Software Engineering Commons^™

M&S Body Of Knowledge: Progress Report And Look Ahead, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Using Modeling And Simulation-Based Methods In Support Of Project Management In A U.S. Department Of Defense Enterprise Architecture Framework Environment, Jose Leprout Bricio-Neto

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The Enterprise Architecture, Analysis and Project Management (EA2PM) framework developed and proposed in this study enables better evaluation of the ability for enterprise architects, project managers and analysts to share system data using their own domain-specific software tools with a focus on the capability to automatically generate a discrete-event simulation model. EA2PM framework is based on applying a Knowledge Management (KM) construct to establish data and information boundaries, and developing a methodology that allows for high levels of traceability from system architecture's environmental factors through assessment of data and information mediation across domains within a KM system.

An application of …

A Two-Population Insurgency In Colombia: Quasi-Predator-Prey Models - A Trend Towards Simplicity, John A. Adam, John A. Sokolowski, Catherine M. Banks

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

A sequence of analytic mathematical models has been developed in the context of the "low-level insurgency" in Colombia, from 1993 to the present. They are based on generalizations of the two-population "predator-prey" model commonly applied in ecological modeling, and interestingly, the less sophisticated models yield more insight into the problem than the more complicated ones, but the formalism is available to adapt the model "upwards" in the event that more data becomes available, or as the situation increases in complexity. Specifically, so-called "forcing terms" were included initially in the coupled differential equations to represent the effects of government policies towards …

A Structured Systemic Framework For Software Development, Kevin Macgregor Adams

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop and apply a systems-based framework for the analysis of software development project performance. Software development project performance is measured at the project level; that is, cost, schedule, and product quality that affect the overall project. To date, most performance improvement efforts have been focused on individual processes within the overall software development system. Making improvements to sub-elements, processes, or sub-systems without regard for the overall project is a classic misbehavior entered into by practitioners who fail to use a holistic, systemic approach. Attempts to improve sub-system behavior are at odds with The …

An Exploratory Study Of Iso 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems Using The Iso/Iec 15504 Architecture, Paul Richard Shimp

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory study on the implementation and issues regarding Quality Management Systems as defined by ISO 9001 :2000 using the architecture of ISO/IEC 15504. The recently published ISO/IEC 15504 series of standards provides a framework to assess processes and determine levels of capability. With the use of this framework, the study will focus on the assessment and identification of problem areas requiring focus for continual improvement within an ISO 9001 :2000 quality management system.

The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 1 provides a background discussion of ISO 9001 :2000. …

Ontological Implications Of The Levels Of Conceptual Interoperability Model, Andreas Tolk, Charles D. Turnitsa, Saikou Y. Diallo

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

The Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model (LCIM) was developed to cope with the different layers of interoperation of modeling & simulation applications. It introduced technical, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, dynamic, and conceptual layers of interoperation and showed how they are related to the ideas of integratability, interoperability, and composability. This paper will be presented in the invited session "Ontology Driven Interoperability for Agile Applications using Information Systems: Requirements and Applications for Agent Mediated Decision Support" at WMSCI 2006.

Applying A Simulation-Based Real-Time Decision Making Method To Mass Casualty Scenarios In Hospital Emergency Departments, Fatemah Al-Douli

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The high possibility of having a mass casualty incident compels hospitals to plan ahead in order to sufficiently provide the healthcare needed to as many casualty victims as possible. The Emergency Rooms (ER) are usually hospitals' main entrance for many casualties. Therefore, the ER in the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD) was selected as the system to be examined. The ER in CHKD, the only specialized pediatric ER in the region, already struggles to handle very high patient arrival rates. Consequently, it is expected that treating a large number of patients surviving within a very short period of …

Creating Software [Sic] Environments On An M-Node Beowulf Cluster To Execute Discrete-Event Simulations, Jermaine Fitz-Gerald Headley

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis describes the development of a software tool that facilitates the creation of software environments that make a simulation tool execute k replications of an application program on several nodes of an M-node Beowulf cluster. It is assumed that each cluster-node consists of p processors. The p processors that are contained in the master cluster-node are termed master processors, and the p processors that are contained in a slave cluster-node are termed slave processors. The slave processors are used to execute the replications, while the master processors are dedicated to schedule the replications and process other housekeeping chores. For …

