AI Solutions for MDS: Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Misuse Detection and Localisation in Telecommunication Environments

This report considers the application of Articial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the problem of misuse detection and misuse localisation within telecommunications environments. A broad survey of techniques is provided, that covers inter alia rule based systems, model-based systems, case based reasoning, pattern matching, clustering and feature extraction, articial neural networks, genetic algorithms, arti cial immune systems, agent based systems, data mining and a variety of hybrid approaches. The report then considers the central issue of event correlation, that is at the heart of many misuse detection and localisation systems. The notion of being able to infer misuse by the correlation of individual temporally distributed events within a multiple data stream environment is explored, and a range of techniques, covering model based approaches, `programmed' AI and machine learning paradigms. It is found that, in general, correlation is best achieved via rule based approaches, but that these suffer from a number of drawbacks, such as the difculty of developing and maintaining an appropriate knowledge base, and the lack of ability to generalise from known misuses to new unseen misuses. Two distinct approaches are evident. One attempts to encode knowledge of known misuses, typically within rules, and use this to screen events. This approach cannot generally detect misuses for which it has not been programmed, i.e. it is prone to issuing false negatives. The other attempts to `learn' the features of event patterns that constitute normal behaviour, and, by observing patterns that do not match expected behaviour, detect when a misuse has occurred. This approach is prone to issuing false positives, i.e. inferring misuse from innocent patterns of behaviour that the system was not trained to recognise. Contemporary approaches are seen to favour hybridisation, often combining detection or localisation mechanisms for both abnormal and normal behaviour, the former to capture known cases of misuse, the latter to capture unknown cases. In some systems, these mechanisms even work together to update each other to increase detection rates and lower false positive rates. It is concluded that hybridisation offers the most promising future direction, but that a rule or state based component is likely to remain, being the most natural approach to the correlation of complex events. The challenge, then, is to mitigate the weaknesses of canonical programmed systems such that learning, generalisation and adaptation are more readily facilitated

Intelligent monitoring of business processes using case-based reasoning

The work in this thesis presents an approach towards the effective monitoring of business processes using Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). The rationale behind this research was that business processes constitute a fundamental concept of the modern world and there is a constantly emerging need for their efficient control. They can be efficiently represented but not necessarily monitored and diagnosed effectively via an appropriate platform. Motivated by the above observation this research pursued to which extent there can be efficient monitoring, diagnosis and explanation of the workflows. Workflows and their effective representation in terms of CBR were investigated as well as how similarity measures among them could be established appropriately. The monitoring results and their following explanation to users were questioned as well as which should be an appropriate software architecture to allow monitoring of workflow executions. Throughout the progress of this research, several sets of experiments have been conducted using existing enterprise systems which are coordinated via a predefined workflow business process. Past data produced over several years have been used for the needs of the conducted experiments. Based on those the necessary knowledge repositories were built and used afterwards in order to evaluate the suggesting approach towards the effective monitoring and diagnosis of business processes. The produced results show to which extent a business process can be monitored and diagnosed effectively. The results also provide hints on possible changes that would maximize the accuracy of the actual monitoring, diagnosis and explanation. Moreover the presented approach can be generalised and expanded further to enterprise systems that have as common characteristics a possible workflow representation and the presence of uncertainty. Further work motivated by this thesis could investigate how the knowledge acquisition can be transferred over workflow systems and be of benefit to large-scale multidimensional enterprises. Additionally the temporal uncertainty could be investigated further, in an attempt to address it while reasoning. Finally the provenance of cases and their solutions could be explored further, identifying correlations with the process of reasoning

Second Generation General System Theory: Perspectives in Philosophy and Approaches in Complex Systems

