On compliance checking for clausal constraints in annotated process models

Compliance management is important in several industry sectors where there is a high incidence of regulatory control. It must be ensured that business practices, as reflected in business processes, comply with the rules. Such compliance checks are challenging due to (1) the different life cycles of rules and processes, and (2) their disparate representations. (1) requires retrospective checking of process models. To address (2), we herein devise a framework where processes are annotated to capture the semantics of task execution, and compliance is checked against a set of constraints posing restrictions on the desirable process states. Each constraint is a clause, i.e., a disjunction of literals. If a process can reach a state that falsifies all literals of one of the constraints, then that constraint is violated in that state, and indicates non-compliance. Naively, such compliance can be checked by enumerating all reachable states. Since long waiting times are undesirable, it is important to develop efficient (low-order polynomial time) algorithms that (a) perform exact compliance checking for restricted cases, or (b) perform approximate compliance checking for more general cases. Herein, we observe that methods of both kinds can be defined as a natural extension of our earlier work on semantic business process validation. We devise one method of type (a), and we devise two methods of type (b); both are based on similar restrictions to the processes, where the restrictions made by methods (b) are a subset of those made by method (a). The approximate methods each guarantee either of soundness (finding only non-compliances) or completeness (finding all non-compliances). We describe how one can trace the state evolution back to the process activities which caused the (potential) non-compliance, and hence provide the user with an error diagnosis.     

Learning control of process systems with hard input constraints

In this paper, a novel and simple learning control strategy based on using a bounded nonlinear controller for process systems with hard input constraints is proposed. To enable the bounded nonlinear controller to learn to control a changing plant by merely observing the process output errors, a simple learning algorithm for parameter updating is derived based on the Lyapunov stability theorem. The learning scheme is easy to implement, and does not require any a priori process knowledge except the system output response direction. For demonstrating the effectiveness and applicability of the learning control strategy, the control of a once-through boiler, as well as an open-loop unstable continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), were investigated. Furthermore, extensive comparisons of the proposed scheme with the conventional PI controller and with some existing model-free intelligent controllers were also performed. Due to significant features of simple structure, efficient algorithm and good performance, the proposed learning control strategy appears to be a promising and practical approach to the intelligent control of process systems subject to hard input constraints.     

How public conversation management integrated with local business process management

In order for enterprises to collaborate at the business-process level, they must deal with two kinds of processes: the public conversation processes specifying inter-enterprise document flows, and the private business processes specifying local workflows of document manipulation and other related tasks. The provisioning, interaction and integration of conversation management and business process management, have become the common interest of the e-business industry. In this paper we discuss the relationship and interaction between conversation management and business process management; point out the difference between public conversation processes (e.g. BPSS processes) and peer-conversation processes (e.g. BPEL4WS processes). We then illustrate our collaborative process management system that has functionally separated conversation manager and business process manager. The conversation manager is based on the ebXML BPSS standard; it is used for validating document exchange at run-time and for activating corresponding process tasks. We have also proposed the conversation model driven asynchronous task activation mechanism for interaction between a conversation process and the coupled business process dynamically. With this mechanism, generic APIs between the conversation manager and the business process manager can be easily defined and used by multiple plugged-in conversation managers.     

A semantic backend for content management systems

The users of a content repository express the semantics they have in mind while defining the content items and their properties, and forming them into a particular hierarchy. However, this valuable semantics is not formally expressed, and hence cannot be used to discover meaningful relationships among the content items in an automated way. Although the need is apparent, there are several challenges in explicating this semantics in a fully automated way: first, it is difficult to distinguish between data and the metadata in the repository and secondly, not all the metadata defined, such as the file size or encoding type, contribute to the meaning. More importantly, for the developed solution to have practical value, it must address the constraints of the content management system (CMS) industry: CMS industry cannot change their repositories in production use and they need a generic solution not limited to a specific repository architecture. In this article, we address all these challenges through a set of tools developed which first semi-automatically explicate the content repository semantics to a knowledge-base and establish semantic bridges between this backend knowledge-base and the content repository. The repository content is dynamic; to be able to maintain the content repository semantics while new content is created, the changes in the repository semantics are reflected onto the knowledge-base through the semantic bridges. The tool set is complemented with a search engine that make use of the explicated semantics.     

Scheduling for multi-robot routing with blocking and enabling constraints

Journal of Scheduling - This paper considers the problem of servicing a set of locations by a fleet of robots so as to minimize overall makespan. Although motivated by a specific real-world,...     

集成RGB-D语义分割网络的室内语义地图构建

针对传统视觉SLAM准确度低、实时性差、缺乏语义的问题,提出一种全新的RGB-D语义分割网络,利用室内场景中受光照等条件影响较小的深度信息来提高分割的准确性,并且设计了轻量级多尺度残差模块(MRAM)和空间金字塔池化模块(ASPP)来轻量化分割网络、提高分割的精度。首先输入的图像序列进入ORB-SLAM2网络进行关键帧筛选,之后关键帧送入语义分割网络得到二维语义标签,再将二维语义信息映射到三维点云空间,最后使用贝叶斯算法更新三维地图得到全局一致的三维点云语义地图。实验采用NYUv2数据集验证语义分割网络性能,采用TUM数据集构建点云语义地图,结果表明,提出的语义分割网络性能和速度优于现有的模型,且此语义分割网络与视觉SLAM相结合可以满足高精度、实时的稠密三维语义点云地图构建要求。     

On satisfying timing constraints in hard-real-time systems

The authors explain why pre-run-time scheduling is essential if one wishes to guarantee that timing constraints will be satisfied in a large complex hard-real-time system. They examine some of the major concerns in pre-run-time scheduling and consider what formulations of mathematical scheduling problems can be used to address those concerns. This work provides a guide to the available algorithms     

Cardinality constraints in semantic data models

Constraints are central to the notion of a semantic data model. How well a model captures constraints affects its power and viability as a semantic data model. Cardinality constraints are an important subclass of general constraints. In this paper we provide formal definitions for cardinality constraints of several semantic models, as described in the literature. We construct a partial ordering of these constraints that shows the relative power expressed by each cardinality constraints. We discuss our results and offer possible extensions to contemporary cardinality constraint definitions. Our contributions include a collection and formal definition of existing cardinality constraints, a partial ordering of this set, and recommendations for cardinality constraint mechanisms in semantic data models.     

