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The problem of precisely computing the worst-case blocking time that tasks may experience is one of the fundamental issues of schedulability analysis of real-time applications. While exact methods have been proposed for more sophisticated protocols, the problem is indeed complex in case of the Priority Inheritance Protocol, even restricting the attention to uniprocessor systems, non-nested resource accesses, and non-self-suspending tasks. Besides a very simple method leading in general to loose upper bounds, only one algorithm of exponential complexity has been so far reported in literature to tighten such bounds. In this article, we describe a novel approach which, leveraging an operational research technique for modeling the problem, computes the same tight bounds in polynomial time. We then discuss the scenarios in which, assuming no conditional statements in the tasks’ code, the computed bounds derive from an actually impossible blocking chain, and we refine the initial model to more precisely compute the worst-case blocking times for any task set in any possible operating condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The backbone infrastructure of an assisted living system for elderly is presented. • Smart object's interoperability is realized through a semantic message routing engine. • The decision support system combines Complex Event Processing and Event Calculus. • The adopted approach simplifies the formulation of temporal properties. • A practical overview of some relevant real-world scenarios is provided. Abstract While the increasing average age of population is posing new challenges to societies and healthcare systems, the emergence of the Internet of Things research area is generating the hope for automated assisted environments, which could combine the advances in sensors networks with that of runtime monitoring systems, in order to create smart houses able to take care of their older inhabitants and delay the recourse to hospitals and nursing homes. However, although various assisted living systems have been proposed in the last decade, the goal of realizing an effective domestic support system for elderly is still far from reached. In this work, we present a project aiming to re-engineer a set of everyday life objects, equipping them with environmental and wearable sensors, thus to monitor the condition of older people in their domestic residences and provide security while preserving the autonomy and independence of the subjects. The main focus of the paper at hand is on the requirements and solutions implemented to realize the backbone infrastructure of such system as regards both the adopted semantic message routing mechanism and the newly conceived approach to event analysis, which combines Complex Event Processing and a reactive implementation of Event Calculus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the indisputable progresses of artificial intelligence, some tasks that are rather easy for a human being are still challenging for a machine. An emblematic example is the resolution of mathematical puzzles with diagrams. Sub-symbolical approaches have proven successful in fields like image recognition and natural language processing, but the combination of these techniques into a multimodal approach towards the identification of the puzzle's answer appears to be a matter of reasoning, more suitable for the application of a symbolic technique. In this work, we employ logic programming to perform spatial reasoning on the puzzle's diagram and integrate the deriving knowledge into the solving process. Analysing the resolution strategies required by the puzzles of an international competition for humans, we draw the design principles of a Prolog reasoning library, which interacts with image processing software to formulate the puzzle's constraints. The library integrates the knowledge from different sources, and relies on the Prolog inference engine to provide the answer. This work can be considered as a first step towards the ambitious goal of a machine autonomously solving a problem in a generic context starting from its textual-graphical presentation. An ability that can help potentially every human–machine interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a flexible and extensive digital platform for Smart Homes is presented, exploiting the most advanced technologies of the Internet of Things, such as Radio Frequency Identification, wearable electronics, Wireless Sensor Networks, and Artificial Intelligence. Thus, the main novelty of the paper is the system-level description of the platform flexibility allowing the interoperability of different smart devices. This research was developed within the framework of the operative project HABITAT (Home Assistance Based on the Internet of Things for the Autonomy of Everybody), aiming at developing smart devices to support elderly people both in their own houses and in retirement homes, and embedding them in everyday life objects, thus reducing the expenses for healthcare due to the lower need for personal assistance, and providing a better life quality to the elderly users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]