From Self-Adaptation to Self-Evolution Leveraging the Operational Design Domain

Engineering long-running computing systems that achieve their goals under ever-changing conditions pose significant challenges. Self-adaptation has shown to be a viable approach to dealing with changing conditions. Yet, the capabilities of a self-adaptive system are constrained by its operational design domain (ODD), i.e., the conditions for which the system was built (requirements, constraints, and context). Changes, such as adding new goals or dealing with new contexts, require system evolution. While the system evolution process has been automated substantially, it remains human-driven. Given the growing complexity of computing systems, human-driven evolution will eventually become unmanageable. In this paper, we provide a definition for ODD and apply it to a self-adaptive system. Next, we explain why conditions not covered by the ODD require system evolution. Then, we outline a new approach for self-evolution that leverages the concept of ODD, enabling a system to evolve autonomously to deal with conditions not anticipated by its initial ODD. We conclude with open challenges to realise self-evolution.Comment: 7 page

Farmers´use of strategic tools

Lantbruket består av mestadels mikroföretag där antalet anställda inte är högre än fem per arbetsplats. Mycket fokus har legat på den kortsiktiga planeringen, där beroende på hur året sett ut har haft ett stort inflytande över de beslutet som tagits inom produktionen. Forskning visar att även mindre företag som använder sig utav strategisk planering och nyttjande av strategiska planeringsverktyg tenderar till att prestera bättre ekonomiskt. Det finns få studier som visar hur användningen av strategiska planeringsverktyg används eller varför av lantbrukare i Sverige. Syftet med studien är att identifiera vilka strategiska verktyg som lantbrukare använder sig utav och varför för att göra strategiska planer. I teorin förklaras olika modeller av strategiska verktyg och en typologi gjort av Knott (2006) som han har utformat som delar in verktygen i fem olika applikationer, med dess användning och dess relation till företaget. För att genomföra undersökningen har det gjorts semistrukturerade intervjustudier med åtta lantbrukare, hälften av lantbrukarna hade växtodling som huvudsyssla och andra hälften hade mjölk eller köttproduktion som huvudsyssla. Syftet med att intervjua lantbrukare med olika huvudproduktionsgrenar är att se om det finns några tydliga skillnader mellan växtodlingsgårdar och djurgårdar när det kommer till användningen av strategiska planer och verktyg. Studien visar på att kännedomen om specifika verktyg är låg. Det framkommer dock att många av verktygen och modellerna används indirekt av lantbrukaren men att tanken på att det är ett specifikt verktyg eller modell finns inte. Enligt Knott´s typologi använder majoriteten av lantbrukarna ett analytiskt förhållningsätt och ett möjliggörande sätt. Ett intresse finns att börja använda sig mer av strategiska planeringsverktyg och de ansåg att det fanns behov till att bli bättre på det, men orsakerna till att det inte görs i nuläget är tidsbrist och att det inte finns kunskap om hur det ska användas. Även fast vissa inte såg ekonomiska fördelar med en ökad användning såg de andra fördelar. Resultatet visar på att det inte finns några större skillnader mellan växtodlingsgårdar och djurgårdarna.Agriculture consists mostly of micro enterprises where the number of employees is not higher than five per company. Much focus has been on the short term planning, there depending on how the year has looked, has had a great influence on the decisions made in the production. Research shows that even smaller companies that use strategic planning and the use of strategic tools tend to perform better financially. There are few studies that show how the use of strategic planning is used by farmers today in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to identify which strategic tools that farmers use to make strategic plans, and wat are the reasons why they use these tools or not. The theory explains different models of strategic tools and a typology made by Knott that has done to divide the tools into five different applications, with its use and its relation to the company. To do the survey, semi structured interview studies were conducted with eight farmers, half of the participants had only crop production as their main occupation and the other half had milk or meat production as their main occupation. The purpose of interviewing companies with different main productions is to see if there are any clear differences between crop farms and livestock farms when it comes to the use of strategic plans and tools. The study shows that knowledge of specific tools is low. It appears however, that many of the tools and models are used by indirectly by the entrepreneurs, but the idea that it is a specific tool or model does not exist. According to Knott´s typology, the majority of farmers use analytical approach and an enabling way. There is an interest among the participants in starting to use more of strategic planning tools and they felt that there was a need to get better at it, but the reasons why it is not done at the moment are lack of and that there no to little knowledge of how to use it. Even though some did not see the economic benefits of increased use, they saw other benefits. The result show that there are no major differences between crop and dairy/meat farms

