scholarly journals When does a physical system compute?

Author(s):  
Clare Horsman ◽  
Susan Stepney ◽  
Rob C. Wagner ◽  
Viv Kendon

Computing is a high-level process of a physical system. Recent interest in non-standard computing systems, including quantum and biological computers, has brought this physical basis of computing to the forefront. There has been, however, no consensus on how to tell if a given physical system is acting as a computer or not; leading to confusion over novel computational devices, and even claims that every physical event is a computation. In this paper, we introduce a formal framework that can be used to determine whether a physical system is performing a computation. We demonstrate how the abstract computational level interacts with the physical device level, in comparison with the use of mathematical models in experimental science. This powerful formulation allows a precise description of experiments, technology, computation and simulation, giving our central conclusion: physical computing is the use of a physical system to predict the outcome of an abstract evolution . We give conditions for computing, illustrated using a range of non-standard computing scenarios. The framework also covers broader computing contexts, where there is no obvious human computer user. We introduce the notion of a ‘computational entity’, and its critical role in defining when computing is taking place in physical systems.

Computers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Fahd Alhaidari ◽  
Taghreed Zayed Balharith

Recently, there has been significant growth in the popularity of cloud computing systems. One of the main issues in building cloud computing systems is task scheduling. It plays a critical role in achieving high-level performance and outstanding throughput by having the greatest benefit from the resources. Therefore, enhancing task scheduling algorithms will enhance the QoS, thus leading to more sustainability of cloud computing systems. This paper introduces a novel technique called the dynamic round-robin heuristic algorithm (DRRHA) by utilizing the round-robin algorithm and tuning its time quantum in a dynamic manner based on the mean of the time quantum. Moreover, we applied the remaining burst time of the task as a factor to decide the continuity of executing the task during the current round. The experimental results obtained using the CloudSim Plus tool showed that the DRRHA significantly outperformed the competition in terms of the average waiting time, turnaround time, and response time compared with several studied algorithms, including IRRVQ, dynamic time slice round-robin, improved RR, and SRDQ algorithms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5458
Author(s):  
Sangjun Kim ◽  
Kyung-Joon Park

A cyber-physical system (CPS) is the integration of a physical system into the real world and control applications in a computing system, interacting through a communications network. Network technology connecting physical systems and computing systems enables the simultaneous control of many physical systems and provides intelligent applications for them. However, enhancing connectivity leads to extended attack vectors in which attackers can trespass on the network and launch cyber-physical attacks, remotely disrupting the CPS. Therefore, extensive studies into cyber-physical security are being conducted in various domains, such as physical, network, and computing systems. Moreover, large-scale and complex CPSs make it difficult to analyze and detect cyber-physical attacks, and thus, machine learning (ML) techniques have recently been adopted for cyber-physical security. In this survey, we provide an extensive review of the threats and ML-based security designs for CPSs. First, we present a CPS structure that classifies the functions of the CPS into three layers: the physical system, the network, and software applications. Then, we discuss the taxonomy of cyber-physical attacks on each layer, and in particular, we analyze attacks based on the dynamics of the physical system. We review existing studies on detecting cyber-physical attacks with various ML techniques from the perspectives of the physical system, the network, and the computing system. Furthermore, we discuss future research directions for ML-based cyber-physical security research in the context of real-time constraints, resiliency, and dataset generation to learn about the possible attacks.


Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1736
Author(s):  
Davide Piumatti ◽  
Jacopo Sini ◽  
Stefano Borlo ◽  
Matteo Sonza Reorda ◽  
Radu Bojoi ◽  
...  

Complex systems are composed of numerous interconnected subsystems, each designed to perform specific functions. The different subsystems use many technological items that work together, as for the case of cyber-physical systems. Typically, a cyber-physical system is composed of different mechanical actuators driven by electrical power devices and monitored by sensors. Several approaches are available for designing and validating complex systems, and among them, behavioral-level modeling is becoming one of the most popular. When such cyber-physical systems are employed in mission- or safety-critical applications, it is mandatory to understand the impacts of faults on them and how failures in subsystems can propagate through the overall system. In this paper, we propose a methodology for supporting the failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) aimed at identifying the critical faults and assessing their effects on the overall system. The end goal is to analyze how a fault affecting a single subsystem possibly propagates through the whole cyber-physical system, considering also the embedded software and the mechanical elements. In particular, our approach allows the analysis of the propagation through the whole system (working at high level) of a fault injected at low level. This paper provides a solution to automate the FMECA process (until now mainly performed manually) for complex cyber-physical systems. It improves the failure classification effectiveness: considering our test case, it reduced the number of critical faults from 10 to 6. The remaining four faults are mitigated by the cyber-physical system architecture. The proposed approach has been tested on a real cyber-physical system in charge of driving a three-phase motor for industrial compressors, showing its feasibility and effectiveness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-kai Yang ◽  
Hong-jiang Liu ◽  
Yuanyu Wang ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Ji-peng Yang ◽  
...  