Following the classical work of Norbert Wiener, Ross Ashby, Ludwig von Bertalanffy and many others, the concept of System has been elaborated in different disciplinary fields, allowing interdisciplinary approaches in areas such as Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Economics, Engineering, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and Philosophy. The new challenge of Complexity and Emergence has made the concept of System even more relevant to the study of problems with high contextuality. This Special Issue focuses on the nature of new problems arising from the study and modelling of complexity, their eventual common aspects, properties and approaches—already partially considered by different disciplines—as well as focusing on new, possibly unitary, theoretical frameworks. This Special Issue aims to introduce fresh impetus into systems research when the possible detection and correction of mistakes require the development of new knowledge. This book contains contributions presenting new approaches and results, problems and proposals. The context is an interdisciplinary framework dealing, in order, with electronic engineering problems; the problem of the observer; transdisciplinarity; problems of organised complexity; theoretical incompleteness; design of digital systems in a user-centred way; reaction networks as a framework for systems modelling; emergence of a stable system in reaction networks; emergence at the fundamental systems level; behavioural realization of memoryless functions

Toward a formal theory for computing machines made out of whatever physics offers: extended version

Approaching limitations of digital computing technologies have spurred research in neuromorphic and other unconventional approaches to computing. Here we argue that if we want to systematically engineer computing systems that are based on unconventional physical effects, we need guidance from a formal theory that is different from the symbolic-algorithmic theory of today's computer science textbooks. We propose a general strategy for developing such a theory, and within that general view, a specific approach that we call "fluent computing". In contrast to Turing, who modeled computing processes from a top-down perspective as symbolic reasoning, we adopt the scientific paradigm of physics and model physical computing systems bottom-up by formalizing what can ultimately be measured in any physical substrate. This leads to an understanding of computing as the structuring of processes, while classical models of computing systems describe the processing of structures.Comment: 76 pages. This is an extended version of a perspective article with the same title that will appear in Nature Communications soon after this manuscript goes public on arxi

The coevolution of AEC professional work practices with technology: collaborative delivery framework modelling for BIM projects

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Johannesburg, 2018Despite BIM’s potential to alleviate persistent construction industry challenges, its use does not guarantee results. Therefore, it was argued and established from a theoretical and practical standpoint that the implementation of BIM, an evolving technology, within pre-BIM organisational and project team work practices (as activity systems), induces their evolution through dysfunctions created in the systems and their resolution. A multi-stage\multi-method research design involving a study of BIM implementation cases, documents analysis, swimlane modelling and multi-domain-mapping (MDM) of pre-BIM and BIM-enabled project delivery processes was employed. This was to develop an understanding of how construction professional work practices evolve with the implementation of BIM. The findings show that evolutionary change of work practices within organisations precedes that of project teams. The findings further suggest a link between organisational attitude towards BIM as a method of working and success at implementing it. Using activity theory, a novel conceptual analysis of BIM induced change in professional work practices aided a theoretical understanding of the implications of implementing BIM on construction professional work practices. The theory provided a basis for analysing historical and future change patterns in professional work practices with BIM and indeed similar work mediating tools. An in-depth conceptualisation and new theoretical insight were developed on the phenomenon of new role legitimation, establishing that new BIM role takers are legitimated to exercise authority within project teams and organisations mainly because they leverage knowledge as a strategic resource. By implication, they will remain legitimate only as long as the constraint or dysfunction prompting their creation subsists. Furthermore, using swimlane and MDM modelling methods in complement, the BIM change impact on pre-BIM workflows was modelled. An objective evaluation of the BIM change impact at the pre-construction phase showed that the BIM-enabled project delivery workflows structure, compared to the pre-BIM is more connected and integrated.MT 201

The Network Turn

This Element contends that networks are a category of study that cuts across traditional academic barriers, uniting diverse disciplines through a shared understanding of complexity in our world. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

