A paris-model approach to modular simulation

The development of complex models can be greatly facilitated by the utilization of libraries of reusable model components. In this paper we describe an object-oriented module specification formalism (MSF) for implementing archivable modules in support of continuous spatial modeling. This declarative formalism provides the high level of abstraction necessary for maximum generality, provides enough detail to allow a dynamic simulation to be generated automatically, and avoids the “hard-coded” implementation of space-time dynamics that makes procedural specifications of limited usefulness for specifying archivable modules. A set of these MSF modules can be hierarchically linked to create a parsimonious model specification, or “parsi-model”. The parsi-model exists within the context of a modeling environment (an integrated set of software tools which provide the computer services necessary for simulation development and execution), which can offer simulation services that are not possible in a loosely-coupled “federated” environment, such as graphical module development and configuration, automatic differentiation of model equations, run-time visualization of the data and dynamics of any variable in the simulation, transparent distributed computing within each module, and fully configurable space-time representations. We believe this approach has great potential for bringing the power of modular model development into the collaborative simulation arena.     

“Graphical” Jogthrough: expert based methodology for user interface evaluation, applied in the case of an educational simulation interface

“Walkthrough” and “Jogthrough” techniques are well known expert based methodologies for the evaluation of user interface design. In this paper we describe the use of “Graphical” Jogthrough method for evaluating the interface design of the Network Simulator, an educational simulation program that enables users to virtually build a computer network, install hardware and software components, make the necessary settings and test the functionality of the network. Graphical Jogthrough is a further modification of a typical Jogthrough method, where evaluators' ratings produce evidence in the form of a graph, presenting estimated proportion of users who effectively use the interface versus the time they had to work with it in order to succeed effectiveness. We comment on the question: “What are the possible benefits and limitations of the Graphical Jogthrough method when applied in the case of educational software interface design?” We present the results of the evaluation session, and concluding from our experience we argue that the method could offer designers quantitative and qualitative data for formulating a useful (though rough in some aspects) estimation about the novice–becoming–expert pace that end users might follow when working with the evaluated interface.     

When success turns into failure: a package-driven business process re-engineering project in the financial services industry

This article discusses a Business Process Re-engineering project that involved the implementation of an enterprise resource planning software package. Although the project was deemed to be a success when the system was first delivered, this initial success soon turned to failure. While the short-term financial results were spectacular, the long-term implications of the changes were more worrying. This paper raises many questions about the meaning of “success.” In particular, it shows how a “successful implementation” can, within a relatively short space of time, turn into failure.     

A Duality in Proof Systems for Recursive Type Equality and for Bisimulation Equivalence on Cyclic Term Graphs

This paper is concerned with a proof-theoretic observation about two kinds of proof systems for regular cyclic objects. It is presented for the case of two formal systems that are complete with respect to the notion of “recursive type equality” on a restricted class of recursive types in μ-term notation. Here we show the existence of an immediate duality with a geometrical visualization between proofs in a variant of the coinductive axiom system due to Brandt and Henglein and “consistency-unfoldings” in a variant of a 'syntactic-matching' proof system for testing equations between recursive types due to Ariola and Klop.Finally we sketch an analogous result of a duality between a similar pair of proof systems for bisimulation equivalence on equational specifications of cyclic term graphs.     

On the Evolution Complexity of Design Patterns

Software co-evolution can be characterised as a way to “adjust” any given software implementation to a change (“shift”) in the software requirements. In this paper, we propose a formal definition of evolution complexity to precisely quantify the cost of adjusting a particular implementation to a change (“shift”) in the requirements. As a validation, we show that this definition formalises intuition about the evolvability of design patterns.     

Identifying some important success factors in adopting agile software development practices

Agile software development (ASD) is an emerging approach in software engineering, initially advocated by a group of 17 software professionals who practice a set of “lightweight” methods, and share a common set of values of software development. In this paper, we advance the state-of-the-art of the research in this area by conducting a survey-based ex-post-facto study for identifying factors from the perspective of the ASD practitioners that will influence the success of projects that adopt ASD practices. In this paper, we describe a hypothetical success factors framework we developed to address our research question, the hypotheses we conjectured, the research methodology, the data analysis techniques we used to validate the hypotheses, and the results we obtained from data analysis. The study was conducted using an unprecedentedly large-scale survey-based methodology, consisting of respondents who practice ASD and who had experience practicing plan-driven software development in the past. The study indicates that nine of the 14 hypothesized factors have statistically significant relationship with “Success”. The important success factors that were found are: customer satisfaction, customer collaboration, customer commitment, decision time, corporate culture, control, personal characteristics, societal culture, and training and learning.     

