Michal Drozdowicz

Applying Saaty's Multicriterial Decision Making Approach in Grid Resource Management

In this paper we consider combining ontologically represented information with Saaty’s Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to facilitate decision support for Grid users. The context for the proposal is provided by the Agents in Grid project (AiG), which aims at development of an agent-based infrastructure for efficient resource management in the Grid. In the AiG project, agents form teams, managers of which negotiate with clients and workers terms of potential collaboration. Here, we focus on the scenario, in which the user is searching for resources to execute a task, while the resources and the expert domain knowledge are organized in an ontology. Taking into account the complex nature of resource description and domain knowledge, multicriterial assessment of how accurate is the user description of her needs, and how it can be extended/refined, plays a crucial role. For instance, it should help the user to choose optimal algorithm and/or resource to solve her problem. Furthermore, ontologically described contract proposals, that are the results of autonomous negotiations, require multicriterial assessment. The AHP method is based on pairwise comparisons of criteria, and relies on the judgment of a panel of experts. In the context of the AiG project, we show on the example of the AHP method, how multicriteria group decision making can be used to support user in resource selection and assessment of contract proposals. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.43.1.4587

Using Ontologies to Manage Resources in Grid Computing: Practical Aspects

This chapter shows how semantic technologies can enable the development of an agent-based intelligent middleware for the Grid (the Agents in Grid system). Resource providing agents are organized in teams and negotiate contracts with agents representing users. All information is ontologically demarcated and semantically processed. In particular, user preferences are turned into ontology class expressions and are applied directly in contract negotiations. The chapter provides a detailed overview of how ontologies are used in the AiG system. Key issues in the development of the AiG ontology are discussed, and the implementation of the ontology-focused parts of the system are described.

Software Agents in ADAJ: Load Balancing in a Distributed Environment

Adaptive Distributed Applications in Java (ADAJ) is a platform developed for execution of distributed applications in Java. The objectives of this platform is to facilitate application design and to efficiently use the power of distributed computing. The ADAJ offers both a programming and an execution environment. In the latter it implements object observation and load balancing mechanisms. The observation mechanism allows estimating of the JVM load for each node running the ADAJ client. The load balancing mechanism dynamically adapts the workload across the system according to this information. Here we discuss how the original design based on JavaParty is going to be superseded by utilization of software agents.

Semantically Enriched Data Access Policies in eHealth

Internet of Things (IoT) requires novel solutions to facilitate autonomous, though controlled, resource access. Access policies have to facilitate interactions between heterogeneous entities (devices and humans). Here, we focus our attention on access control in eHealth. We propose an approach based on enriching policies, based on well-known and widely-used eXtensible Access Control Markup Language, with semantics. In the paper we describe an implementation of a Policy Information Point integrated with the HL7 Security and Privacy Ontology.

Semantic Policy Information Point – preliminary considerations

Internet of Things (IoT), as a new paradigm for information management requires a number of novel solutions. The aim of this note is to consider methods and approaches needed to facilitate autonomous resource access. The access policies have not only to become capable of dealing with device-to-device interactions, but have to be flexible enough to deal with enormous heterogeneity of entities that are to interact in the IoT. Specifically, we will briefly summarize the existing approaches to access management and outline our approach to provisioning of the needed functionality.

Reengineering and Extending the Agents in Grid Ontology

Ontology engineering, despite considerable progress, is still relatively new and dynamically evolving discipline. As a result, the universal standards for creating and/or editing an ontology, have not been established. This leads to problems with reusing and updating existing ontologies. It also makes writing an ontology from scratch seem like a good idea. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, to discuss key issues encountered during re-engineering of an existing ontology. Second, to show how the good practices of ontology development were applied to model the area of computational linear algebra. Here, special attention is paid to the application of this ontology in the user support system.

Information flow and mirroring in an agent-based grid resource brokering system

We are developing an agent-team-based Grid resource brokering and management system One of issues that has to be addressed is team preservation through mirroring of key information We focused our attention on information generated within the agent team In this paper we discuss sources of information generated in the system and consider which information should be mirrored to increase long-term survival of the team.

Combining a JADE-Agent-Based Grid Infrastructure with the Globus Middleware Initial Solution

Currently, we are developing an agent based infrastructure for resource management in Grids. In the past our attention was focused on high-level processes involved in agents selecting a team to join or a team to execute a job. In this note we consider how the proposed agent-based system can interact with an actual Grid middleware. As our initial target we have selected the Globus middleware. Here, we present a simple way of submitting a job and receiving results and discuss implementation details.

Graphical Interface for Ontology Mapping with Application to Access Control

Proliferation of smart, connected devices brings new challenges to data access and privacy control. Fine grained access control policies are typically complex, hard to maintain and tightly bound to the internal structure of the processed information. We thus discuss how semantic inference can be used together with an intuitive ontology management tool to ease the management of Attribute Based Access Control policies, even by users not experienced with semantic technologies.

Implementing Agent-Based Resource Management in Tsunami Modeling Preliminary Considerations

Recently, work has started to apply the agent-semantic infrastructure, developed within the scope of the Agents in Grid project, to the resource management needed in tsunami modeling. The original proposal was based on the perceived simplicity, versatility and flexibility of the agent-based approach that makes it easier to deploy than the standard grid middlewares. The aim of this paper is to report on the progress in implementing and deploying the proposed system at the University of Aizu.