Office: 
Caulfield School of IT, H7.21.
900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East,
Victoria 3145, Australia
Tel +61 (0)3 990 32808
Fax +61 (0)3 990 31077
Email:
Chris{dot}Ling{at}infotech.monash.edu.au

Teaching

Research

I am a member of the University Research Centre DSSE.

Here is a list of all my publications.

Research Interests

• Petri nets
• Object-oriented programming
• Software engineering
• Formal specification
• Real-time systems
• Business process modelling
• Multiagent systems
• Context-Aware Systems
• Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing
• Reliability and Performance Analysis

ARC (Australian Research Council) Discovery Project (2004-2006)

Research Supervision

Project Supervision

Previous Projects

• Formalization of ECMA Standard 335: "Common Language Infrastructure" (2002)
• Monash Small Grants Scheme 2003 Project:
  Verifying and Maintaining Correct Interaction Behaviour of Agents in Open Wireless Environment.

Before 2002...

I have worked on the project entitled Analysis of Real-Time Workflow Nets using Component-based Time Petri nets. This project was partially funded by the postdoctoral fellowship under MURF (Monash University Research Fund) for 2000-2001. The project aimed at a new component-based approach to verify and analyse real-time workflow systems using Petri nets. Existing work on Petri nets and workflow has focused on traditional Petri nets and associated tools to model and analyse workflows. None has addressed in detail the real-time (with time intervals) issues or a compositional (component-oriented) approach to very large workflow systems. It is beneficial to add hard deadlines to individual tasks in the workflow, so that one can guarantee the tasks being completed at the given deadlines.

Having produced the formal definitions and theorems on workflow modelling and analysis, we needed to implement them as a computer based tool. Rather than implementing a tool from scratch, we enriched an existing development tool with our methodology. During the process of tool selection, we investigated a host of existing tools, including Renew, INA, MetaEdit Method Workbench, Design/CPN and Promatis' INCOME Process Designer. We chose Renew (the Reference Net Workshop - a Java-based high-level Petri net graphical editor and simulator) and INA (an Integrated Net Analyzer which reads a Petri net model in textual form and produces a set of corresponding verified Petri net properties). Renew was chosen mainly because it has a graphical editor front end, it came complete with Java source, and thus, could be freely extended and enriched with new features. INA has been useful because it has already featured many analysis algorithms, most of which were heavily utilised in our workflow analysis.

The work was an extension and a continuation of our much earlier work related to component-based verification and my PhD thesis on the analysis of a class of interval timed Petri nets. The temporal aspects of workflows were very similar to the liveness and safety notions in Petri nets. As such, it was possible to use Petri net analysis methods to verify workflows with time constraints.

In 1999, I was seconded to the CRC for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology ( DSTC Pty Ltd). I was and still am involved in the area of  TrustME , which aims at a core model and integration technology for trusted distributed service components. We dealt with ensuring the correct interoperation of components in the distributed environment and specifically, we:

• used contracts as a means to provide trust among software components;
• designed a Java-extended contract definition language;
• evaluated existing software development proof systems to be incorporated into our trusted component analysis method.

Theses

My Master's thesis (1993) was titled Object-oriented Petri net analysis, involving the modelling and implementation of a standard Petri net editor in Smalltalk/V using Rambaugh's OMT.

My PhD thesis (1999) was titled Petri net modelling and analysis of real-time systems based on net structure. The thesis presents a novel approach to real-time system analysis, in which existing theorems in Petri net's structure theory are adopted and modified for a timed extension of standarad Petri nets. The research is the first step towards providing a formalism for specifying and analysing object-oriented real-time systems. I am familiar with the Petri net formalism and enjoy specifying systems in Petri nets, statecharts, Object-Z and CCS.
 

