The problems of assessing software reliability ...When you really need to depend on it

This paper looks at the ways in which the reliability of software can be assessed and predicted. It shows that the levels of reliability that can be claimed with scientific justification are relatively modest

Exosome membrane bound TNF-receptor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes painful inflammation of the synovium of the patient’s joints. However, current treatments for RA have a variety of drawbacks. They often are ineffective, expensive, invasive, risky, cause an immune response, and/ or only provide short term relief. Thus, we developed a new treatment for preventing inflammation: TNF-receptors anchored onto exosome surfaces. Exosomes are nanovesicles that are naturally secreted by most of the cells in our bodies. The many benefits of using exosomes include non-immunogenicity, natural stability in the body, and non-invasiveness. We have demonstrated that exosome membrane bound TNF-receptors have the ability to prevent inflammation in mammalian cells. The success of this project could lead to a clinically effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as well as other inflammatory diseases by opening the doors to further research and development of exosomal therapies

Towards a methodology for rigorous development of generic requirements patterns

We present work in progress on a methodology for the engineering, validation and verification of generic requirements using domain engineering and formal methods. The need to develop a generic requirement set for subsequent system instantiation is complicated by the addition of the high levels of verification demanded by safety-critical domains such as avionics. We consider the failure detection and management function for engine control systems as an application domain where product line engineering is useful. The methodology produces a generic requirement set in our, UML based, formal notation, UML-B. The formal verification both of the generic requirement set, and of a particular application, is achieved via translation to the formal specification language, B, using our U2B and ProB tools

The maison europeenne des procedes innovants (MEPI),an example of piloting and industrial demonstration facility for the green process engineering

Abstract. Economical, energy savings and environmental challenges require an actual technological breakthrough in process engineering, aiming with productivity, product quality, safety and reliability objectives. This explains the present growth of interest in innovative technologies (intensified devices for reaction, mixing and separation) and methods (multifunctionality, hybrid separation, batch to continuous methodology, new media …), the whole being recognized as Process Intensification. Up to now, a few of innovations has been successfully industrialized, probably due to the lack of experience and retrofitting in front of a breakthrough that always represents a technical and financial risk. There is now clearly a need for industrial demonstrations of successful PI experiments avoiding the questions of confidentiality. Consequently, a piloting and demonstration facility has been created in Toulouse in order to accelerate the implementation of PI technology in industry and the development of the Green Process Engineering. The idea is to build a data bank of success stories. The principle of this industrial technical platform lies on the association of 3 types of partners: university, equipment providers and industrial end-users

Automatic allocation of safety requirements to components of a software product line

Safety critical systems developed as part of a product line must still comply with safety standards. Standards use the concept of Safety Integrity Levels (SILs) to drive the assignment of system safety requirements to components of a system under design. However, for a Software Product Line (SPL), the safety requirements that need to be allocated to a component may vary in different products. Variation in design can indeed change the possible hazards incurred in each product, their causes, and can alter the safety requirements placed on individual components in different SPL products. Establishing common SILs for components of a large scale SPL by considering all possible usage scenarios, is desirable for economies of scale, but it also poses challenges to the safety engineering process. In this paper, we propose a method for automatic allocation of SILs to components of a product line. The approach is applied to a Hybrid Braking System SPL design

Alternative sweetener from curculigo fruits

This study gives an overview on the advantages of Curculigo Latifolia as an alternative sweetener and a health product. The purpose of this research is to provide another option to the people who suffer from diabetes. In this research, Curculigo Latifolia was chosen, due to its unique properties and widely known species in Malaysia. In order to obtain the sweet protein from the fruit, it must go through a couple of procedures. First we harvested the fruits from the Curculigo trees that grow wildly in the garden. Next, the Curculigo fruits were dried in the oven at 50 0C for 3 days. Finally, the dried fruits were blended in order to get a fine powder. Curculin is a sweet protein with a taste-modifying activity of converting sourness to sweetness. The curculin content from the sample shown are directly proportional to the mass of the Curculigo fine powder. While the FTIR result shows that the sample spectrum at peak 1634 cm–1 contains secondary amines. At peak 3307 cm–1 contains alkynes

Modular assembly with postponement to improve health, safety & productivity in construction

This paper presents the outcome of an engineering study as part of the design and development of a lean and agile construction system and in particular its supply chain component. This combines modular assembly with a postponement function to be tested on a case study project (not reported here), the objective of which is to improve health, safety and productivity for the company sponsoring the research. The contribution to research is the combination of countermeasures described in this paper that have been developed and incorporated into a wider construction system, in the same way that manufacturing has used this strategy with great success. Also, a further output is the development and use of an innovative method for assembling, transporting and installing mechanical and electrical modules, whereby modularization can be achieved with or without offsite manufacturing capability. The research forecasts a reduction of onsite labor of 35% compared to using traditional methods of construction, with less onsite operatives at risk of injury carrying out simpler assembly tasks within ergonomic mobile work cells. Further research is proposed to measure the benefits of the construction system following its implementation on a case study project

Rigorously assessing software reliability and safety

This paper summarises the state of the art in the assessment of software reliability and safety ("dependability"), and describes some promising developments. A sound demonstration of very high dependability is still impossible before operation of the software; but research is finding ways to make rigorous assessment increasingly feasible. While refined mathematical techniques cannot take the place of factual knowledge, they can allow the decision-maker to draw more accurate conclusions from the knowledge that is available