| | | Annual Report 1993 | |
Major (resource-consuming) programmatic activities were:
These and other activities are described next.
The Preparatory phase lasted from October 1992 through mid September 1993 and involved 2 UNU/IIST staff and 1 fellow. During this phase a preliminary informal as well as formal model of "what is a railway" (from a cnceptual, mathematical point of view) was established.
The Exploratory phase started 20 September, 1993 and will last 9 months. It is expected to be followed by a 9 month Demonstrator and a 9 month Technology Transfer phase in 1994-1995. Altogether some 20 fellows will be trained during 1993-5.
The PRaCoSy project is in close collaboration with the PRC Ministry of Railways' Computer Centers (MoR/CC) in Beijing, Shanghai and Zhengzhou. UNU/IIST expects to recover some of its expenses in connection with this project from the MoR/CC, as part of the loan (training) arrangement with the World Bank.
The PRaCoSy project is the current "flagship" project: exciting, scientifically and technologically groundbreaking, and attracting considerable international attention.
MacSchubert is an Educational Technology R&D project. UNU/IIST leads this project which otherwise involves: (1) CICA: Chengdu Institute of Computer Applications, Academia Sinica, Chengdu, China, (2) RISC/Linz, Research Institute for Symbolic Computation, Linz, Austria, and (3) Siemens/Hagenberg, Linz, Austria.
The project is as of March 24, 2000 still being negotiated, but we believe its is fair to record it already now as an actual project -- also since the CICA and UNU/IIST have already had a workshop, in May 1993, in Macau. The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Art (BMUK) seems very interested in funding a major part of this project.
Initially MacSchubert will research and develop software for the interactive study and learning of Euclidian Geometry for senior High School and University freshmen and sophomores. Medium-to-long term MacSchubert will review the well-known and quite succesful Mathematica system and aims at proposing and prototype implementing a next generation such system which, in addition to Mathematica's experimental functionalities also allows Reasoning.
The project is expected to train some 8 fellows over a 2 year period: 1994-5.
UNU/IIST is also collaborating with UNESCO on this project in the direction of setting up in Macau a center, and later elsehwere in developing countries, centers featuring a fair selection of such Educational Software Technology.
A significant part of the Director's time has been spent on Programme (ie. Advanced Project) development (ie. planning).
DiMaC2S is to be a system for the prediction & damage assessment of, and relief (mitigation) & recovery from natural and industrial disasters.
DiMaC2S is a C3I-like3 civil system whose `C3' part is DiMaC2S and whose `I' part is expected served by GaDIMS, see below.
Initial partner: BISE (Beijing Inst. of Systems Eng.).
Applications of DiMaC2S (with GaDIMS's) include: environment protection, river (flood disaster) management, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, earthquake disaster management, and also industrial disasters -- not just in China, but expected propagated to other developing countries.
UNU/IIST is seeking contacts with UNEP and the Far East Asia Disaster Preparedness Center at AIT in Bangkok.
UNDP's Beijing office has been informed regularly about the DiMaC2S and the GaDIMS project proposals.
GaDIMS is to be a base software system for implementing problem specific systems for incorporating combinations of geodetic, geotechnic, cartographic, demographic, statistic (incl. public government), etc. databases.
Many developing countries, as well as the industrial world and the new states in transition, are increasingly engaged in such information systems to help in the monitoring and control of the environment. The UN sponsored International Decade for Natural Disaster Preparedness has helped focus everybody's attention. The UNEP programme (Agenda 21) for the Environment and Sustainable Development as funded primarily by UNDP through its planned Capacity 21 programme, will depend crucially on the widespread availability and advanced use of such comprehensive, consolidated information systems.
The project, in its full 5 year form, is expected to train 450 systems analysts, 120 trainers, some 30 mathematical modelling experts, and 120 software engineers -- all in 2-4 week training workshops woordwide and some 12-15 software engineers in 9-12 month periods at UNU/IIST in Macau.
A detailed proposal was circulated during the summer of 1993. Valuable review input is now being received from many different sources.
It will still take some time to convince, amongst others, UNDP, that it really needs GaDIMS, and not only the many existing, but diverse, un-coordinated, non-portable and rather severely limited Geographic Information System efforts that are currently being funded in developing countries. UNU/IIST intends to continue its discussion with potential partners in China, Vietnam, India, Cameroon, Chile, etc.