Refereed Publications

Conference Papers

• Chang, C., Ling, S., 2008, Towards a context-aware solution for device failures in service-oriented workflow, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications & Services, 24 November 2008 to 26 November 2008, Association for Computing Machinery, New York NY USA, pp. 77-83.
• Dawson, L. L., Ling, S., Indrawan, M. T., Weeding, S., Fernando, J. I. E., 2008, Towards a framework for mobile information environments: A hospital-based example, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia, 24 November 2008 to 26 November 2008, Association for Computing Machinery, New York NY USA, pp. 490-494.
• Leung, E. W. T., Indrawan, M. T., Ling, S., 2008, Toward a model of service interaction enabler in mobile environment, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Context Enabled Source and Service Selection, Integration and Adaptation, 22 April 2008, The Association for Computing Machinery, New York NY USA, pp. 1-8.
• Smanchat, S., Ling, S., Indrawan, M. T., 2008, A survey on context-aware workflow adaptations, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia, 24 November 2008 to 26 November 2008, Association for Computing Machinery, New York NY USA, pp. 414-417.
• Indrawan, M. T., Loke, S. W., Ling, S., Samara, F., 2007, Unobtrusive user profiling: the use of RFID to create a smart wardrobe, Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on RFID Technology - Concepts, Applications, Challenges IWRT 2007, 12 June 2007, INSTICC Press, Portugal, pp. 3-13.
• Kodikara Edirisinghe, K. A. P., Ling, S., Zaslavsky, A., 2007, Evaluating cross-layer context exchange in mobile ad-hoc networks with colored petri nets, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Services, 15 July 2007 to 20 July 2007, IEEE Computer Society Press, The United States, pp. 173-176.
• Loke, S. W., Ling, S., Indrawan, M. T., Kurniati, S., 2007, Adaptive workflows for smart devices: A concrete approach towards device failures, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 12 June 2007 to 16 June 2007, INSTICC, Portugal, pp. 191-197.
• Loke, S. W., Ling, S., Butler, G., Gillick, B. J., 2005, Levels of abstraction in programming device ecology workflows, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 25 May 2005 to 28 May 2005, INSTICC Press, Setubal Portugal, pp. 137-144.
• Smanchat, S., Indrawan, M. T., Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2005, Asynchronous and synchronous communications in Petri nets for run-time analysis of a device ecology, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications and Services, 19/9/2005 to 21/9/2005, Austrian Computer Society, Vienna Austria, pp. 1113-1123.
• Shiang, C. W., Loke, S. W., Krishnaswamy, S., Ling, S., 2004, Adding flexibility to a room booking system using argumentation-inspired negotiations as mediated by mobile agents, Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, 20 September 2004 to 24 September 2004, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos USA, pp. 401-404.
• Vaile, S., Ling, S., Zaslavsky, A., 2004, SoundHunter: towards a context-aware mobile agent system, Proceedings of the 3rd Asian International Mobile Computing Conference, 26 May 2004 to 28 May 2004, Kasetsart University, Bangkok Thailand, pp. 84-88.
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2003, A component-based approach to modelling interaction protocols for multiagent systems, Proceedings of the Seventh World Conference on Integrated & Process Technology, 03 December 2003 to 06 December 2003, Society for Design and Process Science, USA, pp. 1161-1167. (Also, awarded the best paper award for the conference)
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2003, Engineering multiagent systems based on interaction protocols: a compositional Petri net approach, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 23 April 2003 to 26 April 2003, Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setubal, Portugal, pp. 42-48.
  (Also in Enterprise Information Systems V, ISBN 1-4020-1726-X, Kluwer Academic Publishers.)
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2002, Advanced petri nets for modelling mobile agent enabled interorganizational workflows, Proceedings of the Ninth IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems, 08 April 2002 to 11 April 2002, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos USA, pp. 245-252.
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2001, Verfication of itineraries for mobile agent enabled Interorganizational Workflow, Proceedings of the12th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications, 03 September 2001 to 07 September 2001, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos USA, pp. 582-586.
• Loke, S., Ling, S., 2000, Mobile Agent Itineraries and Workflow Nets for Analysis and Enactment of Distributed Business Processes, Proceedings of the International ICSC Symposium on Multi-Agents and Mobile Agents in Virtual Organizations and E-Commerce (MAMA '2000), Wollongong NSW Australia, 11-15 December 2000, ICSC Academic Press, Wetaskiwin Canada, pp. 459-466.
• Ling, S., Schmidt, H., Fletcher, R., 1999, Constructing Interoperable Components in Distributed Systems, Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems (TOOLS 32), Melbourne AUSTRALIA, November 22-25, 1999, IEEE, Inc., New Jersey USA, pp. 274-284.
• Ling, S., Schmidt, H., 1997, Using a safety notion in petri nets to analyse real-time systems, Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference, Software Engineering, San Fransisco, 2-4 November, IASTED, Anaheim USA, pp. 344-350.
• Ling S., Schmidt, H., 1996, Towards Analysing a Class of Object Petri Nets, Proceedings of the 9th Australian Software Engineering Conference 1996 (ASWEC'96), pp. 81-92.
• Ling S., Durnota, B., 1993, A Comparison of Techniques for Specifying Concurrent Systems using the Object-Oriented Paradigm, Proceedings of the TOOLS12 conference, Melbourne, Australia. pp. 155-177.

