74,388 research outputs found
Exploring the impact of different cost heuristics in the allocation of safety integrity levels
Contemporary safety standards prescribe processes in which system safety requirements, captured early and expressed in the form of Safety Integrity Levels (SILs), are iteratively allocated to architectural elements. Different SILs reflect different requirements stringencies and consequently different development costs. Therefore, the allocation of safety requirements is not a simple problem of applying an allocation "algebra" as treated by most standards; it is a complex optimisation problem, one of finding a strategy that minimises cost whilst meeting safety requirements. One difficulty is the lack of a commonly agreed heuristic for how costs increase between SILs. In this paper, we define this important problem; then we take the example of an automotive system and using an automated approach show that different cost heuristics lead to different optimal SIL allocations. Without automation it would have been impossible to explore the vast space of allocations and to discuss the subtleties involved in this problem
Ethical and Social Aspects of Self-Driving Cars
As an envisaged future of transportation, self-driving cars are being
discussed from various perspectives, including social, economical, engineering,
computer science, design, and ethics. On the one hand, self-driving cars
present new engineering problems that are being gradually successfully solved.
On the other hand, social and ethical problems are typically being presented in
the form of an idealized unsolvable decision-making problem, the so-called
trolley problem, which is grossly misleading. We argue that an applied
engineering ethical approach for the development of new technology is what is
needed; the approach should be applied, meaning that it should focus on the
analysis of complex real-world engineering problems. Software plays a crucial
role for the control of self-driving cars; therefore, software engineering
solutions should seriously handle ethical and social considerations. In this
paper we take a closer look at the regulative instruments, standards, design,
and implementations of components, systems, and services and we present
practical social and ethical challenges that have to be met, as well as novel
expectations for software engineering.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis
Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better
understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as
financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without
large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible.
Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research
centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a
network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted
to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural
systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human
techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending
events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more
accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually
customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting
way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing
Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well.
As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the
public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data
available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic
societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems.
Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility
and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits,
where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient
justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good,
as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for
society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see
http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
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Evaluating the resilience and security of boundaryless, evolving socio-technical Systems of Systems
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Feeding Britain: Food Security after Brexit
This Food Brexit Briefing brings together three interlinked issues that demand policy attention as the clock ticks towards Brexit:
1. The question of whether the Government is paying enough attention to agri-food in the negotiating process, given its central role in both public wellbeing and the national economy.
2. The threat a careless Brexit poses to the UK’s short-term food security – and any long-term attempt to develop a genuinely sustainable food strategy for the whole of the UK.
3. The risk generated to the UK’s status as a potential trading partner of the EU by the Food Standards Agency’s decision to press ahead with major reform of UK food safety regulation, at a time when regulatory stability and clarity have never been more important.
The report was written by FRC’s Professor Tim Lang, with Professor Erik Millstone (Sussex), Tony Lewis (Head of Policy at Chartered Institute for Environmental Health) and Professor Terry Marsden (Cardiff). It takes stock of ‘food Brexit’ and argues that a hard Brexit or no-deal Brexit (and retreat to WTO rules) would imperil the sustainability and security of Britain’s food supply.
The report recommends that the Government should:
- Maintain a clear and explicit focus on the potential adverse effects of Brexit on food security in the UK, while negotiating the UK’s future trading relationships with the EU and other jurisdictions.
- Publish Brexit impact studies on the UK’s agricultural and food system for the White Paper and Chequers Statement and any subsequent proposals.
- Ensure that high food standards remain at the heart of any future trade deals.
- Provide clarity on its proposed migration policy, taking account of the contributions that non-UK citizens of the EU are making to the quantity and quality of the UK’s food supply and services.
- Avoid a hard Food Brexit at all costs.The UK must not retreat to a WTO-rules-based regime. The EU would then categorise the UK as a ‘3rd Country’, which could be a recipe for chaos.
- Create a new Sustainable Food Security Strategy. This would engage with the complexities of the food system and the multiple criteria by which it should be evaluated; and identify clear priorities and pathways for progress.
The report also calls on the Food Standards Agency to:
- Address the calls for clarification and evidence posed in the paper in respect of its Regulating Our Future (ROF) Where such clarification or evidence is not available, then the Agency should modify or suspend the introduction of its proposals, at least until after Brexit
Technologies and solutions for location-based services in smart cities: past, present, and future
Location-based services (LBS) in smart cities have drastically altered the way cities operate, giving a new dimension to the life of citizens. LBS rely on location of a device, where proximity estimation remains at its core. The applications of LBS range from social networking and marketing to vehicle-toeverything communications. In many of these applications, there is an increasing need and trend to learn the physical distance between nearby devices. This paper elaborates upon the current needs of proximity estimation in LBS and compares them against the available Localization and Proximity (LP) finding technologies (LP technologies in short). These technologies are compared for their accuracies and performance based on various different parameters, including latency, energy consumption, security, complexity, and throughput. Hereafter, a classification of these technologies, based on various different smart city applications, is presented. Finally, we discuss some emerging LP technologies that enable proximity estimation in LBS and present some future research areas
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