John Fitzgerald – författare

Object-oriented design methods are commonplace in computing systems development, but are often dismissed as ''boxes & arrows''. If systems developers are to gain full advantage from such methods, they should be able to achieve designs that are not merely the subject of heated argument, but can be improved by careful, rigorous & machine-supported analysis.

This book describes an object-oriented design approach that combines the benefits of abstract modelling with the analytic power of formal methods, to give designs that can be rigorously validated & assured with automated support.

Aimed at software architects, designers & developers as well as computer scientists, no prior knowledge of formal methods is assumed. The elements of functional modelling are introduced using numerous examples & exercises, industrial case studies & experience reports. Industry-strength tools support the text. Go to www.vdmbook.com to download free-of-charge VDMTools Lite, which gives the possibility to try out examples from the book

I spent my entire life working in the arena of childcare; the final twenty years working on inquiries and investigations into the deaths of children through abuse. Among those investigations were high profile cases including the twelve murders of children, young people and young women, carried out by Fred and Rosemary West, plus continual instances of the most horrific sexual abuse, torture and trafficking. 

Over the last thirty years, faced with these unimaginable incidents, public agencies and governments have repeatedly vowed that "lessons will be learned", but have they been? How did I and others do in our world and what part did politics play? And to what extent did my own childhood experiences lead me to follow this path?

This book is about the engineering of Digital Twins (DTs) of cyber-physical systems (CPSs). It goes behind the glossy image of DTs to help researchers and advanced professionals to ask and answer the fundamental questions underpinning the development of a DT. What are the foundational concepts of the DT? How do different engineering disciplines interact in creating a DT? How should the physical and digital worlds be connected, and how do the imperfections and faults inherent in both worlds affect the DT''s qualities? How can we use a DT to support decisions, and how do we maintain it through life?

To this end, the book is structured in five parts: “Foundations” introduces the DT concept, the potential benefits of DTs seen from a business perspective, and foundations for DT engineering. “Models and Data” presents the range of models and data that form the core assets of DTs for CPSs. It covers ways in which models can be produced and calibrated, and considers how data is derived from a CPS and communicated to its DT. Next, “Services for Digital Twins” details some of the main services that a DT provides by building on the assets of models and data, including visualisation, fault detection and diagnosis and support for decision-making. “Realising Digital Twins” then covers the realisation of DTs, including a platform allowing engineers to construct DTs from reusable components. Case studies in food production, robotics and marine engineering are presented using a systematic framework that aligns with the DT engineering concepts introduced in the earlier parts of the book. Eventually, “Advanced Topics in Digital Twins” introduces advanced topics in delivering dependable DT-enabled systems, focusing on security and privacy, the capacity for autonomy, and a range of open research topics.

This book aims at researchers in DT technology and design, including advanced (master and doctoral) students, as well as engineering practitioners aiming to develop DTs. The most common techniques described in the main text will be accessible via open-source projects, including further DT examples, exercises and solutions, as well as pointers to emerging standards, frameworks and platforms. Classroom materials, exercises and solutions are available to lecturers through a dedicated Web site.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Formal Methods, FM 2016, held in Limassol, Cyprus, in November 2016. The 38 full papers and 11 short papers presented together with one abstract of an invited talk and one invited presentation were carefully reviewed and selected from 162 submissions. The  broad topics of interest for FM include: interdisciplinary formal methods; formal methods in practice; tools for formal methods; role of formal methods in software and systems engineering; theoretical foundations.