustrate the distinctive contribution philosophy can make, we propose five interrelated stages where philosophical thinking plays a constitutive role in the full process of policy development, critique and instantiation.

Ontology Population via NLP Techniques in Risk Management

In this paper we propose an NLP-based method for Ontology Population from texts and apply it to semi automatic instantiate a Generic Knowledge Base (Generic Domain Ontology) in the risk management domain. The approach is semi-automatic and uses a domain expert intervention for validation. The proposed approach relies on a set of Instances Recognition Rules based on syntactic structures, and on the predicative power of verbs in the instantiation process. It is not domain dependent since it heavily relies on linguistic knowledge. A description of an experiment performed on a part of the ontology of the PRIMA project (supported by the European community) is given. A first validation of the method is done by populating this ontology with Chemical Fact Sheets from Environmental Protection Agency . The results of this experiment complete the paper and support the hypothesis that relying on the predicative power of verbs in the instantiation process improves the performance.

Constructing Formally Verified Reasoners for the [formula omitted] Description Logic

Description Logics are a family of logics used to represent and reason about conceptual and terminological knowledge. Recently, its importance has been increased since they are used as a basis for the Ontology Web Language (OWL) used for the Semantic Web. In previous work, we have developed in PVS a generic framework for reasoning in the ALC description logic, proving its termination, soundness and completeness. In this paper we present the construction, from the generic framework, of a formally verified generic tableau-based algorithm for checking satisfiability of ALC-concepts. We do it using a methodology of refinements to transfer the properties from the framework to the algorithm. We also obtain some verified reasoners from the algorithm by a process of instantiation.