BIMQL – An open query language for building information models

In this paper we present the on-going development of a framework for a domain specific, open query language for building information models. The proposed query language is intended for selecting, updating and deleting of data stored in Industry Foundation Classes models. Even though some partial solutions already have been suggested, none of them are open source, domain specific, platform independent and implemented at the same time. This paper provides an overview of existing approaches, conceptual sketches of the language in development and documents the current state of implementation as a prototype plugin developed for the open source model server platform bimserver.org. We report on the execution of example test-cases to show the general feasibility of the approach chosen.     

Organization-based agent-oriented programming： model,mechanisms, and language

An increasing number of social computational systems consist of a great amount of autonomous entities and operate in highly dynamic and unpredictable environments. To construct such systems needs to seek high-level abstrac- tion to manage the complexity of the systems and novel mechanism to support their characteristics, i.e., dynamism and flexibility. Agent-oriented programming （AOP） is con- sidered as a potential paradigm for developing such systems by exhibiting a number of characteristics, such as autonomy, flexibility, social ability, etc. However, current researches on AOP mainly focus on the construction of multi-agent system （MAS） with theory and language facilities inspired from arti- ficial intelligence （AI） and distributed AI, seldom considering and integrating the proven principles and practices of pro- gramming and software engineering. Moreover, abstractions and mechanism based on AI are inadequate for developing dynamic and flexible MAS in open environment. This paper proposes a novel AOP approach, namely Oragent, for con- structing and implementing dynamic and flexible systems. From a software engineering perspective, Oragent integrates organizational concepts and mechanism into AOP language, and support the dynamism and flexibility with explicit prim- itives. The proposed approach consists of a programming model and a corresponding programming language. This paper presents the syntax and formal operational semanticsof Oragent language, and studies a case to demonstrate our approach.     

Design and implementation of a simplified IPSec model

With the popularization of network application, many enterprise and the government branch built their private LAN in different areas. It is clear need to implement their resources access by Internet. In order to achieve the goal, a simplified IPSec model is proposed and implemented through Network Driver Interface Specification （NDIS） intermediate driver under Win2000 environment. It can make the mutual access of LAN resources in different areas more convenient, secure and efficient.     

Property specification,process verification,and reporting – A case study with vehicle-commissioning processes

Testing in the automotive industry is supposed to guarantee that vehicles are shipped without any flaw. Respective processes are complex, due to the variety of components and electronic devices in modern vehicles. To achieve error-free processes, their formal analysis is required. Specifying and maintaining properties the processes must satisfy in a user-friendly way is a core requirement on any verification system. We have observed that there are few property templates that testing processes must adhere to, and we describe these templates. They depend on the context of the processes, e.g., the components of the vehicle or testing stations. We have developed a framework that instantiates the templates of properties at verification time and then verifies the process against these instances. To allow an automatic verification we develop a transformation of the commissioning process to a Petri net. Using a novel approach, we are able to report the found violations to the user in a user-friendly way. Our empirical evaluation with the industrial partner has shown that our framework does detect property violations in processes. From expert interviews we conclude that our framework is user-friendly and well suited to operate in a real production environment.     

Conceptual process planning – an improvement approach using QFD,FMEA, and ABC methods

Conceptual process planning (CPP) is an important technique for assessing the manufacturability and estimating the cost of conceptual design in the early product design stage. This paper presents an approach to develop a quality/cost-based conceptual process planning (QCCPP). This approach aims to determine key process resources with estimation of manufacturing cost, taking into account the risk cost associated to the process plan. It can serve as a useful methodology to support the decision making during the initial planning stage of the product development cycle. Quality function deployment (QFD) method is used to select the process alternatives by incorporating a capability function for process elements called a composite process capability index (CCP). The quality characteristics and the process elements in QFD method have been taken as input to complete process failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) table. To estimate manufacturing cost, the proposed approach deploys activity-based costing (ABC) method. Then, an extended technique of classical FMEA method is employed to estimate the cost of risks associated to the studied process plan, this technique is called cost-based FMEA. For each resource combination, the output data is gathered in a selection table that helps for detailed process planning in order to improve product quality/cost ratio. A case study is presented to illustrate this approach.     

