EPPOD: A Problem Solving Environment for Parallel Electronic Prototyping of Physical Object Design

One of the grand challenges for computer applications is the creation of a system that will provide accurate computer simulations of physical objects coupled with powerful design optimization tools to allow optimum prototyping and the final design of a broad range of physical objects. We refer to such a software environment aselectronic prototyping for physical object design (EPPOD). The research challenges in building such systems are in softwareintegration, in utilizingmassive parallelismto satisfy their large computational requirements, in incorporatingknowledgeinto the entire electronic prototyping process, in creatingintelligentuser interfaces for such systems, and in advancing thealgorithmic infrastructureneeded to support the desired functionality. In this paper we address issues related to the parallel processing of the computationally intensive components of the EPPOD problem solving environment on message passing parallel machines and present its software architecture. The parallel methodology adopted to map the underlying computations to parallel machines is based on the optimal decomposition of continuous and discrete geometric data associated with the physical object. One of the main goals of this methodology is thereuseof existing software parts while implementing various components of the EPPOD system on parallel computational environments. Finally, some performance data of the parallel algorithmic infrastructured developed are listed and discussed.     

Reusability of mathematical software: a contribution

Mathematical software is devoted to solving problems involving matrix computation and manipulation. The main problem limiting the reusability of existing mathematical software is that programs are often not initially designed for being reused. Therefore, it is hard to find programs that can be easily reused. A programming methodology useful for designing and implementing reusable code is presented. A portion of code designed and implemented for being reused is called a unit. The units are self-contained software components featuring a high degree of information hiding. This way of organizing software facilitates the reuse process and improves the understandability of units. To speed up the implementation process, a system supporting the reusability of units from an existing software library is particularly useful. The functionality of the EasyCard system, which creates, maintains, and queries a catalog of units is discussed     

Multi-criteria decision making for assembly line balancing

Assembly line balancing often has significant impact on performance of manufacturing systems, and is usually a multiple-objective problem. Neither an algorithmic nor a procedural assembly line balancing methodology is usually effective in solving these problems. This article proposes a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to solve an assembly line balancing problem. A computer-aided assembly line balancing tool as Flexible Line Balancing software is used to generate a considerable number of solutions alternatives as well as to generate quantitative decision-making unit outputs. The quantitative performance measures were considered in this article. Then DEA was used to solve the multiple-objective assembly line balancing problem. An illustrative example shows the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

Towards a modular methodology for designing software in telecommunication network planning

In the field of telecommunication networks considered as basic infrastructure of distributed system architectures, the size and complexity of the software environments to be developed impose the decomposition of problems to be solved into subproblems, up to reaching the most easily controllable units. Nevertheless, provided that both from theoretical and practical standpoints the criteria of decomposition used in software engineering differ from one design method to another, the problem of selecting the “best” method takes on strategic importance. However, the intrinsic nature of problems arising in planning as well as in operating telecommunication networks is such that there does not exist one solving/development methodology which is absolutely better, but rather some methods are more or less suited to different solving contexts. Such an observation naturally leads to the prohibition in this field of the use of any rigid and exclusive development approach, in order to take advantage of the most adaptable and open methodology, based on an integration of approaches and described as modular. This paper exposes the basic principle of this modular methodology, and presents a case study in the specific context of topological design of distributed computer networks. As a result, some research issues and challenges related to software development in telecommunication network planning are pointed out, challenges which concern the entire domain of software engineering.     

面向Deep Web数据自动抽取的模板生成方法*

Deep Web结果页面大多由网站根据请求从后台数据库读取数据并动态填充到通用模板而生成的。研究如何从一系列同模板生成的页面中生成该模板,并利用模板自动抽取数据。给出了模板生成问题的形式化描述,提出了一种新颖的模板生成方法,利用生成的模板从实例网页中抽取数据。与现有方法相比,该方法适用于列表页面和详细页面两种类型网页。通过在多个领域站点上实验,说明新方法在不降低准确率的情况下能大大提高召回率。     

基于软件安全混合加密技术的研究

以几种著名的数据加密算法及软件加密技术作为研究内容,利用数据加密技术DES和RSA算法、机器硬件指纹、钥匙盘等技术对软件进行混合加密技术的实现,数据加密技术混合应用在软件保护加密技术上,更加加强了软件安全性及保密强度,解决了目前软件加密安全性不高的难题,对于重要数据加密技术研究与防软件盗版既有理论研究价值又有实际应用意义。为各种商品软件加密提供了一套安全、简便、廉价的加密软件。     

Decentralised Formation Control and Stability Analysis for Multi-vehicle Cooperative Manoeuvre

Multi-vehicle cooperative formation control problem is an important and typical topic of research on multi-agent system. This paper presents a formation stability conjecture to conceive a new methodology for solving the decentralised multivehicle formation control problem. It employs the "extensiondecomposition-aggregation" scheme to transform the complex multi-agent control problem into a group of sub-problems which is able to be solved conveniently. Based on this methodology, it is proved that if all the individual augmented subsystems can be stabilised by using any approach, the overall formation system is not only asymptotically but also exponentially stable in the sense of Lyapunov within a neighbourhood of the desired formation. Simulation study on 6-DOF aerial vehicles (Aerosonde UAVs) has been performed to verify the achieved formation stability result. The proposed multi-vehicle formation control strategy can be conveniently extended to other cooperative control problems of multi-agent systems.      

