A Petri net-occam based methodology for the development of dependable distributed control software.

Analysis of flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs) shows their requirement for flexible, correct, reliable, safe and distributed control. A comparison of the state of the art in software engineering for parallel systems, and an examination of safety related systems, reveal a need for formal and rigorous techniques at all stages in the software life cycle. However, parallel software, safety related software and formal techniques are complex. It is better to avoid faults rather than eliminate or tolerate them, and although less flexible, avoidance is often simpler to implement. There is a need for a tool which overcomes many of these complexities, and this thesis discusses and defines such a tool in the form of a methodology. The novelty of the work is in the combination of the core goals to manage these issues, and how the strategies guide the user to a solution which will not deadlock and which is comprehensible. Place-transition Petri nets are an ideal representation for designing and modelling the interaction of concurrent (and distributed) processes. Occam is a high level real time parallel language designed to execute on one or a network of transputers. Transputers are processing, memory and communication building blocks, and, together with occam, are shown to be suitable for controlling and communicating the control as the DCS in FMCs. The methodology developed in this thesis adopts the mathematically based tools of Petri nets, occam and transputers, and, by exploiting their structural similarities, incorporates them in a steps and tasks to improve the development of correct, reliable and hence safe occam code. The four steps: identify concurrent and sequential operations, produce Petri net graphs for all controllers, combine controller Petri net graphs and translate Petri net graphs into occam; are structured around three core goals: Petri net/occam equivalence, comprehensibility and pro-activity; which are manifest in four strategies: output-work-backwards, concurrent and sequential actions, structuralise and modularise, and deadlock avoidance. The methodology assists in all stages of the software development life cycle, and is applicable to small DCSs such as an FMC. The methodology begins by assisting in the creation of DCS requirements from the manufacturing requirements of the FMC, and guides the user to the production of dependable occam code. Petri nets allow the requirements to be specified as they are created, and the methodology's imposed restrictions enable the final Petri net design to be translated directly into occam. Thus the mathematics behind the formal tools is hidden from the user, which should be attractive to industry.The methodology is successfully applied to the example FMC, and occam code to simulate the FMC is produced. Due to the novelty of the research, many suggestions for further work are given

Innovative Technologies and Services for Smart Cities

A smart city is a modern technology-driven urban area which uses sensing devices, information, and communication technology connected to the internet of things (IoTs) for the optimum and efficient utilization of infrastructures and services with the goal of improving the living conditions of citizens. Increasing populations, lower budgets, limited resources, and compatibility of the upgraded technologies are some of the few problems affecting the implementation of smart cities. Hence, there is continuous advancement regarding technologies for the implementation of smart cities. The aim of this Special Issue is to report on the design and development of integrated/smart sensors, a universal interfacing platform, along with the IoT framework, extending it to next-generation communication networks for monitoring parameters of interest with the goal of achieving smart cities. The proposed universal interfacing platform with the IoT framework will solve many challenging issues and significantly boost the growth of IoT-related applications, not just in the environmental monitoring domain but in the other key areas, such as smart home, assistive technology for the elderly care, smart city with smart waste management, smart E-metering, smart water supply, intelligent traffic control, smart grid, remote healthcare applications, etc., signifying benefits for all countries

