Operations Support Systems Standards:Status Quo and Trends

The emerging of diversified new telecommunications technologies leads to a continuous change of telecom networks. Consequently, the operations support systems of telecommunications operators are facing structure adjustments as well as new systems construction. In this situation, new generation operations support systems standards are urgently required. Several standardization organizations have made substantial progress in the study of the new generation standards, such as ITU' s study on Next Generation Network (NGN) management, TMF's on New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) and CCSA's on network management standards. However, the existing operations support systems face the challenges of architecture improvement, change of the focus of operations support, orientation of customers' demands and technology evolution.

The Coupled Operational Systems:A Linear Optimisation Review

The purpose of this review is to summarise the existing literature on the operational systems as to explain the current state of understanding on the coupled operational systems.The review only considers the linear optimisation of the operational systems.Traditionally,the operational systems are classified as decoupled,tightly coupled,and loosely coupled.Lately,the coupled operational systems were classified as systems of time-sensitive and time-insensitive operational cycle,systems employing one mix and different mixes of factors of production,and systems of single-linear,single-linear-fractional,and multi-linear objective.These new classifications extend the knowledge about the linear optimisation of the coupled operational systems and reveal new objective-improving models and new state-of-the-art methodologies never discussed before.Business areas affected by these extensions include product assembly lines,cooperative farming,gas/oil reservoir development,maintenance service throughout multiple facilities,construction via different locations,flights traffic control in aviation,game reserves,and tramp shipping in maritime cargo transport.

An Efficient Memory Management for Mobile Operating Systems Based on Prediction of Relaunch Distance

Recently,various mobile apps have included more features to improve user convenience.Mobile operating systems load as many apps into memory for faster app launching and execution.The least recently used(LRU)-based termination of cached apps is a widely adopted approach when free space of the main memory is running low.However,the LRUbased cached app termination does not distinguish between frequently or infrequently used apps.The app launch performance degrades if LRU terminates frequently used apps.Recent studies have suggested the potential of using users’app usage patterns to predict the next app launch and address the limitations of the current least recently used(LRU)approach.However,existing methods only focus on predicting the probability of the next launch and do not consider how soon the app will launch again.In this paper,we present a new approach for predicting future app launches by utilizing the relaunch distance.We define the relaunch distance as the interval between two consecutive launches of an app and propose a memory management based on app relaunch prediction(M2ARP).M2ARP utilizes past app usage patterns to predict the relaunch distance.It uses the predicted relaunch distance to determine which apps are least likely to be launched soon and terminate them to improve the efficiency of the main memory.

A GENERAL MATHEMATICAL FRAMEWORK OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS(Ⅰ)

The fundamental and simplest structure of a complex system is a network. According to this idea, we plan to develop a general methematical framework of complex systems. In this paper, we discuss in detail the concept of systems, a general description of systems: System=(Hardware, Software, Environment), and whole-part relations, including relations between elements and systems, subsystems and systems, and between systems. The rules of operations of systems are given, and the induced transformations between hardware and software of systems are briefly discussed.

TENSOR SUM AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS

In this paper we introduce the concept of tensor sum semigroups. Also we have given the examples of tensor sum operators which induce dynamical system on weighted locally convex function spaces.

ARM-Based Embedded System Platform and Its Portability Research

Taking ARM as the hardware platform, the embedded system is built from both hardware and software aspects with the application as the center. In the hardware design, build the hardware platform scheme, design the schematic diagram as well as PCB, complete the hardware debugging, and ensure the system hardware platform function;in the software design, optimize the three-stage pipeline structure of ARM instruction system, design the instruction set, install the embedded system on the virtual machine, build the cross-toolchain, and set up the correct NFS network file system. Finish the design of the ARM-based embedded system platform, combined with the hardware requirements of the experimental platform, transplant the powerful Uboot as the Bootloader of the system, and further transplant the Linux-2.6. 32 kernel to the system start the operation normally, and finally, build the root file to finish the study of its portability.

