IDEF5 Ontology Description Capture Method: Concept Paper

The results of research towards an ontology capture method referred to as IDEF5 are presented. Viewed simply as the study of what exists in a domain, ontology is an activity that can be understood to be at work across the full range of human inquiry prompted by the persistent effort to understand the world in which it has found itself - and which it has helped to shape. In the contest of information management, ontology is the task of extracting the structure of a given engineering, manufacturing, business, or logistical domain and storing it in an usable representational medium. A key to effective integration is a system ontology that can be accessed and modified across domains and which captures common features of the overall system relevant to the goals of the disparate domains. If the focus is on information integration, then the strongest motivation for ontology comes from the need to support data sharing and function interoperability. In the correct architecture, an enterprise ontology base would allow th e construction of an integrated environment in which legacy systems appear to be open architecture integrated resources. If the focus is on system/software development, then support for the rapid acquisition of reliable systems is perhaps the strongest motivation for ontology. Finally, ontological analysis was demonstrated to be an effective first step in the construction of robust knowledge based systems

Using Formal Methods for Building more Reliable and Secure e-voting Systems

Deploying a system in a safe and secure manner requires ensuring the tech- nical and procedural levels of assurance also with respect to social and regu- latory frameworks. This is because threats and attacks may not only derive from pitfalls in complex security critical system, but also from ill-designed procedures. However, existing methodologies are not mature enough to em- brace procedural implications and the need for multidisciplinary approach on the safe and secure operation of system. This is particularly common in electronic voting (e-voting) systems. This dissertation focuses along two lines. First, we propose an approach to guarantee a reasonable security to the overall systems by performing for- mal procedural security analysis. We apply existing techniques and define novel methodologies and approaches for the analysis and verification of procedural rich systems. This includes not only the definition of adequate modeling convention, but also the definition of general techniques for the injection of attacks, and for the transformation of process models into rep- resentations that can be given as input to model checkers. With this it is possible to understand and highlight how the switch to the new tech- nological solution changes security, with the ultimate goal of defining the procedures regulating system and system processes that ensure a sufficient level of security for the system as well as for its procedures. We then investigate the usage of formal methods to study and analyze the strength and weaknesses of currently deployed (e-voting) system in order to build the next generation (e-voting) systems. More specifically, we show how formal verification techniques can be used to model and reason about the security of an existing e-voting system. To do that, we reuse the methodology propose for procedural security analysis. The practical applicability of the approaches is demonstrated in several case studies from the domain of public administrations in general and in e-voting system in particular. With this it can be possible to build more secure, reliable, and trustworthy e-voting system

Applications of structural optimization methods to fixed-wing aircraft and spacecraft in the 1980s

This report is the summary of a technical survey on the applications of structural optimization in the U.S. aerospace industry through the 1980s. Since applications to rotary wing aircraft will be covered by other literature, applications to fixed-wing aircraft and spacecraft were considered. It became clear that very significant progress has been made during this decade, indicating this technology is about to become one of the practical tools in computer aided structural design

Radio evolution: conference proceedings

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A culture of dissonance : Wassily Kandinsky, atonality, and abstraction

textA Culture of Dissonance: Wassily Kandinsky, Atonality, and Abstraction by Lynn Edward Boland, Ph.D. Supervisor: Linda D. Henderson Wassily Kandinsky's interest in music as a source for abstraction in painting has often been noted in the scholarship on his art. However, no studies have sufficiently explained how the artist employed musical strategies, especially as he was developing his abstract style in the first decade of the twentieth century. Kandinsky's looked primarily to Arnold Schoenberg's new musical idioms and theories, and he was deeply inspired by highly dissonant music, but his ideas were set within a much broader context that further suggested and encouraged the expressive and transformative power of dissonance. By the late nineteenth century, extended passages of dissonance were common in musical compositions. At the same time, the concept of dissonance as a positive force was suggested in a wide range of late nineteenth-century literature, including the writings of Friedrich [should be this spelling throughout] Nietzsche, occult authors, popular texts on physics and experimental psychology, as well as within music and art theory. Close readings of Kandinsky's theoretical texts and selected works of art provide insights into how he might have understood and employed these concepts in his formation of an abstract style. Kandinsky's paintings Impression III (Concert) of 1911 and Composition VII of 1913 are the primary artistic foci of this study, along with his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art and the anthology Der Blaue Reiter, which he co-edited. This dissertation will seek to restore the concept of musical dissonance and its application in the visual arts to its historical context for Kandinsky. This will facilitate more informed formal analyses of Schoenberg's music and Kandinsky's paintings, which, in turn, suggest strategies of atonal musical composition applied to abstract painting. Additionally, this dissertation will establish an artistic context of visual dissonance that goes beyond Kandinsky, including artistic movements in France and Russia, allowing additional comparisons and a consideration of the larger impact of these ideas.Art Histor

Investigating trade theory in the case of the Zambian soya value chain

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences.This research paper analyses the Zambian soya bean value chain and serves to explore and investigate to what extent trade theory can be used to explain this value chain. Soya bean production in Zambia has grown vastly within the last four years, owing to this growth, Zambia has instantly become a net exporter of soya bean cake. Most of the soya bean cake produced is consumed within the country. The animal feed industry utilises a large percentage of the soya cake in order to produce animal feed for the poultry sector predominantly. The growth in the soya industry has created various linkages for example the poultry industry which is a growing industry owing to amongst other factors, the growth in the Zambian middle class. This research aims to explore the constraints, challenges and drivers of this value chain. Trade theory is used in order to explain the value chain and capture the limitations of theory in relation to the Zambian soya bean value chain. The research paper uses both a qualitative and quantitative methodology. Interviews were used to source information and quantitative data was collected from various platform

The Astronist System

Cometan began writing the Omnidoxy, the founding text of Astronism, at the age of seventeen in 2015 and this first great treatise of the Astronist religion was published in 2019. Since then, the world has been introduced to Astronism and its central doctrine of transcension and its worldview of cosmocentrism but the time has come to reflect on the Omnidoxy. The Astronist System explores the major themes of the Omnidoxy including cosmic organicism, astrogenism, returnism and transcension and provides rigorous detail on various aspects of Astronist philosophy, theology, spirituality, eschatology and soteriology. In this reflective work, Cometan also takes the time to analyse what the founding text of Astronism achieved and the legacy it has left behind for the worldwide Astronist community. Cometan's reflections on the Omnidoxy text from his current vantage point allow him to close the chapter on the Omnidoxy so that he can move forward with his writing and eventual publication of the next great Astronist treatise titled the Astrodoxy which Cometan has already titled the central text of Astronism