The warning glove – Development and evaluation of a multimodal action-specific warning prototype

This paper has two objectives: first, to introduce the concept of multimodal action-specific warnings and its prototypic realization in the form of a warning glove and second, to present the main findings of a user study that was conducted to test the warning glove against a conventional warning system. Regarding the first goal, the combination of multimodality and action-specificity was implemented by attaching electronic actuators on a right-handed glove for transmitting visual, auditory and tactile feedback. For the second objective, a user study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the warning glove is capable of obtaining faster responses and to determine the perceptions of the users regarding the appropriateness of the warning glove. The results confirmed the assumption of faster response times and participants perceived the warning glove to be ‘fairly appropriate’. These results warrant further development of this multimodal action-specific warning glove.     

The design and implementation of an individual-based predator–prey model for a distributed computing environment

A distributed implementation of the Spatially-Explicit Individual-Based Simulation Model of Florida Panther and White-Tailed Deer in the Everglades and Big Cypress Landscapes (SIMPDEL) model is presented. SIMPDEL models the impact of different water management strategies in the South Florida region on the white-tailed deer and the Florida panther populations. SIMPDEL models the interaction of the four interrelated components – vegetation, hydrology, white-tailed deer and Florida panther, over a time span up to several decades. Very similar outputs of bioenergetic and survival statistics were obtained from the serial and distributed models. A performance evaluation of the two models revealed moderate speed improvements for the distributed model (referred to as DSIMPDEL). The 4-processor configuration attained a speed improvement of 3.83 with small deer populations on an ATM-based network of SUN Ultra 2 workstations over the serial model executing on a single SUN Ultra 2 workstation.     

The (black) art of runtime evaluation: Are we comparing algorithms or implementations?

Any paper proposing a new algorithm should come with an evaluation of efficiency and scalability (particularly when we are designing methods for “big data”). However, there are several (more or less serious) pitfalls in such evaluations. We would like to point the attention of the community to these pitfalls. We substantiate our points with extensive experiments, using clustering and outlier detection methods with and without index acceleration. We discuss what we can learn from evaluations, whether experiments are properly designed, and what kind of conclusions we should avoid. We close with some general recommendations but maintain that the design of fair and conclusive experiments will always remain a challenge for researchers and an integral part of the scientific endeavor.     

Modelling,identification and control of sugar evaporation – theoretical design and experimental evaluation

This paper discusses the problem of controlling a multiple-stage industrial evaporator in a sugar factory. The control objectives are: syrup should have a sucrose concentration of 72%, the evaporator should produce the required amount of steam, and the steam consumption should be as low as possible. Achieving these objectives is difficult, due to the following plant features: strong disturbances, large time delays and many constraints. The control problem is solved by developing a physical model which is used as benchmark; then, a parametric identification is performed to obtain a control model. Finally, a successful real-time application of a multivariable GPC controller is presented.     

COSA – A generic cognitive system architecture based on a cognitive model of human behavior

This article presents an overview of COSA, a cognitive system architecture, which is a generic framework proposing a unified architecture for cognitive systems. Conventional automation and similar systems lack the ability of cooperation and cognition, leading to serious deficiencies when acting in complex environments, especially in the context of human-computer interaction. Cognitive systems based on cognitive automation can overcome these deficiencies. Designing such artificial cognitive systems can be considered a very complex software development process. Although a number of developments of artificial cognitive systems have already demonstrated great functional potentials in field tests, the engineering approach of this kind of software is still a candidate for further improvement. Therefore, wide-spread application of cognitive systems has not been achieved yet. This article presents a new engineering approach for cognitive systems, implemented by the COSA framework, which may be a crucial step forward to achieve a wide-spread application of cognitive systems. The approach is based on a new concept of generating cognitive behaviour, the cognitive process (CP). The CP can be regarded as a model of the human information processing loop whose behaviour is solely driven by "a-priori knowledge". The main features of COSA are the implementation of the CP as its kernel and the separation of architecture from application leading to reduced development time and increased knowledge reuse. Additionally, separating the knowledge modelling process from behaviour generation enables the knowledge designer to use the knowledge representation that is best suited to his modelling problem. A first application based on COSA implements an autonomous unmanned air vehicle accomplishing a military reconnaissance mission. Some of the application experiences with the new approach are presented.     

