A framework for robust control of uncertainty in self-adaptive software connectors

Context and motivations. The desired behavior of a system in ubiquitous environments considers not only its correct functionality, but also the satisfaction of its non-functional properties, i.e., its quality of service. Given the heterogeneity and dynamism characterizing the ubiquitous environments and the need for continuous satisfaction of non-functional properties, self-adaptive solutions appear to be an appropriate approach to achieve interoperability. In this work, self-adaptation is adopted to enable software connectors to adapt the interaction protocols run by the connected components to let them communicate in a timely manner and with the required level of quality. However, this self-adaptation should be dependable, reliable and resilient to be adopted in dynamic, unpredictable environments with different sources of uncertainty. The majority of current approaches for the construction of self-adaptive software ignore the uncertainty underlying non-functional requirement verification and adaptation reasoning. Consequently, these approaches jeopardize system reliability and hinder the adoption of self-adaptive software in areas where dependability is of utmost importance. Objective. The main objective of this research is to properly handle the uncertainties in the non-functional requirement verification and the adaptation reasoning part of the self-adaptive feedback control loop of software connectors. This will enable a robust and runtime efficient adaptation in software connectors and make them reliable for usage in uncertain environments. Method. In the context of this thesis, a framework has been developed with the following functionalities: 1) Robust control of uncertainty in runtime requirement verification. The main activity in runtime verification is fine-tuning of the models that are adopted for runtime reasoning. The proposed stochastic approach is able to update the unknown parameters of the models at runtime even in the presence of incomplete and noisy observations. 2) Robust control of uncertainty in adaptation reasoning. A general methodology based on type-2 fuzzy logic has been introduced for the control of adaptation decision-making that adjusts the configuration of component connectors to the appropriate mode. The methodology enables a systematic development of fuzzy logic controllers that can derive the right mode for connectors even in the presence of measurement inaccuracy and adaptation policy conflicts. Results. The proposed model evolution mechanism is empirically evaluated, showing a significant precision of parameter estimation with an acceptable overhead at runtime. In addition, the fuzzy based controller, generated by the methodology, has been shown to be robust against uncertainties in the input data, efficient in terms of runtime overhead even in large-scale knowledge bases and stable in terms of control theory properties. We also demonstrate the applicability of the developed framework in a real-world domain. Thesis statement. We enable reliable and dependable self-adaptations of component connectors in unreliable environments with imperfect monitoring facilities and conflicting user opinions about adaptation policies by developing a framework which comprises: (a) mechanisms for robust model evolution, (b) a method for adaptation reasoning, and (c) tool support that allows an end-to-end application of the developed techniques in real-world domains

Technology, Science, and Culture: A Global Vision

The aim of the Workshop: Technology, Science, and Culture - A Global Vision is to create a discussion forum on research related to the fields of Water Science, Food Science, Intelligent Systems, Molecular Biomedicine, and Creation and Theories of Culture. The workshop is intended to discuss research on current problems, relevant methodologies, and future research streams and to create an environment for the exchange of ideas and collaboration among participants

A virtual factory for smart city service integration

Tese de Doutoramento em Informática (MAP-i)In the context of smart cities, governments are investing efforts on creating public value through the development of digital public services (DPS) focusing on specific policy areas, such as transport. Main motivations to deliver DPS include reducing administrative burdens and costs, increasing effectiveness and efficiency of government processes, and improving citizens’ quality of life through enhanced services and simplified interactions with governments. To ensure effective planning and design of DPS in a given domain, governments face several challenges, like the need of specialized tools to facilitate the effective planning and the rapid development of DPS, as well as, tools for service integration, affording high development costs, and ensuring DPS conform with laws and regulations. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that many public administrations develop tailored DPS, disregarding the fact that services share common functionality and business processes. To address the above challenges, this thesis focuses on leveraging the similarities of DPS and on applying a Software Product Line (SPL) approach combined with formal methods techniques for specifying service models and verifying their behavioural properties. In particular, the proposed solution introduces the concept of a virtual factory for the planning and rapid development of DPS in a given smart city domain. The virtual factory comprises a framework including software tools, guidelines, practices, models, and other artefacts to assist engineers to automate and make more efficient the development of a family of DPS. In this work the virtual factory is populated with tools for government officials and software developers to plan and design smart mobility services, and to rapidly model DPS relying on SPLs and components-base development techniques. Specific contributions of the thesis include: 1) the concept of virtual factory; 2) a taxonomy for planning and designing smart mobility services; 3) an ontology to fix a common vocabulary for a specific family of DPS; 4) a compositional formalism to model SPLs, to serve as a specification language for DPS; and 5) a variable semantics for a coordination language to simplify coordination of services in the context of SPLs.No contexto das cidades inteligentes, os governos investem esforços na criação de valor público através do desenvolvimento de serviços públicos digitais (DPS), concentrandose em áreas políticas específicas, como os transportes. As principais motivações para entregar o DPS incluem a redução de custos administrativos, o aumento da eficácia dos processos do governo e a melhoria da qualidade de vida dos cidadãos através de serviços melhorados e interações simplificadas com os governos. Para garantir um planeamento efetivo do DPS num determinado domínio, os governos enfrentam vários desafios, como a necessidade de ferramentas especializadas para facilitar o planeamento eficaz e o rápido desenvolvimento do DPS, bem como ferramentas para integração de DPS, reduzindo altos custos de desenvolvimento e garantindo que os DPS estejam em conformidade com as leis e regulamentos. Esses desafios são exacerbados pelo fato de que muitas administrações públicas desenvolvem o DPS sob medida, desconsiderando o fato de que os serviços compartilham funcionalidade e processos de negócios comuns. Para enfrentar os desafios, esta tese concentra-se em aproveitar as semelhanças dos DPS aplicando uma abordagem de Software Product Lines (SPL) combinada com métodos formais para especificar modelos de DPS e verificar propriedades. Em particular, introduz o conceito de uma fábrica virtual (VF) para o planeamento e desenvolvimento rápido de DPS num domínio de cidade inteligente. A VF compreende ferramentas de software, diretrizes, modelos e outros artefatos para auxiliar os engenheiros a automatizar e tornar mais eficiente o desenvolvimento de uma família de DPS. Neste trabalho, a VF é preenchida com ferramentas para várias partes para planear e projetar serviços de mobilidade inteligente (MI), e modelar rapidamente o DPS com base em SPLs e técnicas de desenvolvimento baseadas em componentes. Contribuições específicas da tese incluem: 1) o conceito de VF; 2) uma taxonomia para planear serviços de MI; 3) uma ontologia para fixar um vocabulário comum para uma família específica de DPS; 4) um formalismo composicional para modelar SPLs, e servir como uma linguagem de especificação para DPS; e 5) uma semântica variável para uma linguagem de coordenação para simplificar a coordenação.This work was funded by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, through the Operational Programme for Human Capital (POCH). Grant reference: PD/BD/52238/201