Coding-error based defects in enterprise resource planning software: Prevention,discovery, elimination and mitigation

Software defects due to coding errors continue to plague the industry with disastrous impact, especially in the enterprise application software category. Identifying how much of these defects are specifically due to coding errors is a challenging problem. In this paper, we investigate the best methods for preventing new coding defects in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, and discovering and fixing existing coding defects. A large-scale survey-based ex-post-facto study coupled with experiments involving static code analysis tools on both sample code and real-life million lines of code open-source ERP software were conducted for such purpose. The survey-based methodology consisted of respondents who had experience developing ERP software. This research sought to determine if software defects could be merely mitigated or totally eliminated, and what supporting policies, procedures and infrastructure were needed to remedy the problem. In this paper, we introduce a hypothetical framework developed to address our research questions, the hypotheses we have conjectured, the research methodology we have used, and the data analysis methods used to validate the stated hypotheses. Our study revealed that: (a) the best way for ERP developers to discover coding-error based defects in existing programs is to choose an appropriate programming language; perform a combination of manual and automated code auditing, static code analysis, and formal test case design, execution and analysis, (b) the most effective ways to mitigate defects in an ERP system is to track the defect densities in the ERP software, fix the defects found, perform regression testing, and update the resulting defect density statistics, and (c) the impact of epistemological and legal commitments on the defect densities of ERP systems is inconclusive.We feel that our proposed model has the potential to vastly improve the quality of ERP and other similar software by reducing the coding-error defects, and recommend that future research aimed at testing the model in actual production environments.     

面向agent的软件开发方法

1.引言随着Internet和Intranet技术的迅猛发展、计算机应用的不断扩大和深入,当前软件系统广泛呈现出分布、自适应、动态可扩展、开放、异构、可成长等复杂性特征,如Internet环境下的信息服务系统、空中交通管制系统等。支持该系统建设的基础软件面临系统的动态可扩展性、自适应性、复杂交互合作、自我成长等一系列新的关键问题的挑战,其软件体系结构和开发方法,较传统软件都将发生深刻变化,从而对软件开发方法、技术、过程和工具等提出了新的要求。     

Teaching problem solving and structured programming in FORTRAN

This paper describes an approach to teaching problem solving in an introductory programming course using the FORTRAN language. The course is oriented around a set of problems which are used to illustrate a problem solving methodology. Three pedagogic aids (data table, flow diagram, and program system chart) and two control structure extensions to the FORTRAN language are used in order to provide a more convenient framework in which students can practice good problem solving and programming techniques. The control structure extensions facilitate structured programming in FORTRAN. The use of the control structures and the pedagogic aids is illustrated in the solution of a simple statistics problem: the benefits derived from using these aids are also discussed.     

Integrated design of a linear/neuro-adaptive controller in the presence of norm-bounded uncertainties

Adaptive neural controllers are often criticised for the lack of clear and easy design methodologies that relate adaptive neural network (NN) design parameters to performance requirements. This study proposes a methodology for the design of an integrated linear-adaptive model reference controller that guarantees component-wise boundedness of the tracking error within an a priori specified compact domain. The approach is based on the design of a robust invariant ellipsoidal set where both the NN reconstruction error and the neuro-adaptive control are considered as bounded persistent uncertainties. We show that all the performance and control requirements for the closed-loop system can be expressed as linear matrix inequality constraints. This brings the advantage that feasibility and optimal design parameters can be effectively computed while solving a linear optimisation problem. An advantage of the method is that it allows a systematic and quantitative evaluation of the interplay between the design parameters and their impact on the requirements. This produces an integrated linear/neuro-adaptive performance-oriented design methodology. A numerical example is used to illustrate the approach.     

Modular Supervisory Control with Equivalence-Based Abstraction and Covering-Based Conflict Resolution

A modular approach to control is one way to reduce the complexity of supervisory controller design for discrete-event systems (DES). A problem, however, is that modular supervisors can conflict with one another. This paper proposes requirements on coordinating filters that will resolve this conflict. Abstractions are employed to reduce the complexity of the filter construction. Our specific approach is unique in that it employs a conflict-equivalent abstraction that offers the potential for greater reduction in model size than those abstractions employed in previous works on conflict resolution. The resulting control implemented by the modular supervisors in conjunction with coordinating filters meeting the proposed requirements is shown to be safe and nonblocking. Approaches for constructing these filters are discussed and a methodology that implements deterministic coordinating filter control laws by nondeterministic automata is presented. The covering-based filter law construction methodology presented here is further demonstrated to provide less restrictive control than existing results on state-feedback supervisory control.     