Software Development Project Risk Management: A Literature Review, Kevin Macg. Adams, C. Ariel Pinto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The rapid and unprecedented growth in software has brought with it some of the most spectacular and costly project failures in modern history. How risk management is presented in the scholarly journals may give insight into the risk management methods and techniques in use on software development projects. This paper provides a glimpse into the risk management methods, methodologies and techniques available to those who are responsible for software development projects by conducting a non-experimental content analysis. The findings reveal that risk management has not received sufficient attention and does not appear to be widely accepted within the software engineering …

Generic Performance Evaluation Tool Implementation For An Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer, James M. Mengert

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Evaluation software for analyzing general analytical model applications utilizing MATLAB is presented in this thesis. The focus is to provide an interactive environment for the evaluation of model applications relating to an Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The Generic Performance Evaluation Tool (GPET) was developed by researchers at Old Dominion University and NASA-Langley Research Center and was a NASA-Langley Research Center sponsored project. GPET is capable of producing a multitude of object-oriented input data for any number of individual model applications. The tool is also capable of creating user-defined input interfaces for the purpose of viewing and/or editing input object data, …

Using Web Services To Integrate Heterogeneous Simulations In A Grid Environment, J. Mark Pullen, Ryan Brunton, Don Brutzman, David Drake, Michael Hieb, Katherine L. Morse, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

The distributed information technologies collectively known as Web services recently have demonstrated powerful capabilities for scalable interoperation of heterogeneous software across a wide variety of networked platforms. This approach supports a rapid integration cycle and shows promise for ultimately supporting automatic composability of services using discovery via registries. This paper presents a rationale for extending Web services to distributed simulation environments, including the High Level Architecture (HLA), together with a description and examples of the integration methodology used to develop significant prototype implementations. A logical next step is combining the power of Grid computing with Web services to facilitate rapid …

A Longitudinal Metric Study Of Postgresql Software Archeology In Open Source, Terry Franklin Byrum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Open source software development is credited as the basic fuel powering much of the Internet, especially the Web. While many organizations rely heavily on open source, few studies have focused on the dynamics of development methodology. This document contains the results of a longitudinal metric study of the open source database PostgreSQL representing an 8 year period of community development. This study is software archeology, excavating bits of an Internet community, a cultural group, for understanding. Longitudinally, McCabe's cyclomatic complexity and Halstead's software science change tempo in accordance with PostgreSQL's maturity, though meritocracy practices of open source might suggest greater …

Common Data Administration, Data Management, And Data Alignment As A Necessary Requirement For Coupling C4isr Systems And M&S Systems, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Within the application domain of military simulation systems, training and exercises as well as support to real operations require the coupling of the simulation system delivering the needed functionality with the Command, Control, Computing, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system providing the necessary data. The solution to this challenge is to build appropriate interfaces. Although in long term a more integrated approach will be necessary, in short and mid term, gateways and interfaces are likely to remain the standard. However, in order to succeed with the respective efforts, at least on the data level of interoperability, a common solution …

Jsb Composability And Web Services Interoperability Via Extensible Modeling & Simulation Framework (Xmsf), Model Driven Architecture (Mda), Component Repositories, And Web-Based Visualization, Don Brutzman, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

"Study Report prepared for the U. S. Air Force, Joint Synthetic Battlespace Analysis of Technical Approaches (ATA) Studies & Prototyping"

Overview: This paper summarizes research work conducted by organizations concerned with interoperable distributed information technology (IT) applications, in particular the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Old Dominion University (ODU). Although the application focus is distributed modeling & simulation (M&S) the results and findings are in general easily applicable to other distributed concepts as well, in particular the support of operations by M&S applications, such as distributed mission operations. The core idea of this work is to show the necessity of …

Association Of 3d Visualization With Discrete Event Simulation, Krishna Chaitanya Kunam

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Three-dimensional visualization provides simulation users with imagery that is closely related to their direct human experience. 3D visualization of simulations therefore has several advantages: it assists the developer in verifying and debugging the simulation; it often aids the analyst in gaining a better understanding of system performance; and it is especially important in explaining simulation results to the customer. This work presents a method of associating 3D visualizations to discrete event simulations for process simulations. A software system called 3DGen is developed that automates the process of generating a 3D visualization for a discrete event simulation. The 3DGen system is …