Giving credit to the microlenders. Formal microlending, credit constraints and adverse selection: a case study of shrimp farmers in Bangladesh

Smallholder farmers have long been denied access to formal credit, largely because of the high administrative fees associated with loans. A possible solution to this problem, which has become increasingly popular, is the use of microcredit financing, where innovative means of securing the loans, such as peer monitoring, are used. This paper examines the effectiveness of formal microcredit schemes as compared to the traditional informal credit sources in a rural shrimp farming district of Bangladesh. We compare the two types of credit by studying the technical and allocative efficiencies of the two groups of borrowers. The findings suggest that farmers using both types of microcredit have difficulty accessing credit, often over-utilising labour in order to reduce the need for inputs that require cash at the beginning of the season, creating inefficiencies in production. However, the informal lenders, with their closer ties to individual farmers, were more successful in identifying those small-holders most likely to make the best use of the borrowed funds. Thus, although formal microcredit schemes do not impose the high administrative fees of traditional formal lending, they do not necessarily solve the problem of how to select successful borrowers.Economics, Bangladesh, Shrimp Farming, Fisheries, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Livestock Production/Industries,

Predictability modulates the affective and sensory-discriminative neural processing of pain

Knowing what is going to happen next, that is, the capacity to predict upcoming events, modulates the extent to which aversive stimuli induce stress and anxiety. We explored this issue by manipulating the temporal predictability of aversive events by means of a visual cue, which was either correlated or uncorrelated with pain stimuli (electric shocks). Subjects reported lower levels of anxiety, negative valence and pain intensity when shocks were predictable. In addition to attenuate focus on danger, predictability allows for correct temporal estimation of, and selective attention to, the sensory input. With functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that predictability was related to enhanced activity in relevant sensory-discriminative processing areas, such as the primary and secondary sensory cortex and posterior insula. In contrast, the unpredictable more aversive context was correlated to brain activity in the anterior insula and the orbitofrontal cortex, areas associated with affective pain processing. This context also prompted increased activity in the posterior parietal cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex that we attribute to enhanced alertness and sustained attention during unpredictability. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.This study was supported by grants from The Swedish Research Council (2003-5810), The family Hedlund Foundation and Karolinska Institutet. The project was finished in the context of Stockholm Brain Institute.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ett planeringsverktyg för urbana ekosystemtjänster - En länk mellan naturvetenskap och beslutsfattande

This master thesis explores the concept of ecosystem services, in the context of urban planning in Swedish municipalities, with the purpose of putting together a planning development tool for urban ecosystem services. The working process consisted of three steps: (1) to identify problems in the Swedish planning process, (2) to identify relevant aspects of ecosystem services and comprehensive planning, and (3) to find strategic sustainability frameworks to be used as a theoretical foundation for the planning development tool. Information was gathered through a literature study, workshops and regular meetings with officials at Malmö city. The combined data exposed problems in the planning process with working at different scales as well with the lack of communication between ecologists, planners and decision makers. Furthermore, in the comprehensive planning, there was a weak link between long-term sustainability goals, intermediate as well as short-term action and maintenance plans. It has therefore been relevant to try and find a way to strengthen this link and bridge the gap between natural sciences and decision-making. This thesis offers a possible solution to these problems by developing a new planning development tool adapted for urban ecosystem services

