arXiv subjects

Manuel Mazzara

Publications and source records attributed to Manuel Mazzara.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Verified type checker for Jolie programming language

Jolie is a service-oriented programming language which comes with the formal specification of its type system. However, there is no tool to ensure that programs in Jolie are well-typed. In this paper we provide the results of building a type checker for Jolie as a part of its syntax and semantics formal model. We express the type checker as a program with dependent types in Agda proof assistant which helps to ascertain that the type checker is correct.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2017

Pseudorehearsal in value function approximation

Catastrophic forgetting is of special importance in reinforcement learning, as the data distribution is generally non-stationary over time. We study and compare several pseudorehearsal approaches for Q-learning with function approximation in a pole balancing task. We have found that pseudorehearsal seems to assist learning even in such very simple problems, given proper initialization of the rehearsal parameters.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2017

Designing a pi-based Programming Language in the .NET framework: CLR interoperability from the Programmer's point of view

Interoperability is the ability of a programming language to work with systems based on different languages and paradigms. These days, many widely used high-level language impementations provide access to external functionalities. In this paper, we present some ideas on CLR interoperability focusing on the kind of constructs desirable by a programmer to this regard.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2017

An architecture for non-invasive software measurement

Analysis of data related to software development helps to increase quality, control and predictability of software development processes and products.However, collecting such data for is a complex task. A non-invasive collection of software metrics is one of the most promising approaches to solve the task. In this paper we present an approach which consists of four parts: collect the data, store all collected data, unify the stored data and analyze the data to provide insights to the user about software product or process. We employ the approach to the development of an architecture for non-invasive software measurement system and explain its advantages and limitations.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2017

Microservices: How To Make Your Application Scale

The microservice architecture is a style inspired by service-oriented computing that has recently started gaining popularity and that promises to change the way in which software is perceived, conceived and designed. In this paper, we describe the main features of microservices and highlight how these features improve scalability.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2017

Software Quality - Traditional vs. Agile: an Empirical Investigation

It is well known that the software process impacts the quality of the resulting product. There are also anecdotal claims that agile processes result in higher level of quality than traditional methodologies. However, still solid evidence of this is missing. This work reports in an empirical analysis of the correlation between software process and software quality with specific reference to agile and traditional processes. More than 100 software developers and engineers from 21 countries have been surveyed with an online questionnaire. We have used the percentage of satisfied customers estimated by the software developers and engineers as the main dependent variable. The results evidence some interesting patterns: architectural styles may not have a significant influence on quality, agile methodologies might result in happier customers, larger companies and shorter projects seems to produce better products.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2016

Jolie Good Buildings: Internet of things for smart building infrastructure supporting concurrent apps utilizing distributed microservices

A large percentage of buildings, domestic or special-purpose, is expected to become increasingly "smarter" in the future, due to the immense benefits in terms of energy saving, safety, flexibility, and comfort, that relevant new technologies offer. However, concerning the hardware, software, or platform levels, no clearly dominant standard frameworks currently exist. Here, we will present a prototype platform for supporting multiple concurrent applications for smart buildings, which is utilizing an advanced sensor network as well as a distributed micro services architecture, centrally featuring the Jolie language. The architecture and benefits of our system are discussed, as well as a prototype containing a number of nodes and a user interface, deployed in a real-world academic building environment. Our results illustrate the promising nature of our approach, as well as open avenues for future work towards it wider and larger scale applicability.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2016

MOMOS-MT: Mobile Monophonic System for Music Transcription

Music holds a significant cultural role in social identity and in the encouragement of socialization. Technology, by the destruction of physical and cultural distance, has lead to many changes in musical themes and the complete loss of forms. Yet, it also allows for the preservation and distribution of music from societies without a history of written sheet music. This paper presents early work on a tool for musicians and ethnomusicologists to transcribe sheet music from monophonic voiced pieces for preservation and distribution. Using FFT, the system detects the pitch frequencies, also other methods detect note durations, tempo, time signatures and generates sheet music. The final system is able to be used in mobile platforms allowing the user to take recordings and produce sheet music in situ to a performance.

cs.SD↗

arXiv2016

Evaluation of spatial trees for simulation of biological tissue

Spatial organization is a core challenge for all large agent-based models with local interactions. In biological tissue models, spatial search and reinsertion are frequently reported as the most expensive steps of the simulation. One of the main methods utilized in order to maintain both favorable algorithmic complexity and accuracy is spatial hierarchies. In this paper, we seek to clarify to which extent the choice of spatial tree affects performance, and also to identify which spatial tree families are optimal for such scenarios. We make use of a prototype of the new BioDynaMo tissue simulator for evaluating performances as well as for the implementation of the characteristics of several different trees.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2016

