62 research outputs found
The Great Principles of Computing
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/948383.948400American Scientist,. Computing may be the fourth great domain of science, along with the physical, life, and social sciences
An Essay on the Origin of Software Evolution
Abstract The biological domain holds interesting keys to the theorists who investigate the root causes of software maintenance. Several authors believe that software systems need to adapt to changing environment the way biological systems do. The objections raised against this generic comparison induced the author to attend additional lessons in biology. Living beings exploit three main forms of adaptation: intelligent, specialist and genetic (or Darwinian). Of these, intelligent adaptation appears to be the most appropriate form to be examined in relation to computational phenomena; besides, it fits with the fundamental ideas of Artificial Intelligence. This study shows how computers are adaptive devices, which aid general systems (companies, production lines, individuals etc.) to have successful behavior in the world. This assumption leads to the inference that the root-causes of software evolution and those of the software itself coincide. Finally, all the factors that affect software maintenance have been surveyed and a measure to handle the software maintenance processes suggested. Index Terms -Nature of software, software changes, intelligent adaptation, information systems, programs classification, software maintenance, management of software projects
FLEXIBLE LOW-COST HW/SW ARCHITECTURES FOR TEST, CALIBRATION AND CONDITIONING OF MEMS SENSOR SYSTEMS
During the last years smart sensors based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical systems (MEMS) are widely spreading over various fields as automotive, biomedical, optical and consumer, and nowadays they represent the outstanding state of the art.
The reasons of their diffusion is related to the capability to measure physical and chemical information using miniaturized components.
The developing of this kind of architectures, due to the heterogeneities of their components, requires a very complex design flow, due to the utilization of both mechanical parts typical of the MEMS sensor and electronic components for the interfacing and the conditioning.
In these kind of systems testing activities gain a considerable importance, and they concern various phases of the life-cycle of a MEMS based system. Indeed, since the design phase of the sensor, the validation of the design by the extraction of characteristic parameters is important, because they are necessary to design the sensor interface circuit. Moreover, this kind of architecture requires techniques for the calibration and the evaluation of the whole system in addition to the traditional methods for the testing of the control circuitry.
The first part of this research work addresses the testing optimization by the developing of different hardware/software architecture for the different testing stages of the developing flow of a MEMS based system. A flexible and low-cost platform for the characterization and the prototyping of MEMS sensors has been developed in order to provide an environment that allows also to support the design of the sensor interface. To reduce the reengineering time requested during the verification testing a universal client-server architecture has been designed to provide a unique framework to test different kind of devices, using different development environment and programming languages. Because the use of ATE during the engineering phase of the calibration algorithm is expensive in terms of ATEâs occupation time, since it requires the interruption of the production process, a flexible and easily adaptable low-cost hardware/software architecture for the calibration and the evaluation of the performance has been developed in order to allow the developing of the calibration algorithm in a user-friendly environment that permits also to realize a small and medium volume production.
The second part of the research work deals with a topic that is becoming ever more important in the field of applications for MEMS sensors, and concerns the capability to combine information extracted from different typologies of sensors (typically accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers) to obtain more complex information. In this context two different algorithm for the sensor fusion has been analyzed and developed: the first one is a fully software algorithm that has been used as a means to estimate how much the errors in MEMS sensor data affect the estimation of the parameter computed using a sensor fusion algorithm; the second one, instead, is a sensor fusion algorithm based on a simplified Kalman filter. Starting from this algorithm, a bit-true model in Mathworks Simulink(TM) has been created as a system study for the implementation of the algorithm on chip
AXMEDIS 2008
The AXMEDIS International Conference series aims to explore all subjects and topics related to cross-media and digital-media content production, processing, management, standards, representation, sharing, protection and rights management, to address the latest developments and future trends of the technologies and their applications, impacts and exploitation. The AXMEDIS events offer venues for exchanging concepts, requirements, prototypes, research ideas, and findings which could contribute to academic research and also benefit business and industrial communities. In the Internet as well as in the digital era, cross-media production and distribution represent key developments and innovations that are fostered by emergent technologies to ensure better value for money while optimising productivity and market coverage
Low Power Memory/Memristor Devices and Systems
This reprint focusses on achieving low-power computation using memristive devices. The topic was designed as a convenient reference point: it contains a mix of techniques starting from the fundamental manufacturing of memristive devices all the way to applications such as physically unclonable functions, and also covers perspectives on, e.g., in-memory computing, which is inextricably linked with emerging memory devices such as memristors. Finally, the reprint contains a few articles representing how other communities (from typical CMOS design to photonics) are fighting on their own fronts in the quest towards low-power computation, as a comparison with the memristor literature. We hope that readers will enjoy discovering the articles within
Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century
Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission
Redefining the anthology : forms and affordances in digital culture
Alors que le modÚle économique de la télévision américaine, longtemps dominant, a été mis au défi de diverses maniÚres par les changements industriels et technologiques de
ces derniÚres années, des formes narratives de plus en plus hétérogÚnes sont apparues, qui se sont
ajoutĂ©es aux structures sĂ©rielles originaires. La diversitĂ© des formes tĂ©lĂ©visuelles est devenue particuliĂšrement Ă©vidente depuis que les paysages tĂ©lĂ©visuels nationaux et locaux ont commencĂ© Ă
sâouvrir aux marchĂ©s Ă©trangers situĂ©s en dehors des Ătats-Unis, pour finalement adopter une perspective transnationale et globale. La transition vers la tĂ©lĂ©vision distribuĂ©e sur Internet a jouĂ© un
rĂŽle central dans cette fragmentation formelle et la nouvelle dynamique de la diffusion en ligne a
ouvert une different perspective pour comprendre le flux mondial de contenus télévisuels, qui
reflÚte aujourd'hui un environnement multimédia et numérique hautement interconnecté et mis en
rĂ©seau. En effet, la multiplication des services de vidĂ©o Ă la demande oblige la sĂ©rialitĂ© Ă
sâadapter au paysage mĂ©diatique contemporain, donnant naissance Ă des produits audiovisuels
pouvant ĂȘtre transfĂ©rĂ©s en ligne et prĂ©sentant des spĂ©cificitĂ©s de production, de distribution et de
rĂ©ception. Lâun des rĂ©sultats de tels changements dans les sĂ©ries tĂ©lĂ©visĂ©es amĂ©ricaines Ă lâaube
du XXIe siĂšcle est la sĂ©rie anthologique divisĂ©e en diffĂ©rentes saisons avec des histoires distinctes, et pourtant liĂ©es par le ton et le style. Ma recherche se situe dans un tel contexte technologique, industriel et culturel, oĂč le contenu tĂ©lĂ©visuel est de plus en plus fragmentĂ©. Compte
tenu de cette fragmentation des contenus, cette thÚse examine la maniÚre dont les contenus télévisuels contemporains sont distribués, dans l'interaction entre les processus de recommandation
basĂ©s sur des algorithmes et les pratiques Ă©ditoriales plus traditionnelles. Lâobjectif de ce projet
est donc dâĂ©tudier la maniĂšre dont certaines structures narratives typiques de la forme de lâanthologie apparaissent dans le contexte de la sĂ©rialitĂ© de la tĂ©lĂ©vision nord-amĂ©ricaine, Ă partir de
conditions spĂ©cifiques de production, de distribution et de consommation dans lâindustrie des
médias. En se concentrant sur l'évolution (dimension temporelle et historique) et sur la circulation
numérique (dimension spatiale, géographique) des séries d'anthologies américaines, et en observant les particularités de leur production et de leur style, ainsi que leurs réseaux de distribution et
les modes de consommation qu'elles favorisent, cette thĂšse sâinscrit finalement dans une conversation plus vaste sur les Ă©tudes culturelles et numĂ©riques. Lâobjectif final est dâĂ©tudier la relation
entre les formes anthologiques, les plateformes de distribution et les modĂšles de consommation,
en proposant une approche comparative de lâanthologie qui soit Ă la fois cross-culturelle, crosshistorique, cross-genre et qui prenne en consideration les pratiques pre- et post-numĂ©riques pour
lâorganisation de contenus culturels.As the longtime dominant U.S. television business model has been challenged
in various ways by industrial and technological changes in recent years, more heterogeneous narrative forms have emerged in addition to original serial structures. The diversity of televisual
forms became particularly evident since national, local television landscapes started opening up
to foreign markets outside of the U.S., finally embracing a transnational, global perspective and
tracing alternative value-chains. The transition to internet-distributed television played a pivotal
role in this formal fragmentation and new dynamics of online streaming opened up another path
for understanding the flow of television content, which today reflects a highly interconnected,
networked media and digital environment. Indeed, the proliferation of video-on-demand services
is forcing seriality to adapt to the contemporary mediascape, giving rise to audiovisual products
that can be transferred online and present specificities in production, distribution and reception.
One of the outcomes of such changes in U.S. television series at the dawn of the twenty-first century is the anthology series divided in different seasons with separate stories, yet linked by tone
and style. My research positions itself in such a technological, industrial and cultural context,
where television content is increasingly fragmented. Given such a fragmentation, this thesis considers the ways contemporary television content is distributed in the interaction between algorithmic-driven recommendation processes and more traditional editorial practices. The aim of the
project is to investigate the way certain narrative structures typical of the anthology form emerge
in the context of U.S. television seriality, starting from specific conditions of production, distribution and consumption in the media industry. By focusing on the evolution (temporal, historical
dimension) and on the digital circulation (spatial, geographic dimension) of U.S. anthology series, and observing the peculiarities in their production and style, as well as their distributional
networks and the consumption patterns they foster, this thesis ultimately insert itself into a larger
conversation on digital-cultural studies. The final purpose is to examine the relation between anthological forms, distribution platforms and consumption models, by proposing a comparative
approach to the anthology that is at the same time cross-cultural, cross-historical, cross-genre and
accounting for both pre- and post-digital practices for cultural content organization
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