Sharon Simmons

Locating Software Features in a SOA Composite Application

This paper describes the use of Feature Sequence Viewer (FSV) to perform feature location in a teaching and research program suite named Open SOALab. In this context, a software feature refers to software components that provide specific functionality. The composite application encompasses a system in which hotel brokers identify rooms meeting various criteria from among several hotel chains in multiple countries, and then exchanges the necessary amount of currency, using a currency broker to get several quotes and select the best one. The currency broker in turn uses two services: an authentication service and a settlement house. The various service interfaces are exposed via WSDLs. The system, running on Apache with php and nuSOAP, uses Apache’s forensic log module and microsecond time stamps to generate data that is input into FSV which produces a browsable graphical representation of the messages in the system. FSV employs a component relevance index (pc) that is used to determine which messages are displayed within the viewer. A value of pc is computed for each message in the data set loaded into FSV. A user can raise and lower the threshold value for pc so that messages with pc values above the threshold are displayed and those below are not displayed. Three experiments of increasing complexity were performed to demonstrate the ability of this approach to extract feature messages by separating them from irrelevant messages within a SOA composite application.

Maintenance of service oriented architecture composite applications: static and dynamic support

Several authors have suggested that service‐oriented architecture (SOA) applications will present new program comprehension challenges for future software maintainers. We review the literature on program comprehension for SOA and describe exploratory work on static and dynamic program analysis, using two prototype tools to aid in addressing these challenges. SOAMiner is a static search tool to extract information from XML‐structured SOA files such as Web Services Description Language, XML Schema Definition Language, and Business Process Execution Language. Feature sequence viewer is a dynamic message trace analysis tool that extracts a sequence diagram highlighting the path of messages involved in processing a particular Web service request. Several case studies were conducted involving both static and dynamic analysis. Use of these tools has helped to clarify what SOA maintainers will need to know and how software tools might help them. Results revealed various types of static and dynamic information that can be useful to maintainers of SOA composite applications. Copyright

Towards intelligent search support for web services evolution identifying the right abstractions

Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) is becoming a popular style for building complex systems-of-systems that allow businesses to work together across organizational boundaries. However concerns have been raised about the comprehensibility and maintainability of SOA composite applications. Integrating and deploying SOA applications requires artifacts in a variety of web-based languages (WSDL, XSD, BPEL, etc.) often produced by code-generation tools. It becomes difficult for a human to discover and understand the dependencies between these artifacts in an existing system. In this paper, we describe ongoing research on using search techniques to facilitate SOA maintenance by allowing users to query collections of artifacts making up a SOA composite application. The main focus in this paper is a case study using our prototype search tool SOAMiner to identify a set of abstractions that extract useful and critical information for maintainers, thereby bridging the heterogeneity of SOA artifacts while opportunistically exploiting their structure. Results of the study indicate that the highest priority abstractions for SOA are datatype summaries, service invocation (calling) relationships, and data usage relationships.

Intelligent multi-agent framework for power system control and protection

In this paper, we propose a multi-agent methodology (MAM) for power system monitoring and protection. The uniqueness of the proposed architecture is the ability of MAM to evolve in the wake of an attack of malicious intent by mutation and thus always monitoring a power system bus remotely. Also, the architecture interacts with the mutated agents use a voting methodology thus alleviating the effect of agent malfunction in the presence of attack. This architecture also enables inter-agent communication which makes a collaborative framework and increases the degree of fault tolerance and leads to immediate problem solving. This architecture is tested on a two area network with five equivalent generators and 8 bus power networks for abnormal condition detection, generator bus isolation and also restoring power to the area which is affected by the bus isolation. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed methodology is capable of not only detecting the power grid attack but can also continuously monitor and isolate the generator bus even in the presence of sustained attack as the agents are regenerated.

Agents and islands: managing a power system before, during, and after transition to the islanded state

This paper presents a fictional scenario describing the effects of a category four hurricane on a metropolitan area, accompanied by a challenge: describe, and eventually realize, a system able to carry out the necessary power system operations without human participation. We outline the capabilities of an automated system for managing electric power. The overarching task of the automated system is islanding: To separate the metro areas power system from the primary power grid and manage its operation during several hurricane-induced contingencies, with the power system operational throughout. The essential technology needed to support this automation is agents. We address the roles agents play in the transition to the islanded state and in power system operation within the island; features of an appropriate agent substrate; the way the agents are organized; and information exchange among agents, the power system, and human operators

A Novel Self-Evolving Intelligent Multiagent Framework for Power System Control and Protection

In this paper, we propose a multiagent methodology (MAM) for power system monitoring and protection. The uniqueness of the proposed architecture is the ability of MAM to evolve in the wake of an attack of malicious intent by mutation, thus always monitoring power system buses remotely. The architecture interacts with the mutated agents using a voting methodology, thus alleviating the effect of agent malfunction in the presence of an attack. In addition, this proposed architecture enables inter-agent communication, thus developing a collaborative framework and increasing the degree of fault tolerance. This method is tested on a two-area five-machine eight-bus power network for abnormal condition detection and generator bus isolation, as well as for restoring power to the area that is affected by the bus isolation. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed methodology is not only capable of detecting the power grid attack but also capable of continuously monitoring and isolating the generator bus even in the presence of sustained attack as the agents are regenerated.

CS 4 Everyone: Diversifying the K-12 Pipeline for CS at College and High School Level (Abstract Only)

It is widely known that computer science students do not reflect the diversity of the population at large. Studies have shown that effective outreach programs can educate the public, increase student interest, help recruit and retain majors in computing disciplines. Traditionally the outreach events are organized by higher education institutions or nonprofit organizations. It will be highly effective if high school teachers are provided with the right tools so they can organize outreach events in their school or local community. Outreach programs can vary widely in terms of target audience, duration and objective. And it might seem daunting to design and deploy outreach events to make it sustainable. Our goal in this BOF is to discuss effective outreach activities to recruit and retain diverse students in CS K-12 pipeline. In particular, each facilitator will address the objective of the activity, the target audience, a description of the activity, and key aspects for successful deployment. This BOF will also provide an effective model for high school teachers to design and implement computing outreach activities in their schools. We will share techniques to increase students and parents interest in computer related discipline and provide them with appropriate tools to pursue their interest more. Facilitators will also share information about various funding agencies that can sponsor CS outreach programs. It will provide an opportunity for high school and college faculty to explore possibilities for collaborations and outreach between high schools and colleges.