Verification Issues Research Articles

Representation of Medical Guidelines with a Computer Interpretable Model

Nowadays medical software is tightly coupled with medical devices that perform patient state monitoring and lately even some basic treatment procedures. Medical guidelines (GLs) can be seen as specification of a medical system which requires their computer-interpretable representation of medical GLs. Until now most of the medical GLs are often represented in a textual format and therefore often suffer from such structural problems as incompleteness, inconsistencies, ambiguity and redundancy, which makes the translation process to the machine-interpretable language more complicated. Computer-based interpretation of GLs can improve the quality of protocols as well as the quality of medical service. Several GLs formal representation methods have been presented recently. Only some of them enable automatic formal verification by introducing an additional translation path to the existing model checking environments. However, if a verified property fails it is difficult to trace back the result needed to change the model. Moreover, these formalisms provide the notion of time mostly in terms of actions order. In this paper we preset the application of a well-know formal behaviour representation approach of embedded systems design domain to medical GLs interpretation. We use Timed Automata extended with Tasks (TAT) and TIMES toolbox to represent medical GLs as a system behaviour in a computer interpretable form. We discuss the verification issues with the help of the anticancer drug imatinib case study.

Privacy Issues in Identity Verification

Identity verification plays an important role in creating trust in the economic system. It can, and should, be done in a way that doesn't decrease individual privacy. This article explores privacy issues in identity verification for commercial applications. It does not explore questions about when and to what degree identity verification is needed or address broader issues related to national or other wide-scale identity systems.

An International Verifi cation Institute as an Element of the Mechanism of Ensuring for Meeting Commitments under International Treaties

The article deals with the explanation of an international verification’s nature as a specific type of international legal relationship. An author critically analyses domestic and foreign doctrines as well as the international treaties’ practice concerning the issues of international verification. An international verification institute is quite well-searched in the international law science. But the article author considers that traditional approaches to analysis of the international verification essence (investigation of subjects, matters and aims) are not sufficient. Practical value of this article flows from the new vision of the international verification as a specific international legal relationship. The legal matter, subjects and substance of the international verification are suggested to be searched in the article.

Проблемы параметризованной верификации протоколов когерентности памяти

Проблемы параметризованной верификации протоколов когерентности памяти

ECO-INNOVATIONS IN JAPAN: THE MAIN DIRECTIONS

The paper presents the main aspects of the environmental technologies sector nowadays in Japan. Basing on the governmental definition of «ecological innovations», eco-innovations are developed according to the traditional Japanese concept of value creation – «monozukuri». Ecological innovations include technological improvements as well as social reforms. So far the paper draws an attention on two types of innovations: engineering technologies and social reforms (programms, education etc.). Basing on governmental Programs and open data bases the most important environmental technologies for nowadays in Japan are defined. From author’s point of view the first vector for Japan is «green energy» (alternative energy, energy efficiency) – innovations concern the challenge of climate change. Regarding this issue the aspects and technologies from «The Cool Earth Innovative Energy Technology Program» are described. The second vector is eco-innovations for pollution control and waste utilization – the traditional sector for Japan from 1970s. And the third one is defined as information and communication technologies for environmental challenges («green ICT») – the new vector for Japan as well as for the other countries. In the paper the issues of research and development activities, financial issues eco-innovations’ management and transfer are considered. The role of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) is discussed. The significant issue of verification of new technologies realized by Ministry of Environment in Japan is mentioned.

Evolution of FLASH, a multi-physics scientific simulation code for high-performance computing

The FLASH code has evolved into a modular and extensible scientific simulation software system over the decade of its existence. During this time it has been cumulatively used by over a thousand researchers to investigate problems in astrophysics, cosmology, and in some areas of basic physics, such as turbulence. Recently, many new capabilities have been added to the code to enable it to simulate problems in high-energy density physics. Enhancements to these capabilities continue, along with enhancements enabling simulations of problems in fluid-structure interactions. The code started its life as an amalgamation of already existing software packages and sections of codes developed independently by various participating members of the team for other purposes. The code has evolved through a mixture of incremental and deep infrastructural changes. In the process, it has undergone four major revisions, three of which involved a significant architectural advancement. Along the way, a software process evolved that addresses the issues of code verification, maintainability, and support for the expanding user base. The software process also resolves the conflicts arising out of being in development and production simultaneously with multiple research projects, and between performance and portability. This paper describes the process of code evolution with emphasis on the design decisions and software management policies that have been instrumental in the success of the code. The paper also makes the case for a symbiotic relationship between scientific research and good software engineering of the simulation software.

