Towards Systematic Achievement of Compliance in Service-Oriented Architectures: The MASTER Approach

Service-oriented architectures (SOA) have been successfully adapted by agile businesses to support dynamic outsourcing of business processes and the maintenance of business ecosystems. Still, businesses need to comply with applicable laws and regulations. Abstract service interfaces, distributed ownership and cross-domain operations introduce new challenges for the implementation of compliance controls and the assessment of their effectiveness. In this paper, we analyze the challenges for automated support of the enforcement and evaluation of IT security controls in a SOA. We introduce these challenges by means of an example control, and outline a methodology and a high-level architecture that supports the phases of the control lifecycle through dedicated components for observation, evaluation, decision support and reaction. The approach is model-based and features policy-driven controls. A monitoring infrastructure assesses observations in terms of key indicators and interprets them in business terms. Reaction is supported through components that implement both automated enforcement and the provision of feedback by a human user. The resulting architecture essentially is a decoupled security architecture for SOA with enhanced analysis capabilities and will be detailed and implemented in the MASTER project.     

Propagation of a penny-shaped hydraulic fracture parallel to the free-surface of an elastic half-space

In this paper we analyze the problem of a penny-shaped hydraulic fracture propagating parallel to the free-surface of an elastic half-space. The fracture is driven by an incompressible Newtonian fluid injected at a constant rate at the center of the fracture. The flow of viscous fluid in the fracture is governed by the lubrication equation, while the crack opening and the fluid pressure are related by singular integral equations. We construct two asymptotic solutions based on the assumption that either the solid has no toughness or that the fluid has no viscosity. These asymptotic solutions must be understood as corresponding to limiting cases when the energy expended in the creation of new fracture surfaces is either small or large compared to the energy dissipated in viscous flow. It is shown that the asymptotic solutions, when properly scaled, depend only on the dimensionless parameter cal R cal, the ratio of the fracture radius over the distance from the fracture to the free-surface. The scaled solutions can thus be tabulated once and for all and the dependence of the solution on time can be retrieved for specific parameters, through simple scaling and by solving an implicit equation.     

Recent advances on key technologies for innovative manufacturing

Through the I*PROMS Network of Excellence which originated during the sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission, this paper introduces a European vision of the essential research areas to deliver future innovations in manufacturing. In particular, these areas are identified as Advanced Production Machines, Production Automation and Control, Innovative Design Technologies and Production Organisation and Management. Then, special attention is given to the main findings from the authors’ research programme since the start of I*PROMS in October 2004 for a number of technologies belonging to these four generic research streams.     

The effect of biomass adsorption on the removal of selected pharmaceutical compounds in an immersed membrane bioreactor system

BACKGROUND: The performance of a pilot membrane bioreactor system (MBR) was tested for the treatment of municipal wastewater, with emphasis on the capability for removal of selected pharmaceuticals RESULTS: The MBR showed excellent performance with regards to conventional pollutants. However, the removal of specific pharmaceuticals was not as high. Carbamazepine and 17 α‐ethinyl estradiol showed the lowest removal, with mean removal rates of around 20%. Clofibric acid showed the highest removal 70%, while for 17β‐estradiol the mean removal was 40%. In order to distinguish between the two basic mechanisms of removal, adsorption on biomass and biodegradation, adsorption studies on inactivated biomass were performed and mass balances were written for the four pharmaceuticals. The immediate removal observed for the three compounds during short hydraulic retention times may have been primarily due to adsorption. CONCLUSIONS: The removal of carbamazepine, 17β‐estradiol and 17α‐ethynil estradiol, as well as half of the removal of chlofibric acid could be attributed to direct adsorption on biomass within the hydraulic residence time of the reactor. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Tools and techniques for product design

For product designers, tools and techniques are essential in driving the design cycle. Nevertheless, their employment usually is implicit, while passing over e.g. the design and project environments empowering their adequate use. This publication presents an overview of approaches in structuring and using tools/techniques, based on the effectuation of creativity and decision-making in the design environment. In elaborating on characteristics of tools/techniques and ensuing ways of selecting them, the designer's portfolio of tools/techniques is characterised. Representative problems of tool/technique usage are depicted and contextualised by illustrating their industrial application. Prospects for future developments are also reviewed.     

Remote sensing of phytoplankton functional types

The principal goal in early missions of satellite-borne visible spectral radiometry (ocean colour) was to create synoptic fields of phytoplankton biomass indexed as concentration of chlorophyll-a. In the context of climate change, a major application of the results has been in the modelling of primary production and the ocean carbon cycle. It is now recognised that a partition of the marine autotrophic pool into a suite of phytoplankton functional types, each type having a characteristic role in the biogeochemical cycle of the ocean, would increase our understanding of the role of phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle. At the same time, new methods have been emerging that use visible spectral radiometry to map some of the phytoplankton functional types. Here, we assess the state of the art, and suggest paths for future work.     

Remarks on the existence of solutions to the average cost optimality equation in Markov decision processes

Necessary conditions are given for the existence of a bounded solution to the optimality equation arising in Markov decision processes, under a long-run, expected average cost criterion. The relationships of some of our results to known sufficient conditions are also shown.     

The demand for residential electricity in South Africa

This paper examines the residential demand for electricity in South Africa as a function of real gross domestic product per capita, and the price of electricity during the period 1978–2005. We make use of the bounds testing approach to cointegration within an autoregressive distributed framework, suggested by Pesaran et al. [2001. Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics 16(3) 289–326]. Following the literature, we use a linear double-logarithmic form using income and price as independent variables in the empirical analysis. In the long run, we find that income is the main determinant of electricity demand, while electricity price is insignificant.     

Coupling active and passive techniques to control the flow past the square back Ahmed body

Several active and passive control techniques are used to reduce the drag coefficient of the square back Ahmed body. The results are carefully analyzed and compared to each other. The final goal of this paper is to show that it is possible to couple passive and active control techniques to improve the flow control. In the present study, a drag reduction of 30% is achieved, almost corresponding to the goal of automotive industry.