Individual Software Research Articles

Hybrid probabilistic timing analysis with Extreme Value Theory and Copulas

The primary challenge of time-critical systems is to guarantee that a task completes its execution before its deadline. In order to ensure compliance with timing requirements, it is necessary to analyze the timing behavior of the overall software. Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) represents the maximum amount of time an individual software unit takes to execute and is used for scheduling analysis in safety-critical systems. Recent studies focus on statistical approaches, which augments measurement-based timing analysis with probabilistic confidence level by applying stochastic methods. Common approaches either utilize Extreme Value Theory (EVT) for end-to-end measurements or convolution techniques for a group of program units to derive probabilistic upper bounds for the program. The former method does not ensure path coverage while the latter suffers from ignoring possible extreme cases. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art convolution methods employed in a commercial WCET analysis tool overestimates the results because of using the assumption of worst-case dependence between basic blocks. In this paper, we propose a hybrid probabilistic timing analysis framework and modeling the program units with EVT to capture extreme cases and use Copulas to model the dependency between the units to derive tighter distributional bounds in order to mitigate the effects of co-monotonic assumptions.

ЕКОНОМІКО-МАТЕМАТИЧНИЙ ІНСТРУМЕНТАРІЙ ПРОГНОЗУВАННЯ ОБМІННОГО КУРСУ ВАЛЮТ

The article deals with the analysis of existing approaches to exchange rate forecasting. It also includes the review of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on this topic. The authors of this article have considered the main disadvantages and benefits of existing forecasting dimensions, as well as individual methods and models. They indicated ways to facilitate the implementation of currency exchange rate forecasting using neural networks with software libraries for various programming languages and individual software applications, as well. As a result, the authors have systematized knowledge about existing approaches used in the process of currency exchange rate forecasting. There are two dimensions of currency exchange rate forecasting, in particular, intuitive and formalized ones. The intuitive dimension is peculiar to short-term forecasting and is often used in trading. Its main advantages include the ability to consider structural changes in the economy that can significantly affect the exchange rate formation itself and the speed of forecasting. However, the disadvantage of intuitive methods is the inability to prove formally the quality of the obtained forecasts. The advantages of the formalized dimension of forecasting include the ability to prove the quality. Businesses and government agencies use it the most often. Extrapolation methods and machine learning methods are mainly used to predict the exchange rate using formalized methods. Moreover, the reviewed studies indicate that among the well-known extrapolation methods for predicting the exchange rate, autoregressive models (VAR, AR, ARMA, ARIMA, SARIMA, ARCH, GARCH, ARDL) and smoothing methods (floating averages, adaptive methods and models) are used the most frequently. Machine learning methods include neural networks. Trend models have proved to be ineffective for currency exchange rate forecasting. The reason for this appeared to be using large amounts of data for currency exchange rate forecasting, and each fluctuation there directly affects the whole phenomenon.

OmicsOne: associate omics data with phenotypes in one-click

BackgroundThe rapid advancements of high throughput “omics” technologies have brought a massive amount of data to process during and after experiments. Multi-omic analysis facilitates a deeper interrogation of a dataset and the discovery of interesting genes, proteins, lipids, glycans, metabolites, or pathways related to the corresponding phenotypes in a study. Many individual software tools have been developed for data analysis and visualization. However, it still lacks an efficient way to investigate the phenotypes with multiple omics data. Here, we present OmicsOne as an interactive web-based framework for rapid phenotype association analysis of multi-omic data by integrating quality control, statistical analysis, and interactive data visualization on ‘one-click’.Materials and methodsOmicsOne was applied on the previously published proteomic and glycoproteomic data sets of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) and the published proteome data set of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) to confirm its performance. The data was analyzed through six main functional modules implemented in OmicsOne: (1) phenotype profiling, (2) data preprocessing and quality control, (3) knowledge annotation, (4) phenotype associated features discovery, (5) correlation and regression model analysis for phenotype association analysis on individual features, and (6) enrichment analysis for phenotype association analysis on interested feature sets.ResultsWe developed an integrated software solution, OmicsOne, for the phenotype association analysis on multi-omics data sets. The application of OmicsOne on the public data set of ovarian cancer data showed that the software could confirm the previous observations consistently and discover new evidence for HNRNPU and a glycopeptide of HYOU1 as potential biomarkers for HGSOC data sets. The performance of OmicsOne was further demonstrated in the Tumor and NAT comparison study on the proteome data set of LSCC.ConclusionsOmicsOne can effectively simplify data analysis and reveal the significant associations between phenotypes and potential biomarkers, including genes, proteins, and glycopeptides, in minutes to assist users to understand aberrant biological processes.

