Showing papers presented at "International Conference on Service Sciences in 2010"

LBVS: A Load Balancing Strategy for Virtual Storage

Abstract: Cloud Storage is an important part of Cloud Computing, and it provides a way to achieve large scale storage architecture. And virtual storage is a strategy for Cloud Storage. A load balancing virtual storage strategy (LBVS) is proposed in this paper. The contribution of this strategy is that, it provides a large scale net data storage model and Storage as a Service model based on Cloud Storage. Three layers architecture is used to achieve storage virtualization, and two load balancing modules are used to balance systems load. This paper describes details of LBVS strategy, the model of virtual storage as well as how to implement the LBVS with iRODS and two load balancing algorithms.

Identity Federation Broker for Service Cloud

Abstract: As the wide adoption of in-cloud services (e.g., software-as-a-service), some major identity related issues are brought up. For enterprises, it usually introduces additional cost and risk to manage identities in services. For service providers, typical pairwise identity federation solutions are not scalable to support single sign-on, service composition, etc. among services for large environment like service cloud. This paper proposes an identity federation broker that introduces a trusted third party as a trust broker to simplify the management of identity federation in a user centric manner. With this solution, the cost and risk of federated identity management for both enterprises and service providers could be significantly reduced. A detailed scenario implementation is given to demonstrate the feasibility of the solution. Moreover, the vulnerability analysis shows how the solution can resist the typical security attacks.

A Service Based Lightweight Desktop Virtualization System

Abstract: Desktop virtualization is a new delivery method in which desktop operating systems execute in a data center and users access their applications using stateless "thin-client" devices. This paradigm promises significant benefits in terms of data security, flexibility, and reduction of the total cost of ownership. It is important to further improve this approach while maintaining good user experience, decreasing the propelled desktop's granularity and optimizing the protocol utilized between clients and servers. In this paper, we build a feasible cloud computing system, in which application streaming technology is used to break the bottleneck between clients and computing resources, and at the server side, virtualization technology is utilized to help achieve better physical resource management, as well as the high performance virtualized storage system. Simulations show that the proposed system greatly improves the QoS of users and efficiently allocates resources among all clients.

Aligning Product-Service Systems with Market Forces: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract: The main purpose of the paper is to propose a theoretic framework aligning product-service systems (PSS) with market forces which manufacturing firms encounter, by which they can adopt the right PSS strategy to gain competitive advantage. The framework is presented based on literature review and multiple cases are then employed to verify the framework. It reveals that five different types of PSS (PPSS, SPSS, IPSS, APSS and RPSS) can be fit into four different market contexts that are conceptualized by market/technology turbulence and competitive intensity. Few previous research has taken market conditions and organizational factors into consideration when formulating the strategy of servitization. The paper fills in the gap by combining strategy with market environment. And also, it illuminates the future research direction in this area.

An Approach for Web Service QoS Prediction Based on Service Using Information

Abstract: With the increasing numbers of Web services and service users on World Wide Web, predicting QoS (Quality of Service) for users will greatly aid service selection and discovery. Due to the different backgrounds and experiences of users, they have different QoS experiences when interacting with the same service. Even two users who have similar experiences on some services can have diverging views when considering services. This paper proposes an approach to predict QoS based on other users' QoS experiences. This method employs similarity mining and prediction from users' experience by firstly selecting a set of web services that have the highest degree of similarity with the target service by comparing the target service with the others services used by target user. Secondly, the missing value can be calculated through the data of similar services. On the basis of that, we calculate the user similarity and predict QoS data for target user. Experimental results show that it can improve the prediction accuracy of QoS for Web service by using this method.

QoS-Driven Dynamic Reconfiguration of the SOA Based Software

Abstract: SOA based software is typically based on dynamic reconfiguration, since it is the composition of services. But few works focus on the non-functional reconfiguration of the SOA-based software. This paper presents an approach for QoS driven dynamic reconfiguration of the SOA based Software. The approach can reconfigure a SOA based software to comply with a new QoS constrains by replacing its individual or multiple component services. The individual component services are replaced according to the descending order relative to the critical factors. While if the attempts fail, multiple component services will be replaced together. In our case study, an example is given to show the approach is efficient to reconfigure a SOA based software to meet a new QoS constraints.

