The C Object System: Using C as a High-Level Object-Oriented Language

The C Object System (Cos) is a small C library which implements high-level concepts available in Clos, Objc and other object-oriented programming languages: uniform object model (class, meta-class and property-metaclass), generic functions, multi-methods, delegation, properties, exceptions, contracts and closures. Cos relies on the programmable capabilities of the C programming language to extend its syntax and to implement the aforementioned concepts as first-class objects. Cos aims at satisfying several general principles like simplicity, extensibility, reusability, efficiency and portability which are rarely met in a single programming language. Its design is tuned to provide efficient and portable implementation of message multi-dispatch and message multi-forwarding which are the heart of code extensibility and reusability. With COS features in hand, software should become as flexible and extensible as with scripting languages and as efficient and portable as expected with C programming. Likewise, Cos concepts should significantly simplify adaptive and aspect-oriented programming as well as distributed and service-oriented computingComment: 18

RFID and the internet of things in freight and handling operations

Master in Management and Industrial StrategyRFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentification) is an automatic identification method relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices (RFID tags or transponders) enabling the contactless identification of objects. RFID has been around for decades but only during the last years has become one of the most promising research areas with more and more attention focused on it. The retail sector had been leading the way with logistics applications, followed by some government agencies with identification systems and by different sectors of activity (pharmaceuticals, aircraft manufacturing, etc). Together with the last technological developments, new ideas and concepts are generating new paradigms as the "Internet of Things". The "Internet of Things" can be described as "Things having identities and virtual personalities operating in smart spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate within social, environmental, and user contexts ".1 Also during the last decades, air transportation has become more and more important for people mobility and goods transportation in the global economy environment. According to IATA , RFID can be used as a way to improve a range of airline business processes while cutting costs. IATA had developed a standard for RFID baggage tags and recommended practices and business cases for the use of RFID in baggage handling. With this study it is planed to analyse the situation in the two main airports in Portugal (Lisbon and Oporto), based in Portway ground handling operations, compare it with some actual developments, the E-Cab Project and IATA proposals and recommendations, and to evaluate scenarios and their feasibility in a near future.A tecnologia RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) é um método de identificação automático de armazenamento e recuperação remota de informação, recorrendo a dispositivos (etiquetas ou transmissores-receptores RFID) que permitem a sua leitura à distância e sem necessidade de qualquer contacto directo com os objectos. Sendo uma tecnologia já com décadas de existência, só durante os últimos anos é que se tem evidenciado como uma das mais promissoras , captando cada vez mais atenção por parte dos diversos actores. O sector de retalho tem vindo a promover a sua divulgação, liderando o desenvolvimento de diversas aplicações logísticas e sendo seguido, durante os últimos anos, por algumas agências governamentais com o desenvolvimento de sistemas de identificação e por diversos outrossectores de actividade (farmacêutica, construção aeronáutica, etc). Em simultâneo com os mais recentes progressos tecnológicos e com o desenvolvimento de conceitos mais inovadores, um novo paradigma tem aparecido com a designação da "Internet dos Objectos". A "Internet dos Objectos" pode ser descrita como "objectos possuindo identidades e personalidades virtuais operando em espaços inteligentes usando interfaces inteligentes para ligar e comunicar em contextos sociais, ambientais e no seio dos utilizadores". Também durante as últimas décadas, o transporte aéreo tem vindo a desempenhar um papel cada vez mais importante para a mobilidade das populações e para o transporte de mercadorias no ambiente da economia global. De acordo com a IATA, as tecnologias RFID poderão vir a ser utilizadas com sucesso, reduzindo custos e melhorando um vasto conjunto de processos correntes no sector, tendo já desenvolvido alguns normativos e recomendações relativas à aplicação de etiquetas RFID na identificação e monitorização de bagagem. Com este trabalho pretende-se analisar a situação nos dois principais aeroportos Portugueses (Lisboa e Porto), baseada nas operações de handling da Portway, comparar os resultados obtidos com os desenvolvimentos actuais resultantes do Projecto E-Cab e com as propostas e recomendações da IATA, avaliando cenários e a possibilidade da sua concretização num futuro próximo

Advances in Computational Intelligence Applications in the Mining Industry

This book captures advancements in the applications of computational intelligence (artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc.) to problems in the mineral and mining industries. The papers present the state of the art in four broad categories: mine operations, mine planning, mine safety, and advances in the sciences, primarily in image processing applications. Authors in the book include both researchers and industry practitioners

Design requirements for SRB production control system. Volume 5: Appendices

A questionnaire to be used to screen potential candidate production control software packages is presented

