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, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges the conference organizers for giving her the opportunity to present the ideas developed in the paper. Special hanks are also given to Alain Costes, Mohamed Kaâniche and Jean-Claude Laprie for their invaluable comments while reading a draft version of this paper. This work was partially supported by the ESPRIT Basic Research Action PDCS (Predictably Dependable Computing Systems

K. Kanoun, Tel: (33) 61 33 62 35 Fax, vol.33, p.11

. Dr and . Karama, Fault-Tolerance and Dependable Computing" group. Her current research interests include modeling and evaluation of computer system dependability considering hardware as well as software. She received the Certified Engineer degree from National School of Civil Aviation, Toulouse, France in 1977, the Doctor-Engineer degree and the Doctor-ès-Science degree from the National Institute Polytechnique of Toulouse in 1980 and 1989 respectively, Kanoun is currently Chargé de Recherche at CNRS. She joined LAAS-CNRS in 1977 as a member of the