体积成形有限元模拟软件CASFORM的开发研究

简要介绍了作者自主开发的体积成形有限元模拟软件CASFORM及其关键技术，并给出了大量的实例分析。CASFORM主要由前处理模块，有限元分析模块，后处理模块，有限元网格生成模块和网格再划分及数据传递模块以及材料数据库和模拟数据库等构成，该软件能够分析各种体积成形工艺，包括锻造、挤压、拉拔等。能够预测缺陷的生成，验证和优化工艺/模具设计方案，该软件既能模拟等温成形过程，也可以模拟非等温成形过程，即可进行单工位成形分析，也可进行多工位成形分析。该软件界面友好，使用方便，可靠性和自动化程度高，是模具和工艺设计方案验证和优化的有力工具。     

基于LabVIEW软件的虚拟数字超声探伤仪设计

传统的仪器一般开发周期较长,分析测试的精度低、成本高。虚拟仪器是利用计算机显示器的显示功能来模拟传统仪器的控制面板,以多种形式输出检测结果;利用软件功能实现数字信号的运算、分析和处理;利用输入/输出(I/O)接口设备完成信号的采集、测量与调试,从而完成各种测试功能的一种计算机仪器系统。采用LabVIEW应用软件对数字式超声探伤仪面板和部分功能进行设计与构建,并实现其相关功能。     

线阵电荷耦合器技术在自动测长系统中的应用

介绍用线阵电荷耦合器件(CCD)技术设计的型材在线实时测量系统。采用粗测和精测相结合的方法，解决了较大长度范围内精确测量问题。详细介绍动态在线非接触式测控系统的基本工作原理及软硬件组成。实测结果表明其测量精度高、效果好，能满足快速流水线的现场检测。     

面向对象技术在数控系统中的应用研究

软件技术已成为新一代开放式智能数控系统领域研究的热点，本文结合基于PC的开放式数控粗纱机系统的研制，阐述了面向对象技术在数控系统的体系结构分析及编程中的应用。     

Testing scientific software: A systematic literature review

ContextScientific software plays an important role in critical decision making, for example making weather predictions based on climate models, and computation of evidence for research publications. Recently, scientists have had to retract publications due to errors caused by software faults. Systematic testing can identify such faults in code.ObjectiveThis study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software.MethodWe conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software.ResultsWe found that challenges faced when testing scientific software fall into two main categories: (1) testing challenges that occur due to characteristics of scientific software such as oracle problems and (2) testing challenges that occur due to cultural differences between scientists and the software engineering community such as viewing the code and the model that it implements as inseparable entities. In addition, we identified methods to potentially overcome these challenges and their limitations. Finally we describe unsolved challenges and how software engineering researchers and practitioners can help to overcome them.ConclusionsScientific software presents special challenges for testing. Specifically, cultural differences between scientist developers and software engineers, along with the characteristics of the scientific software make testing more difficult. Existing techniques such as code clone detection can help to improve the testing process. Software engineers should consider special challenges posed by scientific software such as oracle problems when developing testing techniques.     

Global software testing under deadline pressure: Vendor-side experiences

ContextIn the era of globally-distributed software engineering, the practice of global software testing (GST) has witnessed increasing adoption. Although there have been ethnographic studies of the development aspects of global software engineering, there have been fewer studies of GST, which, to succeed, can require dealing with unique challenges.ObjectiveTo address this limitation of existing studies, we conducted, and in this paper, report the findings of, a study of a vendor organization involved in one kind of GST practice: outsourced, offshored software testing.MethodWe conducted an ethnographically-informed study of three vendor-side testing teams over a period of 2 months. We used methods, such as interviews and participant observations, to collect the data and the thematic-analysis approach to analyze the data.FindingsOur findings describe how the participant test engineers perceive software testing and deadline pressures, the challenges that they encounter, and the strategies that they use for coping with the challenges. The findings reveal several interesting insights. First, motivation and appreciation play an important role for our participants in ensuring that high-quality testing is performed. Second, intermediate onshore teams increase the degree of pressure experienced by the participant test engineers. Third, vendor team participants perceive productivity differently from their client teams, which results in unproductive-productivity experiences. Lastly, participants encounter quality-dilemma situations for various reasons.ConclusionThe study findings suggest the need for (1) appreciating test engineers’ efforts, (2) investigating the team structure’s influence on pressure and the GST practice, (3) understanding culture’s influence on other aspects of GST, and (4) identifying and addressing quality-dilemma situations.     