HEMIS is intended to serve Universities and Colleges in Asia, Africa and Latin America -- Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, Arabic, Chinese and Spanish Speaking countries -- with an initial emphasis on Africa.
A feasibility study (3-5 months spring 1994) is expected followed by a 15 month HEMIS Reference Handbook R&D effort which should result in a carefully developed set of region-oriented models of university and college adminstration, at all levels, focusing at their computerisation. The latter effort will bring 7 trainees to UNU/IIST for 12-15 months. During that period a set of HEMIS Reference Handbooks will be worked out. These Handbooks are to be aimed at university (and college) administrators and shall additionally deal with such issues as Procurement, Installation, Training and End-user usage of campus-wide MIS's.
The project is expected to train some 315 university administrators in 2-3 week training workshops worldwide and some 8-12 fellows at UNU/IIST in Macau for 12-18 month periods.
Project idea originated with UNESCO's HED Paris office with which (incl. the UNESCO affiliated Intl. Inst. for Educ. Progrs. (IIEP)) several meetings have now been held. Planning efforts are continued. The UNESCO HED is very positive about the idea and UNU/IIST will soon prepare an effort to contact a larger number of North America, European and Japanese hardware and software vendors with a view towards their co-financing the effort.
A completely revised proposal has been sent to the Macau Foundation mid November 1993. It calls for a 30 month project that will develop a kernel and 3-5 instatiations of systems which combine advanced graphics, virtual reality, multi-media, hypertext, and other "gadgets", in potentially globally distributed systems of concurrently co-operating work stations sharing access to geo- and demographic information systems.
Instantiations are proposed for: (1) the Macau Tourism Industry (Destination Database) (MaGICS/1), (2) a Macau Government Information, Command and Decision Support System (MaGICS/2), etc.
The project, if approved and funded, will train some 40 Macau university and industry students and staff, will make very advanced software technology readily available in Macau, and could potentially help create a local software (export) industry.
MoTraS is directed at computerisation of traditional scripts like Mongol, Manchu, Cambodia, Nepalese: for their input, editing, formatting and output in "arbitrary" combinations with other scripts: Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, Arabic and Roman. MoTraS should be strongly seen in the light of the UNESCO World Decade for Cultural Development, and of the UNESCO Memory of the World programmes.
Initial partners: 3 university department, 2 academy institute, and 1 software house in Ulaan Bator, Mongolia; 1 univ. dept. in Hokhot, Inner Mongolia, PRC; as well as partners in the Federal Republic of Germany, hopefully also Cambodia, etc. The project, inits 18-24 month form is expected to train some 6-8 fellows at UNU/IIST in Macau.
The project proposal has been circulated to UNESCO, Mongolia, the Commission of the European Union (EU), and universities in Europe. Funding will be applied for from UNESCO, some from the EU.
SaM2I3 is a project which is intended to help small and medium-sized developing country industries being planned or already establshed to effectively utilize computing in their design and daily operation.
SaM2I3 will be pursued in cooperation with existing manufacturing research centres in North America, Europe and Japan, and proposes the establishment of similar centres in developing countries: Brasil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, etc. SaM2I3 as a UNU/IIST project in Macau is expected, if financed, to bring 16 trainees to Macau for periods of 12 months, and to otherwise train some 320 participants in 2-3 week training workshops worldwide.
SoftPUST is a proposed project for the understanding and computerisation of small business enterprises -- focused on Africa.
SoftPUST would co-operate strongly with the Panafrican Union of Science and Technology, Brazzaville, Congo.
Project idea first proposed by UNIDO, Vienna. Input from UNIDO has been very scant, and hence progress is particularly slow. UNU/IIST has now offered, in meetings held in Vienna, September and November 1993, to seek financing from Scandinavia.
WHeC2S is a project for understanding the management and operation of health care systems, spanning from rural clinics to city hospitals -- including the co-ordinated, harmonized computing support of planning and operation across all facets of health care.
The project is expected to train some 560 health care information systems analysts in 2-3 week workshops worldwide and 21 fellows at UNU/IIST in Macau for 12 months each.
UNU/IIST is currently discussing this proposal with the WHO.
UNU/IIST may not be able to obtain external, necessary financing for all of the above planned advanced development projects -- and requests for additional such projects may arise.
In any case UNU/IIST will not, for 1994-1995, have resources to pursue all such plans, and hence some hard decisions concerning priority will have to be made.