A Brief Study on the Research of Service Science Theory

Abstract: Service science has been the hot research point under the circumstance that the service industry develops in a high speed and becomes the dominant industry in many countries. This paper analyses the concept, research paradigm and research basis of service science based on the existed literatures, and then proposes the definition of service science as well as the frame of service system. Future research trend of the service science theory and some application problems were also discussed in this paper.

Rough Sets Based Context-Aware Service Discovery Framework

Abstract: Service discovery is one of the key tasks in SOA, locating a particular or a series of services by matching a user query with service advertisement in service repository. It’s crucial to the automation and intelligence of service invocation, achieving better user-experience of QoS. However, key-word based syntactic matchmaker currently fails to provide a satisfied service discovery mechanism. Therefore, this paper proposes a RS-CASD (Rough Set-based Context-Aware Service Discovery) Framework that explores context information and ontology model to semantically enhance the user query and service advertisement for more fulfilled service discovery. Rough set theory is applied to deal with inexact or uncertain functional and contextual properties and extraction of context rules from historical records.

PDUS: P2P-Based Distributed UDDI Service Discovery Approach

Abstract: With the widespread deployment of web services, many challenges of the technology have emerged. Among them, the most important one is how to effectively find out the services, which can meet the requestor's requirement, for the traditional UDDI-based centralized approach always suffers from single point of failure and performance bottlenecks. Therefore, this paper takes advantage of P2P technology and proposes a novel P2P-based Distributed UDDI Web Service Discovery (PDUS) approach to overcome these deficiencies. Besides, the paper illustrates this approach through a simple example for PDUS.

A Model Transformation for Increasing Value in Service Networks through Intangible Value Exchanges

Abstract: One of the main goals in service science is to find efficient ways to analyze and increment the value in a service network. The approach we propose in this paper is to increase the agility of the system in such a way that the network and the underlying business processes are able to spontaneously react to changes in the requirements or in the environment. This is done by making extensive use of knowledge transfer and intangible interactions among network participants. The final outcome is a transformation and analysis methodology that may be applied to a wide variety of service networks with the aim of finding possible reconfigurations for increasing customer satisfaction, reducing transaction risks, and therefore increasing the overall value of the network.

Home Appliance Mashup System Based on Web Service

Abstract: With the development of Network Appliance, more and more mechanisms about network control have been introduced to improve the performance and the user experience. Since the cost of web-based interfaces is considerably low, Web can be used to provide the infrastructure for the design of simple and user-friendly interfaces for household appliances. In this paper, we propose a new system which can share the home appliance abilities to Internet as Web Service. By our system, a lot of Web Based Network Appliance related applications can be developed easily and give end users more friendly, flexible control interfaces. Furthermore, functions of different appliances can be integrated to provide more complex service to user, which is named Home Appliance Mashup in this paper.

Two-Stage Adaptation for Dependable Service-Oriented System

Abstract: The development of Service-Oriented Systems has gained a considerable momentum as a means for building distributed applications and business processes It emphasizes the loosely coupled construction of services from independent providers over the network As a consequence, the dependability of such systems strongly depends on their ability to self-adapt to changes in its execution environment, such as unreachable component services, or changed delivered QoS In this paper, we propose a two-stage approach to realize a self-adaptive SOA system, aimed at the fulfillment of dependability requirements Specifically, we divide the adaptation process into two stages, proactive adaptation and reactive adaptation, to implement self-protecting and self-healing respectively, and provide a methodology driving the system adaptation To bring this approach to fruition, a prototype system A-ServiceMix is developed by extending Apache ServiceMix

An Implementation of the SaaS Level-3 Maturity Model for an Educational Credit Bank Information System