Försäkringsavtalsrätt - Biförpliktelser och försäkringspremien

Denna kandidatuppsats i handelsrätt behandlar försäkringsavtalslagen efter de nya ändringarna som trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2006. Lagen ersatte den gamla försäkringsavtalslagen och konsumentförsäkringslagen, som numera utgörs av en gemensam försäkringsavtalslag. Uppsatsen behandlar i första hand försäkringsavtalets rättsliga reglering och har syftet att fungera handlingsdirigerande för försäkringstagaren och försäkringsbolaget. Frågor som försäkringsavtalslagen tar sikte på är bland annat försäkringsavtalets villkor, konsumenternas rättigheter och regleringen av försäkringsfall och försäkringsersättning. Uppsatsen beskriver gällande rätt. Traditionellt juridisk tillvägagångssätt har använts i arbetet med denna uppsats där de sedvanliga rättskällorna med lagtext, förarbeten, praxis och doktrin har tolkats och systematiserats för att belysa gällande rätt. Uppsatsen är främst deskriptiv och belyser försäkringstagarens förpliktelser enligt försäkringsavtalet. Försäkringen eller riskhantering är viktig ur samhällssynpunkt. Sociala trygghetsaspekter står mot försäkringens varaktiga stabilitet ur ett försäkringstekniskt perspektiv. Den nya lagen är konsumentvänlig och därmed tvingande till konsumentens förmån. Försäkringsavtalet är av särskild karaktär. I samma mening är påföljdssystemet annorlunda utformat än vid vanliga avtalstyper. Försäkringsbolaget åtar sig, mot betalning i form av en försäkringspremie, att stå en viss på förhand bestämd risk åt försäkringstagaren. Risken får inte vara reell utan det måste råda en ovisshetsprincip om det så kallade försäkringsfallet kan komma att inträffa och – om så – träder försäkringsbolagets åtaganden i kraft. Försäkringstagarsidan har flera förpliktelser att beakta enligt försäkringsavtalet. Huvudförpliktelsen består utav premiebetalningen. Vid sidan av denna har försäkringstagaren en rad biförpliktelser att beakta. Bryter försäkringstagaren mot förpliktelserna – kan liknas vid avtalsbrott – så kan ersättningen från försäkringen sättas ned. Nedsättningen görs när det är påkallat enligt en pro rata- regel som i sin tur bygger på en skälighetsbedömning. Nedsättningen kan i princip göras med hela försäkringsersättningens belopp. På de olika sidorna står olika samhälleliga betänkanden. Försäkringens sociala aspekt väger tungt inom konsumentförsäkringen samtidigt som försäkringsbolagen måste kunna driva en affärsmässig verksamhet och försäkringskollektivet inte drabbas av andras olycka i allt för stor utsträckning. Vilket i förlängningen skulle göra försäkringen oattraktiv för alla och en var. I det följande kommer alltså försäkringsavtalsregleringens biförpliktelsesystem att belysas

Decoding complex biological networks - tracing essential and modulatory parameters in complex and simplified models of the cell cycle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One of the most well described cellular processes is the cell cycle, governing cell division. Mathematical models of this gene-protein network are therefore a good test case for assessing to what extent we can dissect the relationship between model parameters and system dynamics. Here we combine two strategies to enable an exploration of parameter space in relation to model output. A simplified, piecewise linear approximation of the original model is combined with a sensitivity analysis of the same system, to obtain and validate analytical expressions describing the dynamical role of different model parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We considered two different output responses to parameter perturbations. One was qualitative and described whether the system was still working, i.e. whether there were oscillations. We call parameters that correspond to such qualitative change in system response <it>essential</it>. The other response pattern was quantitative and measured changes in cell size, corresponding to perturbations of <it>modulatory </it>parameters. Analytical predictions from the simplified model concerning the impact of different parameters were compared to a sensitivity analysis of the original model, thus evaluating the predictions from the simplified model. The comparison showed that the predictions on essential and modulatory parameters were satisfactory for small perturbations, but more discrepancies were seen for larger perturbations. Furthermore, for this particular cell cycle model, we found that most parameters were either essential or modulatory. Essential parameters required large perturbations for identification, whereas modulatory parameters were more easily identified with small perturbations. Finally, we used the simplified model to make predictions on critical combinations of parameter perturbations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The parameter characterizations of the simplified model are in large consistent with the original model and the simplified model can give predictions on critical combinations of parameter perturbations. We believe that the distinction between essential and modulatory perturbation responses will be of use for sensitivity analysis, and in discussions of robustness and during the model simplification process.</p

