Correct and Control Complex IoT Systems: Evaluation of a Classification for System Anomalies

In practice there are deficiencies in precise interteam communications about system anomalies to perform troubleshooting and postmortem analysis along different teams operating complex IoT systems. We evaluate the quality in use of an adaptation of IEEE Std. 1044-2009 with the objective to differentiate the handling of fault detection and fault reaction from handling of defect and its options for defect correction. We extended the scope of IEEE Std. 1044-2009 from anomalies related to software only to anomalies related to complex IoT systems. To evaluate the quality in use of our classification a study was conducted at Robert Bosch GmbH. We applied our adaptation to a postmortem analysis of an IoT solution and evaluated the quality in use by conducting interviews with three stakeholders. Our adaptation was effectively applied and interteam communications as well as iterative and inductive learning for product improvement were enhanced. Further training and practice are required.Comment: Submitted to QRS 2020 (IEEE Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security

Logic, self-awareness and self-improvement: The metacognitive loop and the problem of brittleness

This essay describes a general approach to building perturbation-tolerant autonomous systems, based on the conviction that artificial agents should be able notice when something is amiss, assess the anomaly, and guide a solution into place. We call this basic strategy of self-guided learning the metacognitive loop; it involves the system monitoring, reasoning about, and, when necessary, altering its own decision-making components. In this essay, we (a) argue that equipping agents with a metacognitive loop can help to overcome the brittleness problem, (b) detail the metacognitive loop and its relation to our ongoing work on time-sensitive commonsense reasoning, (c) describe specific, implemented systems whose perturbation tolerance was improved by adding a metacognitive loop, and (d) outline both short-term and long-term research agendas

Handling Concept Drift for Predictions in Business Process Mining

Predictive services nowadays play an important role across all business sectors. However, deployed machine learning models are challenged by changing data streams over time which is described as concept drift. Prediction quality of models can be largely influenced by this phenomenon. Therefore, concept drift is usually handled by retraining of the model. However, current research lacks a recommendation which data should be selected for the retraining of the machine learning model. Therefore, we systematically analyze different data selection strategies in this work. Subsequently, we instantiate our findings on a use case in process mining which is strongly affected by concept drift. We can show that we can improve accuracy from 0.5400 to 0.7010 with concept drift handling. Furthermore, we depict the effects of the different data selection strategies

Robot Swarms in an Uncertain World: Controllable Adaptability

There is a belief that complexity and chaos are essential for adaptability. But life deals with complexity every moment, without the chaos that engineers fear so, by invoking goal-directed behaviour. Goals can be programmed. That is why living organisms give us hope to achieve adaptability in robots. In this paper a method for the description of a goal-directed, or programmed, behaviour, interacting with uncertainty of environment, is described. We suggest reducing the structural (goals, intentions) and stochastic components (probability to realise the goal) of individual behaviour to random variables with nominal values to apply probabilistic approach. This allowed us to use a Normalized Entropy Index to detect the system state by estimating the contribution of each agent to the group behaviour. The number of possible group states is 27. We argue that adaptation has a limited number of possible paths between these 27 states. Paths and states can be programmed so that after adjustment to any particular case of task and conditions, adaptability will never involve chaos. We suggest the application of the model to operation of robots or other devices in remote and/or dangerous places.Comment: Journal web page & a lot of robotic related papers www.ars-journal.co

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 217, March 1981

Approximately 130 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981 are included in this bibliography. Topics include aerospace medicine and biology

Frontiers of parasitology research in the People's Republic of China : infection, diagnosis, protection and surveillance

ABSTRACT: Control and eventual elimination of human parasitic diseases in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) requires novel approaches, particularly in the areas of diagnostics, mathematical modelling, monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and public health response. A comprehensive effort, involving the collaboration of 188 scientists (<85% from P.R. China) from 48 different institutions and universities (80% from P.R. China), covers this collection of 29 articles published in Parasites & Vectors. The research mainly stems from a research project entitled 'Surveillance and diagnostic tools for major parasitic diseases in P.R. China' (grant no. 2008ZX10004-011) and highlights the frontiers of research in parasitology. The majority of articles in this thematic series deals with the most important parasitic diseases in P.R. China, emphasizing Schistosoma japonicum, Plasmodium vivax and Clonorchis sinensis plus some parasites of emerging importance such as Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Significant achievements have been made through the collaborative research programme in the following three fields: (i) development of control strategies for the national control programme; (ii) updating the surveillance data of parasitic infections both in human and animals; and (iii) improvement of existing, and development of novel, diagnostic tools to detect parasitic infections. The progress is considerable and warrants broad validation efforts. Combined with the development of improved tools for diagnosis and surveillance, integrated and multi-pronged control strategies now pave the way for elimination of parasitic diseases in P.R. China. Experiences and lessons learned can stimulate control and elimination efforts of parasitic diseases in other parts of the world

VEIL Ballarat centre structural plan

This report looks at the future devlopment in Ballerat, Victoria. New forms of urban planning, housing and also transport and use of natural resouces are some of the major topics covered.&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) BALLARAT - THE LOCALLY PRODUCTIVE CITY Goal:&nbsp;All precincts in Ballarat (exemplified by the CBA) aim to maximise production of environmentally and socially critical resources.Target:&nbsp;To be a net exporter in as many of the following areas as possible: Renewable energy - diverse systems - wind, solar, geothermal, biomass Water - rainwater, grey water, recycled Food production - close to points of consumption Community services Knowledge - research, innovation, education and skills. E.g: climate adaptation solutions; low-carbon solutions; sustainable agriculture (food and bio-mass) Green businesses, green services, eco-innovation (agricultural best practice and re-mining) "green zone" (2) BALLARAT - THE LOW CONSUMPTION CITYGoal:&nbsp;Living and Working Better - Consuming LessTarget:&nbsp;To develop the highest quality of living and working conditions with the lowest per-capita consumption and production of waste, in as many of the following areas as possible: Greenhouse gas (e.g. target: reductions of greater than 60%) Electricity use (e.g through retrofitting - 40% reduction) Water: (e.g. target 80 litres/person/day of reticulated potable water) Transport /mobility (e.g. target greater than 30% shift from car to walking &amp; cycling; 25% reduction in car trip distances; 40% increase in public transport use) Waste reduction (e.g, in all sectors,40%) (3) BALLARAT - THE REGENERATIVE CITYGoal:&nbsp;Avoiding cascading breakdown effects, enabling quick bounceback from challenges - creating a social and physical fabric that is diverse, decentralised and locally inter-connected, so that any shocks (environmental or economic) will be limited in the spread of their effects.Target:&nbsp;To approach all planning and design decisions with the intent of increasing the diversity of communities, production systems (as in 1, above) and public facilities, particularly in relation to: access to energy, water, food, transport, the provision of work and residential facilities life in extreme weather conditions community engagement (4) BALLARAT - THE INVENTIVE CITYGoal:&nbsp;To achieve all of above through the development of innovative new solutions and approaches, building on the strong history of inventiveness and creativity in Ballarat (in agriculture and mining in particular).Target:&nbsp;Ballarat to be known nationally and internationally as supporting a culture of creative risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation in relation to climate resilience and sustainable solutions