Abstract: In the past few years, software as a service (SaaS) has had a tremendous impact on the software industry. More and more enterprises, especially small and medium businesses (SMBs), are willing to adopt SaaS to construct their enterprise information applications. This paper designs and implements a credit bank information system (CBIS) based on SaaS Level 3 maturity model. Credit bank is a service provided by authorized education organization so that customers can save, manage and exchange education credits. In the CBIS, each authorized education organization is a tenant and each organization has multiple students (end users). Firstly the SaaS maturity model is discussed in details. Secondly a SaaS solution in level 3 is proposed together with the multi-tenant database design and configuration policy. Finally the functions of the CBIS are given. The CBIS is built with service oriented architecture, in which business functions are mapped into web services. In this way the CBIS can integrate with other systems easily.

The Discovery of Agile Service Networks through the Use of Social Network Analysis

Abstract: There is a need to address the significant gap in our ability to measure and monitor the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across service networks. The unprecedented growth in service-based business processes over a short period of time has underscored the need for understanding the mechanisms and theorising the business models and business process management adopted across many organisations today. This research presents a survey of the literature and argues that the inability of current Business Process Management (BPM) techniques to visualise and monitor web-enabled business processes prevents us from transforming information on network activity and infrastructures. This inhibits managers in anticipating change and adapting to more agile business practices in service science. Thus, this research-in-progress sets out to propose the need to develop a framework to enhance a manager’s ability to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) while improving business process restructuring practices through social network analysis (SNA).

A Novel End-User Oriented Service Composition Model Based on Quotient Space Theory

Abstract: Nowadays, the services on the World Wide Web (WWW) are proliferating dramatically. The relationships of invoking among these services are becoming more and more complicated. The performances of traditional automated service composition methods suffer from the complexity of the service composition problem. Hence it is hardly to apply these automated methods in real cases. Semi-automated service composition is an alternative for coping with the complexity of service composition. A novel end-user oriented service composition model based on quotient space theory and service relation diagram is presented. This model proposes a hierarchical service composition from coarse-grain to fine-grain. The performance analysis and simulation showed that this model can reduce the complexity of service composition efficiently.

The Research of Service Network Based on Complex Network

Abstract: At present the service science and engineering research are mainly focus on service discovery, service composition, service reputation and other key technical of the service computing However the basic theory of service science, in particular, the basic principle of service and the evolution mechanism of service network only have some preliminary of research and exploration The atomic services as the network nodes and the relationships of services combination as the network edges constitute the service network based services provision environment This paper researched the basic characteristics of services and service networks, and proposed a new research method to explore the service network's "small world", "scale-free" characteristics and service network topology, based on the theory of complex network and existing networked software research works It presents a new research perspective and methods for the service science and engineering research

Dynamic Service Selection with Reputation Management

Abstract: In open and dynamic environments, reputation-based trust is a key issue for service selection which is based on the prediction of services' performance. Typically, the trust and reputation evaluation is based on the feedback of the service quality from all service users. The crucial issue in this evaluation is to detect and deal with false or unfair feedback from dishonest providers and cheating users. In this paper, we first present a dynamic service selection framework then introduce a semantic match and rank algorithm to enable the automatic selection. Furthermore, we propose a reputation assessment approach to address trust and reputation of service and service user in various realistic cheating behaviors. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, a set of empirical studies have been conducted to demonstrate that our solution gains good results under collaboration attacks of various cheating behaviors.

How do Consumer Personality Traits Affect their Perceptions and Evaluations of Service Quality

Abstract: One of the challenges in service evaluation measurement is how to quantify service quality perceptions so that businesses can use these measures to benchmark their service performances. This study demonstrates the need to weigh customers' service perceptions based on their inherent characteristics such as personality traits. These findings challenge the adequacy of the traditional method of service evaluation measurement. And, the significance of this study lies in its potential to contribute to an improved model of conceptualizations and operationalization of perceptions of service quality and consequently more comprehensive knowledge about customers' perceptions of service quality and its consequences.

