Natural Interpretation of UML/MARTE Diagrams for System Requirements Specification

International audienceTo verify embedded systems early in the design stages, we need formal ways to requirements specification which can be as close as possible to natural language interpretation, away from the lower ESL/RTL levels. This paper proposes to contribute to the FSL (Formal Specification Level) by specifying natural language requirements graphically in the form of temporal patterns. Standard modeling artifacts like UML and MARTE are used to provide formal semantics of these graphical models allowing to eliminate ambiguity in specifications and automatic design verification at different abstraction levels using these patterns

Tracing Hardware Monitors in the GR712RC Multicore Platform: Challenges and Lessons Learnt from a Space Case Study

The demand for increased computing performance is driving industry in critical-embedded systems (CES) domains, e.g. space, towards the use of multicores processors. Multicores, however, pose several challenges that must be addressed before their safe adoption in critical embedded domains. One of the prominent challenges is software timing analysis, a fundamental step in the verification and validation process. Monitoring and profiling solutions, traditionally used for debugging and optimization, are increasingly exploited for software timing in multicores. In particular, hardware event monitors related to requests to shared hardware resources are building block to assess and restraining multicore interference. Modern timing analysis techniques build on event monitors to track and control the contention tasks can generate each other in a multicore platform. In this paper we look into the hardware profiling problem from an industrial perspective and address both methodological and practical problems when monitoring a multicore application. We assess pros and cons of several profiling and tracing solutions, showing that several aspects need to be taken into account while considering the appropriate mechanism to collect and extract the profiling information from a multicore COTS platform. We address the profiling problem on a representative COTS platform for the aerospace domain to find that the availability of directly-accessible hardware counters is not a given, and it may be necessary to the develop specific tools that capture the needs of both the user’s and the timing analysis technique requirements. We report challenges in developing an event monitor tracing tool that works for bare-metal and RTEMS configurations and show the accuracy of the developed tool-set in profiling a real aerospace application. We also show how the profiling tools can be exploited, together with handcrafted benchmarks, to characterize the application behavior in terms of multicore timing interference.This work has been partially supported by a collaboration agreement between Thales Research and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 772773). MINECO partially supported Jaume Abella under Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship (RYC2013-14717).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Global Adaptation Controlled by an Interactive Consistency Protocol

Static schedules for systems can lead to an inefficient usage of the resources, because the system’s behavior cannot be adapted at runtime. To improve the runtime system performance in current time-triggered Multi-Processor System on Chip (MPSoC), a dynamic reaction to events is performed locally on the cores. The effects of this optimization can be increased by coordinating the changes globally. To perform such global changes, a consistent view on the system state is needed, on which to base the adaptation decisions. This paper proposes such an interactive consistency protocol with low impact on the system w.r.t. latency and overhead. We show that an energy optimizing adaptation controlled by the protocol can enable a system to save up to 43% compared to a system without adaptation

Regulatory network built by Cytochrome c with Histone Chaperones in response to DNA damage

The maintenance of genome integrity is a critical process for cell life. To face DNA lesions, living beings have developed a complex network called DNA damage response (DDR), which encompasses an intricate phosphorylation signalling cascade, enabling a quick DNA damage repair. To control this signalling cascade and to avoid an illegitimate activation, this network is tightly regulated by protein phosphatases, such as Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Moreover, histone chaperones assist the DNA repair mechanisms altering chromatin dynamics through their nucleosome assembly activity. Recent studies have reported that the mitochondrial respiratory protein cytochrome c is promptly translocated into the cell nucleus upon DNA damage, where it interacts with several histone chaperones. Within this context, the role of nuclear cytochrome c has been partially disclosed. Here, we have delved into the functional consequences of the novel DNA damage-induced complex formed by cytochrome c with the histone chaperones ANP32A and ANP32B. Strikingly, the heme protein impairs the PP2A inhibitory effect exerted by the histone chaperones ANP32A, ANP32B and SET/TAF-I. Furthermore, biophysical and structural approaches have been used to characterize the cytochrome c complex with ANP32A and ANP32B and to unveil the molecular mechanism underlying the cytoplasmic accumulation of ANP32B upon its phosphorylation. In addition, we have extended our knowledge on the histone chaperone regulation in the DDR by studying the Arabidopsis thaliana complex between cytochrome c and NRP1, a SET/TAF-I analogous. Herein we propose a novel standpoint about DDR regulation, in which cytochrome c exerts a modulating role on such signalling cascade through its interaction with histone chaperones, both by tuning their nucleosome assembly and PP2A inhibitory activity

Migrating Words, Migrating Merchants, Migrating Law

Migrating Words, Migrating Merchants, Migrating Law, edited by S. Gialdroni, A. Cordes, S. Dauchy, D. De ruysscher and H. Pihlajamäki, offers a transdisciplinary account of the connections between merchants’ journeys, the languages they used and the development of commercial law. ; Readership: Scholars interested in commercial law history, economic history, history of linguistics, translation and, more generally, in the lives and travels of merchants and the impact they had on the development of law

Migrating Words, Migrating Merchants, Migrating Law

Migrating Words, Migrating Merchants, Migrating Law, edited by S. Gialdroni, A. Cordes, S. Dauchy, D. De ruysscher and H. Pihlajamäki, offers a transdisciplinary account of the connections between merchants’ journeys, the languages they used and the development of commercial law. ; Readership: Scholars interested in commercial law history, economic history, history of linguistics, translation and, more generally, in the lives and travels of merchants and the impact they had on the development of law

Mapping Urban Spaces. Designing the European City

open5siVolume edito sia a stampa (hardback e paperback) che in formato elettronico (Open Access)Mapping Urban Spaces focuses on medium- sized European cities and more specifically on their open spaces from psychological, sociological, and aesthetic points of view. The chapters illustrate how the characteristics that make life in medium- sized European cities pleasant and sustainable – accessibility, ease of travel, urban sustainability, social inclusiveness – can be traced back to the nature of that space. The chapters develop from a phenomenological study of space to contributions on places and landscapes in the city. Centralities and their meaning are studied, as well as the social space and its complexity. The contributions focus on history and theory as well as concrete research and mapping approaches and the resulting design applications. The case studies come from countries around Europe including Poland, Italy, Greece, Germany, and France, among others. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture.openLamberto Amistadi, Valter Balducci, Tomasz Bradecki, Enrico Prandi, Uwe SchroederLamberto Amistadi, Valter Balducci, Tomasz Bradecki, Enrico Prandi, Uwe Schroede

Community and Family-Focused Public Health and Sustainable Development

The book “Community and Family-Focused Public Health and Sustainable Development” was originally published in the renowned International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This Special Issue encompassed novel aspects of applications that are connected with sustainability issues in community and family-focused public health studies. Contributions have a significant impact on solving public health problems at the family and community levels. The Special Issue originally published scientific papers, including review articles, that fell under this Special Issue’s remit and that were relevant to audiences worldwide. Currently, the term “family health” is most commonly to describe mother and child health and reproductive health. It is rare for family health to include the family as an important context for health development and that includes all family members and the family’s social environment. Authors of scientific research covering issues related to the impact of the family and the environment in which the family lives and functions on its members’ health in the present and in the future were encouraged to contribute their work. In addition, we were especially interested in scientific reports on social, economic, and health inequalities in the context of achieving the sustainable development goals