Naoshi Uchihira

Hypersequential programming: a new way to develop concurrent programs

The authors present hypersequential programming, a new method that eases the difficulty of concurrent programming and makes the concurrent program highly reliable. The difficulty of concurrent programming is due mainly to its nondeterminism. The authors classify nondeterminism into three types: intended, harmful, and persistent. In traditional concurrent programming, a programmer first designs and implements programs so as to maximize concurrency, which may include all three types of nondeterminism. She then tries to detect harmful nondeterministic behavior by testing and debugging them. However, removing all harmful nondeterministic behavior is actually very difficult. Hypersequential programming, on the other hand, first serializes the concurrent program to remove all types of nondeterminism, and then the programmer tests and debugs it as a sequential program. Finally, it is parallelized by restoring only intended and persistent nondeterminism. Hypersequential programming can develop a highly reliable concurrent program, because the injection of harmful nondeterminism is precluded. In this article, the authors also present a simple embodiment of hypersequential programming using Petri nets.

Modeling of complex processes in nursing and caregiving services

In 2010, JST/RISTEX in Japan started a new R&D program “Service Science, Solutions and Foundation Integrated Research Program”. The authors are engaged in a research project “Innovation for Service Space Communication by Voice Tweets in Nursing and Caring” selected by this program, and are developing a stress-free information assisting system based on smart voice messaging. By providing voice messaging environment optimized for current situation of nurses, the system helps nurses in their cooperation, knowledge sharing, and making work records, and as a result the system reduces various kinds of stresses associated with their work. To estimate the current situation of nurses, it is important to have detailed process models that describe working schedules and how they behave in various situations. Moreover, computer simulation based on the process models is useful for quantitative evaluation of the system. In this paper, we first analyze complex processes in nursing and caregiving services, and then propose a modeling architecture. An implementation based on object-oriented Petri nets is also presented.

An application of structural modeling and automated reasoning to real-time systems design

This paper presents an application of structural modeling and automated reasoning as a software development environment for real-time systems. This application satisfies two major requirements for such an environment: (1) to synthesize an absolutely correct program and, (2) to increase software productivity. The real-time systems, which consist of concurrent programs, are described by a Prolog based concurrent object-oriented language, called MENDEL/87. As a typical concurrent program consists of two parts: functional and synchronization parts; the functional part in the reusable component to be registered in a library will be generated by a structural modeling through the use of structuring functions with respect to data flows. The synchronization part will be synthesized from temporal logic specifications by the use of an automated reasoning mechanism. This paper also describes the MENDELS ZONE implemented on a Prolog machine, which is the working base for the presented application method.

Scenario-based hypersequential programming: concept and example

Hypersequential programming is a new paradigm of concurrent programming in which the original concurrent program is first serialized, then tested and debugged as a sequential program, and finally restored into the target concurrent program by parallelization. Both high productivity and reliability are achieved by hypersequential programming because testing and debugging are done for the serialized version and correctness of the serialized program is preserved during subsequent parallelization. This paper proposes a practical embodiment of hypersequential programming based on a sequential execution history, called a scenario, and explains how it works using a simple example.

Analysis and design methodology for product-based services

Recently, manufacturing companies have been moving into service businesses in addition to providing their own products. However, engineers in manufacturing companies do not find creating new service businesses easy because their work-related skills, understanding of design processes, and organizational skills have been developed and optimized for designing products and not services. To design product-based services more effectively and efficiently, systematic design methodologies suitable for engineers are necessary. We have designed a product-based service design methodology called DFACE-SI. This methodology consists of five steps beginning with the generation of service concepts and ending with the description of service business plans. Characteristic features of DFACE-SI include visualization tools that can help stakeholders identify new opportunities and difficulties of the target product-based service. We also applied DFACE-SI to a pilot case study and illustrated its effectiveness.

An application of artificial intelligence to object-oriented performance design for real-time systems

The paper describes an application of artificial intelligence technology to the implementation of a rapid prototyping method in object-oriented performance design (OOPD) for real-time systems. OOPD consists of two prototyping phases for real-time systems. Each of these phases consists of three steps: prototype construction, prototype execution, and prototype evaluation. We present artificial intelligence based methods and tools to be applied to the individual steps. In the prototype construction step, a rapid construction mechanism using reusable software components is implemented based on planning. In the prototype execution step, a hybrid inference mechanism is used to execute the constructed prototype described in declarative knowledge representation. MENDEL, which is a Prolog based concurrent object-oriented language, can be used as a prototype construction tool and a prototype execution tool. In the prototype evaluation step, an expert system which is based on qualitative reasoning is implemented to detect and diagnose bottlenecks and generate an improvement plan for them. >

An application of structural modeling and automated reasoning to concurrent program design

An application of structural modeling and automated reasoning as an intelligent software development environment for concurrent programs is presented. This application, using an integration of software reuse and theorem-proving methods, synthesizes an absolutely correct program and increases software productivity. The concurrent programs are described by a Prolog-based concurrent object-oriented language called MENDEL/87. The functional part of the reusable component is generated by structural modeling, and the synchronization part is synthesized from temporal-logic specifications by the use of an automated-reasoning mechanism. A description is also given of the MENDELS ZONE, implemented on a Prolog machine, which is the working base of the method.<<ETX>>

An Application of Artifical Intelligence to Prototyping Process in Performance Design for Real-time Systems

This paper describes an application of artificial intelligence technology to the implementation of a rapid prototyping method in Object-Oriented Performance Design (OOPD) for real-time systems. A prototyping process is composed of three steps: Prototype construction, Prototype execution, and Prototype evaluation. The authors present the following artificial intelligence based methods and tools to be applied to each step. In the prototype construction step, a rapid construction mechanism, using reusable software components, is implemented based on the planning method. In the prototype execution step, a hybrid inference mechanism is used to execute the constructed prototype which is described in declarative knowledge representation. In the prototype evaluation step, an expert system, which is based on qualitative reasoning, is implemented to detect and diagnose bottlenecks and generate an improvement plan for them.

Synthesis of concurrent programs: automated reasoning complements software reuse

The authors describe a concurrent program synthesis system (Mendels Zone) consisting of reusable software using temporal logic and Petri nets. The concurrent program consists of nonsynchronization parts (called body parts) and synchronization parts. In Mendels Zone, the body parts are constructed with reusable software, and the synchronization parts are synthesized from temporal logic specifications. The reused software components in the body part construction do not necessarily satisfy the users requirements because the components are retrieved only with key words. Therefore, the synchronization parts must be synthesized so as to satisfy the users requirements, which are represented by a Petri net.<<ETX>>

IoT service business ecosystem design in a global, competitive, and collaborative environment

Internet of Things (IoT) is now making a new industrial revolution, which includes “Industrie4.0” in Germany, “Industrial Internet” in US, “Made in China 2025” in China, and the “Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI)” in Japan. In the modern global, competitive, and collaborative business environment, IoT services must be designed as a business ecosystem. Although many business-model design methods, including our own design method presented in PICMET2015, have been proposed, there exist few business-ecosystem design methods that target IoT services especially. Here, a business-ecosystem design method is proposed for IoT services using an “Open & Closed Strategy Canvas,” on which designers can recognize both a closed area where the company keeps and strengthens their core competence, and an open area, where complementary companies provide resources (knowledge resource, manufacturing resource, and deployment resource) to the business ecosystem.