Social Energy:Mining Energy From the Society

The inherent nature of energy,i.e.,physicality,sociality and informatization,implies the inevitable and intensive interaction between energy systems and social systems.From this perspective,we define "social energy" as a complex sociotechnical system of energy systems,social systems and the derived artificial virtual systems which characterize the intense intersystem and intra-system interactions.The recent advancement in intelligent technology,including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies,sensing and communication in Internet of Things technologies,and massive high performance computing and extreme-scale data analytics technologies,enables the possibility of substantial advancement in socio-technical system optimization,scheduling,control and management.In this paper,we provide a discussion on the nature of energy,and then propose the concept and intention of social energy systems for electrical power.A general methodology of establishing and investigating social energy is proposed,which is based on the ACP approach,i.e., "artificial systems"(A), "computational experiments"(C) and "parallel execution"(P),and parallel system methodology.A case study on the University of Denver(DU) campus grid is provided and studied to demonstrate the social energy concept.In the concluding remarks,we discuss the technical pathway,in both social and nature sciences,to social energy,and our vision on its future.

High performance reconfigurable hardware system for real-time image processing

A novel reconfigurable hardware system which uses both muhi-DSP and FPGA to attain high performance and real-time image processing are presented. The system structure and working principle of mainly processing multi-BSP board, extended multi-DSP board are analysed. The outstanding advantage is that the communication among different board components of this system is supported by high speed link ports ＆ serial ports for increasing the system performance and computational power. Then the implementation of embedded real-time operating systems （RTOS） by us is discussed in detail. In this system, we adopt two kinds of parallel structures controlled by RTOS for parallel processing of algorithms. The experimental results show that exploitive period of the system is short, and maintenance convenient. Thus it is suitable for real-time image processing and can get satisfactory effect of image recognition.

Relative Time Quantum-based Enhancements in Round Robin Scheduling

Modern human life is heavily dependent on computing systems and one of the core components affecting the performance of these systems is underlying operating system.Operating systems need to be upgraded to match the needs of modern-day systems relying on Internet of Things,Fog computing and Mobile based applications.The scheduling algorithm of the operating system dictates that how the resources will be allocated to the processes and the Round Robin algorithm(RR)has been widely used for it.The intent of this study is to ameliorate RR scheduling algorithm to optimize task scheduling.We have carried out an experimental study where we have developed four variations of RR,each algorithm considers three-time quanta and the performance of these variations was compared with the RR algorithm,and results highlighted that these variations performed better than conventional RR algorithm.In the future,we intend to develop an automated scheduler that can determine optimal algorithm based on the current set of processes and will allocate time quantum to the processes intelligently at the run time.This way the task performance of modern-day systems can be improved to make them more efficient.

Source Code Comparison of DOS and CP/M

In a previous paper [1], I compared DOS from Microsoft and CP/M from Digital Research Inc. (DRI) to determine whether the original DOS source code had been copied from CP/M source code as had been rumored for many years [2] [3]. At the time, the source code for CP/M was publicly available but the source code for DOS was not. My comparison was limited to the comparison of the DOS 1.11 binary code and the source code for CP/M 2.0 from 1981. Since that time, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California received the source code for DOS 2.0 from Microsoft and was given permission to make it public. The museum also received the source code for DOS 1.1 from Tim Paterson, the developer who was originally contracted by Microsoft to write DOS. In this paper, I perform a further analysis using the newly accessible source code and determine that no code was copied. I further conclude that the commands were not copied but that a substantial number of the system calls were copied.

Guest editorial:special section on energy storage systems and operational flexibility in power systems

The energy storage system(ESS) is becoming an important component in power systems to mitigate the adverse impact of intermittent renewable energy resources and improve power grid reliability and efficiency.However,storage devices driven by different technologies can have specific grid impacts.This special section is dedicated to reflecting the

Evidence Emerging from the Survey on European Union Timber Regulation [REG. (EU) 995/2010] in Italy

