14879615
Qualitative simulation model for software engineering process
Software process simulation models hold out the promise of improving project planning and control. However, quantitative models require a very detailed understanding of the software process. In particular, process knowledge needs to be represented quantitatively which requires extensive, reliable software project data. When such data is lacking, quantitative models must impose severe constraints, restricting the value of the models. In contrast qualitative models are able to cope with imprecise knowledge by reasoning at a more abstract level. This paper illustrates the value and flexibility of qualitative models by developing a model of the software staffing process and comparing it with other quantitative staffing models. We show that the qualitative model provides more insights into the staffing process than the quantitative models because it requires fewer constraints and can thus simulate more behaviors. In particular, the qualitative model produces three possible outcomes: adding staff can increases project duration (i.e. Brooks' Law), adding staff may not affect duration, or adding staff may decrease duration. The qualitative model allows us to determine the conditions under which the different outcomes can occur
7692801
Semi-quantitative Simulation Modeling of Software Engineering Process
Software process simulation models hold out the promise of improving project planning and control. However, purely quantitative models require a very detailed understanding of the software process, i.e. process knowledge represented quantitatively. When such data is lacking, quantitative models impose severe constraints, restricting the model's value. In contrast, qualitative models display all possible behaviors but only in qualitative terms. This paper illustrates the value and flexibility of semi-quantitative modeling by developing a model of the software staffing process and comparing it with other quantitative staffing models. We show that the semi-quantitative model provides more insights into the staffing process and more confidence in the outcomes than the quantitative models by achieving a tradeoff between quantitative and qualitative simulation. In particular, the semi-quantitative simulation produces a set of possible outcomes with the ranges of real numeric values. The semi-quantitative model allows us to determine the solution boundaries for specific scenarios under the conditions of limited knowledge.
43897550
Forming and searching content-based hierarchical agent clusters in distributed information retrieval systems
The organization and collaborative protocols of agent societies are becoming increasingly important with the growing size of agent networks. Particularly, in a multi-agent-based content-sharing system, a flat, peer-to-peer P2P agent organization is not the most efficient organization for locating relevant agents for queries. This paper not only develops and analyzes a hierarchical agent group formation protocol to build a hybrid organization for large-scale content sharing systems, but proposes a context-aware distributed search algorithm to take advantage of such an organization as well. During the organization formation process, the agents manage their agent-view structures to form a hierarchical topology in an incremental fashion. The algorithm aims to place those agents with similar content in the same group. We evaluate the system performance based on TREC VLC 921 datasets. The results of the experiment demonstrate a significant increase in the cumulative recall ratio CRR measure compared to the flat agent organization and structure.
20777551
A Method of Network Simplification in a 4PL System
In fourth party logistics (4PL), network optimization needs to synthesize the entire possible 3PL vendors to provide integrated logistics schemes, which can meet all the requirements of customers. Since there are knapsack constraints and un-knapsack constraints, the computational burden is considered to be a problem and a modest computation is required. In this paper, a 4PL optimization network-model is established and a two-process method is suggested for simplifying the corresponding 4PL network. An example is provided and some analysis is given after the calculation.
21780190
A general numerical procedure for multilayer multistep IC process simulation
A new numerical procedure is presented for the simulation of multistep processes in IC fabrication of nonplanar multilayered structures. The numerical scheme utilizes a multizone adaptive grid generation (MAGG) technique for the discretization of the physical domains of arbitrary shape that may involve free or moving boundaries. The process model equations are discretized in the physical space using a curvilinear finite-volume formulation. The numerical scheme is validated by simulating silicon oxidation process (with the inclusion of stress effects) on a 50/spl deg/ trench and comparing the results with the published SEM photographic data. Capabilities of the methodology, including geometric flexibility, efficiency in grid distribution, accuracy in treating the moving boundaries, and facility for modification of the physical model are discussed. These characteristics are demonstrated by simulating simultaneous silicon oxidation and impurity diffusion in trench structures with corner angles equal to, and greater than, 90/spl deg/. >
11721850
Estimating LOC for information systems from their conceptual data models
Effort and cost estimation is crucial in software management. Estimation of software size plays a key role in the estimation. Line of Code (LOC) is still a commonly used software size measure. Despite the fact that software sizing is well recognized as an important problem for more than two decades, there is still much problem in existing methods. Conceptual data model is widely used in the requirements analysis for information systems. It is also not difficult to construct conceptual data models in the early stage of developing information systems. Much characteristic of an information system is actually reflected from its conceptual data model. We explore into the use of conceptual data model for estimating LOC. This paper proposes a novel method for estimating LOC for an information system from its conceptual data model through the use of multiple linear regression model. We have validated the method through collecting samples from both the industry and open-source systems.
7400694
A Parallel BDI Agent Architecture