The distinct element analysis of soil masses

The conventional Distinct Element Analysis of Cundall and Belytschko and their respective co-workers are prone to vibrations which must be damped out artificially if numerical problems are to be avoided. An alternative approach to this method is developed which eliminates such problems by allowing the elements to consolidate without gain in velocity. In the method employed here the contact forces, together with body forces due to gravity give rise to accelerations of the elements which in turn cause them to change position. Normally this change in position will produce an increase in the contact forces. Once these new contact forces have been calculated the elements are then returned to their original positions prior to the next iteration. The contact forces, therefore, increase during the analysis to counter the effects of gravity. Two methods using this new approach are described, for which computer programs have been written. The first program, SLICES, is designed to analyse slopes divided in to slices with a predetermined failure arc. During the analysis the program generates the stress profile acting on the failure arc and predicts the stability or otherwise of the slope. Program SLICES is compared with a traditional slice method under conditions of total and effective stress with cohesive and frictional soils. An analysis using a non-linear failure criterion is also carried out with program SLICES. The second program, CIRCLES, uses circles as the distinct element type and does not require a predetermined failure arc. It is shown that edge effects cause an incorrect stress regime to be set up that masks the failure process. However a sliding type failure is demonstrated where the edge effects do not mask the analysis. Submitted in accordance with the regulations for the degree of Ph. D. of the University of Durham. October 1989

Data bases and data base systems related to NASA's aerospace program. A bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 1778 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system, 1975 through 1980

USCID water management conference

Presented at Meeting irrigation demands in a water-challenged environment: SCADA and technology: tools to improve production: a USCID water management conference held on September 28 - October 1, 2010 in Fort Collins, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.The Colorado Satellite-Linked Water Resources Monitoring System: 25 years later -- Using state water law for efficient water use in the West -- On-farm strategies for deficit or limited irrigation to maximize operational profit potential in Colorado's South Platte Basin -- Economics of groundwater management alternatives in the Republican Basin -- Effects of policies governing water reuse on agricultural crops -- Flow calibration of the Bryan Canal radial gate at the United Irrigation District -- Considering canal pool resonance in controller design -- Synthetic canal lining evaluation project -- South Platte Ditch Company: demonstration flow monitoring and data collection project -- The case for ditch-wide water rights analysis in Colorado -- Bore wells: a boon for tail end users -- Irrigation efficiency and water users' performance in water management: a case study on the Heran distributary, Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan -- Initiating SCADA projects in irrigation districts -- Use of GIS as a real time decision support system for irrigation districts -- Interaction of Advanced Scientific Irrigation Management (ASIM) with I-SCADA system for efficient and sustainable production of fiber on 10,360 hectares -- Improving irrigation system performance in the Middle Rio Grande through scheduled water delivery -- Cost-effective SCADA development for irrigation districts: a Nebraska case study -- Accomplishments from a decade of SCADA implementation in Idaho's Payette Valley -- Critical success factors for large scale automation experiences from 10,000 gates -- Mapping ET in southeastern Colorado using a surface aerodynamic temperature model -- Alfalfa crop coefficients developed using a weighing lysimeter in southeast Colorado -- Turfgrass ET from small lysimeters in northeast Colorado -- Monitoring turf water status with infrared thermometry -- Training tool for on-farm water management using heuristic simulation software -- Water production functions for high plains crops -- Assessment of economic and hydrologic impacts of reduced surface water supply for irrigation via remote sensing -- Developing corn regional crop coefficients using a satellite-based energy balance model (ReSET) in the South Platte River area of Colorado

Morris Catalog 2019-21

This catalog covers academic years 2019–20 and 2020–21. The Morris Catalog is in effect for nine years; this catalog is in effect from fall 2019 through the end of summer session 2028.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/catalog/1003/thumbnail.jp

EDU-COM 2004 International conference: new challenges for sustainability and growth in higher education

EDU-COM 2004, an international conference held in Khon Kaen, Thailand from the 24th to the 26th November, 2004 took the theme: New Challenges for Sustainability and Growth in Higher Education. EDU-COM 2004 was sponsored and organised by Edith Cowan University, Khon Kaen University and Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University/ The Conference was structured to address five sub-themes pertinent to the challenges facing higher education worldwide: • Collaboration between campus and community in Higher Education • Collaboration targeting multi-cultural and cross-cultural issues in Higher Education • Collaboration through new teaching and learning technologies in Higher Education • Collaboration for quality: valuing and evaluating performance in Higher Education • Collaboration for effective governance in Higher Education Contributors were invited to address on or more of these sub-themes. All papers published in these proceedings reflect the drive for richer learning experiences, improved learning environments and recognition of the importance of the local community as technology enables us to think globally. Predictably perhaps, e-education brought the most substantial response, a clear indication of the perceived potential for new technologies to influence teaching, learning and administration in higher education. The papers also highlight some of the challenges and emerging expectations for higher education in a world that is increasingly characterised by international alliances, partnerships and tensions – a search for sustainability and equity in a period of rapid social and technological change. The Proceedings are in 3 sections. Section 1 – Keynote Speakers; Section 2 – Academic Peer Reviewed Papers: Section 3 - “Work in Progress”. EDU-COM 2004 was attended by delegates from Australia, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Lao, Myanamar, Singapore, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam

(MASSA: Multi-agent system to support functional annotation)

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Informática, Departamento de Ingeniería del Software e Inteligencia Artificial, leída el 23-11-2015Predecir la función biológica de secuencias de Ácido Desoxirribonucleico (ADN) es unos de los mayores desafíos a los que se enfrenta la Bioinformática. Esta tarea se denomina anotación funcional y es un proceso complejo, laborioso y que requiere mucho tiempo. Dado su impacto en investigaciones y anotaciones futuras, la anotación debe ser lo más able y precisa posible. Idealmente, las secuencias deberían ser estudiadas y anotadas manualmente por un experto, garantizando así resultados precisos y de calidad. Sin embargo, la anotación manual solo es factible para pequeños conjuntos de datos o genomas de referencia. Con la llegada de las nuevas tecnologías de secuenciación, el volumen de datos ha crecido signi cativamente, haciendo aún más crítica la necesidad de implementaciones automáticas del proceso. Por su parte, la anotación automática es capaz de manejar grandes cantidades de datos y producir un análisis consistente. Otra ventaja de esta aproximación es su rapidez y bajo coste en relación a la manual. Sin embargo, sus resultados son menos precisos que los manuales y, en general, deben ser revisados ( curados ) por un experto. Aunque los procesos colaborativos de la anotación en comunidad pueden ser utilizados para reducir este cuello de botella, los esfuerzos en esta línea no han tenido hasta ahora el éxito esperado. Además, el problema de la anotación, como muchos otros en el dominio de la Bioinformática, abarca información heterogénea, distribuida y en constante evolución. Una posible aproximación para superar estos problemas consiste en cambiar el foco del proceso de los expertos individuales a su comunidad, y diseñar las herramientas de manera que faciliten la gestión del conocimiento y los recursos. Este trabajo adopta esta línea y propone MASSA (Multi-Agent System to Support functional Annotation), una arquitectura de Sistema Multi-Agente (SMA) para Soportar la Anotación funcional...Predicting the biological function of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) sequences is one of the many challenges faced by Bioinformatics. This task is called functional annotation, and it is a complex, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process. This annotation has to be as accurate and reliable as possible given its impact in further researches and annotations. In order to guarantee a high-quality outcome, each sequence should be manually studied and annotated by an expert. Although desirable, the manual annotation is only feasible for small datasets or reference genomes. As the volume of genomic data has been increasing, specially after the advent of Next Generation Sequencing techniques, automatic implementations of this process are a necessity. The automatic annotation can handle a huge amount of data and produce consistent analyses. Besides, it is faster and less expensive than the manual approach. However, its outcome is less precise than the one predicted manually and often has to be curated by an expert. Although collaborative processes of community annotation could address this expert bottleneck in automatic annotation, these e orts have failed until now. Moreover, the annotation problem, as many others in this domain, has to deal with heterogeneous information that is distributed and constantly evolving. A possible way to overcome these hurdles is with a shift in the focus of the process from individual experts to communities, and with a design of tools that facilitates the management of knowledge and resources. This work follows this approach proposing MASSA, an architecture for a Multi-Agent System (MAS) to Support functional Annotation...Depto. de Ingeniería de Software e Inteligencia Artificial (ISIA)Fac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu