Hard real-time systems induce strict constraints on the timing of the task set. Validation of these timing constraints is thus a major challenge during the design of such a system. Whereas the derivation of timing guarantees must already be considered complex if tasks are running to completion, it gets even more complex if tasks are scheduled preemptively – especially due to caches, deployed to...

Graphical editing, like many applications facilitated by computers, often involves repetitive tasks. To reduce repetition, programmers can write procedures to automate these tasks, however most users do not know how to program, and the repetitive tasks that they perform are frequently too specialized for the application programmer to anticipate. End users would benefit from the ability to custo...

The works in the oil and gas industry are usually performed in open and exposed fields, constrained areas, restricted spaces, and other outdoor environments such as offshore rigs and platforms [1,2]. Workers in the oil and gas industry continuously experience the problems of noise, slippery surfaces, and numerous manual material handling exposures of carrying, lifting, lowering, pushing and pul...

End-users conduct various on-line activities. Quite often, they re-visit websites and use services to perform re-occurring activities, such as on-line shopping. The end-users are required to enter the same information into various web services to accomplish such re-occurring tasks. It can negatively impact user experience when a user needs to type the re-occurring information repetitively into ...

Autonomous robots or agents are known to be effective at dangerous tasks where the risk to human life is high or where tasks are overly repetitive. Some tasks where autonomous systems are know to be useful include space exploration [1], computer games [2]. Within many of these domains there are other agents that either compete, cooperate or unwittingly do one or the other. To be effective in su...