Multi-attribute Group Decision Making-Based Decentralized Web Service Selection

Abstract: In ubiquitous network environment, network and resources change frequently, the capabilities of devices are quite different. All these features lead to local characteristics of QoS (quality of service). In addition, the centralized service registry and service selection methods cannot adapt to ubiquitous network environment. Therefore, this paper presents a decentralized Web services selection algorithm based on multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) theory (DWSSA_MAGDM). Firstly the definitions of the heterogeneous user's and service's context ontology are given. Then a service optimal selection algorithm is given. The algorithm includes standardization of the heterogeneous decision-making matrix, aggregation of the QoS evaluation and synthetically evaluation. Experimental results show that the DWSSA_MAGDM works well for ubiquitous network environment.

A Browser-Based Middleware for Service-Oriented Rich Client

Abstract: Along with the proliferation of web-delivered services and the wide adoption of popular Web technologies, it has been an emerging development style that composes service-oriented applications with rich user experiences in the web browser. Currently, these service-oriented rich client (SoRC) applications are usually tightly coupled with specific requirements and scenarios, without the solutions of common problems for development, deployment and operation. It leads to the fact that SoRC applications are exactly done in an ad-hoc manner. In this paper, we propose a new type of middleware, which is embedded in web browsers and encapsulates reusable solutions for common problems. This browser-embedded middleware consists of a container managing component instances, a set of communication mechanisms coordinating both browser-server and inter-browser interactions. Different SoRC applications can be constructed more easily based on the middleware. In the case study, we construct a mashup environment, called iMashup, with the middleware and compare it with some popular environments. The comparison shows that iMashup provides composition capabilities with less implementation efforts, occupies much lower memory consumption and achieves more scalability.

Dynamic Enterprise (as a Composite Service System)

Abstract: Nowadays, services - as abstract constructs - are ubiquitous in the modern economic world. This brings the idea to design enterprise architectures in a service-centered manner. The important advantage of this is a highly flexible ability to exchange "services" between different systems (e.g. enterprises), with the aim that each participant can intensively focus on their core activities or competencies. The challenge now is the flexible and fast internal service fitability regards changing requirements and circumstances. This paper aims to give an overview of important design aspects -on two levels- which are relevant for construction and engineering services and enterprises. As a further perspective, this aspect orientation could be the first step to the development of a holistic and flexible reference model for service systems in different areas and industries.

Testing of New Services

Abstract: In science as well as in business, far greater attention has been accorded in the last few years to the development of new services. However, considering the standard suggestions and approaches for developing new services - from the original idea up to the market launch - it is conspicuous that testing of development results has been largely neglected in the past. The article shows how service testing can be realised and presents possible techniques for simulating services, e.g. with the help of virtual reality and service theatre.

Development and Evaluation of an Experiential Learning Service in 3D Virtual World

Abstract: Online virtual world learning is gaining popularity in academic institutions as an alternative means for experimental and distance education. In this article, we present some results for a pilot study of an experiential learning service (ELS) on Second Life. Our study focuses on the application of "3D Virtual World" technology in the education industry, explores what chances can have in 3D VW such as Second Life. We Integrated garment industry and e-Business knowledge, built an overview business model of operating an online garment store in 3D VW, identified key processes and composed an story script about the model. Several 3D tutorial scenarios based on the script were constructed in Second Life.( Locate at Second Life :IBM China Business Innovation Ce, IBM China BIC (144, 175, 141)). With the constructed ESL, we take Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as guarding theory, design an experiment to evaluate the subjects' attitude about the service, 26 undergraduates as subjects attended the experiment.

A Dynamic Representation Model for Service Systems

Abstract: Current work on service systems is flourishing. Both researchers and practitioners seek to build service systems to create innovative services and increase productivity in the service sector. Unfortunately, most of the existing work focuses on information systems and their lack of models that not only represent entities in service systems with formal methods, but also illustrate a mechanism to achieve innovative services. In this paper, we firstly propose a general service system framework listing static components used in service production and discussing relationships between them. We then introduce a service model to represent pivotal components in service systems and also discuss how to innovate. Since competencies are important components in service systems, we define an ontological description of required competencies to carry out innovative services. We finally present a simple case study to further explain our formal model.