Systematic analyses and comparison of development performance and product quality of Incremental Process and Agile Process

ContextAlthough Agile software development models have been widely used as a base for the software project life-cycle since 1990s, the number of studies that follow a sound empirical method and quantitatively reveal the effect of using these models over Traditional models is scarce.ObjectiveThis article explains the empirical method of and the results from systematic analyses and comparison of development performance and product quality of Incremental Process and Agile Process adapted in two projects of a middle-size, telecommunication software development company. The Incremental Process is an adaption of the Waterfall Model whereas the newly introduced Agile Process is a combination of the Unified Software Development Process, Extreme Programming, and Scrum.MethodThe method followed to perform the analyses and comparison is benefited from the combined use of qualitative and quantitative methods. It utilizes; GQM Approach to set measurement objectives, CMMI as the reference model to map the activities of the software development processes, and a pre-defined assessment approach to verify consistency of process executions and evaluate measure characteristics prior to quantitative analysis.ResultsThe results of the comparison showed that the Agile Process had performed better than the Incremental Process in terms of productivity (79%), defect density (57%), defect resolution effort ratio (26%), Test Execution V&V Effectiveness (21%), and effort prediction capability (4%). These results indicate that development performance and product quality achieved by following the Agile Process was superior to those achieved by following the Incremental Process in the projects compared.ConclusionThe acts of measurement, analysis, and comparison enabled comprehensive review of the two development processes, and resulted in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. The comparison results constituted objective evidence for organization-wide deployment of the Agile Process in the company.     

Past and future of software architectural decisions – A systematic mapping study

ContextThe software architecture of a system is the result of a set of architectural decisions. The topic of architectural decisions in software engineering has received significant attention in recent years. However, no systematic overview exists on the state of research on architectural decisions.ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the state of research on architectural decisions. Such an overview helps researchers reflect on previous research and plan future research. Furthermore, such an overview helps practitioners understand the state of research, and how research results can help practitioners in their architectural decision-making.MethodWe conducted a systematic mapping study, covering studies published between January 2002 and January 2012. We defined six research questions. We queried six reference databases and obtained an initial result set of 28,895 papers. We followed a search and filtering process that resulted in 144 relevant papers.ResultsAfter classifying the 144 relevant papers for each research question, we found that current research focuses on documenting architectural decisions. We found that only several studies describe architectural decisions from the industry. We identified potential future research topics: domain-specific architectural decisions (such as mobile), achieving specific quality attributes (such as reliability or scalability), uncertainty in decision-making, and group architectural decisions. Regarding empirical evaluations of the papers, around half of the papers use systematic empirical evaluation approaches (such as surveys, or case studies). Still, few papers on architectural decisions use experiments.ConclusionOur study confirms the increasing interest in the topic of architectural decisions. This study helps the community reflect on the past ten years of research on architectural decisions. Researchers are offered a number of promising future research directions, while practitioners learn what existing papers offer.     

Performance appraisal of software testers

ContextTo determine the effectiveness of software testers a suitable performance appraisal approach is necessary, both for research and practice purposes. However, review of relevant literature reveals little information of how software testers are appraised in practice.Objective(i) To enhance our knowledge of industry practice of performance appraisal of software testers and (ii) to collect feedback from project managers on a proposed performance appraisal form for software testers.MethodA web-based survey with questionnaire was used to collect responses. Participants were recruited using cluster and snowball sampling. 18 software development project managers participated.ResultsWe found two broad trends in performance appraisal of software testers – same employee appraisal process for all employees and a specialized performance appraisal method for software testers. Detailed opinions were collected and analyzed on how performance of software testers should be appraised. Our proposed appraisal approach was generally well-received.ConclusionFactors such as number of bugs found after delivery and efficiency of executing test cases were considered important in appraising software testers’ performance. Our proposed approach was refined based on the feedback received.