Network management of integrated banking systems

Network management has emerged as one of the most crucial issues for today's telecommunications planner. The integration of voice, data, text and image transmission and the application of digital technology present new problems and new opportunities. Organizational and technical solutions are necessary for large corporations and this is particularly true in banking. A further dimension of specific relevance to financial systems is the need for security.     

Mapping DTDs to relational schemas with semantic constraints

XML is becoming a prevalent format and standard for data exchange in many applications. With the increase of XML data, there is an urgent need to research some efficient methods to store and manage XML data. As relational databases are the primary choices for this purpose considering their data management power, it is necessary to research the problem of mapping XML schemas to relational schemas. The semantics of XML schemas are crucial to design, query, and store XML documents and functional dependencies are very important representations of semantic information of XML schemas. As DTDs are one of the most frequently used schemas for XML documents in these days, we will use DTDs as schemas of XML documents here. This paper proposes the concept and the formal definition of XML functional dependencies over DTDs. A method to map XML DTDs to relational schemas with constraints such as functional dependencies, domain constraints, choice constraints, reference constraints, and cardinality constraints over DTDs is given, which can preserve the structures of DTDs as well as the semantics implied by the above constraints over DTDs. The concepts and method of mapping DTDs to relational schemas presented in the paper can be extended to the field of XML Schema just with some modifications in related formal definitions.     

On mechanical control systems with nonholonomic constraints and symmetries

This paper presents a computationally efficient method for deriving coordinate representations for the equations of motion and the affine connection describing a class of Lagrangian systems. We consider mechanical systems endowed with symmetries and subject to nonholonomic constraints and external forces. The method is demonstrated on two robotic locomotion mechanisms known as the snakeboard and the roller racer. The resulting coordinate representations are compact and lead to straightforward proofs of various controllability results.     

On controlling prioritized discrete event systems with real-time constraints

We study a class of prioritized Discrete Event Systems (DESs) that involve the control of resources allocated to tasks under real-time constraints. Our work is motivated by applications in communication systems, computing systems, and manufacturing systems where the objective is to minimize energy consumption while guaranteeing that task deadlines are always met. In the off-line setting, we discover several structural properties of the optimal sample path of such DESs. Using the structural properties, we also propose a greedy algorithm which is shown numerically near optimal. For on-line control, we design a Receding Horizon (RH) controller. Using worst-case estimation, the RH control is able to guarantee feasibility (when the off-line problem is feasible) and achieve good performance.     

Enterprise applications of semantic technologies for business process management

1 Introduction Today’s business process management (BPM)systems have evolved to provide rich and sophisticated tooling and runtime support for subject domainexperts     

Knowledge engineering within integrated process planning systems

The use of knowledge-based systems in the product development process will support the process planner as well as the designer. The process planner needs real expert consultance and for the designer manufacturing information must be available during the design process. This paper outlines some recent work in the development of a knowledge-based drilling operation planning system at IPK, Berlin.     

基于多代理技术的分布集成工艺管理系统

分布式人工智能（ＤＡＩ）领域的多代理技术可以有效地解决当前分布动态工艺管理系统的复杂性。文中概述了分布动态集成工艺管理系统的分布异构特色,以及在此环境下的多代理的定义与描述方法。同时构造了由产品代理、任务代理、资源代理、个人代理等智能体组成的集成工艺管理系统,并介绍了这些智能代理的特性、行为和协商机制。     

Generation of alternative process plans in integrated manufacturing systems

The availability of alternative process plans is a key factor for integration of design, process planning, and scheduling functions. The availability of alternative process plans can speed up the process of incremental process plan generation which can help in providing real time cost feed back to the designer after each design modification. Also alternative process plans relax the constraints in the optimization of production schedules, which in turn results in more efficient use of production resources and better delivery schedules. This paper describes a methodology for generation of alternative process plans in the integrated manufacturing environment. The procedure consists of: selection of alternative machining processes, clustering and sequencing of machining processes, and generation of a process plan network. Each of these steps is explained in detail. The result of the procedure is the process plan network that provides all alternative process plans for the given part. Methods for the selection of an optimal process plan are also described. Computational complexity of the procedure is discussed and experimental results on several realistic examples are shown.     

System-level integrated power management for handheld systems

We propose a system-level integrated power management scheme for battery-operated handheld systems such as cell phones and PDAs. Rather than dealing separately with each system component, we consider the interactions between CPU, WNIC (wireless network interface card), LCD, and applications, to reduce energy consumption at the system-level. Depending on the type of applications, the proposed scheme takes the interaction between CPU voltage and frequency and either LCD clock frequency or WNIC power modes, selectively, or both of them. The proposed method selects voltage for CPU in the context of LCD clock speed to reduce the system energy consumption. The application type and the power mode of WNIC are also considered to control the CPU voltage and frequency. Experimental results show that our scheme reduces the system energy consumption by as much as 30% compared to the systems of simply combining DVS (dynamic voltage scaling) and DPM (dynamic power management) or those of using no energy saving policy.