指派问题的EXCEL求解模板

指派问题是管理运筹学的重要组成部分,手工求解的计算步骤繁琐复杂。Excel求解模板通过设置冗量,将一般指派问题中不等式约束,调整为标准型指派问题模型,达到了计算机模板计算的要求,同时又解决了不同指派问题需要用不同公式求解的矛盾,实现了在计算机上用通用求解模板求解指派问题的目的,为指派问题的即时求解提供了条件。     

Identifying candidates for design-by-analogy

Although supported by extensive anecdotal evidence, only recently design-by-analogy has been proven to occur often in problem solving and idea generation. However, the circumstances which facilitate problem solving and creative idea generation by analogy are not well understood and most analogies are not developed by applying a formal design-by-analogy methodology. Furthermore, most software tools which aid in finding and/or explaining analogies are based on manually assembled databases, which require a large amount of interactive work to be constructed and maintained. This paper examines the use of automatically distilled product characteristics, called Product Aspects, as a way to automatically and systematically identify candidate products for design-by-analogy. Case studies illustrate this idea generation methodology for three different target products.     

Experimental Goal Regression: A Method for Learning Problem-Solving Heuristics

This research examines the process of learning problem solving with minimal requirements for a priori knowledge and teacher involvement. Experience indicates that knowledge about the problem solving task can be used to improve problem solving performance. This research addresses the issues of what knowledge is useful, how it is applied during problem solving, and how it can be acquired. For each operator used in the problem solving domain, knowledge is incrementally learned concerning why it is useful, when it is applicable, and what transformation it performs. The method of experimental goal regression is introduced for improving the learning rate by approximating the results of analytic learning. The ideas are formalized in an algorithm for learning and problem solving and demonstrated with examples from the domains of simultaneous linear equations and symbolic integration.     

Near-optimal control of nonlinear dynamical systems: A brief survey

For nonlinear dynamical systems, an optimal control problem generally requires solving a partial differential equation called the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation, the analytical solution of which generally cannot be obtained. However, the demand for optimal control keeps increasing, with the goal to save energy, reduce transient time, minimize error accumulation, etc. Consequently, methods were reported to approximately solve the problem leading to the so-called near-optimal control, although their technical details differ. This research direction has experienced great progress in recent years but a timely review of it is still missing. This paper serves as a brief survey for existing methods in this research direction.     

The role of prior experience and task characteristics in object-oriented modeling: an empirical study

The object-oriented methodology for systems analysis and design has generated considerable interest recently. Object-orientation represents a fundamental shift in focus from the traditional process-oriented approaches that have dominated software development for over two decades. Although there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that systems analysts experienced in process-oriented modeling approaches will find it difficult to apply objective-oriented methodologies, there is no empirical work investigating the relationship between a procedural mindset and an ability to learn and apply object-oriented concepts. Prior research in human problem solving, however, suggests that the efficacy of a systems analysis and design methodology should be judged in the context of the task to which it is applied. To explore the effects of prior experience and task characteristics on performance in systems analysis and design, we conducted an experiment in which two groups of subjects applied the object-oriented methodology to two types of tasks, one process-oriented and the other object-oriented. One group had significant prior experience in process-oriented methodologies, while the other group had no formal experience. Both groups were provided identical training in object-oriented analysis and design prior to the experiment. The results of the study suggest that both prior experience and task characteristics play a role in determining performance. The implications that follow for research and practice are discussed.     

Enhancing the learning experience of undergraduate technology students with LabVIEW™ software

Many universities and colleges, throughout the world, that deliver undergraduate programmes in science and engineering are currently incorporating virtual instruments as teaching, measurement and analysis tools for student learning. The aim of this study is to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate engineering students and stimulate their research interests by incorporating hands-on, hardware linked programming. The framework for the current research consisted of, initially, observing and recording the interest students showed in a graphical-based computer language for programming control and data acquisitions. Secondly, in the software laboratory sessions, the students were introduced to the concept of research activity and the use of computer software in such activity. LabVIEW™, an easy-to-use, interactive, graphical programming language that can be used to build virtual instruments was used in the current study. This software allows creation of sophisticated programs and applications in a shorter amount of time without needing an in-depth knowledge of computers or indeed programming languages. The methodology consisted of an introductory learning period for the LabVIEW™ programming language, followed by hands-on programming with a specific set of laboratory exercises aimed at solving typical industrial automation type problems. Finally the results of a detailed student questionnaire and created programs were analysed to establish the learning experiences. It was established that student experiences in designing and developing LabVIEW™ programs with associated hardware has hugely stimulated their interest and enthusiasm in the subject of industrial automation. Students acquired knowledge by direct experience, explored phenomena, visualized expected outcomes and experimented with possible solutions. Critically, the LabVIEW programming laboratory sessions undertaken during the course of this research has stimulate students interest in pursing further research at post-graduate level.