Editorial introduction to J.UCS special issue Challenges for Smart Environments – Human-Centered Computing, Data Science, and Ambient Intelligence I

Editorial introduction to J.UCS special issue Challenges for Smart Environments – Human-Centered Computing, Data Science, and Ambient Intelligence I

THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON RADIAL GROWTH OF SCOTS PINE (Pinus sylvestris L.) IN A COASTAL MIXED STAND IN KAPISUYU, BARTIN, TURKEY

Scots pine is geographically the most widespread pine species in the world, and it shows different growth responses to climate and environmental factors in diverse ecological sites. We studied both the stand dynamics and climate-growth relationships of scots pine in isolated coastal stand (recently found) in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. The homogeneity index of this stand has varied between 1.92–3.56. In growth-ring analyses, after cross-dating of individual chronologies, COFECHA and ARSTAN software were used respectively for chronology quality control and standardization (detrend). In this way, a 58-year-long chronology (1959-2016) of scots pine was constructed. In addition, DENDROCLIM software was used for investigating scots pine’s radial growth-climate relationships. Mean sensitivity changed from 0.163 to 0.331, with a mean of 0.183. Mean correlation among trees and signal to noise ratio were 0.389 and 7.012 respectively. In terms of the effect of precipitation on the radial growth of scots pine in this site, the correlation coefficients were 0.43 (p<0.05) for December of the previous year and 0.41 (p<0.05) for July of the current year. For all the other months, precipitation had a non-significant effect. As for the maximum and mean air temperature, the correlation coefficients were 0.36 (p<0.05) and 0.40 (p<0.05) for February, and 0.40 (p<0.05) and 0.42 (p<0.05) for March, respectively. However, on the radial growth, while the maximum temperature in August had a negative effect (r= -0.26; p<0.05), minimum temperatures in February, March and July had a positive effect (r= 0.39, 0.40 and 0.34 respectively; p<0.05).

THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON THE RADIAL GROWTH OF SCOTS PINE (PINUS SYLVESTRIS L.) IN A COASTAL MIXED STAND IN KAPISUYU, BARTIN, TURKEY

Scots pine is geographically the most widespread pine species in the world, and it shows different growth responses to climate and environmental factors in diverse ecological sites. We studied both the stand dynamics and climate-growth relationships of Scots pine in isolated coastal stand (recently found) in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. The homogeneity index of this stand has varied between 1.92-3.56. In growth-ring analyses, after cross-dating of individual chronologies, COFECHA and ARSTAN software were used respectively for chronology quality control and standardization (detrend). In this way, a 58-year-long chronology (1959-2016) of Scots pine was constructed. In addition, DENDROCLIM software was used for investigating Scots pine’s radial growth-climate relationships. Mean sensitivity changed from 0.163 to 0.331, with a mean of 0.183. Mean correlation among trees and signal to noise ratio were 0.389 and 7.012 respectively. In terms of the effect of precipitation on the radial growth of Scots pine in this site, the correlation coefficients were 0.43 (p<0.05) for December of the previous year and 0.41 (p<0.05) for July of the current year. For all the other months, precipitation had a non-significant effect. As for the maximum and mean air temperature, the correlation coefficients were 0.36 (p<0.05) and 0.40 (p<0.05) for February, and 0.40 (p<0.05) and 0.42 (p<0.05) for March, respectively. However, on the radial growth, while the maximum temperature in August had a negative effect (r= -0.26; p<0.05), minimum temperatures in February, March and July had a positive effect (r= 0.39, 0.40 and 0.34 respectively; p<0.05). It means while higher rains in July and higher temperatures in the late winter-early spring have caused the wider growth rings, the narrower growth rings have been formed in the years with higher maximum temperatures in August in the isolated coastal site of Scots pine.