Journal Articles

• Loke, S. W., Smanchat, S., Ling, S., Indrawan, M. T., 2008, Formal mirror models: An approach to just-in-time reasoning for device ecologies, International Journal of Smart Home, vol 2, issue 1, Science & Engineering Research Support Center, Daejon Republic of Korea, pp. 15-31.
• Wibisono, W., Zaslavsky, A., Ling, S., 2008, Towards a service-oriented approach for managing context in mobile environment, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5364, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Germany, pp. 210-224.
• Ling, S., Indrawan, M. T., Loke, S. W., 2007, RFID-based user profiling of fashion preferences: blueprint for a smart wardrobe, International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology, vol 2, issue 3/4, Inderscience Enterprises, United Kingdom, pp. 153-164.
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., Indrawan, M. T., 2007, Towards a model of interaction for mutual aware devices and everyday artifacts, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4611, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Germany, pp. 184-194.
• Ling, S., Loke, S. W., 2003, MIP-nets: a compositional model of multiagent interaction, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, vol 2691, Springer-Verlag, NY USA, pp. 61-72.
• Ling, S., Poernomo, I. H., Schmidt, H. W., 2003, Describing web service architectures through design-by-contract, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2869, Springer-Verlag, NY USA, pp. 1008-1018.
• Ling, S., Durnota, B.,1995, Using Two Object-Oriented Modelling Techniques to Specify the Just-In-Time Kanban System, Int'l Journal of Productions and Operation Management 15(9):185-99.

Technical Reports

• G. Butler, S. Ling and C. Mingins (2002) A Formalization of the Common Type System and CLS Rules of ECMA Standard 335: 'Common Language Infrastructure, Technical Report TR2002/121, School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University.
• S.W. Loke and S. Ling (2001) Itinerary-Centred Programming of Mobile Agent Applications, Technical Report TR2001/97, School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University.
• S. Ling and H. Schmidt (2000) A Concept of Time for Workflow Modelling and Analysis, Technical Report TR2000/72, School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University.
• S. Ling and H. Schmidt (1997) Using a Notion of Safety in Petri nets to Analyse Real-Time Systems, Technical Report TR97/9, Department of Software Development, Monash University.
• S. Ling and H. Schmidt (1996) A Notion of Safeness in Time for Petri nets, Technical Report TR96/21, Department of Software Development, Monash University.
• S. Ling and H. Schmidt (1995) Liveness and Safeness Properties of a Class of Algebraic Nets, Technical Report TR95/40, Department of Software Development, Monash University.