The information processing explanation of Gestalt phenomena

Gestalt psychology has shown the importance in human thinking and problem solving of the behavior that it labels “intuition,” “insight,” and “understanding.” This paper discusses computer programs, already described in the published literature, that stimulate exactly these kinds of behaviors. It is shown that much of what has been discussed under the heading of “insight” can be explained in terms of recognition processes that are readily simulated. Computer simulation has shown itself a powerful tool for interpreting and explaining a wide range of phenomena associated with the kinds of thinking and understanding that have been so usefully emphasized in the Gestalt literature.     

Rapid response manufacturing through a rapidly reconfigurable robotic workcell

This article describes the development of a component-based technology robot workcell that can be rapidly configured to perform a specific manufacturing task. The workcell is conceived with standard and inter-operable components including actuator modules, rigid link connectors and tools that can be assembled into robots with arbitrary geometry and degrees of freedom. The reconfigurable “plug-and-play” robot kinematic and dynamic modeling algorithms are developed. These algorithms are the basis for the control and simulation of reconfigurable robots. The concept of robot configuration optimization is introduced for the effective use of the rapidly reconfigurable robots. Control and communications of the workcell components are facilitated by a workcell-wide TCP/IP network and device-level CAN-bus networks. An object-oriented simulation and visualization software for the reconfigurable robot is developed based on Windows NT. Prototypes of the robot workcells configured to perform the light-machining task and the positioning task are constructed and demonstrated.     

Generating 3D architectural models based on hand motion and gesture

This paper presents a novel method for rapidly generating 3D architectural models based on hand motion and design gestures captured by a motion capture system. A set of sign language-based gestures, architectural hand signs (AHS), has been developed. AHS is performed on the left hand to define various “components of architecture”, while “location, size and shape” information is defined by the motion of Marker-Pen on the right hand. The hand gestures and motions are recognized by the system and then transferred into 3D curves and surfaces correspondingly. This paper demonstrates the hand gesture-aided architectural modeling method with some case studies.     

21 CFR Part 11: How Does it Affect Laboratory Automation Software Developers?

Just what is “21 CFR Part 11”?Do I need to consider it when designing lab automation software? Sure, I store data electronically, but my “official” copy is a signed hardcopy stored in my documentation control system, so Part 11 doesn't apply to me, right?These and similar questions are being asked with increasing frequency during the development process for both off-the-shelf and custom lab automation software. This article presents a brief overview of the FDA regulation concerning the use of electronic records and electronic signatures and a guide for software analysts and developers.     

Groupware in Practice: Expected and Realized Benefits

This article examines the usage of groupware at 22 consulting firms and attempts to answer the questions: “What groupware functions are used by consultancies?” “What benefits were expected and to what degree were these benefits realized?” and “What factors accounted for any realization gaps?”     

A sketch-based approach to human body modelling

In this paper, we present a new approach and a novel interface, Virtual Human Sketcher (VHS), which enables those who can draw, to sketch-out various human body models. Our approach supports freehand drawing input and a “Stick Figure→Fleshing-out→Skin Mapping” modelling pipeline. Following this pipeline, a stick figure is drawn first to illustrate a figure pose, which is automatically reconstructed into 3D through a “Multi-layered Back-Front Ambiguity Clarifier”. It is then fleshed-out with freehand body contours. A “Creative Model-based Method” is developed for interpreting the body size, shape, and fat distribution of the sketched figure and transferring it into a 3D human body through graphical comparisons and generic model morphing. The generic model is encapsulated with three distinct layers: skeleton, fat tissue, and skin. It can be transformed sequentially through rigid morphing, fatness morphing, and surface matching to match the 2D figure sketch. The initial resulting 3D body model can be incrementally modified through sketching directly on the 3D model. In addition, this body surface can be mapped onto a series of posed stick figures to be interpolated as a 3D character animation. VHS has been tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create plausible human bodies and animate them within minutes.     

Robot planning system

The paper discusses the development of a computer-aided robot planning system. The proposed methodical procedure is based on the steps of “Manufacturing Systems Analysis, Determination of Basic Data, Documentation of Information, System Layout Planning and Evaluation, Decision on Economic Feasibility, Final Detailing of the Planned System and Planning of the Systems Installation”, which are described in detail. Further software modules, corresponding to the phases in the planning procedure, as well as the data flow requirements, are presented.     

A software authentication system for information integrity

This paper describes a software authentication technique based on the public key cryptography for information integrity. The software provider can use a secret key to sign any released program and the user can verify the integrity of programs obtained from vendors or a “trusted information database”. The software provider needs to go through a registration process to become “licensed” and obtains certificates from multiple certificate centers before being able to sign any released program. Users need only one public key to verify the integrity of the programs.     

Integrated planning information systems: Context, design requirements, and prospects

This research contributes to the theoretical basis for appropriate design of computer-based, integrated planning information systems. The research provides a framework for integrating relevant knowledge, theory, methods, and technology. Criteria for appropriate system design are clarified. The requirements for a conceptual system design are developed based on “diffusion of innovation” theory, lessons learned in the adoption and use of existing planning information systems, current information-processing technology (including expert system technology), and methodology for evaluation of mitigation strategies for disaster events. Research findings focus on the assessment of new information systems technology. Chief among these findings is the utility of case-based reasoning for discovering and formalizing the meta rules needed by expert systems, the role of the “diffusion of innovation” theory in establishing design criteria, and the definition of client interests served by integrated planning information systems. The work concludes with the selection of a prototyping exercise. The prototype is developed in a forthcoming technical paper (Masri & Moore, 1994).     

A type theory which is complete for Kreisel's modified realizability

We define a type theory with a strong elimination rule for existential quantification. As in Martin-Löf's type theory, the “axiom of choice” is thus derivable. Proofs are also annotated by realizers which are simply typed λ-terms. A new rule called “type extraction” which extracts the type of a realizer allows us to derive the so-called “independance of premisses” schema. Consequently, any formula which is realizable in HA^ω, according to Kreisel's modified realizability, is derivable in this type theory.     

‘Because it’s boring, irrelevant and I don’t like computers’: Why high school girls avoid professionally-oriented ICT subjects

The current paper details results from the Girls and ICT survey phase of a three year study investigating factors associated with low participation rates by females in education pathways leading to professional level information and communications technology (ICT) professions. The study is funded through the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage Grants Scheme. It involves a research partnership between Education Queensland (EQ), industry partner Technology One and academic researchers at (affiliation removed for review purposes). Respondents to the survey were 1453 senior high school girls. Comparisons were drawn between Takers (n = 131) and Non Takers (n = 1322) of advanced level computing subjects. Significant differences between the groups were found on four questions: “The subjects are interesting”; “I am very interested in computers”; “The subject will be helpful to me in my chosen career path after school”; and “It suited my timetable”. The research has demonstrated that senior high school girls tend to perceive advanced computing subjects as boring and they express a strong aversion to computers.     

Averaging with disturbances and closeness of solutions

We establish that, under appropriate conditions, the solutions of a time-varying system with disturbances converge uniformly on compact time intervals to the solutions of the system's average as the rate of change of time increases to infinity. The notions of “average” used for systems with disturbances are the “strong” and “weak” averages introduced in Ne i and Teel (D. Ne i , A.R. Teel, Input-to-state stability for time-varying nonlinear systems via averaging, 1999, submitted for publication. See also: On averaging and the ISS property, Proceedings of the 38th Conference on Decision and Control, Phoenix, AZ, December 1999, pp. 3346–3351.)     

Anxiety management training as a strategy for enhancing computer user performance

This study assessed the effects of self-managed relaxation and cognitive coping skills training on the anxiety and performance of 80 apprehensive computer trainees. The influence of a computer's user friendliness upon these measures was also examined. The college student subjects were taught to use spreadsheet software and were then assigned an independent computer task to complete. Experimental sessions included a control condition as well as manipulations in which subjects were trained to use relaxation coping skills, cognitive coping skills, or a combination of the two skills. Half of the subjects worked with “friendly” and half with “less-friendly” software. Training in 3elaxation or cognitive coping skills reduced error rates and task times, but not computer anxiety. Combined relaxation and cognitive coping skills training had similar effects, as did the use of friendly software. The findings indicate that teaching anxiety management skills may be most appropriate when software is relatively difficult to use.     

CAD — State of the art and a tentative forecast

The most important contemporary phenomenon in the mechanical engineering applications of CAD is the very rapid proliferation of systems, even in small and medium companies, driven by market imperatives and attracted by vastly improved cost/performance indices. The systems have expanded “upwards” from drafting to the modelling and analysis areas and “downstream” to process planning and documentation.Outstanding trends for the future are the use of knowledge-engineering techniques for problem solving, of novel database structures for intergrating data-growth over the product cycle, and of distributed architectures for building cooperative systems.