Illegal logging is a pervasive problem of major international concern that causes many negative social, economical and environmental consequences. EUTR is a tool adopted in 2010 and entered into force in 2013 to stop the trade of timber illegally logged within the EU market. The implementation in Italy is still in progress and varies among regions. This study considers the respondents’ opinions on different EUTR characteristics, implementation processes and compliance activities. Taking Italy as an example, the questionnaire was delivered to relevant Italian foresters and timber operators in the forest-timber system. Two hypotheses are under verification: 1) if Italian forest-wood-timber sector integrated EUTR into its activity and 2) if the Italian Due Diligence system is a valid model to other countries. The questionnaire has been submitted to the wood industry stakeholders. It has been organized into six sections to collect information about the professional characteristics of respondents, their experiences on EUTR, the opinion about EUTR and FLEGT, the support received on EUTR implementation, the opinion about the checks system, and the role of EUTR in marketing timber products. Questionnaire data have been elaborated in different ways. Conclusion underlines the EUTR Italian system criticalities and some suggestions for a more effective use of EUTR in the wood market. The picture that emerges from the results collected is that the EUTR, although proposed for morally and ethically valid purposes, doesn’t have unanimous effectiveness. In particular, EUTR can generate a distortion of the market, new expenditures for importers. Various operators applaud the role of certification schemes for sustainable forest management, which indirectly makes it possible to prevent the aforementioned problem. The Italian EUTR system is working only for satisfying Regulation 995/2010 targets. This must be considered as the starting point;however, three innovative topics could be developed in the future: digitalization and computerization of EUTR certification, integration of EUTR certification with forest certifications schemes and other quality certifications, and use of EUTR in the marketing initiatives.

Cybersecurity: Identifying the Vulnerability Intensity Function (VIF) and Vulnerability Index Indicator (VII) of a Computer Operating System

The objective of the present study is to define two important aspects of the computer operating system concerning the number of its vulnerabilities behavior. We identify the Vulnerability Intensity Function (VIF), and the Vulnerability Index Indicator (VII) of a computer operating network. Both of these functions, VIF and VII are entities of the stochastic process that we have identified, which characterizes the probabilistic behavior of the number of vulnerabilities of a computer operating network. The VIF identifies the rate at which the number of vulnerabilities changes with respect to time. The VII is an important index indicator that conveys the following information about the number of vulnerabilities of Desktop Operating Systems: the numbers are increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same at a particular time of interest. This decision type of index indicator is crucial in every strategic planning and decision-making. The proposed VIF and VII illustrate their importance by using real data for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems 10, 8, 7, and Apple MacOS. The results of the actual data attest to the importance of VIF and VII in the cybersecurity problem we are currently facing.

Design of secure operating systems with high security levels

Numerous Internet security incidents have shown that support from secure operating systems is paramount to fighting threats posed by modern computing environments. Based on the requirements of the relevant national and international standards and criteria, in combination with our experience in the design and development of the ANSHENG v4.0 secure operating system with high security level （hereafter simply referred to as ANSHENG OS）, this paper addresses the following key issues in the design of secure operating systems with high security levels： security architecture, security policy models, and covert channel analysis. The design principles of security architecture and three basic security models： confidentiality, integrity, and privilege control models are discussed, respectively. Three novel security models and new security architecture are proposed. The prominent features of these proposals, as well as their applications to the ANSHENG OS, are elaborated. Cover channel analysis （CCA） is a well-known hard problem in the design of secure operating systems with high security levels since to date it lacks a sound theoretical basis and systematic analysis approach. In order to resolve the fundamental difficulties of CCA, we have set up a sound theoretical basis for completeness of covert channel identification and have proposed a unified framework for covert channel identification and an efficient backward tracking search method. The successful application of our new proposals to the ANSHENG OS has shown that it can help ease and speedup the entire CCA process.

Object-oriented Modeling for Planning and Control of Multi-energy Systems

Multi-energy systems(MES)involving networks of different energy carriers can support the balancing of fluctuating renewable generation by co-ordinated joint operation.In this paper,an object-oriented modeling methodology for planning and operations control of MES based on nodal analysis is proposed.The framework provides the modularity to simulate scenarios with varying network configurations.Based on object-oriented programming,classes are formed with regard to common attributes of the network elements.The instances of classes represent physical network elements,such as buses,lines,and power conversion units.The models of the individual network elements involve adjustable and flexible parameters.This is especially advantageous for scenarios with operatingpoint-dependent efficiencies.The overall framework makes use of a uniform description of the model parameters across the diverse energy carriers.Thus,the methodology is particularly suited for the analysis of MES.The applicability of the modeling framework is demonstrated by two use cases involving a technology campus in Berlin.

