Using Mobile Agents to Implement Workflow System

Current workflow management systems usually adopt the existing technologies such as TCP/IP-based Web technologies and CORBA as well to fulfill the bottom communications. Very often it has been considered only from a theoretical point of view, mainly for the lack of concrete possibilities to execute with elasticity. MAT (Mobile Agent Technology) represents a very attractive approach to the distributed control of computer networks and a valid alternative to the implementation of strategies for workflow system. This paper mainly focuses on improving the performance of workflow system by using MAT. Firstly, the performances of workflow systems based on both CORBA and mobile agent are summarized and analyzed; Secondly, the performance contrast is presented by introducing the mathematic model of each kind of data interaction process respectively. Last, a mobile agentbased workflow system named MAWMS is presented and described in detail. Key words workflow - Mobile Agent - Contract Net Protocol - CORBA - Web CLC number TP 393 Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60272024) and National Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (0411014100)Biography: LI Jie, (1975-), male, lector, Ph. D., research direction: workflow, mobile agent, network management.

Service-based flexible workflow system for virtual enterprise

Using the services provided by virtual enterprises, we presented a solution to implement flexible inter-enterprise workflow management. Services were the responses of events that can be accessed programmatically on the Internet by HTTP protocol. Services were obtained according to some standardized service templates. The workflow engine's flexible control to a request was bound to appropriate services and their providers by using a constraint-based, dynamic binding mechanism. Hence, a flexible and collaborative business was achieved. The workflow management system supports virtual enterprise, and the styles of virtual enterprises can be adjusted readily to adapt various situations.

Context-aware BPEL workflow system using aspect-oriented programming

Business process execution language(BPEL)is a most recognized standard workflow language.However,it is difficult to be used in the ubiquitous system computing environment because it is difficult to describe the context information in the selection of the flow through the branch.To solve this problem,we propose a new BPEL workflow system with context-awareness by using aspect-oriented programming(AOP).This system is composed of a BPEL system module and a weaving module using AOP for context-aware.The BPEL system module generates a BPEL workflow program.And the weaving module converts a context-aware mark-up language(CAML)document to the aspect-oriented program that is applied to context-aware code without modification of the existing BPEL document.We also define a new document form that is called CAML,which provides a context-aware that is not available in BPEL.The system can generate a context-aware workflow program.It is developed in a way that inserts context information using AOP to provide context-aware services.

Multi-objective workflow scheduling in cloud system based on cooperative multi-swarm optimization algorithm

In order to improve the performance of multi-objective workflow scheduling in cloud system, a multi-swarm multiobjective optimization algorithm(MSMOOA) is proposed to satisfy multiple conflicting objectives. Inspired by division of the same species into multiple swarms for different objectives and information sharing among these swarms in nature, each physical machine in the data center is considered a swarm and employs improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization to find out non-dominated solutions with one objective in MSMOOA. The particles in each swarm are divided into two classes and adopt different strategies to evolve cooperatively. One class of particles can communicate with several swarms simultaneously to promote the information sharing among swarms and the other class of particles can only exchange information with the particles located in the same swarm. Furthermore, in order to avoid the influence by the elastic available resources, a manager server is adopted in the cloud data center to collect the available resources for scheduling. The quality of the proposed method with other related approaches is evaluated by using hybrid and parallel workflow applications. The experiment results highlight the better performance of the MSMOOA than that of compared algorithms.

Use of content management systems to address nursing workflow

Nurses are at the forefront of providing healthcare services to individuals of all age groups and with varying medical conditions.Aside from the critical knowledge and technical skills from nursing science,advancement in technology has assisted nurses in delivering quality nursing care by streamlining workflow processes and ensuring that data can easily be retrieved or modified.Electronic health records dramatically changed the landscape of the healthcare practice by providing an electronic means to store data and for healthcare professionals to retrieve and manipulate health information in a secured and collaborative environment.But with the nature of data being stored in the electronic health records,nurses still need to organize and process these data into relevant information,knowledge or wisdom so they can provide better holistic care to patients.This discussion paper details the role of content management systems in addressing nursing workflow by providing a mechanism for nurses to be developers themselves,and not just users or consumers of health innovative technologies.By using content management systems as platform for application development,nurses or other healthcare professionals,may be able to address problems with internal workflow without having to incur huge amounts in software development,or having to extensively learn programming languages.

Artifact-centric workflow management system

Data-centric modeling approach for workflow specification and design has received considerable attention from research and development communities.An architecture for a workflow management system named EZFLOWS was outlined.Key components and research issues associated with the development of EZFLOWS were discussed.

Conflict detection and resolution for authorization policies in workflow systems

The specification of authorization policies in access control models proposed so far cannot satisfy the requirements in workflow management systems(WFMSs).Furthermore,existing approaches have not provided effective conflict detection and resolution methods to maintain the consistency of authorization polices in WFMSs.To address these concerns,we propose the definition of authorization policies in which context constraints are considered and the complicated requirements in WFMSs can be satisfied.Based on the definition,we put forward static and dynamic conflict detection methods for authorization policies.By defining two new concepts,the precedence establishment rule and the conflict resolution policy,we provide a flexible approach to resolving conflicts.

Flexible Workflow Management in Agile Supply Chain System

With the vehement development of global competition , Agile Supply Chain (ASC) becomes an effective approach that supports dynamic ent erprise alliance and realizes agile manufacturing, as for the enterprises to cap ture market opportunities rapidly and strengthen their anti-risk ability. As Ag ile Supply Chain System (ASCS) is dynamic and distributed, the realization of it ’s processes needs to be much flexible. Often in Agile Supply Chain System (ASCS ), there are many dynamic tasks, many changes of the processes, and cooperative workflows, which need the workflows able to be adjusted agilely and smoothly, no t much affecting others. This paper will propose a flexible workflow management for achieving the agility and compatibility. At the first of the paper, we will discuss the situation in which Agile Supply C hain System is applied, and then we will elaborate the characteristics of Agile Supply Chain System. So with that, the shortcomings of the process managements t hat are, at present, used in Supply Chain Systems will be displayed clearly. The n, the proposal will be given in the paper, to resolve the problems in the prese nt process management in ASCS. We will see supply chain systems implemented mult i-agent-based technology to adapt to the dynamic environment, however in many systems, coordination of the workflows is executed by the explicit messages comm unicated between the agents. This will lead to a tightly coupled system. To over come it, the paper suggests the workflow management in agent-based ASCS using t he Events-Triggering mechanism, instead of the explicit messages. We create Eve nts-Triggering contents and rules, having push-pull mechanism, event-state se t and triggering-conditions, and store them in the distributed database subject ed to the corresponding agents. Adjusting the Events-Triggering data will be us ed to adapt to the dynamic tasks and the changes of processes. In sum, we will p resent the methods of process modeling, the system structure, and the executing -mechanism of the flexible workflow management we propose in the paper. Also, t he paper outlines several exception-handling policies for the flexible workflow management, in succession. And at the final of the paper, we discuss the realiz ation of the flexible workflow management in Agile Supply Chain System. The flex ible workflow management will be implemented using CORBA services and Java techn ology for the distributed systems. CORBA is chosen as the specification of distr ibuted electronic data exchange, and Java as the construction tool of the system . The framework of the flexible workflow management constructed on them is showe d in the paper.

Research of Web-based Workflow Management System

The state of the art of workflow management techniques in research is introduced. The research and development trends of Workflow Management System (WFMS) are presented. On basis of analysis and comparison of kinds of WFMSs, a WFMS based on Web technology and distributed object management is proposed. Finally, the application of the WFMS in supply chain management is described in detail.

A prototype of workflow management system for construction design projects

A great deal of benefits can be achieved if information and process are integrated within the building design project. This paper aims to establish a prototype of workflow management system for construction design project through the application of workflow technology. The composition and function of prototype is presented to satisfy the needs of information share and process integration. By integrating all subsystems and modules of the prototype, the whole system can deal with design information-flow modeling, emulating and optimizing, task planning and distributing, automatic tracking and monitoring, as well as network service, etc. In this way, the collaborative design environment of building design project is brought into being.

Adaptive resource allocation for workflow containerization on Kubernetes

In a cloud-native era,the Kubernetes-based workflow engine enables workflow containerized execution through the inherent abilities of Kubernetes.However,when encountering continuous workflow requests and unexpected resource request spikes,the engine is limited to the current workflow load information for resource allocation,which lacks the agility and predictability of resource allocation,resulting in over and underprovisioning resources.This mechanism seriously hinders workflow execution efficiency and leads to high resource waste.To overcome these drawbacks,we propose an adaptive resource allocation scheme named adaptive resource allocation scheme(ARAS)for the Kubernetes-based workflow engines.Considering potential future workflow task requests within the current task pod’s lifecycle,the ARAS uses a resource scaling strategy to allocate resources in response to high-concurrency workflow scenarios.The ARAS offers resource discovery,resource evaluation,and allocation functionalities and serves as a key component for our tailored workflow engine(KubeAdaptor).By integrating the ARAS into KubeAdaptor for workflow containerized execution,we demonstrate the practical abilities of KubeAdaptor and the advantages of our ARAS.Compared with the baseline algorithm,experimental evaluation under three distinct workflow arrival patterns shows that ARAS gains time-saving of 9.8% to 40.92% in the average total duration of all workflows,time-saving of 26.4% to 79.86% in the average duration of individual workflow,and an increase of 1% to 16% in centrol processing unit(CPU)and memory resource usage rate.

