An algorithm for the selection problem

A refinement to a well-known selection algorithm is described. The refinement results in a useful improvement in the performance of the original algorithm, particularly when the selection index is small relative to the median.     

Approximations of open quotient and speed quotient from glottal airflow and EGG waveforms: effects of measurement criteria and sound pressure level

A sample of speech acts in everyday discourse referring to persons or events having to do with the term mental retardation was analyzed in order to investigate the belief that language use both constructs and reflects cultural norms that define the social roles of persons reduced to object status through categorical membership. Speech acts gathered suggest four emergent themes: the discourse of category membership, the dichotomy of normal and abnormal, issues of place and space, and fear. These themes were explicated from a social constructionist perspective, displaying the way speech acts construct mental retardation and subvert individuals with the label into demeaned and ridiculed objects of cultural fear.     

Forced termination of loops

Loops must often be forced to terminate early. Solutions to such problems are usually either language-dependent or rather clumsy. A practical alternative is presented. The accompanying methodology clarifies the role of the finalization mechanism in loop construction. It also leads to the idea of control-structure independence in the context of data representation and forced termination.     

Exploiting partial order with Quicksort

The widely known Quicksort algorithm does not attempt to actively take advantage of partial order in sorting data. A simple change can be made to the Quicksort strategy to give a bestcase performance of n, for ordered data, with a smooth transition to O(n log n) for random data. This algorithm (Transort) matches the performance of Sedgewick's claimed best implementation of Quicksort for random data.     

Methazolamide for essential voice tremor

We studied the safety and efficacy of methazolamide (average dose 168 mg/day) in a placebo-controlled blinded investigation in nine patients with essential voice tremor. There were no significant differences for physician or patient clinical rating scores. Digital audio tape recordings showed no difference for amplitude modulation, but frequency modulation was significantly altered by methazolamide. Side effects were common with the drug. We conclude that methazolamide has limited usefulness in the treatment of essential voice tremor.     

Concerning the Chimera [software quality]

Concrete and useful suggestions about what constitutes quality software have always been elusive. I suggest a framework for the construction and use of practical, testable quality models for requirements, design and implementation. Such information may be used directly to build, compare, and assess better quality software products     

Software Quality—Prevention versus Cure?

In traditional engineering disciplines a preventative approach is used to tackle defects and thereby produce quality products and systems. A recent case study suggests that in software engineering a curative approach to finding defects and producing quality software may be the most practical way to proceed. Here, the argument for a curative approach to software quality is challenged, and suggestions are made on how appropriate component-based quality models, that contain both generic and domain-specific quality knowledge, may be used to support a preventative approach to producing quality software products and systems.     

Climbing over the "No Silver Bullet" Brick Wall

Frederick Brooks' famous article "No Silver Bullet" implied that we can't hope to make significant gains in software development. In other words, software engineering has run into a brick wall. However, using an appropriate representation of software system behavior, such as behavior trees, can help us climb over this wall.     

Intentional changes in sound pressure level and rate: their impact on measures of respiration, phonation, and articulation

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of changing sound pressure level (SPL) and rate on respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory behavior during sentence production. Ten subjects, 5 men and 5 women, repeated the sentence, "I sell a sapapple again," under 5 SPL and 5 rate conditions. From a multi-channel recording, measures were made of lung volume (LV), SPL, fundamental frequency (F0), semitone standard deviation (STSD), and upper and lower lip displacements and peak velocities. Loud speech led to increases in LV initiation, LV termination, F0, STSD, and articulatory displacements and peak velocities for both lips. Token-to-token variability in these articulatory measures generally decreased as SPL increased, whereas rate increases were associated with increased lip movement variability. LV excursion decreased as rate increased. F0 for the men and STSD for both genders increased with rate. Lower lip displacements became smaller for faster speech. The interspeaker differences in velocity change as a function of rate contrasted with the more consistent velocity performance across speakers for changes in SPL. Because SPL and rate change are targeted in therapy for dysarthria, the present data suggest directions for future research with disordered speakers.     

Formalizing the transition from requirements’ change to design change using an evolutionary traceability model

The ideal outcome when responding to changes in the functional requirements of a system is that we can quickly determine (1) where to make the change, (2) how the change affects the architecture of the existing system, (3) which components of the system are affected by the change, and (4) what behavioral changes will need to be made to the components (and their interfaces) that are affected by the change of requirements. If these facts are known, the impact of the change is entirely understood and therefore manageable. Moreover, a system is likely to undergo multiple changes over the course of its service life, so there is also a need to make a comprehensive record of these changes thus preserving the integrity of the system and potentially extending its service life. To this worthy end, a traceability model using Behavior Trees as a formal notation to represent functional requirements is proposed. This will address the issues cited above, revealing change impacts on different types of design constructs (documents) caused by the changes to the requirements. The proposed model introduces the concept of evolutionary design documents that record the change history of the designs. From these documents, any version of a design document as well as the difference between any two versions can be reviewed, thus affording the desirable condition of full traceability. An important advantage of this model is that the major part of the procedure to generate these evolutionary design documents can be supported by automated tools making the method accessible for use in large-scale software and systems development projects.