The promise of service oriented computing, and the availability of Web services promote the delivery and creation of new services based on existing services, in order to meet new demands and new markets. As Web and internet based services move into Clouds, inter-dependency of services and their complexity will increase substantially. There are standards and frameworks for specifying and composing Web Services based on functional properties. However, mechanisms to individually address non-functional properties of services and their compositions have not been well established. Furthermore, the Cloud ontology depicts service layers from a high-level, such as Application and Software, to a low-level, such as Infrastructure and Platform. Each component that resides in one layer can be useful to another layer as a service. It hints at the amount of complexity resulting from not only horizontal but also vertical integrations in building and deploying a composite service. To meet the requirements and facilitate using Web services, we first propose a WSDL extension to permit specification of non-functional or Quality of Service (QoS) properties. On top of the foundation, the QoS-aware framework is established to adapt publicly available tools for Web services, augmented by ontology management tools, along with tools for performance modeling to exemplify how the non-functional properties such as response time, throughput, or utilization of services can be addressed in the service acquisition and composition process. To facilitate Web service composition standards, in this work we extended the framework with additional qualitative information to the service descriptions using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). Engineers can use BPEL to explore design options, and have the QoS properties analyzed for the composite service. The main issue in our research is performance evaluation in software system and engineering. We researched the Web service computation as the first half of this dissertation, and performance antipattern detection and elimination in the second part. Performance analysis of software system is complex due to large number of components and the interactions among them. Without the knowledge of experienced experts, it is difficult to diagnose performance anomalies and attempt to pinpoint the root causes of the problems. Software performance antipatterns are similar to design patterns in that they provide what to avoid and how to fix performance problems when they appear. Although the idea of applying antipatterns is promising, there are gaps in matching the symptoms and generating feedback solution for redesign. In this work, we analyze performance antipatterns to extract detectable features, influential factors, and resource involvements so that we can lay the foundation to detect their presence. We propose system abstract layering model and suggestive profiling methods for performance antipattern detection and elimination. Solutions proposed can be used during the refactoring phase, and can be included in the software development life cycle. Proposed tools and utilities are implemented and their use is demonstrated with RUBiS benchmark.

One of the best opportunities to reduce pipeline accidents and subsequent product loss comes from implementing better pipeline condition assessment and fault detection systems. Transient analysis model based condition assessment is the most promising technique because pressure transients propagate entire system interacting with the pipe and any devices in the system. Transient measurements embody a large amount of information about the physical characteristics of the system. The performance of this technique has its difficulties because a highly accurate transient model is required. Real systems have numerous uncertainties and flow system components that presents a major challenge in the development of precise transient analysis models. To improve transient modelling for the performance of condition assessment, this research undertakes a comprehensive investigation into the transient behaviour of distributed and various local energy loss system components in water and gas pipelines. The dynamic behaviours that have been investigated in this research are the effect of unsteady wall resistance, viscoelasticity effects of polymer pipe, and local energy loss elements including leakages, entrapped air pockets, orifices, and blockages during unsteady pipe flow conditions. The dynamic characteristics of these system components are modelled based on the conservative solution scheme using the governing equations in their conservative form. Use of the conservative form of the equations improves the sensitivity and applicability of transient analysis in both liquid and gas pipeline systems. The numerical model results are compared to laboratory experiments in water and gas pipelines to observe the interaction between transient pressure wave and system components and to verify the proposed models. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1337145 / Thesis( Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering 2008