Maximising Academic and Social Outcomes

The MASOEE project brings together engineering faculties in the EUniWell alliance to share best practices for teaching transversal skills so that engineers contribute to societal well-being. The study combines the expertise of several engineering faculties at European universities. It focuses on sharing and developing expertise to improve the social outcomes of engineering students. Namely, researchers examine the similarities and differences between partners regarding their student bodies, teaching, programme structures, and institutions’ culture. Moreover, the work also explores how transversal skills are taught, what student attitudes are in terms of learning these skills, and how educators can better teach them. The research design includes several activities across four work packages (WPs). To ensure that partners use the same skill descriptions, we use well-established organizations' existing definitions. WP1 strives to identify best practices within EUniWell based on the 15 entrepreneurial competencies defined in EU EntreComp Framework. WP2 targets engineering students' ability to solve complex challenges, communication, and networking skills defined in the "21st century skills" by the World Economic Forum. WP3 investigates the engineering schools’ capacity to train engineering students in sustainable competence, forming responsible engineers capable of developing sustainable solutions using the skills defined by the EU GreenComp. WP4 supports the other packages with engineering education research, specifically data collection and analysis, knowledge forming, and evaluation. The project runs from August 2022 until September 2023. The MASOEE project partners gather knowledge within their organisations through joint surveys and focus groups and collectively identify and share best practices. The engineering identity, taught as transversal skills by participating partners, can evolve from a traditional technologist identity along three paths: the self-made engineer, the progressive technologist, and the responsible engineer. By sharing best practices for teaching these skills, we believe we will better understand what the future engineer - who integrates all three identities – will be.<br/

Maximising Academic and Social Outcomes

The MASOEE project brings together engineering faculties in the EUniWell alliance to share best practices for teaching transversal skills so that engineers contribute to societal well-being. The study combines the expertise of several engineering faculties at European universities. It focuses on sharing and developing expertise to improve the social outcomes of engineering students. Namely, researchers examine the similarities and differences between partners regarding their student bodies, teaching, programme structures, and institutions’ culture. Moreover, the work also explores how transversal skills are taught, what student attitudes are in terms of learning these skills, and how educators can better teach them. The research design includes several activities across four work packages (WPs). To ensure that partners use the same skill descriptions, we use well-established organizations' existing definitions. WP1 strives to identify best practices within EUniWell based on the 15 entrepreneurial competencies defined in EU EntreComp Framework. WP2 targets engineering students' ability to solve complex challenges, communication, and networking skills defined in the "21st century skills" by the World Economic Forum. WP3 investigates the engineering schools’ capacity to train engineering students in sustainable competence, forming responsible engineers capable of developing sustainable solutions using the skills defined by the EU GreenComp. WP4 supports the other packages with engineering education research, specifically data collection and analysis, knowledge forming, and evaluation. The project runs from August 2022 until September 2023. The MASOEE project partners gather knowledge within their organisations through joint surveys and focus groups and collectively identify and share best practices. The engineering identity, taught as transversal skills by participating partners, can evolve from a traditional technologist identity along three paths: the self-made engineer, the progressive technologist, and the responsible engineer. By sharing best practices for teaching these skills, we believe we will better understand what the future engineer - who integrates all three identities – will be.<br/