This paper suggests a technique for improving the conceptual-ization of models. The key aspect of this technique is to set aside the main model for a period of time during the model conceptualization process and focus on building a "watchdog" submodel. The primary purpose of the watchdog submodel is to assure that the main model remains internally consistent during its operation. In the experie...

A Local Sanitary Agency – LSA operating in an Italian region can be described as a multi-stage multi-service-center chain, such that it can be modeled by a Collaborative DEmand and Supply NETwork (CO-DESNET). Such network consists of an organization of service centers which operate in the same health care-dedicated line and interact together to facilitate the patients’ flows along the chain of ...

The current tendency of ight control system designs is towards increased integration of applications and increased distribution of computational elements. The reliability analysis of such systems is di cult because subsystem interactions are increasingly interdependent. Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center have been working for several years to extend the capability of Markov modelling t...

Data tampering attacks threaten data integrity in emerging nonvolatile memories (NVMs). Whereas Merkle Tree (MT) memory authentication is e ective in thwarting data tampering attacks, it drastically increases cell writes and memory accesses, adversely impacting NVM energy, lifetime, and system performance. We propose ASSURE, a low overhead, high performance Authentication Scheme for SecURE ener...

A thermodynamically consistent damage model is proposed for the simulation of progressive delamination in composite materials under variable-mode ratio. The model is formulated in the context of Damage Mechanics. A novel constitutive equation is developed to model the initiation and propagation of delamination. A delamination initiation criterion is proposed to assure that the formulation can a...

As the Unified Modeling Language is evolving into a family of languages with individually specified semantics, there is an increasing need for highly automated and provenly correct model transformations that assure the integration of local views of the system (in the form of different diagrams) into a consistent global view. Graph transformation provides an easy-to-understand visual specificati...

Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) are one of the main paradigms for future software systems. Since these software systems are composed of a large number of different components it is non trivial to assure an adequate Quality of Service (QoS) of the overall system and performance analysis becomes an important issue. To consider performance issues early in the development process, a model base...

Systems that are used to process or handle classified or sensitive information must assure individual accountability whenever either a mandatory or discretionary security policy is invoked. Furthermore, to assure accountability the capability must exist for an authorized and competent agent to access and evaluate accountability information by a secure means, within a reasonable amount of time a...