Network of Tinkerers: A Model of Open-Source Technology Innovation

Airplanes were invented by hobbyists and experimenters, and some personal computers were as well. Similarly, many open-source software developers are interested in the software they make, and not focused on profit. Based on these cases, this paper has a model of agents called tinkerers who want to improve a technology for their own reasons, by their own criteria, and who see no way to profit from it. Under these conditions, they would rather share their technology than work alone. The members of the agreement form an information network. The network's members optimally specialize based on their opportunities in particular aspects of the technology or in expanding or managing the network. Endogenously there are incentives to standardize on designs and descriptions of the technology. A tinkerer in the network who sees an opportunity to produce a profitable product may exit the network to create a startup firm and conduct focused research and development. Thus a new industry can arise.Technological Change, Open Source Software, Uncertainty, Innovation, Invention, Collective Invention, Hackers, Hobbyists, Experimenters, Airplane

Impact of Software Uncertainty on Reliability of Agile (Object-Oriented Software) Product Development Model

The aim of this paper is to describe software system product uncertainty analysis with the assistance of Unc_Sidekick for Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis. This tool is predicated on Monte Carlo (MC) analysis that's supported play acting multiple model evaluations with probabilistically agile software system comes input. The results of those evaluations are wont to confirm in software each the uncertainty system predictions and therefore the input variables that drive this uncertainty. This technique is important in things wherever a call needs to be taken supported the agile software system product results; typical examples embody risk and failure management systems, monetary analysis and plenty of others. It’s additionally extremely suggested as a part of agile software system validation, even wherever the software’s are used for analytic functions, as part of software system product building. Unc_Sidekick permits a hunt of the area of attainable various model assumptions and structure on the prediction of the product, thereby testing each the standard of the agile software system product and therefore the hardiness of the product and model primarily based abstract thought

Architecture of Environmental Risk Modelling: for a faster and more robust response to natural disasters

Demands on the disaster response capacity of the European Union are likely to increase, as the impacts of disasters continue to grow both in size and frequency. This has resulted in intensive research on issues concerning spatially-explicit information and modelling and their multiple sources of uncertainty. Geospatial support is one of the forms of assistance frequently required by emergency response centres along with hazard forecast and event management assessment. Robust modelling of natural hazards requires dynamic simulations under an array of multiple inputs from different sources. Uncertainty is associated with meteorological forecast and calibration of the model parameters. Software uncertainty also derives from the data transformation models (D-TM) needed for predicting hazard behaviour and its consequences. On the other hand, social contributions have recently been recognized as valuable in raw-data collection and mapping efforts traditionally dominated by professional organizations. Here an architecture overview is proposed for adaptive and robust modelling of natural hazards, following the Semantic Array Programming paradigm to also include the distributed array of social contributors called Citizen Sensor in a semantically-enhanced strategy for D-TM modelling. The modelling architecture proposes a multicriteria approach for assessing the array of potential impacts with qualitative rapid assessment methods based on a Partial Open Loop Feedback Control (POLFC) schema and complementing more traditional and accurate a-posteriori assessment. We discuss the computational aspect of environmental risk modelling using array-based parallel paradigms on High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms, in order for the implications of urgency to be introduced into the systems (Urgent-HPC).Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 1 text box, presented at the 3rd Conference of Computational Interdisciplinary Sciences (CCIS 2014), Asuncion, Paragua

Domain-oriented architecture design for production control software

this paper, we present domain-oriented architectural design heuristics for production control software. Our approach is based upon the following premisses. First, software design, like all other forms of design, consists of the reduction of uncertainty about a final product by making design decisions. These decisions should as much as possible be based upon information that is certain, either because they represent laws of nature or because they represent previously made design decisions. An import class of information concerns the domain of the software. The domain of control software is the part of the world monitored and controlled by the software; it is the larger system into which the software is embedded. The software engineer should exploit system-level domain knowledge in order to make software design decisions. Second, in the case of production control software, using system-level knowledge is not only justified, it is also imposed on the software engineer by the necessity to cooperate with hardware engineers. These represent their designs by means of Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (PIDs) and Input-Output (IO) lists. They do not want to spend time, nor do they see the need, to duplicate the information represented by these diagrams by means of diagrams from software engineering methods. Such a duplication would be an occasion to introduce errors of omission (information lost during the translation process) or commission (misinterpretation, misguided but invisible design decisions made during the translation) anyway. We think it is up to the software engineer to adapt his or her notations to those of the system engineers he or she must work with. Third, work in patterns and software architectures started from the programminglanguage level and is now moving..

