A framework for analysing the effect of "change" in legacy code

We propose a sound and practical approach, based on a formal method (known as Interval Temporal Logic), to cope with “change” and analyse its effect. The approach allows us to capture a snapshot of system’s behaviour over which various interesting properties, such as liveness, timeliness and safety properties, can be validated compositionally. These properties may include invariants that are required to be valid after changes have taken place. We also present and evaluate design and implementation of a formal tool, AnaTempura, which supports the developed approach. A case study is presented to illustrate our approach and the tool.Funding received from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Research Grant GR/M/0258

Side-channel based intrusion detection for industrial control systems

Industrial Control Systems are under increased scrutiny. Their security is historically sub-par, and although measures are being taken by the manufacturers to remedy this, the large installed base of legacy systems cannot easily be updated with state-of-the-art security measures. We propose a system that uses electromagnetic side-channel measurements to detect behavioural changes of the software running on industrial control systems. To demonstrate the feasibility of this method, we show it is possible to profile and distinguish between even small changes in programs on Siemens S7-317 PLCs, using methods from cryptographic side-channel analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. For associated code, see https://polvanaubel.com/research/em-ics/code

Surveying the factors that influence maintainability: research design

We want to explore and analyse design decisions that influence maintainability of software. Software maintainability is important because the effort expended on changes and fixes in software is a major cost driver. We take an empirical, qualitative approach, by investigating cases where a change has cost more or less than comparable changes, and analysing the causes for those differences. We will use this analysis of causes as input to following research in which the individual contributions of a selection of those causes will be quantitatively analysed

Pathways to physical activity legacy: assessing the regeneration potential of multi-sport events using a prospective approach

Urban regeneration is now commonly cited as the rationale for hosting multi-sport events. However, the concept of legacy arising from these events is contested and the evidence base in relation to benefits for the host community is weak, especially in respect of increasing physical activity and sports participation. A theory-based assessment framework is developed to provide a robust prospective assessment of the likely impacts of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on physical activity for the host community in the East End of the city. We identify scope for change, anticipated causal pathways and propose supporting physical activity though better designed environments as a means of generating legacy benefits at population level

Decolonizing the boomerang effect in global queer politics: a new critical framework for sociological analysis of human rights contestation

This article proposes a new critical framework for analysing transnational human rights-claiming and contestation: a ‘critical model of the boomerang effect’, that can embody sociological understanding and insights from decolonizing analyses. The article develops a critique of Keck and Sikkink’s well-known model of the ‘boomerang effect’, from politics and international relations. The new critical model is needed to analyse contestations including global queer politics, particularly to examine where and how actors in formerly or currently colonized states from the Global South can draw on the United Nations human rights system. The new model requires analysis of four themes, with a decolonizing enquiry applied to each: (1) articulation of human rights; (2) social structures and resources; (3) socio-cultural contexts; and (4) subjectivation. These themes are examined to illuminate two pivotal cases claiming decriminalization of same-sex sexual acts: Caleb Orozco in Belize, and Jason Jones in relation to Trinidad and Tobago – generating a new research agenda

Migrating Legacy Systems to Service-Oriented Architectures

This paper presents a methodology for migrating legacy systems towards Service-Oriented Architectures. The approach is based on source code analysis for identifying the contribution of code fragments to architectural elements and graph transformation for architectural migration, allowing for a high degree of automation. In order to transform existing application architectures into SOAs, the methodology has to be used in two dimensions, a technological and functional one. The work presented here is being developed in the context of a collaboration between academia and industry, and is aimed at being applied in real reengineering projects

Locating and mitigating risks to children associated with major sporting events

Despite recent efforts to blend sport and human rights, activism for children's rights in sport has historically been marginalised. The positive 'social legacy' of sport events frequently masks more problematic issues, including child exploitation. We argue that harms to children in hosting communities of major sporting events (MSEs) should be a focus for both research and intervention since the plight of such children is currently a political blind spot. The article examines the evidence for four major sources of risk for children associated with such events: child labour, displacement resulting from forced evictions for infrastructure development and street clearance, child sexual exploitation, and human trafficking affecting children. The weakness of the resulting evidence is explained in relation to the methodological and ethical difficulties of conducting research on such hidden and marginal populations and to the fact that risks to children are often masked by adult social problems. It is argued that much more robust research designs, focused specifically on children, are essential in order to verify the many assertions made about risks to children associated with MSEs. Some mitigating interventions are briefly examined and an action plan for risk-mitigation work at future MSEs is proposed. Finally, drawing on wider debates about Centres and Peripheries in social and economic theory, we question whether major international sport organisations might choose to engage with projects like child protection for strategic rather than humanitarian reasons, using them as a kind of ethical fig leaf in order to bolster their power bases against threats from the margins. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.The Oak Foundation under Grant code OCAY-13-052

Evaluating Software Architectures: Development Stability and Evolution

We survey seminal work on software architecture evaluationmethods. We then look at an emerging class of methodsthat explicates evaluating software architectures forstability and evolution. We define architectural stabilityand formulate the problem of evaluating software architecturesfor stability and evolution. We draw the attention onthe use of Architectures Description Languages (ADLs) forsupporting the evaluation of software architectures in generaland for architectural stability in specific