Development of a software safety process and a case study of its use

The goal of this research is to continue the development of a comprehensive approach to software safety and to evaluate the approach with a case study. The case study is a major part of the project, and it involves the analysis of a specific safety-critical system from the medical equipment domain. The particular application being used was selected because of the availability of a suitable candidate system. We consider the results to be generally applicable and in no way particularly limited by the domain. The research is concentrating on issues raised by the specification and verification phases of the software lifecycle since they are central to our previously-developed rigorous definitions of software safety. The theoretical research is based on our framework of definitions for software safety. In the area of specification, the main topics being investigated are the development of techniques for building system fault trees that correctly incorporate software issues and the development of rigorous techniques for the preparation of software safety specifications. The research results are documented. Another area of theoretical investigation is the development of verification methods tailored to the characteristics of safety requirements. Verification of the correct implementation of the safety specification is central to the goal of establishing safe software. The empirical component of this research is focusing on a case study in order to provide detailed characterizations of the issues as they appear in practice, and to provide a testbed for the evaluation of various existing and new theoretical results, tools, and techniques. The Magnetic Stereotaxis System is summarized

The Nomenclatural Status of Saperda Inordata Say (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Excerpt: Confusion as to the identity and proper name of our common Saperda on trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michaux, in eastern North America should be clarified. The confusion has arisen from three reasons: (1) LeConte failed to distinguish S. concolor Lec. (1852) from S. irornata Say (1824); (2) Say\u27s type material was destroyed or lost which makes verification impossible; and (3) S. inornata varies from light to dark in overall appearance. The former two points are discussed here and the latter will be covered in a separate article. Authors since LeConte\u27s time have used a variety of binominal and trinominal designations for this species. In 1924 J. 0. Martin suggested that the name inornata, which had been placed in the Genus Mecas, really belonged in the Genus Saperda and that S. inornata should be reinstated replacing LeConte\u27s concolor which Martin, followed by Breuning (1952), considered a synonym of inornata. Despite Martin\u27s suggestion, S. concolor is in common use today. However, a search of the literature produced evidence which substantiates Martin\u27s claim that inornata must stand (Nord, 1968). A summary of this search is presented here in detail and a neotype has been proposed so that the nomenclature will be stabilized (Nord and Knight, 1970)

The Geographic Variation of Saperda Inornata Say (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Eastern North America

Excerpt: During the summers of 1962 and 1963 a study of the life history and behavior of what was thought to have been Saperda moesta LeConte in trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michaux, was completed in northern Michigan (Nord, 1968). After the field study, it became apparent that the original identification was doubtful. Furthermore, there was a possibility that two species were present in the study areas, thus the biological data collected may have represented not one but two species

The Distribution of Saperda Inornata and Oberea Schaumii (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) within the Crowns of Large Trembling Aspens, Populus Tremuloides

The larvae of Saperda inornata Say and Oberea schaumii LeConte inhabit the stems of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michaux) root suckers and the twigs of larger trees. Nord et al. (1972a, 1972b) reported the biologies of these species in Upper Michigan and northern Wisconsin. S. inornata has a one or two year life cycle, probably depending on how early the egg is laid. Most (77.5%) 0. schaumii develop in three years while 5.0% require only two years and 17.5% require four years to develop. Knight (1963) described the distribution of galleries made by S. inornata and 0. schaumii in the crowns of large trembling aspen, P. tremuloides, in Upper Michigan. Similar distribution data were gathered from 180 large trembling aspen felled in a survey designed to determine the relative abundance of S. inornata and 0. schaumii in stands of different site quality (Nord and Knight 1972b). The analysis of that distribution data and comparisons with that of Knight (1963) are presented here. Inter- and intra-specific competition in light of the results and other behavioral information are discussed

The Importance of Saperda Inornata and Oberea Schaumii (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) Galleries as Infection Courts of Hypoxylon Pruinatum in Trembling Aspen, Populus Tremuloides

(excerpt) Trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michaux, and bigtooth aspen, P. grandidentata Michaux, are hosts of numerous species of injurious insects and microorganisms (Harrison 1959). Only a few of those organisms, however, are directly responsible for mortality of healthy trees. The fungus Hypoxylon pruinatum (Klotzsche) Cke. is most important in that respect, killing 1-2%o f the standing volume annually in the Lake States (Anderson 1964). It invades and spreads in cambial tissue, killing it and eventually the branch or stem by girdling. Initially, a canker appears as a sunken, yellowish-orange area in the bark (Anderson 1956). In a later stage the outer bark raises in blister-like patches and sloughs off exposing blackened, crumbling cortex

