A Survey on Retrieval of Mathematical Knowledge

We present a short survey of the literature on indexing and retrieval of mathematical knowledge, with pointers to 72 papers and tentative taxonomies of both retrieval problems and recurring techniques.Comment: CICM 2015, 20 page

Contributions aux systèmes répartis en environnements ubiquitaires : adaptation, sensibilité au contexte et tolérance aux fautes

D'années en années, nous observons l'arrivée sur le marche d'ordinateurs personnels de plus en plus petits pour des utilisateurs de plus en plus nombreux, ainsi des assistants personnels numériques et des objets dits connectés, en passant par les téléphones mobiles. Tous ces dispositifs tendent à être interchangeables du point de vue des ressources en mémoire, en calcul et en connectivité : par exemple, les téléphones mobiles sont devenus des équipements informatiques de moins en moins spécialisés ou de plus en plus universels et font dorénavant office en la matière de portails d'accès aux capteurs présents dans l'environnement immédiat de l'utilisateur. L'enjeu abordé dans nos travaux est la construction de systèmes répartis incluant ces nouveaux dispositifs matériels. L'objectif de mes recherches est la conception des paradigmes d'intermédiation génériques sous-jacents aux applications réparties de plus en plus ubiquitaires. Plus particulièrement, la problématique générale de mes travaux est la définition du rôle des intergiciels dans l'intégration des dispositifs mobiles et des objets connectés dans les architectures logicielles réparties. Ces architectures logicielles reposaient très majoritairement sur des infrastructures logicielles fixes au début des travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit. Dans ce manuscrit, je décris mes travaux sur trois sujets : 1) l'adaptation des applications réparties pour la continuité de service pendant les déconnexions, 2) la gestion des informations du contexte d'exécution des applications réparties pour leur sensibilité au contexte, et 3) les mécanismes de détection des entraves dans les environnements fortement dynamiques tels que ceux construits avec des réseaux mobiles spontanés. Sur le premier sujet, nous fournissons une couche intergicielle générique pour la gestion des aspects répartis de la gestion des déconnexions en utilisant une stratégie d'adaptation collaborative dans les architectures à base d'objets et de composants. Sur le deuxième sujet, nous étudions les paradigmes architecturaux pour la construction d'un service de gestion de contexte générique, afin d'adresser la diversité des traitements (fusion et agrégation, corrélation, détection de situation par apprentissage, etc.), puis nous adressons le problème de la distribution des informations de contexte aux différentes échelles de l'Internet des objets. Enfin, sur le troisième sujet, nous commençons par la détection des modes de fonctionnement pour l'adaptation aux déconnexions afin de faire la différence, lorsque cela est possible, entre une déconnexion et une défaillance, et ensuite nous spécifions et construisons un service de gestion de groupe partitionnable. Ce service est assez fort pour interdire la construction de partitions ne correspondant pas à la réalité de l'environnement à un instant donné et est assez faible pour être mis en oeuvre algorithmiquemen

An exploration of the role of information systems in developing strategic growth in small and medium-sized enterprises

This submission demonstrates that the attached papers and book represent a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of information systems (IS) with a particular focus on small and medium sized enterprises. The theme throughout the publications is consistent: identifying strategic opportunities from information systems for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This document presents the papers and evaluates their contribution. The papers and a copy of the book are included with this document. The papers and book demonstrate the research contribution in four ways. The first contribution is to IS strategy knowledge, where the research has identified that IS analytical models that depend on IS department-business relationships are not useful in the SME context. Additionally, the research identifies those IS models that can be used in all organisational contexts to analyse strategic management information systems requirements. Second, the research demonstrates IS concepts developed in the large firm context such as evaluation, flexibility and knowledge sharing may only have limited applicability in SMEs. Third, the research contributes by developing a new model, the Focus-Dominance model that provides insights into analysing opportunities for strategic IS investment in SMEs. The final research contribution identifies issues that influence SME growth from internet adoption and e-business opportunities. The papers represent development of the research theme over the last 13 years. The main themes of the papers are information systems strategy; exploring IS issues in the 2 SME context; strategic context of IS investment in SMEs and internet adoption and strategy in SMEs. The twelve papers and book represent a subset of the author‟s publications. These have been selected as they show the main contribution to knowledge. The book demonstrates a research led approach to understanding the information systems issues that can influence SME growth. It is the first book that has been written on this topic and provides a useful source for the growing number of researchers in the field. The submission is organised as follows. A brief discussion is included on the reasons why SMEs behave differently from large firms and what this means for information systems. The next section presents the papers. These explore the validity of IS concepts in the SME context. Following on from this the submission considers the drivers and enablers of IS investment in SMEs. Finally the development of new theories in analysing strategic IS investment is discussed. Within the discussion the significance of the contribution, and the role played by co-authors is highlighted. The final section reflects upon the research contribution, methodology, research impact and current and future research. Table 1 presents the list of papers for submission with a brief summary of their contribution. Appendix 1 includes the written statements by collaborators of joint papers. Appendix 2 presents the author‟s contribution to the submitted papers. Appendix 3 presents the known citations for papers included in the submission. Appendix 4 presents the author‟s full publication list

RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization

Exploring and categorizing maintainability assurance research for service and microservice-based systems

Im Laufe des Softwarelebenszyklus eines Programms innerhalb einer sich ständig wechselnden Softwareumgebung ist es wahrscheinlich, dass dieses Programm regelmäßig gewartet werden muss. Wartungen kosten Geld und somit ist es wichtig, dass ebensolche Wartungen effizient und effektiv durchgeführt werden können. Im Laufe der Geschichte der Softwareentwicklung traten unter anderem zwei Architekturmuster hervor: Serviceorientierte Architektur und Microservices. Da diese Architekturmuster ein hohes Maß an Wartbarkeit versprechen, wurden viele Altsysteme hin zu diesen modernen Architekturen migriert. Es kann fatale Folgen für Unternehmen haben, wenn Änderungen an einem System nicht schnell, risikofrei und fehlerfrei umgesetzt werden können. Es wurden bereits viele Forschungsarbeiten bezogen auf die Wartbarkeit von serviceorientierter Architektur publiziert. Systeme basierend auf Microservices fanden jedoch, bezogen auf Wartbarkeitssicherung, nicht viel Beachtung. Sämtliche Forschungsarbeiten befinden sich verteilt auf viele Literaturdatenbanken, wodurch ein umfassender Überblick erschwert wird. Um einen solchen Überblick bereitzustellen, führten wir im Rahmen dieser Bachelorarbeit eine systematische Literaturstudie durch, die sich mit der Wartbarkeitssicherung von serviceorienter Architektur und Systemen basierend auf Microservices beschäftigt. Zur Durchführung dieser systematischen Literaturstudie entwickelten wir eine Reihe von relevanten Forschungsfragen sowie ein striktes Forschungsprotokoll. Aufbauend auf diesem Protokoll sammelten wir insgesamt 223 Forschungsarbeiten von verschiedenen Herausgebern. Diese Arbeiten wurden bezüglich ihres Inhalts zuerst in drei Gruppen von Kategorien unterteilt (architektonisch, thematisch und methodisch). Danach wurden die jeweils relevantesten Forschungsrichtungen aus jeder thematischen Kategorie herausgearbeitet und vorgestellt. Zum Abschluss wurden deutliche Unterschiede der in den Forschungsarbeiten präsentierten Inhalte in Bezug auf serviceorientierte Architektur und Microservice-basierte Systeme herausgearbeitet und dargestellt. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigten eine deutliche Unterrepräsentation von Forschungsarbeiten zur Wartbarkeitssicherung für Microservice-basierte Systeme. Während der Untersuchung der Kategorien konnten wir diverse Forschungsrichtungen innerhalb dieser feststellen. Ein Beispiel hierfür ist die Forschungsrichtung "change impact in business processes" in der Kategorie "Change Impact and Scenarios". Abschließend konnten wir einige Unterschiede bezogen auf die gesammelten Forschungsarbeiten zwischen Systemen basierend auf einer serviceorientierten Architektur und Systemen basierend auf Microservices feststellen. Ein solcher Unterschied kann zum Beispiel in der Kategorie "Antipatterns and Bad Smells" gefunden werden. Im Vergleich zu Forschungsarbeiten, welche sich auf serviceorientierte Architektur beziehen, beinhalten Forschungsarbeiten im Zusammenhang mit Systemen auf Basis von Microservices nur grundlegende Informationen zu Antipatterns, jedoch keine Herangehensweisen, um diese zu erkennen. Aufgrund unserer Ergebnisse schlagen wir einen stärkeren Fokus auf Forschung zur Wartbarkeitssicherung in Microservice-basierten Systemen vor. Mögliche zukünftige Forschungsarbeiten könnten überprüfen, ob Herangehensweisen zur Wartbarkeitssicherung von serviceorientierter Architektur auch bei Microservices anwendbar sind. Darüber hinaus schlagen wir die Durchführung von systematischen Literaturstudien vor, welche Themen wie "runtime adaptation", "testing" und "legacy migration" untersuchen, da diese Themen in unserer Literaturstudie ausgeschlossen wurden.It is very likely that software running in an everchanging environment needs to evolve at multiple points during its lifecycle. Because maintenance costs money, it is important for such tasks to be as effective and efficient as possible. During the history of software development service- and microservice-based architectures have emerged among other architectures. Since these architectures promise to provide a high maintainability, many legacy systems are or were migrated towards a service- or microservice-based architecture. In order to keep such systems running, maintenance is inevitable. While a lot of research has been published regarding maintainability assurance for service-based systems, microservice-based systems have not gotten a lot of attention. All published research is spread across several scientific databases which makes it difficult to get an extensive overview of existing work. In order to provide such overview of maintainability assurance regarding service- and microservice-based systems, we conducted a systematic literature review. To support our literature review, we developed a set of meaningful research questions and a rigid research protocol. Based on our protocol we collected a set of 223 different papers. These papers were first categorized into a threefold set of categories (architectural, thematical and methodical). After that, the most relevant research directions from each thematical category were extracted and presented. Lastly, we extracted and presented notable differences between approaches relating to service-oriented architecture or microservice-based systems. Our findings show a clear underrepresentation of maintainability assurance approaches suitable for microservice-based systems. We further discovered that regarding our formed categories, we could find several research directions such as change impact in business processes in "Change Impact and Scenarios". In the end, we could identify some differences between service- and microservice-based systems concerning approaches we retrieved in this thesis. A difference, for example was that in comparison with papers related to service-oriented architecture in "Antipatterns and Bad Smells", microservices related papers only contained basic information on antipatterns, but no approaches to detect them. Due to our findings we suggest a higher participation in research regarding maintainability assurance for microservice-based systems. Possible future work in this area could include further research on the applicability of service-oriented maintainability assurance approaches or techniques in microservice-based systems. Furthermore, future researchers could conduct follow-up literature reviews and investigate topics such as runtime adaptation, testing and legacy migration, since we excluded such topics from this thesis

