All issues

We describe an engineering-psychological experiment that continues the study of ways to adapt a person to the increasing complexity of logical problems by presenting a series of problems of increasing complexity, which is determined by the volume of initial data. Tasks require calculations in an associative or non-associative system of operations. By the nature of the change in the time of solving the problem, depending on the number of necessary operations, we can conclude that a purely sequential method of solving problems or connecting additional brain resources to the solution in parallel mode. In a previously published experimental work, a person in the process of solving an associative problem recognized color images with meaningful images. In the new study, a similar problem is solved for abstract monochrome geometric shapes. Analysis of the result showed that for the second case, the probability of the subject switching to a parallel method of processing visual information is significantly reduced. The research method is based on presenting a person with two types of tasks. One type of problem contains associative calculations and allows a parallel solution algorithm. Another type of problem is the control one, which contains problems in which calculations are not associative and parallel algorithms are ineffective. The task of recognizing and searching for a given object is associative. A parallel strategy significantly speeds up the solution with relatively small additional resources. As a control series of problems (to separate parallel work from the acceleration of a sequential algorithm), we use, as in the previous experiment, a non-associative comparison problem in cyclic arithmetic, presented in the visual form of the game “rock, paper, scissors”. In this problem, the parallel algorithm requires a large number of processors with a small efficiency coefficient. Therefore, the transition of a person to a parallel algorithm for solving this problem is almost impossible, and the acceleration of processing input information is possible only by increasing the speed. Comparing the dependence of the solution time on the volume of source data for two types of problems allows us to identify four types of strategies for adapting to the increasing complexity of the problem: uniform sequential, accelerated sequential, parallel computing (where possible), or undefined (for this method) strategy. The Reducing of the number of subjects, who switch to a parallel strategy when encoding input information with formal images, shows the effectiveness of codes that cause subject associations. They increase the speed of human perception and processing of information. The article contains a preliminary mathematical model that explains this phenomenon. It is based on the appearance of a second set of initial data, which occurs in a person as a result of recognizing the depicted objects.

The work continues research on the ability of a person to improve the productivity of information processing, using parallel work or improving the performance of analyzers. A person receives a series of tasks, the solution of which requires the processing of a certain amount of information. The time and the validity of the decision are recorded. The dependence of the average solution time on the amount of information in the problem is determined by correctly solved problems. In accordance with the proposed method, the problems contain calculations of expressions in two algebras, one of which is associative and the other is nonassociative. To facilitate the work of the subjects in the experiment were used figurative graphic images of elements of algebra. Non-associative calculations were implemented in the form of the game “rock-paper-scissors”. It was necessary to determine the winning symbol in the long line of these figures, considering that they appear sequentially from left to right and play with the previous winner symbol. Associative calculations were based on the recognition of drawings from a finite set of simple images. It was necessary to determine which figure from this set in the line is not enough, or to state that all the pictures are present. In each problem there was no more than one picture. Computation in associative algebra allows the parallel counting, and in the absence of associativity only sequential computations are possible. Therefore, the analysis of the time for solving a series of problems reveals a consistent uniform, sequential accelerated and parallel computing strategy. In the experiments it was found that all subjects used a uniform sequential strategy to solve non-associative problems. For the associative task, all subjects used parallel computing, and some have used parallel computing acceleration of the growth of complexity of the task. A small part of the subjects with a high complexity, judging by the evolution of the solution time, supplemented the parallel account with a sequential stage of calculations (possibly to control the solution). We develop a special method for assessing the rate of processing of input information by a person. It allowed us to estimate the level of parallelism of the calculation in the associative task. Parallelism of level from two to three was registered. The characteristic speed of information processing in the sequential case (about one and a half characters per second) is twice less than the typical speed of human image recognition. Apparently the difference in processing time actually spent on the calculation process. For an associative problem in the case of a minimum amount of information, the solution time is near to the non-associativity case or less than twice. This is probably due to the fact that for a small number of characters recognition almost exhausts the calculations for the used non-associative problem.

Although human skills are heavily involved in the Requirements Engineering process, in particular, in requirements elicitation, analysis and specification, still methodology and formalism play a determining role in providing clarity and enabling analysis. In this paper, we propose a method for deriving formal specifications, which are applicable to dependable software systems. First, we clarify what the method itself is. Computer science has a proliferation of languages and methods, but the difference between the two is not always clear. This is a conceptual contribution. Furthermore, we propose the idea of Layered Fault Tolerant Specification (LFTS). The principle consists in layering specifications in (at least) two different layers: one for normal behaviors and others (if more than one) for abnormal behaviors. Abnormal behaviors are described in terms of an Error Injector (EI), which represent a model of the expected erroneous interference coming from the environment. This structure has been inspired by the notion of an idealized Fault Tolerant component, but the combination of LFTS and EI using rely guarantee thinking to describe interference is our second contribution. The overall result is the definition of a method for the specification of systems that do not run in isolation but in the real, physical world. We propose an approach that is pragmatic to its target audience: techniques must scale and be usable by non-experts, if they are to make it into an industrial setting. This article is making tentative steps, but the recent trends in Software Engineering such as Microservices, smart and software-defined buildings, M2M micropayments and Devops are relevant fields continue the investigation concerning dependability and rely guarantee thinking.

