2,421 research outputs found
Discovery and Selection of Certified Web Services Through Registry-Based Testing and Verification
Reliability and trust are fundamental prerequisites for the establishment of functional relationships among peers in a Collaborative Networked Organisation (CNO), especially in the context of Virtual Enterprises where economic benefits can be directly at stake. This paper presents a novel approach towards effective service discovery and selection that is no longer based on informal, ambiguous and potentially unreliable service descriptions, but on formal specifications that can be used to verify and certify the actual Web service implementations. We propose the use of Stream X-machines (SXMs) as a powerful modelling formalism for constructing the behavioural specification of a Web service, for performing verification through the generation of exhaustive test cases, and for performing validation through animation or model checking during service selection
Some modifications to the SNIP journal impact indicator
The SNIP (source normalized impact per paper) indicator is an indicator of
the citation impact of scientific journals. The indicator, introduced by Henk
Moed in 2010, is included in Elsevier's Scopus database. The SNIP indicator
uses a source normalized approach to correct for differences in citation
practices between scientific fields. The strength of this approach is that it
does not require a field classification system in which the boundaries of
fields are explicitly defined. In this paper, a number of modifications that
will be made to the SNIP indicator are explained, and the advantages of the
resulting revised SNIP indicator are pointed out. It is argued that the
original SNIP indicator has some counterintuitive properties, and it is shown
mathematically that the revised SNIP indicator does not have these properties.
Empirically, the differences between the original SNIP indicator and the
revised one turn out to be relatively small, although some systematic
differences can be observed. Relations with other source normalized indicators
proposed in the literature are discussed as well
Rivals for the crown: Reply to Opthof and Leydesdorff
We reply to the criticism of Opthof and Leydesdorff [arXiv:1002.2769] on the
way in which our institute applies journal and field normalizations to citation
counts. We point out why we believe most of the criticism is unjustified, but
we also indicate where we think Opthof and Leydesdorff raise a valid point
Towards a new crown indicator: Some theoretical considerations
The crown indicator is a well-known bibliometric indicator of research
performance developed by our institute. The indicator aims to normalize
citation counts for differences among fields. We critically examine the
theoretical basis of the normalization mechanism applied in the crown
indicator. We also make a comparison with an alternative normalization
mechanism. The alternative mechanism turns out to have more satisfactory
properties than the mechanism applied in the crown indicator. In particular,
the alternative mechanism has a so-called consistency property. The mechanism
applied in the crown indicator lacks this important property. As a consequence
of our findings, we are currently moving towards a new crown indicator, which
relies on the alternative normalization mechanism
Remote sensing of soot carbon – Part 2: Understanding the absorption Ångström exponent
Recently, some authors have suggested that the absorption Ångström
exponent (AAE) can be used to deduce the component aerosol
absorption optical depths (AAODs) of carbonaceous aerosols in the
AERONET database. This AAE approach presumes that AAE ≪ 1
for soot carbon, which contrasts the traditional small particle limit
of AAE = 1 for soot carbon. Thus, we provide an overview of the
AERONET retrieval, and we investigate how the microphysics of
carbonaceous aerosols can be interpreted in the AERONET AAE
product. We find that AAE ≪ 1 in the AERONET database requires
large coarse mode fractions and/or imaginary refractive indices that
increase with wavelength. Neither of these characteristics are
consistent with the current definition of soot carbon, so we explore
other possibilities for the cause of AAE ≪ 1. AAE
is related to particle size, and coarse mode particles have
a smaller AAE than fine mode particles for a given aerosol mixture
of species. We also note that the mineral goethite has an imaginary
refractive index that increases with wavelength, is very common in
dust regions, and can easily contribute to AAE ≪ 1. We find that
AAE ≪ 1 can not be caused by soot carbon, unless soot carbon has
an imaginary refractive index that increases with wavelength
throughout the visible and near-infrared spectrums. Finally, AAE is
not a robust parameter for separating carbonaceous absorption from
dust aerosol absorption in the AERONET database
Monitoring evolved stars for binarity with the HERMES spectrograph
Binarity is often invoked to explain peculiarities that can not be explained
by the standard theory of stellar evolution. Detecting orbital motion via the
Doppler effect is the best method to test binarity when direct imaging is not
possible. However, when the orbital period exceeds the duration of a typical
observing run, monitoring often becomes problematic. Placing a high-throughput
spectrograph on a small semi- robotic telescope allowed us to carry out a
radial-velocity survey of various types of peculiar evolved stars. In this
review we highlight some findings after the first four years of observations.
Thus, we detect eccentric binaries among hot subdwarfs, barium, S stars, and
post- AGB stars with disks, which are not predicted by the standard binary
interaction theory. In disk objects, in addition, we find signs of the on-
going mass transfer to the companion, and an intriguing line splitting, which
we attribute to the scattered light of the primary.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the conference "Setting a new
standard in the analysis of binary stars", A. Tkachenko (ed.), European
Astron. Soc. Publ. Se
PEN as self-vetoing structural Material
Polyethylene Naphtalate (PEN) is a mechanically very favorable polymer.
Earlier it was found that thin foils made from PEN can have very high
radio-purity compared to other commercially available foils. In fact, PEN is
already in use for low background signal transmission applications (cables).
Recently it has been realized that PEN also has favorable scintillating
properties. In combination, this makes PEN a very promising candidate as a
self-vetoing structural material in low background experiments. Components
instrumented with light detectors could be built from PEN. This includes
detector holders, detector containments, signal transmission links, etc. The
current R\&D towards qualification of PEN as a self-vetoing low background
structural material is be presented.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, contribution to Proceedings of the sixth workshop
on Low Radioactivity Techniques 2017, 23-27 May 2017 Seoul, to be published
at AIP, editor: D. Leonar
CH in stellar atmospheres: an extensive linelist
The advent of high-resolution spectrographs and detailed stellar atmosphere
modelling has strengthened the need for accurate molecular data.
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars spectra are interesting objects with
which to study transitions from the CH molecule. We combine programs for
spectral analysis of molecules and stellar-radiative transfer codes to build an
extensive CH linelist, including predissociation broadening as well as newly
identified levels. We show examples of strong predissociation CH lines in CEMP
stars, and we stress the important role played by the CH features in the
Bond-Neff feature depressing the spectra of barium stars by as much as 0.2
magnitudes in the 3000 -- 5500 \AA\ range. Because of the extreme
thermodynamic conditions prevailing in stellar atmospheres (compared to the
laboratory), molecular transitions with high energy levels can be observed.
Stellar spectra can thus be used to constrain and improve molecular data.Comment: 33pages, 15 figures, accepted in A&A external data available at
http://www.astro.ulb.ac.be/~spectrotools
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