Background and Objective: Exosomes communicate inter-cellularly and miRNAs play critical roles in this scenario. MiR-214-5p was implicated in multiple tumors with diverse functions uncovered. However, whether miR-214-5p is mechanistically involved in glioblastoma, especially via exosomal pathway, is still elusive. Here we sought to comprehensively address the critical role of exosomal miR-214-5p in glioblastoma (GBM) microenvironment.Methods:The relative expression of miR-214-5p was determined by real-time PCR. Cell viability and migration were measured by MTT and transwell chamber assays, respectively. The secretory cytokines were measured with ELISA kits. The regulatory effect of miR-214-5p on CXCR5 expression was interrogated by luciferase reporter assay. Protein level was analyzed by Western blot.Results:We demonstrated that miR-214-5p was aberrantly overexpressed in GBM and associated with poorer clinical prognosis. High level of miR-214-5p significantly contributed to cell proliferation and migration. GBM-derived exosomal miR-214-5p promoted inflammatory response in primary microglia upon lipopolysaccharide challenge. We further identified CXCR5 as the direct target of miR-214- 5p in this setting.Conclusion:Overexpression of miR-214-5p in GBM modulated the inflammatory response in microglia via exosomal transfer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4961
Author(s):  
Maria Kovalska ◽  
Eva Baranovicova ◽  
Dagmar Kalenska ◽  
Anna Tomascova ◽  
Marian Adamkov ◽  
...  

L-methionine, an essential amino acid, plays a critical role in cell physiology. High intake and/or dysregulation in methionine (Met) metabolism results in accumulation of its intermediate(s) or breakdown products in plasma, including homocysteine (Hcy). High level of Hcy in plasma, hyperhomocysteinemia (hHcy), is considered to be an independent risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases, stroke and dementias. To evoke a mild hHcy in adult male Wistar rats we used an enriched Met diet at a dose of 2 g/kg of animal weight/day in duration of 4 weeks. The study contributes to the exploration of the impact of Met enriched diet inducing mild hHcy on nervous tissue by detecting the histo-morphological, metabolomic and behavioural alterations. We found an altered plasma metabolomic profile, modified spatial and learning memory acquisition as well as remarkable histo-morphological changes such as a decrease in neurons’ vitality, alterations in the morphology of neurons in the selective vulnerable hippocampal CA 1 area of animals treated with Met enriched diet. Results of these approaches suggest that the mild hHcy alters plasma metabolome and behavioural and histo-morphological patterns in rats, likely due to the potential Met induced changes in “methylation index” of hippocampal brain area, which eventually aggravates the noxious effect of high methionine intake.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Evans

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay between the role of front line managers (FLMs) and their contribution to the reported gap between intended and actual human resource management (HRM). Design/methodology/approach – The findings draw on case study research using 51 semi-structured interviews with managers across two UK retail organisations between 2012 and 2013. Findings – This paper argues that FLMs are key agents in people management and play a critical role in the gap between intended and actual employee relations (ER) and HRM. The research found that these managers held a high level of responsibility for people management, but experienced a lack of institutional support, monitoring or incentives to implement according to central policy. This provided an opportunity for them to modify or resist intended policy and the tensions inherent in their role were a critical factor in this manipulation of their people management responsibilities. Research limitations/implications – The data were collected from only one industry and two organisations so the conclusions need to be considered within these limitations. Practical implications – Efforts to address the gap between intended and actual ER/HRM within organisations will need to consider the role tensions of both front line and middle managers. Originality/value – This research provides a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between FLMs and the gap between intended and actual HRM within organisations. It addresses the issue of FLMs receiving less attention in the HRM-line management literature and the call to research their role in the translation of policy into practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
Bohdan Stadnyk ◽  
◽  
Vasyl Yatsuk ◽  
Mykola Mykyjchuk ◽  
Svyatoslav Yatsyshyn ◽  
...  

The analysis of the concept of Open-Science Space is carried out. The existence of ways to achieve reproducibility and traceability of research results performed by a group of worldwide situated Cyber-physical system operators/supervisors is shown. Ways to ensure the efficient operation of Cyber-physical systems as complex technological nondemountable objects with high requirements for metrological characteristics have been studied. To develop the scattered cyberphysical systems, the portable stable-in-time code-controlled measures of physical quantities have been studied. They have to be metrologically confirmed in the laboratory before the delivery to the site of the measuring subsystem for its calibration.


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