AUTOMATION OF BUSINESS PROCESSES AS A MECHANISM TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF A HOTEL ENTERPRISE

The peculiarities of regulation of hotel business with the help of information technologies are covered in the work. The urgency of the problem is confirmed by the fact that the existing methods of assessing the use of automated management systems of hotel enterprises and the specifics of individual software products increase the competitiveness of modern hotel enterprises. The main purpose of this study is to identify trends and concepts of hotel services, characterized by a high level of competition, a variety of services provided and increasing the level of service. The implementation of this task involves the analysis and forecasting of the development of the automation process taking into account the socio-economic situation of the countries. Today, hotel companies against the background of a fierce struggle for each guest are forced to improve actively, using a variety of internal organizational and technological innovations as the most effective mechanisms to increase competitiveness. The article examines the impact of information technology on hotel management, as it is directly related to improving the efficiency of both the individual manager and the hotel, as well as the impact on competitiveness in today's market. The article analyzes the use of computer networks, the Internet and Internet technologies, software products for end-to-end automation of all business processes of the hotel, which today are not just a matter of leadership and competitive advantage, but also survival in the market.
 Today, a significant number of Ukrainian hotel businesses are actively implementing automation systems that fully meet modern requirements. The main advantage of using ACS is the integration with such global booking systems as Amadeus, Galileo, Saber and Worldspan.
 The competitive advantage of enterprises in the hospitality industry largely depends on the active use of innovations in information technology, which in turn is a strong marketing tool that allows you to manage consumer loyalty to the guest.

Research on Evolutionary Construction Method of Software Service Architecture Based on ACP

In the open-source computing environment, the software service individuals that constitute the system are highly independent. The construction of software system is changed into combination and iteration, which puts forward higher requirements for the system architecture. Based on algebra of communication process, this paper abstracts the individual software service into service items, and uses the operation rules in communication algebra to realize the construction and modification of software architecture, thus ensuring the preciseness of the construction process and the stability of the architecture. Finally, a system with 12 sub services is used as a case to demonstrate the evolution process of service adding, deleting and replacing operation, which also verified the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.

On the Use of Quality Models to Address Distinct Quality Views

Different software product quality models interpret different amounts of information, i.e., they can capture and address different manifestations of software quality. This characteristic can cause misleading statements and misunderstandings while explaining or comparing the results of software product quality assessments. A total of 23 previously identified distinct software product quality models are analysed on how they handle the abstract notion of quality, and a taxonomy on the quality manifestations that the individual software product quality models are able to capture is established. Quality models that are able to solely describe the quality manifestation of the source code are attractive due to their full automation potential through static code analysers, but their assessment results ignore a huge part of software product quality, which is the one that most impresses the end user. The manifestations of software product quality that address the behaviour of the software while it operates, or the perception of the end user with regard to the software in use, require human involvement in the quality assessment. The taxonomy contributes to interpreting the quality assessment results of different quality models by showing the possible quality manifestations that can be captured by the identified models; moreover, the taxonomy also provides assistance while selecting a quality model for a given project. The quality manifestations used for the quality measurement always need to be presented, otherwise the quality assessment results cannot be interpreted in an appropriate manner.

Development and individual identification of captive Ziegler’s crocodile newt Tylototriton ziegleri

Tylototriton ziegleri is a newt native to Vietnam with a very limited range and assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. It is rarely found in captivity. Larval husbandry, based on field conditions, had mixed success with a high proportion of egg hatch and relatively rapid larval growth rates but also substantial larval mortality, probably due to high stocking density. Larvae started to hatch after 23 days and after 77-79 days had metamorphosed at a mean mass of 1.6 g; juveniles grew at an average of about 0.3 g/month. The primary animal carer was able to use wart patterns to distinguish between four individuals but scope for use on a larger scale was not supported when tested using computer-assisted individual identification software (WildID) or expert observers.

