1207779
Experience in Teaching a Management-Oriented Capstone Software Engineering Course
Many computer science departments teach a capstone software engineering course involving the design and implementation of a large-scale project. Such a course is normally taught with students working together in teams; consequently, students must face a number of problems related to project management and team dynamics. Our experience has been that students frequently fail to adequately cope with these organizational problems, and consequently fail to complete their projects at an acceptable level of quality. To prepare students to better face these problems, we have modified our capstone software engineering course to provide equal emphasis in both management and technical areas. Our approach to management topics is formal rather than anecdotal, stressing general principles applied to organizational problems arising specifically from situations that occur frequently in technical organizations. This paper reports on the structure of this course, and provides insight into our initial experience in teaching it.
317687
A Cost Model for Determining the Optimal Number of Software Test Cases
A probabilistic model is presented that demonstrates the optimal number of software test cases required in situations where the following can be estimated as independent parameters: (1) the cost per test; (2) the cost per error if undetected until field implementation; (3) the number of software executions over its lifetime; (4) the number of possible different executions; and (5) the number of faults embedded in the software. A formula is derived by the use of calculus and is solved by approximation techniques. Tables of the optimal number of tests over a range of parameter values are presented to illustrate the results. The model serves as a basis for further research efforts to improve the accuracy of input variable estimation. >
6315058
Knowledge and Control for a Mechanical Design Expert System
A new variety of Oriental hybrid lily plant bearing large upright-facing flowers particularly characterized by their clear pink coloration with deeper midribs, their large size and substance, and their upright to semi-upright orientation, the flowers being of excellent form and long persistence both on the plant and as cut flowers. This combination is completely new in the Oriental hybrid divisions of lilies suited to forcing and to mass commercial cultivation. The plant is an excellent garden plant, highly resistant to disease and shows tolerance of virus; the bulbs may be precooled and forced for cut flower production and the clone is vigorous, a good grower and a good propagator.
44788901
Parallel genetic algorithms with local search
This paper presents methods of applying local search to global optimization problems. The most common approach, multistart, selects the best solution from restarts of local search from random starting points. Partitional methods augment local search with general principles concerning the location of global optima in real space, significantly improving the effectiveness of local search in function optimization problems. Standard partitional methods, however, are not directly applicable to combinatorial optimization problems. We describe a genetic algorithm, GALO, that is similar to the partitional methods, but can be applied to combinatorial problems. Empirical results are presented for a parallel implementation of GALO that show it to be effective for the quadratic assignment problem.
8925359
Using Design History Systems for Technology Transfer
This paper presents the concept of a Design History System (DHS), and describes a protoype DHS called the Process Technology Transfer Tool (PTTT) which was designed to aid in transferring process design information between Advanced Development and Manufacturing.
2947153
Dimensions of machine learning in design
Many of the design systems developed in recent years incorporate some machine learning. The number of such systems already available, and the multitude of design learning opportunities that are slowly being revealed, suggest that the time is ripe to attempt to put these developments into a systematic framework. Consequently, in this paper we present a set of dimensions for machine learning in design research. We hope that it can be used as a guide for comparing existing work, and that it may suggest new directions for future exploration in this area.
15121856
Agent-based and analytical modeling to evaluate the effectiveness of greenbelts
We present several models of residential development at the rural–urban fringe to evaluate the effectiveness of a greenbelt located beside a developed area, for delaying development outside the greenbelt. First, we develop a mathematical model, under two assumptions about the distributions of service centers, that represents the trade-off between greenbelt placement and width, their effects on the rate of development beyond the greenbelt, and how these interact with spatial patterns of aesthetic quality and the locations of services. Next, we present three agent-based models (ABMs) that include agents with the potential for heterogeneous preferences and a landscape with the potential for heterogeneous attributes. Results from experiments run with a one-dimensional ABM agree with the starkest of the results from the mathematical model, strengthening the support for both models. Further, we present two different two-dimensional ABMs and conduct a series of experiments to supplement our mathematical analysis. These include examining the effects of heterogeneous agent preferences, multiple landscape patterns, incomplete or imperfect information available to agents, and a positive aesthetic quality impact of the greenbelt on neighboring locations. These results suggest how width and location of the greenbelt could help determine the effectiveness of greenbelts for slowing sprawl, but that these relationships are sensitive to the patterns of landscape aesthetic quality and assumptions about service center locations. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.