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The functional specifications of high integrity systems include details needed to harden them against hardware and implementation failures, leading to a lack of design transparency, duplicative certification exercises and implementation inflexibility. This thesis develops a new ontology-driven meta-model for specifying such systems, in which the language itself is instantiated over a canonical coordinate system in spacetime. We define a system of localized timed types, denoted by a canonical tree of identifiers, and a dense model of time, which we call Pre-HBcL (Pre-Harmonic Box Coordination Language), for which we give a deep embedding in the Coq proof assistant. We go on to develop a full coordination programming language of harmonic boxes (full HBCL), defined over these types; the language is parametrized on arbitrary inner box languages, and we provide a simple example that gives rise to a hardware description language. We give a full semantics at progressive levels of formality. We argue that the decoupling of a light-weight ontology from formalizing logic language produces a more flexible approach than can be achieved with monolithic specification languages, allowing bisimulation properties to be established between HBCL programs and more directly physical axiomatizations of hardware. We demonstrate how the use of a reflexive morphism in HBCL simplifies the establishment of timing properties and composition of specifications. We develop an interpreter exported from a proof assistant. In doing so, we demonstrate an unusually easy route to establishing soundness of our language up to the soundness of the formalizing logic, and discuss the completeness limitations. To this end, we review issues in computability, and construct a comparison in which formal logics are included in the same schema as coordination and specification languages. We conclude with an empirical demonstration of properties derived from the interpreter, and evaluate the extent to which the work substantiates our conjectures.

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This research proposes that the use of general purpose parallel architectures combined with parallel relational database technology provides a solution for rapid retrieval and analysis of geographic data in a corporate environment. Changes in corporate IT strategies have made the inclusion of parallel architecture viable, vendor support for parallel database software is evident, and research into parallel geographic information system (GIS) functions make commercial versions likely. To that end a substantial parallel GIS/database environment was developed to test the suitability of parallel processing for corporate GIS. The parallel GIS environment brought together parallel relational database management systems and GIS applications on a parallel machine (Meiko Computing Surface) to investigate the ability of the system to support three corporate requirements: the ability to manage and analyse large volumes of data with reasonable response times, the provision of efficient access for GIS to integrated corporate databases, and the successful support of both transaction processing and longer, more complex transactions in the same environment. A series of performance tests were devised and split into two phases. Databases were constructed for each of the testing phases, including a substantial corporate database of some 15 million rows of real data. Experimental results from the performance tests undertaken showed that the parallel system not only successfully supported both the GIS and parallel relational database management system software, it also provided insights into the use and configuration of the environment, the construction of complex queries using GIS/database interfaces, and the ability to support both transaction processing and complex queries in the a single environment. Finally, the implications and applications of the results are discussed.

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This industry-based thesis undertakes a multifaceted and longitudinal exploration of the design and implementation of a Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) based information system in a consortium of small-scale community organisations. The research is centred on the design, production and implementation of a case management system with and for a group of nine not-for-profit organisations in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who work as a consortium. The system, called Hublink, is based on the FLOSS framework Drupal. The system was designed during 2013 and has been in everyday use by those organisations since January 2014, acting as the consortium's primary information infrastructure. This research therefore encompasses both design and use. The design process was based on Participatory Design (PD) principles and methods. Because of the project's long-term nature, Hublink has been an exceptional opportunity to focus on the legacy of a PD process into the later stages of the software development life-cycle. This research has therefore been able to draw on themes that have emerged through real-world use and an extended collaboration and engagement. In this thesis I place the Hublink project description within literature covering Participatory Design, Community Informatics and Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), extending into infrastructuring, appropriation and end user development. Through a literature review and presentation of evidence collected during this research project, a clear argument emerges that relates the mutual learning outcomes of Participatory Design, with sustainability through infrastructuring activities, while also showing how the communities of practice of FLOSS projects create an infrastructure for not-for-profit organisations, enabling them to build sustainable systems that can meet their needs and accord with their values. The thesis argues that while Participatory Design strengthens the human element of infrastructure, FLOSS provides a complementary element of technical support, via the characteristics of generativity and extensibility, and their communities of practice. This research provides a deeply descriptive study that bridges design and use, centred on the core values of Participatory Design, contributing to the understanding and development of practices around sustainability and Participatory Design in the not-for- profit sector. The research offers a conceptual pathway to link FLOSS and Participatory Design, suggesting directions for future research and practice that enhance the connections between these two important areas of participatory production.

This dissertation describes a thesis concerned with establishing the algorithmic approach to large scale problem solving. A framework of systems theory concepts applicable to problem solving is detailed. A new methodology, consisting of a comprehensive set of rules which permit the formalization of designs in CAD and software engineering, is presented. The relationship between the methodology and language is investigated. A language which supports the methodology is introduced. The language features are stated and their implications for solving large scale problems are assessed. The use of the language and the methodology is demonstrated on a number of diverse examples.