A look at silicon debug and diagnosis [From the EIC

The Editor-in-Cheif is pleased to present this July-August issue, which brings you a combination of articles that cover a rich set of academic and industrial work addressing state-of-the-art issues of design, verification, and test of different IC-based systems represented at different levels of abstraction. The figure of merit for the different approaches varies, depending on the specific case, but are generally variations of cost, performance, quality, yield, and feasibility. An overview of each of the technical articles and features is presented.

Tritium as an indicator of venues for nuclear tests

Currently, due to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons there is a highly topical issue of an accurate verification of nuclear explosion venues. This paper proposes to consider new method for verification by using tritium as an indicator. Detailed studies of the tritium content in the air were carried in the locations of underground nuclear tests - “Balapan” and “Degelen” testing sites located in Semipalatinsk Test Site. The paper presents data on the levels and distribution of tritium in the air where tunnels and boreholes are located – explosion epicentres, wellheads and tunnel portals, as well as in estuarine areas of the venues for the underground nuclear explosions (UNE).

Accurate evaluation of free-form surface profile error based on quasi particle swarm optimization algorithm and surface subdivision

Although significant progress has been made in precision machining of free-form surfaces recently, inspection of such surfaces remains a difficult problem. In order to solve the problem that no specific standards for the verification of free-form surface profile are available, the profile parameters of free-form surface are proposed by referring to ISO standards regarding form tolerances and considering its complexity and non-rotational symmetry. Non-uniform rational basis spline(NURBS) for describing free-form surface is formulated. Crucial issues in surface inspection and profile error verification are localization between the design coordinate system(DCS) and measurement coordinate system(MCS) for searching the closest points on the design model corresponding to measured points. A quasi particle swarm optimization(QPSO) is proposed to search the transformation parameters to implement localization between DCS and MCS. Surface subdivide method which does the searching in a recursively reduced range of the parameters u and v of the NURBS design model is developed to find the closest points. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, the design model is generated by NURBS and the measurement data of simulation example are generated by transforming the design model to arbitrary position and orientation, and the parts are machined based on the design model and are measured on CMM. The profile errors of simulation example and actual parts are calculated by the proposed method. The results verify that the evaluation precision of freeform surface profile error by the proposed method is higher 10%–22% than that by CMM software. The proposed method deals with the hard problem that it has a lower precision in profile error evaluation of free-form surface.

Assertion Aware Sampling Refinement: A Mixed-Signal Perspective

Sampling has been one of the key issues in simulation-based verification of analog and mixed signal (AMS) systems. Recent attempts toward extending assertion languages to the AMS domain has brought forward an obvious question. In what way should sampling be done to ensure that assertions are evaluated correctly? Increasing sampling granularity often comes with substantial simulation time overhead. On the other hand, interpolation of the analog signals between consecutive samples introduces inaccuracies in the signal values and, hence, in the truth of the assertions. This paper explores how temporal assertions are handled for inadequately sampled signals. We propose a three-valued semantics (true, false, and unknown) for AMS assertions to address the uncertainty caused by the inadequacy of samples. The evaluation algorithm reports the time intervals where additional samples are required to resolve the uncertainty, thereby paving the way for adaptive sampling refinement in assertion aware AMS simulation.

