Studies related to the process of program development

The submitted work consists of a collection of publications arising from research carried out at Rhodes University (1970-1980) and at Heriot-Watt University (1980-1992). The theme of this research is the process of program development, i.e. the process of creating a computer program to solve some particular problem. The papers presented cover a number of different topics which relate to this process, viz. (a) Programming methodology programming. (b) Properties of programming languages. aspects of structured. (c) Formal specification of programming languages. (d) Compiler techniques. (e) Declarative programming languages. (f) Program development aids. (g) Automatic program generation. (h) Databases. (i) Algorithms and applications

Foundations of secure computation

Issued as Workshop proceedings and Final report, Project no. G-36-61

Knowledge Representation Concepts for Automated SLA Management

Outsourcing of complex IT infrastructure to IT service providers has increased substantially during the past years. IT service providers must be able to fulfil their service-quality commitments based upon predefined Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with the service customer. They need to manage, execute and maintain thousands of SLAs for different customers and different types of services, which needs new levels of flexibility and automation not available with the current technology. The complexity of contractual logic in SLAs requires new forms of knowledge representation to automatically draw inferences and execute contractual agreements. A logic-based approach provides several advantages including automated rule chaining allowing for compact knowledge representation as well as flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing business requirements. We suggest adequate logical formalisms for representation and enforcement of SLA rules and describe a proof-of-concept implementation. The article describes selected formalisms of the ContractLog KR and their adequacy for automated SLA management and presents results of experiments to demonstrate flexibility and scalability of the approach.Comment: Paschke, A. and Bichler, M.: Knowledge Representation Concepts for Automated SLA Management, Int. Journal of Decision Support Systems (DSS), submitted 19th March 200

Computer technology: State of the art and future trends

Computer technology and, more broadly, information technology, are bringing about a fundamental transformation in our society from an industrial economy to an information economy. A review of the short history and present state of information technology identifies two major undercurrents: I) the miniaturization of computer components, which has produced a millionfold increase in the complexity possible in a single chip of silicon, and 2) the integration of four previously separate areas of information technology: computation, communication, databases and the user interface. Microelectronics, computer networks, data storage and user amenities are the basic technologies that support these four areas and stimulate their progress. Future trends in speech recognition, voice synthesis, artificial intelligence, expert systems, computational imaging and scientific workstations are also examined

Risk of autism in the use of assisted reproduction techniques: An analysis from the Transcurssive Logic

This paper investigates the existence of a relationship between assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and the birth of autistic children. Based on abundant bibliography (Danan et al, 1999; Cummins, 2000; Riva & Giorgi, 2000; Palmen, 2004; Allen, 2005; Tavano et al, 2007; Palmieri & Persico, 2010; Bolduc et al., 2011, 2012; Stoodley et al., 2012; Konopka, 2013; Lyall et al, 2013; Sandin et al, 2013; Chen et al., 2015; Fountain et al., 2015; Siddiqui et al., 2016; Punamäki et al, 2016; Liu et al, 2017; Babinská et al, 2017; Griffiths & Levy, 2017; Liang et al., 2017) propose that the possibility of transference of paternal mitochondrial DNA through these techniques is a determining factor to be taken into account in the alteration of Ca++ homeostasis that has been detected in some autistic patients. This condition would facilitate, according to the theory of psychic functioning (Salatino, 2013, 2016), the cancellation of low frequencies (20 Hz) in the brain, which manage the sociocultural system. If we add to this the decrease in the cerebellar Purkinje cells that are usually found in patients with autism, it would explain the alterations of the psychic structure and function that produce deterioration or lack of language and social treatment shown by these patients. Taking Hempel's nomological-deductive method as a guide and complementing it with transcurssive logic, a reasonable explanation can be given to the following hypothetical case: after the use of the ICSI technique, an autistic child was born. Since this technique gives the possibility that part of the paternal mitochondrial DNA, contained in the sperm, passes to the ovule upon fertilization, and produce a case de paternal heteroplasmy. By reviewing the aforementioned etiological aspects, we were able to predict the appearance of the psychic disorders of these children, taking into account structural and functional aspects of the psychic apparatus, with firm neurobiological bases. The hypothetical case analyzed justifies paternal heteroplasmy as one of the possible causes of autism, according to some of the statistics presented by other authors

Development Of Supply Chain Management Framework For Building Information Modelling Implementation In Public Sector Construction Projects

Disputes have kept Building Information Modelling (BIM) from reaching its full potential. Consequently, this study attempts to reduce BIM implementation disputes in Malaysian public construction projects. Experts were involved in two phases of the mixed methods study. Phase 1 was a preliminary interview with six experts (to determine the need for reducing disputes among supply chain actors for BIM implementation). Meanwhile, Phase 2 began with a quantitative approach using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) on 14 experts to determine the main contributors that influence disputes (Objective Number 1). This was followed by qualitative approaches, namely self-grouping to identify the pathogens and pathogen sub-categories of disputes (Objective Number 2) and two sessions of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involving six experts towards finally developing a validated SCM framework for BIM implementation (Objective Number 3). As a result of the quantitative approach, three main contributors that influence disputes were determined. The qualitative approach identified: (i) two pathogens as people issues, (ii) only one pathogen and two sub-pathogens as process problems, and (iii) product uncertainty is limited to one pathogen and one pathogen sub-category. Additionally, 15 appropriate SCM tools for dispute reduction were identified. In this vein, the study contributed theoretical, systematic, and practical BIM knowledge to current literature by demonstrating a solid understanding of SCM tool incorporation into BIM implementation for supply chain actors in Malaysian public project

TRANSLATION METHODOLOGY BASED ON META- MODEL OF COMPLEX STRUCTURE FOR DATABASE DESIGN

ABSTRACT We propose a software layer called GUEDOS-DB upon Object-Relational Database Management System ORDMS. In this work we apply it in Molecular Biology, more precisely Organelle (mitochondria and chloroplasts) complete genome. We aim to offer biologists the possibility to access in a unified way information spread among heterogeneous genome databanks. In this paper, the goal is firstly, to provide a visual schema graph through a number of illustrative examples. The adopted, human-computer interaction technique in this visual designing and querying makes very easy for biologists to formulate database queries compared with linear textual query representation