ABSTRACT Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) have resulted in autonomous systems that reduce operators' workload and involvement in hazardous missions. Integrating these systems into an existing system of systems (SoS) can evolve it into a system of autonomous system (SoAS). SoAS brings new Systems Engineering (SE) challenges for architecture development, integration, testing, and evaluation that originate from the level of autonomy (LoA). LoA refers to the level of autonomous capabilities of a system depending on its AI/ML technology. This paper examines SoAS test and evaluation challenges, such as uncertainty and emergent behaviors. We propose a test and evaluation method that provides stakeholders with a decision analysis tool to make data‐driven decisions by exploring the SoAS design space, comparing different alternative solutions under uncertainty, and selecting the most suitable one that addresses their mission needs. The proposed method is a step towards AI for Systems Engineering (AI4SE). It applies the Bayesian network (BN) to SoAS by integrating ML algorithms and Model‐Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) executable models. The decision analysis tool provides two types of examinations as follows: predictive analysis to select the most suitable SoAS alternative solution that yields the desired performance; and prescriptive analysis to identify root causes of an SoAS undesired emergent behavior and define preventive strategies for future operations. We present a conceptual example of a search‐and‐rescue mission to demonstrate the implementation and effectiveness of the proposed method in evaluating SoAS with varying LoAs.
Over twenty years ago, the Software Engineering (SE) research community have been involved with Evidence-Based Software Engineering (EBSE). EBSE aims to inform industrial practice with the best evidence from rigorous research, preferably from systematic literature reviews (SLRs). Since then, SE researchers have conducted many SLRs, perfected their SLR procedures, proposed alternative ways of presenting their results (such as Evidence Briefings), and profusely discussed how to conduct research that impacts practice. Nevertheless, there is still a feeling that SLRs' results are not reaching practitioners. Something is missing. In this vision paper, we introduce Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks from the health sciences, which propose gathering experts in panels to assess the existing best evidence about the impact of an intervention in all relevant outcomes and make structured recommendations based on them. The insight we can leverage from EtD frameworks is not their structure per se but all the relevant criteria for making recommendations to practitioners from SLRs. Furthermore, we provide a worked example based on an SE SLR. We also discuss the challenges the SE research and practice community may face when adopting EtD frameworks, highlighting the need for more comprehensive criteria in our recommendations to industry practitioners.
The system identification capabilities of a novel information-theoretic method are examined here. Specifically, this work uses information-theoretic metrics and vibration-based measurements to enhance damping estimation accuracy in mechanical systems. The method refers to a key limitation in system identification, signal processing, monitoring, and alert systems. These systems integrate various components, including sensors, data acquisition devices, and alert mechanisms. They are designed to operate in an environment to calculate key parameters such as peak accelerations and duration of high acceleration values. The current operational modal identification methods, though, suffer from limitations related to obtaining poor damping estimates due to their empirical nature. This has a significant impact on alert warning systems. This occurs when their duration is misestimated; specifically, when using the vibration amplitudes as an indicator of danger alerts for monitoring systems in damage or anomaly detection scenarios. To this end, approaches based on the Shannon entropy and the Kullback-Leibler divergence concept are proposed. The primary objective is to monitor the vibration levels in near real-time and provide immediate alerts when predefined thresholds are exceeded. In considering the proposed approach, both new real-world data from the multi-axis simulation table at the University of Bath, as well as the benchmark International Association for Structural Control-American Society of Civil Engineers (IASC-ASCE) structural health monitoring problem are considered. Importantly, the approach is shown to select the optimal model, which accurately captures the correct alert duration, providing a powerful tool for system identification and monitoring.
