Analyses of the usefulness of Software Defined Storage Solutions for Web-based Digital Preservation Applications

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Scheduling Grid Applications with Software Requirements

The aim of task scheduling is to minimize the makespan of applications, exploiting the best possible way to use shared resources. Applications have requirements which call for customized environments for their execution. One way to provide such environments is to use virtualization on demand. This paper presents two schedulers based on integer linear programming which schedule virtual machines (VMs) in grid resources and tasks on these VMs. The schedulers differ from previous work by the joint scheduling of tasks and VMs and by considering the impact of the available bandwidth on the quality of the schedule. Experiments show the efficacy of the schedulers in scenarios with different network configurations.

Microcomputer software for creating statistics from population census microdata for GIS planning applications (with a description of the REDATAM software)

Includes bibliography

Definition, realization and evaluation of a software reference architecture for use in space applications

A recent initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) aims at the definition and adoption of a software reference architecture for use in on-board software of future space missions. Our PhD project placed in the context of that effort. At the outset of our work we gathered all the industrial needs relevant to ESA and all the main European space stakeholders and we were able to consolidate a set of technical high-level requirements for the fulfillment of them. The conclusion we reached from that phase confirmed that the adoption of a software reference architecture was indeed the best solution for the fulfillment of the high-level requirements. The software reference architecture we set on building rests on four constituents: (i) a component model, to design the software as a composition of individually verifiable and reusable software units; (ii) a computational model, to ensure that the architectural description of the software is statically analyzable; (iii) a programming model, to ensure that the implementation of the design entities conforms with the semantics, the assumptions and the constraints of the computational model; (iv) a conforming execution platform, to actively preserve at run time the properties asserted by static analysis. The nature, feasibility and fitness of constituents (ii), (iii) and (iv), were already proved by the author in an international project that preceded the commencement of the PhD work. The core of the PhD project was therefore centered on the design and prototype implementation of constituent (i), a component model. Our proposed component model is centered on: (i) rigorous separation of concerns, achieved with the support for design views and by careful allocation of concerns to the dedicated software entities; (ii) the support for specification and model-based analysis of extra-functional properties; (iii) the inclusion space-specific concerns.

The secret life of software applications

One of the most undervalued problems by smartphone users is the security of data on their mobile devices. Today smartphones and tablets are used to send messages and photos and especially to stay connected with social networks, forums and other platforms. These devices contain a lot of private information like passwords, phone numbers, private photos, emails, etc. and an attacker may choose to steal or destroy this information. The main topic of this thesis is the security of the applications present on the most popular stores (App Store for iOS and Play Store for Android) and of their mechanisms for the management of security. The analysis is focused on how the architecture of the two systems protects users from threats and highlights the real presence of malware and spyware in their respective application stores. The work described in subsequent chapters explains the study of the behavior of 50 Android applications and 50 iOS applications performed using network analysis software. Furthermore, this thesis presents some statistics about malware and spyware present on the respective stores and the permissions they require. At the end the reader will be able to understand how to recognize malicious applications and which of the two systems is more suitable for him. This is how this thesis is structured. The first chapter introduces the security mechanisms of the Android and iOS platform architectures and the security mechanisms of their respective application stores. The Second chapter explains the work done, what, why and how we have chosen the tools needed to complete our analysis. The third chapter discusses about the execution of tests, the protocol followed and the approach to assess the “level of danger” of each application that has been checked. The fourth chapter explains the results of the tests and introduces some statistics on the presence of malicious applications on Play Store and App Store. The fifth chapter is devoted to the study of the users, what they think about and how they might avoid malicious applications. The sixth chapter seeks to establish, following our methodology, what application store is safer. In the end, the seventh chapter concludes the thesis.

Reusable Knowledge-based Components for Building Software Applications: A Knowledge Modelling Approach

In computer science, different types of reusable components for building software applications were proposed as a direct consequence of the emergence of new software programming paradigms. The success of these components for building applications depends on factors such as the flexibility in their combination or the facility for their selection in centralised or distributed environments such as internet. In this article, we propose a general type of reusable component, called primitive of representation, inspired by a knowledge-based approach that can promote reusability. The proposal can be understood as a generalisation of existing partial solutions that is applicable to both software and knowledge engineering for the development of hybrid applications that integrate conventional and knowledge based techniques. The article presents the structure and use of the component and describes our recent experience in the development of real-world applications based on this approach.

Integrated learning of production engineering software applications in a shipbuilding context

Acourse focused on the acquisition of integration competencies in ship production engineering, organized in collaboration with selected industry partners, is presented in this paper. The first part of the course is dedicated to Project Management: the students acquire skills in defining, using MS-PROJECT, the work breakdown structure (WBS), and the organization breakdown structure (OBS) in Engineering projects, through a series of examples of increasing complexity with the final one being the construction planning of a vessel. The second part of the course is dedicated to the use of a database manager, MS-ACCESS, in managing production related information.Aseries of increasing complexity examples is treated, the final one being the management of the piping database of a real vessel. This database consists of several thousand pipes, for which a production timing frame is defined connecting this part of the course with the first one. Finally, the third part of the course is devoted to working withFORAN,an Engineering Production application developed bySENERand widely used in the shipbuilding industry. With this application, the structural elements where all the outfittings will be located are defined through cooperative work by the students, working simultaneously in the same 3D model. In this paper, specific details about the learning process are given. Surveys have been posed to the students in order to get feedback from their experience as well as to assess their satisfaction with the learning process, compared to more traditional ones. Results from these surveys are discussed in the paper.

