Informatica

The article describes multi-function system testing based on fusion (or revelation) of clique-like structures. The following sets are considered: (i) subsystems (system parts or units/components/modules), (ii) system functions and a subset of system components for each system function, and (iii) function clusters (some groups of system functions which are used jointly). Test procedures (as units testing) are used for each subsystem. The procedures lead to an ordinal result (states, colors) for each component (e.g., ‘out of service’, ‘major faults’, ‘minor faults’, ‘trouble free service’). For each system function a graph over corresponding system components is examined while taking into account ordinal estimates/colors of the components. Further, an integrated graph for each function cluster is considered (this graph integrates the graphs for corresponding system functions). For the integrated graph structure revelation problems are under examination (revelation of some subgraphs which can lead to system faults). Numerical examples illustrate the approach and problems.

Nowadays, ontologies play a central role in many computer science problems such as data modelling, data exchange, integration of heterogeneous data and models or software reuse. Yet, if many methods of ontology based conceptual data modelling have been proposed, only few attempts have been made to ontology axioms based modelling of business rules, which make an integral part of each conceptual data model. In this paper, we present the approach how ontology axioms can be used for business rules implementation. Our proposal we apply for the transformation of PAL (Protege Axiom Language) constraints (ontology axioms), which is based on KIF (Knowledge Interchange Format) and is part of KIF ontology, into OCL (Object Constraint Language) constraints, which are part of a UML class diagram. Z language is used to formalise the proposal and describe the transformation. The Axiom2OCL plug-in is created for automation of the transformation and a case study is carried out.

In sport tournaments where teams compete in match play format, the pairing of players in matches is critical to the final outcomes. This paper presents simulation models using only commonplace spreadsheet software to analyze and compare strategies in such pairings based on actual or estimated performance of individual players. The approach can be a useful decision support tool for captains and coaches of competing teams in collegiate conferences, club leagues, or international sport tournaments.

Glaucoma is one of the most insidious eye diseases the occurrence and progression of which a human does not feel. This article provides a brief overview of the eye nerve parameterization methods and algorithms. Parameterization itself is an important task that provides and uniquely defines the structure of the optic nerve disc and further can be used in disease detection or other studies that require a parametric estimate of the eye fundus pattern. So far, planimetric completely automated parameterization of excavation from eye fundus images has not been investigated in detail in the scientific literature. In this article, the authors describe an automated excavation and parameterization algorithm and make the correlation analysis of parameters obtained by both automated and interactive techniques. The obtained results are then compared with those produced by Optical Coherence and Heidelberg Retina Tomography. Finally, the article discusses glaucoma disease detection abilities using the estimated parameters of the eye fundus structures, obtained by different parameterization techniques.

An authenticated group key exchange (AGKE) protocol allows participants to construct a common key and provide secure group communications in cooperative and distributed applications. Recently, Choi et al. proposed an identity (ID)-based authenticated group key exchange (IDAGKE) protocol from bilinear pairings. However, their protocol suffered from an insider colluding attack because it didn't realize the security issue of withstanding insider attacks. Withstanding insider attacks mean that it can detect whether malicious participants exist in the group key exchange protocol. Nevertheless, an AGKE protocol resistant to insider attacks is still unable to find “who are malicious participants”. In this paper, we propose an ID-based AGKE protocol with identifying malicious participants. In our protocol, we use a confirmed computation property to achieve identifying malicious participants. Certainly, it is also secure against insider attacks. In the random oracle model and under related mathematical hard problems, we prove that the proposed protocol a secure AGKE protocol with identifying malicious participants.

Fuzzy identity based encryption (FIBE), proposed by Sahai and Waters, is a new kind of identity based encryption. It allows users with identity w can decrypt ciphertext for w' if and only if w is close enough to w'. Recently, Ren et al. proposed a new FIBE scheme and claimed it is fully CCA2 secure in the standard model with a tight reduction. However, in this paper we will show that their scheme is not correct. Furthermore, the key generation process of their scheme cannot resist the collusion attack, which is a basic security requirement for FIBE. At last, we propose a new fully secure FIBE scheme based on the Sahai–Waters FIBE scheme and prove its security by using the “dual system encryption” technique.

The notion of general backlash is introduced where instead of the straight lines determining the upward and downward parts of backlash characteristic general curves are considered. An analytic form of general backlash characteristic description is proposed, which is based on appropriate switching and internal functions. Consequently, this multi-valued mapping is represented by one difference equation. All the parameters in the equation describing this hard nonlinearity are separated; hence the general backlash identification can be solved as a quasi-linear problem using an iterative parameter estimation method with internal variable estimation. Also the identification of cascaded systems consisting of a general input backlash followed by a linear dynamic system is presented. Simulation studies of general backlash identification and that of cascaded systems with general input backlash are included.

In this paper we describe possible approaches how to store XML data, which is a key aspect for their further processing. One popular technique for managing XML data is to map the data to an existing database system, e.g., to the relational or object-relational database management system. We describe possible ways how to store XML data in relational databases, because relational systems are still widely used for various purposes, including XML data management. But XML data are trees, not tables, so the main focus of this article is oriented to native XML databases. We describe general properties of such kind of databases and, in particular, explain possible solutions on two experimental native XML database management systems – ExDB and CellStore. Both have been proposed, implemented and optimized in our research groups in recent years for experimental purposes.

A logistics system that involves a supplier who produces and delivers a single product and a buyer who receives and sells the product to the final customers was analyzed. A mathematical model was developed to describe the behavior of the system and to derive the optimal cycle length and order-up-to levels for the two parties. An analysis of the obtained results revealed that the methods were able to determine the optimal control parameters for each party in a short time frame. A coordination mechanism based on the optimal policies was ultimately proposed so that each party benefits more than if they use their own optimal control policy.

The emergence of the Semantic Web have revived the interest in knowledge engineering and ontologies. Different paradigms often share challenges and solutions, and can complement and mutually improve each other. This paper presents a simple and agile integration of ontologies and programming on a small scale, and in a down-to-Earth manner by incorporating the ontology paradigm into a mainstream programming environment. The approach is based on metaprogramming, which has been used to internalize the ontology modeling paradigm into the Clojure language. The resulting DSL, Magic Potion, is implemented in Cojure and blends ontology, functional, object-oriented and concurrent paradigms, which is suitable for general-purpose domain modeling, from technology enhanced learning to business.