Quality assessment technique for ubiquitous software and middleware

The new paradigm of computing or information systems is ubiquitous computing systems. The technology-oriented issues of ubiquitous computing systems have made researchers pay much attention to the feasibility study of the technologies rather than building quality assurance indices or guidelines. In this context, measuring quality is the key to developing high-quality ubiquitous computing products. For this reason, various quality models have been defined, adopted and enhanced over the years, for example, the need for one recognised standard quality model (ISO/IEC 9126) is the result of a consensus for a software quality model on three levels: characteristics, sub-characteristics, and metrics. However, it is very much unlikely that this scheme will be directly applicable to ubiquitous computing environments which are considerably different to conventional software, trailing a big concern which is being given to reformulate existing methods, and especially to elaborate new assessment techniques for ubiquitous computing environments. This paper selects appropriate quality characteristics for the ubiquitous computing environment, which can be used as the quality target for both ubiquitous computing product evaluation processes ad development processes. Further, each of the quality characteristics has been expanded with evaluation questions and metrics, in some cases with measures. In addition, this quality model has been applied to the industrial setting of the ubiquitous computing environment. These have revealed that while the approach was sound, there are some parts to be more developed in the future

Case-Based Reasoning of Man-Made Geohazards Induced by Rainfall on Transportation Systems

Due to global warming and environmental change, disastrous natural events have increased in scale and impact, e.g., Typhoon Morakot, in 2009 and 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan. Hazard management is becoming increasingly important, making it a necessity to manage risk and fully understand critical scenarios. For example, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan of the United States emphasizes on lessons learned from past disasters. In this chapter, several selected cases of accidents caused by man-made geohazards in Taiwan are studied

Integration of Virtualized Environments in PDM Systems for Embedded Software Product Development

AbstractThe number of products with embedded software increases across all application areas continuously. Thus, the complexity between the hardware and software is steadily increasing. This leads to an increment of software defects. Therefore, new approaches are needed to ensure the product quality. In the context of PLM, virtualization can support crucial stages of the product development and test automation by providing virtual environments. This paper shows an architectural approach, and how to perform an integration of virtualization software in PDM systems

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

HI-TECH RECOVERY? DISASTER-HIT AREAS, SMART CITY STRATEGIES AND EU-JAPAN CONVERGENCES ON URBAN TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT

Since two major earthquakes that hit Central Italy and northeastern Japan in 2009 and 2011 respectively, revisionist plans to make both countries urbanization models and power production and distribution systems more sustainable and resilient have emerged. The governments of both Italy (with the support of the European Union) and Japan have invested considerable resources in establishing model smart communities in disaster-hit areas in LâAquila and Aizuwakamatsu. How has the smart city idea (or ideal) shaped local policies for reconstruction and recovery in disaster-affected areas? Secondly, how have they contributed to informing cooperation at the international level? These questions are relevant in the light of Japan and the European Unionâs pledges to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in smart cities and communities development in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine. With the launch of subsequent overarching strategies both the EU and Japan have shown their resolve to promote structural reforms through digitalization and cutting-hedge technology, in the attempt to foster economic recovery while promoting Ê»sustainable economic growthâ. However, such narrative, common to many advanced capitalist societies, appears instrumental to concealing plans to restructure environments and social arrangements while enhancing for-profit capital restructuring and better surveillance

Stories from the Flood: Promoting Healing and Fostering Policy Change Through Storytelling, Community Literacy, and Community-based Learning

This profile features the authors\u27 shared work to co-create both a community literacy project, Stories from the Flood, and the undergraduate community-based learning courses that supported the effort. Stories from the Flood works to assist community members in southwestern Wisconsin to share their flood experiences, aiming to support community healing and serve as a resource for future conversations about flood recovery and resilience. Our collaboration on Stories from the Flood demonstrates the importance of non-university expertise and aims to daylight and correct structural asymmetries that render these rural watersheds both particularly vulnerable to flooding and absent of government intervention

A holistic resilience framework development for rural power systems in emerging economies

Infrastructure and services within urban areas of developed countries have established reliable definitions of resilience and its dependence on various factors as an important pathway for achieving sustainability in these energy systems. However, the assessment, design, building and maintenance of power systems situated in rural areas in emerging economies present further difficulties because there is no a clear framework for such circumstances. Aiming to address this issue, this paper combines different visions of energy-related resilience both in general and under rural conditions in order to provide a robust practical framework for local and international stakeholders to derive the right actions in the rural context of emerging economies. An in-depth review is implemented to recompile information of resilience in general, in energy systems and in rural areas in particular, and a number of existing frameworks is also consulted. In order to acknowledge the particular circumstances and identify the important factors influencing the resilience of rural electrification in emerging economies, a holistic rural power system resilience framework is developed and presented. This consists of twenty-one indicators for technical resilience, eight indicators for social resilience, and thirteen indicators for economic resilience. This framework can be used by system owners and operators, policy makers, NGOs and communities to ensure the longevity of power systems. This work also paves the way for the creation of appropriate and effective resilience standards specifically targeted for application in these regions - aiming to achieve the delivery of global and local sustainability goals