Model-Driven Adaptive Self-healing for Autonomic Computing
Self-healing is a vital property that an autonomic system must possess in order to provide robust performance and survivability. The promise of self-healing depends on other properties that the system should provide, which include self-monitoring and self-configuring. Autonomic systems further require self-healing behavior to adapt to changes in user needs, business goals, and environmental conditions such that self-healing decisions are made dynamically and adaptively according to the system context. In this paper, we propose a model-driven approach that leverages modeling techniques, reliability engineering methodologies, and aspect-oriented development to realize an adaptive self- healing paradigm for autonomic computing.

title: A Context-Aware Policy Model to Support Autonomic Networking
abstract: Autonomic networking requires that the services and resources offered by the network at any specific time adapt to evolving changes in user needs, business goals and environmental conditions. This paper describes a rich and extensible context-aware policy model as part of the FOCALE autonomic network architecture. This context-aware policy model is built explicitly to support context-awareness that in turn enables the control loops in FOCALE to be adaptive.

title: Enhancing Software Product Line Maintenance with Source Code Mining
abstract: Large-scale reuse and accelerated software development have been some of the key attractions behind software product lines. Various strategies and processes have been developed to facilitate product line development, maintenance, and evolution. However, experiences with software product lines also showed that it is a rather challenging task to maintain software product lines and families over a long period of time. The time and effort needed to manage and maintain product lines increase and quality degrades as product lines evolve. Without proper methods and tools to support the evolution, the cost can outweigh the benefits. 
 
This paper describes an approach to simplifying the maintenance of software product lines and improving software quality by integrating traditional software maintenance practices with pattern-based source code mining for defect detection and correction. Our case studies were performed in an industrial setting where the evolution of multiple mobile phone models of a product line was investigated.

title: A model-based approach to adding autonomic capabilities to network fault management system
abstract: Adding autonomic capabilities to network management systems provides great promise in delivering high QoS while lowering operation and maintenance cost. In this paper, we present a model-based approach to adding autonomic capabilities to a fault management system for cellular networks. We propose the use of modeling techniques to specify software failures and their dispositions at the model level for the target system. This facilitates the deployment of a control loop for adding autonomic capabilities into the system architecture, which include self-monitoring, self-healing, and self-adjusting. Our case study on the intelligent network fault management system illustrates the proposed approach by adding and deploying these autonomic capabilities derived from self-model specifications, to mitigate the risk of specified failures and maintain the level of healthiness of the system, dynamically and effectively.

title: Maintaining software product lines — an industrial practice
abstract: Improved product quality and accelerated software development through systematic reuse of common software assets have been the key attractions behind software product lines. Magnitude of improvement in industrial practices has been reported in the literature. However, experiences with software product line also showed that it is a rather chall enging task to maintain software product lines and families over a long period of time. The time and resources needed to manage and maintain product lines increase and quality degrades as product lines evolve. This paper describes an industrial practice of software product line maintenance and evolution. The conventional software maintenance process is enhanced with data mining techniques to uncover lost reuse pattern and defects, maintain reuse, and reduce design erosion of product lines. Case studies with mobile phone product lines are described.

title: SPOT: A System for Detecting Projected Outliers From High-dimensional Data Streams
abstract: In this paper, we present a new technique, called stream projected ouliter detector (SPOT), to deal with outlier detection problem in high-dimensional data streams. SPOT is unique in a number of aspects. First, SPOT employs a novel window-based time model and decaying cell summaries to capture statistics from the data stream. Second, sparse subspace template (SST), a set of top sparse subspaces obtained by unsupervised and/or supervised learning processes, is constructed in SPOT to detect projected outliers effectively. Multi-Objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is employed as an effective search method in unsupervised learning for finding outlying subspaces from training data. Finally, SST is able to carry out online self- evolution to cope with dynamics of data streams. This paper provides details on the motivation and technical challenges of detecting outliers from high-dimensional data streams, present an overview of SPOT, and give the plans for system demonstration of SPOT.

title: Model-driven generative techniques for scalable performability analysis of distributed systems
abstract: The ever increasing societal demand for the timely availability of newer and feature-rich but highly dependable network-centric applications imposes the need for these applications to be constructed by the composition, assembly and deployment of off-the-shelf infrastructure and domain-specific services building blocks. Service oriented architecture (SOA) is an emerging paradigm to build applications in this manner by defining a choreography of loosely coupled building blocks. However, current research in SOA does not yet address the per for mobility (i.e., performance and dependability) challenges of these modern applications. Our research is developing novel mechanisms to address these challenges. We initially focus on the composition and configuration of the infrastructure hosting the individual services. We illustrate the use of domain-specific modeling languages and model weavers to model infrastructure composition using middleware building blocks, and to enhance these models with the desired performability attributes. We also demonstrate the use of generative tools that synthesize metadata from these models for performability validation using analytical, simulation and empirical benchmarking tools.

title: Modular verification of dynamically adaptive systems
abstract: Cyber-physical systems increasingly rely on dynamically adaptive programs to respond to changes in their physical environment; examples include ecosystem monitoring and disaster relief systems. These systems are considered high-assurance since errors during execution could result in injury, loss of life, environmental impact, and/or financial loss. In order to facilitate the development and verification of dynamically adaptive systems, we separate functional concerns from adaptive concerns. Specifically, we model a dynamically adaptive program as a collection of (non-adaptive) steady-state programs and a set of adaptations that realize transitions among steady state programs in response to environmental changes. We use Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) to specify properties of the non-adaptive portions of the system, and we use A-LTL (an adapt-operator extension toLTL) to concisely specify properties that hold during the adaptation process. Model checking offers an attractive approach to automatically analyzing models for adherence to formal properties and thus providing assurance. However, currently, model checkers are unable to verify properties specified using A-LTL. Moreover, as the number of steady-state programs and adaptations increase, the verification costs (in terms of space and time) potentially become unwieldy. To address these issues, we propose a modular model checking approach to verifying that a formal model of an adaptive program satisfies its requirements specified in LTL and A-LTL, respectively.

title: Using temporal logic to specify adaptive program semantics
abstract: Computer software must dynamically adapt to changing conditions. In order to fully realize the benefit of dynamic adaptation, it must be performed correctly. The correctness of adaptation cannot be properly addressed without precisely specifying the requirements for adaptation. This paper introduces an approach to formally specifying adaptation requirements in temporal logic. We introduce A-LTL, an adaptation-based extension to linear temporal logic, and use this logic to specify three commonly used adaptation semantics. Composition techniques are developed and applied to A-LTL to construct the specification of an adaptive program. We introduce adaptation semantics graphs to visually represent the adaptation semantics, which can also be used to automatically generate specification for adaptive programs.

title: Studies on a Class of AWG-Based Node Architectures for Optical Burst-Switched Networks
abstract: We investigate a class of novel node architectures based on the static arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) and tunable waveband converters (TWBCs) for optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. As compared to the other AWG-based architectures using tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) for switching, our design needs much fewer wavelength-converting devices, TWBCs, instead of a large number of TWCs (operating only on one wavelength at a time). Notwithstanding the inherent simplicity, AWG-based architectures, due to the static routing properties of AWGs, exhibit some internal blocking as compared to the strictly nonblocking OBS nodes employing SOA/TWC-based architectures. We address this issue in our design methodology to arrive at different candidate node architectures using multiple layers of AWGs. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed class of node architectures using TWBCs and multiple layers of AWG can offer acceptable blocking performance with a simple and cost-effective optical hardware for OBS networks.