Modeling and Verification of Agent based Adaptive Traffic Signal using Symbolic Model Verifier

This paper addresses the issue of modeling and verification of a Multi Agent System (MAS) scenario. We have considered an agent based adaptive traffic signal system. The system monitors the smooth flow of traffic at intersection of two road segment. After describing how the adaptive traffic signal system can efficiently be used and showing its advantages over traffic signals with predetermined periods, we have shown how we can transform this scenario into Finite State Machine (FSM). Once the system is transformed into a FSM, we have verified the specifications specified in Computational Tree Logic(CTL) using NuSMV as a model checking tool. Simulation results obtained from NuSMV showed us whether the system satisfied the specifications or not. It has also showed us the state where the system specification does not hold. Using which we traced back our system to find the source, leading to the specification violation. Finally, we again verified the modified system with NuSMV for its specifications.

Indian Media Coverage of Kashmir

This commentary provides an insight into the security risks and inclination, albeit unconsciously, to be swayed by national interests, that journalists face in their coverage of war and sectarian conflicts. The author, a journalist with The Week magazine in New Delhi, alludes to the issues of verification, attribution and personal security in his coverage of the conflict in Kashmir. He concludes that as long as editors and news organisations support the journalist, one should pursue the story despite the security risks.

WE-E-BRCD-01: SBRT Treatment Planning: Practical Considerations.

1. What characteristics SBRT plans have and how they are different from conventional fractionated radiotherapy plans. 2. For IMRT/VMAT SBRT plans (such as spine SBRT plans that concave distributions around the cord are required), we will discuss strategies that can be employed to overcome many commercial treatment planning system's IMRT algorithms' intrinsic penalty for inhomogeneous plans. Additional issues related to VMAT will be also discussed. 3. For non-IMRT SBRT plans (such as many lung or liver cases where target motion is a concern), we will discuss techniques to control dose inhomogeneities and dose fall off. 4. We will also discuss policy and procedures on SBRT patient setup and verification issues to ensure safe delivery of SBRT treatments.

Optimal martingale measures for defaultable assets

We model a defaultable asset as solution to a stochastic differential equation driven by both a Brownian motion and the counting process martingale associated to the one-jump process. We discuss in this framework the minimal entropy martingale measure as well as the linear Esscher and the minimal martingale measure. In particular we deal with some rather delicate verification issues.

Some issues in real-time systems verification using time Petri Nets

Time Petri Net (TPN) models have been widely used to the specification and verification of real-time systems. However, the claim that most of these techniques are useful for real-time system verification can be discussed, based on two assumptions: i) to be suitable for real-time systems verification, a technique must be able to check timing properties, both safe and behavioral, and ii) the underlying algorithm must be efficient enough to be applied to complex systems design. In this paper we will discuss the suitability of commonly accepted verification techniques that use model-checking as a verification framework and TPN as a description model. We present a new algorithmic approach that allows computation of end-to-end time between activities over an abstract state space model. The proposed approach needs to compute the abstract state space only once improving the efficiency of the verification process and turning it suitable for large problems. We also introduce a new sufficient condition for abstract states space to preserve the branching time properties that yields more compact graphs than the condition already used in actual approaches. The approach would fit a design environment also based on Petri Nets called GHENeSys (General Hierarchical Enhanced Petri Nets). The results obtained, using our verification approach are compared with similar available approaches.

Time-domain finite element modeling of interaction of heterogeneous solids with acoustic waves

The vibroacoustic finite element toolkit (VATK) utilizes a Lagrangian finite element method specifically developed for analyzing the interaction of biosolids immersed in fluids with acoustic waves. It employs a superposition principle to separate the incident acoustic wave from the scattered and radiated waves in a displacement-based finite element model. An absorbing boundary condition is applied to the perturbation part of the displacement. Linear constitutive equation allows for inhomogeneous, anisotropic materials, both fluids and solids. Displacement-based finite elements are used for all materials in the computational volume, which can be fluids, solids, and voids in arbitrary combination. Robust performance for materials with limited compressibility is achieved using incompatible-mode brick elements. A centered-difference time-stepping algorithm is formulated to handle general damping accurately and efficiently. The VATK uses a voxel-based modeling scheme for complex geometries. The modeling methodology comes with some challenges. Here we discuss the issues of verification and validation, convergence and error control, and performance of the present technique in application areas for which it was not originally intended. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research and the Chief of Naval Operations, Environmental Readiness Division.]