Graph Based Verification of Software Evolution Requirements

Due to market demands and changes in the environment, software systems have to evolve. However, the size and complexity of the current software systems make it time consuming to incorporate changes. During our collaboration with the industry, we observed that the developers spend much time on the following evolution problems: designing runtime reconfigurable software, obeying software design constraints while coping with evolution, reusing old software solutions for new evolution problems. This thesis presents 3 processes and tool suits that aid the developers/designers when tackling these problems.\ud The first process and tool set allow early verification of runtime reconfiguration requirements. In this process the UML models are converted into a graph-based model. The execution semantics of UML are modeled by graph transformation rules. Using these graph transformation rules, the execution of the UML models is simulated. The simulation generates a state-space showing all possible reconfigurations. The runtime reconfiguration requirements are expressed by computational tree logic or with a visual state-based language, which are verified over the generated state-space. When the verification fails a feedback on the problem is provided.\ud The second process and tool set are developed for computer aided detection of static program constraint violations. We developed a modeling language called Source Code Modeling Language (SCML) in which program elements from the source code can be represented. In the proposed process for constraint violation detection, the source code is converted into SCML models. The constraint detection is realized by graph transformation rules. The rules detect the violation and extract information from the SCML model to provide feedback on the location of the problem.\ud The third process and tool set provide computer aided verification of whether a design idiom can be used to implement a change request. The developers tend to implement evolution requests using software structures that are familiar to them; called design idioms. Graph transformations are used for detecting whether the constraints of the design idiom are satisfied or not. For a given design idiom and given source files in SCML, the implementation of the idiom is simulated. If the simulation succeeds, then the models are converted to source code.\u

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2019

This Research Report presents the FY19 research statistics and contributions of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management (EN) at AFIT. AFIT research interests and faculty expertise cover a broad spectrum of technical areas related to USAF needs, as reflected by the range of topics addressed in the faculty and student publications listed in this report. In most cases, the research work reported herein is directly sponsored by one or more USAF or DOD agencies. AFIT welcomes the opportunity to conduct research on additional topics of interest to the USAF, DOD, and other federal organizations when adequate manpower and financial resources are available and/or provided by a sponsor. In addition, AFIT provides research collaboration and technology transfer benefits to the public through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs). Interested individuals may discuss ideas for new research collaborations, potential CRADAs, or research proposals with individual faculty using the contact information in this document

Autonomous migration of vertual machines for maximizing resource utilization

Virtualization of computing resources enables multiple virtual machines to run on a physical machine. When many virtual machines are deployed on a cluster of PCs, some physical machines will inevitably experience overload while others are under-utilized over time due to varying computational demands. This computational imbalance across the cluster undermines the very purpose of maximizing resource utilization through virtualization. To solve this imbalance problem, virtual machine migration has been introduced, where a virtual machine on a heavily loaded physical machine is selected and moved to a lightly loaded physical machine. The selection of the source virtual machine and the destination physical machine is based on a single fixed threshold value. Key to such threshold-based VM migration is to determine when to move which VM to what physical machine, since wrong or inadequate decisions can cause unnecessary migrations that would adversely affect the overall performance. The fixed threshold may not necessarily work for different computing infrastructures. Finding the optimal threshold is critical. In this research, a virtual machine migration framework is presented that autonomously finds and adjusts variable thresholds at runtime for different computing requirements to improve and maximize the utilization of computing resources. Central to this approach is the previous history of migrations and their effects before and after each migration in terms of standard deviation of utilization. To broaden this research, a proactive learning methodology is introduced that not only accumulates the past history of computing patterns and resulting migration decisions but more importantly searches all possibilities for the most suitable decisions. This research demonstrates through experimental results that the learning approach autonomously finds thresholds close to the optimal ones for different computing scenarios and that such varying thresholds yield an optimal number of VM migrations for maximizing resource utilization. The proposed framework is set up on a cluster of 8 and 16 PCs, each of which has multiple User-Mode Linux (UML)-based virtual machines. An extensive set of benchmark programs is deployed to closely resemble a real-world computing environment. Experimental results indicate that the proposed framework indeed autonomously finds thresholds close to the optimal ones for different computing scenarios, balances the load across the cluster through autonomous VM migration, and improves the overall performance of the dynamically changing computing environment

Systems and control : 21th Benelux meeting, 2002, March 19-21, Veldhoven, The Netherlands

Book of abstract

Effective interprocess communication (IPC) in a real-time transputer network

The thesis describes the design and implementation of an interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism within a real-time distributed operating system kernel (RT-DOS) which is designed for a transputer-based network. The requirements of real-time operating systems are examined and existing design and implementation strategies are described. Particular attention is paid to one of the object-oriented techniques although it is concluded that these techniques are not feasible for the chosen implementation platform. Studies of a number of existing operating systems are reported. The choices for various aspects of operating system design and their influence on the IPC mechanism to be used are elucidated. The actual design choices are related to the real-time requirements and the implementation that has been adopted is described. [Continues.