Modelling and Administration of Contract-Based Systems

Mirroring the paper versions exchanged between businesses today, electronic contracts offer the possibility of dynamic, automatic creation and enforcement of restrictions and compulsions on agent behaviour that are designed to ensure business objectives are met. However, where there are many contracts within a particular application, it can be difficult to determine whether the system can reliably fulfil them all; computer-parsable electronic contracts may allow such verification to be automated. In this paper, we describe a conceptual framework and architecture specification in which normative business contracts can be electronically represented, verified, established, renewed, etc. In particular, we aim to allow systems containing multiple contracts to be checked for conflicts and violations of business objectives. We illustrate the framework and architecture with an aerospace example.

Electronic Business Contracts between Services

Electronic contracts mirror the paper versions exchanged between businesses today, and offer the possibility of dynamic, automatic creation and enforcement of restrictions and compulsions on service behaviour that are designed to ensure business objectives are met. Where there are many contracts within a particular application, it can be difficult to determine whether the system can reliably fulfil them all, yet computer-parsable electronic contracts may allow such verification to be automated. In this chapter, we describe a conceptual framework and architecture specification in which normative business contracts can be electronically represented, verified, established, renewed, and so on. In particular, we aim to allow systems containing multiple contracts to be checked for conflicts and violations of business objectives. We illustrate the framework and architecture with an aerospace aftermarket example.

Automating the product derivation process of multi-agent systems product lines

Agent-oriented software engineering and software product lines are two promising software engineering techniques. Recent research work has been exploring their integration, namely multi-agent systems product lines (MAS-PLs), to promote reuse and variability management in the context of complex software systems. However, current product derivation approaches do not provide specific mechanisms to deal with MAS-PLs. This is essential because they typically encompass several concerns (e.g., trust, coordination, transaction, state persistence) that are constructed on the basis of heterogeneous technologies (e.g., object-oriented frameworks and platforms). In this paper, we propose the use of multi-level models to support the configuration knowledge specification and automatic product derivation of MAS-PLs. Our approach provides an agent-specific architecture model that uses abstractions and instantiation rules that are relevant to this application domain. In order to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach, we have implemented it as an extension of an existing product derivation tool, called GenArch. The approach has also been evaluated through the automatic instantiation of two MAS-PLs, demonstrating its potential and benefits to product derivation and configuration knowledge specification.

Aligning system requirements with stakeholder concerns : use of case studies and patterns to capture domain experience

Traditionally system development starts with the specification of system requirements. The focus of such an approach is on the system under construction, which is considered as of primary importance to the development success. The major problem with such an approach, however, is the neglect of concerns held by the various system stakeholders, whose opinions, loyalties and fears may impact considerably the perception and the reception of the implemented system, its functions and its features. Typically, stakeholder concerns are not collected or identified, and are viewed as of little significance in the system development process. In this paper, however, we present the case for recognising the value of stakeholder concerns, and their use in aligning business needs with system requirements. We describe a method of gathering and analysing stakeholder concerns across an application domain, and then packaging the development experience in dealing with these concerns into patterns. Experience patterns can subsequently be used to guide systems analysts in selecting the most appropriate requirements for the target stakeholder community.

Global software development : the next RE frontier?

Requirements Engineers face an emerging set of challenges, which compound the traditional Requirements Engineering (RE) challenges (stakeholder identification, domain expertise, communication, analytic skills, problem solving, ...) that have arguably still not been fully addressed. This is the challenge of RE in the world of global software development, with requirements teams working in virtual mode (possibly on different continents), with the software having to operate in multiple contexts, addressing the needs of different cultures and legal jurisdictions, and having to build sales in different marketplaces. Further the need arises to specify software that is progressively enhanced through regular releases, rather than the “green field” specification of products.

This theoretical paper introduces these challenges, and presents an initial selection of theoretical models, drawn from many and varied source disciplines, which might be employed to gain insight into various features of RE in support of global software development. To illustrate the potential relevance of this selection of models, a longitudinal case study with a recently identified software developer, to follow the specification and subsequent roll-out of a future release of a software product for sale globally, is introduced. Features of the situation faced by that organisation are highlighted, to illustrate the potential relevance of the diverse models that have been identified.

Kanban devs modelling, simulation and verification

Kanban Control Systems (KCS) have become a widely accepted form of inventory and production control. The creation of realistic Discrete Events Simulation (DES) models of KCS require specification of both information and material flow. There are several commercially available simulation packages that are able to model these systems although the use of an application specific modelling language provides means for rapid model development. A new Kanban specific simulation language as well as a high-speed execution engine is verified in this paper through the simulation of a single stage single part type production line. A single stage single part KCS is modelled with exhaustive enumeration of the decision variables of container sizes and number of Kanbans. Several performance measures were used; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) of container Flow Time (FT), mean line throughput as well as the Coefficient of Variance (CV) of FT and Cycle Time were used to determine the robustness of the control system.

Valuing criminal court services

Criminal courts fundamentally provide a forum for conducting prosecutions with a guilty plea or a trial. At present, there is no generally accepted  methodology for estimating the monetary value of those services. The  purpose of this paper is to attempt to fill this gap by proposing a  methodology predicated on the joint optimising decisions of society and the defendant, who are the two stakeholders in any criminal case. The technique can also be potentially used to evaluate both theoretically and empirically the impact of court delay reduction programs on social welfare, and the specification of socially optimal court waiting times.

Can we obtain realistic parameter estimates for the 'protection for sale' model?

In the Grossman and Helpman (1994) model of endogenous trade protection, sectoral lobbies try to influence an incumbent government that maximizes a weighted sum of political contributions and aggregate welfare. We empirically investigate this model using U.S. and Turkish data. Our specification is more tightly tied to theory than those in existing studies. Additionally, we assume all specific‐factor owners to be organized into different lobbies. These changes, validated by hypothesis tests, yield more realistic parameter estimates of the government's concern for aggregate welfare and of the fraction of population organized into lobbies.