Simulation of load following mode of operation for a natural circulation pressure tube type BWR

Abstract A new nuclear power reactor under design study is a vertical pressure tube type boiling light water cooled and heavy water moderated. One of the passive design features of this reactor is the heat removal through natural circulation of primary coolant at all power level with no primary coolant pumps. Nuclear plants are mainly base load units, but the proposed plant with various advance features has to operate in load following mode i.e. Reactor follows Turbine (in a limited range). In this mode, any alteration in turbine load results in the steam pressure change. The steam pressure error is fed to the Reactor Regulating System (RRS), which changes the reactor power to control the system pressure. To study this mode of plant operation, a plant simulation model with the feedbacks from various controllers has been developed using the RELAP5 code. This integrated plant model has been used for simulating the load-varying scenario for a change in plant load. All the process dynamics, modeling, design verification and performance issues are discussed in this paper.

An Approach for Validation of Digital Anti-Forensic Evidence

ABSTRACT e-crime is increasing and e-criminals are becoming better at masking their activities. The task of forensic data analysis is becoming more difficult and a systematic approach towards evidence validation is necessary. With no standard validation framework, the skills and interpretation of forensic examiners are unchecked. Standard practices in forensics have emerged in recent years, but none has addressed the development of a model of valid digital evidence. Various security and forensic models exist, but they do not address the validity of the digital evidence collected. Research has addressed the issues of validation and verification of forensic software tools but failed to address the validation of forensic evidence. The forensic evidence collected using forensic software tools can be questioned using an anti-forensic approach. The research presented in this paper is not intended to question the skills of forensic examiners in using forensic software tools but rather to guide forensic examiners to look at evidence in an anti-forensic way. This paper proposes a formal procedure to validate evidence of computer crime.

Specification and verification of real-time systems using POLA

Real-time systems are becoming more and more complex, making it hard for the industrial community to actually use experimental tools which are able to resolve some of the specification and verification issues of such systems. This work presents a tool which automatically transforms a domain specific language for the specification of real-time systems into its corresponding time Petri net semantics together with some related logical formulas. Consequently, the validity of the generated formulas are automatically checked with regard to the generated model using the TINA model checking toolbox. Using this automatic tool chain, the users can check the validity of real-time systems without any prerequisite knowledge of how it actually was accomplished.

Validation and verification issues in a timeline-based planning system

AbstractTo foster effective use of artificial intelligence planning and scheduling (P&S)systems in the real world, it is of great importance to both (a) broaden direct access to the technology for the end users and (b) significantly increase their trust in such technology. AutomatedP&Ssystems often bring solutions to the users that are neither ‘obvious’ nor immediately acceptable to them. This is because these tools directly reason on causal, temporal, and resource constraints; moreover, they employ resolution processes designed to optimize the solution with respect to non-trivial evaluation functions. Knowledge engineering environments aim at simplifying direct access to the technology for people other than the original system designers, while the integration of validation and verification (V&V) capabilities in such environments may potentially enhance the users’ trust in the technology. Somehow,V&Vtechniques may represent a complementary technology, with respect toP&S, that contributes to developing richer software environments to synthesize a new generation of robust problem-solving applications. The integration ofV&VandP&Stechniques in a knowledge engineering environment is the topic of this paper. In particular, it analyzes the use of state-of-the-artV&Vtechnology to support knowledge engineering for a timeline-based planning system called MrSPOCK. The paper presents the application domain for which the automated solver has been developed, introduces the timeline-based planning ideas, and then describes the different possibilities to applyV&Vto planning. Hence, it continues by describing the step of addingV&Vfunctionalities around the specialized planner, MrSPOCK. New functionalities have been added to perform both model validation and plan verification. Lastly, a specific section describes the benefits as well as the performance of such functionalities.