Francesco Tiezzi

Bio: Francesco Tiezzi is an academic researcher from University of Camerino. The author has contributed to research in topics: Business Process Model and Notation & Operational semantics. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 131 publications receiving 2018 citations. Previous affiliations of Francesco Tiezzi include IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca & University of Florence.

A calculus for orchestration of web services

Abstract: We introduce COWS (Calculus for Orchestration of Web Services), a new foundational language for SOC whose design has been influenced by WS-BPEL, the de facto standard language for orchestration of web services. COWS combines in an original way a number of ingredients borrowed from well-known process calculi, e.g. asynchronous communication, polyadic synchronization, pattern matching, protection, delimited receiving and killing activities, while resulting different fromany of them. Several examples illustrates COWS peculiarities and show its expressiveness both for modelling imperative and orchestration constructs, e.g. web services, flow graphs, fault and compensation handlers, and for encoding other process and orchestration languages.

A Formal Approach to Autonomic Systems Programming: The SCEL Language

Abstract: The autonomic computing paradigm has been proposed to cope with size, complexity, and dynamism of contemporary software-intensive systems The challenge for language designers is to devise appropriate abstractions and linguistic primitives to deal with the large dimension of systems and with their need to adapt to the changes of the working environment and to the evolving requirements We propose a set of programming abstractions that permit us to represent behaviors, knowledge, and aggregations according to specific policies and to support programming context-awareness, self-awareness, and adaptation Based on these abstractions, we define SCEL (Software Component Ensemble Language), a kernel language whose solid semantic foundations lay also the basis for formal reasoning on autonomic systems behavior To show expressiveness and effectiveness of SCEL;’s design, we present a Java implementation of the proposed abstractions and show how it can be exploited for programming a robotics scenario that is used as a running example for describing the features and potential of our approach

SLAC: A Formal Service-Level-Agreement Language for Cloud Computing

Abstract: The need of mechanisms to automate and regulate the interaction amongst the parties involved in the offered cloud services is exacerbated by the increasing number of providers and solutions that enable the cloud paradigm. This regulation needs to be defined through a contract, the so-called Service Level Agreement (SLA). We argue that the current solutions for SLA specification cannot cope with the distinctive characteristics of clouds. Therefore, in this paper we define a language, named SLAC, devised for specifying SLA for the cloud computing domain. The main differences with respect to the existing specification languages are: SLAC is domain specific, its semantics are formally defined in order to avoid ambiguity, it supports the main cloud deployment models, and it enables the specification of multi-party agreements. Moreover, SLAC supports the business aspects of the domain, such as pricing schemes, business actions and metrics. Furthermore, SLAC comes with an open-source software framework which enables the specification, evaluation and enforcement of SLAs for clouds. We illustrate potentialities and effectiveness of the SLAC language and its management framework by experimenting with an Open Nebula cloud system.

The SCEL Language: Design, Implementation, Verification

Abstract: SCEL (Service Component Ensemble Language) is a new language specifically designed to rigorously model and program autonomic components and their interaction, while supporting formal reasoning on their behaviors. SCEL brings together various programming abstractions that allow one to directly represent aggregations, behaviors and knowledge according to specific policies. It also naturally supports programming interaction, self-awareness, context-awareness, and adaptation. The solid semantic grounds of the language is exploited for developing logics, tools and methodologies for formal reasoning on system behavior to establish qualitative and quantitative properties of both the individual components and the overall systems.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Towards an integrated crowdsourcing definition

Abstract: 'Crowdsourcing' is a relatively recent concept that encompasses many practices. This diversity leads to the blurring of the limits of crowdsourcing that may be identified virtually with any type of internet-based collaborative activity, such as co-creation or user innovation. Varying definitions of crowdsourcing exist, and therefore some authors present certain specific examples of crowdsourcing as paradigmatic, while others present the same examples as the opposite. In this article, existing definitions of crowdsourcing are analysed to extract common elements and to establish the basic characteristics of any crowdsourcing initiative. Based on these existing definitions, an exhaustive and consistent definition for crowdsourcing is presented and contrasted in 11 cases.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Abstract: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA, was first delivered to congress in 1996 and consisted of just two Titles. It was designed to protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families while between jobs. It establishes standards for electronic health care transactions and addresses the issues of privacy and security when dealing with Protected Health Information (PHI). HIPAA is applicable only in the United States of America.