Computer Science

We discuss the scientific contributions of Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, his opinions and his legacy.

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with gaining knowledge. It is closely related to ontology. The branch that deals with questions like "What is real?" and "What do we know?" as it provides these components. When using modeling and simulation, we usually imply that we are doing so to either apply knowledge, in particular when we are using them for training and teaching, or that we want to gain new knowledge, for example when doing analysis or conducting virtual experiments. This paper looks at the history of science to give a context to better cope with the question, how we can gain knowledge from simulation. It addresses aspects of computability and the general underlying mathematics, and applies the findings to validation and verification and development of federations. As simulations are understood as computable executable hypotheses, validation can be understood as hypothesis testing and theory building. The mathematical framework allows furthermore addressing some challenges when developing federations and the potential introduction of contradictions when composing different theories, as they are represented by the federated simulation systems.

This paper sets out to examine the skills gaps between the industrial application of Information Technology and university academic programmes (curriculum). It looks at some of the causes, and considers the probable solutions for bridging the gap between them and suggests the possibilities of exploring a new role for our universities and employers of labor. It also highlights strategies to abolish the misalignment between university and industry. The main concept is to blend the academic rigidity with the industrial relevance.

I am most honoured to have the privilege to present the Foreword to this fascinating and wonderfully varied collection of contributions, concerning the nature of computation and of its deep connection with the operation of those basic laws, known or yet unknown, governing the universe in which we live. Fundamentally deep questions are indeed being grappled with here, and the fact that we find so many different viewpoints is something to be expected, since, in truth, we know little about the foundational nature and origins of these basic laws, despite the immense precision that we so often find revealed in them. Accordingly, it is not surprising that within the viewpoints expressed here is some unabashed speculation, occasionally bordering on just partially justified guesswork, while elsewhere we find a good deal of precise reasoning, some in the form of rigorous mathematical theorems. Both of these are as should be, for without some inspired guesswork we cannot have new ideas as to where look in order to make genuinely new progress, and without precise mathematical reasoning, no less than in precise observation, we cannot know when we are right -- or, more usually, when we are wrong.

Development organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations have been emphasizing the high potential of Free and Open Source Software for the Less Developed Countries. Cost reduction, less vendor dependency and increased potential for local capacity development have been their main arguments. In spite of its advantages, Free and Open Source Software is not widely adopted at the African continent. In this book the authors will explore the grounds on with these expectations are based. Where do they come from and is there evidence to support these expectations? Over the past years several projects have been initiated and some good results have been achieved, but at the same time many challenges were encountered. What lessons can be drawn from these experiences and do these experiences contain enough evidence to support the high expectations? Several projects and their achievements will be considered. In the final part of the book the future of Free and Open Source Software for Development will be explored. Special attention is given to the African continent since here challenges are highest. What is the role of Free and open Source Software for Development and how do we need to position and explore the potential? What are the threats? The book aims at professionals that are engaged in the design and implementation of ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects and want to improve their understanding of the role Free and Open Source Software can play.

Personal reflections are given on being students of Helmut Jürgensen. Then, we attempt to address his hypothesis that informatics follows trend-like behaviours through the use of a content analysis of university job advertisements, and then via simulation techniques from the area of quantitative economics.

Technological progress has led to powerful computers and communication technologies that penetrate nowadays all areas of science, industry and our private lives. As a consequence, all these areas are generating digital traces of data amounting to big data resources. This opens unprecedented opportunities but also challenges toward the analysis, management, interpretation and utilization of these data. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in deep learning algorithms complement now machine learning and statistics methods for an efficient analysis of such data. Furthermore, advances in text mining and natural language processing, e.g., word-embedding methods, enable also the processing of large amounts of text data from diverse sources as governmental reports, blog entries in social media or clinical health records of patients. In this paper, we present a perspective on the role of artificial intelligence in these developments and discuss also potential problems we are facing in a digital society.

Rankings are a fact of life. Whether or not one likes them, they exist and are influential. Within academia, and in computer science in particular, rankings not only capture our attention but also widely influence people who have a limited understanding of computing science research, including prospective students, university administrators, and policy-makers. In short, rankings matter. This position paper advocates for the adoption of "GOTO rankings": rankings that use Good data, are Open, Transparent, and Objective, and the rejection of rankings that do not meet these criteria.

The century of complexity has come. The face of science has changed. Surprisingly, when we start asking about the essence of these changes and then critically analyse the answers, the result are mostly discouraging. Most of the answers are related to the properties that have been in the focus of scientific research already for more than a century (like non-linearity). This paper is Preface to the special issue "Grasping Complexity" of the journal "Computers and Mathematics with Applications". We analyse the change of era in science, its reasons and main changes in scientific activity and give a brief review of the papers in the issue.

Researchers spend a great deal of time reading research papers. Keshav (2012) provides a three-pass method to researchers to improve their reading skills. This article extends Keshav's method for reading a research compendium. Research compendia are an increasingly used form of publication, which packages not only the research paper's text and figures, but also all data and software for better reproducibility. We introduce the existing conventions for research compendia and suggest how to utilise their shared properties in a structured reading process. Unlike the original, this article is not build upon a long history but intends to provide guidance at the outset of an emerging practice.