Assessment of the Influence of Survey Design and Processing Choices on the Accuracy of Tree Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) Measurements Using UAV-Based Photogrammetry

This work provides a systematic evaluation of how survey design and computer processing choices (such as the software used or the workflow/parameters chosen) influence unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based photogrammetry retrieval of tree diameter at breast height (DBH), an important 3D structural parameter in forest inventory and biomass estimation. The study areas were an agricultural field located in the province of Málaga, Spain, where a small group of olive trees was chosen for the UAV surveys, and an open woodland area in the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, where a 10 ha area grove, composed mainly of birch trees, was overflown. A DJI Phantom 4 Pro quadcopter UAV was used for the image acquisition. We applied structure from motion (SfM) to generate 3D point clouds of individual trees, using Agisoft and Pix4D software packages. The estimation of DBH in the point clouds was made using a RANSAC-based circle fitting tool from the TreeLS R package. All trees modeled had their DBH tape-measured on the ground for accuracy assessment. In the first study site, we executed many diversely designed flights, to identify which parameters (flying altitude, camera tilt, and processing method) gave us the most accurate DBH estimations; then, the resulting best settings configuration was used to assess the replicability of the method in the forested area in Bulgaria. The best configuration tested (flight altitudes of about 25 m above tree canopies, camera tilt 60°, forward and side overlaps of 90%, Agisoft ultrahigh processing) resulted in root mean square errors (RMSEs; %) of below 5% of the tree diameters in the first site and below 12.5% in the forested area. We demonstrate that, when carefully designed methodologies are used, SfM can measure the DBH of single trees with very good accuracy, and to our knowledge, the results presented here are the best achieved so far using (above-canopy) UAV-based photogrammetry.

The C-BIG Repository: an Institution-Level Open Science Platform

In January 2016, the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) declared itself an Open Science organization. This vision extends beyond efforts by individual scientists seeking to release individual datasets, software tools, or building platforms that provide for the free dissemination of such information. It involves multiple stakeholders and an infrastructure that considers governance, ethics, computational resourcing, physical design, workflows, training, education, and intra-institutional reporting structures. The C-BIG repository was built in response as The Neuro’s institutional biospecimen and clinical data repository, and collects biospecimens as well as clinical, imaging, and genetic data from patients with neurological disease and healthy controls. It is aimed at helping scientific investigators, in both academia and industry, advance our understanding of neurological diseases and accelerate the development of treatments. As many neurological diseases are quite rare, they present several challenges to researchers due to their small patient populations. Overcoming these challenges required the aggregation of datasets from various projects and locations. The C-BIG repository achieves this goal and stands as a scalable working model for institutions to collect, track, curate, archive, and disseminate multimodal data from patients. In November 2020, a Registered Access layer was made available to the wider research community at https://cbigr-open.loris.ca, and in May 2021 fully open data will be released to complement the Registered Access data. This article outlines many of the aspects of The Neuro’s transition to Open Science by describing the data to be released, C-BIG’s full capabilities, and the design aspects that were implemented for effective data sharing.

ProteoMill: efficient network-based functional analysis portal for proteomics data.

SummaryFunctional analysis has become a common approach to incorporate biological knowledge into the analysis of omics data, and to explore molecular events that govern a disease state. It is though only one step in a wider analytical pipeline that typically requires use of multiple individual analysis software. There is currently a need for a well-integrated omics analysis tool that performs all the steps. The ProteoMill portal is developed as an R Shiny application and integrates all necessary steps from data-upload, converting identifiers, to quality control, differential expression and network-based functional analysis into a single fast, interactive easy to use workflow. Further, it maintains annotation data sources up to date, overcoming a common problem with use of outdated information and seamlessly integrates multiple R-packages for an improved user-experience. The functionality provided in this software can benefit researchers by facilitating the exploratory analysis of proteomics data.Availability and implementationProteoMill is available at https://proteomill.com.

Computerized Sunnybrook facial grading scale (SBface) application for facial paralysis evaluation.