Nowadays the situation of supply-demand imbalances in the professionals’ labor markets causes human capital losses as far as hampers scientific and innovation development. In Russia, supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market are associated with deindustrialization processes and manufacturing decline, resulted in a negative public perception of the engineering profession and high rates of graduates not working within the specialty or changing their occupation.

For analysis of the supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market, we elaborated a macroeconomic model. The model consists of 14 blocks, including blocks for demand and supply for engineers and technicians, along with the blocks for macroeconomic indicators as industry and service sector output, capital investment. Using this model, we forecasted the perspective supply-demand imbalances in the engineering labor market in a short-term period and examined the parameters of getting supply-demand balance in the medium-term perspective.

The results obtained show that situation of more balanced supply and demand for engineering labor is possible if there is simultaneous increase in the share of investments in fixed assets of manufacturing and relative wages in industry, besides getting to balance is facilitated by a decrease of the share of graduates not working by specialty. It is worth noting that a decrease in the share of graduates not working by specialty may be affected whether by the growth of relative wages in industry and number of vacancies or by the implementation of measures aimed at improving the working conditions of the engineering workforce and increasing the attractiveness of the profession. To summarize, in the case of the simplest scenario, not considering additional measures of working conditions improvement and increasing the attractiveness of the profession, the conditions of supply-demand balance achievement implies slightly lower growth rates of investment in industry than required in scenarios that involve increasing the share of engineers and technicians working in their specialty after graduation. The latter case, where a gradual decrease in the proportion of those who do not work in engineering specialty is expected, requires, probably, higher investment costs for attracting specialists and creating new jobs, as well as additional measures to strengthen the attractiveness of the engineering profession.

This paper is devoted to investigation of the swirl flows. Such flows are widely used in various industrial processes. Swirl flows can be accompanied by time-dependent effects, for example, precession of the vortex core. In turn, the large-scale fluctuations due to the precession of the vortex can cause damage of structures and reduce of equipment reliability. Thus, for engineering calculations approaches that sufficiently well described such flows are required. This paper presents the technique of swirl flows calculation, tested for CFD packages Fluent and SigmaFlow. A numerical simulation of several swirl flow test problems was carried out. Obtained results are compared with each other and with the experimental data.

Expert systems imitate professional experience and thinking process of a specialist to solve problems in various subject areas. An example of the problem that it is expedient to solve with the help of the expert system is the problem of forming a diagnosis that arises in technology, medicine, and other fields. When solving the diagnostic problem, it is necessary to anticipate the occurrence of critical or emergency situations in the future. They are situations, which require timely intervention of specialists to prevent critical aftermath. Fuzzy sets theory provides one of the approaches to solve ill-structured problems, diagnosis-making problems belong to which. The theory of fuzzy sets provides means for the formation of linguistic variables, which are helpful to describe the modeled process. Linguistic variables are elements of fuzzy logical rules that simulate the reasoning of professionals in the subject area. To develop fuzzy rules it is necessary to resort to a survey of experts. Knowledge engineers use experts’ opinion to evaluate correspondence between a typical current situation and the risk of emergency in the future. The result of knowledge extraction is a description of linguistic variables that includes a combination of signs. Experts are involved in the survey to create descriptions of linguistic variables and present a set of simulated situations.When building such systems, the main problem of the survey is laboriousness of the process of interaction of knowledge engineers with experts. The main reason is the multiplicity of questions the expert must answer. The paper represents reasoning of the method, which allows knowledge engineer to reduce the number of questions posed to the expert. The paper describes the experiments carried out to test the applicability of the proposed method. An expert system for predicting risk groups for neonatal pathologies and pregnancy pathologies using the proposed knowledge extraction method confirms the feasibility of the proposed approach.

