Telematics

Telematics: A Distinctive Discipline: Carlos Delgado Kloos and Arturo Azcorra-Saloña (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain)
Abstract: The thesis of this paper is the identification of Telematics as a distinctive discipline, a discipline that shares a lot with Computer Science and with Electrical Engineering, but whose body of knowledge deserves being identified as such, since it is today already big enough and is expected to grow even more in future. We begin with the historical background of Telematics, continuing with a description of the years in which the convergence of Telecommunicacions and Informatics (or Computers and Communications) cristalized together with other elements to consolidate Telematics as a distinctive discipline. We then review the current international acceptance of the term Telematics to denote this discipline. In the next section, we perform a definition of what are the scientific and technical building blocks of Telematics, drawing a reasonably clear border with neighbouring disciplines. We end the article pointing out some of the paths through which Telematics may continue to evolve, and possibly subdivide in other new scientific disciplines.
Keywords: Telematics, Information and Communication Technologies, Discipline.

Deductive and Inductive Methods for Program Synthesis: Jaan Penjam and Jelena Sanko (Institute of Cybernetics, Estonia)
Abstract
Keywords:: Structural synthesis of programs, functional constraint networks, differential evolution.

: Frédéric Loulergue, Frédéric Gava, Myrto Arapinis, Frédéric Dabrowksi (University Paris Val-de-Marne, France)
Abstract: This paper presents a new functional parallel language: Minimally Synchronous Parallel ML (MSPML). The execution time can be estimated, dead-locks and indeterminism are avoided. Programs are written as usual ML programs but using a small set of additional functions. Provided functions are used to access the parameters of the parallel machine and to create and operate on a parallel data structure. It follows the execution and cost model of the Message Passing Machine model (MPM). It shares with Bulk Synchronous Parallel ML its syntax and high-level semantics but it has a minimally synchronous distributed semantics. Experiments have been run on a cluster of PC using an implementation of the Diffusion algorithmic skeleton.
Keywords:: Asynchronous Parallelism, Functional Programming, Deterministic Semantics, Cost Model.

Development of Performance-Critical Software Using UML Activity Models and Simulation Techniques: Michael Barth (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Abstract: A process to develop performance-critical software has to integrate non-functional requirements and to handle additional artefacts beside the traditional ones. This approach uses a simulation-based technique to assess performance properties. Activity diagrams, which are widespread among modellers, are used to derive the dynamic models to be evaluated. These diagrams, as part of the design model, contain the functional aspects of the software and are a direct physical model of the implementation. It is advantaguos to use the same document for the performance assessment. The environment has to be modelled additionally and simulation scenarios have to be extracted from performance critical use case descriptions. This article discusses the relationship of these artifacts to the well-known artefacts of core workflows in the classical software development process. However, the process may aim to minimise response time, optimise or harmonise performance properties, the development of ineffective artefacts should be avoided as far as possible. At least one should be aware of the possibility of loosing the investment, if fixed requirements cannot ulitamtely be met. The article also discusses management decisions and the design of the process that aim to increase the software’s quality and reduce the risk of total process failure.
Keywords:: Performance Modelling, Performance Assessment, Software Development Process, Simulation, UML.

Optimization of State-based Test Suites for Software Systems: An Evolutionary Approach: Huaizhong Li and Chiou Peng Lam (Edith Cowan University, Australia)
Abstract: There are many different approaches to generate the test data for software testing; one of the frequently used approaches is the state-based test data generation. In general, test coverage specified by the per-determined testing requirements is frequently used to ascertain the quality of software testing. Test Suites are automatically generated to satisfy the required coverage. Properly generated test suite is one of the key assurances to the software system quality.
However, automatic test data generation may introduce problems in state-based testing because the generated test cases are generally not optimized for the required coverage. It is well-known that the more test cases included in a test suite, the more likely for the test suite to satisfy the required testing coverage. However, a bigger set of test cases may inevitably introduce higher testing cost due to the inclusion of many redundant test cases. It is desirable to reduce the cost associated with redundant test cases without sacrificing the quality of the software. This paper proposes an evolutionary approach to optimize the state-based test suites. The optimization is achieved by reducing the number of redundant test cases while still guaranteeing the required transition coverage of the test suite.
Keywords:: Software Testing, Test Adequacy, Evolutionary Algorithms, Search, UML.

XDBC: XML Database Connectivity and API for Native XML Databases: Qinglan Li (University of Pittsburgh, USA) and Gongzhu Hu (Central Michigan University, USA)
Abstract: Native XML database is the database that stores and manipulates XML data in a “native” form, generally either as indexed text or as some variant of the Document Object Model (DOM) mapped to an underlying data store. It and its surrounding technologies constitute a database management system (DBMS), in some sense. Different from XML-Enabled Database which contains extensions for transferring data between XML documents and their own data structures, it inserts/deletes XML documents in intact XML documents, so it supports document-level transactions and queries database in XML query languages with a more efficient solution. Since more and more XML-based applications being developed, schema (Document Type Definition, XML schema language) was introduced to satisfy the requirement of data integrity for native XML databases. Schema validation is a component to verify the data type, content model, attribute, or occurrence according to an XML schema grammar. Although there are some commercial products more or less supporting this feature, an original support to the native XML database is still needed. In this paper, we present the schema validation in a native XML database, and implement it in a set of APIs (called XDBC) to justify the benefit of our design.
Keywords:: Application Programming Interface (API), native XML database, schema validation, XDBC (XML Database Connectivity)

Research on the Lock-Keeper Technology: Architectures, Applications and Advancements: Feng Cheng, Christoph Meinel (University of Trier, Germany)
Abstract: The security problems of computer systems and networks are ever-increasing and far from being “under control“. More defensive mechanisms and strategies have been designed to protect the vast range of information and its communication against the illegal external as well as internal intrudes. This paper will introduce a novel security solution named Lock-Keeper, which can provide more secure data transfer through physically separate connections. By means of the SingleGate Lock-Keeper system, a simple implementation of this idea, the possibility of direct online attacks to a protected network can be eliminated entirely and data can be exchanged between two networks through a completely secure and reliable way. As an advanced implementation of this technology, the DualGate Lock- Keeper is proposed by including another new “gate” unit. The new DualGate Lock-Keeper system has not only a significantly improved performance on data transfer, but also some other useful characteristics. Along with this development, the Lock-Keeper Cluster, which is built up by the combination of two or more independent Lock-Keeper systems, is analyzed in detail. In addition, a lot of application scenarios are revealed in this paper to explain how the Lock-Keeper can be integrated into complex structures and provide a higher level of security.
Keywords:: Network, Security, Physical Separation, Lock-Keeper, Dual Gate, Cluster