BackgroundThe Sunnybrook facial grading scale is a comprehensive scale for the evaluation of facial paralysis patients. Its results greatly depend on subjective input. This study aimed to develop and validate an automated Sunnybrook facial grading scale (SBface) to more objectively assess disfigurement due to facial paralysis.MethodsAn application compatible with iOS version 11.0 and up was developed. The software automatically detected facial features in standardized photographs and generated scores following the Sunnybrook facial grading scale. Photographic data from 30 unilateral facial paralysis patients were randomly sampled for validation. Intrarater reliability was tested by conducting two identical tests at a 2-week interval. Interrater reliability was tested between the software and three facial nerve clinicians.ResultsA beta version of the SBface application was tested. Intrarater reliability showed excellent congruence between the two tests. Moderate to strong positive correlations were found between the software and an otolaryngologist, including the total scores of the three individual software domains and composite scores. However, 74.4% (29/39) of the subdomain items showed low to zero correlation with the human raters (κ<0.2). The correlations between the human raters showed good congruence for most of the total and composite scores, with 10.3% (4/39) of the subdomain items failing to correspond (κ<0.2).ConclusionsThe SBface application is efficient and accurate for evaluating the degree of facial paralysis based on the Sunnybrook facial grading scale. However, correlations of the software-derived results with those of human raters are limited by the software algorithm and the raters’ inconsistency.

Methodological foundation for improving the quality of intelligent decision-making system software

On the basis of a detailed analysis, existing terminological interpretations of the concept of "software quality" have been generalized, conclusions are drawn about the correspondence of the terms used to assess the quality of general software in the process of assessing the quality of software of intelligent decision-making systems (IDMS). It has been proved that the quality of the IDMS software is a complex multi-criteria indicator that takes into account not only the performance of the individual software module as a subsystem, but also the causal relationships of the elements of the software system itself. The main differences in software quality assessment between the functional and formal approaches are shown. The structure of the criterion of guarantor capacity of decision-making systems software has been investigated and conclusions have been drawn on the influence of its main components on the evaluation of IDMS software and on the provision of reliable computing process. On the basis of the analysis of the list of attributes and the quality metric of the IDMS software, it is established that the guarantee is determined by the reliability of the software structure itself and is characterised by the restoration of the functional state after failures or failures. The interrelationship and influence of IDMS software design quality indicators on the characteristics and sub-characteristics of the IDMS software is established, an example of the interrelationship between characteristics (factors) and quality indicators, the method of measuring quality indicators and design processes is given. On the basis of the conducted research, IDMS software denial regimes have been defined and their impact on the decision-making process has been shown. Detailed classes of failures and their influence on compliance of IDMS software with the task of development are shown. It has been shown that the reliability of IDMS is a dynamic concept, manifested in time, and is strongly dependent on the presence / absence of defects in the interaction. A detailed analysis of methods of software quality assurance and control has been carried out, and conclusions have been drawn on the possibility of their application IDMS software. The maturity model of the IDMS software has been improved and validated, and the maturity structure of the software as an indicator of the quality of the IDMS has been introduced.

ЦИФРОВОЙ СВЕТ КАК ПОНЯТИЕ ТЕОРИИ МЕДИА

This article introduces the concept of “digital light” into the Russian-language space of media theory, and also offers its conceptualization as a distributed network medium that transforms cultural practices. The article substantiates the need to distinguish digital light as a separate concept. Unlike the concept of “electric light” introduced by McLuhan, the content of the concept of “digital light” is based on the constructive and physical features of this medium, and not on abstract ideas about “pure information”. This article describes the media properties of digital light, determined by its semiconductor structure and the property of sampling the electrical signal. It substantiates the productivity of considering these structures in the context of a broad concept of digital light, rather than individual technological forms or software solutions. Considered not as a separate technological form, like a light bulb or a screen, but as covering the entire set of radiating and controlling means, and as a dynamic developing network, the elements of which can be both visible to a person and invisible to him (as a part of the infrastructure), digital light creates various situations of multi-channel exchange of electrical signals, eliminating the boundaries between its own digital structure and the illuminated objects of the environment. In particular, digital light allows interactive digital installations to exist and can process and visualize big data in real time. Digital light, understood in this way, turns out to be a medium with its own “message”, which overcomes McLuhan’s claim of electric light as a “medium without a message”.