Low-cost navigation and guidance systems for unmanned aerial vehicles - part 1: Vision-based and integrated sensors

In this paper we present a new low-cost navigation system designed for small size Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) and other avionics sensors. The main objective of our research was to design a compact, light and relatively inexpensive system capable of providing the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) in all phases of flight of a small UAV, with a special focus on precision approach and landing, where Vision Based Navigation (VBN) techniques can be fully exploited in a multisensor integrated architecture. Various existing techniques for VBN were compared and the Appearance-Based Approach (ABA) was selected for implementation. Feature extraction and optical flow techniques were employed to estimate flight parameters such as roll angle, pitch angle, deviation from the runway and body rates. Additionally, we addressed the possible synergies between VBN, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and MEMS-IMU (Micro-Electromechanical System Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors, as well as the aiding from Aircraft Dynamics Models (ADMs)

Enterprise Modelling using Algebraic Graph Transformation - Extended Version

An analysis of today's situation at Credit Suisse has shown severe problems, because it is based on current best practices and ad-hoc modelling techniques to handle important aspects of security, risk and compliance. Based on this analysis we propose in this paper a new enterprise model which allows the construction, integration, transformation and evaluation of different organizational models in a big decentralized organization like Credit Suisse. The main idea of the new model framework is to provide small decentralized models and intra-model evaluation techniques to handle services, processes and rules separately for the business and IT universe on one hand and for human-centric and machine-centric concepts on the other hand. Furthermore, the new framework provides inter-modelling techniques based on algebraic graph transformation to establish the connection between different kinds of models and to allow integration of the decentralized models. In order to check for security, risk and compliance in a suitable way, our models and techniques are based on different kinds of formal methods. In this paper, we show that algebraic graph transformation techniques are useful not only for intra-modelling - using graph grammars for visual languages and graph constraints for requirements - but also for inter-modelling - using triple graph grammars for model transformation and integration. Altogether, we present the overall idea of our new model framework and show how to solve specific problems concerning intra- and inter-modelling as first steps. This should give evidence that our framework can also handle important other requirements for enterprise modelling in a big decentralized organization like Credit Suisse

A method for rigorous design of reconfigurable systems

Reconfigurability, understood as the ability of a system to behave differently in different modes of operation and commute between them along its lifetime, is a cross-cutting concern in modern Software Engineering. This paper introduces a specification method for reconfigurable software based on a global transition structure to capture the system's reconfiguration space, and a local specification of each operation mode in whatever logic (equational, first-order, partial, fuzzy, probabilistic, etc.) is found expressive enough for handling its requirements. In the method these two levels are not only made explicit and juxtaposed, but formally interrelated. The key to achieve such a goal is a systematic process of hybridisation of logics through which the relationship between the local and global levels of a specification becomes internalised in the logic itself.This work is financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation – COMPETE 2020 Programme and by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016692 and UID/MAT/04106/2013. The first author is further supported by the BPD FCT Grant SFRH/BPD/103004/2014, and R. Neves is sponsored by FCT Grant SFRH/BD/52234/2013. M.A. Martins is also funded by the EU FP7 Marie Curie PIRSESGA-2012-318986 project GeTFun: Generalizing Truth-Functionality

TARGET TRACKING SYSTEM USING ULTRASONIC SENSORS

The project titled 'Target Tracking System using Ultrasonic Sensors' is based on improving the security system in Malaysia. Statistic by Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Police) shown that compared to the year 2006, the crime is increases by 13.4 percent in 2007. Thus, this project focuses on expanding the application of ultrasonic technology into closed circuit televisions (CCIV) which has been widely use in many other sectors but never been applied in security system in Malaysia. The outcome of this project is a working prototype of a target tracking system using ultrasonic sensor which can detect and track a moving object within the radius of 3 meters. This project uses one transmitter and two receivers bound on both side of the transmitter. On top of the transmitter and receivers is the camera to capture image of the moving object. The method used in tracking the moving object is by comparing the voltage of both receivers and controlled by the PIC used in this project which is the PIC l6F877. The working prototype has been successfully completed and it is very important in fighting crime if it is installed accordingly

A New Zeal for History:

Public history is still a relatively unknown term in New Zealand, an island nation in the southwest pacific with a population of around 4.6 million people. Until the late 1980s it was rare for professional historians to practise their profession outside the academy. Most of the few who did were public servants attached to institutions such as the Department of Internal Affairs or the major museums. Expanding work opportunities in the institutional, museum and historic heritage sectors have, however, fostered an increase in the number of freelance historians, some of whom are now participating in the identification, assessment, interpretation and management of New Zealand’s historic places