Software reliability — what is it?

Software has become a household necessity in today's world but little has been done to measure its reliability for the consumer. Since software failure has a different basis than hardware failure, existing reliability theory cannot be applied directly: a new software unique theory needs to be defined. Current software practice relies on software quality measures to describe software reliability but recent work has identified both theory and practice for appropriate software reliability analysis. This paper discusses: the need for software reliability analysis in order to more accurately describe system reliability, the shortcomings of current practice, and both the direction of new work in, and the future roles for, software reliability analysis.     

‘Salesman? Hell no!’ Identity struggles of nascent design entrepreneurs

The present study offers new input to the discussion of how entrepreneurship education and training programmes can be tailored to suit design professionals. To a large extent, existing entrepreneurship teaching for creative people is based on a traditional administrative management logic that often results in a clash between entrepreneurial demands and creative identities. The paper is based on the following rationale: the better we understand designers' reasoning and their struggles concerning becoming entrepreneurs, the better we are able to design entrepreneurship learning experiences that meet their needs. Since designers' career‐making tends to be highly driven by their strong sense of identity, the paper takes an identity perspective. The empirical foundation of the research is based on observation studies and phenomenological interviews conducted during an eight‐week entrepreneurship training program. Twenty‐five nascent design entrepreneurs with a professional background as designers participated in the voluntary programme. The paper offers novel and critical insights into designers' experiences of the entrepreneurial identity and reasoning as they participate in entrepreneurship training.     

Dissecting SpyEye – Understanding the design of third generation botnets

Botnet malware is improving with the latest (3rd) generation exemplified by the SpyEye and Zeus botnets. These botnets are important to understand because they target online financial transactions, primarily with banks. In this paper, we analyze the components from multiple generations of the SpyEye botnet in order to understand both how it works and how it is evolving. SpyEye is a sophisticated piece of malware with a modular design that eases the incorporation of improvements. We will discuss in detail the complete framework of SpyEye botnet consisting of the Bot Development Kit (BDK), the plugin architecture, the backend storage server, the bot design and the web-based Command and Control (C&C) management system. In addition, we also examine the techniques used by SpyEye to steal money.     

Control design for the nonlinear benchmark problem via the output regulation method

The problem of designing a feedback controller to achieve asymptotic disturbance rejection / attenuation while maintaining good transient response in the RTAC system is known as a benchmark nonlinear control problem, which has been an intensive research subject since 1995. In this paper, we will further investigate the solvability of the robust disturbance rejection problem of the RTAC system by the measurement output feedback control based on the robust output regulation method. We have obtained a design by overcoming two major obstacles: find a closed-form solution of the regulator equations; and devise a nonlinear internal model to account for non-polynomial nonlinearities.     

A survey on data fusion: what for? in what form? what is next?

Journal of Intelligent Information Systems - Data fusion is the process of merging records from multiple sources which represent the same real-world object into a single representation. This review...     

Clones: what is that smell?

Clones are generally considered bad programming practice in software engineering folklore. They are identified as a bad smell?(Fowler et?al. 1999) and a major contributor to project maintenance difficulties. Clones inherently cause code bloat, thus increasing project size and maintenance costs. In this work, we try to validate the conventional wisdom empirically to see whether cloning makes code more defect prone. This paper analyses the relationship between cloning and defect proneness. For the four medium to large open source projects that we studied, we find that, first, the great majority of bugs are not significantly associated with clones. Second, we find that clones may be less defect prone than non-cloned code. Third, we find little evidence that clones with more copies are actually more error prone. Fourth, we find little evidence to support the claim that clone groups that span more than one file or directory are more defect prone than collocated clones. Finally, we find that developers do not need to put a disproportionately higher effort to fix clone dense bugs. Our findings do not support the claim that clones are really a “bad smell”?(Fowler et?al. 1999). Perhaps we can clone, and breathe easily, at the same?time.     

Cancer biomarker discovery via low molecular weight serum proteome profiling – Where is the tumor?

Time‐course analyses of rapidly processed serum performed in parallel by SELDI and nanoscale LC‐MS/MS have revealed the temporal correlation of several literature‐based disease markers with ex vivo driven events such that their in vivo existence in healthy subjects is questionable. Identification by MS/MS reveals these putative biomarkers to be byproducts of the coagulation cascade and platelet activation and suggests plasmatic analysis may be preferred. In a pilot plasmatic study, a cohort of naïve prostate cancer (PCa) samples were uniformly distinguished from their age‐matched controls (n = 20) on the basis of multiple peptidic components; most notably by a derivative of complement C₄ at 1863 m/z (GLEEELQFSLGSKINVK, C4_1353–1369). The fully tryptic nature of this and other putative PCa discriminants is consistent with the cleavage specificity of common blood proteases and questions the need for tumor‐derived proteolytic activities as has been proposed. In light of the known correlation of disregulated hemostasis with malignant disease, we suggest the underlying differentiating phenomena in these types of analyses may lie in the temporal disparity of sample activation such that the case (patient) samples are preactivated while the control samples are not.     