Elimination of Partial Overloading of Generators Under Unbalanced Operating Conditions of Power Systems

Unbalanced operating condition in a power system can cause partial overloading of the generators in the network,a condition where one or two of the three phases of the generator become overloaded even if the total 3-phase power output of the generator is within its specified limit.Partial overloading of generators beyond certain limits is undesirable and must be avoided.Distribution systems are often subjected to highly unbalanced operating conditions.Introduction of distributed generations(DGs),therefore,has rendered today’s distribution systems quite susceptible to this problem.Mitigation of this problem requires the issue to be addressed properly during analysis,operation and planning of such systems.Analysis,operation and planning of power networks under unbalanced operating condition require 3-phase load flow study.The existing methods of 3-phase load flow are not equipped to take into account any limit on the loadings of the individual phases of the generators.In the present work,a methodology based on NewtonRaphson(N-R)3-phase load flow with necessary modifications is proposed.The proposed methodology is able to determine the safe loading limits of the generators,and,can be adopted for operation and planning of power networks under unbalanced operating conditions to overcome the above difficulties.Test results on IEEE-37 bus feeder network are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

User-Level Device Drivers： Achieved Performance

Running device drivers as unprivileged user-level code, encapsulated into their own process, has often been proposed as a technique for increasing system robustness. However, in the past, systems based on user-level drivers have generally exhibited poor I/O performance. Consequently, user-level device drivers have never caught on to any significant degree. In this paper we demonstrate that it is possible to build systems which employ user-level device drivers, without significant performance degradation, even for high-bandwidth devices such as Gigabit Ethernet.

Viewpoints on Grid Standards

At GCC 2003 in Shanghai in December 2003, a panel discussion was held on thefuture of grid computing and on the role of the Globus Toolkit in future grid standards. Panelistsinclude Andrew Chien (UCSD, USA), Wolfgang Gentzsch (Sun), Francis Lau (HKU, China), Carl Kesselman(USC, USA), Satoshi Matsuoka (TIT, Japan), Xian-He Sun (IIT, USA), Richard Wirt (Intel), Liang-JieZhang (IBM Research), Song-Nian Zhou (Platform Computing), and Zhi-Wei Xu (ICT, China), with Hai Jin(HUST, China) served as the coordinator. The panel talks were stimulating and well received. Threeof the panel talk notes are selected and included in this viewpoint.

FlexPolh adaptive event polling for network-intensive applications

In today＇s data centers supporting Internet-scale computing and input/output （I/0） services, increasingly more network-intensive applications are deployed on the network as a service. To this end, it is critical for the applications to quickly retrieve requests from the network and send their responses to the network. To facilitate this network func- tion, operating system usually provides an event notification mechanism so that the applications （or the library） know if the network is ready to supply data for them to read or to receive data for them to write. As a widely used and repre- sentative notification mechanism, epoll in Linux provides a scalable and high-performance implementation by allowing applications to specifically indicate which connections and what events on them need to be watched. As epoll has been used in some major systems, includ- ing key-value （KV） systems, such as Redis and Memcached, and web server systems such as NGINX, we have identified a substantial performance issue in its use. For the sake of efficiency, applications usually use epoll＇s system calls to inform the kernel exactly of what events they are interested in and always keep the information up-to-date. However, in a system with demanding network traffic, such a rigid main- tenance of the information is not necessary and the excess number of system calls for this purpose can substantially de- grade the system＇s performance. In this paper, we use Redis as an example to explore the issue. We propose a strategy of informing the kernel of the interest events in a manner adaptive to the current network load, so that the epoll system calls can be reduced and the events can be efficiently deliv- ered. We have implemented an event-polling library, named as FlexPoll, purely in user-level without modifying any ker- nel code. Our evaluation on Redis shows that the query through- put can be improved by up to 46.9% on micro-benchmarks, and even up to 67.8% on workloads emulating real-world ac- cess patterns. FlexPoll is a generic mechanism thus it can be adopted by other applications in a straightforward manner, such as NG1NX and Memcached.

Semantic theories of programs with nested interrupts

In the design of dependable software for embed- ded and real-time operating systems, time analysis is a cru- cial but extremely difficult issue, the challenge of which is exacerbated due to the randomness and nondeterminism of interrupt handling behaviors. Thus research into a theory that integrates interrupt behaviors and time analysis seems to be important and challenging. In this paper, we present a pro- gramming language to describe programs with interrupts that is comprised of two essential parts： main program and inter- rupt handling programs. We also explore a timed operational semantics and a denotational semantics to specify the mean- ings of our language. Furthermore, a strategy of deriving de- notational semantics from the timed operational semantics is provided to demonstrate the soundness of our operational se- mantics by showing the consistency between the derived de- notational semantics and the original denotational semantics.