Improving perioperative effiency and patient throughput

The research has arisen from operational experience of the clinical provision of surgical services. This has led to the main research question "How can efficiency be improved in an Operating Theatre environment?" The research question involves a thorough investigation of the clinical flow process for surgical patients within the perioperative setting. It is hoped that the results of the research will produce recommendations on how to increase clinical productivity across the surgical pathway. Although there is a body of literature on efficiency in Theatres there are few reports on the whole clinical pathway involving all the stakeholders responsible for the service. The research is case study focused and as such it is set in one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom has gained recognition as one of the leading hospitals in Europe and has an international reputation for quality of care, informatics, clinical training and research. The hospital provides direct clinical services to well in excess of one million patients per annum. It has over 1200 beds, 42 operating theatres and procedure rooms and a 100 bed critical care unit, the largest co-located critical care unit in the world. The comprehensive nature of the hospital’s clinical service provision has provided a very suitable environment to undertake this research programme. The clinical data requested from the Trust offered the researcher eighteen months of surgery time performance from the Theatre suites. All the data in this research is anonymised. Three intermediate procedures that averaged a one hour duration were selected for review as it was felt that this type of high volume low variety activity would be most suitable for the introduction of a clinical intervention trial. The performance data revealed regular late starts, delayed turnaround between patients and unplanned, unfunded overruns. This preliminary data set confirmed the impetus for this study. The stakeholder interviews and the structured observation of the patient flow from the surgical wards to the Theatre suite provided further evidence of the challenges faced in a busy environment to undertake the scheduled work. Stakeholder interviews provided perspectives on the recurring issues from different positions along the patient pathway. The structured observations provided evidence that there are common inertias that impact on the timely transportation of patients to the Theatre suite. These inertias can lead to repercussions for the rest of the scheduled work. Common themes extracted from the interviews and observations through a coding process include incomplete patient preparation, patients not admitted onto the digital health record system, unsigned consent forms, incomplete patient notes, unavailable test results, late arriving staff and unavailability of staff for patient escort duties. These operational constraints influencing patient flow are experienced throughout the global healthcare sector as borne out in the literature review. Most studies have aimed at one particular area to improve performance. This study adopts an over-arching position for ‘system led’ working. Promoting cohesive working from all the stakeholders responsible for delivering surgical services will shift away from the ‘silo’ working practices that is evident in healthcare. These constraints impact on time, efficiency, process and performance. In this thesis an exploratory case study methodology is employed to examine the constraints affecting patient flow. This study contributes at three levels. Firstly the identification of the gap in the literature around surgical teams working in cohesion. Secondly the confirmation from the clinical data, the stakeholder interviews and the structured observations that the completion of the planned clinical activity is affected by common inertias. Lastly the researcher offers recommendations for clinical interventions for trial and audit. Recommendations for Clinical Intervention 1. Link Practitioner 2. Introduction of Turnaround Teams The recommendations for future trial and evaluation include :- ● The introduction of a link practitioner to work between the surgical wards and the Theatre suite. The link practitioner would be responsible for ensuring that the patients were prepared and ready for transportation to the Theatre suite at the allotted time and that all their documentation and notes were in order. ●The introduction of turnaround teams in the Theatre suite would allow the Theatre staff involved in the surgery to focus on preparing the instrument sets for the next case rather than having to clean and prepare the room and furniture for the next case as well. The idea of the turnaround teams undertaking the cleaning of the room and the preparation of the equipment and furniture is to reduce the time taken between the end of one procedure and the beginning of the next. These recommendations are intended to overcome some of the recurring operational difficulties experienced in the surgical services setting and are offered for future integration and for further research

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Settling Waterscapes in Europe

Pile dwellings have been explored over a vast region for a number of decades now. This has led to the development of different ways, methods, and even schools of under-water and peat-bog excavation practices and data analysis techniques under the influence of different research traditions in individual countries. On the one hand, these and other factors can limit our understanding of the past, whilst on the other hand they can also open up further avenues of interpretation. By collecting the papers presented at the 2016 session of the EAA in Vilnius, this book aims to take this diversity as an opportunity. The geographical scope extends from the Baltic to Russia, Belarus, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece, Germany, Austria and Switzerland to France. The volume thus provides a current insight into international research into life in and around a vast array of prehistoric waterscapes. Extensive multidisciplinary research carried out in recent years has provided new data with regard to the anthropogenic influence on the landscapes around Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings, which allows us to characterise in more detail the lifestyles of the settlements’ inhabitants, the peculiarities of the ecological niche and the interaction between humans and their environment. The volume also contains various case studies that demonstrate the importance of scientific analyses for the study of settlements between land and water. Overall, the volume presents an important new body of data and international perspectives on the settlement of European waterscapes

Association of Architecture Schools in Australasia

"Techniques and Technologies: Transfer and Transformation", proceedings of the 2007 AASA Conference held September 27-29, 2007, at the School of Architecture, UTS