The natural history of bugs: using formal methods to analyse software related failures in space missions

Space missions force engineers to make complex trade-offs between many different constraints including cost, mass, power, functionality and reliability. These constraints create a continual need to innovate. Many advances rely upon software, for instance to control and monitor the next generation ‘electron cyclotron resonance’ ion-drives for deep space missions.Programmers face numerous challenges. It is extremely difficult to conduct valid ground-based tests for the code used in space missions. Abstract models and simulations of satellites can be misleading. These issues are compounded by the use of ‘band-aid’ software to fix design mistakes and compromises in other aspects of space systems engineering. Programmers must often re-code missions in flight. This introduces considerable risks. It should, therefore, not be a surprise that so many space missions fail to achieve their objectives. The costs of failure are considerable. Small launch vehicles, such as the U.S. Pegasus system, cost around $18 million. Payloads range from$4 million up to $1 billion for security related satellites. These costs do not include consequent business losses. In 2005, Intelsat wrote off$73 million from the failure of a single uninsured satellite. It is clearly important that we learn as much as possible from those failures that do occur. The following pages examine the roles that formal methods might play in the analysis of software failures in space missions

Akcija kao karika koja nedostaje između ideje i prakse u geografskom poučavanju

Teaching geography involves a teacher who takes actions in respect to subject matter. While such actions are performed everyday, analysing teaching action is not a trivial matter. Teaching depends on the subject matter taught, resulting in teaching actions specific to subjects. To analyse how action is conceptualised for geography education, the paper reviews four research approaches prominent in German-speaking geography education and highlights how action is conceptualised in concepts for geography teaching. The review analyses conceptualisations of action in research on (1) student interests in geography, (2) everyday life concepts of students, (3) conceptual change, and (4) Educational Reconstruction. Analysis shows that current research on geography education aims to suggest strategies for teaching, but does not conceptualise teaching and learning as interaction between teachers and learners. Analysis is followed by an outline posing a contribution to the empirical analysis of teaching actions and classroom interaction in geography education.Poučavanje geografije uključuje profesora koji poduzima razne akcije povezane s nastavnim sadržajem. Iako se takve akcije poduzimaju svakodnevno, analiza akcija učenja ne može se smatrati trivijalnom. Poučavanje ovisi o nastavnom sadržaju i rezultira akcijama specifičnim za svaki predmet. U svrhu analize koncepata akcije u geografskom obrazovanju, u ovom radu analiziraju se četiri istaknuta pristupa istraživanju u geografskom obrazovanju na njemačkom jeziku i naglašava se kako je akcija zamišljena u strategijama geografskog poučavanja. U članku se analizira konceptualizacija istraživačkih aktivnosti u (1) učeničkom zanimanju za geografiju (2) svakodnevnom životu učenika (3) konceptualnim promjenama i (4) rekonstrukciji obrazovanja. Analiza je pokazala da trenutni radovi na temu geografskog poučavanja sugeriraju strategije poučavanja, ali ne koncipiraju poučavanje i učenje kao interakciju između učitelja i učenika. Uz analizu je dan i doprinos empirijskoj analizi akcija u poučavanju geografije i interakcije u razredu

A new use case for argumentation support tools:supporting discussions of Bayesian analyses of complex criminal cases

In this paper a new use case for legal argumentation support tools is considered: supporting discussions about analyses of complex criminal cases with the help of Bayesian probability theory. By way of a case study, two actual discussions between experts in court cases are analysed on their argumentation structure. In this study the usefulness of several recognised argument schemes is confirmed, a new argument scheme for arguments from statistics are proposed, and an analysis is given of debates between experts about the validity of their arguments. From a practical point of view the case study yields insights into the design of support software for discussions about Bayesian analyses of complex criminal cases

Further Education, Political Economy and Social Change

This submission contains eight papers and a synoptic commentary to be examined for the award of PhD on the Basis of Published Work. The papers focus upon the further education (FE) system in England. Each examines significant contemporary or historical issues and provides a critical analysis of the changing nature of FE. Collectively, the publications constitute an original and significant contribution to understanding further education and the social and economic context within which it is placed. The commentary highlights the links between the different papers and demonstrates their coherence; it locates the publications within an overarching analytical framework; and it shows how the work submitted makes a significant contribution to knowledge. It also explains my contribution to the three coauthored papers that constitute part of this thesis. It is argued that, taken together, my work provides a sustained and consistent critique of the English further education system from a critical materialist perspective

Something wicked this way comes: Authoritarian discourses of global warming and future-creation in Syria between the years 2011-2015

Grounded in the discipline of climate politics, this theory-developing study (based on the work of Ben Anderson (2010)) is a first attempt towards expanding his analysis of future-creation in liberal countries to also include an authoritarian state. This is done by roughly sketching out the ways in which the Syrian al-Assad regime talks about futures related to anthropogenic global warming and/or its consequences. The thesis also intends to analyse the way in which the regime uses these discourses as an attempt to solidify its hold on power. A hypothesis is posited claiming that the regime constructed at least one such discourse. This is proven to be correct. Evidence that the al-Assad regime uses these discourses as a way of negating public malcontent and strengthening its control of the country is also found. Following this, the theory of Anderson is successfully expanded to include an authoritarian state

The influence of social policies on attitudes and behavior in times of rising inequalities and climate change

This cumulative dissertation engages in the cross-country effect of social policies on environmental and political attitudes and behaviour. While the first two papers deal with the welfare-environment nexus, by asking how economically deprived groups can be motivated for climate action through generous social policies (see chapter 3 and 4), the last two papers deal with backlashing and with the unexpected consequences reducing inequalities and testing new social security systems can have (see chapter 5 and 6). Chapter 5 asks how reducing gender inequalities affects political orientation, while chapter 6 – assuming that rising social inequalities require thinking of new social solutions – tests whether welfare experiments provide a suitable policy instrument for evidence-based policy making in times of rising inequalities