Practical applications such as solar power energy systems, electronic cooling, and the convective drying of vented enclosures require continuous developments to enhance fluid and heat flow. Numerous studies have investigated the enhancement of heat transfer in L-formed vented cavities by inserting heat-generating components, filling the cavity with nanofluids, providing an inner rotating cylinder and a phase-change packed system, etc. Contemporary work has examined the thermal performance of L-shaped porous vented enclosures, which can be augmented by using metal foam, using nanofluids as a saturated fluid, and increasing the wall surface area by corrugating the cavity’s heating wall. These features are not discussed in published articles, and their exploration can be considered a novelty point in this work. In this study, a vented cavity was occupied by a copper metal foam with <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>P</mi><mi>P</mi><mi>I</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>10</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and saturated with a copper–water nanofluid. The cavity walls were well insulated except for the left wall, which was kept at a hot isothermal temperature and was either non-corrugated or corrugated with rectangular waves. The Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model and local thermal non-equilibrium models were adopted in momentum and energy-governing equations and solved numerically by utilizing commercial software. The influences of various effective parameters, including the Reynolds number (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>20</mn><mo>≤</mo><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi><mo>≤</mo><mn>1000</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>), the nanoparticle volume fraction (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>0</mn><mo>%</mo><mo>≤</mo><mi>φ</mi><mo>≤</mo><mn>20</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>), the inflow and outflow vent aspect ratios (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>0.1</mn><mo>≤</mo><mrow><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mi>H</mi></mrow></mrow><mo>≤</mo><mn>0.4</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>), the rectangular wave corrugation number (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>10</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>), and the corrugation dimension ratio (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>R</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>R</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>0.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>) were determined. The results indicate that the flow field and heat transfer were affected mainly by variations in <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mrow><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mi>H</mi></mrow></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>φ</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> for a non-corrugated left wall; they were additionally influenced by <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>N</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>R</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> when the wall was corrugated. The fluid- and solid-phase temperatures of the metal foam increased with an increase in <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mrow><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mi>H</mi></mrow></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. The fluid-phase Nusselt number near the hot left sidewall increased with an increase in <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>φ</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> by <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mfenced separators="|"><mrow><mn>25</mn><mo>–</mo><mn>60</mn></mrow></mfenced><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, while the solid-phase Nusselt number decreased by <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mfenced separators="|"><mrow><mn>10</mn><mo>–</mo><mn>30</mn></mrow></mfenced><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, and these numbers rose by around <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>3.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> times when the Reynolds number increased from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>20</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1000</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. For the corrugated hot wall, the Nusselt numbers of the two metal foam phases increased with an increase in <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and decreased with an increase in <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mrow><mrow><mi>D</mi></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mi>H</mi></mrow></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>C</mi><mi>R</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, or <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>N</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> by <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>10</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>19</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>37</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. The original aspect of this study is its use of a thermal, non-equilibrium, nanofluid-saturated metal foam in a corrugated L-shaped vented cavity. We aimed to investigate the thermal performance of this system in order to reinforce the viability of applying this material in thermal engineering systems.
Jefferson S. Costa, Angelo Lunardi, Alessio Iovine
et al.
Model predictive control (MPC) has emerged as a highly regarded control strategy in power electronics for renewable energy applications. While it minimizes tracking errors and control effort, a significant challenge is the lack of systematic tuning strategies to meet these systems’ energy quality performance requirements. This paper proposes a comprehensive MPC tuning methodology for grid-integrating converters with LCL filters, incorporating modulation and delay compensation. We conduct a stability analysis to define precise constraints for cost function weights. The fine-tuning strategy systematically maps a Figure of Merit (FoM) for system performance using an advanced computational model, revealing that optimal tunings reside in narrow parameter regions. Experimental validation on a 2 kW workbench confirmed that all proposed MPC tunings met IEEE Std. 519-2014 power quality criteria and consistently outperformed a two-sample deadbeat controller, exhibiting enhanced dynamic response and power quality.