Scalable mpNoC for massively parallel systems – Design and implementation on FPGA

The high chip-level integration enables the implementation of large-scale parallel processing architectures with 64 and more processing nodes on a single chip or on an FPGA device. These parallel systems require a cost-effective yet high-performance interconnection scheme to provide the needed communications between processors. The massively parallel Network on Chip (mpNoC) was proposed to address the demand for parallel irregular communications for massively parallel processing System on Chip (mppSoC). Targeting FPGA-based design, an efficient mpNoC low level RTL implementation is proposed taking into account design constraints. The proposed network is designed as an FPGA based Intellectual Property (IP) able to be configured in different communication modes. It can communicate between processors and also perform parallel I/O data transfer which is clearly a key issue in an SIMD system. The mpNoC RTL implementation presents good performances in terms of area, throughput and power consumption which are important metrics targeting an on chip implementation. mpNoC is a flexible architecture that is suitable for use in FPGA-based parallel systems. This paper introduces the basic mppSoC architecture. It mainly focuses on the mpNoC flexible IP based design and its implementation on FPGA. The integration of mpNoC in mppSoC is also described. Implementation results on a Stratix II FPGA device are given for three data-parallel applications ran on mppSoC. The obtained good performances justify the effectiveness of the proposed parallel network. It is shown that the mpNoC is a lightweight parallel network making it suitable for both small as well as large FPGA-based parallel systems.     

Dynamic model for AC and DC contactors – Simulation and experimental validation

Electromagnetic contactors have a non-linear behavior due to the magnetic force. This paper develops a robust and low time-consuming parametric model to describe the dynamic behavior of both AC and DC contactors. The proposed model solves simultaneously the mechanic, electric and magnetic coupled differential equations that govern its dynamic response. This model takes into account the fringing flux, an effect that greatly influences the dynamic behavior. In case of AC contactors, the model deals with the shading rings. First, the electric and magnetic equations of an AC contactor – which are more complex due to the effect of the shading rings – are introduced. After that, by simplifying this set of equations, the ones of a DC contactor are derived. Conversely, mechanical equations are the same for both, AC and DC powered contactors. Data from simulations carried out by applying the presented parametric model are compared with experimental data, being demonstrated its accuracy and effectiveness.     

Ontology-based end-user visual query formulation: Why,what, who,how, and which?

Universal Access in the Information Society - Value creation in an organisation is a time-sensitive and data-intensive process, yet it is often delayed and bounded by the reliance on IT experts...     

RAMES – Framework supporting user centred evaluation in research and practice

One way to ensure good user experience of IT systems is to conduct user centred evaluation, aimed to provide feedback to IT professionals on their IT systems from the user perspective. The objective of this paper is to explore a conceptual framework, named RAMES that supports evaluators when planning, comparing and documenting user centred evaluations in a structured way. The framework structures the elements of an evaluation into five categories: Roles, Activities, Materials, Environments, and System. The framework was developed based on a theoretical analysis. Two explorative studies with 92 participants in total show that two thirds of the participants found it easy or rather easy to use the framework, and 33% find it likely that they would use the framework again. The conclusion of the studies is that frameworks such as RAMES enhance the implementation of user centred evaluations.     

The autonomous industrial plant – future of process engineering,operations and maintenance

Almost every day we read about new advances in self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. For autonomous driving, there already exist established standards with six levels describing the steps from driving without assistance to fully automated, i.e., autonomous driving. While many people and industries – in particular the automotive industry – believe that self-driving cars are feasible in the near future, one may ask how feasible full autonomy is in the process industry? Is it realistic to aim towards a fully autonomous chemical plant, and what does full autonomy even mean for the process industries? This paper introduces a definition of autonomy and corresponding levels of autonomy for the process industry. It starts from an abstract definition of six autonomy levels that are applicable to various industrial domains, also illustrated by recent examples from different industrial applications such as mining and marine. It also discusses how to achieve an autonomous system in general, based on cognitive capabilities and AI technologies potentially implementing them. Then, it discusses the applicability of this definition for process industry in a first step. Finally, the taxonomy is further refined by studying some key autonomous features of two process lifecycle phases: operations and engineering, and examples for the meaning of each autonomy level per feature are given.     

Robust Cyber–Physical Systems: Concept,models, and implementation

In this paper we comprehensively survey the concept and strategies for building a resilient and integrated cyber–physical system (CPS). Here resilience refers to a 3S-oriented design, that is, stability, security, and systematicness: Stability means the CPS can achieve a stable sensing-actuation close-loop control even though the inputs (sensing data) have noise or attacks; Security means that the system can overcome the cyber–physical interaction attacks; and Systematicness means that the system has a seamless integration of sensors and actuators. We will also explain the CPS modeling issues since they serve as the basics of 3S design. We will use two detailed examples from our achieved projects to explain how to achieve arobust, systematic CPS design: Case study 1 is on the design of a rehabilitation system with cyber (sensors) and physical (robots) integration. Case Study 2 is on the implantable medical device design. It illustrates the nature of CPS security principle. The dominant feature of this survey is that it has both principle discussions and practical cyber–physical coupling design.