Alessandra Russo

Towards making network function virtualization a cloud computing service

By allowing network functions to be virtualized and run on commodity hardware, NFV enables new properties (e.g., elastic scaling), and new service models for Service Providers, Enterprises, and Telecommunication Service Providers. However, for NFV to be offered as a service, several research problems still need to be addressed. In this paper, we focus and propose a new service chaining algorithm. Existing solutions suffer two main limitations: First, existing proposals often rely on mixed Integer Linear Programming to optimize VM allocation and network management, but our experiments show that such approach is too slow taking hours to find a solution. Second, although existing proposals have considered the VM placement and network configuration jointly, they frequently assume the network configuration cannot be changed. Instead, we believe that both computing and network resources should be able to be updated concurrently for increased flexibility and to satisfy SLA and Qos requirements. As such, we formulate and propose a Genetic Algorithm based approach to solve the VM allocation and network management problem. We built an experimental NFV platform, and run a set of experiments. The results show that our proposed GA approach can compute configurations to to three orders of magnitude faster than traditional solutions.

Inductive Learning of Answer Set Programs

Existing work on Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) has focused mainly on the learning of definite programs or normal logic programs. In this paper, we aim to push the computational boundary to a wider class of programs: Answer Set Programs. We propose a new paradigm for ILP that integrates existing notions of brave and cautious semantics within a unifying learning framework whose inductive solutions are Answer Set Programs and examples are partial interpretations We present an algorithm that is sound and complete with respect to our new notion of inductive solutions. We demonstrate its applicability by discussing a prototype implementation, called ILASP (Inductive Learning of Answer Set Programs), and evaluate its use in the context of planning. In particular, we show how ILASP can be used to learn agents knowledge about the environment. Solutions of the learned ASP program provide plans for the agent to travel through the given environment.

Privacy dynamics: learning privacy norms for social software

Privacy violations in online social networks (OSNs) often arise as a result of users sharing information with unintended audiences. One reason for this is that, although OSN capa- bilities for creating and managing social groups can make it easier to be selective about recipients of a given post, they do not provide enough guidance to the users to make informed sharing decisions. In this paper we present Pri- vacy Dynamics, an adaptive architecture that learns privacy norms for dierent audience groups based on users sharing behaviours. Our architecture is underpinned by a formal model inspired by social identity theory, a social psychology framework for analysing group processes and intergroup re- lations. Our formal model comprises two main concepts, the group membership as a Social Identity (SI) map and privacy norms as a set of con ict rules. In our approach a privacy norm is specied in terms of the information objects that should be prevented fromowing between two con icting social identity groups. We implement our formal model by using inductive logic programming (ILP), which automati- cally learns privacy norms. We evaluate the performance of our learning approach using synthesised data representing the sharing behaviour of social network users.

Learning weak constraints in answer set programming

This paper contributes to the area of inductive logic programming by presenting a new learning framework that allows the learning of weak constraints in Answer Set Programming (ASP). The framework, called Learning from Ordered Answer Sets, generalises our previous work on learning ASP programs without weak constraints, by considering a new notion of examples as ordered pairs of partial answer sets that exemplify which answer sets of a learned hypothesis (together with a given background knowledge) are preferred to others. In this new learning task inductive solutions are searched within a hypothesis space of normal rules, choice rules, and hard and weak constraints. We propose a new algorithm, ILASP2, which is sound and complete with respect to our new learning framework. We investigate its applicability to learning preferences in an interview scheduling problem and also demonstrate that when restricted to the task of learning ASP programs without weak constraints, ILASP2 can be much more efficient than our previously proposed system.

Learning Through Hypothesis Refinement Using Answer Set Programming

Recent work has shown how a meta-level approach to inductive logic programming, which uses a semantic-preserving transformation of a learning task into an abductive reasoning problem, can address a large class of multi-predicate, nonmonotonic learning in a sound and complete manner. An Answer Set Programming (ASP) implementation, called ASPAL, has been proposed that uses ASP fixed point computation to solve a learning task, thus delegating the search to the ASP solver. Although this meta-level approach has been shown to be very general and flexible, the scalability of its ASP implementation is constrained by the grounding of the meta-theory. In this paper we build upon these results and propose a new meta-level learning approach that overcomes the scalability problem of ASPAL by breaking the learning process up into small manageable steps and using theory revision over the meta-level representation of the hypothesis space to improve the hypothesis computed at each step. We empirically evaluate the computational gain with respect to ASPAL using two different answer set solvers.