The Relationship of the Abundance of \u3ci\u3eSaperda Inornata\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eOberea Schaumii\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Large Trembling Aspen, \u3ci\u3ePopulus Tremuloides\u3c/i\u3e, to Site Quality

Saperda inornata Say and Oberea schaumii LeConte are cerambycids that inhabit the stems of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michaux, root suckers and the twigs of larger trees. The biologies of those species in northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan were reported by Nord et al. (1972a and 1972b). S. inornata oviposits on the cambium under horseshoe- or shield-shaped egg niches gnawed in the outer bark by the female. The term egg niche, connotes an oviposition place prepared by the female using the mandibles and ovipositor (Linsley 1959). There are usually 2 or 3 egg niches at one level on the stem or twig, and a globose gall consisting of callus tissue forms there. The larvae feed in the cambial and callus tissue around the gall and require 1 or 2 years to complete development. The 0. schaurnii female gnaws an elongate, rectangular egg niche in the outer bark and deposits an egg on the cambium beneath it. The larva bores downward from the egg niche in the wood. Most individuals require 3 years to complete the life cycle; but some take only 2 years, while others take 4 years. A survey designed to determine the importance of the egg niches and galleries of S. inornata and 0. schaumii as infection courts of Hypoxylon pruinatum (Klotzsche) Cke. in large trembling aspen was begun in 1962 in Iron and Ontonogan Counties, Michigan. The data from that survey indicated that abundance of borers might be correlated with the site quality of the stand. Therefore in 1963 the survey was redesigned to detect differences in abundance between stands of different site quality. Since the redesign concerned only the selection of stands, not the sampling procedures used within the stand, most of the trees sampled in 1962 were incorporated into the redesigned survey. The data collected in conjuction with the survey also make possible conclusions regarding the distribution of borer galleries within the crowns of large trees. Those results and a discussion of competition between S. inornata and 0. schaurnii are given in another paper (Nord and Knight, 1972a). The incidence of H. pruinatum in the galleries was reported by Nord and Knight (1972b)

Interferometric tracking system for the tracking and data relay satellite

This report documents construction and testing of the Interferometric Tracking System project developed under the NASA SBIR contract NAS5-30313. Manuals describing the software and hardware, respectively entitled: 'Field Station Guide to Operations' and 'Field Station Hardware Manual' are included as part of this final report. The objective of this contract was to design, build, and operate a system of three ground stations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry techniques to measure the TDRS orbit. The ground stations receive signals from normal satellite traffic, store these signals in co-located computers, and transmit the information via phone lines to a central processing site which correlates the signals to determine relative time delays. Measurements from another satellite besides TDRS are used to determine clock offsets. A series of such measurements will ultimately be employed to derive the orbital parameters, yielding positions accurate to within 50 meters or possibly better

Associated Insects Reared from Galls of Saperda Inornata (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) on Trembling Aspen in Michigan

The poplar gall Saperda, Saperda inornata Say, is a common pest of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx, in Michigan forests. Through its egg-laying activities and larval feeding, this insect causes wood defects and tree mortality (Graham et al., 1963). While studying natural populations of this insect (Grimble and Knight, 1970), we collected many galls and found through rearing and dissection that they harbor a large and varied insect fauna

Repair Expenses, Selling Contracts, and House Prices

This paper examines the impact of repair expenses on the selling price of a house. Using data from settlement statements, we investigate the frequency and extent to which performance of major repairs is part of the sales contract. We find that most homes are restored to a "normally maintained" state each time the home changes hands, and that the cost of bringing the home to this condition is included as part of house selling price. This implies it may be unnecessary to measure maintenance levels when using transaction data to study components of house price or to construct house price indexes.

Advanced Tools and Techniques for Formal Techniques in Aerospace Systems

This is the final technical report for grant number NAG-1-02101. The title of this grant was "Advanced Tools and Techniques for Formal Techniques In Aerospace Systems". The principal investigator on this grant was Dr. John C. Knight of the Computer Science Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4740. This report summarizes activities under the grant during the period 7/01/2002 to 9/30/2004. This report is organized as follows. In section 2, the technical background of the grant is summarized. Section 3 lists accomplishments and section 4 lists students funded under the grant. In section 5, we present a list of presentations given at various academic and research institutions about the research conducted. Finally, a list of publications generated under this grant is included in section 6