Extracción y análisis de características para identificación, agrupamiento y modificación de la fuente de imágenes generadas por dispositivos móviles

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Informática, Departamento de Ingeniería del Software e Inteligencia Artificial, leída el 02/10/2017.Nowadays, digital images play an important role in our society. The presence of mobile devices with integrated cameras is growing at an unrelenting pace, resulting in the majority of digital images coming from this kind of device. Technological development not only facilitates the generation of these images, but also the malicious manipulation of them. Therefore, it is of interest to have tools that allow the device that has generated a certain digital image to be identified. The digital image source can be identified through the features that the generating device permeates it with during the creation process. In recent years most research on techniques for identifying the source has focused solely on traditional cameras. The forensic analysis techniques of digital images generated by mobile devices are therefore of particular importance since they have specific characteristics which allow for better results, and forensic techniques for digital images generated by another kind of device are often not valid. This thesis provides various contributions in two of the main research lines of forensic analysis, the field of identification techniques and the counter-forensics or attacks on these techniques. In the field of digital image source acquisition identification techniques, both closed and open scenarios are addressed. In closed scenarios, the images whose acquisition source are to be determined belong to a group of devices known a priori. Meanwhile, an open scenario is one in which the images under analysis belong to a set of devices that is not known a priori by the fo rensic analyst. In this case, the objective is not t he concrete image acquisition source identification, but their classification into groups whose images all belong to the same mobile device. The image clustering t echniques are of particular interest in real situations since in many cases the forensic analyst does not know a priori which devices have generated certain images. Firstly, techniques for identifying the device type (computer, scanner or digital camera of the mobile device) or class (make and model) of the image acquisition source in mobile devices are proposed, which are two relevant branches of forensic analysis of mobile device images. An approach based on different types of image features and Support Vector Machine as a classifier is presented. Secondly, a technique for the ident ification in open scenarios that consists of grouping digital images of mobile devices according to the acquisition source is developed, that is to say, a class-grouping of all input images is performed. The proposal is based on the combination of hierarchical grouping and flat grouping using the Sensor Pattern Noise. Lastly, in the area of att acks on forensic t echniques, topics related to the robustness of the image source identificat ion forensic techniques are addressed. For this, two new algorithms based on the sensor noise and the wavelet transform are designed, one for the destruction of t he image identity and another for its fo rgery. Results obtained by the two algorithms were compared with other tools designed for the same purpose. It is worth mentioning that the solution presented in this work requires less amount and complexity of input data than the tools to which it was compared. Finally, these identification t echniques have been included in a tool for the forensic analysis of digital images of mobile devices called Theia. Among the different branches of forensic analysis, Theia focuses mainly on the trustworthy identification of make and model of the mobile camera that generated a given image. All proposed algorithms have been implemented and integrated in Theia thus strengthening its functionality.Actualmente las imágenes digitales desempeñan un papel importante en nuestra sociedad. La presencia de dispositivos móviles con cámaras fotográficas integradas crece a un ritmo imparable, provocando que la mayoría de las imágenes digitales procedan de este tipo de dispositivos. El desarrollo tecnológico no sólo facilita la generación de estas imágenes, sino también la manipulación malintencionada de éstas. Es de interés, por tanto, contar con herramientas que permitan identificar al dispositivo que ha generado una cierta imagen digital. La fuente de una imagen digital se puede identificar a través de los rasgos que el dispositivo que la genera impregna en ella durante su proceso de creación. La mayoría de las investigaciones realizadas en los últimos años sobre técnicas de identificación de la fuente se han enfocado únicamente en las cámaras tradicionales. Las técnicas de análisis forense de imágenes generadas por dispositivos móviles cobran, pues, especial importancia, ya que éstos presentan características específicas que permiten obtener mejores resultados, no siendo válidas muchas veces además las técnicas forenses para imágenes digitales generadas por otros tipos de dispositivos. La presente Tesis aporta diversas contribuciones en dos de las principales líneas del análisis forense: el campo de las t écnicas de identificación de la fuente de adquisición de imágenes digitales y las contramedidas o at aques a est as técnicas. En el primer campo se abordan tanto los escenarios cerrados como los abiertos. En el escenario denominado cerrado las imágenes cuya fuente de adquisición hay que determinar pertenecen a un grupo de dispositivos conocidos a priori. Por su parte, un escenario abierto es aquel en el que las imágenes pertenecen a un conjunto de dispositivos que no es conocido a priori por el analista forense. En este caso el obj etivo no es la identificación concreta de la fuente de adquisición de las imágenes, sino su clasificación en grupos cuyas imágenes pertenecen todas al mismo dispositivo móvil. Las técnicas de agrupamiento de imágenes son de gran interés en situaciones reales, ya que en muchos casos el analist a forense desconoce a priori cuáles son los dispositivos que generaron las imágenes. En primer lugar se presenta una técnica para la identificación en escenarios cerrados del tipo de dispositivo (computador, escáner o cámara digital de dispositivo móvil) o la marca y modelo de la fuente en dispositivos móviles, que son dos problemáticas relevantes del análisis forense de imágenes digitales. La propuesta muestra un enfoque basado en distintos tipos de características de la imagen y en una clasificación mediante máquinas de soporte vectorial. En segundo lugar se diseña una técnica para la identificación en escenarios abiertos que consiste en el agrupamiento de imágenes digitales de dispositivos móviles según la fuente de adquisición, es decir, se realiza un agrupamiento en clases de todas las imágenes de ent rada. La propuesta combina agrupamiento jerárquico y agrupamiento plano con el uso del patrón de ruido del sensor. Por último, en el área de los ataques a las técnicas fo renses se tratan temas relacionados con la robustez de las técnicas forenses de identificación de la fuente de adquisición de imágenes. Se especifican dos algoritmos basados en el ruido del sensor y en la transformada wavelet ; el primero destruye la identidad de una imagen y el segundo falsifica la misma. Los resultados obtenidos por estos dos algoritmos se comparan con otras herramientas diseñadas para el mismo fin, observándose que la solución aquí presentada requiere de menor cantidad y complejidad de datos de entrada. Finalmente, estas técnicas de identificación han sido incluidas en una herramienta para el análisis forense de imágenes digitales de dispositivos móviles llamada Theia. Entre las diferentes ramas del análisis forense, Theia se centra principalmente en la identificación confiable de la marca y el modelo de la cámara móvil que generó una imagen dada. Todos los algoritmos desarrollados han sido implementados e integrados en Theia, reforzando así su funcionalidad.Depto. de Ingeniería de Software e Inteligencia Artificial (ISIA)Fac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

Ontology-based context management for mobile devices

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo