Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Adaptive software development'

Over the last 70 years, teams have become the ubiquitous unit of work in our organizations. The software industry heavily utilizes the Scrum methodology to develop software. Scrum is a team-based methodology that requires the constant formation and development of team capabilities. Researchers and practitioners dealing with work team dynamics have relied on the popular team developmental stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing, defined by Dr. Bruce Tuckman in 1965. However, this framework was conceived primarily from articles dealing with therapy groups and not modern teams. This study expands the body of research in work team stage development applied to Scrum, a methodology that itself has no social science foundation and minimal theoretical coverage.

A combined case study and grounded theory method is used to leverage the strengths of both to investigate the developmental stage of 5 Scrum teams at a high-tech company. A questionnaire along with team interviews were utilized to gather data on how teams relate to developmental factors found in the literature. Descriptive analytics were leveraged to uncover the questionnaire findings, and grounded theory analysis was applied to code interview answers into usable concepts, categories, and themes. Themes were further explored concerning their causal relationships.

The study proposed and validated 12 theoretical factors that contribute to the stage development of Scrum teams across 4 distinct stages. These factors interconnect and form 4 quadrants with unique dynamics associated with a team’s mission, structure, execution, and teaming. Furthermore, higher stage teams proved to be self-managed and adaptable and able to handle higher task complexity. Leaders were observed shifting roles as teams evolved through stages. This latter finding is consistent with the theoretical model of Kozlowski, Watola, Jensen, Kim, and Botero. The research also identified common challenges that teams encounter in their development.

The findings from this study can help organizations who practice Scrum become more intentional about the development of their teams toward adaptability. A concerted effort by software organizations to optimize the evolution of teams across the factors found in the study could yield significant benefits, particularly for missions dealing with high complexity and innovation needs.

Random testing is a standard software testing method. It is a popular method for reli-ability assessment, but its use for debug testing has been opposed by some authorities. Random testing does not use any information to guide test case selection, and so, it is argued, testing is less likely to be effective than other methods. Based on the observation that failures often cluster in contiguous regions, Adaptive Random Testing (ART) is a more effective random testing method. While retaining random selection of test cases, selection is guided by the idea that tests should be widely spread throughout the input domain. A simple way to implement this concept, FSCS-ART, involves randomly generating a number of candidates, and choosing the candidate most widely spread from any already-executed test. This method has already shown to be up to 50% more effective than random testing. This thesis examines a number of theoretical and practical issues related to ART. Firstly, an theoretical examination of the scope of adaptive methods to improve testing effectiveness is conducted. Our results show that the maximum improvement in failure detection effectiveness possible is only 50% - so ART performs close to this limit on many occasions. Secondly, the statistical validity of the previous empirical results is examined. A mathematical analysis of the sampling distribution of the various failure-detection effectiveness methods shows that the measure preferred in previous studies has a slightly unusual distribution known as the geometric distribution, and that that it and other measures are likely to show high variance, requiring very large sample sizes for accurate comparisons. A potential limitation of current ART methods is the relatively high selection overhead. A number of methods to obtain lower overheads are proposed and evaluated, involving a less-strict randomness or wide-spreading criterion. Two methods use dynamic, as-needed partitioning to divide the input domain, spreading test cases throughout the partitions as required. Another involves using a class of numeric sequences called quasi-random sequences. Finally, a more efficient implementation of the existing FSCS-ART method is proposed using the mathematical structure known as the Voronoi diagram. Finally, the use of ART on programs whose input is non-numeric is examined. While existing techniques can be used to generate random non-numeric candidates, a criterion for 'wide spread' is required to perform ART effectively. It is proposed to use the notion of category-partition as such a criterion.

In this dissertation we investigate the applicability of different adaptive techniques to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the regression testing. Initially, we introduce the concept of regression testing. We then perform a literature review of current practices and state-of-the-art regression testing techniques. Finally, we advance the regression testing techniques by performing four empirical studies in which we use different types of information (e.g. user session, source code, code commit, etc.) to investigate the effectiveness of each software metric on fault detection capability for different software environments. In our first empirical study, we show the effectiveness of applying user session information for test case prioritization. In our next study, we apply learning from the previous study, and implement a collaborative filtering recommender system for test case prioritization, which uses user sessions and change history information as input parameter, and return the risk score associated with each component. Results of this study show that our recommender system improves the effectiveness of test prioritization; the performance of our approach was particularly noteworthy when we were under time constraints. We then investigate the merits of multi-objective testing over single objective techniques with a graph-based testing framework. Results of this study indicate that the use of the graph-based technique reduces the algorithm execution time considerably, while being just as effective as the greedy algorithms in terms of fault detection rate. Finally, we apply the knowledge from the previous studies and implement a query answering framework for regression test selection. This framework is built based on a graph database and uses fault history information and test diversity in attempt to select the most effective set of test cases in term of fault detection capability. Our empirical evaluation of this study with four open source programs shows that our approach can be effective and efficient by selecting a far smaller subset of tests compared to the existing techniques.

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As metodologias ágeis de desenvolvimento de software emergiram como alternativa para processos prescritivos, os quais são classificados como excessivamente formais. Com objetivo de viabilizar entregas frequentes, processos adaptáveis, flexíveis e focados no cliente, as metodologias ágeis se tornaram referência sobre como produzir software de forma produtiva. Contudo, com objetivo de tornar o processo mais simples, essas abordagens invariavelmente incorrem em problemas como: modelos pouco generalistas para cobrir todo o ciclo de vida da Engenharia de Software; foco em disciplinas específicas do processo de software; subestimação de aspectos relevantes em iniciativas de desenvolvimento, como esforços de arquitetura, design e documentação; e indicação para equipes e projetos de pequena escala. A proposta desta dissertação de mestrado é propor um framework de processo eficiente de desenvolvimento de software, o qual se baseia nos ideários das metodologias ágeis, porém cobre todo o ciclo de vida de projeto desde a concepção, gestão, implementação e entrega. O framework inclui ferramentas como princípios, valores, atividades, artefatos e práticas específicas, incluindo esforços como arquitetura, design e documentação, concebendo um processo ágil, eficiente e extremamente produtivo para projetos de concepção e manutenção software, independentemente da sua escala.

During the last years the need for real-time database services has increased due to the growing number of data-intensive applications needing to enforce real-time constraints. The COMponent-based Embedded real-Time database (COMET) is a real-time database developed to meet these demands. COMET is developed using the AspeCtual COmponent-based Real-time system Development (ACCORD) design method, and consists of a number of components and aspects, which can be composed into a number of different configurations depending on system demands, e.g., Quality of Service (QoS) management can be used in unpredictable environments.

In embedded systems with requirementson high up-time it may not be possible to temporarily shut down the system for reconfiguration. Instead it is desirable to enable dynamic reconfiguration of the system, exchanging components during run-time. This in turn sets demands on the feedback control of the system to adjust to these new conditions, since a new time variant system has been created.

This thesis project implements improvements in COMET to create a more stable database suitable for further development. A mechanism for dynamic reconfiguration of COMET is implemented, thus, enabling components and aspects to be swapped during run-time. Adaptive feedback control algorithms are also implemented in order to better adjust to workload variations and database reconfiguration.

Effective software testing identifies potential bugs and helps correct them, producing more reliable and maintainable software. As software development processes have evolved, incremental testing techniques have grown in popularity, particularly with introduction of test-driven development (TDD). However, many programmers struggle to adopt TDD's "test a little, code a little" approach and conventional computer science classrooms neglect evaluating software development as a process. In response, we explore influences on students' testing behaviors, effects of incremental testing strategies, and describe approaches to help computer science students adopt good testing practices. First, to understand students' perspectives and adoption of testing strategies, we investigated their attitudes toward different aspects of TDD. In addition, we observed trends in when and how thoroughly students tested their code and how these choices impacted the quality of their assignments. However, with insight into why students struggle to adopt incremental testing, we identified a need to assess their behaviors during the software development process as a departure from traditional product-oriented evaluation. By building upon an existing automated grading system, we developed an adaptive feedback system to provide customized incentives to reinforce incremental testing behaviors while students solved programming assignments. We investigated how students react to concrete testing goals and hint reward mechanisms and found approaches for identifying testing behaviors and influencing short-term behavioral change. Moreover, we discovered how students incorporate automated feedback systems into their software development strategies. Finally, we compared testing strategies students exhibited through analyzing five years and thousands of snapshots of students' code during development. Even when accounting for factors such as procrastinating on assignments, we found that testing early and consistently maintaining testing throughout development helps produce better quality code and tests. By applying our findings of student software development behaviors to effective testing strategies and teaching techniques, we developed a framework for adaptively scaffolding feedback to empower students to critically reflect over their code and adopt incremental testing approaches.
Ph. D.

The accuracy of two-phase flow simulations is mainly determined by the mathematical formulations and resolution of the computational mesh used in the numerical model. Selective mesh refinement improves the accuracy of results while maintaining low resource requirements. This study introduces arbitrees, a new recursive grid design that allows hierarchical refinement and coarsening to be applied on uniform and arbitrary grids. An object-oriented simulation framework was developed that allows the mathematical equations to be written directly in the code, providing direct control over the behaviour of the flow model. Two-fluid models based on the volume of fluid method are implemented and coupled to the arbitree grid to investigate adaptive refinement in two-fluid simulations. Test cases for shape advection in oblique, rotating and shear flow were used to validate the interface tracking capabilities of the adaptive system. The adaptive two-fluid methodology was tested by modelling the collapse of a liquid column. In all cases, the predicted results exhibited encouraging agreement with analytical solutions or experimental measurements.
Thesis (Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) methodologies are used for studying microbial adaptive mutations that optimize host metabolism. The Systems Biology Research Group (SBRG) at the University of California, San Diego, has implemented high-throughput ALE experiment automation that enables the group to expand their experimental evolutions to scales previously infeasible with manual workflows. The data generated by the high-throughput automation now requires a post-processing, content management and analysis framework that can operate on the same scale. We developed a software system which solves the SBRG's specific ALE big data to knowledge challenges. The software system is comprised of a post-processing protocol for quality control, a software framework and database for data consolidation and a web platform named ALE Analytics for report generation and automated key mutation analysis. The automated key mutation analysis is evaluated against published ALE experiment key mutation results from the SBRG and maintains an average recall of 89.6% and an average precision of 71.2%. The consolidation of all ALE experiments into a unified resource has enabled the development of web applications that compare key mutations across multiple experiments. These features find the genomic regions rph, hns/tdk, rpoB, rpoC and pykF mutated in more than one ALE experiment published by the SBRG. We reason that leveraging this software system relieves the bottleneck in ALE experiment analysis and generates new data mining opportunities for research in understanding system-level mechanisms that govern adaptive evolution.

A distributed online curriculum and courseware (DONC2) development model is proposed in this study. Collaborative courseware development teams which may work in distributed academic or private institutions who need to develop higher quality, reduced cost, on time products are the users of DONC2 development model. The related features from the disciplines of instructional design and software engineering were combined and concepts like usability, especially in terms of formative and summative evaluation, interoperability and reusability were integrated into the model. The research is conducted as a collective case study, including four cases with distinctive characteristics to reveal the several practices in online curriculum and courseware development work. The DONC2 development model was proposed using the results gathered from the investigated cases and a literature survey. The model uses the iterative incremental and agile software development approaches in order to overcome the disadvantages of other linear system development approaches. This enables building releasable products in short time periods with increased quality. Furthermore, continuous communication, evaluation and feedback as well as good project management and readiness to adapt to changes are integrated as the essential characteristics. DONC2 development model is different than previous linear and non-adaptive models in all of these aspects.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Information Technology)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2011
Traditional designs for component-handling platforms are rigidly linked to the product being produced. Control and monitoring methods for these platforms consist of various proprietary hardware controllers containing the control logic for the production process. Should the configuration of the component handling platform change, the controllers need to be taken offline and reprogrammed to take the changes into account. The current thinking in component-handling system design is the notion of re-configurability. Reconfigurability means that with minimum or no downtime the system can be adapted to produce another product type or overcome a device failure. The re-configurable component handling platform is built-up from groups of independent devices. These groups or cells are each responsible for some aspect of the overall production process. By moving or swopping different versions of these cells within the component-handling platform, re-configurability is achieved. Such a dynamic system requires a flexible communications platform and high-level software control architecture to accommodate the reconfigurable nature of the system. This work represents the design and testing of the core of a re-configurable production control software platform. Multiple software components work together to control and monitor a re-configurable component handling platform. The design and implementation of a production database, production ontology, communications architecture and the core multi-agent control application linking all these components together is presented.

Owing to particular historical reasons, the Sultanate of Oman emerged into the modern world only in 1970 and launched its state education system in 1972. Less than thirty years later, the Sultanate recognized that a major overhaul of state education was needed to face the challenges that globalization posed to its population and to its economy. The policies for the transition to the Basic Education (BE) system stipulated that students should receive training in information technology (IT) and English from Year One. These provisions were implemented from academic year 1998/1999, so that by the commencement of academic year 2010/2011 three cohorts of students had received a full ten years of schooling in IT. This research investigated the effects of integrating IT into the geography curriculum in Cycle Two of the BE system. Despite an extensive and painstaking search, no previous published study was found that dealt with the pedagogic use of IT in the Omani BE system. One study (Osman 2010) surveyed users of the Oman Educational IT Portal, but it was a general attitudinal survey of all users and did not progress beyond use of a questionnaire. Therefore, this study is the first to conduct fieldwork research in Oman to develop indicators to measure Omani students' performance in and reactions to eLearning. The study also includes two dedicated surveys covering Omani students' and teachers' opinions of and attitudes to eLearning. This is therefore the first study of this type that has been conducted in or for Oman. The findings support the importance of integrating eLearning into the curriculum in Oman, to enhance the delivery of a range of curriculum subjects through the pedagogical use of IT. Through a comparison of responses from teachers and students in Oman and two other countries, this study also explores issues emerging from a comparison between cultures (Gulf Arab and Western) in terms of the varying effects that cultural and other factors can exert on teachers' and learners' acceptance of educational technology in different countries. Again, it is a feature of this research that it is the first to conduct such a comparative study on such a scale involving Gulf Arab students and teachers. This study raises issues surrounding the optimization of acceptance include (1) the necessity of increasing the internet speed in Oman; (2) the current inadequacy of e-Iearning resources; (3) the proper management of eLearning integration; (4) the need for enhancement of eLearning training and skills issues for both teachers and learners: (5) the further relationships inherent in the interaction of culture and the acceptance of technology.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Engineering: Electrical)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2013
The South African (SA) manufacturing industry requires developing similar levels of sophistication and expertise in automation as its international rivals to compete for global markets. To achieve this, manufacturing plants need to be managed extremely efficiently to ensure the quality of manufactured products and these plants must also have the relevant infrastructure. Furthermore, this industry must also compensate for rapid product introduction, product changes and short product lifespan. To support this need, this industry must engage in the current trend in automation known as reconfigurable manufacturing. The aim of the study is to develop a reconfigurable assembly system with enhanced control capabilities by utilizing virtual commissioning. In addition, this system must be capable of assembling multiple different products of a product range; reconfigure to accommodate the requirements of these products; autonomously reroute the product flow and distribute workload among assembly cells; handle erroneous products; and implement enhanced control methods. To achieve this, a literature study was done to confirm the type of components to be used, reveal design issues and what characteristics such a system must adhere to. Software named DELMIA was used to create a virtual simulation environment to verify the system and simultaneously scrutinize the methods of verification. On completion, simulations were conducted to verify software functions, device movements and operations, and the control software of the system. Based on simulation results, the physical system was built, and then verified with a multi agent system as overhead control to validate the entire system. The final results showed that the project objectives are achievable and it was also found that DELMIA is an excellent tool for system verification and will expedite the design of a system. By obtaining these results it is indicated that companies can design and verify their systems earlier through virtual commissioning. In addition, their systems will be more flexible, new products or product changes can be introduced more frequently, with minimum cost and downtime. This will enable SA manufacturing companies to be more competitive, ensure increased productivity, save time and so ensure them an advantage over their international competition.

Les logiciels adaptatifs sont une classe de logiciels qui peuvent modifier leur structure et comportement à l'exécution afin de s'adapter à des nouveaux contextes d'exécution. Le développement de logiciels adaptatifs a été un domaine de recherche très actif les dix dernières années. Plusieurs approches utilisent des techniques issues des lignes des produits afin de développer de tels logiciels. Ils proposent des outils, des frameworks, ou des langages pour construire des architectures logicielles adaptatives, mais ne guident pas les ingénieurs dans leur utilisation. De plus, ils supposent que tous les éléments spécifiés à la conception sont disponibles dans l'architecture pour l'adaptation, même s'ils ne seront jamais utilisés. Ces éléments inutiles peuvent être une cause de soucis lors du déploiement sur une cible dont l'espace mémoire est très contraint par exemple. Par ailleurs, le remplacement de composants à l'exécution reste une tâche complexe, elle doit assurer non seulement la validité de la nouvelle version, mais aussi préserver la terminaison correcte des transactions en cours. Pour faire face à ces problèmes, cette thèse propose un processus de développement de logiciels adaptatifs où les tâches, les rôles, et les artefacts associés sont explicites. En particulier, le processus vise la spécification d'informations nécessaires pour construire des architectures logicielles adaptatives. Le résultat d'un tel processus est une architecture logicielle adaptative qui contient seulement des éléments utiles pour l'adaptation. De plus, un mécanisme d'adaptation est proposé basé sur la gestion de transactions pour assurer une adaptation dynamique cohérente. Elle assure la terminaison correcte des transactions en cours. Nous proposons pour cela la notion de dépendance transactionnelle : dépendance entre des actions réalisées par des composants différents. Nous proposons la spécification de ces dépendances dans le modèle de variabilité, et de l'exploiter pour décider des fonctions de contrôle dans les composants de l'architecture, des fonctions qui assurent une adaptation cohérente à l'exécution
Adaptive software is a class of software which is able to modify its own internal structure and hence its behavior at runtime in response to changes in its operating environment. Adaptive software development has been an emerging research area of software engineering in the last decade. Many existing approaches use techniques issued from software product lines (SPLs) to develop adaptive software architectures. They propose tools, frameworks or languages to build adaptive software architectures but do not guide developers on the process of using them. Moreover, they suppose that all elements in the SPL specified are available in the architecture for adaptation. Therefore, the adaptive software architecture may embed unnecessary elements (components that will never be used) thus limiting the possible deployment targets. On the other hand, the components replacement at runtime remains a complex task since it must ensure the validity of the new version, in addition to preserving the correct completion of ongoing activities. To cope with these issues, this thesis proposes an adaptive software development process where tasks, roles, and associate artifacts are explicit. The process aims at specifying the necessary information for building adaptive software architectures. The result of such process is an adaptive software architecture that only contains necessary elements for adaptation. On the other hand, an adaptation mechanism is proposed based on transactions management for ensuring consistent dynamic adaptation. Such adaptation must guarantee the system state and ensure the correct completion of ongoing transactions. In particular, transactional dependencies are specified at design time in the variability model. Then, based on such dependencies, components in the architecture include the necessary mechanisms to manage transactions at runtime consistently

E calcul autonome vise à concevoir des logiciels qui prennent en compte les variations dans leur environnement d'exécution. Les boucles de rétro-action (FCL) fournissent un mécanisme d'auto-adaptation générique, mais leur intégration dans des systèmes logiciels soulève de nombreux défis. Cette thèse s'attaque au défi d'intégration, c.à.d. la composition de l'architecture de connexion reliant le système logiciel adaptable au moteur d'adaptation. Nous proposons pour cela le langage de modélisation spécifique au domaine FCDL. Il élève le niveau d'abstraction des FCLs, permettant l'analyse automatique et la synthèse du code. Ce langage est capable de composition, de distribution et de réflexivité, permettant la coordination de plusieurs boucles de rétro-action distribuées et utilisant des mécanismes de contrôle variés. Son utilisation est facilitée par l'environnement de modélisation ACTRESS qui permet la modélisation, la vérification et la génération du code. La pertinence de notre approche est illustrée à travers trois scénarios d'adaptation réels construits de bout en bout. Nous considérons ensuite la manipulation de modèles comme moyen d'implanter ACTRESS. Nous proposons un Langage Spécifique au Domaine interne qui utilise Scala pour implanter une famille de DSLs. Il permet la vérification de cohérence et les transformations de modèles. Les DSLs résultant ont des propriétés similaires aux approches existantes, mais bénéficient en plus de la souplesse, de la performance et de l'outillage associés à Scala. Nous concluons avec des pistes de recherche découlant de l'application de l'IDM au domaine du calcul autonome.

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Web 2.0 allowed users more interactivity with Web applications. The so-called Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) have transposed the boundaries of simple interfaces built only in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Through the adoption of technologies that enable the creation of more advanced interfaces, RIAs resemble the appearance and behavior of desktop applications. On the other hand, the demand for software in Ubiquitous Computing, in which access to applications occurs anywhere, at any time and from different devices, has raised new challenges for Software Engineering. One of these challenges is related to the adaptation of the contents of an application to the numerous devices that can access it in distinct contexts. Given the diversity of devices, access networks, environments and possible contexts, providing applications that meet the peculiarities of each access device, while keeping a consistent appearance and behavior in view of the changes occurring in the surrounding environment, has become a difficult task for software engineers. In applications that use rich interfaces in Web 2.0 for improving the interactivity, this task becomes even more complex due to the need of preserving the interaction aspects that afford users a richer experience with the application. This task can be facilitated using a software process that guides developers in building a ubiquitous application, considering the different contexts involved in its execution. Faced with these challenges, this work proposes a software process, named Model Driven RichUbi, aiming at supporting the development of rich interfaces for ubiquitous applications that adapt themselves when viewed on different types of devices. Based on the Model Driven Development and Domain-Specific Modeling conceptions, in the process are defined activities and artifacts that help in modeling and partial code generation of rich interfaces for different platforms. Besides, dynamic content adapters that refine the produced interface versions are also employed in the process, so that the developed interfaces can adapt to the peculiarities of the access device identified from the interaction context at runtime. The computational support focused on the Rich Interfaces Domain employed in the process is advantageous since it can be reused to simplify the development of adaptive rich interfaces for ubiquitous applications of several fields, which contributes to effort reduction and productivity increasing.
A Web 2.0 permitiu aos usuários maior interatividade com as aplicações Web. As chamadas Aplicações de Internet Ricas (RIAs Rich Internet Applications) transpuseram os limites das interfaces simples construídas apenas em Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Através da adoção de tecnologias que permitem a criação de interfaces mais avançadas, as RIAs assemelham-se à aparência e comportamento das aplicações desktop. Por outro lado, a demanda por software na Computação Ubíqua, onde o acesso às aplicações ocorre de qualquer lugar, a qualquer hora e a partir de diferentes dispositivos, fez surgir novos desafios para a Engenharia de Software. Um desses desafios está relacionado com a adaptação das aplicações acessadas por diferentes dispositivos em contextos distintos. Dada a diversidade de dispositivos, redes de acesso, ambientes e contextos possíveis, prover aplicações que satisfaçam as peculiaridades de cada dispositivo de acesso, ao mesmo tempo em que mantêm um comportamento e aparência coerentes face às mudanças que ocorrem no ambiente ao redor, tornou-se uma difícil tarefa para os engenheiros de software. Nas aplicações que utilizam de interfaces ricas na Web 2.0, para melhorar a interatividade, essa tarefa torna-se mais complexa devido à necessidade de preservar os aspectos de interação que proporcionam aos usuários uma rica experiência com a aplicação. Tal tarefa pode ser facilitada usando um processo de software que oriente o desenvolvedor na construção de uma aplicação ubíqua, considerando os diferentes contextos em que se executa a aplicação. Diante desses desafios e visando a dar suporte ao desenvolvimento de interfaces ricas de aplicações ubíquas que se adaptam quando visualizadas em diferentes dispositivos, neste trabalho é proposto o processo denominado Model Driven RichUbi. Com base nas concepções de Desenvolvimento Dirigido a Modelos e Modelagem Específica de Domínio, são definidos atividades e artefatos que orientam a modelagem e geração parcial de código das interfaces ricas para diferentes contextos. No Model Driven RichUbi, também são utilizados adaptadores dinâmicos de conteúdo que refinam as versões produzidas das interfaces para se adequarem às peculiaridades do dispositivo de acesso identificadas do contexto da interação em tempo de execução. O apoio computacional no Domínio de Interfaces Ricas empregado no processo tem a vantagem de poder ser reutilizado no desenvolvimento de interfaces ricas adaptativas em aplicações ubíquas de diferentes domínios, colaborando para a redução de esforços e aumento da produtividade.

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The use of middleware technology in various types of systems, in order to abstract low-level details related to the distribution of application logic, is increasingly common. Among several systems that can be benefited from using these components, we highlight the distributed systems, where it is necessary to allow communications between software components located on different physical machines. An important issue related to the communication between distributed components is the provision of mechanisms for managing the quality of service. This work presents a metamodel for modeling middlewares based on components in order to provide to an application the abstraction of a communication between components involved in a data stream, regardless their location. Another feature of the metamodel is the possibility of self-adaptation related to the communication mechanism, either by updating the values of its configuration parameters, or by its replacement by another mechanism, in case of the restrictions of quality of service specified are not being guaranteed. In this respect, it is planned the monitoring of the communication state (application of techniques like feedback control loop), analyzing performance metrics related. The paradigm of Model Driven Development was used to generate the implementation of a middleware that will serve as proof of concept of the metamodel, and the configuration and reconfiguration policies related to the dynamic adaptation processes. In this sense was defined the metamodel associated to the process of a communication configuration. The MDD application also corresponds to the definition of the following transformations: the architectural model of the middleware in Java code, and the configuration model to XML
A utiliza??o da tecnologia de middleware em diversos tipos de sistemas, com a finalidade de abstrair detalhes de baixo n?vel relacionados com a distribui??o da l?gica da aplica??o, ? cada vez mais frequente. Dentre diversos sistemas que podem ser beneficiados com a utiliza??o desses componentes, podemos destacar os sistemas distribu?dos, onde ? necess?rio viabilizar a comunica??o entre componentes de software localizados em diferentes m?quinas f?sicas. Uma importante quest?o relacionada ? comunica??o entre componentes distribu?dos ? o fornecimento de mecanismos para gerenciamento da qualidade de servi?o. Este trabalho apresenta um metamodelo para modelagem de middlewares baseados em componentes que prov?em ? aplica??o a abstra??o da comunica??o entre componentes envolvidos em um fluxo de dados, independente da sua localiza??o. Outra caracter?stica do metamodelo ? a possibilidade de auto-adapta??o relacionada ao mecanismo de comunica??o utilizado, seja atrav?s da atualiza??o dos valores dos seus par?metros de configura??o, ou atrav?s da sua substitui??o por outro mecanismo, caso as restri??es de qualidade de servi?o especificadas n?o estejam sendo garantidas. Nesse prop?sito, ? previsto o monitoramento do estado da comunica??o (aplica??es de t?cnicas do tipo feedback control loop), analisando-se m?tricas de desempenho relacionadas. O paradigma de Desenvolvimento Dirigido por Modelos foi utilizado para gerar a implementa??o de um middleware que servir? como prova de conceito do metamodelo, e as pol?ticas de configura??o e reconfigura??o relacionadas com o processo de adapta??o din?mica; neste sentido, foi definido o metamodelo associado ao processo de configura??o de uma comunica??o. A aplica??o da t?cnica de MDD corresponde ainda ? defini??o das seguintes transforma??es: do modelo arquitetural do middleware para c?digo em linguagem Java, e do modelo de configura??o para c?digo XML

Computer-assisted interventions designed to remediate low numeracy and developmental dyscalculia (mathematical learning disability) have been utilised in preschools and kindergartens with some efficacy for over thirty years (Clements, 2002). A recent development in this field is ‘adaptive game’ technology, which adapts task difficulty online as children learn. The Number Race is the first such package for mathematics. Previous efficacy studies suggest its use results in an improvement in core measures of early numeracy, such as speed at enumerating 1-3 objects (subitizing) and comparison of numerals and groups of objects. The present study tested the efficacy of a new version of The Number Race (version 3.0) using New Zealand English and incorporating new instructional factors, in a younger population than most previously tested. Participants were twelve 5-to-7-year-old children and a typically developing control group matched on age and sex (n = 12). Following pre-testing using standardised tests and a computerised battery, children in the intervention group used The Number Race for twenty minutes each school night, for one month. Post-testing results showed that there was a significant improvement in counting and subitizing speed for the intervention group. Participants also became faster and more accurate at comparing numerals. There were no significant changes in standardised mathematics scores. The mental number line task did not show any significant differences before and after intervention but a wide variety of patterns and possible use of strategies were revealed. Overall, this new version of The Number Race seems to have modest effects in this population.

The ability of agile teams to adapt the project plan to unexpected problems is still a less-researched area. They must change the project plans as facing unexpected challenges and, even though existing studies relate some aspects to this ability, such as participatory decision-making, openness to discuss problems in an immediate sense and focus on actions to be taken in near future, these studies do not yet offer a complete theory, or set of practices, about how adaptation takes place. What actions and decisions of the team allow for adaptation? Improvisation is an approach that could potentially fill this gap and consists of someone executing an action without previously planning it, or doing it differently from the original plan, when facing a problem. This study presents an investigation of how agile teams adapt when facing unexpected changes or problems during the projects. The concept of improvisation is used and the study involved two agile software development teams and using Grounded Theory (GT). The results indicate that the teams apply different improvisation strategies, such as breaking standard work rules, as well as maintain habits that contribute positively to improvisation. Clients also play an important role in helping teams solve unexpected problems and should be invited to collaborate. These results can be used to assist professionals in search of more effectiveness in agile teams in terms of adapting the plan during the project.
A habilidade de os times ágeis adaptarem o plano do projeto de acordo com problemas inesperados ainda é uma área de pesquisa pouco explorada. Essas equipes precisam ser capazes de adaptar o plano do projeto quando se deparam com desafios inesperados e, ainda que os estudos relacionem alguns aspectos a essa habilidade, como tomada de decisão participativa, abertura para discutir problemas de imediato e foco em ações de curto prazo, os estudos ainda não oferecem uma teoria completa ou conjunto de práticas que descrevam como, de fato, a adaptação acontece. Quais ações e decisões do time lhe garantem a capacidade de adaptação? A improvisação é uma abordagem interessante para compreender esse gap, e consiste em executar uma ação sem previamente planejá-la, ou de uma maneira diferente do que a planejada, quando da ocorrência de um problema ou mudança inesperada. Esse estudo apresenta uma investigação da adaptação em projetos ágeis quando as equipes se deparam com mudanças ou problemas inesperados. O conceito da improvisação é usado e o estudo envolveu dois times ágeis que desenvolvem software, e utilizando o método Grounded theory (GT). Os resultados indicam que os times utilizam diferentes estratégias de improvisação, como quebrar regras de trabalho, assim como mantem hábitos que contribuem positivamente para a improvisação. O cliente também desempenha um papel importante ao ajudar os times a resolverem problemas inesperados, e portanto devem ser convidados a colaborar. Esses resultados podem ser usados para auxiliar profissionais no sentido de obter-se times ágeis mais efetivos na adaptação do plano durante o projeto.

Context: Agile practices have created its own mark on recent software development strategies. The significance of agile core values and principles attracted several organizations towards agile software development. Agile methods incorporate core values & principles, whereas agile practices define how agile methods are implemented in practice. However, it is still unclear, which combinations of agile practices are adopted in practice and how are they adapted. Objectives: In this research, our main aim is to find the combinations of agile practices that are most commonly adopted in practice, which includes identifying the practices which mostly appear together and finding the evidences for adaptations of agile practices. Methods: We have developed a survey to collect empirical evidence regarding agile practice adoption and adaptation. The survey is based on a framework consisting of a set of questions to determine agile practice adoption and adaptation. The framework was validated with researchers and practitioners through interviews. In order to identify the practices and possible adaptations we conducted a literature review. The sample population of the survey includes primarily project managers, developers, agile coaches and system types includes majority of information systems, commercial type of software, outsourced and embedded. Results: We have collected 109 responses with the survey. It is important to make the tradeoff between the length of the survey and quality of the responses, so, we needed to pose many questions with regard to the ways how the practices are tailored/adapted. We found that there are certain practices which were given highest priority and mostly appear together, certain practices appears only with particular combinations of practices. Regarding practice adaptations, the empirical findings show the adaptations of each individual practice. Moreover, regarding employee and customer satisfaction, the results indicate that there is a significant level of satisfied employees and customers with agile software development. A conceptual model of agile practices and performance is developed and presented to make a better understanding of implications for practice. Conclusions: During adoption there are certain set of agile practices that were given higher importance, given highest priority during selection and also mostly appears together. Moreover, there are certain practices which are considered as most important, but are given with less priority during selection by practitioners. Furthermore, the empirical findings supports practice adaption depends on change in context factors. Finally, it is interesting to see that almost all of the stakeholders in agile software development are satisfied with its nature.

碩士
長庚大學
機械工程研究所
92
This thesis aims to use the image processing and artificial neural network (ANN) to develop the automatic optical inspection (AOI) system to classify and recognize the 2D solder paste defects and to reconstruct 3D virtual laser solder paste surfaces. Meanwhile, we propose the pad-based and sub-area based methodology cooperating with the in-lab design specified light projection source simulation system and commercial coaxial light source to develop the AOI system. The back-propagation ANN module is also developed for training and recall inspection patterns. With the in-lab design structure light source, several AOI images are acquired to reconstruct the 3D solder paste surface model, however, it consumes a lot of time for images acquisition and computing. On the other hand, the commercial coaxial light source system is adopted to capture images for reconstructing the virtual laser 3D surface model. With the experimental results, the in-lab design structure light source for 3D surface reconstruction achieves 95% accuracy rate; In the same time, the commercial coaxial light source for 3D reconstruction just achieves about 80% recognition accuracy, nevertheless, it already meets the requirements of the industry applications. In summary, the 2D solder paste defect inspection achieves 85% average recognition accuracy; and the 3D solder paste surface reconstruction achieves 90% volumetric accuracy when compared to the actual laser surface scanning. In additional, the proposed system had been implemented as a window-based application program using the Microsoft Visual C++. The modules include the image acquisition, image processing, back-propagation ANN training and recall functions, 2D solder paste defects identification and 3D solder paste surface reconstruction, and graphical display interface. They are justified to most the SMT AOI inspection requirements.

碩士
長庚大學
資訊管理研究所
95
This research aims at the development and evaluation of an adaptive redemptive instruction system. In the study, it is focused on the skill test of C-grade computer software application. In the eualuation, a group of students had been divided into an experiment sub-group and a control sub-group at random. The experiment group is tutored by the adaptive redemptive instruction system, and the control group is tutored by traditional teaching. After finishing the experiment, all the students of the two groups accepted two written tests: the C-grade computer software application and Basic Computer Concept of Senior high School. According to the result, the grade of the two groups appeared significantly different because of the different teaching methods, especially in the Basic Computer Concept.The analysis of questionnaires from the experiment group shows that the adaptive redemptive instruction system can improve the learning will, satisfaction and effect of students. The questionnaires also show that the students who got higher grade show higher learning will, invest more time than other students and are more satisfied.

Universities want to go where the learners are to share their rich scientific and intellectual knowledge beyond the walls of the academy and to expand the boundaries of the classroom. This desire has become a critical need, as the worldwide economy adjusts to globalization and the need for advanced education and training becomes ever more critical. Unfortunately, the work of creating, processing, distributing and using quality multimedia learning content is expensive and technically challenging. The work combines research results, lessons learned and usage findings in the presentation of a fully open source based scalable lecture capture solution, that is useful in the heterogenous computing landscape of today’s universities and learning institutes. Especially implemented user facing applications and components are being addressed, which enable lecturers, faculty and students to record, analyze and subsequently re-use the recorded multimedia learning material in multiple and attractive ways across devices and distribution platforms.

This dissertation examines the impact of active shooters upon patrons attending large outdoor events. There has been a spike in shooters targeting densely populated spaces in recent years, to include open-air venues. The 2019 Gilroy Garlic Festival was selected for modeling replication using AnyLogic software to test various experiments designed to reduce casualties in the event of an active shooter situation. Through achievement of validation to produce identical outcomes of the real-world Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, the researcher established a reliable foundational model for experimental purposes. This active shooter research project identifies the need for rapid response efforts to neutralize the shooter(s) as quickly as possible to minimize casualties. Key findings include the importance of armed officers patrolling event grounds to reduce response time, the need for adequate exits during emergency evacuations, incorporation of modern technology to identify the shooter’s location, and applicability of a 1:548 police to patron ratio.