The Next Generation of Train Control for Canadian Heavy Haul Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Thurston
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
System Of Systems ◽  
Rail Transport ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Train Control ◽  
Intermediate Technology ◽  
Heavy Haul ◽  
Operational Concept

Abstract Heavy Haul Rail Transport in Canada has not advanced as in other countries. This gives these railways a chance to leap over intermediate technology in Train Control, Asset Management and levels of RAMS not offered in previous designs. Train Control is part of a System of Systems (SoS) that provides the basis of safety for operations, while allowing other non-vital systems to be implemented cheaper and faster than systems currently being modified to perform these tasks. This paper performs several tasks. First, it will update the reader on work being performed under the auspices of the Railway Association of Canada for Enhanced Train Control, and then it will describe how Train Control will interact with other systems to provide the overall functionality for safe train movement. Finally, the base requirements for a Train Control System meeting the requirements for Enhanced Train Control will be described. The initial concepts and designs will be presented to show how the requirements will be met. In addition, the pilot project that is underway for proof of concept and operational readiness will be detailed. Test cases will be illustrated and portions of an Operational Concept, Requirements Analysis and Form Fit ad Function (F3) specifications will be documented. All of this will be the stepping stone for other systems to lead in advanced functionality and operation on Canadian Railways of the future.

scholarly journals Detecting outliers in astronomical images with deep generative networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (2) ◽  
pp. 2346-2361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berta Margalef-Bentabol ◽  
Marc Huertas-Company ◽  
Tom Charnock ◽  
Carla Margalef-Bentabol ◽  
Mariangela Bernardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Generative Models ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Training Set ◽  
Merging Galaxies ◽  
Hydrodynamic Simulations ◽  
Astronomical Images ◽  
Automated Tools

ABSTRACT With the advent of future big-data surveys, automated tools for unsupervised discovery are becoming ever more necessary. In this work, we explore the ability of deep generative networks for detecting outliers in astronomical imaging data sets. The main advantage of such generative models is that they are able to learn complex representations directly from the pixel space. Therefore, these methods enable us to look for subtle morphological deviations which are typically missed by more traditional moment-based approaches. We use a generative model to learn a representation of expected data defined by the training set and then look for deviations from the learned representation by looking for the best reconstruction of a given object. In this first proof-of-concept work, we apply our method to two different test cases. We first show that from a set of simulated galaxies, we are able to detect ${\sim}90{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of merging galaxies if we train our network only with a sample of isolated ones. We then explore how the presented approach can be used to compare observations and hydrodynamic simulations by identifying observed galaxies not well represented in the models. The code used in this is available at https://github.com/carlamb/astronomical-outliers-WGAN.

scholarly journals Evidence-informed planning and action in Central Asia: Learnings from the Tajikistan Adolescent Wellbeing and Health Pilot Project

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Population Council ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Adolescent Girls And Boys ◽  
Key Issues

To address adolescent health and wellbeing in Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Population Council used a hybrid human-centered (HCD) and evidence-based program design to engage adolescent girls, boys, and caregivers in a guided process of defining key issues and program areas. The design informed the development of a first-of-its-kind program model for AKF and in Tajikistan: coordinated community-based groups for adolescent girls and boys, caregivers' groups, and an institutional stakeholder community of practice in Tajikistan. Design and implementation experiences established "proof of concept" as a basis to expand the approach across the country and region. The pilot generated valuable lessons and resources to inform and support both expansion and new programming.

scholarly journals Bootstrapping Automated Testing for RESTful Web Services

2021 ◽  
pp. 46-66
Author(s):  
Yixiong Chen ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Zhanyao Lei ◽  
Mingyuan Xia ◽  
Zhengwei Qi
Keyword(s):  
Web Services ◽  
Web Service ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Automated Testing ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Testing Tools ◽  
Restful Web Services ◽  
Restful Services

AbstractModern RESTful services expose RESTful APIs to integrate with diversified applications. Most RESTful API parameters are weakly typed, which greatly increases the possible input value space. This poses difficulties for automated testing tools to generate effective test cases to reveal web service defects related to parameter validation. We call this phenomenon the type collapse problem. To remedy this problem, we introduce FET (Format-encoded Type) techniques, including the FET, the FET lattice, and the FET inference to model fine-grained information for API parameters. Enhanced by FET techniques, automated testing tools can generate targeted test cases. We demonstrate Leif, a trace-driven fuzzing tool, as a proof-of-concept implementation of FET techniques. Experiment results on 27 commercial services show that FET inference precisely captures documented parameter definitions, which helps Leif to discover 11 new bugs and reduce $$72\% \sim 86\%$$ 72 % ∼ 86 % fuzzing time as compared to state-of-the-art fuzzers.

scholarly journals ANTI-CORRUPTION ASPECTS AS A REGULATOR OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY

2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-91
Author(s):  
Vitaliy Kadala ◽  
◽  
Olena Guzenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Rail Transport ◽  
Rolling Stock ◽  
Quality Level ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Personnel Planning ◽  
Railway Industry ◽  
Negative Factors

Rail transport plays a significant role in the life of the economic sector of the country. However, the existence of a significant number of negative factors violate the timing of the planned ways of its development. Among them, it is worth paying attention to the slow pace of adaptation of already adopted legislative initiatives, insufficiently substantiated taxation of services provided for the transportation of various goods and passengers (cross-subsidization) and problems arising from the transportation of privileged categories of citizens. Іncrease in the price of services provided, the presence of an inflation component, exchange rate fluctuations, etc. Despite the constant increase in the price of transportation services, the renewal of rolling stock and stationary railway transport is not carried out at a level that would help raise its quality level. This phenomenon is present in the operations of transportation of goods, luggage and passengers. There is a discrepancy between the growth rate of prices for rail transport services and their quality level. Among the additional negative factors should be noted the lack of funds for the renewal of rolling stock and its repair; inefficient financial planning and asset management of divisions; lack of working capital; low level of effective personnel planning and management; the threat of losing highly qualified employees, especially managers, due to reaching retirement age; lack of sufficient motivation for innovation and inventive activity; insufficient qualification of employees; possible resistance of personnel to organizational changes. There are also technical and technological problems. A significant part of the financial resources for the development of the domestic railway does not enter the process of cash flow formation due to the presence of corrupt actions carried out by individual representatives among the responsible persons. Representatives of the top management of the domestic railway must have an effective program of anti-corruption measures, but taking into account the legal framework that is already laid down in existing legislation. This study indicates the exacerbation of existing problems of the domestic railway, which requires immediate intervention at the macroeconomic and microeconomic level, as well as macro-legal and micro-legal level. The article reveals the problems of development of railway enterprises, determines the negative impact of corruption on its development, argues the need for anti-corruption measures that act as regulators of the development of the railway industry in the future. Outlines the content of the principles and substantiates the feasibility of their implementation in accordance with the Draft Law of Ukraine «On the Principles of State Anti-Corruption Policy for 2020–2024». Contains the author's proposal on the content of the conceptual categories «strategic anti-corruption intentions» and «anti-corruption event» and argues the benefits of their use by top management of the railway industry.

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