Model Checking and Model-Based Testing : Improving Their Feasibility by Lazy Techniques, Parallelization, and Other Optimizations

This thesis focuses on the lightweight formal method of model-based testing for checking safety properties, and derives a new and more feasible approach. For liveness properties, dynamic testing is impossible, so feasibility is increased by specializing on an important class of properties, livelock freedom, and deriving a more feasible model checking algorithm for it. All mentioned improvements are substantiated by experiments

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian Proceedings of the Final Workshop

Editor of the proceedings of EVALITA 2016

ICSEA 2021: the sixteenth international conference on software engineering advances

The Sixteenth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances (ICSEA 2021), held on October 3 - 7, 2021 in Barcelona, Spain, continued a series of events covering a broad spectrum of software-related topics. The conference covered fundamentals on designing, implementing, testing, validating and maintaining various kinds of software. The tracks treated the topics from theory to practice, in terms of methodologies, design, implementation, testing, use cases, tools, and lessons learnt. The conference topics covered classical and advanced methodologies, open source, agile software, as well as software deployment and software economics and education. The conference had the following tracks: Advances in fundamentals for software development Advanced mechanisms for software development Advanced design tools for developing software Software engineering for service computing (SOA and Cloud) Advanced facilities for accessing software Software performance Software security, privacy, safeness Advances in software testing Specialized software advanced applications Web Accessibility Open source software Agile and Lean approaches in software engineering Software deployment and maintenance Software engineering techniques, metrics, and formalisms Software economics, adoption, and education Business technology Improving productivity in research on software engineering Trends and achievements Similar to the previous edition, this event continued to be very competitive in its selection process and very well perceived by the international software engineering community. As such, it is attracting excellent contributions and active participation from all over the world. We were very pleased to receive a large amount of top quality contributions. We take here the opportunity to warmly thank all the members of the ICSEA 2021 technical program committee as well as the numerous reviewers. The creation of such a broad and high quality conference program would not have been possible without their involvement. We also kindly thank all the authors that dedicated much of their time and efforts to contribute to the ICSEA 2021. We truly believe that thanks to all these efforts, the final conference program consists of top quality contributions. This event could also not have been a reality without the support of many individuals, organizations and sponsors. We also gratefully thank the members of the ICSEA 2021 organizing committee for their help in handling the logistics and for their work that is making this professional meeting a success. We hope the ICSEA 2021 was a successful international forum for the exchange of ideas and results between academia and industry and to promote further progress in software engineering research

The Legal, Administrative and Managing Framework for Spatial Policy, Planning and Land-Use. Interdependence, Barriers and Directions of Change

The book aims to explore the legal and administrative aspects of spatial governance and the challenges that their interaction entails. It does this through a number of chapters focusing on case studies located in different geographical areas of Europe and beyond. By doing this, the editors shed light on a set of challenges that emerge around the world at the intersection between the legal and administrative spheres during the governance and planning of territorial phenomena. The issues addressed in the various chapters highlight how spatial planning activities continue to face serious challenges that have not yet been satisfactorily addressed. In more detail, a correlation emerges between the legal regulations that allow and shape spatial-planning activities and the socio-economic and territorial challenges that those activities should tackle. This is often a consequence of the path-dependent influence of the traditional administrative and spatial planning configuration, which presents an inertial resistance to change that is hard to overcome. A similar situation arises concerning the mismatch between the boundaries of the existing administrative units and the extent of territorial phenomena, with a system of judicial–territorial administration that does not always coincide with the boundaries of the fundamental administrative division of a country, leading to an overall deterioration of the conditions in which all actors involved in spatial development operate

Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe

The Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe describes what Easy Language is and how it is used in European countries. It demonstrates the great diversity of actors, instruments and outcomes related to Easy Language throughout Europe. All people, despite their limitations, have an equal right to information, inclusion, and social participation. This results in requirements for understandable language. The notion of Easy Language refers to modified forms of standard languages that aim to facilitate reading and language comprehension. This handbook describes the historical background, the principles and the practices of Easy Language in 21 European countries. Its topics include terminological definitions, legal status, stakeholders, target groups, guidelines, practical outcomes, education, research, and a reflection on future perspectives related to Easy Language in each country. Written in an academic yet interesting and understandable style, this Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe aims to find a wide audience

Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe

The Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe describes what Easy Language is and how it is used in European countries. It demonstrates the great diversity of actors, instruments and outcomes related to Easy Language throughout Europe. All people, despite their limitations, have an equal right to information, inclusion, and social participation. This results in requirements for understandable language. The notion of Easy Language refers to modified forms of standard languages that aim to facilitate reading and language comprehension. This handbook describes the historical background, the principles and the practices of Easy Language in 21 European countries. Its topics include terminological definitions, legal status, stakeholders, target groups, guidelines, practical outcomes, education, research, and a reflection on future perspectives related to Easy Language in each country. Written in an academic yet interesting and understandable style, this Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe aims to find a wide audience

Structural performance of prestressed precast high speed railway bridges using high performance concrete

Bridges often need to conform to strict alignment rules for high speed railway (HSR) lines. Generally, the bridges are constructed either from prestressed concrete or steel-concrete composite. Prestressed concrete bridges can be constructed by precast methods, which offer benefits in economies of scale, quality and construction times for long repetitive viaducts. However, currently precast construction utilises conventional concrete strengths, leading to thicker, heavier cross sections to resist the load. High performance concrete (HPC), with its increased strength, can be implemented to reduce the precast segment weights, subsequently reducing substructure and transportation capacities. However, lighter sections could lead to decks more prone to vibrations exceeding acceleration limits. Therefore, the implementation of HPC requires further research, addressed in this thesis, using the most sophisticated and realistic numerical models of the bridge, vehicle, track, wheel-rail interaction and rail irregularities, identified in literature. A suitable benchmark bridge is selected and analysed from a database of concrete HSR bridges. This analysis finds that using track irregularities with wheel-rail contact is mandatory for accurate bridge accelerations, leading to up to 3.75 times larger accelerations than equivalent moving load models. Furthermore, sectional deformations have been found to be non-negligible, with beam element bridge models incapable of exhibiting the wide frequency content of the acceleration response seen in shell elements. A subsequent parametric analysis reduces the geometrical cross sectional dimensions of the precast components, implementing HPC to maintain the structural capacities. The applicability of the acceptable parametric analyses are tested on other bridges, determining more general conclusions for HPC inclusion in HSR bridges. Appropriate reductions in geometry (web, bottom flange and top flange thicknesses down to 66, 75 and 75% of the original value respectively), are identified from the response of the bridge and vehicle, by using HPC up to 96 MPa, contributing to up to 22% lighter precast elements. Appropriate design guidance is subsequently made for better design of HSR bridges to incorporate HPC into precast solutions.Open Acces

Theories of Informetrics and Scholarly Communication

Scientometrics have become an essential element in the practice and evaluation of science and research, including both the evaluation of individuals and national assessment exercises. Yet, researchers and practitioners in this field have lacked clear theories to guide their work. As early as 1981, then doctoral student Blaise Cronin published The need for a theory of citing - a call to arms for the fledgling scientometric community to produce foundational theories upon which the work of the field could be based. More than three decades later, the time has come to reach out the field again and ask how they have responded to this call. This book compiles the foundational theories that guide informetrics and scholarly communication research. It is a much needed compilation by leading scholars in the field that gathers together the theories that guide our understanding of authorship, citing, and impact

Theories of Informetrics and Scholarly Communication

Scientometrics have become an essential element in the practice and evaluation of science and research, including both the evaluation of individuals and national assessment exercises. Yet, researchers and practitioners in this field have lacked clear theories to guide their work. As early as 1981, then doctoral student Blaise Cronin published "The need for a theory of citing" —a call to arms for the fledgling scientometric community to produce foundational theories upon which the work of the field could be based. More than three decades later, the time has come to reach out the field again and ask how they have responded to this call. This book compiles the foundational theories that guide informetrics and scholarly communication research. It is a much needed compilation by leading scholars in the field that gathers together the theories that guide our understanding of authorship, citing, and impact