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A causal, stochastic model of networked computers, based on information theory and nonequilibrium dynamical systems is presented. This provides a simple explanation for recent experimental results revealing the structure of information in network transactions. The model is based on non-Poissonian stochastic variables and pseudo-periodic functions. It explains the measured patterns seen in resource variables on computers in network communities. Weakly non-Poissonian behavior can be eliminated by a conformal scaling transformation and leads to a mapping onto statistical field theory. From this, it is possible to calculate the exact profile of the spectrum of fluctuations. This work has applications to anomaly detection and time-series analysis of computer transactions.

Much work has been done in the last decade in the related areas of object-oriented programming languages and object-oriented databases. Researchers from both areas now seem to be working toward a common end, that of an object management system, or OMS. An OMS is constructed similarly to an OODB but provides a general purpose concurrent object-oriented programming language as well, complementing the OODB query facilities. In this paper, we will define several different types of object systems (object servers, persistent OOPL’s, OODB’s and OMS’s) in terms of their interfaces and capabilities from the viewpoint of how these support the requirements of cooperative information systems. We will examine the distinguishing features and general architecture of systems of each type in the light of a general model of OMS architecture.

The use of mobile agent technology has been proposed for various fault-sensitive application areas, including electronic commerce and system management. A prerequisite for the use of mobile agents in these environments is that agents have to be executed reliably, independent of communication and node failures.

In this article, we present two approaches improving the level of fault-tolerance in agent execution. The introduction of an itinerary concept allows to specify an agent's travel plan flexibly and provides the agent system with the possibility to postpone the visit of currently unavailable nodes or to choose alternative nodes in case of node failures.

The second approach is a recently proposed fault-tolerant protocol to ensure the exactly-once execution of an agent. With this protocol, agents are preformed in stages. Each stage consists of a number of nodes. One of these nodes executes the agent while the others monitor the execution. After a summary of this protocol, we focus on the construction of stages. In particular, we investigate how the number of nodes per stage influences the probability of an agent to be blocked due to failures and which nodes should be selected when forming a stage to minimize the protocol overhead.

Linked networks of transactors attempting to complete both the buying and selling of properties, often termed "housing chains", are conspicuous features within owner-occupied housing markets, often seen as a cause of severe delay to transaction completion. This paper introduces a bounded or limited rationality-based model of housing market transactions and examines the properties and predictions of the resultant system. Agent-based simulation is able to reproduce: a) the existence of chains of buyers and sellers observed in the housing market; b) the delays to transaction completion often noted; and c) the empirical observation that housing price series for first-time buyers and for new or vacant housing serially leads the series for existing, current owner-occupiers.

The bazaar is an ancient institution that continues to thrive today, holding a complex web of carefully managed relationships – in which sellers cooperate for mutual gain. In this sense, it is very similar to today’s airline sector in which United Airlines cooperates with others in the Star Alliance while giving “gold” status and related privileges to preferred clients of the alliance; not all customers are treated equally. Brand loyalty is influenced by preferential treatment that is based on relationships. Would-be competitors in the bazaar cooperate as do airlines within an alliance, reinforcing relationship networks. This chapter discusses the structured bazaar in detail, revealing that the degree to which the structured bazaar resembles the World Wide Web is striking. Managerial implications are also discussed.

We demonstrate how a purely declarative language, with the help of strict typing, precise moding, and determinism declarations, can be used to concisely and declaratively express database transactions, including updates. We have begun incorporating transactions into the Aditi deductive database system using an extended form of Mercury as the database programming and query language.

"Innovation today is not just product innovation, rather it is about services, processes, business models or cultural innovation." Faced with growing knowledge management needs and its difficulties in organizing and retaining, enterprises are increasingly realizing the importance of interlinking critical business information distributed across structured and unstructured data sources. The structured and unstructured information that are distributed across the organization are automatically combined by the two technologies called EROCS (Entity RecOgnition in the Context of Structured data) and SCORE (Symbiotic Content Oriented information REtrieval)[1]. This enables organizations to generate new contextual and actionable insights to help determine appropriate business decisions. This survey paper highlights the importance and scope of EROCS in the IT industry and in the field of business. A highlight of this technology, which clearly differentiates it from the traditional named-entity recognition systems, is that EROCS identifies an entity even if it is not explicitly mentioned in the document. It exploits the context information present in the document to match and identify entities."