What is a “Good” Encoding of Guarded Choice?

The π-calculus with synchronous output and mixed-guarded choices is strictly more expressive than the π-calculus with asynchronous output and no choice. This result was recently proved by C. Palamidessi and, as a corollary, she showed that there is no fully compositional encoding from the former into the latter that preserves divergence-freedom and symmetries. This paper argues that there are nevertheless “good” encodings between these calculi. In detail, we present a series of encodings for languages with (1) input-guarded choice, (2) both input- and output-guarded choice, and (3) mixed-guarded choice, and investigate them with respect to compositionality and divergence-freedom. The first and second encoding satisfy all of the above criteria, but various “good” candidates for the third encoding—inspired by an existing distributed implementation—invalidate one or the other criterion. While essentially confirming Palamidessi's result, our study suggests that the combination of strong compositionality and divergence-freedom is too strong for more practical purposes.     

1984–2014. Normal Accidents. Was Charles Perrow Right for the Wrong Reasons?

In 1984, Charles Perrow released the landmark book Normal Accident (NA), in which he argued the inevitability of accidents in certain types of high‐risk systems.The aim of this article is to reconsider the book, 30 years after its publication, and offer a new interpretation of its points. The message of the book seems as compelling as ever today: Accidents and catastrophes have continued to occur over the last three decades. However, the technological determinism of the book has been criticized and shown to be too restricted to account for the social nature of the phenomena. This article uncovers and highlights a second underlying message of the book which could arguably be the book's most valuable and compelling contribution.     

Instructional design or school politics? A discussion of ‘orchestration' in TEL research

This paper argues that the emphasis on orchestration as a metaphor for teaching in technology‐enhanced learning (TEL) environments, featured in recent academic discussions, is an opportunity to broaden the scope of the inquiry into educational technology. Drawing on sociological literature and research that investigated the systemic factors that influence the uptake of information and communication technologies in formal and informal learning contexts, the paper contends that a focus on instructional design does insufficient justice to the complexities of actual technology use in classrooms and after‐school programs. It is suggested, instead, that orchestration might better be used as a heuristic device to deepen our understandings of the relationships between power, bestowed on teachers or claimed by them through a number of strategies, educational technology, and teaching practices. The paper concludes that to fully understand this relationship and to support teachers, concern should be given equally to the existing political and cultural dynamics of TEL environments. Examples of orchestration as a political, cultural process are provided, illustrating how teachers appropriate technology and ‘innovative’ pedagogies to negotiate power.     

Technological solutions to privacy questions: what is the role of law?

In spite of its recognition as a fundamental human right, privacy is sometimes criticised as an anachronistic value in modern life [James Rule, Privacy in Peril (OUP, 2007) xi]. While the prominence of this view has lessened in the wake of the Snowden revelations and increased public concern with online privacy [Maria Helen Murphy, ‘The Pendulum Effect: Comparisons Between the Snowden Revelations and the Church Committee. What are the Potential Implications for Europe?’ (2014) 23(2) Information and Communications Technology Law 192], the right continues to struggle for support when it is portrayed as being in competition with national security, personal safety, and economic prosperity [Daniel Solove, ‘“I've Got Nothing to Hide” and other Misunderstandings of Privacy’ (2007) 44 San DLR 745]. As developments in technology continue to threaten the right to privacy, interest in technological solutions to privacy problems continues to grow. This article seeks to consider current privacy debates from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders in order to assess whether technological and design approaches offer the best path forward, or whether an essential role remains to be played by law.     

Computing interval-valued statistical characteristics: what is the stumbling block for reliability applications?

The application of interval-valued statistical models is often hindered by the rapid growth in imprecision that occurs when intervals are propagated through models. Is this deficiency inherent in the models? If so, what is the underlying cause of imprecision in mathematical terms? What kind of additional information can be incorporated to make the bounds tighter? The present paper gives an account of the source of this imprecision that prevents interval-valued statistical models from being widely applied. Firstly, the mathematical approach to building interval-valued models (discrete and continuous) is delineated. Secondly, a degree of imprecision is demonstrated on some simple reliability models. Thirdly, the root mathematical cause of sizeable imprecision is elucidated and, finally, a method of making the intervals tighter is described. A number of examples are given throughout the paper.     

Nanofluidics: what is it and what can we expect from it?

Starting from the background of nanofluidics in other disciplines, this paper describes the present state of research in this field and discusses possible directions of development. Emphasis is put on the very diverse background of nanofluidics in biology, chemistry, physics and engineering and the valuable knowledge available in these disciplines. First, the forces that play a role on the nanoscale are discussed and then a summary is given of some different theoretical treatments. Subsequently, an overview is given of the different phenomena occurring on the nanoscale and their present applications. Finally, some possible future applications are discussed.