Design of individual soldier situation generation software based on AR

According to the requirements of the individual combat command system for real-time emergency command and battlefield situation, the software design based on the AREngine platform for the individual battlefield collaborative situation generation is studied. Using the domestic smart phone to carry out the augmented reality situation of the traditional sandbox, and make full use of the powerful AR function of the smart phone with the core processing equipment of the individual soldier system equipped by the infantry commander and the combat personnel, providing the infantry with infantry command, combat deduction, The realistic deployment of power deployment and battlefield situation can be used for wartime preparation of troops and strategic deployment during simulation training, which has practical significance.

Development Of Air Traffic Control Simulator System Applied In Education And Training

Air traffic control simulation system has become familiar in developed countries. Moreover, in Vietnam, the demand for air traffic control systems is increasing due to the boom of the civil aviation industry. However, there is any research or development on this system. The Northern and Southern Flight Management Companies all import control simulation systems at a very high cost. Many other flight management companies also have a high demand for this system, including military units. This demand prompted the research team to find a solution to build an air traffic control simulation system in accordance with domestic training needs. Based on individual open source simulation software with some basic features, the team has successfully built an aerodrome control simulation system that recreates the visually appealing 3D visualization used in training of air traffic controllers.

Process-Driven Approach within the Engineering Domain by Combining Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) with Process Engines

Digitization within the framework of Industry 4.0 is considered the biggest and fastest driver of change in history of manufacturing industry. While the size of a company is becoming less essential, the ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and new technologies is more important than ever. This trend particularly applies to the companies’ software landscapes, where individual sub-processes and services must be orchestrated, seamlessly integrated, and iteratively renewed according to the ever-increasing user requirements. However, inflexible, closed monolithic software applications as well as self-programmed stand-alone tools that are difficult to integrate are still predominant in the engineering domain. A complete reimplementation of existing, proprietary engineering tools and their integration into monolithic applications of large software providers is often not economically feasible, especially for small and medium-sized machinery and plant manufacturers. In this context, the so-called Process-Driven Approach (PDA) offers a sustainable and tool-neutral opportunity for process and tool orchestration, enabling an easy integration of individual software applications by consistent utilization of the separation of concerns principle. The PDA, originating from business informatics, is mainly based on the standardized and machine-executable visual modeling language Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Using the semantic enhancements found in version 2.0, BPMN is not just used to model the business processes but also to model and execute the integration processes between different systems. After the PDA has already been successfully applied to large-scale projects in business informatics, it is now being transferred to the engineering domain. As shown in this paper, PDA allows to orchestrate the different processes in engineering and to integrate the underlying software tools, such as e-mail or spreadsheet applications, engineering tools, or custom microservices, using standardized interfaces like REST API. In doing so, engineering processes can be made more transparent, monitored, and optimized by means of appropriate key figures. The concept is validated by a prototypical implementation of a minimum functional PDA architecture for the engineering domain.

LATEST CARBON BALANCE SURVEYS AND MONITORING AT THE KURSK BIOSPHERE STATION OF THE INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY, RAS, IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE NOVEL CONCEPT OF LAND DEGRADATION NEUTRALITY

The paper focuses on the applicability and adaptation of the novel international concept of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) of the United Nations, as applied to the territory of Russian Federation, taking into account the large variety of its soil and climatic conditions and economic approaches, as well as the historical past. In particular, in this publication, a team of authors made an attempt to assess to what extent the estimates of the carbon balance and its main components for the study area can be used as one of the indicators of the LDN in relation to the most fertile chernozem agrolandscapes in the south of the European part of Russia (Kursk region). Field work and modelling have been carried out in natural ecosystems and agrolandscapes in the neighbourhood of the Kursk Biosphere Station (KBS) of the Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. This valuable russian scientific research station has a long and rich history of geo(eco)system observations with LDN and net C-balance monitoring of age-old agrolandscapes, becoming one of its present focuses. Using simulation models DNDC, RothC, T&amp;P, C-calculators, as well as long-term field measurements of soil CO2 efflux and carbon net exchange, it was found that individual software tools are not able to adequately assess carbon exchange processes of the complex landscape, but correctly selected ensembles consisting of C-balance simulations and C-calculators supported by field data are able to meet such challenges more successfully. On this condition the area's carbon net balance can serve as an alternative to the recommended global LDN indicators.