Automatic Verification of Web Service Protocols for Epistemic Specifications under Dolev-Yao Model

Abstract: Web service protocols are designed in XML formats so the message structures within are quite different from the conventional protocols. Therefore, the traditional formal verification techniques which have gain substantial achievements in practice, cannot be applied directly to them because their underlying models are written in Alice\Bob-style descriptions using high-level message formats instead of XML tags. In this paper, we propose a justification-oriented and automatic formal approach to verify, in the standard Dolev-Yao model, security properties expressed as epistemic notions for a Web service protocol, based on a fault-preserving mapping tool called SuD (SOAP under Dolev-Yao). Our approach can shed more light on Web service protocols in another perspective because the concerned properties to be verified are some inherent features of protocols.

The Design and Implementation of a SOA-Based Data Exchange Middleware

Abstract: In this paper we propose a service-oriented architecture for data exchanging between applications using heterogonous databases Heterogeneous data makes it difficult to be shared across organizations In these organizations, data is often produced with diverse applications relying on a mix of software and information systems Each application uses its individual system to increase efficiency, but sharing data across the enterprise is a near impossibility We discuss a service-oriented architecture of using web services which has been adopted for integrating diverse repositories of data Based on our practical tests, the proposed framework proved to be an efficient solution for sharing and accessing to Heterogeneous data

A Measure Approach for Trustworthy QoS of Web Service

Abstract: In order to obtain trustworthy QoS (Quality of Service) in situations which have little or no information regarding a service's QoS, we propose a QoS measure approach, namely Bayesian Approach with Maximum-Entropy Principle (BA-MEP). BA-MEP firstly extracts the QoS prior distribution from the objective data (such as historical statistics data) and subjective data (such as the service providers and QoS experts) by Maximum Entropy Principle, and then Bayesian Approach is used to infer the QoS posterior distribution, finally, trustworthy QoS can be obtained from the QoS model. In addition, we also propose a trustworthy expert algorithm (TEA) and analysis three reasons that the QoS data of Web services are not always true. Some experiments are illustrated to show the effectiveness of BA-MEP.

The Risk Analysis on IT Service Outsourcing of Enterprise with System Dynamics

Abstract: According to the analysis on character of enterprise's IT service outsourcing risk, a system dynamics approach is put forward to study enterprise's IT service outsourcing risk in this paper. On the basis of analyzing system target and boundary, the model on system dynamics of IT service outsourcing risk is established, which is combined with risk sub-system, risk control policy sub-system and risk performance sub-system. Then, the operation of this model is illustrated from the viewpoint of system detailedly. This model provides an effective method for analyzing enterprise's IT service outsourcing risk.

Games for Service Science Education

Abstract: The service science education is a challenging work puzzling the pioneers who want to develop this discipline as a major in college, whereas, the results from the evaluation of some educational games indicated that students could benefit from playing educational games in classrooms and would be interested in a electronic game, which represents a more funny teaching trend than that of conventional educational counterparts. We try to promote game education methodology in service science education. This paper takes IBM's virtual service management stimulation as an example of education game and then gives a specific analysis of its merits and defects. Several suggestions which intend to improve the function of this game have been issued, also it is trying to perfect the game education teaching mode.

Service Science Knowledge System Bottom-up Constructed Closely with Service Industry

Abstract: Since service science is becoming more mature, many universities have now set up numbers of related courses. Service Science and Engineering Department, has some concrete teaching practice at School of Software, Dalian University of Technology. Our paper, analyses specific scientific knowledge systems for the integration of services in industry-specific systems, shows the new discipline will move to Financial Information Service when the service science is integrated into financial sectors, introduces a bachelor program of service science after presenting the relationship between service science and finance industry, analyses specific scientific knowledge systems for the integration of services in industry-specific systems, is to be expected that could establish knowledge system about finance industry on the basis of science-related courses which means that students in this program will take courses in two field, finance and service.