Embedded Software Programming To Develop A Command Line User Interface For Monitoring And Debugging A Manually Driven Gas Regulator Control System, Syed N. Hyder

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents a complete embedded programming model and software codes for a command-line user interface for CONCOA's gas regulator control system. Control Corporation of America (CONCOA) manufactures high-pressure gas regulators, which mechanically control the pressure at their outlets. Since the control system is based on mechanical regulators, adding or stopping gas flow from the system can cause manifold fluctuation that could further cause the pressure to rise or fall with time. The main motivation for developing a command line user interface is to provide a centralized computer control to monitor and debug the gas regulator control system electronically by …

Development Of Atlas Based Simulation Capability For Automated Testing, Rami Hanbali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Computer software is emerging as a powerful tool for controlling a large number of instruments and for the testing of these instruments. The main aim of this work is to provide a software program capable of controlling a large number of engineering instruments at the touch of a button. In addition, the software is to have the capability of connecting the instruments with the desired Unit Under Test. There is great need for such software driven testing in industry, especially for large complex systems. Advantages of such an approach include: (a) automated testing in a very quick and efficient manner; …

Routing Optimization Through Computer-Aided Simulation, Madhusudhan Akundi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Routing has always been a challenging field, and the various techniques of mathematics and operations research have been developed. For commercial organizations, routing has begun to receive extensive attention because of the savings gained in terms of time, money, personnel, and the transportation fleet by developing optimized routing networks. Until recently, it was difficult to develop optimized networks due to the computational difficulties of the problem. However, with the advancement in computer technology and processing speeds, it has become possible to simulate a large number of routing scenarios and determine optimal solutions for a given set of constraints. Not only …

A Flowchart Structure For Modification Of A Modsim Process Model, Murali K. Adatrao

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

There are many software processes and software development models that support the development of a software model prior to implementation. However, more often than not, these practices are not followed resulting in a lack of documentation of the intended functionality of the software. As a result, software often becomes a black box for later developers. Even a simple bug fix can turn into an exhaustive task for the developers, as they must attempt to infer the intended system behavior. New designers cannot make any changes to the software or extend the software behavior, as the underlying model within the software …

A Semantic-Based Middleware For Multimedia Collaborative Applications, Agustin Jose Gonzalez

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The Internet growth and the performance increase of desktop computers have enabled large-scale distributed multimedia applications. They are expected to grow in demand and services and their traffic volume will dominate. Real-time delivery, scalability, heterogeneity are some requirements of these applications that have motivated a revision of the traditional Internet services, the operating systems structures, and the software systems for supporting application development. This work proposes a Java-based lightweight middleware for the development of large-scale multimedia applications. The middleware offers four services for multimedia applications. First, it provides two scalable lightweight protocols for floor control. One follows a centralized model …

Adaptive Object-Oriented Filtering Framework For Event Management Applications, Ehab Al-Shaer, Mohamed Fayad, Hussein Abdel-Wahab, Kurt Maly

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Event filtering is an essential element in event management applications. In event management environments, the filtering mechanisms are employed to track the events generated from applications at run-time and perform the corresponding appropriate actions. Several key applications domains, such as system and network management, distributed system toolkits, communication protocols and active databases, utilize event filtering for various management purposes. The goal of this paper is to describe the object-oriented design and implementation of an adaptive event filtering framework which can be integrated and reused efficiently to develop event management applications for various domain environments. In our approach, the event filtering …

A Simplified Model Of Wound Healing - Ii: The Critical Size Defect In Two Dimensions, J. S. Arnold, John A. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Recently, a one-dimensional model was developed which gives a reasonable explanation for the existence of a Critical Size Defect (CSD) in certain animals [1]. In this paper, we examine the more realistic two-dimensional model of a circular wound of uniform depth to see what modifications are to be found, as compared with the one-dimensional model, in studying the CSD phenomenon. It transpires that the range of CSD sizes for a reasonable estimate of parameter values is 1 mm-1 cm. More realistic estimates await the appropriate experimental data.