FMS-Workflow Modeling Based on P-Timed Stochastic Petri Net

In this paper, we propose astochastic Petri net model P-timed Workflow (WPTSPN) to specify, verify, and analyze a business process (BP) of a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS). After formalizing the semantics of our model, we illustrate how to verifysome of its properties (reachability, safety, boundedness, liveness, correctness, alive tokens, and security) in the P-Timed context. Next, we validate the relevance of the proposed model with MATLAB simulation through a specific FMS case study. Finally, we use a generalized truncated density function to predict the duration of a token’s sojourn (residence) in a timed place with respect to the sequence states of the global FMS workflow.

基于EJB和JMS实现的Workflow系统

工作流系统是一种智能化的信息系统。在经营过程中,它既能将相关信息以电子方式自动地传送到经营过程中指定的地点,又能管理和协调这些信息。随着现代信息技术的发展,工作流系统也日益得以完善,被看作是实施BPR的有效途径。提出了一种基于EJB组件化设计思想实现的工作流系统,并且在系统中采用了JMS消息管理机制。

一种基于XML的Workflow过程定义语言

工作流是指一个业务操作从开始到结束的整个过程,是一系列相互衔接、自动进行的业务活动或任务,它在流程管理方面有很重要的应用。由于工作流程和业务规则的变更会经常发生,所以提供一种好的Workflow过程定义方法或语言已经成为目前工作流技术得以进一步发展和广泛应用的关键。在WPDL的基础上提出了一种基于XML的简单易用的Workflow过程定义语言。

企业协同知识管理工作流模型研究——基于action workflow方法

在借鉴问题解决导向的企业知识管理的过程描述基础上,指出企业协同知识管理过程是以协同知识库为核心的协同问题解决过程,并结合企业协同知识管理的工作流建模要求,论述了action work-flow工作流建模方法的特点,以及action workflow方法在企业协同知识管理中的应用。

机器学习加速氧化还原电位和酸度常数计算

氧化还原电位和酸度常数作为重要的物理化学性质被应用于分析能源材料重要指标值。为了实现能源材料的计算设计,发展计算电化学的方法,在复杂电化学环境下计算这些性质至关重要。近年来,利用计算电化学方法计算氧化还原电位和酸度常数已经受到了广泛的关注。然而,常用的计算方法如基于隐式溶剂化模型的小分子自由能计算,对于复杂溶剂化环境的处理非常有限。因此,基于第一性原理分子动力学(AIMD)的自由能计算被引入来描述复杂溶剂化环境中的溶质-溶剂相互作用。同时,基于AIMD的自由能计算方法已经被证实可以准确预测这些物理化学性质。然而,由于AIMD计算效率低且计算资源需求大,需要引入机器学习分子动力学(MLMD)加速计算。MLMD通过机器学习方法,构建模拟体系结构到第一性原理计算结果的一对一映射,可以在低成本下实现长时间尺度的AIMD。对于氧化还原电位和酸度常数计算,如何构建训练机器学习势函数模型所需的数据集至关重要。本文介绍了如何通过自动化工作流实现自由能计算势函数的自动化构建,通过机器学习分子动力学计算自由能并转化为对应的物理化学性质。

基于Workflow的智能化数控程序编制

在Edgecam软件中研究了基于Workflow模式的数控程序智能自动化编程问题,首先,提出了Workflow的编程流程,而后,论述了数据接口转换、特征识别和加工策略定制等关键技术,最后以某典型零件的加工实例证明了方法的有效性,实现了制造的智能化和快速化,为其他产品的智能编程提供了借鉴。

基于Workflow的出差审批和费用报销系统的设计与实现

通过对出差和费用报销系统的业务流程分析,根据Workflow引擎设计和系统总体设计、功能设计,并以Web应用为背景,给出了出差审批和报销系统的解决方案。该方案有较强的实用性和通用性,为类似系统的设计和开发提供了思路和方法。

基于异构消息匹配QoS全局最优E-workflow组合研究

提出了一种分布消息匹配的工作流组合方法。移动agent代理E-service,构成一个自治的感知单元,移动agent通过语义的协商确认匹配关系,E-workflow组合可以通过移动agent的演化完成。通过接口消息对应匹配的方法,完成了服务之间关系的确定,建立工作流组合的全局结构,将E-workflow的QoS全局优化转化为一个多目标的优化问题,通过基于快速排序算法改进的NSGA-Ⅱ算法进行求解。通过仿真表明方法实现了分布自组织和全局适应性的功能。

基于工作流的高校科研管理系统设计与实现研究

高校在信息化过程中使用传统的Office办公软件来处理科研管理相关工作,已不能满足目前学校的需求及发展,各高校需改变科研管理工作方式及模式。文章以陕西能源职业技术学院为例,对科研管理工作现状进行了调查研究后,成功搭建了高校科研管理系统,为全校科研人员提供便利的同时,也更好地便利了高校科研管理工作。在已搭建的系统上进一步深入完善系统建设、贴合科研管理工作流程,在此基础上,对科研管理系统常规固定模块进行修改,使科研管理系统更为贴合高校实际,助推高校科研发展。