A Hardware-Software Approach for On-Line Soft Error Mitigation in Interrupt-Driven Applications

Integrity assurance of configuration data has a significant impact on microcontroller-based systems reliability. This is especially true when running applications driven by events which behavior is tightly coupled to this kind of data. This work proposes a new hybrid technique that combines hardware and software resources for detecting and recovering soft-errors in system configuration data. Our approach is based on the utilization of a common built-in microcontroller resource (timer) that works jointly with a software-based technique, which is responsible to periodically refresh the configuration data. The experiments demonstrate that non-destructive single event effects can be effectively mitigated with reduced overheads. Results show an important increase in fault coverage for SEUs and SETs, about one order of magnitude.

Combining data driven programming with component based software development:with applications in geovisualisation and dynamic data driven application systems

Software development methodologies are becoming increasingly abstract, progressing from low level assembly and implementation languages such as C and Ada, to component based approaches that can be used to assemble applications using technologies such as JavaBeans and the .NET framework. Meanwhile, model driven approaches emphasise the role of higher level models and notations, and embody a process of automatically deriving lower level representations and concrete software implementations. The relationship between data and software is also evolving. Modern data formats are becoming increasingly standardised, open and empowered in order to support a growing need to share data in both academia and industry. Many contemporary data formats, most notably those based on XML, are self-describing, able to specify valid data structure and content, and can also describe data manipulations and transformations. Furthermore, while applications of the past have made extensive use of data, the runtime behaviour of future applications may be driven by data, as demonstrated by the field of dynamic data driven application systems. The combination of empowered data formats and high level software development methodologies forms the basis of modern game development technologies, which drive software capabilities and runtime behaviour using empowered data formats describing game content. While low level libraries provide optimised runtime execution, content data is used to drive a wide variety of interactive and immersive experiences. This thesis describes the Fluid project, which combines component based software development and game development technologies in order to define novel component technologies for the description of data driven component based applications. The thesis makes explicit contributions to the fields of component based software development and visualisation of spatiotemporal scenes, and also describes potential implications for game development technologies. The thesis also proposes a number of developments in dynamic data driven application systems in order to further empower the role of data in this field.

Social software in Higher Education:the diversity of applications and their contributions to students' learning experiences

Higher education institutions are increasingly using social software tools to support teaching and learning. Despite the fact that social software is often used in a social context, these applications can significantly contribute to the educational experience of a student. However, as the social software domain comprises a considerable diversity of tools, the respective tools can be expected to differ in the way they can contribute to teaching and learning. In this review on the educational use of social software, we systematically analyze and compare the diverse social software tools and identify their contributions to teaching and learning. By integrating established learning theory and the extant literature on the individual social software applications we seek to contribute to a theoretical foundation for social software use and the choice of tools. Case vignettes from several UK higher education institutions are used to illustrate the different applications of social software tools in teaching and learning.

Hybrid ground-aerial mesh networks for IoT monitoring applications: network design and software platform development

The Internet of Things (IoT) has grown rapidly in recent years, leading to an increased need for efficient and secure communication between connected devices. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of small, low-power devices that are capable of sensing and exchanging data, and are often used in IoT applications. In addition, Mesh WSNs involve intermediate nodes forwarding data to ensure more robust communication. The integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Mesh WSNs has emerged as a promising solution for increasing the effectiveness of data collection, as UAVs can act as mobile relays, providing extended communication range and reducing energy consumption. However, the integration of UAVs and Mesh WSNs still poses new challenges, such as the design of efficient control and communication strategies. This thesis explores the networking capabilities of WSNs and investigates how the integration of UAVs can enhance their performance. The research focuses on three main objectives: (1) Ground Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks, (2) Aerial Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks, and (3) Ground/Aerial WMSN integration. For the first objective, we investigate the use of the Bluetooth Mesh standard for IoT monitoring in different environments. The second objective focuses on deploying aerial nodes to maximize data collection effectiveness and QoS of UAV-to-UAV links while maintaining the aerial mesh connectivity. The third objective investigates hybrid WMSN scenarios with air-to-ground communication links. One of the main contribution of the thesis consists in the design and implementation of a software framework called "Uhura", which enables the creation of Hybrid Wireless Mesh Sensor Networks and abstracts and handles multiple M2M communication stacks on both ground and aerial links. The operations of Uhura have been validated through simulations and small-scale testbeds involving ground and aerial devices.

Hardware-software design of embedded systems for intelligent sensing applications

This Thesis wants to highlight the importance of ad-hoc designed and developed embedded systems in the implementation of intelligent sensor networks. As evidence four areas of application are presented: Precision Agriculture, Bioengineering, Automotive and Structural Health Monitoring. For each field is reported one, or more, smart device design and developing, in addition to on-board elaborations, experimental validation and in field tests. In particular, it is presented the design and development of a fruit meter. In the bioengineering field, three different projects are reported, detailing the architectures implemented and the validation tests conducted. Two prototype realizations of an inner temperature measurement system in electric motors for an automotive application are then discussed. Lastly, the HW/SW design of a Smart Sensor Network is analyzed: the network features on-board data management and processing, integration in an IoT toolchain, Wireless Sensor Network developments and an AI framework for vibration-based structural assessment.