Presently UNU/IIST proritizes its search for funding as follows:
In view of the current experience, both with potential targets and with possible donors, UNU/IIST plans to present, by the summer of 1994, a review of its strategy with respect to how and whether it wishes and/or are able to continue its plans on advanced joint development projects with their important training components.
Although UNU/IIST strongly believes, as is also emphasized in section 3.2, that advanced, joint development cum training projects are a most efficient means of both technology transfer and achieving many of UNDP's, UNESCO's, UNIDO's, the World Bank's, and other international agencies' aid programmes, it increasingly seems harder to convince both targets and donors. To UNU/IIST too many such sponsored efforts are too ineffective and does not lead to any real technology transfer.
Aim and objectives of these training workshops are: awareness of state-of-the-art industrial and front-of-the-wave research techniques and tools for the professional development of trustworthy software.
In 1993 three workshops were conducted:
Unlike its predecessor training workshops in Beijing, October 1992, Pune (India) in November/December 1992, and the below Hanoi workshop, the AIT training workshop was not a success. UNU/IIST will in future itself fully control and monitor all preparations, vetting of participants, etc. Future training workshops in Thailand will be arranged through national universities (for example Chulalongkorn University) and NECTEC, if and when possible.
An advanced research training workshop open to solicited participants from East and South East Asia. So far more than 40 have registered: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, D.P.R. of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.. Features 5 internationally prominent lecturers from Canada, the US, England, and Finland, as well as 2 UNU/IIST academic staff.
The three planned workshops have already been negotiated in detail, with practical arrangements pending.
Research is done in three ways:
This project is joint with a subgroup of researchers from the PRC SSTCC (State Science and Technology Commission for China) sponsored "High-Technology" ("863") project.
4 Fellows started a 7 month fellowship at UNU/IIST on September 1, 1993. They come from Beijing University of Aero- and Astronautics, Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiatong University, and Changsha Institute of Technology.
The project will study software development techniques related to the design of real-time systems.
The study will bring PRC, UNU/IIST, Macau and international researchers together in semi-annual workshops, alternatively in Macau and China.
UNU/IIST has financed the participation of the PRC leader of the DeTfoRS project in a European Intl. Workshop, Oct. 1992.
Eventually the project will yearly feature an international, open workshop with proceedings.
Mr. Li XiaoShan spent 10 months at UNU/IIST: Nov. 1, 1992 -- August 31, 1993. Mr. Li obtained his Ph.D. from Academia Sinica on December 6 1993 with Prof. Zhou Chaochen, UNU/IIST Principal Research Fellow as main advisor. The thesis: A Mean Value Calculus (73 pages, September 1993) will be published in 1994 as a UNU/IIST report.
Topic: Duration Calculus
(With Mr. Li Xiao Shan (Fellow))
The Mean Value Duration Calculus allows for reasoning about durations of states and about instant actions -- and is therefore crucial to the high integrity development of software for safety critical applications such as medical electronics, automatic train control, &c. The first immediate use will be in the PRaCoSy advanced development project -- se below.
To be published in Festschrift for C.A.R. Hoare, FRS, Prentice-Hall International, Published late fall 1993.
-- UNU/IIST Report #9
(With Profs. Anders P. Ravn & Michael R. Hansen, Technical University of Denmark)
This is a Calculus to establish an interface among Control Theory and Computing Science. It can help programmers to design correct software embedded in hybrid systems such as integrated aircraft navigation systems, automatic manufacturing systems, &c. The Calculus will be used in UNU/IIST PRaCoSy and DeTfoRS projects.
To be published in Proceedings of the Workshop on "Theory of Hybrid Systems", Sept. 1993
An overview of a number of different Duration Calculi, including a review of more than 10 (co-)authored publications.
Published in Proceedings of, and presented at a Novosibirsk June 1993 International Conference: Formal Methods in Programming and Their Applications, Springer Verlag, LNCS vol. 735, (eds. D. Bjørner, M. Broy, I.V. Pottosin) pp 256-266, June 1993.
(With Profs. Yang Lu & Zhang Jingzhong (Chengdu Inst. of Computer Applications, Academia Sinica), and Mr. Li Xiao Shan (UNU/IIST Fellow))
This research develops an algorithm to mechanically check whether a design of a hybrid system satisfies its real-time constraints, where the design is formulated as automata and the constraints are linear inequalities of durations of system states. With the algorithm we can develop computerised tools which can assist designers to validate their design decisions.
Topics: Problem (Application) Domain Modelling, Robotics.
Formal robot models are claimed indispensable for the generic, reusable development of easily modifiable software for robot control. It is part of a longer range (proposed) study (SaM2I3) on computer support for small and medium scale industries -- where UNU/IIST advices a quantum leap for developing countries in order to more readily create a much needed own manufacturing industry infrastructure.
To be published in Festschrift for C.A.R. Hoare, FRS, Prentice-Hall International, Published late fall 1993.
Three methdological and technological aspects are singled out as pivotal for a software house to survive and prosper: (1) competence in and thorough establishment of Application Specific Domain Models, (2) Software Devices and Mechanisms and (3) Design Calculi. A study carrried out and to be presented at the first formal gathering of the newly established ACM Japan Chapter, March 1994 in Tokyo, has resulted in a report, UNU/IIST No.12, to be printed both in english and japanese versions of the ACM Japan Proceedings.
Requested by UNIDO, a technical report (#14) has been worked out. It analyzes and discusses the notions of accreditation of software engineering educations, licensing of of software developers and of certification (conformance testing and quality assuring) of software products. The issue of revocation of accreditations, licenses and certificates is discussed. The report reviews the situation also in developing countries and recommends that UNIDO take action in arranging for and funding awareness and training seminars on the three related issues. UNU/IIST offers its technical expertise in organizing such events.
Topic: Duration Calculus
(With Dr. Michael R Hansen, Technical University of Denmark, and Prof. Zhou Chaochen)
This research considers models in which systems exhibiting finite divergence can also be analysed. This kind of behaviour arises in many notions of hybrid systems, and also in theories of non-linear systems. In the paper, finite divergence is studied using the framework of Duration Calculus. Divergence is classified into dense, accumulative and discrete divergences by appropriate axioms and proof rules.
Topics: Combinations of Duration Calculus and RSL (the RAISE4 Specification Language), application domain modelling techniques (railway systems). Appendix of UNU/IIST Report no. 12 is a first documentation of this research.
Mr. Søren Prehn, on February 4, received the prestigious Elektro-prize given yearly by the Danish Engineering Society to 1 or 2 young, successful technologists for outstanding, path-breaking contributions.
Søren Prehns major work in 1993 centered around models of railway systems.
Dr. Corff is a linguist, specializing in computational linguistics, including those of Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, etc. and with a strong background in software.
This report outlines a linguistic background for the computerization of the input, representation and manipulation of Mongolian traditional script. (As such it relates to the MoTraS R&D project described elsewhere section 7.1.2, item 5.)
7 day workshop, Sun. 14 -- Sat. 20 November, 1993, near Peking. 38 participants: 25 from developing countries (11 China, 2 Indonesia, 2 DPRK, 3 Mongolia, 4 Phillipines, 2 Vietnam). and 9 from industrial countries (2 USA, 3 Europe, 3 Japan); 3 regional univ. observers (1 RoK, 1 HK, 1 Macau), 2 Unesco: New Delhi and Peking, and 2 UNU/IIST.
Aims and objectives of workshop was for industrial country university and industry leaders in computer science and software engineering and for pairs of department chairmen and lecturers from 15 leading universities of the region to exchange carefully prepared views on actual and planned university course programmes: constraints, experiences, etc.
Follow-on UCiST/n workshops are very tentatively planned for South and Central Asia, Arab World, Africa and Latin America.
UCiST is part funded by a UNU-UNESCO Japan Funds-in-Trust Programme, and is arranged in close co-operation with UNESCO.
UNU/IIST has discussed with UNIDO the planning in 1994-1995 of a number of awareness panels, task forces and workshops for ministry planners, industry association and computer professional society representatives. The subject of these have to do with infra-structures that are needed for a software industry to thrive: accreditation with `approval' of engineering curriculae, licensing with the chartering of software engineers, and certification with the approval of software products. Revocation of accreditations, licences and certifications are also issues.
Bibliographic listings of relevant journal articles and reports are produced from the steady input of journals and reports for dissemination to some 150 university departments and research institutes in developing countries -- who can then order a reasonable number of article and report copies.
In addition UNU/IIST sends its own reports to the above dissemination targets and to all the centres from whom it currently receives reports.
The UNU/IIST UNU/IIST is currently preparing to become a centre for the regional, eventually global distribution of free, public domain software.
| | | Annual Report 1993 | |