Input usage, output mix and industry deregulation: an analysis of the Australian dairy manufacturing industry

In this paper we estimate a Translog output distance function for a balanced panel of state level data for the Australian dairy processing sector. We estimate a fixed effects specification employing Bayesian methods, with and without the imposition of monotonicity and curvature restrictions. Our results indicate that Tasmania and Victoria are the most technically efficient states with New South Wales being the least efficient. The imposition of theoretical restrictions marginally affects the results especially with respect to estimates of technical change and industry deregulation. Importantly, our bias estimates show changes in both input use and output mix that result from deregulation. Specifically, we find that deregulation has positively biased the production of butter, cheese and powders.

Manufacturing influence on the delamination fracture behavior of the T800H/3900-2 carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites

'Torayca' T800H/3900-2 is the first material qualified on Boeing Material Specification (BMS 8-276) which utilizes the thermoplastic-particulate interlayer toughening technology. Two manufacturing processes, the autoclave process and the fast heating rated Quickstep™ process, were employed to cure this material. The Quickstep process is a unique composite production technology which utilizes the fast heat transfer rate of fluid to heat and cure polymer composite components. The manufacturing influence on the mode I delamination fracture toughness of laminates was investigated by performing double cantilever beam tests. The composite specimens fabricated by two processes exhibited dissimilar delamination resistance curves (R-curves) under mode I loading. The initial value of fracture toughness GIC-INIT was 564 J/m2 for the autoclave specimens and 527 J/m2 for the Quickstep specimens. However, the average propagation fracture toughness GIC-PROP was 783 J/m2 for the Quickstep specimens, which was 2.6 times of that for the autoclave specimens. The mechanism of fracture occurred during delamination was studied under scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three types of fracture were observed: the interlayer fracture, the interface fracture, and the intralaminar fracture. These three types of fracture played different roles in affecting the delamination resistance curves during the crack growth. More fiber bridging was found in the process of delamination for the Quickstep specimens. Better fiber/matrix adhesion was found in the Quickstep specimens by conducting indentation-debond tests.

Probabilistic reasoning of inconsistent belief in protocol analysis

Security protocols have been recently found with subtle flaws due to incomplete or ambiguous specification. Although formal methods have remarkably assisted in protocol analysis, they ignores the effect of hostile/uncertain environment, which might lead to inconsistent belief that can be held by principals in delivered messages. This discrepant belief may prevent us from representing the insecurity and uncertainty in a real trading situation. Unfortunately, the current approaches lack the ability to handle the inconsistent belief. This article presents a probabilistic method, which intuitively measures the belief from different principals that can be put on the goal of the protocol. The experiments demonstrate our method is useful to enhance the protocol analysis.

Efficiency measurement of Australian dairy farms: national and regional performance

In this paper we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate technical efficiency for a sample of 1742 Australian dairy farms. Bearing in mind data limitations we find that average technical efficiency is 59 per cent, but there are significant regional differences. These results reflect differences in State level milk marketing arrangements in place before dairy deregulation in July 2000 providing an ex post explanation for the changing composition of dairy farms in Australia. We also examine two important technical aspects of DEA implementation. First, how changes in model input specification alter the relative performance of farms. Second, we employ a simple bootstrap procedure to show how changes in sample size affects estimates of technical efficiency. These results have simple but important implications for the use of DEA as an industry-benchmarking tool.

Reuse of learning objects? why, how and when?

This paper describes the rationale behind the specification and acquisition of a Digital Objects Management System (DOMS) at Deakin University. Key drivers are: compliance with the provisions of the Digital Agenda Act for the communication of copyright works; improved management of Deakin’s intellectual property, and reduction in costs of delivering online content via a learning management system.

Details of the desired functionality and potential integration issues are addressed. During the specification stage, additional uses for a digital object management system were identified that relate to the broader notion of knowledge management, and these will be discussed.

At the time of writing, no decision has been made as to which vendor(s) will be successful in gaining the University’s contract for the management of digital learning objects.

Aid effectiveness on growth : a meta study

The aid effectiveness literature contains about 100 papers that see aid as a treatment given to poor countries to generate development. 68 of these papers provide a total of 543 comparable estimates of the effect of aid on growth, which are the data of our meta-analysis. We consider two questions: (Q1) Are the estimates converging to a clear result over time as aid agencies gain experience, models become better and data accumulates? We find that the results do have a positive average, but it is small, insignificant and falling. (Q2) Can we identify the main factors that explain the large differences in the results? We find that much of the variation between studies can be attributed to publication outlet, institutional affiliation, data and specification differences. However, some of the difference between studies is real. In particular, the aid-growth effect is stronger for Asian countries. The meta-analysis indicates also the existence of indirect channels, which need to be further explored.

Domestic violence and the exemption from seeking child support : providing safety or legitimizing ongoing poverty and fear

This article examines the experience of low-income women on welfare in Australia and the process of seeking child support from a violent ex-partner, contrasting this with research from the United States and the United Kingdom. Women in Australia who fear ongoing or renewed abuse as a result of seeking child support are eligible for an exemption. However, the exemption policy does not necessarily provide the intended protection of women and children from ongoing abuse and poverty. The exemption policy route also produces an unintended outcome whereby the perpetrators of violence are financially rewarded as they do not have to pay child support. These outcomes are shaped by a complex interaction of personal, cultural and structural forces that make the process of seeking child support for women who have experienced violence extremely problematic. The article demonstrates how in Australia, as in the US and UK policy contexts, the needs of women and their children are compromised by the details of policy specification and the way policies are implemented within the different systems.