Microservice-based IoT for Smart Buildings

A large percentage of buildings in domestic or special-purpose is expected to become increasingly "smarter" in the future, due to the immense benefits in terms of energy saving, safety, flexibility, and comfort, that relevant new technologies offer. As concerns hardware, software, or platform level, however, no clearly dominant standards currently exist. Such standards, would ideally, fulfill a number of important desiderata, which are to be touched upon in this paper. Here, we will present a prototype platform for supporting multiple concurrent applications for smart buildings, which is utilizing an advanced sensor network as well as a distributed microservices architecture, centrally featuring the Jolie programming language. The architecture and benefits of our system are discussed, as well as a prototype containing a number of nodes and a user interface, deployed in a real-world academic building environment. Our results illustrate the promising nature of our approach, as well as open avenues for future work towards its wider and larger scale applicability.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2016

Towards Microservices and Beyond: An incoming Paradigm Shift in Distributed Computing

The microservice architecture is a style inspired by service-oriented computing that has recently started gaining popularity and that promises to change the way in which software is perceived, conceived and designed. In this paper we offer a short overview intended as a collection of bibliographic references and links in the field of Microservices Science and Engineering (MSE).

cs.SE↗

arXiv2016

Jolie Community on the Rise

Jolie is a programming language that follows the microservices paradigm. As an open source project, it has built a community of developers worldwide - both in the industry as well as in academia - taken care of the development, continuously improved its usability, and therefore broadened the adoption. In this paper, we present some of the most recent results and work in progress that has been made within our research team.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2016

The BioDynaMo Project: Creating a Platform for Large-Scale Reproducible Biological Simulations

Computer simulations have become a very powerful tool for scientific research. In order to facilitate research in computational biology, the BioDynaMo project aims at a general platform for biological computer simulations, which should be executable on hybrid cloud computing systems. This paper describes challenges and lessons learnt during the early stages of the software development process, in the context of implementation issues and the international nature of the collaboration.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2016

Neuromorphic Robot Dream

In this paper we present the next step in our approach to neurobiologically plausible implementation of emotional reactions and behaviors for real-time autonomous robotic systems. The working metaphor we use is the "day" and the "night" phases of mammalian life. During the "day phase" a robotic system stores the inbound information and is controlled by a light-weight rule-based system in real time. In contrast to that, during the "night phase" information that has been stored is transferred to a supercomputing system to update the realistic neural network: emotional and behavioral strategies.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2016

LTL-based Verification of Reconfigurable Workflows

Logics and model-checking have been successfully used in the last decades for modeling and verification of various types of hardware (and software) systems. While most languages and techniques emerged in a context of monolithic systems with a limited self-adaptability, modern systems require approaches able to cope with dynamically changing requirements and emergent behaviors. The emphasis on system reconfigurability has not been followed by an adequate research effort, and the current state of the art lacks logics and model checking paradigms that can describe and analyze complex modern systems in a comprehensive way. This paper describes a case study involving the dynamic reconfiguration of an office workflow. We state the requirements on a system implementing the workflow and its reconfiguration and we prove workflow reconfiguration termination by providing a compilation of generic workflows into LTL, using the Bound model checker Zot. The objective of this paper is demonstrating how temporal logics and model checking are effective in proving properties of dynamic, reconfigurable and adaptable systems. This simple case study is just a "proof of concept" to demonstrate the feasibility of our ideas.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2016

The BioDynaMo Project

Computer simulations have become a very powerful tool for scientific research. Given the vast complexity that comes with many open scientific questions, a purely analytical or experimental approach is often not viable. For example, biological systems (such as the human brain) comprise an extremely complex organization and heterogeneous interactions across different spatial and temporal scales. In order to facilitate research on such problems, the BioDynaMo project (\url{https://biodynamo.web.cern.ch/}) aims at a general platform for computer simulations for biological research. Since the scientific investigations require extensive computer resources, this platform should be executable on hybrid cloud computing systems, allowing for the efficient use of state-of-the-art computing technology. This paper describes challenges during the early stages of the software development process. In particular, we describe issues regarding the implementation and the highly interdisciplinary as well as international nature of the collaboration. Moreover, we explain the methodologies, the approach, and the lessons learnt by the team during these first stages.

cs.NE↗

arXiv2016

Lessons from DEPLOYment

This paper reviews the major lessons learnt during two significant pilot projects by Bosch Research during the DEPLOY project. Principally, the use of a single formalism, even when it comes together with a rigorous refinement methodology like Event-B, cannot offer a complete solution. Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly), we cannot offer a panacea to cover every phase from requirements to code; in fact any specific formalism or language (or tool) should be used only where and when it is really suitable and not necessarily (and somehow forcibly) over the entire lifecycle.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2016

Model Checking of BPMN Models for Reconfigurable Workflows

Nowadays, business enterprises often need to dynamically reconfigure their internal processes in order to improve the efficiency of the business flow. However, modifications of the workflow usually lead to several problems in terms of deadlock freedom, completeness and security. A solid solution to these problems consists in the application of model checking techniques in order to verify if specific properties of the workflow are preserved by the change in configuration. Our goal in this work is to develop a formal verification procedure to deal with these problems. The first step consists in developing a formal definition of a BPMN model of a business workflow. Then, a given BPMN model is translated into a formal model specified in Promela. Finally, by using the SPIN model checker, the correctness of the reconfigured workflow is verified.

cs.SE↗