A Simplified Model Of Wound Healing (With Particular Reference To The Critical Size Defect), J. A. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

This paper is an attempt to construct a simple mathematical model of wound healing/tissue regeneration which reproduces some of the known qualitative features of those phenomena. It does not address the time development of the wound in any way, but does examine conditions (e.g., wound size) under which such healing may occur. Two related one-dimensional models are examined here. The first, and simpler of the two corresponds to a "swath" of tissue (or more realistically in this case, bone) removed from an infinite plane of tissue in which only a thin band of tissue at the wound edges takes part …

A Family Of Hierarchical Encoding Techniques For Image And Video Communications, Samah A. Senbel

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

As the demand for image and video transmission and interactive multimedia applications continues to grow, scalable image and video compression that has robust behavior over unreliable channels are of increasing interest. These desktop applications require scalability as a main feature due to its heterogeneous nature, since participants in an interactive multimedia application have different needs and processing power. Also, the encoding and decoding algorithm complexity must be low due to the practical considerations of low-cost low-power receiver terminals. This requires image and video encoding techniques that jointly considers compression, scalability, robustness, and simplicity.

In this dissertation, we present a family …

Multiple Streams Synchronization In Collaborative Multimedia Systems, Emilia Stoica

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

With the recent increase of the communication bandwidth and processor power, new types of applications have emerged. Among them, there are multimedia application, in which users are able to control, combine, and manipulate different types of media, such as text, sound, video, computer graphics, and animation. A key requirement in any multimedia application is to synchronize the delivery of various media streams to the user. To achieve this, the sender has to provide the temporal relations between the streams as they are captured. Since the receiver uses this information in streams presentation, its accuracy is very important.

Our main contribution …

Antiplane Shear Of A Strip Containing A Staggered Array Of Rigid Line Inclusions, G. Kerr, G. Melrose, J. Tweed

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Motivated by the increased use of fibre-reinforced materials, we illustrate how the effective elastic modulus of an isotropic and homogeneous material can be increased by the insertion of rigid inclusions. Specifically we consider the two-dimensional antiplane shear problem for a strip of material. The strip is reinforced by introducing two sets of ribbon-like, rigid inclusions perpendicular to the faces of the strip. The strip is then subjected to a prescribed uniform displacement difference between its faces, see Figure 1. it should be noted that the problem posed is equivalent to that of the uniform antiplane shear problem for an infinite …

An Investigation Of Software Reliability Models, Pamela Elaine Bowman

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Many software reliability models have been promoted in the literature in an attempt to provide a meaningful response to the growing need to know the reliability of software during and after the development process. However, there are well-founded concerns as to the accuracy of the individual model, as well as to the choice of which model to use for a particular program. A recent experiment based on the debugging history of a partially debugged program used a gold version to label a debugging graph from replicated data. This experiment concluded that presenting the replicated data to the models in a …

A System For Structured Management Of Hypermedia Resources For The World Wide Web, Kevin L. Marlowe

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The World Wide Web (WWW) is arguably the preferred method for disseminating information across the Internet. Most of the work to support the advancement of WWW technology has focused on servers used in storing and retrieving information, browsers for viewing this information, and editors or filters for creating the information.

One area which has received little attention is that of actually managing this information at the local host. This thesis describes the development of a means for organizing local data prior to its publishing on the WWW, a method for gathering local pages together and preparing them for distribution, and …

Data Compression Based On The Cubic B-Spline Wavelet With Uniform Two-Scale Relation, S. K. Yang, C. H. Cooke

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential artificial compression which can be achieved using an interval multiresolution analysis based on a semiorthogonal cubic B-spline wavelet. The Chui-Quak [1] spline multiresolution analysis for the finite interval has been modified [2] so as to be characterized by natural spline projection and uniform two-scale relation. Strengths and weaknesses of the semiorthogonal wavelet as regards artificial compression and data smoothing by the method of thresholding wavelet coefficients are indicated.

Software Reliability Issues: An Experimental Approach, Mary Ann Hoppa

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we present methodologies involving a data structure called the debugging graph whereby the predictive performance of software reliability models can be analyzed and improved under laboratory conditions. This procedure substitutes the averages of large sample sets for the single point samples normally used as inputs to these models and thus supports scrutiny of their performances with less random input data.

Initially, we describe the construction of an extensive database of empirical reliability data which we derived by testing each partially debugged version of subject software represented by complete or partial debugging graphs. We demonstrate how these data …