Traceability for Model Driven, Software Product Line Engineering

Traceability is an important challenge for software organizations. This is true for traditional software development and even more so in new approaches that introduce more variety of artefacts such as Model Driven development or Software Product Lines. In this paper we look at some aspect of the interaction of Traceability, Model Driven development and Software Product Line

Free and Open Source Software underpinning the European Forest Data Centre

Worldwide, governments are growingly focusing on free and open source software (FOSS) as a move toward transparency and the freedom to run, copy, study, change and improve the software. The European Commission (EC) is also supporting the development of FOSS [...]. In addition to the financial savings, FOSS contributes to scientific knowledge freedom in computational science (CS) and is increasingly rewarded in the science-policy interface within the emerging paradigm of open science. Since complex computational science applications may be affected by software uncertainty, FOSS may help to mitigate part of the impact of software errors by CS community- driven open review, correction and evolution of scientific code. The continental scale of EC science-based policy support implies wide networks of scientific collaboration. Thematic information systems also may benefit from this approach within reproducible integrated modelling. This is supported by the EC strategy on FOSS: "for the development of new information systems, where deployment is foreseen by parties outside of the EC infrastructure, [F]OSS will be the preferred choice and in any case used whenever possible". The aim of this contribution is to highlight how a continental scale information system may exploit and integrate FOSS technologies within the transdisciplinary research underpinning such a complex system. A European example is discussed where FOSS innervates both the structure of the information system itself and the inherent transdisciplinary research for modelling the data and information which constitute the system content. [...

Life Cycle Assessment Based Analysis of Water Bottle Designs for Defence Application

This paper presents the successful implementation of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach for the sustainable development of a defence product.  Alternative designs of this product are evaluated from the environmental burden perspective.  The products considered are water bottles used by the armed forces in places like the Siachen glacier, where the environmental factors are of great concern.  From the environmental degradation perspective, the suitability of three existing bottle types has been analysed using LCA and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) approaches on SimaPro software for each of its components and the bottle as a whole.  Using this software, uncertainty analysis has also been carried out by conducting a Monte Carlo simulation for a reasonable confidence level.  The latest design was found to have the least environmental burden, being 82.62% less compared to the first design.  To augment the environmental performance further, the best design was again reviewed by carrying out component level analysis to identify feasible alternative materials that would be functionally equivalent but with lower environmental impact.  It suggested switching to lower impact material for the cap and cap cover for the proposed design.  With the adoption of the changed material, the environmental performance improved by 10.61 % as compared to the best design and 84.46 % compared to the earliest design.&nbsp

A benefit cost analysis on management strategies for Queensland Fruit Fly: methods and observations

The Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) — Bactrocera tryoni — poses a significant threat to horticultural production in Victoria causing losses of fruit and jeopardising access to interstate and international markets. The Victorian Government implements and largely funds an area freedom program to manage QFF. Concern about the record number of outbreaks in 2007-08 and the escalating costs of maintaining the current management regime, led the Victorian Department of Primary Industries to review the program to identify improved strategies for managing QFF. As part of this work, a benefit cost analysis (BCA) of alternative strategies has been conducted. While the BCA method is well established, in general few studies are publicly available for area freedom programs. In this paper a number of the practical issues encountered in analysing area freedom are detailed, such as estimating welfare effects, how to consider social and environmental costs and benefits and incorporating risk for managing pests. Implications for policy and the design of future programs are discussed. The approach and issues identified in this paper provide insights for other agencies undertaking similar BCAs to inform biosecurity policy.International Relations/Trade,