522 research outputs found
Dagstuhl News January - December 2002
"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic
Motivation, Design, and Ubiquity: A Discussion of Research Ethics and Computer Science
Modern society is permeated with computers, and the software that controls
them can have latent, long-term, and immediate effects that reach far beyond
the actual users of these systems. This places researchers in Computer Science
and Software Engineering in a critical position of influence and
responsibility, more than any other field because computer systems are vital
research tools for other disciplines. This essay presents several key ethical
concerns and responsibilities relating to research in computing. The goal is to
promote awareness and discussion of ethical issues among computer science
researchers. A hypothetical case study is provided, along with questions for
reflection and discussion.Comment: Written as central essay for the Computer Science module of the
LANGURE model curriculum in Research Ethic
The Sciences of Data ā Moving Towards a Comprehensive Systems Perspective
Data scienceās rapid development in a dynamically growing data environment endows it with unique characteristics among scientific disciplines, juxtaposing challenges typically encountered in theoretical as well as empirical sciences. This raises questions as to the identification of the most pressing problems for data science, as well as to what constitutes its theoretical foundations.
In this contribution, we first describe data science from the perspective of philosophy of science. We argue that the current mode of development of data science is adequately described by what we term the differentiational-expansionist mode. This leads us to conclude that data science concerns the acquisition of scientific theories relating to the application of methods, workflows and algorithms that generate value for users ā which we term the integrative view. This definition emphasizes the interdependent nature of human and algorithmic elements in complex data workflows. We then offer four challenges for the future of the field.
We conclude that since full control of entire data workflows is unfeasible, attention should be redirected towards the creation of an infrastructure by which data workflows will self-organize in a useful manner
Trust models in ubiquitous computing
We recapture some of the arguments for trust-based technologies in ubiquitous computing, followed by a brief survey of some of the models of trust that have been introduced in this respect. Based on this, we argue for the need of more formal and foundational trust models
A New Implementation and Detailed Study of Breakpoint Analysis
Phylogenies derived from gene order data may prove crucial in answering some fundamental open questions in biomolecular evolution. Yet very few techniques are available for such phylogenetic reconstructions. One method is breakpoint analysis, developed by Blanchette and Sankoff 2 for solving the breakpoint phylogeny.\u27 Our earlier studies 5;6 confirmed the usefulness of this approach, but also found that BPAnalysis, the implementation developed by Sankoff and Blanchette, was too slow to use on all but very small datasets. We report here on a reimplementation of BPAnalysis using the principles of algorithmic engineering. Our faster (by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude) and flexible implementation allowed us to conduct studies on the characteristics of breakpoint analysis, in terms of running time, quality, and robustness, as well as to analyze datasets that had so far been considered out of reach. We report on these findings and also discuss future directions for our new implementation.\u2
Methodology of Algorithm Engineering
Research on algorithms has drastically increased in recent years. Various
sub-disciplines of computer science investigate algorithms according to
different objectives and standards. This plurality of the field has led to
various methodological advances that have not yet been transferred to
neighboring sub-disciplines. The central roadblock for a better knowledge
exchange is the lack of a common methodological framework integrating the
perspectives of these sub-disciplines. It is the objective of this paper to
develop a research framework for algorithm engineering. Our framework builds on
three areas discussed in the philosophy of science: ontology, epistemology and
methodology. In essence, ontology describes algorithm engineering as being
concerned with algorithmic problems, algorithmic tasks, algorithm designs and
algorithm implementations. Epistemology describes the body of knowledge of
algorithm engineering as a collection of prescriptive and descriptive
knowledge, residing in World 3 of Popper's Three Worlds model. Methodology
refers to the steps how we can systematically enhance our knowledge of specific
algorithms. The framework helps us to identify and discuss various validity
concerns relevant to any algorithm engineering contribution. In this way, our
framework has important implications for researching algorithms in various
areas of computer science
USTOPIA REQUIREMENTS THOUGHTS ON A USER-FRIENDLY SYSTEM FOR TRANSFORMATION OF PROGRAMS IN ABSTRACTO
Transformational programming is a program development method which is usually applied
using 'pen and paper'. Since this requires a lot of clerical work (copying expressions, con-
sistent substitution) which is tiresome and prone to error, some form of machine support is
desirable. In this paper a number of systems are described that have already been built to
this aim. Some of their shortcomings and limitations are identified. Based on experience
with program transformation and transformation systems, a long list of features is given
that would be useful in an 'utopian' transformation system. This list is presented using
an orthogonal division of the problem area. A number of problems with the realisation of
some aspects of our 'utopian' system are identified, and some areas for further research
are indicated
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