Large language models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity and are being embedded into professional applications due to their capabilities in generating human-like content. However, unquestioned reliance on their outputs and recommendations can be problematic as LLMs can reinforce societal biases and stereotypes. This study investigates how LLMs, specifically OpenAI's GPT-4 and Microsoft Copilot, can reinforce gender and racial stereotypes within the software engineering (SE) profession through both textual and graphical outputs. We used each LLM to generate 300 profiles, consisting of 100 gender-based and 50 gender-neutral profiles, for a recruitment scenario in SE roles. Recommendations were generated for each profile and evaluated against the job requirements for four distinct SE positions. Each LLM was asked to select the top 5 candidates and subsequently the best candidate for each role. Each LLM was also asked to generate images for the top 5 candidates, providing a dataset for analysing potential biases in both text-based selections and visual representations. Our analysis reveals that both models preferred male and Caucasian profiles, particularly for senior roles, and favoured images featuring traits such as lighter skin tones, slimmer body types, and younger appearances. These findings highlight underlying societal biases influence the outputs of LLMs, contributing to narrow, exclusionary stereotypes that can further limit diversity and perpetuate inequities in the SE field. As LLMs are increasingly adopted within SE research and professional practices, awareness of these biases is crucial to prevent the reinforcement of discriminatory norms and to ensure that AI tools are leveraged to promote an inclusive and equitable engineering culture rather than hinder it.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into software applications, giving rise to a broad class of prompt-enabled systems, in which prompts serve as the primary 'programming' interface for guiding system behavior. Building on this trend, a new software paradigm, promptware, has emerged, which treats natural language prompts as first-class software artifacts for interacting with LLMs. Unlike traditional software, which relies on formal programming languages and deterministic runtime environments, promptware is based on ambiguous, unstructured, and context-dependent natural language and operates on LLMs as runtime environments, which are probabilistic and non-deterministic. These fundamental differences introduce unique challenges in prompt development. In practice, prompt development remains largely ad hoc and relies heavily on time-consuming trial-and-error, a challenge we term the promptware crisis. To address this, we propose promptware engineering, a new methodology that adapts established Software Engineering (SE) principles to prompt development. Drawing on decades of success in traditional SE, we envision a systematic framework encompassing prompt requirements engineering, design, implementation, testing, debugging, evolution, deployment, and monitoring. Our framework re-contextualizes emerging prompt-related challenges within the SE lifecycle, providing principled guidance beyond ad-hoc practices. Without the SE discipline, prompt development is likely to remain mired in trial-and-error. This paper outlines a comprehensive roadmap for promptware engineering, identifying key research directions and offering actionable insights to advance the development of prompt-enabled systems.
Engineering information systems for scientific data analysis presents significant challenges: complex workflows requiring exploration of large solution spaces, close collaboration with domain specialists, and the need for maintainable, interpretable implementations. Traditional manual development is time-consuming, while "No Code" approaches using large language models (LLMs) often produce unreliable systems. We present iProg, a tool implementing Interactive Structured Inductive Programming. iProg employs a variant of a '2-way Intelligibility' communication protocol to constrain collaborative system construction by a human and an LLM. Specifically, given a natural-language description of the overall data analysis task, iProg uses an LLM to first identify an appropriate decomposition of the problem into a declarative representation, expressed as a Data Flow Diagram (DFD). In a second phase, iProg then uses an LLM to generate code for each DFD process. In both stages, human feedback, mediated through the constructs provided by the communication protocol, is used to verify LLMs' outputs. We evaluate iProg extensively on two published scientific collaborations (astrophysics and biochemistry), demonstrating that it is possible to identify appropriate system decompositions and construct end-to-end information systems with better performance, higher code quality, and order-of-magnitude faster development compared to Low Code/No Code alternatives. The tool is available at: https://shraddhasurana.github.io/dhaani/
Agile software development relies on self-organized teams, underlining the importance of individual responsibility. How developers take responsibility and build ownership are influenced by external factors such as architecture and development methods. This paper examines the existing literature on ownership in software engineering and in psychology, and argues that a more comprehensive view of ownership in software engineering has a great potential in improving software team's work. Initial positions on the issue are offered for discussion and to lay foundations for further research.
Many different aspects of software system development and verification rely on precise function identification in binary code. Recognition of the source Assembly functions in embedded systems is one of the fundamental challenges in binary program analysis. While numerous approaches assume that the functions are given a priori, correct identification of the functions in binaries remains a great issue. This contribution addresses the problem of uncertainty in binary code in identification of functions, which were optimized during compilation. This paper investigates the difference between debug and optimized functions via modeling of these functions. To do so, we introduce an extensible model-centred hands-on approach for examining similarities between binary functions. The main idea is to model each function using a set of predetermined, experimentally discovered features, and then find a suitable weight vector that could give impact factor to each such a feature. After finding the weight vector, the introduced models of such desired functions can be identified in binary software packages. It means that we reduce the similarity identification problem of the models to a classical version of optimization problems with one optimization criterion. Using our implementation, we found that the proposed approach works smoothly for functions, which contain at least ten Assembly instructions. Our tool guarantees success at a very high level.
Change management is a complex process by which organisations adapt to new market conditions, technologies, regulations or consumer needs. In the context of trade SMEs, changes can have a significant impact on long-term competitiveness and sustainability. This paper aims to analyse the management of change in trade SMEs, carrying out a comparative study between retail and traditional trade.
Understanding energetics and electron behavior has been pivotal in elucidating numerous fundamental phenomena, including electricity, corrosion, respiration, energy generation in biological systems, intermolecular interactions within living organisms, organic synthesis, drug development, enzyme functions, and the design of biosensors, among others. As 2024 records the centennial anniversary of the completion of the first polarograph by Nobel laureate Jaroslav Heyrovský (awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1959), it presents an opportune moment to pay tribute to several eminent electrochemists who have made significant contributions to the field of voltammetric techniques. Following our recent acknowledgment of the outstanding women who have made substantial contributions to voltammetry in a prior publication, this article aims to briefly highlight the major achievements of several distinguished male figures in the field (Jaroslav Heyrovský, Allen J. Bard, Christian Amatore, Richard Compton, Jean-Michel Savéant, Fraser Armstrong, Fritz Scholz, Joseph Wang, Milivoj Lovrić, Valentin Mirčeski, Alan M. Bond). Given that many of these remarkable personalities have contributed both as authors and referees for the Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, this tribute serves as a fitting acknowledgment of their remarkable accomplishments on the occasion of the journal's 50th anniversary.
W. Madushan Fernando, Amila Thibbotuwawa, H. Niles Perera
et al.
The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) represents a thoroughly investigated domain within operations research, yielding substantial cost savings in global transportation. The fundamental objective of the VRP is to determine the optimal route plan that minimizes the overall distance traveled. This study employs VRP to address the challenge of distributing fresh agricultural products within retail chains. It introduces an integrated bi-objective VRP model that concurrently optimizes resource allocation, order scheduling, and route planning. The proposed model incorporates two objective functions with the goals of minimizing total distribution costs and ensuring timely product deliveries to retail outlets. Real-world characteristics are integrated to enhance practical applicability. All solution algorithms and the developed VRP model undergo testing using data from one of Sri Lanka's largest retail chains. Numerical experiments showcase the efficiency of the proposed algorithm in solving real-world VRP problems. Moreover, the proposed VRP model achieves a 19% reduction in daily distribution costs, including a 24% saving in fuel costs. This not only provides financial benefits but also contributes to the reduction of the carbon footprint of retail chains. The model ensures on-time deliveries to 95% of retail outlets, which is crucial for maintaining the quality of fresh food. The findings of this study underscore the significant cost savings, enhanced sustainability, and improved quality associated with the efficient distribution of fresh agricultural products within retail chains.
Systems engineering, Marketing. Distribution of products
A central challenge for ensuring the success of software projects is to assure the convergence of developers' and users' views. While the availability of large amounts of user data from social media, app store reviews, and support channels bears many benefits, it still remains unclear how software development teams can effectively use this data. We present an LLM-powered approach called DeeperMatcher that helps agile teams use crowd-based requirements engineering (CrowdRE) in their issue and task management. We are currently implementing a command-line tool that enables developers to match issues with relevant user reviews. We validated our approach on an existing English dataset from a well-known open-source project. Additionally, to check how well DeeperMatcher works for other languages, we conducted a single-case mechanism experiment alongside developers of a local project that has issues and user feedback in Brazilian Portuguese. Our preliminary analysis indicates that the accuracy of our approach is highly dependent on the text embedding method used. We discuss further refinements needed for reliable crowd-based requirements engineering with multilingual support.
Traditional requirements engineering tools do not readily access the SysML-defined system architecture model, often resulting in ad-hoc duplication of model elements that lacks the connectivity and expressive detail possible in a SysML-defined model. Without that model connectivity, requirement quality can suffer due to imprecision and inconsistent terminology, frustrating communication during system development. Further integration of requirements engineering activities with MBSE contributes to the Authoritative Source of Truth while facilitating deep access to system architecture model elements for V&V activities. The Model-Based Structured Requirement SysML Profile was extended to comply with the INCOSE Guide to Writing Requirements updated in 2023 while conforming to the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 standard requirement statement templates. Rules, Characteristics, and Attributes were defined in SysML according to the Guide to facilitate requirements definition and requirements V&V. The resulting SysML Profile was applied in two system architecture models at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, allowing us to explore its applicability and value in real-world project environments. Initial results indicate that INCOSE-derived Model-Based Structured Requirements may rapidly improve requirement expression quality while complementing the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook checklist and guidance, but typical requirement management activities still have challenges related to automation and support with the system architecture modeling software.
By treating data and models as the source code, Foundation Models (FMs) become a new type of software. Mirroring the concept of software crisis, the increasing complexity of FMs making FM crisis a tangible concern in the coming decade, appealing for new theories and methodologies from the field of software engineering. In this paper, we outline our vision of introducing Foundation Model (FM) engineering, a strategic response to the anticipated FM crisis with principled engineering methodologies. FM engineering aims to mitigate potential issues in FM development and application through the introduction of declarative, automated, and unified programming interfaces for both data and model management, reducing the complexities involved in working with FMs by providing a more structured and intuitive process for developers. Through the establishment of FM engineering, we aim to provide a robust, automated, and extensible framework that addresses the imminent challenges, and discovering new research opportunities for the software engineering field.
Sanae Rujivan, Athinan Sutchada, Kittisak Chumpong
et al.
This paper focuses mainly on the problem of computing the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>γ</mi><mi>th</mi></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>γ</mi><mo>></mo><mn>0</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, moment of a random variable <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>Y</mi><mi>n</mi></msub><mo>:</mo><mo>=</mo><msubsup><mo>∑</mo><mrow><mi>i</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><mi>n</mi></msubsup><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>i</mi></msub><msub><mi>X</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> in which the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>’s are positive real numbers and the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>X</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>’s are independent and distributed according to noncentral chi-square distributions. Finding an analytical approach for solving such a problem has remained a challenge due to the lack of understanding of the probability distribution of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>Y</mi><mi>n</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>, especially when not all <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>’s are equal. We analytically solve this problem by showing that the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>γ</mi><mi>th</mi></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> moment of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>Y</mi><mi>n</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> can be expressed in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions. Additionally, we extend our result to computing the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>γ</mi><mi>th</mi></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> moment of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>Y</mi><mi>n</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> when <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>X</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> is a combination of statistically independent <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msubsup><mi>Z</mi><mi>i</mi><mn>2</mn></msubsup></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>G</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> in which the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>Z</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>’s are distributed according to normal or Maxwell–Boltzmann distributions and the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>G</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>’s are distributed according to gamma, Erlang, or exponential distributions. Our paper has an immediate application in interest rate modeling, where we can explicitly provide the exact transition probability density function of the extended Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (ECIR) process with time-varying dimension as well as the corresponding <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>γ</mi><mi>th</mi></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> conditional moment. Finally, we conduct Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our explicit formulas through several numerical tests.
There is an increasing need to assess the correct behavior of self-adaptive and self-healing systems due to their adoption in critical and highly dynamic environments. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation methods for self-adaptive and self-healing systems. We proposed CHESS, a novel approach to address this gap by evaluating self-adaptive and self-healing systems through fault injection based on chaos engineering (CE) [ arXiv:2208.13227 ]. The artifact presented in this paper provides an extensive overview of the use of CHESS through two microservice-based case studies: a smart office case study and an existing demo application called Yelb. It comes with a managing system service, a self-monitoring service, as well as five fault injection scenarios covering infrastructure faults and functional faults. Each of these components can be easily extended or replaced to adopt the CHESS approach to a new case study, help explore its promises and limitations, and identify directions for future research. Keywords: self-healing, resilience, chaos engineering, evaluation, artifact
<List> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● Impacts of 30 cropping systems practiced on the North China Plain were evaluated.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● Trade-offs were assessed among productive, economic and environmental indicators.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● An evolutionary algorithm was used for multi-objective optimization.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● Conflict exists between productivity and profitability versus lower ground water decline.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● Six strategies were identified to jointly mitigate the trade-offs between objectives.</p></ItemContent></ListItem></List></p> <p>Since the Green Revolution cropping systems have been progressively homogenized and intensified with increasing rates of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and water. This has resulted in higher crop productivity but also a high environmental burden due to increased pollution and water depletion. To identify opportunities for increasing the productivity and reducing the environmental impact of cropping systems, it is crucial to assess the associated trade-offs. The paper presents a model-based analysis of how 30 different crop rotations practiced in the North China Plain could be combined at the regional level to overcome trade-offs between indicators of economic, food security, and environmental performance. The model uses evolutionary multi-objective optimization to maximize revenues, livestock products, dietary and vitamin C yield, and to minimize the decline of the groundwater table. The modeling revealed substantial trade-offs between objectives of maximizing productivity and profitability versus minimizing ground water decline, and between production of livestock products and vitamin C yield. Six strategies each defining a specific combination of cropping systems and contributing to different extents to the various objectives were identified. Implementation of these six strategies could be used to find opportunities to mitigate the trade-offs between objectives. It was concluded that a holistic analysis of the potential of a diversity cropping systems at a regional level is needed to find integrative solutions for challenges due to conflicting objectives for food production, economic viability and environmental protection.