The fast-paced environment of DevSecOps requires integrating security at every stage of software development to ensure secure, compliant applications. Traditional methods of security testing, often performed late in the development cycle, are insufficient to address the unique challenges of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, particularly in complex, high-stakes sectors such as industrial automation. In this paper, we propose an approach that automates the analysis and testing of security requirements by embedding requirements verification into the CI/CD pipeline. Our method employs the ARQAN tool to map high-level security requirements to Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) using semantic search, and RQCODE to formalize these requirements as code, providing testable and enforceable security guidelines.We implemented ARQAN and RQCODE within a CI/CD framework, integrating them with GitHub Actions for realtime security checks and automated compliance verification. Our approach supports established security standards like IEC 62443 and automates security assessment starting from the planning phase, enhancing the traceability and consistency of security practices throughout the pipeline. Evaluation of this approach in collaboration with an industrial automation company shows that it effectively covers critical security requirements, achieving automated compliance for 66.15% of STIG guidelines relevant to the Windows 10 platform. Feedback from industry practitioners further underscores its practicality, as 85% of security requirements mapped to concrete STIG recommendations, with 62% of these requirements having matching testable implementations in RQCODE. This evaluation highlights the approach’s potential to shift security validation earlier in the development process, contributing to a more resilient and secure DevSecOps lifecycle.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming software engineering by bridging the gap between natural language and programming languages. These models have revolutionized communication within development teams and the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) by enabling developers to interact with code using natural language, thereby improving workflow efficiency. This survey examines the impact of LLMs across various stages of the SDLC, including requirement gathering, system design, coding, debugging, testing, and documentation. LLMs have proven to be particularly useful in automating repetitive tasks such as code generation, refactoring, and bug detection, thus reducing manual effort and accelerating the development process. The integration of LLMs into the development process offers several advantages, including the automation of error correction, enhanced collaboration, and the ability to generate high-quality, functional code based on natural language input. Additionally, LLMs assist developers in understanding and implementing complex software requirements and design patterns. This paper also discusses the evolution of LLMs from simple code completion tools to sophisticated models capable of performing high-level software engineering tasks. However, despite their benefits, there are challenges associated with LLM adoption, such as issues related to model accuracy, interpretability, and potential biases. These limitations must be addressed to ensure the reliable deployment of LLMs in production environments. The paper concludes by identifying key areas for future research, including improving the adaptability of LLMs to specific software domains, enhancing their contextual understanding, and refining their capabilities to generate semantically accurate and efficient code. This survey provides valuable insights into the evolving role of LLMs in software engineering, offering a foundation for further exploration and practical implementation.

The paper considers the problem of transverse impact on a thin preloaded fiber. The commonly accepted theory of transverse impact on a thin fiber is based on the classical works of Rakhmatulin and Smith. The simple relations obtained from the Rakhmatulin – Smith theory are widely used in engineering practice. However, there are numerous evidences that experimental results may differ significantly from estimations based on these relations. A brief overview of the factors that cause the differences is given in this article.

This paper focuses on the shear wave velocity, as it is the only feature that can be directly observed and measured using high-speed cameras or similar methods. The influence of the fiber preload on the wave speed is considered. This factor is important, since it inevitably arises in the experimental results. The reliable fastening and precise positioning of the fiber during the experiments requires its preload. This work shows that the preload significantly affects the shear wave velocity in the impacted fiber.

Numerical calculations were performed for Kevlar 29 and Spectra 1000 yarns. Shear wave velocities are obtained for different levels of initial tension. A direct comparison of numerical results and analytical estimations with experimental data is presented. The speed of the transverse wave in free and preloaded fibers differed by a factor of two for the setup parameters considered. This fact demonstrates that measurements based on high-speed imaging and analysis of the observed shear waves should take into account the preload of the fibers.

This paper proposes a formula for a quick estimation of the shear wave velocity in preloaded fibers. The formula is obtained from the basic relations of the Rakhmatulin – Smith theory under the assumption of a large initial deformation of the fiber. The formula can give significantly better results than the classical approximation, this fact is demonstrated using the data for preloaded Kevlar 29 and Spectra 1000. The paper also shows that direct numerical calculation has better corresponding with the experimental data than any of the considered analytical estimations.

Accurate tree identification is essential for ecological monitoring, biodiversity assessment, and forest management. Traditional manual survey methods are labor-intensive and ineffective over large areas. Advances in remote sensing technologies including lidar and hyperspectral imaging improve automated, exact detection in many fields.

Nevertheless, these technologies typically require extensive labeled data and manual feature engineering, which restrict scalability. This research proposes a new method of Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) with the SimCLR framework to enhance the classification of tree species using unlabelled data. SSL model automatically discovers strong features by merging the spectral data from hyperspectral data with the structural data from LiDAR, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

We evaluate the performance of the SSL model against traditional classifiers, including Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Supervised Learning methods, using a dataset from the ECODSE competition, which comprises both labeled and unlabeled samples of tree species in Florida’s Ordway-Swisher Biological Station. The SSL method has been demonstrated to be significantly more effective than traditional methods, with a validation accuracy of 97.5% compared to 95.56% for Semi-SSL and 95.03% for CNN in Supervised Learning.

Subsampling experiments showed that the SSL technique is still effective with less labeled data, with the model achieving good accuracy even with only 20% labeled data points. This conclusion demonstrates SSL’s practical applications in circumstances with insufficient labeled data, such as large-scale forest monitoring.