A Survey of Languages for Specifying Dynamics: A Knowledge Engineering Perspective

A number of formal specification languages for knowledge-based systems has been developed. Characteristics for knowledge-based systems are a complex knowledge base and an inference engine which uses this knowledge to solve a given problem. Specification languages for knowledge-based systems have to cover both aspects. They have to provide the means to specify a complex and large amount of knowledge and they have to provide the means to specify the dynamic reasoning behavior of a knowledge-based system. We focus on the second aspect. For this purpose, we survey existing approaches for specifying dynamic behavior in related areas of research. In fact, we have taken approaches for the specification of information systems (Language for Conceptual Modeling and TROLL), approaches for the specification of database updates and logic programming (Transaction Logic and Dynamic Database Logic) and the generic specification framework of abstract state machine

Scalable Ontological EAI and e-Business Integration

Integration of enterprise applications (EAI) and e-business integration are time-consuming and expensive. This thesis proposes pattern mining to determine identical object classes. Processes are integrated based on declared integration goals and known software behavior. A model-driven approach ensures consistent use of behavioral knowledge from development in integration. The contributions were applied to the CCTS Modeler Warp 10 and SAP NetWeaver CE (composition environment) developed at SAP

The Constituency of Coya Knutson, 1954

Women rarely seek political office and even more rarely achieve the office they seek. Only one woman has been elected to Congress from Minnesota or its adjacent states--Coya Knutson from the rural Ninth District in 1954 and 1956. While legal barriers to women\u27s participation in politics have been abolished, personal and institutional barriers remain. How Coya Knutson overcame these obstacles--and the penalties she paid for doing so--is the subject of this paper. Coya Gjesdal Knutson grew to maturity on a successful North Dakota farm, where she learned the value of hard work and perseverance. After completing four years at Concordia College, she taught public school music and English, which helped develop skills that she used later as a campaign speaker and musician. Her husband Andy approved of her achievement in the state legislature but became unhappy when she decided to run for the United States House of Representatives . In order to get on the ballot, she challenged the DFL nominee for the Ninth District in 1954, won, and subsequently defeated six-term Republican incumbent Harold C. Hagen in a stunning election victory. Her ebullient campaign style included visiting farmers at 6 a.m., singing a satirical song about her Republican opponent, and delivering hard-hitting speeches over the radio and through a loudspeaker on a sound truck. Although she worked very hard for her district in Washington and achieved the legislative landmark of Title II that enabled college students to obtain federal loans after the GI Bill ended, she was defeated in 1958. She had challenged and defeated party candidates in two elections; she had embarrassed Democratic DFL leadership by successfully championing Estes Kefauver in the 1956 Presidential Primary. The subsequent Coya Come Home letter, purportedly written by her husband, was sensationalized by television and press news. DFL leaders had manipulated the idea, woman\u27s place is in the home to convince voters to not return their congresswoman to Washington, and Republicans quickly used the opportunity given them. Through letters, news articles and government documents of the Fifties and through personal interviews and articles of the Eighties, this paper demonstrates that a rural woman had an interest in politics and could develop the skills necessary to be a congresswoman. However, since no area women have followed the path blazed by Coya it seems that she was one-of-a-kind, an anomaly. The question remains to what degree cultural and institutional obstacles prevent rural women from even thinking of entering the political arena.

A formal framework for specification-based embedded real-time system engineering

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 517-545).The increasing size and complexity of modern software-intensive systems present novel challenges when engineering high-integrity artifacts within aggressive budgetary constraints. Among these challenges, ensuring confidence in the engineered system, through validation and verification activities, represents the high cost item on many projects. The expensive nature of engineering high-integrity systems using traditional approaches can be partly attributed to the lack of analysis facilities during the early phases of the lifecycle, causing the validation and verification activities to begin too late in the engineering lifecycle. Other challenges include the management of complexity, opportunities for reuse without compromising confidence, and the ability to trace system features across lifecycle phases. The use of models as a specification mechanism provides an approach to mitigate complexity through abstraction. Furthermore, if the specification approach has formal underpinnings, the use of models can be leveraged to automate engineering activities such as formal analysis and test case generation. The research presented in this thesis proposes an engineering framework which addresses the high cost of validation and verification activities through specification-based system engineering. More specifically, the framework provides an integrated approach to embedded real-time system engineering which incorporates specification, simulation, formal verification, and test-case generation. The framework aggregates the state-of-the-art in individual software engineering disciplines to provide an end-to-end approach to embedded real-time system engineering. The key aspects of the framework include: * A novel specification language, the Timed Abstract State Machine (TASM) language, which extends the theory of Abstract State Machines (ASM).(cont.) The TASM language is a literate formal specification language which can be applied and multiple levels of abstraction and which can express the three key aspects of embedded real-time systems - function, time, and resources. * Automated verification capabilities achieved through the integration of mature analysis engines, namely the UPPAAL tool suite and the SAT4J SAT solver. The verification capabilities provided by the framework include completeness and consistency verification, model checking, execution time analysis, and resource consumption analysis. * Bi-directional traceability of model features across levels of abstraction and lifecycle phases. Traceability is achieved syntactically through archetypical refinement types; each refinement type provides correctness criteria, which, if met, guarantee semantic integrity through the refinement. * Automated test case generation capabilities for unit testing, integration testing, and regression testing. Unit test cases are generated to achieve TASM specification coverage through the rule coverage criterion. Integration test case generation is achieved through the hierarchical composition of unit test cases. Regression test case generation is achieved by leveraging the bi-directional traceability of model features. The framework is implemented into an integrated tool suite, the TASM toolset, which incorporates the UPPAAL tool suite and the SAT4J SAT solver. The toolset and framework are evaluated through experimentation on three industrial case studies - an automated manufacturing system, a "drive-by-wire" system used at a major automotive manufacturer, and a scripting environment used on the International Space Station.by Martin Ouimet.Ph.D

Republican Journal: Vol. 51, No. 19 - May 08,1879

https://digitalmaine.com/rj_1879/1019/thumbnail.jp

Blueprint model and language for engineering cloud applications

Abstract: The research presented in this thesis is positioned within the domain of engineering CSBAs. Its contribution is twofold: (1) a uniform specification language, called the Blueprint Specification Language (BSL), for specifying cloud services across several cloud vendors and (2) a set of associated techniques, called the Blueprint Manipulation Techniques (BMTs), for publishing, querying, and composing cloud service specifications with aim to support the flexible design and configuration of an CSBA.