Iterative Learning of Answer Set Programs from Context Dependent Examples

In recent years, several frameworks and systems have been proposed that extend Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) to the Answer Set Programming (ASP) paradigm. In ILP, examples must all be explained by a hypothesis together with a given background knowledge. In existing systems, the background knowledge is the same for all examples; however, examples may be context-dependent. This means that some examples should be explained in the context of some information, whereas others should be explained in different contexts. In this paper, we capture this notion and present a context-dependent extension of the Learning from Ordered Answer Sets framework. In this extension, contexts can be used to further structure the background knowledge. We then propose a new iterative algorithm, ILASP2i, which exploits this feature to scale up the existing ILASP2 system to learning tasks with large numbers of examples. We demonstrate the gain in scalability by applying both algorithms to various learning tasks. Our results show that, compared to ILASP2, the newly proposed ILASP2i system can be two orders of magnitude faster and use two orders of magnitude less memory, whilst preserving the same average accuracy. This paper is under consideration for acceptance in TPLP.

An Approach for Collective Adaptation in Socio-Technical Systems

Socio-technical systems are systems where autonomous humans and computational entities collectively collaborate with each other to satisfy their goals in a dynamic environment. To be resilient, such systems need to adapt to unexpected human behaviours and exogenous changes in the environment. In this paper, we describe a framework for the development of social-technical systems where adaptation is itself a collective process driven by the awareness of capabilities, goals, constraints and preferences of humans and entities, and knowledge of the environment. The adaptation is controlled by a multi-criteria decision making function combined with an analytic hierarchic process (AHP). We present our approach, the collective adaptation algorithm, and its application to a smart mobility scenario.

Optimizing Resource Allocation for Virtualized Network Functions in a Cloud Center Using Genetic Algorithms

With the introduction of network function virtualization technology, migrating entire enterprise data centers into the cloud has become a possibility. However, for a cloud service provider (CSP) to offer such services, several research problems still need to be addressed. In previous work, we have introduced a platform, called network function center (NFC), to study research issues related to virtualized network functions (VNFs). In an NFC, we assume VNFs to be implemented on virtual machines that can be deployed in any server in the CSP network. We have proposed a resource allocation algorithm for VNFs based on genetic algorithms (GAs). In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of two resource allocation algorithms based on GA for: 1) the initial placement of VNFs and 2) the scaling of VNFs to support traffic changes. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithms with a traditional integer linear programming resource allocation technique. We then combine data from previous empirical analyses to generate realistic VNF chains and traffic patterns, and evaluate the resource allocation decision making algorithms. We assume different architectures for the data center, implement different fitness functions with GA, and compare their performance when scaling over the time.

Integration of flow studies for robust selection of mechanoresponsive genes

Blood flow is an essential contributor to plaque growth, composition and initiation. It is sensed by endothelial cells, which react to blood flow by expressing >u20091000 genes. The sheer number of genes implies that one needs genomic techniques to unravel their response in disease. Individual genomic studies have been performed but lack sufficient power to identify subtle changes in gene expression. In this study, we investigated whether a systematic meta-analysis of available microarray studies can improve their consistency. We identified 17 studies using microarrays, of which six were performed in vivo and 11 in vitro. The in vivo studies were disregarded due to the lack of the shear profile. Of the in vitro studies, a cross-platform integration of human studies (HUVECs in flow cells) showed high concordance (>u200990u2009%). The human data set identified >u20091600 genes to be shear responsive, more than any other study and in this gene set all known mechanosensitive genes and pathways were present. A detailed network analysis indicated a power distribution (e.u2009g. the presence of hubs), without a hierarchical organisation. The average cluster coefficient was high and further analysis indicated an aggregation of 3 and 4 element motifs, indicating a high prevalence of feedback and feed forward loops, similar to prokaryotic cells. In conclusion, this initial study presented a novel method to integrate human-based mechanosensitive studies to increase its power. The robust network was large, contained all known mechanosensitive pathways and its structure revealed hubs, and a large aggregate of feedback and feed forward loops.

Defining functional interactions during biogenesis of epithelial junctions

In spite of extensive recent progress, a comprehensive understanding of how actin cytoskeleton remodelling supports stable junctions remains to be established. Here we design a platform that integrates actin functions with optimized phenotypic clustering and identify new cytoskeletal proteins, their functional hierarchy and pathways that modulate E-cadherin adhesion. Depletion of EEF1A, an actin bundling protein, increases E-cadherin levels at junctions without a corresponding reinforcement of cell–cell contacts. This unexpected result reflects a more dynamic and mobile junctional actin in EEF1A-depleted cells. A partner for EEF1A in cadherin contact maintenance is the formin DIAPH2, which interacts with EEF1A. In contrast, depletion of either the endocytic regulator TRIP10 or the Rho GTPase activator VAV2 reduces E-cadherin levels at junctions. TRIP10 binds to and requires VAV2 function for its junctional localization. Overall, we present new conceptual insights on junction stabilization, which integrate known and novel pathways with impact for epithelial morphogenesis, homeostasis and diseases.