In this paper, we propose a spoken dialogue agent architecture which can control virtual electronic devices via Web services. Each device is assumed to have Web service interface which can register its control functions and command ontology to the server. The dialogue agent can acquire dialogue knowledge from the server and dynamically change its dialogue transition rule according to the status...

In this chapter, we propose a new approach to the discovery, the selection, and the automated composition of distributed processes, in a pervasive computing environment, described as semantic web services through a new semantic annotation. In our approach, we map a process in a pervasive computing environment into a State Transition System and we semantically annotate it with a minimal set of o...

Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) is a communication protocol that imaging devices use to communicate. The universal acceptance of the DICOM standard by the major medical vendors means that the digital transition in veterinary medicine should be relatively smooth provided DICOM is used. DICOM service objects, roles, service classes, and conformance standards are discussed. T...

We propose a specification-driven approach to Web service composition. Our framework allows the users (or service developers) to start with a high-level, possibly incomplete specification of a desired (goal) service that is to be realized using a subset of the available component services. These services are represented using labeled transition systems augmented with guards over variables with ...

Semantic web service composition constitutes the phases namely specification, matchmaking, planning, validation, discovery and execution. As web service composition is categorised as an AI planning problem, the objective of this paper is to propose a fluent calculus approach for the planning phase of the semantic web service composition. Among various methods to solve the AI planning problem, l...

A waiting system with two kinds of resources, say the vehicles and the docks in a vehiclesharing service, is considered. Two arrival flows of customers are assumed, access customers who require a vehicle versus egress customers that bring back their vehicle and require a dock at the station. The total number of docks sets a limit capacity for the service. A stochastic, markovian, state-transiti...

Traditional telecommunications service providers are undergoing a transition to a shared infrastructure in which multiple services will be offered to customers. These services will be introduced, modified, and retired at a pace that tracks changing requirements and demands. In order to be cost-effective, these services will need to be delivered over a shared infrastructure that is managed to su...

As the NSFNET backbone service migrates into a commercial environment, so will access to the only set of publicly available statistics for a large national U.S. backbone. The transition to the new NSFNET program, with commercially operated services providing both regional service as well as cross-service provider switching points, or Network Access Points (NAPs), will render statistics collecti...

Due to the increasing need of highly dependable services in Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), service-level agreements include more and more frequently such non-functional aspects as security, safety, availability, reliability, etc. Whenever a service can no longer be provided with the required QoS, the service requester needs to switch dynamically to a new service having adequate service p...