A preliminary open source software infrastructure for the health sector in the UAE

Information Technology (IT) is the key to ensuring that health care information is accessible when and where it is needed, and to supporting personal health, health care decision making, and health system sustainability. IT is making steady progress toward linking all aspects of patient care - it is the future of healthcare provision and it is growing fast. However, spending on new medical technology is considered a leading contributor to the increase in overall health spending. The development of IT systems in the health industry is often a high-cost venture. One way to address the problem of cost, and hence to improve the quality of the services provided by these systems, is to consider making IT applications available with no licensing fees through the Open Source Software community. This paper presents the initial development of a preliminary Open Source Software platform containing software that meets user requirements in the health sector. This platform is different from other medical Open Source Software, in that it integrates free open-source applications which range from operating systems to email systems. The paper also highlights the financial advantages of introducing Open Source Software and its positive impact on the quality of health services

Building a tool for testing real time systems

Ensuring the correctness of real time systems before the development and ensuring that it functions correctly within the specified time constraints become a very important task to avoid catastrophic consequences. A number of design issues affect the testing strategies and the testability of the system. In this thesis, we have designed and built a tool that generates the timed test cases by implementing the state characterization technique. The tool consists of the following steps: First, the real-time system is modeled as a Timed Input Output Automaton (TIOA). Its description is written in a file to be parsed by the tool using JAVACC. TIOA has locations, clocks and transitions with time constraints. Second, the tool samples the stored TIOA into sub automaton easily testable, called Grid Automaton. Third, the tool is then responsible for transforming this Grid Automaton into a Non-deterministic Timed Finite State Machine (NFSM). Finally, test cases are generated from NFSM, using the Generalized Wp-method. We have applied many examples to the tool and it demonstrates its ability to detect many possible faults. (Abstract shortened by UMI.

Reliability model for component-based systems in cosmic (a case study)

Software component technology has a substantial impact on modern IT evolution. The benefits of this technology, such as reusability, complexity management, time and effort reduction, and increased productivity, have been key drivers of its adoption by industry. One of the main issues in building component-based systems is the reliability of the composed functionality of the assembled components. This paper proposes a reliability assessment model based on the architectural configuration of a component-based system and the reliability of the individual components, which is usage- or testing-independent. The goal of this research is to improve the reliability assessment process for large software component-based systems over time, and to compare alternative component-based system design solutions prior to implementation. The novelty of the proposed reliability assessment model lies in the evaluation of the component reliability from its behavior specifications, and of the system reliability from its topology; the reliability assessment is performed in the context of the implementation-independent ISO/IEC 19761:2003 International Standard on the COSMIC method chosen to provide the component\u27s behavior specifications. In essence, each component of the system is modeled by a discrete time Markov chain behavior based on its behavior specifications with extended-state machines. Then, a probabilistic analysis by means of Markov chains is performed to analyze any uncertainty in the component\u27s behavior. Our hypothesis states that the less uncertainty there is in the component\u27s behavior, the greater the reliability of the component. The system reliability assessment is derived from a typical component-based system architecture with composite reliability structures, which may include the composition of the serial reliability structures, the parallel reliability structures and the p-out-of-n reliability structures. The approach of assessing component-based system reliability in the COSMIC context is illustrated with the railroad crossing case study. © 2008 World Scientific Publishing Company

Secure software engineering: A new teaching perspective based on the SWEBOK

Lack of a suitable set of controls during the development life cycle of software will lead to mistakes in the requirements, design, or code of software and, therefore, result in significant security vulnerabilities. This paper proposes a software engineering course from the security perspective, which can be taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It will prepare students to successfully cope with the technical challenges as well as the non technical issues associated with the software development process, while integrating security into each phase of the process. The course materials are derived from the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) published by the IEEE Computer Society with the support of a consortium of industrial sponsors

A reliable mobile application for safety on roads

Road traffic jams, roads construction works, maintenance activities, traffic incidents and other unplanned events represent a major concern in almost all countries that can result in considerable delays, higher fuel consumption, higher cost expenses and many other indirect effects which ultimately require immediate attention to alleviate such concerns that can influence the users. This was a motivation to combine mobile applications with traffic load analysis and develop an application that assists in giving drivers an access to traffic information, mainly road works and incidents, to help them better plan their daily journeys across the city. With this Mobile Application for the SAfety on Roads (MASAR), drivers can now stay in touch with latest information and traffic updates on the move in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. MASAR is dedicated to making drivers journey as safe and reliable as possible. Where delays occur, MASAR wants to make sure that you can access information quickly and easily. Furthermore, drivers can now take advantage of free travel news through MASAR. The current version of the application allows drivers to check how the traffic is flowing on highways and roads in Abu Dhabi before they begin their journey. The app only provides information for roads that are managed within Abu Dhabi, which are detailed within Abu Dhabi Network Maps. The travel information covers unplanned incidents such as accidents and congestion, plus lane closures and other restrictions due to improvement works. As future enhancements, the team is planning to covers all United Arab Emirates roads and makes the application compatible with almost all mobile phone platforms. © IFAC

Exploratory study on innovative use of ISO standards for IT security in the UAE

With the high percentage of security breaches, following IT standards could be one way to protecting sensitive information and auditing the accuracy, confidentiality, and integrity of information within the organization. ISO security standards enable organizations to practice safe security techniques to minimize the number of successful IT security attacks. Many researches have been established extensively in both the research and industry fields that highlighted the need for implementing an information security standards and policy in strive towards the securing of information. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no such study on using ISO standards in the IT field, in the UAE. This paper focuses more specifically on the IT security techniques. Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) seeks to focus its efforts on the IT field - IT Security techniques being an area of interest. Since the UAE is always coping with the rapid growth in technology and it has a lack of publications on the topic of IT standards, it is worthy to address the usage of ISO standards in this region. This research survey, which sent to many public and private Emirati organizations, shows that the usage of ISO standards in this region of the world is quite promising

Enhancing social science research in the UAE: An open source software solution university of sharjah (UOS) case study

© 2015 The Manar Abu Talib, Muhammed AbuOdeh, Adhraa Almansoori and Arwa AlNauimi. Researchers, practitioners and social scientists all agree on the enormous importance of social science research in advancing human knowledge and informing public policy makers. The National Research Foundation, along with other organizations in the UAE, is leading the initiative to integrate the efforts of social research institutions in order to support the decision making process in the UAE. As indicated by a number of social researchers during the last forum held on May 29-30, 2012, at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, UAE, there is a huge demand for a unified database for social science research in the UAE. In this study, we report on a survey that was distributed to more than 140 social science researchers in four main cities in the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai and Sharjah. It shows that more than 90% of the researchers in the field of social sciences have faced challenges when conducting their research. We have also conducted interviews with the faculty members in the Department of Social Science at the University Of Sharjah (UOS). Although there are library resources available at UOS, researchers still face such challenges, compared to their colleagues at other universities. As a result, the Dataverse Network Bayanatona , an open source application, was proposed as a complete solution for these researchers in the UAE

Developing an initial open-source platform for the higher education sector - A case study: Alhosn University

The higher education community is concerned about the cost and performance of commercial software products. A common view is that existing proprietary options do not have the features required by instructors and students or allow for cost-effective customization. One way to address these problems in poorer countries, and hence improve their quality of education and access to knowledge, would be to consider the modern educational tools available with no license fees through open-source software. This paper presents an initial development of a complete open-source software platform called the Open University Project, which contains software that precisely fulfills user requirements in the higher education sector. The paper also highlights the financial advantages of introducing open-source software in developing countries and its positive impact on educational quality. © 2009 IEEE

Assessment of real-time software specifications quality using COSMIC-FFP

The success of a system development project largely depends on the non ambiguity of its system-level requirements specification document where the requirements are described at the \u27system level\u27 and not at the software and hardware level, and which document serves as an input to the design, implementation and testing phases. The way the system requirements specification document is written is sometimes ambiguous from a software viewpoint. This paper approaches the problem faced by the codesign, namely, the ill-defined functionality allocation between the hardware and the software for real time systems and presents an initial solution to it. It discusses what are the system requirements to be assigned to the hardware and what is really to be done by the software? Different decisions can lead then to various alternatives of allocation of functions between hardware and software: this will affect what software will be built and, correspondingly, the final functional size of software while measuring it using COS-MIC-FFP measurement method. This paper presents an initial solution towards understanding the applicability of the COSMIC-FFP functional size measurement method in assessing the hardware-software requirements allocation, and illustrates the approach on a Steam Boiler Controller case study. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg